ã€ŠThe Trembling Worldã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1: Thunderstorm

    The formation of rain clouds became thicker and thicker, finally darkening the sky across the horizon. Even though it was only 6 PM in the afternoon, it felt as if it was midnight when you looked up. A white light quickly shed across the sky, and then came the deafening boom.

    ¡°The weather report didn¡¯t mentioned any rainfall? Just like that, and there¡¯s a thunderstorm? Forgetting my umbre at home means that I¡¯ll have to rush home, even if it means that I¡¯ll get wet in the rain. ¡° Contemting his own thoughts was a young working-ss salesman. He left the toy store and looked up at the sky, then hurried in the direction of his house.

    Today was his son, Dong Dong¡¯s, 4th birthday. His birthday present was a toy airne, and hopefully, Dong Dong would like it.

    Again, another bright sh lit up the sky. At the same time, you could hear the thunder as it struck from the sky. Luckily, the San Xing Corporation, which was nearby, had a lightning rod that stood at the top of the ten story building. The lightning rod diverted lightning strikes, preventing harm to the nearby sidewalks and pedestrians.

    Apanying the thunder wererge droplets of rain. Shortly after the rainfall began, the streets began to flood.

    The man wearing the suit looked up at the lightning rod and the dark sky in the background, and he had an ominous feeling from deep within. He couldn¡¯t help but think that the lightning was too powerful; if it wasn¡¯t for the lightning rod, he would¡¯ve been burnt alive.

    The San Xing Corporation had arge building square, which had a humongous advertisement billboard. On the top were three bright characters written in red that spelled ¡°The Trembling World¡±, and since it was drenched in rain, it looked like blood was dripping down the billboard. What a horrific scene. The man in the suit stared at the scene for a little while. This game used a new technology that utilized an Induction Sensor Headgear, and the game would be released in 3 days. This guy was a hardcore fan and had already purchased the headgear.

    The guy in the suit lived in the Lucky Garden district, which was right outside of the district that he was in. If it hadn¡¯t been raining so hard, then running would get him home soon. Looking up at the sky, if he decided to wait for the rain to pass, it would take at least an hour and a half before it stopped raining. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t mind waiting, but today was his son Dong Dong¡¯s 4th birthday.

    The guy in the suit decided quickly, as he mustered his strength and charged through the rain.

    The clouds in the sky kept rolling in formation, and gradually the amount of raindrops increased. Soon after, puddles were formed and people on the streets without umbres also sped up their movements.

    While he was jogging and following others, there was an ominous feeling that he couldn¡¯t shake off.

    The violent rainstorm continuously poured down rain water, and the rain was unable to seep into the ground fast enough, causingrge puddles to form. The weird part was that these puddles were red, and as the water got denser, the bright red color stood out as if it was fresh blood.

    At the same time, the strange, yet, familiar smell of iron floated in from his surroundings. It was the scent of blood.

    The guy in the suit touched his own face, and on his hand were droplets of blood from the rain. Unable to produce a sound, he was horrified, and his face lost all color.

    [TN: the guy in the suit doesn¡¯t have a name but will be usedter]

    ¡­¡­

    Three dayster.

    Today was [The Trembling World]¡¯s server start day.

    Liu Gan felt nervous, but at the same time, he was excited. Ever since he had received prosthetic limbs, he had yed less games since the limbs were not very convenient. The San Xing Corporation had been able to develop the first ever Induction Sensor Headgear to operate [The Trembling World] online game, which would allow him to experience the game¡¯s full capabilities.

    Outside of the vi rang a loud echo of thunder, and Liu Gan nced out his window and noticed that rain was still pouring down. For thest three days it had rained nonstop. He had lived alone in a mountain vi for nearly a month now, and every week, twice a week, his housemaid Auntie Zhao woulde up the mountain in order to clean up the house and provide him with three to four days¡¯ worth of food. Besides Auntie Zhao, Liu Gan hadn¡¯t been in contact with anyone else for over a month now.

    [TN: Formality-wise, many Chinese call older females auntie even if they are not blood rted.]

    Thest time Auntie Zhao came to his house was three days ago, and ording to her schedule, she would being today. But since it was already noon, it was safe to assume that she wasn¡¯t on her way up the mountain. Since it had been raining nonstop for three days,it was hard to say if there had been anyndslides. Liu Gan suspected that if it kept raining, Auntie Zhao wouldn¡¯t be able to deliver any food up the mountain.

    Fortunately, there was still a day¡¯s worth of food left in the fridge. It had been raining for three days straight, so the rain should stop by tomorrow, right? At least this was what Liu Gan was hoping for..

    [The Trembling World]¡¯s server was about to open in a minute. Liu Gan put on San Xing Corporation¡¯stest technology, the Induction Sensor Headgear, anticipating what it would be like to enter the game until the veryst second.

    Finally, the game allowed him to log in, and Liu Gan inserted his ID into his sensor headgear. After a bit, the game interface started appearing in his visual field.

    It was a full screen of blood-red rain, with a city street full of wandering zombies. In his room there were six surround sound system speakers that produced the zombies¡¯ moaning sounds. Liu Gan loved these type of zombie games, and the sounds caused his hair to tingle. He chose his role and starting weapon.

    He was not sure whether it was that the game map was toorge, or that too many people loaded onto the server that caused the server tog. The loading screen disyed the words ¡°Loading In¡±, however, it was stuck on that screen.

    Liu Gan became very frustrated. The San Xing Corporation was argepany with the best servers in the gaming industry. Since it was the best, then why was there such a long loading time? Liu Gan wanted to enter the zombie world and start his killing spree, but he was still stuck on the loading screen, which didn¡¯t give any reaction.

    Should I try restarting theputer? Liu Gan waited for a little longer, and he finally couldn¡¯t resist extending his prosthetic arm toward theputer¡¯s power button.

    Theputer gave no reaction.

    He pressed the button again, still no reaction¡­.

    Suddenly, outside of the window, was the sound of loud thunder. A thick lightning bolt struck down towards the satellite receiver on the viewing tower next to his vi. The tower started producing sparks.

    At the same time, a bright white screen appeared in front of Liu Gan¡¯s eyes, blinding him for a second. Followed by a soft whisper into his ear from a female voice¡­.

    ¡°Wee to The Trembling World!¡±

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2: Fresh Meat

    Liu Gan appeared in the za, surrounded by nine other males lying on the ground.

    ¡°Today¡¯s technology has reached this type of virtual reality to such a realistic degree? It allows the person to be immersed into the game world and have the same feeling as real life? ¡° Liu Gan sat up and absorbed everything that he saw around him.

    This was supposed to be aputer-operated virtual reality game that utilizes sensors, so how could everything be so realistic? Unless this was a dream? It has to be a dream. Liu Gan bit his own lower lip, and a painful sensation overwhelmed his sense of logic. He no longer believed that he was dreaming.

    Then, am I really in the game? Otherwise¡­ How else could I exin this?

    Liu Gan raised his head and looked up at the sky, at the overcast clouds that covered up the sun. The clouds looked as if they were brewing up a storm, ready to release rain at any moment. Nearby there was a huge billboard that seemed to reach up to the sky. On it was ¡°The Trembling World¡± in three bright red colors. It had the server opening date, which was today.

    Advertisements even within the game?

    At the same moment, the other nine men around him were just as surprised. One moment, they were sitting in front of the theputer monitor; the next moment, they were in the San Xing Corporation¡¯s weapon selection menu for the game then they appeared here¡­¡­ seems like it was arge za.

    Therge group of the people felt confused and surprised at the same time. Just like Liu Gan, they stood up and stared at the sky. Then, they looked around and their expressions were priceless.

    The ten of them were not alone; all around them were wandering subjects that didn¡¯t look like normal people. These otaku immediately recognized those wandering subjects as zombies!

    [TN: otaku- used interchangeably with gamers]

    Closest to them was a very beautiful zombie: long but not filthy hair, busty chest, slim waist, a white dress shirt, and a bright red mini skirt. Overall, the body wasn¡¯t too bad. The only downside was the face.

    The beautiful zombie was originally wandering around aimlessly until she saw ten people appear out of thin air. It seems like she also smelled the tenderness of their fresh meat in the air. She immediately rushed toward the source at an astonishing speed. Within a few seconds, she was able to reach the front of a green-skinned yer.

    ¡°Damn! Pretty girl, haven¡¯t you seen a handsome guy before? You don¡¯t need to be all up on me.¡± The green-skinned yer used his iron rod to defend against the female zombie by positioning it between them.

    If zombie didn¡¯t have blood red eyes, pale texture of the face, and drool at the mouth, it would definitely have been a hot looking girl. Busty chest, hourss-shaped waist; it was the type that you would snap your neck when she walked by you.

    The beautiful zombie female was getting held back by the iron rod stretched out to try to scratch the green-skinned yer. With her mouth wide open, it released a monstrous sound, as it had interest in his fresh meat.

    ¡°This texture, modeling, and physical rendering¡­. aren¡¯t the effects are too realistic? The hair trailing behind is smooth, and it isn¡¯t glitchy at all. DX 11.3 is not bad at all! The San Xing Corporation did a really good job with these effects!¡± As the bald-headed male yer walked, he was wobbling left and right, as if he was really drunk. He closed in on the beautiful female zombie, and was eventually within striking distance.

    This scene attracted the attention of most of the wandering eyes, and they temporarily forgot all of their confusion.

    After smacking the beautiful female zombie, the bald-yer lewdly lifted up the female¡¯s skirt and revealed her panties, which had a cartoon. Before she became a zombie, she must have been very adorable.

    ¡°Ha ha¡­.. Hurry up and pull it off and let¡¯s have a look. Let¡¯s see how well the panties are done,¡± suggested the surrounding male yers as they got excited and encouraged the bald yer to continue.

    The bald-yer, under the instigation of the other male yers, stretched out a hand and pulled off the female¡¯s panties. He really wanted to find out the extravagant patterns that lied on the panties, but the moment he reached out, the female zombie that was originally reaching out to scratch the green-skinned yer immediately changed target to the bald-yer. Facing towards him, she bit down on his neck.

    The bald-yer felt that something was wrong and instinctively pushed it aside, but it was toote. The female zombie had already taken a bite of his neck. The bald-yer put pressure on the wound that was leaking his fresh blood and cried for help. The fresh aroma of blood spread like wildfire to the surroundings.

    ¡°Damn! The effects of gushing blood are really realistic! Hey baldy, how much did your HP drop?¡± asked green-skinned yer. While he was asking that question, he was also trying to understand the things urring in front of him; he was shocked and filled with disbelief.

    ¡°Screw the HP! I feel like I¡¯m dying!¡± The bald-yer pushed away the female zombie and then gave her a spartan kick to keep her out of reach. Unfortunately, after tasting fresh meat, she was no longer willing to give up so easily. She dashed at the bald-yer again after getting kicked.

    ¡°Who told you to grab miss beautiful¡¯s adorable panties? Perhaps you made this beauty angry?¡± The green-skinned yer jokinglyughed.

    Everyone else felt differently; some were panicking, others were staring at the wound, and the rest were simply traumatized and stared into space.

    Liu Gan was quiet this whole time, as he felt that something about this ce was off. Everything here seemed too realistic! If this was a game, generating this many effects would require a hardware to match it. The motherboard used for the headgear screen would definitely not be able to generate this type of effect. He definitely got sent into virtual reality.

    Aftering back to his senses, Liu Gan remembered that when registering for the game he had to choose a starting weapon. His weapon of choice was a chopping sword which was shaped like a machete. In his hands was the exact weapon that he had chosen on the starting menu. Even though Liu Gan was very close to the bald-yer, he could chop towards the female zombie¡¯s neck. The de was very sharp, and his nervousness due to the current situation gave him an extra boost in strength. He swung his sword at the neck of the zombie and swiftly hacked it off in one fluid motion.

    A hazy ck orb floated out from the corpse and seeped into the body of Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan breathed deeply as his hands clenched the machete, and he was shaking and he started to second guessing himself. Was this really still a game? The smell, the touch, the senses, everything in this world was the same as the real world!

    Liu Gan looked at his own leg; his legs and arms had been amputated. As a quadruple amputee, he had installed prosthetics. The thing was, his movement just now was as smooth as silk. To be able to be agile like that simply wasn¡¯t a feature of the prosthetics. In fact, prosthetics wouldn¡¯t even be able to grip the handle of the de. Now, all impossible action moves seemed to be possible with this body.

    Once he familiarized himself with gripping the handle of the de, he waved his sword as he pleased, since he was unable to do so in the real world anymore¡­

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3: Unable to log out

    ¡°Why did you kill off the beauty so fast? You weren¡¯t gentle towards thedy at all¡­¡± The green-skinned yer grudgingly said those words, but his facial expression suddenly changed to one of alertness.

    The bald-yer shouted ¡°Gentle my arse! I¡¯m in pain!¡±ining to the green-skinned yer. Between screaming in pain and cursing, the other yers could only stare helplessly towards the bald-yer. They couldn¡¯t help but to cast some doubts about whether it was truly painful or just mildly painful, as they weren¡¯t the ones who got hurt.

    ¡°Stop creating noise, the crying will attract more attention,¡± Liu Gan said in a low voice, trying his best to remain calm as he kneeled down beside the bald yer. A couple of zombies nearby seemed to have noticed the activity; originally they were wandering aimlessly, but now they slowed down and looked towards the direction of the bald guy.

    ¡°Stop screaming!¡± The green-skinned male also felt that something was wrong. He pointed at baldy and hushed him with one hand, while tightly holding the iron rod in the other hand.

    ¡°F*%@! Do you guys have any idea how much pain I¡¯m in? Why don¡¯t you try getting bitten?¡± The bald yer cursed aggressively at Liu Gan and the rest of the yers. From the looks of it, his neck wound was quite deep. Blood was no longer gushing out, but his clothes had been dyed dark red with his blood.

    Liu Gan nced at the bald yer¡¯s wound and immediately smelled the fresh scent of iron, then turned a full circle while analyzing his surroundings. Unexinably, he felt a little dizzy, almost falling head first onto the ground. Since Liu Gan¡¯s legs were originally prosthetics, he hadn¡¯t gotten full control of the sensation yet. So, his body was still trying to reconnect with his brain, causing this temporary instability.

    ¡°This is so realistic. Is Trembling World still a video game? Why is it that the senses throughout my body feel so real? It¡¯s as if I¡¯ve been immersed into the virtual game!¡± said the other yer, still in disbelief.

    Before 2015, virtual reality technology was just a myth. Sitting in front of theputer screen with the induction headgear, keyboard, and mousebination was the standard way of ying, so how was this so real? The Induction Sensor Headgear merely uses the electric signals of the central nervous system to register brain waves for operation. The functionality of it is the same as using a remote controlled device. So this induction headgear shouldn¡¯t be the rumored full-dive immersion headgear for virtual reality.

    Even if this was the full-dive headgear, it should still be possible to take it off, right? But it doesn¡¯t feel like there¡¯s anything on my head! So was it really possible that they were immersed in the game?

    For these types of zombie games, it was only suitable to y by sitting in front of aputer. If we were really immersed in the game, then showing things like the bald yer being bit by a zombie wouldn¡¯t be pleasant at all.

    ¡°Are you serious? You guys can voluntarily go and get bitten to see if it¡¯s real or not!¡± screamed the bald yer. Then he went back to whining loudly about the pain. Prior to entering the game, the bald yer had consumed a good amount of alcohol. Lacking good judgement, he stumbled upon the good-looking female zombie. Once heid eyes on the feminine features of thedy, his male instincts kicked in and fueled his perverted desires, which led to him to grabbing the panties. Thus, all the wrong decisions had led him to getting bitten.

    ¡°If you are going to be like this, then log off and stop creating trouble for us!¡± The green-skinned yer replied to the bald yer while gripping his iron rod tightly. It seemed like he was an experienced veteran yer.

    ¡°Trust me, I really want to logout of the game too! You should help me find a way to get out!¡± The bald-yer rushed a reply to the green-skinned yer. If he could exit this nightmare, the first thing that he would do was rush to the hospital and find a doctor to patch this up. Then grab some morphine to numb the pain on the shoulders!

    Other yers overhead the bald yer and frantically tried to muttermon phrases like ¡°exit game¡±, and some even shouted ¡°GM!¡±. They then started looking for a ¡®game menu¡¯ in their own vision field. Unfortunately, it was all in vain.

    This is what the real world was like; there were no viable options in front of you where you could just choose to log off.

    ¡°Did you guys notice the watches on our wrists?¡± A yer wearing oddly-shaped sses held out his wrist and showed the other yers.

    Other yers who heard the sses-yer immediately lifted their arms up and pulled on their sleeves to reveal a alloy watch. The model was the same as thetest smart watch. The dial of the watch was ratherrge, and the disy showed some text and numbers disying the amount of messages.

    Liu Gan looked at his wrist and after a few presses here and there, he was able to find [The Trembling World] game menu. It had a total of four lines: at the very top was ¡°Game Already in Progress¡±, the second line was ¡°yer Properties¡±, the third line was ¡°Call GM¡±, and the veryst line was ¡°Log Off¡±.

    However, ¡°Call GM¡± and ¡°Log Off¡± were grayed out, and even after pressing a few times, there was no reaction, so Liu Gan gave up.

    However, ¡°yer Properties¡± could be opened. Inside this function, Liu Gan could find his name, age, gender, blood type, heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, hunger level, thirst level, fatigue level, contamination degree, health condition, state of infection, and his level. Right now, his level had a value of 1.

    Now this was starting to look like a game!

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we call the GM? And most importantly, why can¡¯t we exit the game?¡± The other yers were getting riled up.

    ¡°I read about something like this before in an inte novel. If I recall correctly, it was about the main character and a few people getting stuck within the game after joining. They were unable to log out,¡± mumbled a rather skinny and small-statured yer.

    ¡°We are trapped within this game!¡± shouted the paranoid, drunk bald yer. With a face that was skewed by the pain, there was no one that wanted to exit the game more than him.

    The others looked at each other, eyes shifting back and forth. The whole za finally seemed to quiet down. Ever since they arrived, everything that happened exceeded their logical understanding. Inplete disarray, they were unable to figure out the current situation.

    The yers calmed down, and that¡¯s when they noticed that the sounds of the za had changed from cries and moans to something more terrible. From the bottom of their hearts up to their spines they felt a chill, the type of chill that makes your hair stand up.

    ¡°As yers trapped within the game, if we die in-game, would we die in real life?¡° Another yer asked the small-statured yer.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but in the inte novel, those that died in-game died in real life as well. Hey, you guys asked me. I just hope that this damn game isn¡¯t the same as that inte novel!¡± Said the small-statured yer. At this point, he was feeling truly scared.

    When he first read that inte novel, he thought it felt very exciting. Now that it was really urring to him and his body, the feeling was no longer the same as before!

    ¡°We would die! Dying here would result in us dying in real life! If you get bitten, then you would know!¡± The bald-yer had a face filled with despair. More than anyone else in the za, he knew exactly how realistic this game was.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4: Preparation for Battle

    ¡°No way? If I die-ingame, then I¡¯ll really die? Wouldn¡¯t the San Xing corporation be considered murderers? So ording to today, the tens of thousands of yers that are entering the game means that they¡¯ll be trapped here and unable to leave?¡± the sses-yer shook his head frantically with an expression of disbelief.

    ¡°Being unable to leave means that the gamingpany will discover this abnormality. Then they can send help. With this many people involved, even if thepany doesn¡¯t care about it, the government will surely step in.¡± said a 27 or 28 year old looking yer in a suit. He had the look of a civil-servant.

    ¡°How will they rescue us? Where are we even at? How will they enter? After entering, how will they bring us out? You act as if this situation is such a simple thing!¡± replied a small-statured yer to the public-service yer. At the same time he replied, he revealed an expression of disdain.

    ¡°This is a government approved game, the gamingpany should definitely have protocols for helping us exit, otherwise why would there be a log off function at all. Perhaps everything that we have experienced so far is just a joke that the gamingpany is ying on us.¡± said the public-service yer as he faced the small-statured yer.

    The first person to discover the alloy watch was the sses-yer, and while others were trying to find a way to release the watch and take it off, the sses-yer found that it was impossible. The watch was created from a strengthened alloy, which perfectly fit the wrists of every yer. Not toorge or too small. Unless they found the proper method of opening the watch or used a power tool to attempt opening it, it was just a wasted effort.

    After Liu Gan stared at his watch for a while, he mustered up the strength in his body and stood up. Compared to other people¡¯s panic, he was showing signs of hope. As an amputee and disabled person, being unable to use his arms and legs again yed a huge part in his livelihood. So out of the ten yers, Liu Gan was the most mentally stable one.

    No matter what happens, he understood that if he was able to survive, he would find a way out of the game.

    A year ago had been the lowest point in his life. Compared to that, his current situation was a lot better. At this moment, Liu Ganid out his resolve to stay alive in the long term battle of the game.

    Returning to the real world and once again losing his arms and legs, or staying within the dangerous Trembling World. Both of these options weren¡¯t the best choices, nor was one option better than the other. But, rather than focusing on an uncertainty, he chose to focus on what was in front of him: his dangerous surroundings.

    The next moment, a little over ten meters away were three zombies that noticed the abnormality, and started to rush towards the ten yers.

    ¡°This is not the time for debates! What did you choose for your starting weapons? If you don¡¯t want to get bitten, then prepare for war!¡± Liu Gan gripped his machete, and rushed towards the closest zombie.

    Not caring about the fact of this being reality or a game, if they wanted to stay alive then they had to focus. The zombies were closing in too fast, and the yers didn¡¯t have any time to argue.

    ¡°Everyone, prepare a line formation!¡± The green-skinned yer shouted, while he held an iron rod and stood side-by-side with Liu Gan. They nced at each other, and it was as if these two were close friends who had years of experience at fighting.

    Finally, a few yers came over and also took out their own starting weapons, before hiding behind Liu Gan and the green-skinned yer. Some had iron rods, some had hand grenades, while others had Molotov cocktails. These were their starting weapons.

    The starting weapon choices didn¡¯t included a gun; other than a machete and an iron rod, the hand grenades or Molotov cocktails were one-time-use items.

    Liu Gan and the green-skinned yer stood side-by-side at the front, while others cowered behind them. There were only three zombies charging at high speed toward the yers. A small warzone was about to ur on this za.

    Right now, there was only three zombies that were charging at Liu Gan and the group. Liu Gan gave a loud shout¡­.. there was no need to swing or charge forward, as the corpses were charging towards them at a high speed. It was as if the zombies were in a high speed vehicle; if they don¡¯t dodge in time, the force of the momentum alone would knock the air out of them.

    At the same time, just when Liu Gan was about to roll away, the green-skinned yer was thinking of doing the same motion towards the opposite direction. Both of them had the same way of ying¡­¡­ a self-preservation style of y. They didn¡¯t know the other yers, so why should they sacrifice themselves for them.

    Liu Gan and the green-skinned yer leapt apart, and the three zombies charged right into the crowd behind them. One of the zombies went for a male yer, whilst the other two zombies got a different male yer. These yers thought that with Liu Gan and the green-skinned yer in the front, they themselves would not take any damage from the force but they didn¡¯t expect them to roll away. So without any preparation, the moment the zombies came in contact, they tumbled hard onto the ground. They cursed at Liu Gan and the green-skinned yer, and moaned in misery.

    Liu Gan took this opportune moment to sh his machete on the back of the zombies, and with the de in hand it cut into the two zombies. The other zombie was struck onto the floor by the iron rod of the green-skinned yer.

    Two ck orbs once again melted into Liu Gan¡¯s body, and he felt his body was burning hot, as if he was recharged ¨C full of energy. His vision, hearing, and more, seemed to have gotten better in turn. Liu Gan looked down at his alloy watch, and under yer properties, his level had risen from 1 to 2.

    Unsure of why his body went through that, after viewing the digits change, Liu Gan felt a lot calmer and started to feel as if his objective was more clear. He believed that, with the new opportunity of his renewed arms and legs, he could kill even more zombies.. This would allow him to be stronger, which would in turn, significantly increase his chances of survival.

    The two people knocked down by the zombies were creating a scene by shouting. They were on the floor with fresh blood leaking out of their wounds.

    ¡°Damn! I¡¯m going to die from the pain! What kind of broken game is this? Is this for real?¡± Shouted those two male yers while cursing. Nowadays, in society, the otakus would never had any chance to get injured this seriously. This type of pain far exceeded their threshold of suffering.

    ¡°I said it¡¯s painful isn¡¯t it? You thought I was joking? Now you know my pain!¡± The bald-yer saw the two yers who had been bitten, and deep down he felt much better.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5: Running freely

    Other yers saw the three yers faces, and it added to their confusion and panic. If this was real, would getting wounded actually hurt in game? They didn¡¯t want to y anymore, but they weren¡¯t able to log out! What if they got bitten? Wouldn¡¯t it hurt like those other three?

    If they continued like this, they would surely die!

    ¡°This za is very dangerous, we must hurry and find a safe ce to hide and discuss our future n!¡± Liu Gan said to the others in a hurried tone, then gave a signal to the green-skinned yer.

    At the scene, there were already three wounded yers, and not only would they not stop screaming, but the za had no shelter. The only exception was a singr iron pir, which stretched high up into the clouds to support the ¡®Wee to the Trembling World¡¯ sign. Without any sheltering objects to give the yers a ce to hide, the wounded yer¡¯s hoarse screams could only attract more zombies ¨C staying in this ce held no value.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote already.¡± The green-skinned yer looked towards Liu Gan and replied..

    Liu Gan¡¯s suggestion was indeedte; by the time he had finished speaking, from the za¡¯s edge stood buildings, around that corner appeared a colossus monster. It was possible this was a variation zombie, as it stood at 3-4 meters high, didn¡¯t have any skin, and had exposed muscle all around. It was extremely clear that the agonized screams had lured it to them.

    After looking at the yers on the za, the zombie variant gave an enormous roar, and began charging towards them. Because of it¡¯s colossal size, every single step it took shook the ground.

    ¡°Damn! Why must it be like this? We just logged in and we¡¯re already facing a BOSS? At least give us a newbie vige to adjust!¡± Liu Gan looked at the iing charging colossal zombie, his skin inadvertently getting goosebumps.

    The next moment, before anybody else could react, the green-skinned yer and Liu Gan had already started going the opposite way ¨C it was if their feet were automated. The other ten yers could not be considered a team in this scenario ¨C when ying a game like this, self preservation was the most important thing.

    Finally able to run, he was nervous because, as a disabled person, Liu Gan felt very emotional at this moment ¨C because it has been over a year since he hadst run freely!

    Liu Gan, during the first moment he tried to run ¨C since in the real world he had adjusted to using prosthetic limbs to walk ¨C was not able to grasp his bnce, and staggered a few steps before almost falling face first onto the ground, while the green-skinned yer quickly elerated ahead a few meters. Very soon Liu Gan found his original posture and muscle memory for running, he was able to speed up, and after a fewrge steps he was able to catch up.

    The green-skinned yer, with Liu Gan, started running, while the other yers came to their senses and started trailing behind them. The three wounded yers that weren¡¯t able to keep up so they screamed; the other yers following closely behind, Liu Gan and green-skinned yer, started running as fast as they could.

    ¡°Don¡¯t follow us! Run separate from us! Otherwise we will all die!¡± The green-skinned yer yelled behind him while running. As an experienced yer, he shouted behind him, ¡°A wide open space and meeting up with this super level BOSS ¨C running together will result in our doom! Spread apart and run separately, the chances of survival will increase ¨C those who get left and are caught by the boss can only me their bad luck!¡±

    The other people seemed to have awakened from their dreams; after slight hesitation, everyone chose their own direction to run. Liu Gan also chose a new direction to run too, however, the sses-yer also tightly followed behind. Perhaps he felt Liu Gan¡¯s reaction time was faster, and following him would give him a better chance of survival.

    Sustaining heavy injuries, left behind was the bald yer. All he could do was me his bad luck. He discovered no matter what direction he ran, the colossal zombie was in hot pursuit. This terrified him, and he quickly turned and threw his molotov cocktail that was in his hand at it.

    The molotov exploded on the colossal and erupted in a sea of mes. The colossal zombie ¨C covered in the molotov¡¯s gasoline ¨C was turned into a ball of me. This seemed to have done no damage to it ¨C in fact it seemed to have made it angrier. In a few steps it ran up, lifted up it¡¯s two meaty fists, and hit the bald yer who wasn¡¯t able to get away. Instantly he copsed on the floor.

    From the za¡¯s surrounding streets the zombies heard the activity, and this lead to a corpse-tide. All the surrounding zombies began gathering blocking every exit.

    Liu Gan directly came into the gathering point of ten zombies ¨C unable to escape, his only option was to return from the same direction he came from. He was fuming with rage because ever since he hade into this game, there was a BOSS battle, and now there was a corpse-tide; did they want all the yers who had entered this game to get wiped out immediately? Not even giving them any time at all¡­ maybe the game creators were dropped on their head as babies.

    ¡°Don¡¯t run all over the ce! We have been surrounded! We can¡¯t outrun it! Those with grenades and molotovs, quickly throw them, otherwise we won¡¯t survive!¡± the green-skinned yer said as he was forced to retreat when he discovered the bad turn of events, and retreated to his fellow yers.

    After all, the typical yers for this type of game were otakus; once they discovered there was no possible escape they became paralyzed in fear. Those that could react, rushed towards the green-skinned yer with grenades and molotovs in hand, and threw them at the colossal zombie.

    ¡°Damn! What the F*%@ guys!¡± Cursed the bald yer who wasying on the ground being beaten up by the colossal zombie. He scorned them, what kind of people were they! Not only did they not save him, they decided to throw grenades and molotovs at him!

    The bald-yer was only allowed one sentence, before he was blown into mush and the mush burnt to a crisp.

    The situation was dire. Right now the za only had one wild colossal zombie. Surrounding the za wererge amounts of zombiesing towards them. The yers only had iron rods and machetes left¡­

    There was no hope for survival.

    Once he escaped back to the za center, Liu Gan didn¡¯t return to the green-skinned yer¡¯s side. Observing the surroundings briefly, he sped at high speed towards the tall iron pir that held up the weing billboard. Using his arms and legs, he began to climb up the iron pir towards the top.

    Following closely behind Liu Gan, was sses-yer. When he reached the base of the pir, he stared up at the iron pir nkly¡­ ¡°What kind of person is he to be climbing like that?¡±

    At the za¡¯s outer edges, the zombies had already started closing in. The sses-yer clenched his teeth, and tried to mimic Liu Gan¡¯s technique of climbing up the iron pir. However, this task was not as easy as it looked. The iron pir was thick and slippery. The sses-yer used up most of his strength and precious time and had only climbed a meter off the ground. At this time, two zombies had already the iron pirs base ¨C one hand pulled him down, and the next moment the zombie had already taken arge chunk out his neck.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6: I must live on

    ¡°Help! Help me!¡± sses-yer shouted in agony at Liu Gan, who was already 7 to 8 meters high off the ground and clinging onto the iron pir.

    Liu Gan looked below warily. In this type of situation, he wasn¡¯t sure if he could save him. Even if he wanted to save him, he didn¡¯t have the ability to.

    There were a few more zombies which came charging to the base of the iron pir, pushing sses-yer to the floor. Some were gnawing on his head, some were chewing on his leg, while others were able to chew through his stomach and started wing out his intestines. Yet, sses-yer didn¡¯t die yet, he was still resisting even with all the pain he was feeling. He could only watch helplessly as his limbs and body parts were being eaten. One could only imagine how painful it must be.

    Liu Gan witnessed what was going on. The stench of intestines and blood reached his nose. He heard the screams of misery. Uncontrobly, his body trembled. A feeling of death lingered throughout him. Not considering that whether dying here would mean dying in real life, it was just the simple fact that everything which he had witnessed so far seems so real. The brutal way of dying was enough to create a fear of dying.

    The pain was real ¨C not to mention the amount of stress the yers must go through psychologically and physically. Even if upon dying, they would return to the real world, the post-traumatic stress had already left its¡¯ scar.

    Luckily, these zombies didn¡¯t know how to climb. Otherwise, he would meet the same fate as sses-yer.

    The situation for Liu Gan wasn¡¯t that great either. The iron pir was extremely slippery, and its height was at least fourteen or fifteen meters. He had to climb up and squeeze tightly in order to prevent himself from sliding down. It was a really exhausting activity.

    Liu Gan squeezed his arms tightly around the pir to catch his breath, and took the opportunity to look around the za during that time¡­.

    The colossal zombie had been severely wounded from grenades and molotovs of the yers. Its¡¯ movement was severely limited, and it couldn¡¯t catch up to the yers anymore. There were still zombies spread throughout every possible escape, and the yers who were still alive were desperately struggling. There were two yers who reached the outer rim but shortly after they were surrounded by the zombies. The zombies tugged and ripped off the human flesh, and the two yers were unable to escape their¡¯ fate as meat for the zombies.

    The green-skinned yer had three others near him, all of whom had chosen weapons for close-rangebat. Unsure of what green-skinned had said to the three yers, they split apart, attacking wildly at every zombie that got too close. Doing so they were buying time for green-skinned yer to move some of the corpses on the ground revealing a sewer drainage lid. Green-skinned yer kneeled down, and with his iron rod in hand he pryed on the lid at an angle like a lever, attempting to force it to lift up.

    Before the swarm of zombies closed in, green-skinned yer was lucky enough to wiggle the lid up just in time. He moved the lid and then immediately jumped inside. The three yers that helped him buy time came over to follow him into the sewer. This was what green-skinned yer must have said to the three other yers earlier.

    Unexpectedly when the three yers got to the lid, it was shut tight by the green-skinned yer, who had moved it back, tightly closing it.

    The three other yers tried to pry open the lid again, but with very little time left, they were soon surrounded by the swarm of zombies. They resisted, but were no match for the endless tide of zombies.

    Therge za soon had no yers left standing with the exception of Liu Gan on the iron pir and green-skinned yer in the sewage drain. The other 8 yers had perished in the corpse tide.

    Liu Gan hugged the iron pir tightly. Meanwhile, his whole body was shaking. He was unsure of how green-skinned yer was faring underground, but Liu Gan¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t any better. If he didn¡¯t continue climbing towards the top of the pir and onto the billboard, then he would exhaust all his strength and slide down. Underneath him arge crowd of zombies had gathered.

    Even if he wanted to climb all the way to the top, Liu Gan had given up a little inside. The advertisement billboard support beams would allowed him to stay up there, but he couldn¡¯t stay there forever. ording to his alloy watch, the yer properties screen showed values for hunger and thirst. If he stayed trapped on the billboard, he would end up dying to either hunger or thirst.

    Like just now, if he continued this exhausting activity of climbing, Liu Gan started to feel how dry his mouth was. A person without food can survive 10 days, but without water, that person could only live for around 3 days.

    Although climbing to the top of the advertisement billboard may not help him to survive in the long run, not climbing up would mean the end for Liu Gan. This whole time he was propping himself up on the pir and not moving, and the energy wasted in doing so was a lot. After a short break, Liu Gan continued working hard to climb upward.

    Using his arms to climb, his thighs were at the pinnacle of stressing out the muscle. Liu Gan was using only his mental concentration to keep going. He clenched his jaw and persevered while watching the distance gap close.

    5 meters¡­

    4 meters¡­

    3 meters¡­

    2 meters¡­

    The distance closed up as the advertisement support frames came closer into view. Everytime Liu Gan climbed up half a meter, it became increasingly more difficult. He felt that he could just slip away any moment back down to the base of the pir where he would be gnawed upon and torn apart by the zombies.

    ¡°Thest meter! I must survive!¡±

    Liu Gan let out a loud scream, then clenched the iron pir once again and wiped his palms on his clothes to dry them. Afterwards, he attempted to climb upwards a few more times.

    Finally, right before Liu Gan exhausted all his strength. He grabbed onto the support structure of the ad. He pulled his exhausted body up using the structure as leverage. Using his fist to create arge hole in the billboard under the support structure, he was able to make a ¡°seat¡±. It was a tight fit for a seat.

    Temporarily safe.

    As Liu Gan looked at the sky above the billboard, he saw clouds forming and rolling around, giving him the feeling of being oppressed. On the horizon, he was able to see lightning, shortly after hearing the thunder that apanied it. Any moment now, the thunderstorm would reach the za.

    The za at this point had gathered around over a thousand zombies. Densely packed together on the za, the zombies by the base of the iron pir all stared up at Liu Gan sitting there awkwardly, their eyes revealing a desire to devour him. There were some zombies which attempted to climb the iron pir, but luckily the pir was smooth, and they were unable to do so.

    There were some zombies which climbed over the others to reach higher up. Unfortunately for them, the humandder wasn¡¯t steady enough, and by the time it was three stories, it copsed. They persistently kept on repeating it. Perhaps, they had lost the ability to think with their cerebrum, so they didn¡¯t know how to do anything constructively meaningful enough to reach Liu Gan.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7: Escape

    At the epicenter of the corpse tide stood a billboard, which disyed ¡°Wee to the The Trembling World¡± inrge, bright red characters ¨C which seemed almost as if it were dripping down like blood. Underneath theserge letters was a lucky survivor, exhausted and at the brink of losing hope.

    Liu Gan saw that the za was covered with zombies and let out a long sigh. The most disappointing thing in life was a year ago when he had to amputate his arms and legs. Finally, he was able to use his limbs again, yet now his time was limited because of his dire situation.

    God opened a window of opportunity, but at the same time closed a door on him.

    So tired, so thirsty¡­..

    Will it finally rain? Liu Gan pondered as he stared up at the sky. At the far edge of horizon, the lightning came closer and closer into view, and the lightning quickly followed in session. The torrential downpour could provide a source of drinking water. This would definitely resolve Liu Gan¡¯s thirst situation.

    Liu Gan quickly dismissed the idea. Even if downpours could provide a source of water, it would also bring lightning with it. Liu Gan was sitting atop of an iron pir, which also served as a lightning rod. The iron pir stood isted from every other building in the vicinity, so it was highly possible that the lightning would strike on the pir.

    If that was to happen, you can imagine what would happen to Liu Gan who was sitting on top of it.

    In addition, what happens if it rains blood red rain? In the beginning of the game, Liu Gan recalled the origin of the Trembling World had something rting to the red rain.

    If he took a sip from the red rain, would he turn into one of them, losing rationality and cognitive ability?

    Every uncertainty seemed dangerous, it was hard to find hope in this situation.

    The Trembling World ¨C the name suited the game. Liu Gan had already experienced feeling numerous moments of trembling.

    Liu Gan thought to himself about the future choices he would have to make; If he wanted to survive, he would have to search for clean water and food. But to do all that, he needed to think of an escape n from this za. Since all the zombies within the surrounding streets were lured to the center of the za, that must mean there were very few on the streets. Those streets should be rtively safe.

    The real question was, now that every corner of the za was filled with zombies, what would he do about thousands of zombies below the billboard. What could he do to escape to those streets.

    Without extra assistance from an outside source, nothing he can do right now had a chance.

    Liu Gan tried his best to calm himself. While allowing his stamina to return, his brain functions started working twice as hard. If he wanted to survive, he must believe that ¡°good thingse to those who wait¡± ¨C he would definitely find a way to leave the za.

    Recalling on everything that had happened ever since he entered the game, Liu Gan realized that the game had given an ample time to the yers. It¡¯s just that the yers didn¡¯t take the chance. From the moment the yers appeared on the za, there were only a few zombies nearby. They could¡¯ve easily left the za quietly, then found a safe ce to hide.

    Even if they lost the chance for that time frame, the first zombie that they encountered was a single female zombie.

    If the yers didn¡¯t y around with the female zombie, they could have easily ganged up and killed her. At least seven to eight minutes had passed before the yers encountered the next wave of zombie attack. They could¡¯ve chosen to escape, but instead they chose to sit around idly and wasted precious time.

    Even after killing the three zombies which charged at them, the yers had time to escape. The yers just kept wasting precious time, it was only when the colossal zombie appeared, and the noises created from the explosion of the grenades and the shouting, that had lead to the corpse tide ¨C leading to the eventual annihtion of the ten yers and Liu Gan getting trapped on top of the iron pir.

    In fact, even if the colossal zombie appeared, the yers had a chance. Only if they hadn¡¯t all split up to escape, but to attack it all at once, then the Colossal zombie would¡¯ve been left half dead. Before the eruption of corpse tide, they would have all escaped through the sewer.

    [TN: remember the person who yell spread out to escape was green-skinned yer and not Liu Gan.]

    It was wrong to say the game never gave the yers any chance, because time and time again, the yers threw that chance away by not choosing the right thing to do. They were traumatized and instead of regaining control, they allowed the fear to ovee them. Once again, losing out on the chance to escape, leading to the current condition entire team getting wiped out.

    Liu Gan felt that he must absorb the moral of the lessons, and for future missions, he had to calm down. Especially since he was trapped on the billboard ¨C he must not freak out and think carefully. He would definitely find a way to escape.

    He needed to work hard in order to survive this!

    Losing the use of his hands, a year ago was the lowest point of his life as a quadruple amputee. Liu Gan had finally gotten to enjoy the experience of a normal person¡¯s happiness with their intact limbs.

    Liu Gan kept touching his own hands and legs. Even to the extent of taking off his shirt to investigate his arms. The attachment to the prosthetics were missing, it¡¯s been reced bypletely good hands, arms, and legs. It¡¯s a perfect body ¨C his perfect body.

    After losing his body parts, Liu Gan had countless dreams where he was able to regrow his limbs. In his dream, he was able to freely use his hands. He can¡¯t even remember how many times he begged to god: if his limbs were able to regrow, he would be willing to sacrifice anything.

    [TN: I chose to use god, but author wrote heaven. He was praying to a higher power for help.]

    Right now, everything he has ever dreamed of came true. If the price was to pay for the reattachment of his limbs, was to get trapped in Trembling World¡­ Liu Gan could ept this, at least he was alive and had his body back.

    In real life, Liu Gan was a rich second generation, so he had no stress in living conditions and he had a lot of favorite hobbies. He could do whatever he wished to do, with a means of funding it. Liu Gan¡¯s favorite activity was parkour. A little more than a year earlier he joined China Central Television¡¯s (CCTV) show ¡°Challenging the Impossible¡±. Through parkour, he broke a few top world records that no one else had been able to topple.

    At the same time, he was also a fan of mountain climbing. Last year Liu Gan and his brother were hiking up Mt. Everest, and just before they were about to reach peak was when the weather suddenly changed. It was a blizzard and his sleeping bag got lost in the confusion. Feeling trapped and tired, he took a short nap, and upon waking up, his legs and arms had lost all feeling.

    After the storm cleared, a helicopter was called in to Mt. Everest to evacuate Liu Gan. It was there where Liu Gan had to get the amputations done. His left and right arms, and both legs had to be cut off. Luckily, his family was rich, and they were able to install thetest machine-operated, alloy-made artificial limbs. Today¡¯s technology with prosthetics was eptable, but Liu Gan spent a really long time only barely managing to operating the limbs.

 Chapter 8

    [TN: I hope there¡¯s no mistakes in this one, or I will cry. T_T]

    Chapter 8: Roaring Thunder

    No matter what happens, the feeling of having alloy metal limbs is far worse than one¡¯s own original limbs. In the real world, Liu Gan has already be a person without limbs ¨C a disabled person.

    He would¡¯ve never expected that, after entering ¡°The Trembling World¡±, his hand and legs would once again return to his body. In this worst case scenario, the recovery of his limbs was the luckiest thing that could¡¯ve happened to him.

    Liu Gan tried his best to analyze the situation with his current knowledge. This must be because of the gamingpany¡¯s new technology which sends yers inside the game world. From the moment he was first inside, there was a full body scanner which probably mistook the alloy prosthetics as his original body parts. The skewed data in the properties of the prosthetics lead to his current scenario.

    Regardless of what the truth was, he was lucky to gain something from this misfortune. In this world full of zombies, if he was able to escape from his current predicament, he would use his parkour skills and agile body to survive. It would give him an edge over other yers, and thus increase his chance at surviving.

    Sitting on top of the iron pir, Liu Gan was closely monitoring the za. He saw that the zombies had devoured all the flesh of the yers who were killed ¨C leaving behind just bones as remains in the za.

    Afterwards, these yers still hadn¡¯t relogged back into the game.

    Unsure of what came next after dying, and whether it was the fear of logging in again, or as the small-statured yer said that maybe if they die in game, they would also die in real life. All these were possibilities which prevented them from dying. This created distress in Liu Gan¡¯s mind.

    The log out and call GM function were still not working. Liu Gan could only hope that killing all the zombies would indicate the mission being aplished, which would let them log out and leave this ce.

    With this many zombies, trying to kill them wouldn¡¯t be an easy mission. So it must be possible after aplishing the mission!

    If he was able to return to the real world, Liu Gan would find that the his limbs didn¡¯t exist anymore, and he¡¯d became a disabled person again. Then in that case, to him, being trapped in The Trembling World wouldn¡¯t be that much better than returning to the real world.

    Even then, he still felt that he didn¡¯t have that much of an urge to find out how to leave the game ¨C all he felt he needed to do was to remain focused and stay alive in order to escape from this za.

    Liu Gan looked at his alloy watch ¨C the ¡®Call GM¡¯ and ¡®Logout¡¯ options were still grayed out. Only his yer properties option was avable. The yer menu was pretty simple to maneuver; besides heart rate, temperature showing notifications, the other functions were yer level, hunger level, thirst level, fatigue level, health condition, contamination degree, and state of infection ¨C which all showed approximate measurements.

    [ED Note: Simple huh¡­]

    Right now, his state of infection color was green, his hunger level was green with a hint of orange, and his thirst level had already changed from orange to red. ording to Liu Gan¡¯s calctions, green represented normal. Once these values were out of the eptable range of healthiness, it would change gradually from red to ck. Once it reached red , he needed to be alert ¨C and his condition for thirst was at that level.

    A chilly breeze was blowing on Liu Gan, who was sitting at the top of the pir. The cold breeze was the reason for his repeated sneezing. He turned his eyes towards the direction where the wind wasing from and discovered that, from beyond the horizon, there was lightning flickering in the sky. It looked like it would be right above him soon.

    What shoulde, will eventuallye!

    A few minutester, the wind current increased. The chilly winds carried along a hint of moisture as it started drizzle. Liu Gan turned to face the wind and opened up his mouth. He wanted to resolve the thirst problem, but the moment he opened his mouth, he didn¡¯t feel the refreshing moisture of water, but only felt the icy winds making it harder for him to breathe.

    However, soon enough, Liu Gan was able to quench his thirst. The thunderstorm with the aid of strong winds elerated the downpour onto the za. Large droplets of rain came from the rolling clouds and sshed onto the ground wildly. Liu Gan opened his mouth toward the sky and with his hand ced together, he started to gather heaven¡¯s gift.

    The water gathered on his palms and just when his lips were about touch the water, he suddenly remembered something. He looked to check if the rainwater was normal rainwater. At the beginning of the game, there was a strange type of red rainwater.

    Liu Gan quickly drank the water in his palm, this was his solution for the thirst problem. After drinking all the water in his palms, he repeated the process of gathering and drinking. He definitely didn¡¯t want to miss out on this opportunity of free water.

    Liu Gan¡¯s worries were unnecessary. Soon after,rge single droplets of rain turned into a downpour. It was as ifrge endless buckets of water was pouring down from the sky. It really didn¡¯t take long for Liu Gan to get soaked. His stomach was bloating from drinking so much water, as the feeling of thirst had very quickly disappeared. If he continued to drink, it would probably make him feel like he was drowning.

    ¡°Damn it! I¡¯m full now! Stop raining!¡± Liu Gan kept wiping his face from the rainwater so he could see clearly, as his body was starting to shiver from the cold wind and constant rainfall. If it kept raining like this, he would freeze to death.

    A bright white light reflected off the surface of the water and blinded Liu Gan, followed by a roaring thunderous sound that deafened his ears for the next few minutes. He couldn¡¯t hear clearly at all.

    Liu Gan¡¯s heart rate started to increase. Judging from the time after the lightning struck to the sound of the thunder, the ce lightning struck very close to the za. If the lightning got any closer, the billboard would definitely serve as a lightning rod and Liu Gan, who was sitting on top of this iron pir, would get definitely get electrocuted as well.

    Liu Gan quickly covered both his ears, to prevent the sound of the next thunderp from deafening him again.

    Right after the first p of thunder, another flicker of bright light shed across the sky in front of Liu Gan. Loud booms of explosion-like sounds from lightning surrounded Liu Gan. With each thunderp, the distance seemed to be getting closer. Liu Gan¡¯s heart was pounding with fear, and his heart rate kept increasing as thunder roared throughout the sky.

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9: Rescue Helicopter

    The storm had been pouring down onto the za for at least half an hour now, with Liu Gan trapped in it like it was a jail cell for what seems like an eternity.

    With every sh of lightning or roar of thunder, he thought it would be the one that struck him. He wrapped his arms around his body tightly, worrying ¨C trembling ¨C from the cold as he waited for it to end, praying that it wouldn¡¯t strike him down as he held on. Finally, the thunderstorm seem to have weakened ¨C it seemed like it was blown away to a different location.

    The torrential downpour gradually changed to a drizzling rain, and Liu Gan once again wiped his face to clear up his vision.

    He was still alive.

    Living was not easy. Liu Gan felt that,pared to his previous 20 years alive, nothing had left as deep an impression as today had.

    The za still had thousands of zombies which were drenched by the rain. There were some female zombies which were wearing a thinyer of clothing, revealing their natural forms. On the floor of the za, there were no signs of any destruction from lightning. Liu Gan turned his head to investigate the reason for it, and at a far location he saw a sh of lightning, but it didn¡¯t strike the za ¨C it was diverted to the nearby hundreds of taller houses at the far edge of the za.

    These houses must have installed a lightning rod to divert the lightning. There were countless lightning strikes in that thunderstorm, perhaps all of those lightning strikes were attracted to those rods? Luckily there were these tall houses, otherwise, with that many lightning strikes, one of them was going to strike Liu Gan who was sitting on top of the iron pir for sure. That was probably the reason why he survived the thunderstorm.

    It was only lightly drizzling now, as the sky above his area started clearing up. The frequency of the lightning strikes started get lower, thenpletely stopped. As long as the lightning rod on the houses stood, it wouldn¡¯t strike Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan took deep breathes to finally rx. He was in a state of anxiety which exhausted him quite a lot. This advertisement structure didn¡¯t give him room toy down to rest. There was only enough room for him to sit squat-like. asionally, he would adjust his seating style to feel morefortable.

    Zombies below the advertisement started to mindlessly try to climb up and form a humandder. Listening to their moans and watching their expression, Liu Gan felt trapped and hopeless. Would these zombies never leave the za?

    If they continued to stay gathered here, Liu Gan would forever remained trapped and be unable to leave.

    In the sky, a faint noise could be heard. It was a continuous roaring noise, which didn¡¯t sound like thunder, Liu Gan pinpointed the direction it came from. It was a helicopter which appeared from the direction of the taller houses far away.

    Liu Gan had never felt so much joy. Naturally, he waved towards the helicopter, just in case the helicopter couldn¡¯t see him. Liu Gan proceeded to climb to the highest part of the billboard and kept waving his arms.

    The helicopter left the high-rise houses and proceeded flying forward at a low-altitude, and circled a few blocks nearby. Then, once again it flew closer to the za. Liu Gan was unsure if it was because they saw him, but then it flew directly towards him. It¡¯s actually flying directly towards me. Liu Gan thought to himself. His efforts were not wasted. By the time it flew close to the za, the drizzling rain became even more scattered. Liu Gan could see the pilot and the helicopter crew.

    From the side view of the helicopter there was a white shape which resembled three rings ¨C it was San Xing Corporation¡¯s logo. As a veteran yer of San Xing Corporation¡¯s games, Liu Gan was very familiar with it.

    No need for further words, this must be San Xing Corporation here to the rescue!

    ¡°I¡¯m right here! Hurry and save me!¡± Liu Gan shouted at the top of his lungs, while trying to maintain bnce on the top of the billboard. Then he attempted to wave both arms in the air while shouting. It didn¡¯t mattered if the crew onboard could hear him or not, but this was the only thing he can possibly do.

    Although, deep down, he was a little worried that this might be a conspiracy by San Xing Corporation. He was worried that after entering the helicopter, he would be taken away by the crew to be used as a guinea pig for testing experiments. However, staying on top of the billboard would not lead to a good ending either. Liu Gan knew that he had to leave the iron pir in order to n his next step. So first, he needed to board the helicopter.

    The helicopter definitely discovered Liu Gan ¨C it was aiming towards the iron pir, while carefully drawing near. It slowly halted right above the billboard. One crew member in San Xing Corporation¡¯s work clothes stepped out.

    Liu Gan was emotionally moved. He survived long enough for rescue to arrive! Luckily, he didn¡¯t give up. Otherwise, by the time the helicopter arrived, he would be dead like the other yers.

    Although the thunderstorm had just about stopped, the wind blowing across the earth was still rather strong. The wind direction near the skyscrapers was also a bit odd. It would suddenly blow east or west, at times strong and at times weak, making the helicopter hovering on top of the billboard waver continuously.

    As ropedder was released down from the helicopter, it was still a good distance away from the advertisement, still a few meters above. It was these few meters that was the type of distance that Liu Gan was afraid of attempting to jump. Luckily, the female member of the crew kept looking down to observe. She kept rying messages to the pilot to move slowly closer, towards the direction of Liu Gan.

    Once again, a sh of bright light appeared before Liu Gan¡¯s eyes. He was temporarily blinded. At the same time, the helicopter hovering above generated some horrible engine sounds. The next moment was followed by thunder which deafened his eardrums. The helicopter flew away from the billboard, it flew even higher than ten meters above. The tail of the helicopter started to smoke in mid air as it started to spin out of control.

    ¡°Damn! No way? There could be this much bad luck?¡± Liu Gan was shocked as he witnessed what happened. That sudden sh of lightning couldn¡¯t possibly have struck the helicopter.

    In the next moment, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t help but sigh. The helicopter continuously spun a few times, gradually losing the ability to stop. With a slight decline it was aiming towards the billboard. Watching all that was about to happen, Liu Gan quickly jumped off the top and tightly gripped the bottom most part of the support structure, suspending his body on the structure.

    The moment Liu Gan jumped, the helicopters metal body mmed into the billboard ¨C at exactly the same position where Liu Gan had been previously ¨C where it produced a loud ¡®BANG¡¯! It generated a dull echo as it smashed into the billboard, then fell towards the ground as it crashed and started rolling.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10: Contamination

    The moment before the helicopter crashed, the helicopter de swept at Liu Gan¡¯s waist while he was suspended mid air. Just in time, Liu Gan clenched his abs, and swung his leg up on on to the remains of the billboard as as The helicopter de powerfully scraped his back. Afterwards, the fusge of the helicopter tumbled down into the area below the billboard sent dozens of zombies flying, and rolled ten meters.

    The helicopter fusge ignited, but didn¡¯t explode immediately. The zombies had no fear of death, so they even stepped on fellow zombies in an attempt to get inside the helicopter ¨C searching for fresh meat within.

    Liu Gan, still shocked, climbed back onto the broken remain of the advertisement structure. He looked at the helicopter that hadnded ten meters away. Before this moment, all he had wanted was to be rescued ¨C to be able to leave the billboard. The next moment, the Trembling World had once again given him another obstacle. He wasn¡¯t able to be rescued, and the rescue helicopter was unluckily struck by lightning and crashed.

    Is heaven too harsh? Before, there were so many lightning strikes, yet none struck the billboard. All were diverted away ¨C yet now that the rainstorm had weakened, a sudden lightning strike actually struck the helicopter that was there to rescue him?

    Right now, he had not only not gotten rescued, the helicopter crew nearby were also out of luck. Even if they didn¡¯t die from impact, half of them would be food for the zombies.

    ¡°Save¡­me¡­¡±

    His eyes and mouth were wide open, as he stared at the helicopter crawling with zombies, when he heard another voiceing from the direction of the support structure, a weak voice calling for help. He turned his head towards its direction and looked around. It was the female crewmember wearing the San Xing corporation uniform, holding onto a piece of support structure that was still hanging.

    Liu Gan recognized her ¨C it was the one who threw the ropedder to him. Her body was covered in blood, probably from the moment the helicopter had smashed into the billboard. It most likely flung her out of the helicopter, or she voluntarily jumped out of it, and then grasped onto the remains of the billboard.

    Liu Gan carefully crawled as close as possible to that part of the billboard, to test out the sturdiness of the structure to ensure it wouldn¡¯t copse. Then he positioned himself as carefully as possible, and used his strength to pull the fragmented billboard up.

    After pulling the female crewmember up, Liu Gan found out that the female worker¡¯s body had been pierced by sharp iron shrapnel. Unsure if it was from the helicopter or the billboard structure, it pierced straight through her abdomen. This was the main reason for her loss of blood.

    After she was pulled up by Liu Gan, she sat down on the destroyed billboard, while her expression turned painful. But, she was still conscious and alert.

    ¡°Are you a GM for this game?¡± Liu Gan asked her.

    The female crewmember stared at Liu Gan, not fully understanding his question¡¯s meaning.

    ¡°The Trembling World has an error where yers are trapped within the game, unable to logout. You are the representatives that the gamepany assigned here to resolve the issue, right?¡± Liu Gan asked the female crewmember.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying¡­¡± The female crewmember had a confused look and stared at Liu Gan.

    ¡°San Xing Corporation made a game, this billboard here is within The Trembling World ¨C therefore, this is San Xing Corporation¡¯s game. I am a game yer, trapped within and unable to logout¡­¡± Liu Gan let the female crewmember look at his alloy watch, while telling her.

    The female crewmember looked at Liu Gan, as if he was a mentally retarded patient, and didn¡¯t speak in reply.

    ¡°I¡¯m asking you something! What¡¯s wrong with this game? You¡¯re already heavily injured, don¡¯t help yourpany hide it anymore! There are ten thousand yers trapped within this game, San Xing Corporation can¡¯t hide it anymore!¡± Liu Gan asked the female worker again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. Simted games could be a different department¡¯s project? I am responsible for biochemicalboratory work. Before the red rain, I was at sea on an expedition. I didn¡¯t expect that the moment I returned, the world would have be like this.¡± she finally replied to Liu Gan.

    This confused Liu Gan even more.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t a game yer, a game corporation¡¯s worker, and also you haven¡¯t recently transferred into this game¡­ You¡¯ve been living here in this world your whole life, right?¡± Liu Gan tested the female¡¯s response.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve lived here my whole life. The purpose of our helicopter trip was to search the houses for usable resources and then return. After lifting off, I saw someone on the billboard, so we flew closer¡­¡± The female looked strangely at Liu Gan. She seemed to feel a lot of discrepancy when talking with Liu Gan.

    ¡°You are this game¡¯s NPC.¡± Liu Gan finally understood.

    ¡°What?¡± The female crewmember frowned. Her face started to be pale. Her wound had been continuously leaking blood.

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Liu Gan shook his head, unsure of what to say.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you been contaminated? Why are you so lucky?¡± The female took the lead to ask Liu Gan.

    ¡°I am a game yer. One hour ago, I was transferred here. I haven¡¯t been bitten yet, so how would I have gotten contaminated?¡± Liu Gan replied.

    ¡°Your brain seems to have a problem¡­ but that¡¯s not strange, considering all that scary stuff that¡¯s happened¡­¡± The female was beginning to understand, and came up with her own theory.

    [TN: error 404 lol] [ED: It¡¯s scawy what zombies do toputers]

    ¡°My head is fine, it¡¯s the game that has an error.¡± Liu Gan replied to the female. No matter how he exined himself, she was from this world ¨C an NPC. She was unable toprehend the meaning that another person had been transferred into this world.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t been contaminated yet, it¡¯s possible that your body has developed a natural antibody against this contamination. Perhaps, you are the key to ending this contamination¡­¡± The female started muttering to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You were lowering the rope to make me your guinea pig?¡± Liu Gan looked at the female ufortably and was a bit angry, since his previous assumption was right.

    ¡°We just wanted to rescue this world¡­. ¡° The female worker revealed her sadness, as her loved ones, her friends, and even her coworkers had all be zombies. She had been on her ocean voyage which had allowed her to survive this disaster. Upon returning, everything she was once familiar with, had all changed.

    ¡°You said you were on an expedition, is this ce close to the coast? Is there only one ship? If something happens to you here, they will send another helicopter to search and rescue you right?¡± Liu Gan suddenly remembered and asked the female worker.

    [Exnation if necessary: One is an NPC (aka resident of the ¡°new¡± world) and the other is the yer (aka ¡°new¡± world visitor).]

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11: Caught Off Guard

    ¡°Yes, but we weren¡¯t able to send out an SOS before the crash. Moreover, when we first headed out, we said that we wouldn¡¯t be able to return until nighttime, so they probably won¡¯te to our rescue immediately.¡± The female crewmember thought a bit before replying to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Do you have any way of contacting them? After it gets dark, they won¡¯t find us here.¡± Liu Gan told the female crewmember.

    ¡°The Helicopter is equipped with devices formunicating. If you get to it, you can call for them¡­¡± The female crewmember looked in the direction of the ruined helicopter. Right now the helicopter¡¯s inside was crawling with zombies. Inside of it was thick smoke, which came from the ignited part of the helicopter which in turn engulfed the zombies bodies in me. They kept piling on top of each other without being afraid of being burned.

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Liu Gan shook his head while looking at the helicopter.

    ¡°I¡¯m internally bleeding¡­ I can¡¯t survive much longer.¡± The female crewmember¡¯s face continuously paled, and her voice gradually weakened.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a doctor. I can¡¯t help you.¡± Liu Gan looked at the metal that pierced her body. He felt remorseful after saying that.

    ¡°There¡¯s something else you can help me with¡­¡± The female crewmember told Liu Gan with a begging gaze.

    ¡°Tell me, and I¡¯ll see if I can help. But if I¡¯m not not able to, then I¡¯m sorry.¡± Liu Gan replied to the female crewmember. To survive in this apocalyptic era, helping others could not involve any harm to himself.

    ¡°If you wait until the next search and rescue crew, please tell them that this virus could possibly be man-made. In the gene, it has a lot of human fragments. Conventional vines don¡¯t work. We have to change our method of thinking, even though I haven¡¯t obtained all the evidence to show it. But¡­¡±

    The female crewmember didn¡¯t finish her sentence. Ten meters away, the thick smokeing from the helicopter suddenly produced a loud explosion¡¯ The noise deafened their ears, and produced mes that reached the sky. The dozens of zombies on it were blown away. The explosion created a shockwave from the materials scattered around, with some reaching the billboard nearby. It even lifted Liu Gan and the female crewmember off of the support structure.

    Liu Gan grabbed the bottom part of the structure just in time, so that he wouldn¡¯t get sted away. However, the female crewmember wasn¡¯t as lucky. She was already severely injured, so the shockwave caught her off guard when it blew her off the support structure.

    Liu Gan¡¯s other hand reached and grabbed onto the clothing of the female crewmember, and right before the clothing slipped off, the female crewmember grabbed Liu Gan¡¯s hand. Both people were suspended in midair.

    Right below them, the zombies became even more excited, crowding on top of each other. They wanted to reach above them, to the food waiting to fall.

    ¡°Damn! Today is yet another bad day?¡± Liu Gan cursed in frustration. One person surrounded in the za on the billboard was enough bad luck. Yet now that rescue was here, the result was the helicopter crashing. Now it wasn¡¯t even safe to sit on the billboard.

    However, the unluckiest one was the person in his hand ¨C the girl. The two of them were interlocked hand in hand, yet, because of their sweat and rain water, their hand-hold started slipping. Liu gan couldn¡¯t hold her for much longer.

    ¡°This is for you, help me give it to them¡­¡± The female crewmember, with her other hand, reached into her clothes and pulled out a USB stick. Forcefully, she shoved it into Liu Gan¡¯s hand. At the same time, her other hand slipped out, letting her plunge into the zombies that had gathered below in the za.

    Liu Gan hadn¡¯t grabbed onto the USB¡­ the moment the girl slipped out of his grasp, he felt her give something to him. It was in between his fingers, with his pointer and the middle finger clinging onto thenyard for the USB. The USB didn¡¯t follow the girl when she fell down.

    Liu Gan¡¯s finger hooked onto the USB, as he looked below him ¨C the female crewmember was within the crowd of zombies. Apanied by screams of misery, her body was soon torn apart by the savage zombies below, nothing remained.

    Using his strength, he climbed back onto the destroyed billboard structure, looking for a suitable seating position to catch his breath.

    From the moment he first saw the bald-yer¡¯s painful scream when he was bitten, to the moment where people started screaming in agony from getting torn apart, his psychological state had numbed. Death was an inevitable event ¨C it would eventuallye for him too.

    It was still good ¨C after experiencing all this, the other people were the ones dying. He was very much still alive.

    Looking within his hands, he saw a USB. Recalling his conversation with the female crewmember. Liu Gan became confused¡­ Is this the game¡¯s secret mission? How do Iplete it? Uponpletion will there be a reward?

    Seated on the fragmented support structure, Liu Gan sat thinking., Suddenly, he heard strange movement surrounding him. Was it a person? Liu Gan turned to look behind him to find a

    zombie crawling over ¨C it was less than a meter away and closing in. It¡¯s face was full of bloodlust, while it to continued crawling towards him.

    Caught off guard, Liu Gan felt a chill in his heart, and his body unconsciously trembled¡­ Originally, he had thought being above the ground was safe. No one would have thought that they were able to reach the top of the billboard.

    How did it get up here? If it climbed it¡¯s way up. Won¡¯t that mean other zombies could also climb up here? Then it would definitely be trouble!

    Seeing that the zombie had only the brain and top half of the body, Liu Gan quickly understood. This zombie was definitely from before, when the helicopter had exploded and sent a zombie flying up to the billboard. With only half a bodynding on the fragmented billboard parts, that was probably the reason why Liu Gan didn¡¯t notice. It must have smelled Liu Gan¡¯s scent of fresh meat. So it crawled over with the desire to eat him.

    It doesn¡¯t even have a gut anymore, yet it still wants to eat. What is this strange monster?

    ¡°F^[email protected] off!¡± Liu Gan got angry. In real life, he rarely cursed, but this time he couldn¡¯t contain the vulgarnguage. He stuck out his foot and rapidly stomped the zombie. He vented his anger and the depressed feeling from within him.

    The zombie is crushed to bits and pieces, Then Liu Gan kicked it off of the fragmented billboard. Liu Gan still didn¡¯t feel safe, so he carefully checked his surroundings. After confirming there were no hidden zombies, then was he able to release a long sigh and sit down.

    The Trembling World was a ce surrounded by danger. There was never a moment where he can drop his alertness!

    Liu Gan looked around once more. When he saw the endless tide of corpses gathering in the za like a mass of maggots, as well as the zombies below him constantly piling up bodies in an attempt to climb up and eat him, he felt an indescribable sorrow in his heart.

    After experiencing the failed attempt of a rescue, now, he is once again lonely. It had returned to the same starting point.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12: The Night of No Rest

    It was a good thing that Liu Gan had already adjusted to this kind of loneliness. Since over a month ago, when he had entered his vi, he had been living this type of isted lifestyle.

    Amidst this loneliness, the sky seemed to slowly dim. Liu Gan¡¯s first night in the Trembling World was about to arrive.

    This night, was destined to be a restless one.

    After the helicopter exploded and burned for a while, the fire slowly went out. The surrounding air was filled with the smell of foul smoke and various charred materials. The smell was making Liu Gan teary eyed and light headed.

    Luckily the thunderstorm had passed, but the wind hadn¡¯t stopped. The wind¡¯s strength was even stronger than before. It was enough to disperse the unpleasant odor. Because he was unable to leave the za, Liu Gan would have been suffocated by the toxic fumes if it weren¡¯t for the strong winds ¨C therefore the strong winds actually helped him.

    The helicopter crashed into the billboard, and after the explosion from the helicopter it further damaged the billboard. Both these incidents nearly cost Liu Gan his life, but it also brought him an advantage. This was that the billboards support structurepletely changed on impact ¨C so much that one of the areas took the form of a small criss-crossed ledge.

    (ED: There was a pun there. Instead of criss-crossed ledge, it waswork shape. You know, because it¡¯s a game? Ha ha.)

    Liu Gan modified this criss-cross ledge by kicking it and managed to turn it into an area that he was able toy down partially in. Even though this was a simple modification, it was morefortable than before ¨C when he had to sit in the cranny of the billboard.

    Tonight, he shouldn¡¯t expect to leave the za. Liu Gan was to apany these thousands of zombies moans while falling into a slumber. This was good, at least he won¡¯t have nightmares¡­ there¡¯s no nightmare that could be worse than his current situation, could there?

    Liu Gan was indeed feeling tired, but he didn¡¯t dare to fallpletely asleep. He was really worried that once he fellpletely asleep, he would identally fall from the structure to the zombies below. If he really fell from there, then there was really only one ending¡­ This was to be gnawed on and torn apart, while being eaten alive and feeling all of the pain.

    If it was more than a month ago, Liu Gan would never have imagined himself dying in this manner.

    ¡­

    The sky gradually darkened. Liu Gan was unsure of how long had passed ¨C 2 hours? 3 hours? At this moment, Liu Gan¡¯s consciousness was a bit blurry, and from afar, on the horizon, once again the constant sound of a helicopter echoed.

    Liu Gan immediately sat straight up and looked toward that direction. Indeed, it was another helicopter, even though it was flying quickly toward the za¡¯s edge, towards the hundreds buildings. It kept circling around. A searchlight was non-stop shining on the ground, as if searching for something.

    This helicopter was the exact same shape and model as the previous destroyed helicopter ¨C the helicopter exterior had the same type of 3 rings that represented the San Xing corporation logo.

    It looked like they didn¡¯t wait for the return of their partners, so they came for a search and rescue work.

    Liu Gan quickly stood on top of the support structure and shouted at the helicopter as well as waving his hands toward it. However, the sky had alreadypletely darkened. The people onboard the helicopter ¨C if the search light didn¡¯t reach him ¨C would have a hard time seeing him. In addition, the helicopter produced sound, so it was difficult to hear Liu Gan¡¯s cry for help.

    The rescue helicopter circled the towering skyscrapers a few more times. Its searchlight was first aimed towards the rooftops of the buildings, before it was repositioned to search carefully towards the windows of the building. Lastly, the searchlight was aimed toward the za. The burning helicopter from before had already stopped burning and producing any smoke, so it was impossible for it to give them a signal of any kind.

    Despite Liu Gan¡¯s efforts of constantly waving his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs, the searchlight on the rescue helicopter never reached the area of the billboard. Not to mention that it didn¡¯t even shine onto the remains of the previous helicopter which was close by the billboard, they couldn¡¯t even hear Liu Gan in overwhelming darkness.

    The rescue helicopter flew overhead right by him, the rescue crewmember shining the light into the densely packed za of zombies. They decided that it was impossible for theirrades to be there, so the pilot flew the helicopter straight to the outer edge. No matter what Liu Gan shouted, it never turned back.

    ¡°A bunch of idiots! Would searching a bit more carefully kill you?¡± Liu Gan watched on as the helicopter body with its searchlight disappeared from view into the darkness of the night, and he felt his heart turn cold. If the helicopter kept searching for theirrades, it was very possible it would not turn back to this area.

    This meant that he once again had lost his chance to escape from the za¡¯s billboard. This could possibly be hisst chance to be rescued.

    This was really disheartening!

    Powerless, Liu Gan could only return to the simple metal criss-crossed bed, both eyes staring into the pitch ck darkness of the night. Unsure of what to make of this situation, perhaps he shouldn¡¯t think about it at all¡­

    Shortly after the helicopter left, the thick clouds that had hovered above Liu Gan¡¯s head gradually dispersed from the gale. The moonlight seeped through the thinned out cloud ¨C it was as if wielding a pipa sheepishly revealing only half the face, cowering behind her shy appearance.

    [TN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipa]

    Tonight was a full moon. After another half an hour had passed, the dark clouds that had originally covered the sky had been blown away by the evening breeze. The moonlight cascaded down onto the ground, illuminating the entire za. However, thendscape¡¯s scene wasn¡¯t all that beautiful, so Liu Gan just vacantly lied down on the simple, metal-framed bed. As he stared off into the bright moonlight, he began to recall the past 20 or so years of his rtively short life so far.

    When one grew old, or was about to die, their mostmon action was to recall their memories.

    He was unsure if the rain in the real world had stopped, nor did he know the condition of his body in the vi sitting in front of his monitor. Did the body stay there? Did only the soul get teleported here? Or did both the physical body and the soul get transformed and then transferred to this world here?

    Did this count as entering another dimension?

    If it did, ording to the theories in ReadNovelFulls, he should be the only one entering another dimension, and undoubtedly be the story¡¯s protagonist. However, it was clear to see that he wasn¡¯t the only one that had entered The Trembling World; there were still tens of thousands other people. That¡¯s why it couldn¡¯t count as entering another dimension.

    Then what exactly had he just experienced?

    The world wasrge, the universe was vast, time was eternal and endless ¨C there were too many unknowns and mysteries. Today for Liu Gan, a lot had urred. He experienced countless setbacks from time to time again within his world. It allowed him to experience his own weakness and insignificance.

    However, weakness and insignificance weren¡¯t supposed to be reasons for giving up and shrinking back. As a human with an extremely high IQ, Liu Gan felt that no matter what, he had to press on. One had to treasure their life; even if neither of the two helicopters could save him, there was still a chance that he could encounter another chance to leave this ce alive, as long as he just persevered.

    Just like how, when he had been trapped here in the beginning, he hadn¡¯t thought that helicopters would ever pass by. Yet the helicopters hade, and even noticed him. If it weren¡¯t for that damned lightning, he would¡¯ve already safely left this ce.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13: Chance

    Thinking back on it, leaving with the helicopter probably wasn¡¯t a good idea, these guys have a ship so it is possible they are part of the local military. They could bring him back and torture him; use iron chains to tie him up, treat him like a guinea pig, while performing all sorts of experiments on his body. Even extracting his blood or perhaps even injecting him with the virus to see he would be a zombie.

    ED Note: Wow this guy really is really thorough with how he thinks he¡¯ll be tortured.

    After thinking for a little while, Liu Gan felt a lot better in his heart.

    The moment after I entered the game, not all of the tens of thousands of yers should have had as bad of luck as I did right? There should be many others who haven¡¯t been infected yet, perhaps the rescue helicopter found the other yers and caught them to be their guinea pigs?

    As Liu Ganid on top of the iron support structure, as he was recalling his experiences he had in moments of despair and fortune, suddenly a chance appeared.

    From a few streets outside of the za was a loud explosion, the sound echoed and shook the nearby structures. Sitting stunned on top of the fragmented billboard, even Liu Gan felt the shockwave. The explosion suddenly lit up with fire that was bright enough to color half the sky with a bright orange.

    Liu Gan guessed that it was the gas station or chemical warehouse that was the cause of the explosion, as that would be the only reason behind the overwhelming power in the explosion. He was unsure who would¡¯ve caused such a thing¡­ Was it the yer who entered with him or was it the locals?

    After the violent explosion was over, from the same direction of the street, was a loud car rm that went off. This continuous noise instantly attracted the attention of all the zombies in the za. Rushing on top of each other, the zombies charged towards the direction of the noise. First were the zombies on the surrounding za, then the zombies by the iron pir, which was located a bit further away from the sound. The scene Liu Gan was witnessing at that moment was simr to when audiences leave from the movie theaters; the zombies were constantly pushing and shoving to leave the za.

    What gave Liu Gan a headache was that after the sound died out, by the billboard there were at least a dozen zombies that stood guard, raising their heads to look in Liu Gan¡¯s direction. The explosion and sound generated definitely attracted their attention. However, because the corpse tide was too crowded, these zombies didn¡¯t leave in time. So by the time the car quieted down, these zombies hadn¡¯t moved too far away.

    If below him were only a few zombies, Liu Gan could take a chance to slip down and kick them away in an attempt to escape, but below him were at least a dozen zombies¡­ Liu Gan felt that he shouldn¡¯t take this risk. If he slips down now, and falls into their hands, it will definitely mean game over.

    There must be a way to leave this billboard and za, this is probably my best chance of escaping. It was unsure of whether the zombies that had left the za mighte back, and if they did, when they would. If this chance passes by, Liu Gan is very wary of whether he could find a better opportunity to escape.

    Oh, what to do?

    Just when Liu Gan was contemting about what to do next, the same street from earlier that caused an explosion, created another explosion. This secondary explosion was even stronger than the first explosion. The mes formed a mushroom cloud that illuminated the night sky brightly.

    (Editor Note: Hydro-This is turning into a Michael Bay film xD)

    The nearby skyscrapers also shook wildly, and many of the windows were shattered by the shockwave. ¡°Pa cha cha¡±, the pieces of ss fell down from the skyscraper.

    At the same time, Liu Gan also felt therge shockwave, though luckily, he was expecting it. Laying low and grabbing onto the fragmented structure, with his legs hooked onto it as well, all this was to prevent himself from flying off of the structure.

    The explosion once again set off nearby car rms. The remaining zombies below the billboard were knocked to the ground. After they got up, they didn¡¯t gather around under the billboard, instead all of them rushed towards the noise.

    With zero effort on Liu Gan¡¯s part, shortly after, the za became empty.

    Trapped on top of the billboard, Liu Gan would never have thought that his trapped situation causing him headaches and no solution of escape would be alleviated, so it was shocking when this rare chance would erase away all his problems.

    Of course, this was not strange, Liu Gan just slightly remembered that when he was reading on gamingpanies website. It said [The Trembling World] game zombies have no preset. It merely uses television and movie zombies as reference. The explosion would definitely be sensitive to the dead, and they will follow it to the source.

    When Liu Gan and the yers were transferred here, the amount of zombies in the area weren¡¯t that many. It was because Liu Gan and the others were running, battling, and creating noise to attract all of the surrounding zombies into the za that the corpse tide was created. If a nearby ce was able to generate a loud sound, naturally all of the zombies would continue onto that direction.

    Now, the za is empty. Leaving behind only the heavily injured, unable to run, but slowly crawling was the colossal zombie that was left behind.

    The colossal zombie wasn¡¯t able to leave because in the previous battle it was heavily injured. All of the molotov cocktails had burned it quite severely, and then it managed to survive a few more hand grenades. It was definitely no longer in pristine condition, as its¡¯ body had burnt spots as well as exposed bones. When it got up and walked, it limped on one side.

    Because it was limping, it was having to trail behind the normal zombies. Heading towards the explosion it was slowly but surely walking there.

    Liu Gan watched the severely injured colossal zombie, in his brain he had so many thoughts¡­ He remembered that after killing the normal zombies before, a ck orb of mist seeped into his body and on his alloy watch, he went from level 1 to level 2. With his body rejuvenated full of strength and energy, his vision and hearing had all improved.

    It is good to remember that within [The Trembling World] killing a zombie could raise the level and stats. Killing a normal zombie would benefit him a little, but if he kills a colossal zombie, would it give him a huge benefit?

    Within this world, Liu Gan has renewed control of his arms and legs, enabling him to kill a bit more zombies even if it was a colossal zombie. If his body¡¯s strength, agility, sight, hearing all improved, it will improve his survivability significantly.

    The sacrifices of the 8 yers caused this much injury to the colossal zombie, nearly to the point of a deformed condition, and this chance was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

    Although with this type of thinking, Liu Gan still didn¡¯t dare to just rush down and charge headfirst into the wounded colossal zombie. Within the game, would killing the BOSS give a generous amount of experience, valuables and equipment drops? However, ites at a risk of using my own life as a gamble to obtain these benefits, right?

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14: Survival and Risks

    The colossal zombie was already heavily injured, but Liu Gan wasn¡¯t sure how much of itsbat strength remained. If he just charged at it head first without a n, then any mistake would cost his own life.

    First things first, now is the time to leave the safety of the billboard and go down the pir. It doesn¡¯t matter if it is tobat the colossal zombie or to escape, because staying on top of the pir was not a solution. If those zombies decided to return to this spot, then he will once again be surrounded by them at the base of the pir, and that would be troublesome.

    Liu Gan maneuvered himself over the deformed fragments of the support structure and carefully proceeded to descend to the iron pir. With both hands gripping tightly onto the support structure, Liu Gan lowered his body and legs first. Then he used his legs to grip onto the iron structure, and once secure, he hugged with both arms onto the pir. Of course, it was at a controlled speed that he went down.

    The ground had puddles everywhere, the only area without puddles was an area that had some dirty sticky substance that covered it, and the burnt helicopter that was scorched ck. Scattered all around were the spare parts of that helicopter. Once Liu Gan slid to the ground, he picked up his weapon that he left behind on the ground. He was surprised and happy to see that right by his machete was a leftover hand grenade.

    (Editor Note: Hydro- Hip hip hooray!! He finally got down xD)

    This hand grenade was probably the sses-yer¡¯s starting weapon, so in the midst of confusion while escaping, he didn¡¯t get a chance to throw it. Even if he did have the chance to use it, his body was torn apart as food for the zombies.

    Borrowing the bright moonlight, it was easy to see from afar the colossal zombie, but it didn¡¯t notice who was behind him. Liu Gan searched nearby a bit more. From the spot where the female crewmember fell from the billboard, what was left behind were scattered bones and clothing in the area.

    It¡¯s too bad that Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to find useful equipment or tools from searching her remains.

    [TN: Corpse looting is allowed in apocalyptic world, I approve!] (Editor Note: Hydro- to TN, ¡°Psh, I¡¯d loot you if you were alive¡±)

    Unsatisfied, Liu Gan went up to the scorched helicopter to investigate. The inside had burnt corpses melted together, so it was impossible to differentiate the bodies of the crew from the zombies. Liu Gan searched in the vicinity near the helicopter for a little bit and then gave up. Firstly, there was nothing left behind after the items had gone through an explosion and burning from the helicopter. Secondly, he really didn¡¯t want to dig through the burnt corpses inside of the helicopter.

    It was best that he didn¡¯t stay behind in this za any longer. If he decided to take the risk to kill the colossal zombie, then he must take action right now, and the battle must be swift, If he chose to ignore the colossal zombie, then he must quickly leave now and not wait for the corpse tide toe back, because if that happens, he definitely won¡¯t escape.

    Liu Gan quickly decided to risk assassinating the heavily injured colossal zombie.

    To survive and take risks are twopletely different choices. There are times when it is necessary to take risks to have a higher chance of survival. Just like right now, Liu Gan wants to improve his chance of surviving by a lot, so he must think of ways to improve his strength.

    This was a good chance for him to quickly increase his strength, and if he abandoned this opportunity, then he might not be able to forgive himself for the sacrifices of the 8 yers¡­ They contributed their life to do this much damage to the colossal zombie.

    The colossal zombie¡¯s leg had the most severe injury, with a lot of ces exposing the bone. There was an obvious bone fracture, and that was why it was limping as it walked slowly towards the streets outside of the za. Liu Gan was thinking about using the hand grenade against the colossal zombie. Maybe one hand grenade would be enough to take away its life.

    If that didn¡¯t work and taking into consideration on the colossal zombie¡¯s current movement speed, if Liu Gan can¡¯t win then he could at least outrun it. Liu Gan¡¯s escape n was to go back to the za where it¡¯s already empty, so it should be safer than the streets.

    Using the hand grenade definitely has it¡¯s ws, as it could re-attract the zombies that were distracted by the explosion and car rm from earlier back to him, generating another corpse tide.

    So Liu Gan decided he will end it quickly, if the hand grenade can kill it then good, if not then based on the situation he must sh it a few times with the machete. Hopefully that would end it, otherwise Liu Gan would be left running away.

    Being able to assassinate the colossal zombie for experience is the best situation, because it is always important to protect his own life.

    After Liu Gan decided what his n of attack was, with a machete in one hand and grenade in another, he snuck up slowly behind the colossal zombie.

    Although Liu Gan tried his best to be quiet, the moment he got close enough the zombie noticed. It was because of its¡¯ sense of smell for fresh meat was particrly sensitive. When Liu Gan was around 10 meters or so from the colossal zombie¡¯s back, the zombie turned its head, saw Liu Gan and let out a roar. Changing directions, its body began to charge at Liu Gan.

    Although the colossal zombie was rushing at Liu Gan to tear him into pieces, and eat his fresh meat so it can revive, the previous injuries were too severe. This made the colossal zombie even more angry, full of bloodlust and thirst as it slowly crawled toward Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan retreated while preparing to take the safety off for the grenade. Based on his previous gaming experience, judged the distance he needed to be from the colossal zombie. After pulling the safety, two and a half secondster, Liu Gan decisively threw it at colossal zombie and instinctively covered up his ears while getting onto his stomach.

    The grenade flew through the air for about a second, beforending brilliantly in front of colossal zombie. Then it exploded!

    ¡°Bang!¡± the colossal zombie that was 3 to 4 meters tall with a heavy weighted body, but easily flipped onto the floor, both legs heavily damaged to the point where the bones were shattered and the legs flew off. One of its arms was blown off as well. Losing both legs and an arm, the colossal zombiey on the floor angrily howling a few sounds, unable to pick itself up.

    However, this colossal zombie was really sturdy, and the grenade wasn¡¯t able to take its life. Liu Gan already expected that the explosion of the grenade could attract a part of the zombies back toward him. So he wanted to kill the colossal zombie as soon as possible, so as to gain more strength for himself, thus, he must use this opportunity.

    Liu Gan got up and charged machete first into the colossal zombie, the moment Liu Gan lifted the machete for a quick downward sh at its head, the colossal zombieying on the floor punched with his remaining limb. The limb was half exposed to the bone, with the size of its fist being like that of a ser ball. The punch easily sent Liu Gan¡¯s body flying backwards.

    <em>Damn this fatass, it¡¯s almost dead, yet can still pack such a punch, I can¡¯t be careless around it!</em>

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15: Alloy metal material

    Liu Gan raised his arm to block the colossal zombie¡¯s punch, and the impact sent him somersaulting through the air. Using his previous experience with parkour, his legs and feet touched the ground first, bending at the knees so as to bring him into a roll, cushioning the force of his fall. He then charged at the colossal zombie once more.

    This time, Liu Gan didn¡¯t rush to aim for the colossal zombie¡¯s head. Instead, he sliced at the zombie¡¯s remaining arm, targeting the parts that were extremely damaged. That way the colossal zombie wouldn¡¯t be able to try and attack him anymore.

    The colossal zombie used it¡¯s wounded arm to block several of Liu Gan¡¯s attacks, soon it was too weak to block any more attacks and dropped its arm. Liu Gan was still worried so he didn¡¯t charge up immediately, but kept chopping a few more times. By doing this he managed to cut the arm of the colossal zombie, then started to shed down on the neck.

    The colossal zombie¡¯s skeletal and muscr structure were really tough. By the time he was done shing at the arm, the machete was already slightly dented, so when he shed at the neck of the colossal zombie the machete turned out to bepletely useless. ¡°Looks like the quality of the starting weapon isn¡¯t that great. After a few shes, it is out ofmission.¡±

    Liu Gan¡¯s grenade did end up attracting the attention of some zombies, with at least a dozen of them appearing at the corner of the street, close to the edge of the za. They must have heard the noise at the za, so they came back. Seeing Liu Gan, the zombies started to charge at him, though luckily this time, they all rushed toward him from one direction. Soon after a couple of straggling zombies almost surrounded Liu Gan.

    ¡°You know what! Go to hell!¡±

    Liu Gan shouted loudly, threw away his broken machete, and used his fist instead to smash the head of the colossal zombie. After ten brutal fists to the head of the colossal zombie, it¡¯s brain became a pile of mush. At the same time, onerge hazy ck orb leaked out of the colossal zombies body and poured into Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan felt like his whole body was was drowning within boiling water, the blood in him was seething.

    The next moment, Liu Gan felt rejuvenated with energy, and was able to sense a significant power up in his sight and hearing. His arms and legs also felt like they were heating up as if metal alloy limbs were being forged.

    Liu Gan suspiciously looked at his own fist that was perfectly fine even after smashing the head of the colossal zombie open. It seemed as if his fist had more strength and durability than any normal person would have in real life. They definitely didn¡¯t look like they were anything special. But the colossal zombie¡¯s bones were abnormally hard, and if these fists were normal, then they definitely couldn¡¯t damage the zombie like that. Even after all smashing though, his fists look normal without any injuries.

    Perhaps the moment when he got transferred into this gaming world, his limbs were miscalcted in the confusion? Because his metal alloy prosthetics were on at the time, perhaps now his arms and legs hadbined with the metal alloy material in his muscles. Sopared to other people, his arms and legs are rtively harder?

    [TN: in thend of 1 and 0, is what the author was trying to say by miscalcted]

    On his alloy wrist watch, it disyed that Liu Gan was already two levels higher than his previous level two, instead jumping straight to level four!

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t have time to think for too long, as he turned and noticed that dozens of zombies were forming a squad to capture him. Liu Gan immediately sprinted toward the part of the za where there were no zombies.

    Compared to his previous body, if Liu Gan wanted to escape a dozen zombies chasing after him, it wouldn¡¯t have been easy. Now, after killing the colossal zombie and absorbing the dark orb, Liu Gan felt that his body movement was even faster. It was as if almost every stat seemed to have increased significantly, and after he started running, the crowd of zombies slowly fell behind.

    In front of him appeared a zombie, yelling and charging at Liu Gan in order to bite him. Liu Gan couldn¡¯t dodge in time, so with his fist, he swung towards the brain of the zombie, leaving a bloody depression on the zombie¡¯s head. It stumbled backward, and after a few steps it didn¡¯t get back up.

    ¡°There is definitely something abnormal about my fists!¡± Liu Gan felt surprised. Zombies bones were hard, so shouldn¡¯t iron rods be the only thing that could produce this kind of effect?

    After clearing away the zombies that blocked the road for Liu Gan, he kept running and turned a few street corners, losing the dozen of zombies following him. Unable to see him, the zombies didn¡¯t continue chasing and resumed their previous state of aimlessly wandering.

    Leaving the za, the next few blocks didn¡¯t have anything like arge scale corpse tide, but there were some scattered zombies wandering around. Previously, Liu Gan felt nervous, but now he could rx a bit. He surveyed the area, then started assassinating the scattered zombies.

    Liu Gan took this time to survey and investigate his new limbs. Although he didn¡¯t feel any different, the moment he clenched his fists he could feel a great surge of power flowing through them. It was as if he was wielding two iron hammers.

    Other than losing both his arms and legs, his body was no different from normal people. The limbs and the bodies neural connections didn¡¯t seem to have a problem, and it looked like a perfect fusion.

    The most critical fact is that within [The Trembling World] he has ess to his body again, and this body was able to benefit from the huge increase in stats that came from the colossal zombie¡¯srge ck orb. In the real world, Liu Gan enjoyed parkour, and being able to run, jump and flip at the height of two meters. After experiencing this, he discovered that he can jump off from a two story building, and stillnd steadily without causing his body too much harm.

    Previously in the real world doing parkour, Liu Gan could jump off of a two story building, but his legs would sustain an injury from the force. Now he can easily jump from a two story building ande out uninjured. Both legs were fine, which got him wondering if it would give the same result if he jumped off a 3 story building.

    Of course, this can be tested by finding the appropriate situation and opportunity to practice. If he jumped off right now, it would be too rash and dangerous.

    Even though this ce was running rampant with zombies, Liu Gan was surprised at himself. Especially his situation right now, since in real life he spends most of his time lying down or sitting up, eating and drinking, these simple activities which wasparable to that of a handicap. Now, he finally had the feeling of what it means to be alive again.

    His arms and legs being strengthened was certainly a surprising reward. It would benefit him in this world, and help him to survive. Liu Gan¡¯s feelings were not like they were when he entered the game. After witnessing other yers dying, he finally took the initiative to kill more zombies. His urge to level up was even higher after taking out the colossal zombie.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16: Massacre

    The most important point was that Liu Gan can finally get off that damn billboard and sessfully leave the za, which was swarming with zombies. Right now his feelings of freedom were like a fish swimming in the ocean or a bird that is free to roam the sky.

    Liu Gan believed that using his outstanding parkour skills, strengthened body, and alloy metal-like limbs, even if it was in this dangerous environment, he could survive. He will be even stronger.

    Not far away was a zombie roaming the streets, and it drew closer with its bloodshot eyes looking left and right. It had a re that can send chills down the spine, with blood at the corner of its mouth and never ending saliva. Coincidentally, it saw Liu Gan at the corner of its eye, and charged at him while screaming.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t even hesitate to charge at it, and with a vicious punch to the zombie¡¯s head, it left a bloody depression. The zombie started wobbling and it took a step backward. Liu Gan followed up with a few more fists, and soon its brain was smashed into pieces. A hazy ck mist left the zombie¡¯s body and seeped into Liu Gan¡¯s.

    Shortly after, all of the zombies that were wandering the nearby streets were killed by Liu Gan¡¯s fist. It was the joy of massacre that he was now experiencing and he liked it.

    The whole point of entering this type of game was to search for this exact feeling of excitement.

    ¡°Ou! Brother! Thank you for your help¡­¡± Liu Gan was still adjusting to his limbs and killing the scattered zombies when a voice reached his ears, it came from the rooftop of a nearby 4 story building.

    Moonlight lit up the area, and Liu Gan relied on it to see that on the rooftop edges stood 5 male and 1 female yers. A total of 6 yers were all looking in his direction, waving and shouting at him.

    In these types of zombie games, the amount of female yers was very low. A good example would have been Liu Gan¡¯s group, as out of the ten yers, all were male. It was still unknown why this small group of six yers were on top of the rooftop though.

    ¡°help?¡± Liu Gan asked the group of yers in reply, though he didn¡¯t move closer to them. Liu Gan looked cautiously at his surroundings, and he was trying to avoid raising his voice for fear of attracting more zombies.

    While walking over to the building, the street was nearlypletely cleared of zombies. Even though Liu Gan was alert, he wasn¡¯t nervous. If this ce had a small sized corpse tide, it wouldn¡¯t stop him anymore. This location is not like the open za, and with his current speed and parkour abilities, he could easily climb onto the buildings, then jump from rooftop to rooftop to escape.

    ¡°We have been trapped on the rooftop since entering the game, and the exit below has an iron door that has been locked from the outside. We¡¯re unable to crack the lock and open the door, could you do us a favor and help open it?¡± A plump-yer exined his situation to Liu Gan.

    [TN: The author used fat, I¡¯ll use plump] (Editor Note: Hydro- I have noment for this)

    ¡°Me? If I help you, how will I benefit?¡± Liu Gan questioned the yers on the building. The small building the yers were on had an external stairway that didn¡¯t have any zombies, so to reach the yers, Liu Gan must travel up to the iron door at the top of the stairs.

    They¡¯re pretty stupid, didn¡¯t they know they could use windows and the air conditioners to climb down?

    ¡°We have been trapped here since the game started, so we didn¡¯t have a chance to get any loot from kills. What benefits do you want?¡± the plump-yer replied to Liu gan¡¯s question.

    ¡°How about we give this young girl to you? She is very pretty.¡± another yer with green hair standing next to the female yer jokingly said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You wanna die? What young girl? I¡¯m your older sister!¡± The only female yer pulled the ear of the green-haired yer, and started scolding him.

    ¡°Brother, we¡¯ve been trapped here for a very long time. Do us a favor! Help us open the iron door up!¡± Another yer also started pleading to Liu Gan for help.

    ¡°When you entered the game, what did you choose as your starting weapon? Show it to me. I have to make sure there are no hidden traps prepared for me.¡± Liu Gan said after thinking for a little while.

    ¡°Absolutely not! We were really trapped here since entering. I chose the iron rod¡­¡± the plump-yer confessed and revealed his iron rod.

    ¡°I chose the machete¡­¡±

    ¡°Machete¡­¡±

    ¡°Machete¡­¡±

    ¡°I have a hand grenade¡­¡±

    ¡°I also have a hand grenade¡­¡±

    The six yers honestly disyed their starting weapons to prove that there were no bad intentions, or ideas of harming him.

    Liu Gan¡¯s true intention of wanting them to disy their starting weapon was to see if the yers were honest, and not because he was scared of them. He could tell that these yers weren¡¯t bad people. They have not yete into contact with the evil side of humanity that shows itself whening across zombies. Liu Gan also had a secret agenda when he asked them to reveal the weapon. It was to benefit off of them.

    ¡°How about this, your two hand grenades, if you drop your grenades and give them to me, then consider that as payment for me rescuing you. Remember to not pull the ring for the grenade!¡± Liu Gan negotiated his terms.

    The six yers up above started arguing, and one of the yers wielding the hand grenade, under peer pressure, agreed to give up the grenade in his hands. The other yer though was reluctant to give up his hand grenade. The plump-yer had no choice but to offer up his own iron rod in trade for the other yer¡¯s hand grenade. They then proceeded to drop the two grenades from the top of the building down to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan waited a while, just to make sure that the hand grenade didn¡¯t go off. Then walked up to them, picked up the two hand grenades and pocketed them safely.

    Hand grenades have limited quantities, with a formidable power, and were best used against colossal zombies. At a crucial point, it can also be used to clear a path when there is a corpse tide. It can only be found on yers that carry it as a starting weapon,so once it was used, it was gone forever. Therefore, this is a very valuable supply to have.

    Once an agreement was made, Liu Gan didn¡¯t go back on his word. He went up the stairs, cautiously looking around. There was a thick heavy iron door, and it had a heavy duty slide-in bolt lock. Sliding the lock away, Liu Gan easily got the iron door open.

    ¡°Thank you! Finally we can leave this ce! The previous heavy lightning scared all of us, and we were so afraid it might strike the top of the roof¡­¡± the 6 yers chattered and expressed their gratitude to Liu Gan.

    The rooftop had limited space, at around 10 square meters, so it was no wonder these yers were reluctant in using the grenade to st open the door. If they attempted to use it on the door, then they definitely would have blown themselves up in the process.

    But with them having been trapped in this rooftop situation, Liu Gan didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. This type of four story building had walls with openings for air conditioner framework and lots of windows. If it had been Liu Gan himself in this scenario, Then he would have scaled along the exterior wall, and from the window or air conditioner framework, easily jump safely to the ground.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17: Masters of the experts

    The creation of this type of situation couldn¡¯t be med on the stupidity of the yers. In the real world, they could be the type of people who rarely left their house ¨C otakus and fujoshis. They were the type that rarely exercised and engaged in physical activities, so they would obviously never be as nimble as Liu Gan.

    [TN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi_fandom#Fujoshi]

    Liu Gan was a parkour and mountain climbing expert, not to mention that these type of four story building were no big deal to him ¨C even if was a ten story building, scaling the exterior wall would be as easy as walking on leveled ground for him. Only the za was an exception, otherwise normal areas like this wouldn¡¯t be able to trap him.

    The Trembling World was the type of game that resembled real life body qualities, in each and every capability. It seemed that nearly everything has been taken into ount within the game, so the yers starting stats were used as a basis.

    Of course, all this was Liu Gan¡¯s personal spection of the game so far. As to whether or not this was still a game, this was the question that bothered Liu Gan the most. Right now though, was not the time to debate that question. Persevering and surviving through this game was his most important priority.

    ¡°Boss, what direction did youe from?¡± the plump-yer asked Liu Gan after the 5 male and 1 female yers came down from the building.

    ¡°It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t go in that direction ¨C it¡¯s the za where a corpse tide urred previously, If you don¡¯t believe me though, you can walk a few blocks towards it to find out. If you walk past the za, there are densely popted zombies¡± Liu Gan replied to the plump-yer.

    ¡°Indeed. From the moment we entered the game, the streets had at least a dozen zombies just wandering. From the direction you came, there was a loud explosive noise, which attracted all of them over there. Then, they never returned¡± a skinny-sses yer nodded in agreement to what Liu Gan had said.

    ¡°Boss, are you alone? Would you like to join our squad?¡± Plump-yer asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Squad?¡± Liu Gan had a hesitant expression. His alloy metal limbs were a secret that he didn¡¯t want others to find out, to avoid bringing himself more unnecessary trouble. If the other yers decide to report him for it, the system would correct it back to normal. Even though the calling for GM and Logout function was greyed out, who knew when this function would return?

    ¡°Night¡¯sing soon, we should find a ce to camp out. Camping in these kind of locations definitely requires someone standing guard, so being part of a squad is better.¡± the plump-yer hard-sold the idea to Liu Gan.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to join the squad, then forget it ¨C just exin to us the situation with the za over there¡± Green-haired yer cut off the plump-yer¡¯s sales pitch to Liu Gan.

    The green-haired yer stood near a yellow-haired and red-haired yer, all looking at Liu Gan. The three looked around the ages of 17, 18, and their exterior appearances were nearly identical to each other. In the real world, they all knew each other, as at the green-haired yer¡¯s house they all logged in to game there. Upon transferring into The Trembling World, they all arrived at the same coordinates.

    [TN: honestly I¡¯m d the author doesn¡¯t give the minor characters names. This way we readers don¡¯t have to memorize it]

    After entering the game, they had been trapped on the top of the roof, unable to leave. Even though they felt as if the game was rtively realistic, they were also bewildered. They hadn¡¯t yet experienced the dangers of zombies. So they couldn¡¯t contain their naive excitement and expectations for this game world. The moment they could leave the rooftop, and discovered that there were no zombies nearby, and thest remaining one was eliminated by Liu Gan, they couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointment. So they wanted to find a zombie in order to experience the joys of ughtering.

    ¡°You guys are really lucky, being able to transfer to this location as a starting point on the rooftop, even if you were trapped, but you never had any life threatening danger. When I entered, it was a squad of 10 yers. Shortly after being transferred to the za, a yer was bitten, and then carelessly screamed and created noises which lead to a corpse tide. Luckily, me and another yer were fast enough to escape. The other 8 yers were also within the corpse tide.¡± Liu Gan had epted two grenades as tribute, so it was eptable to share his knowledge with them.

    Based on what had happened to the 6 yers, Liu Gan guessed that for all the others of the ten thousand yers trapped within the game, every single one of them, upon entering, had a random starting scenario. He and the other 9 yers were sent to the za center and encountered a small BOSS with arge corpse tide. These 5 male and 1 female yers were a lot luckier, because in this region there weren¡¯t too many zombies, in addition to being safely trapped on top of a rooftop.

    If Liu Gan was sent to the rooftop, he would not be as distressed as he was before when he was trapped in the za during the corpse tide ¨C on top of a billboard just waiting idly, unable to escape.

    ¡°Of the ten yers, were arge majority female?¡± the red-haired yer asked Liu Gan

    ¡°All were male.¡± Liu Gan replied, and was wondering why he would ask such a weird question.

    ¡°You all were too stupid! Ten male yers and together you were nearly all wiped out ¨C you guys must be inexperienced with these types of zombie games?¡± the red-haired yer said in a demeaning manner while posing with his machete on his shoulder ¨C trying to look cool. At the same time, his expression was as if looking down at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Liu Gan looked at red-haired yer, without much exnation.

    ¡°You came from that direction so you must be familiar with going back to the za right? How about you take the lead and guide us there, and we will help you clear out the zombies so you can have your revenge!¡± The green-haired yer also suggested this to Liu Gan, and raised his machete eager to fight.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a need for you guys to avenge anything, that ce is somewhere I definitely don¡¯t want to go back yet, so you guys don¡¯t need to go sacrifice yourselves.¡± Liu Gan tried to dissuade the green-haired yer.

    ¡°Sacrifice? You coward! When the corpse tide was urring you probably weren¡¯t calm enough and everyone ran away separately, right? No wonder you guys were all wiped out¡­¡± the red-haired yer looked despicably at Liu Gan. Also, when Liu Gan had said ¡®sacrifice¡¯ in a saddened type of tone, it caused the red-haired yer difort, which added to his hostility towards Liu Gan.

    ¡°Indeed, if it were you game experts at that ce, then you guys wouldn¡¯t be like us noobs.¡± Liu Ganughed lightheartedly in reply to the red-haired yer. Obviously, they can¡¯t be persuaded by words, so Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t do any more unnecessary actions ¨C if the other yers wanted to sacrifice themselves, then it was their business.

    ¡°We 3 are experienced in these type of zombie games. Thest time we yed [Peerless Zombies], we each had a machete, and after setting up our formation we were able to plow through twenty thousands zombies. We came out unscathed and got rewarded a gold medal achievement.¡± the red-haired yer said all this when he heard ¡®experts¡¯, so he unted his previous game achievements in front of Liu Gan.

    [TN: I don¡¯t want to say left 4 dead, but the game style is simr except open world.]

    ¡°Unscathed? Gold medal achievements? You guys definitely are game experts!¡± the plump-yer said to the three youth yer with his thumb sticking up representing how much he worshipped them. He¡¯d yed with his friends before in [Peerless Zombies] as well, and had watched strategy video guides, but never had he achieveding out unscathed and gold medal achievements.

    ¡°I really misjudged you guys, you are definitely masters among experts! If you three don¡¯t go to the za to massacre, then it would be a waste of your talent!¡± Liu Gan ttered the three youthful yers with dyed hair.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18: The 3 agreements

    ¡°You really don¡¯t want to go? Then tell us the path to get there, so we can go ourselves.¡± The red-haired yer said, looking down on Liu Gan.

    ¡°Walk straight in that direction fifty meters, take a left, and you¡¯lle up to a nted alleyway. Walk straight from there, where there¡¯ll be many wide streets ahead, and after going through them you will reach the za. The za possibly has a miniature corpse tide, with around a dozen zombies, that shouldst you awhile.

    ¡°If that isn¡¯t enough, walk straight past the za heading west. That¡¯s the location of the gigantic explosion you saw earlier, with thousands of zombies. That will probably give you the feeling you experienced from [Peerless Zombies].¡± Liu Gan generously gave the directions to the za to the three youths.

    ¡°You three experts should find something to eat first, and then head to the za to kill zombies.¡± Plump-yer kindly suggested to the three youthful yers.

    ¡°Killing zombies and finding something to eat could ur at the same time, but you only know how to eat! No wonder you are so fat!¡± Red-haired yer turned his head and said to the plump-yer with discriminating eyes.

    Plump-yer couldn¡¯t help awkwardlyughing it off, but didn¡¯t say anything after that.

    The three youthful yers had been trapped for too long, so they couldn¡¯t contain their excitement. They just had to go in the direction of the za to find some zombies and fulfill their cravings. However, the plump-yer, as well as the other male and female yer wanted to scavenge for food.

    After a little bit of arguing, the 5 males and 1 female split into two groups. The red-haired yer being the leader of one group along with two other males were going to head in the direction of the za to kill zombies and level up. The other two males and the female were going to follow Liu Gan in the direction that was safe, and search for food and water.

    After deciding, the three youthful yers immediately turned and left. In a very cool pose, they left with their machetes on their shoulders, and headed toward the za. As to why they had to use their shoulders to brace the weapons which weren¡¯t even that heavy¡­ it was illogical, and perhaps only a certain type of people, like manga readers, wouldn¡¯t find it strange at all.

    To this type of action that was clearly suicidal, Liu Gan didn¡¯t try to dissuade them. Since those people didn¡¯t have a connection with him, then whether they live or die didn¡¯t really matter to him.

    Originally, Liu Gan didn¡¯t want to stick with the other three yers. He didn¡¯t want them to discover his secret or be a liability, but once he saw that his fatigue level was in the red, he knew that having someone stand guard would be a lot better for maximizing rest, and a lot safer so that he could sleep peacefully.

    There¡¯s also the factor of searching for food and water. In situations where it was unknown, they could scout for him. If they happened to find zombies, the zombies would chase them, and that would buy time for Liu Gan to tactically retreat.

    (Editor Note: Hydro- *Tactical Retreat* = (cough cough) run away)

    After considering all of the factors, Liu Gan agreed to temporarily group up with them.

    ¡°If I join up, you guys have to remember walk lightly, don¡¯t talk too loudly, and don¡¯t generate loud noises. If you attract too many zombies, we noobs will have a terrible ending.¡± Liu Gan gave his terms of agreement to the three yers.

    ¡°Fine, you are the boss, so we will listen to you.¡± Plump-yer quickly nodded. The other two didn¡¯t have much objection since it was a temporary team. Since someone stood up to take the responsibility of being a boss, they could rx.

    While the four yers were scavenging for food and water, they introduced themselves to Liu Gan. The plump-yer was called Pan Hua, and was an inte shop owner, also sellingputer parts online. The skinny yer was called Wang ChangShun, a college student, with his major being marketing.

    (Editor Note: Hydro-Welp, rip to minor characters not having names)

    The female yer, self introduced as LuLu, was a famous female online game broadcaster, and Pan Wa could actually recognize her. He was her fan and donated to her all the time. Liu Gan heard she was famous, but it didn¡¯t matter to him as he just couldn¡¯t bring himself to care.

    LuLu is the female yers in-game name, which she borrowed as her broadcaster¡¯s name, so she didn¡¯t tell people her real name. LuLu was within [The Trembling World] to prepare for tonight¡¯s broadcasting topic. However, the result of joining this game was getting trapped. So currently, she has no interest in the game at all and only wanted the fastest way to exit this game, so she could make it on time for tonight¡¯s broadcast.

    Of course, judging from the time, the broadcast had already been dyed.

    LuLu definitely had the qualities to be a well known broadcaster. She was naturally beautiful, with silky hair,rge round eyes, and soft white skin. After getting drenched from the thunderstorm and frightened by the lightning, she looked devastated. Her clothes and hair were sticking close to her body, with a bewildered expression.

    Liu Gan heard LuLu¡¯s self introduction, also hearing her fan Pan Huaplimenting her throughout. It was hard now to have ill intentions after hearing all this¡­ If the female broadcaster didn¡¯t leave this world quickly, then within the next few days, her torn clothes and messy hair would start releasing strange smells.

    Maybe shortly after, she might identally get careless, and get scratched on her beautiful face, or eaten through her stomach with her intestines torn out. It would definitely release a stinky smell¡­ Upon entering the game, this wouldn¡¯t be the first time Liu Gan had witnessed this horrifying scene.

    The apocalyptic world was harsh, and it had no ce for a beautiful girl¡¯s existence.

    ¡°What is wrong with this game? Why can¡¯t we log out? Your alloy watch has the function call GM and logout, which are also greyed out right?¡± LuLu caught Liu Gan¡¯s eyesight, revealing the alloy watch to him.

    ¡°Mine is also greyed out, so maybe the game is notpletely finished? or that function is not yet avable.¡± Liu Gan nced at his own allow watch and replied.

    ¡°The feeling here is so realistic! Other than the strange alloy watch, it doesn¡¯t feel like a game at all. I feel like we have been transferred from our world to this zombie world here.¡± Plump Pan Hua sat on the side, chiming in hisment..

    ¡°This is indeed very realistic. The other yers that were with me got bitten, having agonizing deaths. ording to them, the feeling of pain was very real. I witnessed them getting surrounded by the zombies, being eaten and ripped from the stomach and intestines, but they haven¡¯t yet died. They justid there screaming nonstop¡­¡± Liu Gan replied to Pan Hua.

    ¡°Can you not be so descriptive?¡± LuLu got defensive, as perhaps these men were too vulgar?

    ¡°No need for me to describe any more. I believe in the near future, you will be able to witness, or even personally experience it.¡± Liu Gan replied to LuLu

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t scare the pretty girl, she¡¯s no guy¡­¡± Pan Hua tried to mediate the situation. It was obvious that he liked LuLu very much, and didn¡¯t want Liu Gan to frighten her anymore.

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19: minimart

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to scare her, it was only the truth.¡± Liu Gan gave an indifferent expression.

    ¡°We were sitting in front of ourputers, wearing induction sensor headgear and holding mice when we started the game. This isn¡¯t virtual reality, so why does it feel so real? This.. this is absolutely absurd!¡± LuLu had a gloomy look on her face. She was trying toprehend everything that Liu Gan had just described, but she had not witnessed anything like that yet.

    Although LuLu was a gaming broadcaster gathering information on this zombie game, it was only demonstrated through a monitor. If it was as Liu Gan described, and their real selves were here, and they would actually feel everything, then LuLu definitely couldn¡¯t ept this.

    ¡°This is indeed absurd.¡± Liu Gan agreed with LuLu¡¯s statementpletely.

    ¡°Boss, you said we¡¯re stuck in this game? Then what must we do to escape back to the real world?¡± Plump Pan Hua asked Liu Gan. Upon entering this game, once they discovered the harsh reality of it, and how strange it was, yers like him that don¡¯t have much courage would want to retreat. Ever since LuLu entered the game, she has been trying to quickly leave, and since Pan Hua is her fan, he would try his best to help her find a way out.

    ¡°I¡¯m not San Xing Corporation¡¯s game developer, how would I know what is going on? Liu Gan shrugged, he was also just as confused as they were.

    Liu Gan knew that these types of discussions were pointless, but right now was not like the za where there was no shelter. If a corpse tide appears, anyone can climb the structures on the street to escape, so it is okay to stay in the area to chat for a little longer.

    The road had a lot of cars in it, and inside some of these cars were trapped zombies that wouldn¡¯t stop howling. Arge amount of the streets were destroyed by the vehicles or blockaded, so when it got dark, finding their way through would not be easy.

    These vehicles were severely damaged, and all of the tires deted. If you observe closely then you could see that the tires were clearly corroded. Whatever had happened in this world, it must have been terrifying for the tires to have corroded to this state.

    The four yers walked after and after awhile, Liu Gan¡¯s feeling of hunger got stronger, this game¡¯s genuinity was really high. The feeling of pain, hunger, and thirst was undeniably real.

    Hunger level, thirst level, all of this definitely raised the difficulty of the game. yers that won¡¯t eat would be weak and possibly starve to death. Just like before being trapped on the billboard, Liu Gan¡¯s thirst level was in the red. If it was not for the thunderstorm, his thirst level would have changed from red to ck.

    Liu Gan looked at his alloy watch, the attribute of the hunger was already red. This means that he must rush and find food topensate. Otherwise, his strength and health would suffer. His thirst level was orange, so he must replenish liquid soon as well.

    From a different perspective, this ce was no different from the real world¡­ Aside from the streets filled with zombies.

    ¡°Do you guys feel hungry?¡± Plump Pan Hua couldn¡¯t resist asking the others, because he was obese, he gets hungry easier. When he was trapped on the rooftop, he was unbearably hungry, and now as he was walking with Liu Gan, it got worse.

    ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m very hungry.¡± Wang ChangShun and LuLu replied Pan Hua. ¡°Not only hungry, but also thirsty, so we need to find water to drink.¡±

    ¡°Looks like over there is a family sized minimart, the inside should have food and drinks.¡± Liu Gan¡¯s eyesight had improved from before, and borrowing the moonlight, he was able to see the minimart at the end of the street.

    ¡°Excellent! we should hurry up to find something to eat!¡± Pan Hua definitely lifted both hands in support of that idea.

    The minimart had a ss door that was covered in a ckish-brown blood stain. Borrowing the moonlight that seeped through the ss door, Liu Gan¡¯s vision could partially see inside¡­ The shelves were knocked onto the floor, and it looked like it had been cleared by people already, so they might not find anything useful even after searching the ce.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t rush into the minimart, but walked to the front of the ss door and gave it a knock. If there were zombies inside, then that knock was loud enough to lure them to the door. The other three yers didn¡¯t have as good of eyesight as Liu Gan, so they couldn¡¯t see inside, it waspletely dark without any source of light. Deep down, they were definitely afraid, so before Liu Gan could confirm that it was safe inside, they didn¡¯t dare to take a step further in.

    Liu Gan wasn¡¯t sure if the minimart had any zombies, but his knock didn¡¯t lure any zombies to the front. Instead it lured a zombie from the alley nearby,which rushed toward the closest person standing from behind, and that was skinny yer Wang ChangShun. Wang ChangShun didn¡¯t react at all, instead he was terrified and remained motionless.

    In the nick of time, Liu Gan left a shadow as he rushed toward the zombie,sending a flying kick to the zombie. Afterwards, he leapt towards it, and gave two heavy stomps on the zombie¡¯s head. Itpletely ttened it¡¯s brain, and arge ck orb leaked from the zombie¡¯s body, seeping into Liu Gan¡¯s body.

    ¡°Liu Boss, you are very fast! We didn¡¯t even have a chance to react!¡± Plump Pan Hua stared with his mouth wide-open at Liu Gan. This was because, he was staring at Liu Gan¡¯s back, that was facing inside the shop. But the moment Pan Hua saw the zombie, it was already ready to attack Wang ChangShun. In that moment, Liu Gan had reacted and kicked the zombie, and it was like Pan Hua was watching an action film that was moving so fast, that he couldn¡¯t even see it clearly.

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal, I killed a couple of zombies already, so I have more experience than you do. If you kill a few zombies, then you can obtain the experience like I did.¡± Liu Gan replied to Pan Hua. If his back grew a pair of eyes and saw the zombie, it wouldn¡¯t havee as a surprise to them, but in fact, it was the ss door with the moonlight, reflecting the image so Liu Gan saw the zombie.

    ¡°Boss, you are definitely powerful! You are hiding your strength! Much stronger than I am, probably around the same power level as those three game experts!¡± Pan Hua continued to disy his admiration of Liu Gan

    To Pan Hua, it was the 3 youths with that gold medal achievement that were the true game experts, since Liu Gan described himself as a noob. So the moment Pan Hua described Liu Gan as powerful, he couldn¡¯t help butpare him with the three youthful gamers.

    The moment Pan Hua¡¯s voice died down, from a few streets over came a sound. It was a terrible cry and lots of shouting. It sounded like it was from the original three youthful gamers.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20: Unkible

    Shortly afterwards, the source of crying came nearer, and was followed by a bunch of footsteps.

    Even though the three youthful gamers had left going in theplete opposite direction of Liu Gan¡¯s group, these parts of the streets and alleyways were ratherplicated, and were easy to get lost in. Both the groups had separate events. Liu Gan¡¯s group were wandering for at least 15 minutes in the area, and found the supermarket. The three youthful yers had gotten lost, and the distance between them ended up not too far off.

    After listening closely, it was confirmed that the steps wereing towards Liu Gan, and from the direction of the small alleyway a few blocks over. Liu Gan scanned the area, then rushed across the street to a 5 story building¡¯s side. If anything went wrong, there was a windowsill and an air conditioner support structure on the exterior of the wall. Liu Gan could easily use that to scale the building, and to avoid the oing danger.

    The other three yers weren¡¯t sure of what Liu Gan was doing, but seeing that Liu Gan had started running, they felt something was off, and started to trail behind Liu Gan. The four yers then stood still by the wall. Before the three youthful yers had left to go to the za, they had been boasting about how they would kill all the zombies. Now, it was only the red-haired yer, who was covered in blood, getting chased by three zombies behind him. The red-haired yer turned the corner, and rushed in the general direction of the street where Liu Gan was.

    ¡°Help! These machetes can¡¯t kill them!¡± The red-haired yer shouted to Liu Gan¡¯s group when he saw them standing on a nearby street.

    Pan Hua, LuLu, and Wang ChangShun all saw the red-haired yer covered in blood, and then realized that there were three zombies tailing behind him. The zombies were getting ready to eat him if the yers hesitated. Shocked by what they had just witnessed, they didn¡¯t move ¨C infact, LuLu started her high pitch scream.

    Liu Gan frowned at the situation, and upon seeing that the red-haired yer had only three zombies on him, Liu Gan didn¡¯t attempt to climb the building. Instead, he charged forward and grabbed the de from the hand of the red-haired yer. He immediately shed, and off went the head of one of the zombies. Then, he leapt forward with a flying kick that knocked down the other two zombies. The moment hended, it was followed by another sh at on of the two zombie¡¯s necks, and there was only one left.

    The other zombie struggled to pick itself off the floor, then changed its target to Liu Gan. It didn¡¯t evene close to reaching Liu Gan, before its head was met by Liu Gan¡¯s fist. This was followed by a swift de stroke on it¡¯s neck, which separated the head from the body.

    ¡°They¡­ can¡¯t¡­ be killed¡­¡± The red-haired youth was paralyzed on the floor repeating that phrase to Pan Hua and the group, as the stench of urine leaked from his body.

    (EN: Hydro- Bahaha xD cocky noob)

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal now, they¡¯ve all been killed by boss.¡± Pan Hua triedforting the red-haired yer, who stared bewildered at Liu Gan.

    Didn¡¯t the red-haired youth im they coulde out unscathed, and as gold medal achievement wielders? Such an amazing game expert was unexpectedly chased by only three zombies to this sad scene. He had been pissing in his pants and calling for mommy all the way here, and all it took was a few hits from Liu Gan to exterminate those three zombies.

    Amongst them ¨C who was the real gaming expert, and who was the newbie ¨C was clear as day.

    The red-haired yer turned his head to take a look, and saw the three zombies with their heads separated from their bodies. Liu Gan casually put away the machete, and walked back towards the group. The machete still had the dark red blood from the zombies dripping down. The red-haired yer was still unquestionably afraid, and yet at the same time, his face disyed how ashamed he was.

    Before, he had looked down on Liu Gan ¨C calling him a noob, and self proiming himself as a game expert. Now though, he¡¯d been schooled by these zombies, which had also killed two of hispanions, and had scared him to the point of pissing himself. The worst was that he was rescued by Liu Gan, whom he had previously looked down upon.

    Even though he imed that the zombies couldn¡¯t be killed, Liu Gan easily pulled this off. As a [Left 4 Dead] game expert that had received the gold medal achievement, all these factors had really made him lose face.

    [EN: Kidyeon ¨C So is this where the author got the games idea? L4D? Really?] [TN: xDh20- It¡¯s not, but it¡¯s the closest thing out right now?]

    ¡°Where are the other two yers?¡± LuLu kneeled down beside red-haired yer and asked.

    ¡°They¡­ They¡­ They were eaten¡­¡± The red-haired yer lowered his head while shivering.

    The three had followed Liu Gan¡¯s directions, and had headed toward the za. The moment they had arrived in one of the alleyways, they¡¯d encountered a wandering female zombie. Excited, the three youthful yers rushed up to it. Cooperating, the machetes in hand, they shed at the female zombie¡¯s neck. They didn¡¯t expect that their arm strength wasn¡¯t enough, and after they chopped at it for a good few minutes, its head still wasn¡¯t cut off. Throughout this process, the red-haired yer and yellow-haired yer were both scratched by the female zombie.

    This struck fear into the heart of the three youthful yers, and they had wanted to escape, but four zombies from the dark had silently wandered up behind them. They knocked the green-haired yer and the yellow-haired yer onto the ground, then bit into their necks, causing fresh blood to spew onto the red-haired yer¡¯s body.

    Hearing the dying screams from green-haired and yellow-haired yers, and watching them getting torn apart, the red-haired yer got scared and only knew to run in the opposite direction. Once he found out that there were still three zombies tailing behind him, he screamed at the top of his lungs, crying for help.

    Later, he saw Liu Gan¡¯s group on the side of the street.

    ¡°You are really ck-hearted! You saw us hiding on the side of the street, and purposely lured them to us! You know how powerful these zombies were, they even killed both your friends, and now you want to harm us too?¡± Liu Gan walked back to them,ying his machete on the neck of the red-haired yer as he questioned his motives.

    ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­ I ¡­ I didn¡¯t mean it¡­ I¡¯m sorry! It was my mistake! I was very scared¡­ I just panicked¡­¡± The red-haired yer¡¯s face paled with tears streaming down his face as he looked at Liu Gan for mercy.

    ¡°People like you should just be killed off so you don¡¯t harm others!¡± Liu Gan¡¯s eyes were full of bloodlust.

    ¡°Boss Liu, he is rather young and probably still in shock, so he probably didn¡¯t mean to do us any harm¡­¡± Plump Pan Hua tried his best to help persuade Liu Gan otherwise. Previously, when the 6 of them were trapped on the roof, they chatted with each other for a few hours, so it could be said that they were rather familiar with each other.

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re rather young. It probably wasn¡¯t on purpose, so you should forgive him this one time.¡± LuLu saw that Liu Gan was really going to kill him if she didn¡¯t chime in.

    ¡°Next time this happens, I will do to you what I do to the zombies ¨C I will separate your head from your body!¡± Liu Gan dered to the red-haired yer, then took the machete away from his neck.

    The red-haired yer still had some use to him, so Liu Gan temporarily wouldn¡¯t kill him. Using his machete to frighten him was a tactic that would cause others that followed him to be more obedient.

    ¡°No! Absolutely not!¡± The red-haired yer promised. When he was rushing towards Liu Gan and them, it was under distress. It was typical behavior, without any bad intentions in it.

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21: Appropriate Cannon Fodder

    ¡°Do you know that the high pitch screaming just now will attract even more zombies? Haven¡¯t I already told you not to make any sound no matter what happens? Do you take what I say as a joke?¡± Liu Gan turned his head and chided the group. Especially ring at LuLu when he said that.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it won¡¯t happen again.¡± LuLu replied, in fear, to Liu Gan. After Liu Gan had red at her, she had fear sprouting from her heart, and her face was deathly pale.

    Liu Gan had a very defined muscr body, and had skills to match his talent. With his domineering and scary aura, the group really thought he would kill the red-hair yer on the spot. This was especially worrying for LuLu because, as a female yer, when she meets with male yers who aren¡¯t tender withdies, and instead were aggressive, she has to worry about situations like these a lot more than other yers.

    ¡°I am doing this for everyone¡¯s sake. If you want to continue surviving, you guys better listen to me. If it wasn¡¯t for me, then when he had attracted the zombies over the ones dead wouldn¡¯t be just him.¡± Liu Gan pointed at the red-hair yer and announced to the group.

    ¡°Thank you, Boss! If it wasn¡¯t for your bravery, we would already be dead on the floor¡­ Boss, let¡¯s take the opportunity to leave this ce before the zombiees.¡± Plump Pan Hua suggested to Liu Gan, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

    ¡°If you guys want to continue breathing, then following my instructions is a must. If not, you guys can try to survive in this zombie world by yourself. I don¡¯t want to be dragged down by you.¡± Liu Gan didn¡¯t answer Pan hua. Instead, he scolded them a bit more.

    Even though Liu Gan had said all that to them in the case of a real emergency, he was not at all worried that they would drag him down.

    If the same situation urred again, where the red-haired yer attracted 3 zombies, Liu Gan could get rid of them easily. However, if it turned out to be arge mob, he would definitely not stay behind and babysit them. He would climb up the wall and escape ¨C leaving them behind to be cannon fodder, which would buy him time to increase his chances of escaping.

    However, for them to be cannon fodder, they would need training. Training to be qualified cannon fodder. Therefore, it was necessary right now to showcase Liu Gan¡¯s prowess, as they absolutely needed to follow his instructions. Cannon fodder that don¡¯t follow instructions, are unqualified cannon fodder.

    [EN: Kidyeon ¨C SAVAGE. STRAIGHT SAVAGE.]

    ¡°From now on, we will definitely listen to Boss!¡± Pan Hua hurriedly replied. After the two previous battles, it was obvious that Liu Gan was definitely an expert in fighting the zombies. If he wanted to continue living, and wait for rescue toe, then relying on Liu Gan was his best option.

    Even though the rest didn¡¯t utter a single word, deep down in their heart they had already acknowledge Liu Gan to be the leader. In this type of zombie apocalyptic world, it was an undisputable fact that whoever was the strongest would definitely be the boss. Furthermore, Liu Gan had already demonstrated his strong martial power. With his protection, it would be a lot safer.

    Earlier this afternoon, the zombies from the nearby alleys and streets had already been attracted by the two explosions. In addition, when Liu Gan was traveling over, he had already killed a decent number of zombies. Therefore, previously when the red-haired yer had shouted and LuLu¡¯s had screamed in a high-pitched manner, no zombies were attracted to the group. It seemed that the nearby streets were much safer because of the earlier events.

    After scouting the nearby vicinity, Liu Gan did not lead them away immediately. Instead he brought the group back to the street opposite of the minimart. Currently, foraging for food and water was of the utmost importance.

    ¡°The minimart may have zombie inside. When Boss goes in, you have to be careful.¡± Pan Hua hurriedly cautioned Liu Gan when he lead them to the entrance of the minimart.

    ¡°Boss, you should go into the minimart to scout and kill any zombies that are inside first. After that is done, call us into the building.¡± Said Wang Changshun, who was standing furthest at the back.

    Liu Gan merely nced at Wang Changshun without saying anything. Instead, he turned around and grabbed the red-haired yer¡¯s cor and tossed him towards the entrance of the minimart. The red-haired youth was almost as tall as Liu Gan. However when Liu Gan grabbed and toss him, he wasn¡¯t able to put up any resistance at all.

    ¡°You shall go in and scout for zombies. Consider it aspensation for everything you¡¯ve done.¡± Liu Gan told the red-haired yer.

    ¡°But¡­ What if there are zombies inside? They¡¯ll eat me!¡± The red-haired yer looked at the swarthy mini mart. He was terrified to the point that he was shivering. Both his hand were tightly holding onto the ss door. Refusing to go in even if he had to die.

    After witnessing the death of his twopanions, the red-haired boy had already been frightened to death. Before the incident, people like him had been a snobbish and arrogant person, who frequently looked down on others. However, the moment that they were scared, their bravery vanished into thin air, and they couldn¡¯t even function as a normal person.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t going in? Then, what other use do I have for trash like you?¡± Liu Gan roared at him. Liu Gan opened the ss door and shove him into the mini mart.

    The difference in strength, byparison, was like a mouse and an elephant, and the red-haired youth wasn¡¯t able to resist the enormous force of Liu Gan¡¯s shove. He was directly pushed into the depth of the mini mart. He tripped and stumbled onto the floor, and gave a shriek out of fear of the unknown and danger in the minimart.

    However his shriek did not attract a zombie attack. It looked like the mini mart didn¡¯t have any zombies.

    Liu Gan rushed inside pressing on the red-haired yer¡¯s neck and shouted at him to stop screaming. Once inside the minimart, he scavenged nearby for items.

    Liu Gan noticed that his vision had definitely improved a lot. The inside of the minimart didn¡¯t have any lighting, but he was able to make out the blurry images of the surrounding. Soon, he was able to pick up a few lighters that had fallen off of the shelves. After he lit the lighter, he could see his surroundings.

    This minimart had definitely been looted before, but it wasn¡¯t thoroughly looted. It was most probably the case of limited manpower, where they were not able to take away everything. Hence there were still some leftover biscuits, bottled mineral water, instant noodles, batteries, shlight, etc.

    Not much food was left behind ¨C the leftover instant noodles and biscuit were quite limited. However, there were quite a few boxes of bottled mineral water. However, the majority of them were stashed away under the overturned shelves. This was most probably to hide them from other scavengers, and to return and collect them another day.

    Thankfully Liu Gan had inhuman strength in his arms, and was able to lift the overturned shelves easily. After obtaining a big backpack from the mini mart, Liu Gan ced all the food and drinks into the haversack. At the corner of the metals section, Liu Gan found a good and sturdy axe with a really good grip when he was holding it.

    After which Liu Gan sat on the floor and opened a bottle of mineral water. After drinking half of it, he ate the biscuits that he was not able to fit into the overstuffed backpack. Very quickly he gobbled down a whole pack of biscuit. His hunger level thus went down significantly.

    ¡°The feeling of a full stomach is definitely the best!¡±

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22: Allocation

    Still feeling hungry after finishing the first packet of biscuits, Liu Gan opened 2 more packets and stuffed them in his mouth.

    Truth be told, the biscuit tastes pretty nd and stale. Liu Gan was dreaming about sitting before a stove and eating a whole grilled chicken or a bowl of pickled minced meat noodles, both of which are way better than the biscuits.

    However in this kind of situation, the fact that there were biscuits to eat was a very good thing. It would be a major problem if there were nothing to fill his stomach. Using the light emitted from the me of the lighter, Liu Gan checked the expiry dates of the food products.

    While Liu Gan was checking the expiry dates, his mind drifted off to the day when he was trapped on the billboard and his conversation with the San Xing Corporation female worker. Liu Gan reckoned that in this world, the time between when it was normal and when it turned into the now chaotic zombie filled world was not very long.

    With the sudden influx of the tens of thousands of yers, and the non-infected natives of this world, it would be a norm that everyone would be scrambling for food and water. With this type ofpetition, the next time Liu Gan attempts to salvage more food or drinks will be even more difficult

    [TN: Competition for food is strong]

    Therefore, the stale and dry biscuits are already a luxury. Grilled chicken and minced meat noodles would be best forgotten.

    On the other hand, the red-haired yer was not able to find any food items. He was looking at Liu Gan eating the biscuits and smelling the fragrance of the biscuits. He looked at Liu Gan eagerly with eyes filled with hope; he was hoping that Liu Gan will share some of the biscuits with him. However, Liu Gan did not pay any attention to him and continued to eat his biscuits.

    The Plump Pan Hua, who was waiting outside the minimart, was getting impatient. Previously, he could see the light emitted from Liu Gan¡¯s lighter. After the me was extinguished, he did not know what was happening inside. Pan Hua looked in that direction and he happened to smell the fragrance of the biscuits as it wafted out from the minimart. He reckoned that Liu Gan and the red haired yer were having a pic and they started to eat the biscuits already. Hence he hurriedly beckoned Wang ChangShun and LuLu to enter the minimart to join in the feast.

    The moment LuLu logged into the game, she was picking up her phone for a phone call, so coincidentally, the phone got taken along with her inside this world. Although, there was no signal on the phone, all phone functions were still useable. It was used as a shlight to light up the path and she followed Pan Hua and Wang ChangShun into the minimart.

    Liu Gan had already finished eating and his stomach was fully satisfied. Previously, he managed to find a functional shlight. Hence after loading it with batteries, he continued to look for items like food, drinks, scissors, more batteries and any other items that were light in weight and useful to ensure survival in this zombie filled world. Those items that were big and bulky would be left behind as they would be more of hindrance than of help.

    ¡°All the food in the minimart has been looted by Liu Gan and it is all inside his backpack.¡± The Red-haired yer whispered to Pan Hua in a low tone as he walked towards him.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Pan Hua looked at Liu Gan but he did not have the courage to approach Liu Gan and ask for food. However, he spotted the cartons of bottled mineral water that was not far from Liu Gan and hurriedly walk towards it. He was hoping to quench his thirst with the delicious looking bottles of water since he was not able to satisfy his hunger. He would drink the whole bottle if he could.

    ¡°No one is to touch the water, I will ration themter!¡± Liu Gan without looking back, as though as he had a pair of eyes behind his head, coldly said to Pan Hua.

    ¡°Yes Boss, your wish is mymand.¡± Pan Hua licked his dry and parched lips and replied, not daring to reach out and grab the water that was just right in front of him. It was so close, yet so far away.

    ¡°The water belongs to everyone, plus everyone is very thirsty now. Aren¡¯t you going too far by forbidding us from drinking the water?¡± The Bespectacled yer, Wang ChangShun, asked Liu Gan in an unwilling tone.

    LuLu and the red-haired yed also walked over with their eyesights on the carton of mineral water. They were hungry and thirsty, so without any food, their next best option was being able to quench their thirst.

    ¡°Since the water belongs to everyone, that is exactly why I should be the one to distribute it, do you have any objections?¡± Liu Gan turning his back and chopping the shelves right next to Wang ChangShun with his axes, scaring him silent and silencing those behind him too.

    In this dystopian world, there is no democracy. Thew of the jungle is the will of the strong.

    ¡°We should go find other materials, and by the time we return, boss will distribute food and water to us.¡± Pan Hua trying to mediate the situation and pushing Wang ChangShun aside.

    LuLu and the red-haired yer didn¡¯t speak up, so they just stepped aside to try and scavenge the minimart for other things, hopefully, they will find something for themselves to eat.

    At this moment, they had a small feeling of regret of choosing to follow Liu Gan. Now that they have reached this stage, if they chose to leave him, their situation would worsen. If they just do as Liu Gan says, then he will distribute the supplies. At this moment, it was better to just endure the hunger and thirst, because if they really got him angry, he might just kill them.

    ¡­

    ¡°There is definately a lot of money inside the cash register, do you guys think that money would still have any use?¡± Wang ChangShun walked over to the register to find a couple of hundred bills and as he turned and asked Pan Hua this.

    ¡°Who knows? You should just grab some! Perhaps, you can use it to buy some stuff.¡± Pan Hua was busy searching for more useful materials, so he casually replied to Wang ChangShun¡¯s question.

    Wang ChangShun found a few hundred yuan notes in the cash register, after which he wanted to check the drawer of the checkout counter to see if there was any more money. However just as he turned his body, he had this ominous feeling that something was not right. But it was toote!

    A zombie with only its torso left was lying under the checkout counter. The moment Wang ChangShun reached out , the zombie caught hold onto his hand and took a bite. ¡°KACHA!¡± The sound of his fingers being bitten off by the zombie echoed throughout the minimart.

    Wang ChangShun suddenly cried out loudly in pain. The type of excruciating pain after his fingers were bitten off was unbearable. Huge drops of perspired sweat started to form on his head and slowly drip down to his forehead.

    When Liu Gan heard his scream, he immediately rushed towards Wang ChangShun. When he saw the zombie, the axe he was holding in his hand swiftly flew forward and split the brain of the zombie into halves; the zombieid there lifelessly.

    ¡°Oh my God! This is unbearable! Why is it so painful? Isn¡¯t this just a game? Why does it need to feel so real?¡± Wang ChangShun looked at his hand which was missing a few fingers and continued to scream. Tears flowed out uncontrobly as he was shocked and frightened by what just happened. .

    Pan Hua, LuLu and Red haired yer also rushed over after Liu Gan. Looking at Wang ChangShun¡¯s bloodied hand which was missing fingers, their face turned pale with fright. LuLu covered her mouth and stopped herself from screaming when she remembered Liu Gan¡¯s warning.

    ¡°Your shouts will attract more zombies! Stop shouting!¡± Liu Gan scolded Wang ChangShun.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you give a clean sweep of the minimart for zombies? Why is there still a zombie here?¡± Wang ChangShun endured his pain and begrudginglyined about Liu Gan. From his point of view, if Liu Gan had thoroughly check for zombies in the minimart, he wouldn¡¯t have been bitten. It was very obvious that Liu Gan didn¡¯t do a good job.

    ¡° I demand that you stop screaming now! If you continue, I will cleave your head into two just like that zombie beside you!¡± Liu Gan walked towards Wang ChangShun and threateningly ced his axe one centimetre above his head, causing a strand of hair to fall off from his head. Just now, Liu Gan did indeed search for zombies in the minimart, but he didn¡¯t notice the zombie who was hiding below the checkout counter. Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t obligated to do a clean sweep of the area.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23: Late night

    Wang ChangShun could only keep silent after Liu Gan threatened him. However, his look was of pain and agony, while with his one good hand he held his wounded hand tightly. As Wang ChangShun looked at Liu Gan, his gaze revealed a strand of hatred and resentment.

    ¡°I have to remove your arm as you have been bitten by the zombie and is infected. If not, you will be a zombie when the virus spreads to every part of your body.¡± Liu Gan looked at Wang ChangShun¡¯s mangled and bloodied hand and said as if he was suddenly knew that.

    ¡°What joke are you pulling? Isn¡¯t this a game? How could a yer change into a zombie after getting bitten?¡± Wang ChangShun hurriedly escaping towards the back of the minimart, away from Liu Gan. The look on his face showed terror and outrage over what Liu Gan said as he looked at him. His amputated fingers were already very painful and now, Liu Gan wanted to sever off his whole arm. Wouldn¡¯t he be in even more pain if his whole arm was severed?

    ¡°Although the game introduction did not specifically say that after getting bitten by a zombie or dying would turn you into a zombie, they hinted that they will be following mainstream zombie movies, tv series, etc. You can look at your own alloy watch and check whether your infection status has changed to red or not? If you do not want to turn into a zombie, cut off your arm immediately to stop the infection!¡± Liu Gan walked towards him while lifting his axe up and encouraged Wang ChangShun.

    [TN: I can imagine Liu Gan smiling as he says this and walks up to him]

    Wang ChangShun looked rmingly at his yer¡¯s status on his watch and he found that his infection status had turned red! That section that was previously green is now red!

    ¡°I would rather turn into a zombie than let you cut my arm off!¡± Wang ChangShun shouted from afar as if he was trying to avoid something.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t let me cut your arm off, then don¡¯t follow us. We don¡¯t know when you will be a zombie and then turn your back on us with a bite.¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang ChangShun, while picking up his backpack full of food and supplies, and three cartons of mineral water as he proceed to exit the minimart.

    Pan Hua, LuLu and red-haired yer also quickly followed him. It was clear that they were shocked by the news and frightened by what Liu Gan had said about Wang ChangShun bing a zombie.

    The moment Liu Gan left the minimart, he put down the three cartons of mineral water and took 2 bottles for Pan Hua and LuLu to share. From his backpack, he took two packs of cookies out and gave them each a pack, but he didn¡¯t split it with red-haired yer and Wang ChangShun.

    Pan Hua and LuLu were extremely hungry and thirsty, so they quickly emptied what they were given into their stomachs.

    ¡°Howe I don¡¯t get a share?¡± Red-haired yer pouted and whispered.

    ¡°Judging from your performance and everything you¡¯ve done so far, you should be d that I spared your life. Yet, you still want to leech off me?¡± Liu Gan coldly replied.

    Before, Liu Gan gave this youth a chance of redemption, but now, he was very reluctant in giving him another chance. Red-haired yer also told Pan Hua about the food in his bag, clearly, it was evident that someone wants to rebel. This youth yer, after being rescued, was dishonest and ungrateful, so of course Liu Gan didn¡¯t even think he was qualified to be cannon fodder.

    LuLu gave red-haired yer a nce, then looked down at her remaining half bag of crackers and half a bottle of water, after a moment of hesitation she gave it to red-haired yer.

    Red-haired yer was very hungry, he quickly tore off the remaining wrapping and stuffed it into his mouth and drinking the remaining mineral water. Then, looked at the carton of mineral water and Liu Gan¡¯s backpack.

    Wang ChangShun walked out of the minimart and attempted to group up with the other guys, but Liu Gan raised his axe defensively and charged at him. Wang ChangShun shrieked in fear and retreated backwards.

    ¡°Three cartons of mineral water, you three each carry one carton of water, tonight we will find a location to settle down. Right now, we are a squad, so everyone in the squad must contribute, otherwise why would we let you stay in this group?¡± Liu Gan told Pan Hua, LuLu and red-haired yer.

    Pan Hua quickly moved half of one carton of water and gave that box to LuLu, and added the extra water to his own carton that he had to carry.

    Red-haired youth looked with eyes full of hatred at Liu Gan, but the moment Liu Gan turned towards him, that hateful look was hidden away, Quickly, red-haired yer lifts the carton up from the floor. What he really wants to do is take a bottle out of the carton and drink it, but he doesn¡¯t have the courage to do so.

    To red-haired yer, this tyrant, Liu Gan, seemed to have keen senses, with a pair of eyes on his back. So red-haired yer didn¡¯t risk it.

    Liu Gan looked at his surrounding area before he took the group and walked along the street, hoping that they will be able to find a suitable and safe ce to rest and take a break for the night.

    The sky gradually turned darker, signifying that it was gettingte into the night. The incidents that happened during the day have caused all of them to be very drained. If they do not get to rest any time soon, their energy level status on the alloy watch would turn from red to ck. As ck signifies the danger zone, prolonged period of time in the zone would cause problems to their health and well-being.

    ¡°How could you guys leave me behind?!¡± Wang ChangShun after running away from Liu Gan¡¯s threats, started to walk back towards the group. The throbbing pain from his mangled hand brought him to reality that this was not merely a game. If Liu Gan and gang were to abandon him, the probability of something even scarier happening to him was very high.

    ¡°Boss, isn¡¯t leaving him alone morally wrong?¡± Fatty Pan Hua asked Liu Gan as he caught up to him from the back of the group.

    ¡°If you think that what I did was wrong, feel free to stay back and apany him. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t give him a choice. I wanted to cut of his arm to stop the infection, but he refused. So I have no choice but to abandon him because I definitely do not want to be in close proximity with someone who will turn into a zombie.¡± Liu Gan replied. The performance of Pan Hua has been pretty good and hence, Liu Gan is more inclined to look after him.

    Pan Hua did not continue talking and walked back to LuLu¡¯s side and continued following Liu Gan.

    Wang ChangShun continued to follow them, neither far nor near with fear written all over his face. He was thirsty and hungry. The moment he loses sight of the group, he would be left alone and he do not know where to go for the night. In this Trembling World, human beings are so scarce while there are zombies everywhere. Powerless people like him, especially with one hand gone, going solo spells certain doom.

    ¡°You better stop following us! If not, I will use this axe to cleave you in half!¡± Liu Gan walked back while waving his axe and threatened Wang ChangShun when he realised that he has been following them.

    Wang ChangShun hurriedly turned and ran a few steps away when he saw Liu Gan¡¯s ferocious and merciless face. His gaze was resentful. Previously, it was agreed upon that Liu Gan would clear all the zombies in the minimart. However, he did not live up to his promise to clear all the zombies which caused him to be bitten then abandoned.

    Liu Gan turned back towards the group after seeing that Wang ChangShun did not have the courage to follow them anymore.

    ¡°Fatty! Lulu! Since he abandoned me, I¡¯m sure he would do the same to you guys in the future! Following him will not prevent you from dying faster!¡± Wang ChangShun chased the group and shouted at them.

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24: Taking pleasure in other¡¯s misfortune

    Pan Hua and LuLu both stood still with their faces showing signs of hesitation, as they looked at Wang ChangShun and then at Liu Gan. The red-haired yer had a conniving look ¨C the type that would take pleasure in other¡¯s misfortune. If it weren¡¯t for Liu Gan¡¯s impressive agility and skill, he would definitely take the chance to kill Liu Gan, then take his backpack for himself.

    [TN: xDh20: Man this red-haired yer is ungrateful]

    ¡°If you choose to follow him, it doesn¡¯t bother me at all. I can survive this world fine without anyone.¡± Liu Gan turned to tell Pan Hua and LuLu.

    ¡°Boss, of course we¡¯ll follow you¡± Pan Hua immediately replied. His hesitation earlier wasn¡¯t because he was considering about leaving Liu Gan. It was actually because he felt pity for Wang ChangShun. Being left behind like this would surely mean death.

    All the food was currently in Liu Gan¡¯s bag. If they didn¡¯t follow Liu Gan, it was safe to assume, they couldn¡¯t carry away the water. Wang ChangShun¡¯s wound might actually turn him into a zombie, and the red-haired yer had been broken ever since his friends had died. If it were only him and LuLu basing their survivability, leaving Liu Gan would lead to one route ¨C death.

    The next moment urred quickly, as two zombies hidden away appeared after hearing Wang ChangShun shout, and charged towards him. In but a moment, Wang ChangShun was suppressed underneath the two zombies. One of them bit into his neck, and fresh crimson blood shot out of the bite mark like a fountain. The other zombie grabbed onto Wang ChangShun¡¯s clothes and bell, after which the zombie ripped through his clothes and into his intestines, and stuffed them into its mouth greedily. Slowly all of his organs were eaten bit by bit by the zombies.

    As per what Liu Gan had mentioned previously, Wang ChangShun did not die immediately. He was struggling and shouting while the zombies ate him. His struggles were useless, as the zombies were much stronger than him.

    From the sudden appearance of the zombies, to the now half eaten Wang ChangShun, it had all happened over merely a few minutes. All this was just a few meters away from Pan Hua and LuLu. Personally witnessing this gruesome sight made both of them tremble in fear. Lulu uncontrobly shrieked in fear.

    ¡°This is definitely not possible¡­¡± Pan Hua murmured, as he took a few steps back and fell backwards onto the ground. This was his first time witnessing such a gruesome sight, and he was shocked speechless.

    ¡°Stop screaming!¡± Liu Gan rush forward and covered LuLu¡¯s mouth to stop her from screaming for too long.

    Wang ChangShun who was being eaten by the zombies a few meters away gradually stopped moving and passed away. The street was dead silent, except for the sound of chewing and swallowing of Wang ChangShun¡¯s organs by the zombies.

    Liu Gan removed the backpack and threw it onto the floor. Lifting his axe, Liu Gan rushed towards the two zombies. The zombies who were eating Wang ChangShun lifted their heads when they heard Liu Gan approaching, and immediately pounced towards him when they saw him approaching them. His axe cleaved down the skull of one zombie, while his lightning fast hand grabbed onto the throat of the other zombie.

    Liu Gan was able to crush the zombie¡¯s throat with his bare hands, but after considering that Pan Hua, LuLu, and the red-haired yer were looking at him, he decided not to. At the same time that he crushed the zombie¡¯s throat, he swung his axe and severed the zombie¡¯s head from its body to make it look like the axe killed the zombie.

    After killing the zombies, Liu Gan started to look around the area to see if there were any special item or clues.

    ¡°He¡­ He¡­ He¡¯s really dead?¡± Pan Hua slowly got up from the floor and asked Liu Gan with a trembling voice.

    ¡°It would be a miracle if he¡¯s not dead after being bitten to this state.¡± Replied Liu Gan after seeing Wang ChangShun¡¯s ruptured stomach with his intestines spilled out all over the ce, and his skull missing a piece after the zombie attack.

    As Pan Hua wanted to say something, he identally looked at Wang ChangShun¡¯s dismembered corpse under the waning moon light. Instead of wordsing out of his mouth, vomit almost spewed out as his stomach churned from the gruesome sight.

    Pan Hua endured and stopped himself from vomiting. However, Lulu who also noticed the corpse, wasn¡¯t as resilient. She couldn¡¯t take the sight, and vomited almost immediately. She vomited out the biscuits and the water she¡¯d consumed earlier all over the floor. Pan Hua endured the first turmoil in his stomach, but couldn¡¯t resist anymore when he saw LuLu emptying her guts out ¨C he followed suit and joined her.

    Liu Gan shook his head and wondered if they¡¯d never seen such horrendous scenes when they were ying zombie themed games. Was it that bad that they needed to vomit so much?

    Maybe what they saw on theputer screen was different from seeing it in real life.

    [TN: Feldy: DUH?] [EN: Kidyeon: DUH?]

    Suddenly, Liu Gan had a bright idea. He walked over and squatted down beside Wang ChangShun¡¯s corpse and looked at his alloy watch.

    Wang ChangShun¡¯s menu on his watch had already faded off and disappeared. No matter what button he pressed, his watch wouldn¡¯t light up.

    Liu Gan lifted his axe and severed Wang ChangShun¡¯s forearm, and removed his watch from his wrist. He was determined to do some experiment on the watch.

    Taking off Wang ChangShun¡¯s alloy watch, Liu Gan discovered that the face of the watch and the watch band were merged together, so it couldn¡¯t even be called a watch band. Then, when Liu Gan ced the alloy watch on the floor and started hacking at it with the axe, it wouldn¡¯t break.

    Liu Gan continuously used full force to smash with his axe at the alloy watch, yet no one could¡¯ve expect that the alloy metal wouldn¡¯t even budge. Turning over the watch to a different side, Liu Gan continued to smash at it with his axe. After using all his strength for a few dozen tries, the floor had a few potholes, but the alloy watch was in mint condition.

    What was this thing made out of? How could it be so sturdy?

    With such a durable material, the other yers definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to take off the alloy watch at all. It was definitely impossible, unless they cut off their own arm.

    The moment Liu Gan put down his axe, and his hand reached for Wang ChangShun¡¯s alloy watch to look at it some more, it suddenly disappeared. A ck hazy orb took it¡¯s ce and floated lightly up into the sky, vanishing as quick as it had appeared.

    Liu Gan was shocked when he saw it vanish into the sky, wondering what the supernatural ck orbs were. When he killed the zombies, the moment it died, ck orbs would be emitted from their body into his body. It was like a variation of experience. But howe the alloy watch that was so sturdy to physical damage, be a ck orb too?

    Perhaps these ck orbs were the yer¡¯s soul?

    Liu Gan finally realized something¡­ When he was searching around after getting off the billboard, the yers had left behind a hand grenade, but he never saw the alloy watches.

    The red-haired youth saw that Pan Hua and LuLu were vomiting their guts out, and that Liu Gan was squatting on the floor with his head up looking into the sky. Suddenly, the red-haired yer had an evil thought. He quickly ran and picked Liu Gan¡¯s pack off the floor, then reached into the carton to take out two bottles of mineral water. Then, he headed towards a dark, nearby alley, and ran straight ahead.

    However, red-haired yer didn¡¯t get too far when an axe came flying straight at him from behind. ¡®Bam!¡¯ In one hit, it stuck deep into the back of his head, and killed him instantly.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25: Cruel

    Red-haired yer¡¯s body fell forward with the inertia from running, then he just copsed with the two water bottles which were in his hand and as he fell the bottles rolled aside.

    This bullseye struck the back of his head and took his life instantly.

    The flying axe was obviously thrown by Liu Gan. Ever since he killed the colossal zombie and reaching level 4, his hearing, sight, and all his other stats received a major boosts.. Just now even though he was investigating Wang ChangShun¡¯s alloy watch, Liu Gan was keeping an eye out monitoring the surrounding for any sign of danger. When red-haired yer picked up the backpack and started booking it, that noise couldn¡¯t escape Liu Gan¡¯s heightened senses.

    Pan Hua and LuLu just finished vomiting after witnessing Wang ChangShun¡¯s gruesome death, now when they were able to lift their head just to see red-haired yed with an axe sticking out behind his head. Once again they were stunned and without a moment to rest, their stomachs started to act up again.

    Before they signed up, Pan Hua and LuLu¡¯s knowledge of the zombies was limited, only knowing the monitor representation of a zombie. Previously, when Liu Gan described the scene he witnessed at the za, LuLu couldn¡¯t bothered to listen his story. After witnessing everything close up and personal, it was even more realistic than seeing it from monitor or how Liu Gan had described it.

    ¡°Did you guys finished vomiting yet? If you are done, then let¡¯s leave this ce¡± Liu Gan walked over to red-haired yer¡¯s head to extract the axe. Then he exined to Pan Hua and LuLu that in this apocalyptic world, food will soon be even more scarce so if they keep vomiting every time they eat, then it would just be a waste.

    It was obvious that Pan Hua and LuLu haven¡¯t recovered yet, especially with the scene of red-haired yer dying. They were clearly shakened up and trembling with fear. They felt that if Liu Gan could easily kill red-haired youth, then if one day he got annoyed with them he might kill them without hesitation just like how he killed the youth yer.

    Red-haired youth was Liu Gan¡¯s first yer kill, but Liu Gan didn¡¯t experienced the displeasing feeling of killing people. Perhaps, it is because he had killed so many zombies which resembled humans. The feeling of killing a human was not too different, but he didn¡¯t feel any pleasure when ites to killing a human.

    Originally, the red-haired youth attracted the surrounding zombies nearby when Liu Gan rescued the youth, but the youth kept looking at Liu Gan with an expression full of hate. The youth tried to steal Liu Gan¡¯s food, if the youth seeds then Liu Gan would starve for tonight and tomorrow morning.

    Especially within this dystopian world, stealing someone else¡¯s food was equivalent to killing them. Red-haired youth knew what he was doing and of course Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t let him go. So he killed him with his axe, prevented any future conflicts with the youth.

    If Liu Gan didn¡¯t kill red-haired youth and took back the backpack and allowed him stay in the group after reprimanding him. Then based on the red-haired yer¡¯s temperament, he would hate Liu Gan even more deep within his heart, with more hidden intentions of causing more harm to Liu Gan. This was uneptable to Liu Gan as it was detrimental to his safety.

    ¡°We are a squad, and that youth yer continuously brought harm to our squad¡¯s existence. So I had to kill him. As long as you don¡¯t do anything wrong, then I won¡¯t do the same to you. If you think I¡¯m cruel and don¡¯t want to remain with me, then we can part ways here. We will split the water and food equally so that you can go wherever you like¡± Liu Gan saw their fear so he was willing to part ways if they wanted.

    ¡°Boss, no. I agree with on what you did as it was all for our own good. LuLu and I will not follow in their footstep. Please do not abandon us.¡±After Pan Hua heard Liu Gan told them they could leave if they wanted to, he woke up from his stupor and immediately promised Liu Gan.

    Even if he gave Pan Hua and LuLu a portion of his food and water, in this pitch dark environment, he didn¡¯t know where was safe. Even existence of a safe ce in this zombie filled world was uncertain. With his meagre strength and limited resources, he was very sure that he couldn¡¯t protect LuLu or himself. The role of protecting could only be fulfilled by Liu Gan.

    ¡°Very good! Since the two of you are willing to stay by my side, I will treat you as myrades and do my best to protect you.¡± Liu Gan replied and subsequently as he picked up the backpack and the carton of mineral water from the floor as he walked off.

    Pale faced Pan Hua and LuLu looked at each other and nodded. Pan Hua lifted up the half filled box of water and passed it to LuLu. After that he picked up his own carton of mineral water, Pan Hua chased after Liu Gan with LuLu afterforting and pacifying her.

    Even though Liu Gan looked very violent, Pan Hua could see that Liu Gan was also someone who had morals and values. His principles strictly revolved around the need for survival. As long as they did not break any rules or rebel against his instructions, Liu Gan would not kill someone innocent.

    Since they were saved by Liu Gan, he have already promised that he would protect them more than once. Regarding the Wang ChangShun¡¯s incident, Pan Hua felt that if it was not for Liu Gan¡¯s saving him before entering the minimart, Wang ChangShun would be long dead.

    [TN: Remember outside the minimart, a few zombies creeped up silently behind Wang?]

    Furthermore, the reason Liu Gan wanted to chop off Wang ChangShun¡¯s arm was to save him. However, Wang ChangShun refused to let him do that.

    Regarding the red-haired yer, his character was not very good and he was very selfish. However Liu Gan killing the youth over a theft was a tad overboard. On the other hand if Liu Gan did not kill him, the red-haired yer might look for Liu Gan for his revenge. In the cover of the night, he could have ambushed them when they were resting.

    After pondering about the situation for awhile, Pan Hua felt much better in his heart.

    They could feel a gust of cold wind. In the sky, ominous ck clouds were gathering, concealing the bright full moon. The moon quickly disappeared behind the clouds causing the streets to descent into darkness. Gusts of wind continuously blew against them.

    Looking at the sky, Liu Gan wondered why the weather in the Trembling World was so weird. From afternoon to night, the weather was bright and sunny after the storm. However, it was getting dark now and thunder could be heard and lightning could be seen. Gusts of cold wind continued to howl above their heads.

    We better find a shelter first and hide. If not, they would be caught in the rain, drenched and a chance to get hit by a lightning. From his billboard experience, Liu Gan definitely did not want to experience lightning striking around him ever again.

    Just when Liu Gan lifted his head to observe the sky, the patch of clouds above him started to rumble even more loudly. As if the devil has revealed his ferocious face and extended out his w so as to devour all the humans on the street.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26: Three story building

    It was pitch dark on the street. Even though there were streetmps lined up along the road, there was no electricity to power them. After the moonlight faded off, what could be seen gradually became lesser and lesser. Humans rely on their sight most of the time. Therefore, when they are submerged into an environment where their vision is impaired, fear and anxiety will arise. Worried that the darkness would be hiding something dangerous and descend upon them when they are at their weakest.

    The night wind was getting stronger. The howling wind created sounds that resonated beside their ears and caused them to feel the chill. They felt unease as if they could hear noises right behind them. However, the thing that was colder than what they felt on the skin was the desperation felt in their hearts. The cold and lonely feeling that there was no hope for them in this Trembling World, and the helplessness of being lost at a foreign ce. The uncertainty of whether this was all a dream or if they could wake up from this nightmare the next day. In fact, there might not even be a next day if they didn¡¯t survive now.

    LuLu and Pan Hua only had vision of two to three metres away from them. Just enough to let them see each other and Liu Gan who was in front of them. If Liu Gan was to secretly increase his pace by a bit, then he would disappearpletely from their field of sight. This lead LuLu to feel a little bit frantic, as Liu Gan was currently her life buoy. So she took out her cellphone to use as a source of light, but the moment it lit up the road, Liu Gan turned back to shout at her to turn it off.

    In this darkness, any type of bright light was very noticeable. It was very easy to attract zombies over, and if there were too many zombies, or a colossal zombie got attracted, then Liu Gan might have to abandoned them both to escape.

    Liu Gan could tell that Pan Hua and LuLu¡¯s true nature was rather kind, and their thinking was straightforward and simple. With them as his squad, at night he could rx a bit more. In this world, being able to recover with sleep was very important to countering exhaustion. With these two, he could rely on them as watchguards, so there was no need to sacrifice them.

    Considering that it was now pitch ck, and it might suddenly rain, then it would be dangerous for them. Liu Gan decided that it would be wise to find a nearby location to rest for the night. With his vision stronger, he could still see within 10 meters or so even in this darkness. Any further, and it would be impossible.

    Walking forward a few meters, Liu Gan arrived at a nted alley, with a nearby three story building.

    This three story building has a storefront on the first floor, and judging from the shop sign it should be a hardware store. The front of the store had a metal grate over it. It looked undamaged from the outside so it was safe to infer that the inside could be safe. The building¡¯s 3rd floor had a balcony, and up above it were some women¡¯s undergarments drying. It looked like someone was living here, so there should be a bed and furniture inside.

    This building was near a fork in the road, and the field of sight that it had was wide. If anything happened, it was easy to choose a direction to escape. Liu Gan didn¡¯t have many choices because he must find a suitable location before it rains, and this was his best option.

    The first floor had that gate that was impossible to break into easily, so without anymore options, Liu Gan had to think of a way to climb in. He wanted to wandered to the back of the building to inspect.

    ¡°Boss¡­¡± Pan Hua wanted to suggest something to Liu Gan, but Liu Gan suddenly lifted his finger to his mouth. The universal symbol of be quiet. Pan Hua immediately recognized it and stopped midway. Liu Gan arched his back as if he was warming up for battle.

    Because of the sound of the wind hissing loudly, Pan Hua and LuLu couldn¡¯t hear any other noise, so they had no idea what was about to happen. They only saw Liu Gan¡¯s expression of preparing to enter battle, so they became more rmed and froze in ce. They didn¡¯t even move so it wouldn¡¯t create any unnecessary noise.

    If a battle was about to go down, no matter if it was against zombies or ill-intentioned yers, them two were deadweights, so by keeping their actions minimal they wouldn¡¯t give Liu Gan any inconvenience.

    Liu Gan carefully ced down the carton of water that was in his hand, and also silently ced his backpack down on the floor. Then, he proceeded to head towards to the back of the building.

    Pan Hua and LuLu still don¡¯t know what happened, they can only guess that there was danger nearby. With their faces pale, they could only stand silently waiting for Liu Gan to return. It must be a dangerous situation inside because Liu Gan was very careful when he was entering the area.

    Liu Gan had definitely heard a noise, even though the gusts of wind were creating a lot of noise. Liu Gan¡¯s sense of hearing was able to tell that there was something going on behind the back of the building. If he was correct, there were zombies gnawing on food, and so for safety¡¯s sake, Liu Gan decided to go scout ahead to find out.

    Liu Gan walked lightly as he turned the building corner. Now the sound was more clear, and there was a heavy stench of fume that floated over along with the wind. It was as Liu Gan had said earlier. Behind the building were a few zombies crouching on the floor eating something, with their stomachs all bloated.

    In this dimly lit area, only Liu Gan could sense their presence clearly. If it was Pan Hua or LuLu in this situation with their two to three meters of vision distance, it would be very dangerous for them. It was a good thing that Liu Gan had gone ahead to scout without them.

    This scene couldn¡¯t help but trigger Liu Gan¡¯s memory of a previously yed horror game. In that game, it had the monitor so that the brightness could be adjusted easily if someone had preset the functions. There were many times that the area outside the radius of the shlight was pitch ck, and yers without the lighting preset died to ambushes by more experienced yers.

    Of course, this was one of the joys of ying games. If a yer couldn¡¯t withstand the surprised ambushes, they could set the monitor brightness to the highest. That way, no matter whates toward the yer, they will always be ready because they could see partial images of it.

    For those types of horror games, when the brightness of the surroundings was increased, the difficulty would be reduced by a veryrge extent. This was exactly what Liu Gan was experiencing after getting a boost in power from leveling. Even though the clouds had obscured the moon, Liu Gan was able to see a radius of ten plus metres around him. Hence, the probability of him failing to detect an ambush was quite low.

    Moving slightly forward to observe, Liu Gan was able to do a headcount and confirmed that there were 5 zombies. One of the zombies was holding a head with long hair and eating the brain. Even though the facial features likes the nose, eyes and mouth were already gone, it was quite obvious that the head had belonged to a female human.

    Another zombie was biting on a leg which was missing 4 of its toes, with only the big toe still intact. The toenail had coloured nail polish on and looking at the size of the leg, it was definitely a girl¡¯s. The remaining three zombies were eating the innards and some viscous, sticky looking thing.

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27: Outsmart

    Laying near the 5 zombies were scattered pieces of bones and meat, it should¡¯ve been the remnant remains of the female. Judging from the looks of the blood stains it still looked quite fresh.

    If Liu Gan had to guess, the undergarments hanging above air-drying belonged to the half-eaten corpse. This female could¡¯ve possibly been the store owner. Liu Gan focused on the third floor of the building and noticed that one of the windows were open. That window had a rope dangling out of it.

    Of course, something urgent must have happened to the female store-owner that forced her to try and escape from the third floor window by using a rope. In the end, she got ambushed by five zombies; and now, sheid within their stomachs.

    Liu Gan was unsure of why she didn¡¯t leave directly from the first floor by opening up the metal gates, but instead chose to leave from the third floor window. However, this wasn¡¯t the time or ce to be thinking about that. To him, specting the real answer served no purpose, and would only aid him when he has to think about itter with more information. His main concern was focused on the bodies of the five zombies in front of him.

    Previously when there was the huge explosion by the za, it had attracted most of the surrounding zombies, so these zombies must have been physically stuck or left behind when they were en route. So these 5 zombies weren¡¯t part of the gathering of the corpse tide at the za.

    Even though these creatures don¡¯t have any awareness, their sight, vision, and sense of smell are all better than an average human. Luckily, Liu Gan was positioned downhill from the wind, so these 5 zombies hadn¡¯t noticed Liu Gan and continued eating.

    Looking at these 5 zombies, Liu Gan raised his eyebrows, he had an important decision to make. To forfeit this location and select a new one, or to fight these zombies.

    If he chose this buildingplex as a hideout location, he must clear up those 5 zombies. Otherwise, any of their movement would alert them. Once they had been exterminated, they wouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore. If Liu Gan didn¡¯t kill them, it might even alert more zombies toward their location so they get trapped in this building, then it would be worse than that situation in the za. This time, if enough zombies were gathered, it would be enough to reach the top of the apartment.

    If he chose to forfeit this location, then Liu Gan would have to scout and look for a better location in this dark night. A better location that has an overall view of the area and has many escape routes.

    Right now it was getting darker into the night, and Liu Gan had to decide. The nightly gales had gotten stronger, and it looked like it might possibly thunderstorm at any moment. The thunder could aggravate and alert more hidden zombies, so in the rain it would be even more impossible to defend.

    Since it was unlikely to be able to quickly find another suitable resting location. With all these factors to consider for, Liu Gan quickly decided to settle for this location. Liu Gan calmed down and decided that the zombies must be removed. Tonight he would be staying at this three story building.

    If there were just three zombies, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t hesitate because he already knew that three zombies wouldn¡¯t be too much of a threat. He was hesitant though, because he had never handled more than 5 before. Especially in a setting that was not his favor, it waspletely pitch dark at night so trying to fight would be inconvenient.

    Normal people whenbatting would avoid getting injured, but these zombies have no fear. Zombies aren¡¯t afraid of getting injured or dying; it waspletely invested in offensive aspect, without a concern for its wellbeing. Normal people couldn¡¯tpare with that mentality. Normal yers would think of a way to kill it while not getting injured, because all it took was just one bite or scratch duringbat to lose it all.

    So now that Liu Gan was level four, with an overwhelming bonus in stats, and if conditions were optimal, then these five zombies wouldn¡¯t be a big issue. Even if he didn¡¯t take the risk of going against the five zombies, this was a good method of obtainingbat knowledge.

    Going against a foe with greater numbers, the best strategy to counter was a diversion. Separating each of them and killing them one by one. Liu Gan decided that was the method he was going to use. Crouching down he picked up a small rock, and threw it onto the back of the closest zombie.

    The zombie that had a rock thrown at it turned and saw Liu Gan in the distance behind him. Seeing Liu Gan made it yell, as it gave up the food it had in it¡¯s hand and charged toward Liu Gan. Liu Gan tactically retreated toward the corner from which he came from. Then, he waited for the zombie to follow so he could kill this zombie away from the vision of the others.

    Just in case he lured all five of the zombies at the same time, this was also a good strategy for retreating.

    Liu Gan¡¯s strategy was very sessful, as it only attracted one zombie. Liu Gan backed up a few more steps then silently threw a punch at the zombie¡¯s face. He then gave it a hack at the neck separating the head from the body. Without much noise generated, Liu Gan was able to easily kill it.

    After killing the first zombie, the rest were simple. Liu Gan repeated the procedure for the next two zombies, and when there were only two zombies left, he was no longer afraid. He charged up directly at thest two zombies in a battle frenzy to kill them.

    After killing the five zombies, Liu Gan returned to the street near the front of the store to tell Pan Hua and LuLu about the situation. He didn¡¯t want Pan Hua and LuLu won¡¯t be too confused and do anything rash. His n was to return to the back of the store and climb solo into the building window, then open the gate to let the two in.

    Looking at the rope that was dangling from the third floor window, Liu Gan suspected that there might be zombies within the building. Otherwise, the female store-owner wouldn¡¯t have climbed out from it and identally fallen to the ground, only to get ambushed by those zombies waiting below.

    In other words, Liu Gan must be extra careful when climbing up.

    Liu Gan tugged onto the rope, just to test the sturdiness of the knot tied on the other end. He had to be sure that it was sturdy since he would be climbing up with this rope. He wasn¡¯tpletely reliant on the rope, putting one hand on the rope, and the other on the wall to brace himself, just in case the rope identally rips.

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28: Courage to live on

    Almost arriving at of the third floor window, Liu Gan tried his hardest to not create any loud noise because of the possibility of getting ambushed. However, there were no noises that he could hear from the inside. So Liu Gan decided to climb in, and there was indeed no ambush waiting for him.

    The third floor window had a viscous sticky material, as if a zombie had climbed through here before. Whether it was to climb in or to climb out though was hard to tell in this situation. All Liu Gan knew, was that it was not quite safe in this building. So he must proceed with caution topletely inspect the building.

    He wrapped up the rope putting it back inside on the window ledge. Liu Gan carefully investigated the third floor, which had a simpleyout. One bedroom with one bathroom, and inside the bedroom was a small bed with a wardrobe. Liu Gan first investigated underneath the bed,but there was nothing unusual. Then he checked inside the wardrobe. Inside was a pile of male and female clothes, but there were no zombies hiding inside that either.

    Alongside the bed was a simple make up desk, with all of the lipsticks, nail polish and other make up materials still there. It was very clear that a female was living here.

    Along the wall was a dinner table, with a simple ethanol stove on top of it. Sitting on this stove was a pot that formed an airtight seal with the stove. There was residual ramen soup in the base of the pot that had long since turned cold. Near the dinner table was a garbage can that contained empty bags of ramen, along with empty cracker packages. There were also four to five empty cans of soft drinks. Everything edible or drinkable had already been cleaned out.

    Aside from the viscous material on the windowsill there was nothing particrly abnormal. The floor didn¡¯t have any fresh blood stains and there was no evidence of a struggle. The only thing that was out of ce was an overturned chair on the floor.

    ¡°Is there anyone there? Does anyone live here? If there is someone, we can leave and choose another location to stay¡­¡± Liu Gan whispered at a volume only loud enough for people inside to hear. If someone was living in the building, then his volume was perfect for the whole building to hear him. If there were zombies hiding inside, it was loud enough for them to leave their hideout and rush toward the source.

    Within the building no reply could be heard. It was almostpletely silent as if this building was deserted, and the only sound created was the wind blowing through the window.

    If the female store-owner was pushed out from the window by the zombie, then it was very likely that the zombie jumped off as well. That would exin why when Liu Gan shouted out, it didn¡¯t attract any movement within the house.

    The question was, where did this zombiee from? Did she let them in the house?

    That would be impossible. The metal gate was locked tight. That meant when the female returned to the shop, there was sufficient time for her to seal up the gate, so it was safe.

    This situation must be resolved first, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be safe to stay in this location for the night.

    Liu Gan already dered that the third floor didn¡¯t have any abnormalities or signs of danger. He stood at the top of the stairs and used his shlight to shine onto the second floor. After deeming the area to be safe enough, he proceeded down to the second floor with his shlight on.

    Theyout of the second and third floors were very simr. Both floors had bathrooms and a single bed in the room. However the room in the second floor had a faint smell of rotting flesh, which was very simr to the smell that originated from a rotting zombie. This lead Liu Gan increase his battle awareness.

    However, there were no visible traces of any zombie¡­ Except for a very untidy bed that had stains emitting the smell of rotting flesh and a torn rope.

    Using the shlight, Liu Gan looked at the photo frame on the table beside the bed, which contained the picture of a couple. He continued to look for clues around the room cautiously. After a short while, Liu Gan managed to infer from the clues, and guessed what had happened.

    There was a high chance that in The Trembling World, when most people were turned into zombies from the gue, the male and female store-owners were not infected and quarantined themselves in the hardware store.

    Every game had their unique background story. Some games had very detailed andplicated background stories;rge and powerful gamepanies like San Xing Corporation would definitely have a very logical andprehensive background story. Therefore when the zombie virus in the Trembling World started to spread, there must have been an appropriate reason and process leading to it.

    From the current situation, other than the yers who had not been infected, all the poption of this world had most probably been infected. However, there would be a very small percentage of the human poption that were lucky enough to not be infected. These would include the male and female store-owners of this hardware shop.

    As for what was the cause of the gue¡­ For the time being, the reason was unknown.

    Whether being alive in this apocalyptic world was a good or bad thing was debatable, because all the friends and family had been turned into zombies. The living conditions you once knew were all a thing of the past. There was no electric supply, no food, no drinkable water, and now or order. Survivors who want to continue living in this world had a very arduous job.

    Other than the need for food and water, what was even more important was the courage and determination to continue living on no matter what. The courage to push through all fears and pull through to going forward to the next day.

    Based on the surrounding evidence, Liu Gan had a theory.

    The hardware store was only a short distance away from the minimart. After the viral infection urred, the male store-owner took a huge risk in going out to the minimart for provisions. All of this was to help him and his wife survive in this apocalyptic world. From the empty boxes and cartons, it was obvious that he made a few trips to the minimart.

    After a few sessful trips, the male store-owner was more confident, and attempted to take more on hisst trip. However, his luck ran out. On his way back, he did not notice a stray zombie hiding behind a car near the hardware shop as his vision was blocked by the boxes he was carrying. Even though he seeded in escaping the zombie, he got bitten and was ultimately infected.

    Returning back to the store, the male store-owner got sick as he was infected by the zombie. The female store-owner was worried that he might turn into a zombie, but did not have the heart to abandon him. Instead, she tied him down on the bed of the second floor. The male store-owner indeed turned into a zombie not long after he was infected.

    The zombified store-owner struggled against the ropes, and as the female store-owner had no prior knowledge in tying and securing rope knots, the zombie manage to break free. After freeing himself from the ropes, the zombified store-owner smelled the human scent lingering in the air and rushed towards her direction. It ran up the stairs to the third floor, which at that moment, was where the female store-owner was at. When she heard the ruckus the zombie was making, she hurriedly went towards the window and climbed out using the rope she had prepared beforehand. However, the zombie caught up to the female store-owner before she could safely climb out. After an intense struggle, the zombie and the female store-owner fell out of the window together.

    There was a high probability that one of the zombies that had been eating the female body was her husband. The other four zombies were probably attracted by the smell of the corpse and came over to enjoy the meal.

    This tragic background story was pretty much eighty to ny percent urate ording to Liu Gan¡¯s deduction of the surrounding evidence.

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29: Sense of security

    Liu Gan then came up with another theory to what might have happened. He thought that maybe, the female store-owner was the only survivor, and the male store-owner was infected when the gue started. He started to change into a zombie, but the female store-owner couldn¡¯t bring herself to kill him, so she tied her husband onto the bed on the second floor. Even after the male store-ownerpletely changed into a zombie, the female store-owner left him tied to the bed.

    Instead of her husband, it had been the female store-owner who had gone to the minimart earlier to scavenge for food and water. Thenter that day, while the female store-owner was cooking a pack of instant ramen, her zombified husband managed to break free from the rope, rushing to the third floor.

    For thest few days of her life, the female store-owner had this bad feeling that her zombified husband would struggle free from the ropes. Therefore, she prepared an escape route from the third floor bedroom window so that she could escape whenever her husband broke free and attacked her. However, she was not able to execute her n, and she was eaten before she knew it. What caused her death was ultimately the love she had for her husband.

    Whatever had actually happened, Liu Gan had found out the reason for the female store-owner¡¯s escape. He also managed to find out why there was a zombie in the hardware shop in the first ce.

    Liu Gan¡¯s purpose to find out the truth was not because he had nothing to do and felt bored, it was so that he could confirm that the three storey building was indeed safe and there were no secret entrances. All of this was done so Liu Gan and his squad could have a first peaceful and safe night in The Trembling World.

    After checking the second floor, Liu Gan went down to the first floor of the hardware shop. Theyout of the shop was as followed: a counter at the front, disy cases in the middle and a small warehouse at the back. The counter, small warehouse and disy cases were filled with hydro-poweredmodities. There was no sign of any zombies and it was very quiet. The building felt very safe.

    The metal grated gate on the first floor was still locked. This type metal gate is opened from the inside and a key was needed. Even though Liu Gan could use brute strength to force open the metal grated gate, it might lead to very loud noises which would attract any nearby zombies in the vicinity. Furthermore, once Liu Gan force open the gate with brute strength, the metal grated gate would be useless. A gate with a gaping big hole in the middle wouldpromise the safety of the building.

    Hence, Liu Gan went back to the third floor, released the rope down the window and climbed down to the first floor. After hended, he held his breath and mustered up his courage before he rummaged through the disgusting pile of dead bodies for the key. He manage to find a key in the chest pocket of a zombie and another bunch of keys hanging on the belt of a different zombie.

    The zombie that has the keys hanging on it¡¯s belt had rope burn marks on the wrist and ankle. These marks pretty much confirmed Liu Gan¡¯s deduction of what happened. Hence, he guessed that this zombie was the male store-owner of the hardware shop and the keys hanging from his belt should be able to open the metal grated gate.

    Theoretically, the female store-owner should also have the keys for the metal grated gate. So the extra set of keys should be in the brutally torn females clothes that got eaten by the zombies. However, the stench and filth caused by the rotting of the flesh and intestines was very disgusting and Liu Gan was not willing to use his hands to search for her set of keys.

    As Liu Gan walked back towards the street in front of the main gate, Pan Hua and LuLu were still hiding in the previous ce, hugging each other and trembling in fear. When Liu Gan appeared in front of them, they were shocked and almost screamed out loud. When they saw that it was Liu Gan and heard him whispering to them, they finally calmed down.

    ¡°See, didn¡¯t I tell you that Boss would not abandon us and escape?¡± Pan Hua whispered to LuLu. It was obvious that they were suspicious and afraid that Liu Gan left without them. They were contemting whether to run away after Liu Gan left for such a long time.

    ¡°The hardware shop is safe. I found a few keys, I need to see whether we can open the metal grated gate or not. If it¡¯s not possible, then we have to climb up to the third floor using the rope.¡± Liu Gan told Pan Hua and LuLu. Liu Gan then walked to the metal grated gate and inserted the keys to open the gate.

    One of the keys was indeed the correct one. Amongst the five zombies, one of them was indeed the male store-owner of the hardware shop. What Liu Gan deduced from the clues in the hardware shop was also correct. Perhaps what had happened was exactly how Liu Gan had inferred.

    Liu Gan lifted the metal grated gate by about one meter and threw the bag and the boxes of mineral water into the hardware shop. After which, he went in and Pan Hua and LuLu followed him in.

    After the three of them entered the building, Liu Gan pulled down the metal grated gate and locked it from the inside.

    After the gate was lowered and locked, Pan Hua and LuLu subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief. After feeling afraid, nervous and danger for such a long time, they finally had a trace of safety and calmed down.

    ¡°Tonight, we will be sleeping here. We will take turn to sleep and be on the lookout. The moment there is any disturbance, the one on duty must immediately wake the other two people up.¡± Liu Gan told them as he lead them up to the third floor.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Pan Hua and LuLu hurriedly nodded their heads and agreed with Liu Gan.

    One of them is obese and the other is a fragile weak girl, Both are not fit forbat. After what happened to Wang ChangShun, they know now that if they don¡¯t follow Liu Gan, it will be very difficult to survive in this world.

    ¡°When we stay here, we are not allowed to have any lights on or make any sounds. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky so heavy rain will soone. There is a chance that nearby zombies would be alerted by the sound of thunder and emerge near the building from the dark.¡± Liu Gan instructed Pan Hua and LuLu. Even though he did not have any encounters with zombies in his previous world, he was pretty familiar with them after watching numerous zombie movies, series, and ying numerous zombie video games.

    ¡°Roger.¡± Pan Hua nodded and assured Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan checked his backpack and discovered that not a single item was missing. Hence, he took two packets of biscuits and two bottles of mineral water out and then threw it in the direction of Pan Hua and LuLu. Previously after eating their biscuits, because of the gruesome sight of Wang ChangShun, they vomited all the content in their stomach out. If they were not given more food to eat, their hunger would affect their rest, which would lead to ack of spirit and strength the next day.

    ¡°We are eternally grateful Boss!¡± Pan Hua was surprised by Liu Gan¡¯s generosity and quickly thanked him after taking the biscuits and water from him. Pan Hua and LuLu were indeed famished and they were so weak that they were dazed.

    ¡°We are now a team, until we find new food and water, we need to ration our resources. The two of you must understand that what I am doing is for our own good.¡± Liu Gan told them.

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Pan Hua hurriedly nodded his head.

    ¡°As the leader of our group, I need to kill the zombies and protect you. I also need to risk my life to look for food and water. Therefore, I need to make sure that I am always battle ready . If I am not in my best state, we might fall prey to the zombies and perish in this world.¡± Liu Gan continued telling them. Pan Hua and LuLu were smart people who could understand simple logic. Furthermore, this was a temporary group and making clear of the rules and regtions was necessary.

    ¡°Yes Boss, we understand and will definitely follow ordingly.¡± Pan Hua once again nodded and agree with Liu Gan. Whereas for LuLu who was still dazed, she just followed suit and nodded her head.

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30: Quick escape

    Even though there was an ethanol stove on the kitchen table, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to find any ethanol or kerosene canister to fuel it with. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve dly prepared and cooked himself a pack of noodles. Then, it would¡¯ve finally resembled a real meal. If only there were steamy soup to drink with his ramen, that would be the best. No matter how many biscuits one ate, it would never feel like a proper meal. It looked like it wouldn¡¯t be possible to cook ramen tonight ¨C maybe next time.

    The living conditions in this world are unimaginably harsh. Having the ability to eat a meal that¡¯s steaming hot is something that he can only hope for.

    As Liu Gan was chatting with Pan Hua, LuLu just kept drinking water and eating the biscuits. It was evident that her psychological status had yet to revert back to normal, since she still had a frightened and detached look on her face. Before she had joined the game, she¡¯d been a famous and beautiful female broadcaster, so in everyone else¡¯s eyes she was the ssic model of a female geek and a decent girl. In all of her 19 years alive, she¡¯d never once slept overnight outside. Not to mention the current inappropriate situation tonight where she had to sleep with two guys in the same house.

    However, she had to sleep under the same roof as the two guys in the house, even more so within the same room. To her, Pan Hua was eptable because he was her fan, has a nice personality, and has been taking care of her. The issue for her is Liu Gan, who¡¯s so temperamental ¨C he can even be violent enough to kill right in front of them.

    The only fact that allowed LuLu to sleep better was that Liu Gan rarely looked at her. Even when he did, the way he looked at her was no different from how he looked at other people. Luckily this was the case, because if he¡¯d had any alternative thoughts, all he needed to do was use his brute strength to force her. She waspletely ready tomit suicide if that were to happen.

    ¡°You guys¡­ If we were to die inside the game like Wang ChangShun, would we be able to return to the real world?¡± LuLu chimed in on the conversation. She was thinking of finding a way out of this game.

    ¡°You can try. If you do decide to use that method to leave this game, I can help you with it ¨C it¡¯ll be quick and painless.¡± Liu Gan disyed his axe in front of LuLu.

    LuLu instantly hesitated, everything she had experienced so far was too real. Even though the room was very dimly lit from the outside, she could still see the shine reflected on the axe. Thinking about the moment when the red-haired yer was struck on the back of her head by the flying axe, made her lose all thoughts of suicide.

    In addition, if they were to die here, would they really die?

    ¡°LuLu don¡¯t think like that! We must work hard to survive. There are several hundred thousands of yers who, like us, are trapped here. With an issue this urgent, the government must be taking action. They¡¯ll force the San Xing Corporation to make an effort and have them send us help.¡± Pan Hua tried his best to encourage LuLu.

    One could imagine how much of an impact the sudden disappearance of several hundred thousands of yers would be. It would also affect at least a hundred thousand families, so if it wasn¡¯t resolved quickly, then society will be hugely impacted. Pan Hua spected that high ranking government officials would be extremely furious, and had probably already started an investigation of the San Xing Corporation. The first step would be the arrest of all the executives of San Xing Corporation, as well as to think of a rescue n to extract the trapped yers.

    ¡°Rescue? How would they rescue us? I feel like this whole game is a conspiracy. We, the trapped yers, are just the test subjects of San Xing Corporations. We didn¡¯t enter the game-world of [The Trembling World]. Instead, we were thrown into a zombie world to test us.¡± LuLu depressingly answered Pan Hua.

    ¡°If they dared to do that, the government wouldn¡¯t let them go! These several hundred thousand yers represent several hundred thousands of lives! What kind of corporation would take the lives of so many people as a joke? Do the executives at the corporation want to get the death penalty together? Pan Hua disyed his anger in front of his idol.

    ¡°Yes! The San Xing Corporation is vile! If they dared to do this, they have balls of steel ¨C at least enough to be this reckless!¡± LuLu was also getting heated in the conversation. All the misery and suffering they had experienced together was all due to the San Xing Corporation. If they were able to return to the real world, they had to demandpensation for all the damages. Their anger and frustration was very understandable.

    ¡°Boss, how do you view this matter?¡± Pan Hua asked Liu Gan, seeing how Liu Gan had been silent this whole time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t care if there is a rescue or not. All that matters is that we survive. No one knows if we can escape this game if we die or not.¡± Liu Gan shook his head, and got up to head out of the room.

    This type of situation¡­ no amount of evidence could be used to predict what actually happened. Rather than continuing this pointless debate with Pan Hua and LuLu, he would rather get a good night¡¯s sleep and recover his stamina. There might be more dangers tomorrow, so he needed to be ready.

    As for if the real world would send rescue? Liu Gan¡¯s thoughts on this were very simple. These yers were all unable to exit the game, so rather than expect a rescue, it would be much easier for the gamingpany to just activate the logout function. So, since they hadn¡¯t done so already, this issue couldn¡¯t be that simple.

    ¡­

    ¡°I was at the minimart collecting a toothbrush and toothpaste. You guys don¡¯t brush before you sleep?¡± LuLu held up the toothbrush and toothpaste, showing them to Liu Gan and Pan Hua.

    ¡°Our water supply is limited, if we were to do that our drinking supply wouldn¡¯tst more than just a few days. So it¡¯d be a waste for us to use it for brushing our teeth.¡± Liu Gan thoughtfully gave LuLu his reply.

    ¡°However, not brushing one¡¯s teeth will lead to bad breath.¡± LuLu was persistent on brushing her teeth. As a female, she couldn¡¯t resist this type of situation.

    ¡°LuLu¡­¡± Pan Hua tried his best to convince LuLu, but at the same time he was afraid that she had angered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Compared to surviving, bad breath doesn¡¯t seem like a huge problem. These zombies seem to have much worse breaths than we do, so we should be okay.¡± Liu Gan brushed away her suggestion.

    ¡°You think this type of style is surviving? Then there¡¯s no difference from surviving than living like a beggar or like a cockroach. What¡¯s the point in living? Not brushing your teeth will lead to having teeth problems, prolonged issues will create bleeding. Then, one by one, they¡¯ll fall off. By that stage, even if you find food, you won¡¯t be able to eat it¡­¡± LuLu protested with her ideas to Liu Gan.

    ¡°LuLu, you won¡¯t die from not brushing your teeth. However, if you don¡¯t have water to drink, you will die¡­¡± Pan Hua was afraid of disobeying Liu Gan, so he helped discourage LuLu. If she continued, he was afraid that Liu Gan might kill her.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t reply. The air in the room tensed up.

    ¡°Boss, boss¡­ LuLu was just suggesting it. I feel that, even if we don¡¯t brush our teeth, the remaining water could be enough to drink¡­¡± Pan Hua felt so nervous that it felt like his heart was about to burst.

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31: Gaining warmth in a group

    ¡°She has a point, even if we deplete our resource, we shouldn¡¯t live like cockroaches and beggars. Brush your teeth. At most everyone should only use a third of a bottle, that way just one bottle will be enough. But don¡¯t get your hopes high about showering.¡± Liu Gan finally agreed to LuLu¡¯s plea.

    ¡°Boss you are so kind and understanding.¡± Pan Hua after seeing Liu Gan didn¡¯t use his axe to kill LuLu, but also instead he agreed to LuLu¡¯s suggestion. He could finally rx.

    From Pan Hua¡¯s point of view, him and LuLu had no special purpose to Liu Gan. Infact, they are only weighing him down. If they ask for too much unnecessary requests, they could make Liu Gan angry. Then he would kill them or abandon them.

    After brushing their teeth, Liu Gan arranged the sleeping arrangement. First Pan Hua and LuLu would sleep in the same room, since LuLu felt that two guys sleeping in the third floor room with her would be inappropriate. However, if she slept in a room alone on the second floor, she would be terrified.

    In addition, these two males could do whatever they want to do to her. In between, the third floor and second floor there was no barrier on the path. Lastly, the most important was that the second floor was filled with a rotting zombie smell. The bed still had zombie viscous residue of mucus. LuLu had slight OCD so it was intolerable for her.

    Comparing second floor to the third floor, the third floor was so much cleaner. Finally, LuLu chose to sleep in the same room with the two males on the third floor. Pan Hua was a true gentleman, he volunteered to sleep on the floor, giving up the bed for LuLu. LuLu took up his offer andid on the bed with her clothes on.

    The bed on the third floor belonged to the female store-owner. The bed felt prettyfortable because the bed sheets were clean and it was not stained with the blood of the zombie or any other disgusting substances.

    Liu Gan moved a chair to the balcony so that he could act as a sentry outpost. He managed to find an rm clock in the hardware shop and it was around 11 pm. When it was 2 am, Liu Gan would wake Pan Hua for his shift and when it was 5am, Pan Hua would wake LuLu up.

    ¡°Wang Chang Shun¡¯s death was too scary!¡± LuLu sprawled on the bed and told Pan Hua in a hushed tone. It is pretty obvious that she did not recover from the trauma of Wang ChangShun¡¯s gruesome death.

    ¡°Yes, i agree! I have no intention of dying in the same way either. However the problem is that this game is too realistic. What we are feeling is all real and the feeling of getting torn apart when you are alive will definitely be painful.¡± Pan Hua agreed with LuLu also had a simr hushed tone.

    Witnessing Wang Chang Shun¡¯s death first hand had also gave a great mental shock to Pan Hua. The only time he saw someone dying was in the movie theatres watching some horror or gory movie.

    This type of extremely gruesome death was too much for him.

    ¡°Fatty, what do you think of Liu Gan¡¯s character?¡± LuLu squeezed towards the side of the bed where Pan Hua was lying on the floor and whispered. Pan Hua¡¯s personality was very good and furthermore he was her die hard fan who always gifted her presents. Hence he easily gained the trust of LuLu.

    [TN: I gift girls all the time. Still single. #foreversingle][ED(Aama): I will join the club!]

    ¡°Boss Liu is so awesome and strong with him, we are definitely safe.¡± Pan Hua whispered back to LuLu. He subconsciously looked towards the balcony, a little worried that Liu Gan could overhear their conversation.

    ¡°Currently we are not in any danger, therefore he is like this. However, I think that when we are, he will definitely abandon us.¡± LuLu whispered back. Regarding the matter of brushing teeth where she shed against Liu Gan had made her heart raced. She was very worried that Liu Gan would beat her up out of anger. Luckily he epted her opinion and it ended peacefully.

    She felt that Pan Hua and herself were pretty useless. In addition, a girl¡¯s problem was not merely a trivial matter of brushing teeth. Just now when she was brushing her teeth, she sneaked to the second floor when Liu Gan was not looking and used a small handful of water to clean up her private area.

    Being a pretty and sought after girl, she couldn¡¯t tolerate the notion of not being able to wash up and it was additional burden that she would bring to them.

    ¡°Do you think we have any other better choices now?¡± Pan Hua asked LuLu in a hushed tone.

    ¡°He killed Little Red.¡±LuLu replied Pan Hua. The Little Red she mentioned was the Red-Haired yer who was trapped with them on the rooftop when they just entered into this world. She gave all them nicknames. The remaining two would then be Little Green and Little Yellow. Even though the three of them had foul mouths, LuLu and the trio could still get along after getting to know them.

    ¡°Little Red indeedmitted a few mistakes¡­¡± Pan Hua replied LuLu.

    ¡°He was still young. Moreover, it was a dire situation which lead him to stealing the food. Whatever the case¡­ That does not warrant death as a punishment. However Liu Gan just killed him so easily¡­¡± LuLu said with a sigh.

    ¡°This is The Trembling World, not the world we know. In this zombie infested world, what Boss said is correct, survival is the most important thing. Our previous notion ofws and orders do not apply to this world anymore¡­¡± Pan Hua exined to LuLu

    ¡°You have been brain-washed by him.¡±LuLu said with a sigh.

    ¡°I did not get brain-washed by him, I only feel that what he said makes a lot of sense. However, I am not as strong as him therefore¡­ I can¡¯t protect you. The only way to stay safe is to rely on Liu Gan and follow his rules and decisions.¡± Pan Hua said and sighed while replying.

    ¡°Fatty, I know that you are a good person. But¡­ What if¡­ He tries to take advantage of me? You will protect me right?¡±LuLu asked Pan Hua when she thought of it.

    She was a girl, furthermore, she was a very pretty girl. Liu Gan who was so aggressive made her feel very uneasy. Even though Liu Gan currently did not do anything to her, but who knows whether he would try do anything in the future? The moment a man goes crazy, he was capable of doing anything.

    ¡°He¡­ He¡­ I don¡¯t think he is someone like that.¡±Pan Hua replied LuLu. From his point of view, if Liu Gan is this type of person, he would have taken advantage of LuLu long ago. He would not care whether Pan Hua is there or not.

    Since Liu Gan did not do anything, it means that he would not do it.

    ¡°We must help each other! I will not abandon you, you will not abandon me either, right?¡± LuLu suggested and asked Pan Hua. In this cruel and dangerous world, the weak would gather in groups in order to survive, not that it was sessful.

    ¡°En, I will definitely not abandon you!¡± Pan Hua hurriedly confirmed LuLu and promised her.

    LuLu was a very seductive hot girl, whereas Pan Hua was a fat boy. In reality, the only thing Pan Hua was able to do was gawking at her from when she goes live online in her recording studio. If he was lucky, he would be able to see her face to face on the street even though she would not even give him a single look. However, he now had a chance to spend time and be in close proximity with his Goddess. Therefore he felt very blissful and would definitely try his best to please and fawn on her.

    ¡°Fatty¡­ In the past, even though you have been constantly supporting me, I did not give you any attention. Regarding this matter, I would like to apologize sincerely.¡± LuLu told Pan Hua.

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32: Lightning rod

    ¡°Ah¡­ no, no, LuLu, don¡¯t say it like that. Supporting you is a given. If we are really able to return to the real world, I¡¯ll continue supporting you because you¡¯re a very talented broadcaster.¡± Pan Hua replied to LuLu.

    ¡°I¡¯m very talented?¡± LuLu didn¡¯t have confidence in her voice, leading her to question what he said. When she was in her mansion in the real world, the inte had a lot of people who wouldpliment her. But there were even more people who¡¯d disgrace her. This was her first time meeting up with a fan, and having a conversation with one.

    ¡°You are definitely outstanding! I first watched your broadcast when the gimmick was about beautiful girls ying video games. My impression towards you wasn¡¯t that deep then, I only thought you were very beautiful, but ever since that day¡­¡± Pan Hua began thinking of the past.

    ¡°What day?¡± LuLu¡¯s curiosity was sparked by what Pan Hua had said.

    ¡°Until the day when you were in-between broadcasting, and you sang a song. The song was [See you again]. It moved my heart the way you sang. After that moment, I couldn¡¯t resist falling for you. Then every night after, I would go straight to your broadcast.¡± Pan Hua blushed revealing his sweet expression ¡ª the same butterfly feeling and expression of a young man in love.

    [TN: LOL. That¡¯s the closest song in chinese to the name.]

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember¡­¡± LuLu showing a face of regret. She had too many fans because she was a female game broadcaster. Even though she was a broadcaster, she could also sing with her soothing voice. So even during broadcasts, she would often talk and even sing a little bit. As to which song she sang, she definitely didn¡¯t remember the moment Pan Hua had mentioned.

    [TN: LOL. GG NO RE.] [ED: Savage, especially the next part.]

    ¡°LuLu, could you sing [See you again] one more time?¡± Pan Hua eagerly asked LuLu.

    ¡°I¡¯m not in the mood¡­¡± LuLu shook her head. If she was in the broadcasting room, she¡¯d be d to entertain her fan with the song, but with the current situation she wasn¡¯t herself.

    Pan Hua tried tough it off, and didn¡¯t say anything afterwards. Right now, he already felt very fortunate and lucky for being able to be with LuLu.

    ¡°Fatty, if I don¡¯t go back tonight, or these next few days¡­ or even the uing months, will my fans forget me?¡± LuLu asked Pan Hua. This was her main concern as to why she wasn¡¯t in the mood.

    ¡°Of course not, we¡¯re your hardcore fans. If you aren¡¯t here for a few days, or even a few months, we¡¯ll wait until you¡¯ve returned.¡± Pan Hua quickly replied to LuLu. As a die-hard fan, he would do anything for her.

    ¡°Fatty, you really are a good person! We don¡¯t even know how much longer is left until we can actually return¡­¡± LuLu said as her eyes began tearing, as sheid in bed. This time is when her broadcasting usually ended, but since she was trapped here, her fans must¡¯ve been really disappointed¡­

    She knew that Pan Hua was trying his best tofort her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll think of a way out of this alive.¡± Pan Hua motivated LuLu.

    LuLu didn¡¯t make a sound, she was exhausted. Sheid on the bed with her eyes closed. Being trapped in this apocalyptic world, she has no feeling of safety. She has to be wary of zombies, and now she has to be even more careful of men. She knows thatw and order is a thing of the past ¡ª men will be more like beasts. In this chaotic world, females have no protection. In the end, they¡¯ll be the ythings of men.

    Since LuLu didn¡¯t say anything, silence filled the room. Very soon, Pan Hua started snoring ¡ª it seemed like he¡¯d passed out. LuLu was impressed with his ability to be able to fall asleep so fast even in this type of situation.

    Meanwhile on the balcony¡­

    Liu Gan was sitting on the balcony ¡ª all he had to do was focus, and the conversation between Pan Hua and LuLu suddenly became as clear as if he was right next to them. He could definitely feel confident that his hearing and vision were a lot better than before.

    After listening in on their conversation, Liu Gan knew that his judgement of the two were correct. They were both kind hearted, and not the scheming type. So with them, he was rather safe. At least, he didn¡¯t have to worry about them ambushing him when he was sleeping.

    Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he¡¯dpletely drop his guard. Only the strongest will survive. You can¡¯tpletely trust someone else ¡ª you can only believe in yourself.

    The wind¡¯s breeze blew stronger down the alley. The dark street below had no movements. With the streets close to pitch ck and strong gusts blowing, it was good to assume that the lucky yers that survived wouldn¡¯t wander around at this time. Without those yers, the zombies wouldn¡¯t be rmed and lurking around.

    It seemed as if the world had quieted down, with the exception of the sound of the wind blowing into the cracks of the houses, and the distant thunder drawing ever closer.

    At the edge of the horizon the thunderstorm gradually closed in above them. With a sh of lightning, the roaring sound of thunder deafened them temporarily. Next came the sound of rain droplets ¡ª as it fell down from the sky onto the ground.

    With every sh of lighting, it showed the shadow of arge skyscraper in a certain direction. With the shadow, it created the hallucination that it wasrger than it really was. Only, the lightning was striking the top of the skyscraper. This was the skyscraper that diverted the lightning away. Liu gan was very familiar with this skyscraper, it was in the direction of the za with San Xing Corporations buildings nearby. It towered around 100 stories high.

    As the frequency of the lightning increased, it all began to strike the top of the skyscraper. Liu Gan got highly suspicious at this¡­ it was as if the skyscraper¡¯s lightning rod actively drew lightning in. Could there be a device near the lightning rod? Was there an experiment going on? Why was there such a high lightning strike rate? Over 90% of the lightning was striking that lightning rod, as it continued to draw in all the lightning towards the building.

    [TN: Hunger games anyone?]

    These guesses seemed to be meaningless, but other than that there was nothing for Liu Gan to do.

    Liu Gan put his chair closer to the wall, as he looked outside at the thunderstorm. Watching the rain, he couldn¡¯t help but think about his time being trapped on the billboard. Thinking even further back, it stimted his memory of being alone on the mountain vi. Those lonely days¡­

    Everything in the real world seemed like it was from a different life, now that he¡¯s been through so much¡­

    With his limbs having been amputated for at least a year, Liu Gan felt as if he was just a walking sack of meat. Eating then sleeping, and sleeping then eating ¡ª while he slept, he¡¯d have endless nightmares. And only to wake up again to see that his limbs had been amputated. That was his harsh reality. It was an endless vicious cycle that he¡¯d often find himself in. So it was hard for him to tell between nightmare and reality.

    Just like now, could all this be one big dream? He had his reattached back onto his body, and here he was in this nightmarish world.

    On his alloy watch the indicator for fatigue level was already deep red in color, Liu Gan was drawing close to his limit. He was slowly getting drowsier, but he did his best to remain awake.

    With a gust of wet rain on his face, he felt the breeze and cooling effect. Liu Gan came back to his senses, then he wiped his face and noticed his hands.

    The rain was still good, still normal. It wasn¡¯t like the introduction of the game, disying blood red rain water.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33: Gxy

    Deep into the night, Liu Gan walked silently from the balcony to the bedroom to wake up Pan Hua. LuLu was also alerted and woke up, seeing that Liu Gan was switching shifts with Pan Hua. Nervously, LuLu held her breath until Liu Gan hadid down in the spot where Pan Hua¡¯s makeshift bed was. Trying her best to not make any noise, and because she was too tired, she drifted back into her sleep.

    While she was sleeping, LuLu had a nightmare, so she was in a state of half dreaming, half awake. Until Pan Hua woke her up to tell her that it was her shift.

    When LuLu woke up, shepletely forgot where she was, and was overwhelmed by fear and nked out. It took her awhile to re-adjust and recall where she was. Finally, she had to give up her bed to Pan Hua, walking gently past Liu Gan as she made her way to the outpost seat by the balcony.

    Fatty Pan Hua was definitely a gentleman. The original n was to wake LuLu up at 5am to switch shifts, but every time he peeked into the room, he saw that LuLu was sleeping soundly. He couldn¡¯t bear to wake her up until it was 6am, when he couldn¡¯t resist anymore, so he had to wake up LuLu. By the time LuLu was on duty, the sky was brightly lit up.

    At night it was pouring rain, but by now it had stopped. However, there were puddles that hadn¡¯t seeped through the ground. The water had the smell of rotting flesh mixed in with the water, which was somewhat distressful for LuLu.

    Blowing into her face was the morning breeze. Looking below into the alleyway, LuLu still had the feeling that everything around her wasn¡¯t real. It was only the afternoon of the day before yesterday, that she¡¯d still been within the safety of her own home ¡ª looking forward to joining [The Trembling World], preparing to take notes on her perspective for the show. Then, by night-time, she would look forward to donations from her fans. Who would¡¯ve known that she¡¯d get trapped in this game, unable to return.

    If she knew that this was going to be the ending, she would never have joined this game.

    If she didn¡¯t return soon, she was afraid her fans would forget her. It wasn¡¯t easy to gain fame with people. Being a broadcaster takes a lot of effort, and thepetition was fierce. LuLu had spent over a year to gain her fame, and if it went to waste because of this, she wouldn¡¯t be able to ept it.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile over by the za, the 100 stories high skyscraper.

    ¡°I¡¯m sooo hungry.¡± A female woke up and started mumbling, as having not eaten anything had made her weak. The sky had just brightened from the morning sun, but it was obvious that she¡¯d awoken from being too hungry.

    [TN: OMG. NEW CHARACTERS]

    The female was called ZhangYu, and the male was called Li Hui. Both of them were still wearing their whiteboratory coats from before the disaster. Within the skyscraper, they worked together in theboratory. On the night of the disaster, they¡¯d been working a night shift and doing overtime in theboratory, and after working all night the world around them had changed.

    Their coworkers hadn¡¯t gotten rained on by the blood-red rain, but mysteriously their coworkers were infected and became zombies. Only these two remained without the infection.

    Being able to survive was not always a good thing, as with each and every passing day, it became harder to get up. Especially since they had eaten everything in theboratory and office.

    This morning, by the time ZhangYu woke up, her boyfriend LiHui was already awake. He stood by the window staring out at the parking lot below. It looked like he must have been hungry, a lot more hungry than she was.

    ¡°I watched for two days ¨C everyday when it¡¯s starting to get bright is when the zombie activity during the day is the weakest. To them, no matter what sound is created, they aren¡¯t very sensitive to it.¡± LiHui said, walking away from the window and exining to ZhangYu.

    ¡°Is that really the case?¡± Said ZhangYu, not quite believing what she was told.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, go take a look.¡± LiHui took a cup and walked to the window, then called ZhangYu over. He then threw the cup at a nearby zombie. Itnded a few meters behind the zombie and produced a loud noise. However, the zombie only turned back to give it a look, then it began its meaningless wandering.

    ¡°If it waster in the day, at a different time, when it heard the sound it would¡¯ve had a very reactive. Even crazily rushing forward to step on the cup. However, it¡¯s different when it¡¯s in the morning.¡± LiHui exined.

    ¡°I see.¡± ZhangYu nodded.

    ¡°If you were to attack it, it¡¯ll return to its natural state of being fully alert.¡± LiHui threw another cup down. This time it struck the body of the zombie, and the zombie instantly became alert. Left,right, front, and back, it turned its body and released a howl. The type of howl was enough to wake up a sleeping person.

    After awhile, the zombie didn¡¯t find any suitable prey, and returned to its previous state of walking slowly.

    ¡°Your observation is really urate.¡± ZhangYu nodded her head. She¡¯d just woken up, so she wasn¡¯t exactly sure why LiHui needed to tell her that.

    ¡°The parking lot¡¯s amount of zombies has decreased a lot since yesterday. It seems that most of them were attracted to the explosion far away. Now that they aren¡¯t quite as sensitive to their surroundings, I want to take this opportunity to go downstairs to scavenge. Maybe I¡¯ll be lucky enough to find food for us.¡± LiHui said, telling her the n.

    ¡°No way! That¡¯s too dangerous!¡± ZhangYu argued, holding back LiHui.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s too dangerous, but this is a good opportunity. Otherwise, we¡¯ll starve alive here.¡± Said LiHui shaking his head. Right now, while he still had energy, he wanted to look for food. If he waited too long, and starved, he might not have enough strength to even walk.

    ¡°We should think of a way to start ¡®Gxy¡¯ ¡ª maybe it can go out and help us scavenge for food. That would definitely be a lot safer.¡± ZhangYu pondered for a little bit, and pulled out an ID card as she suggested this to LiHui.

    This was the authority card that had clearance up to level 7. It was also this building¡¯s highest level ID ess card

    Other than this authority card that had level 7 clearance, ZhangYu also used her skills of dissection to obtain a perfect sample of the executive¡¯s eyeball and thumb. These would be used to open up the electric security door. She¡¯d preserved the eyeball and thumb in a small bottle. The biological materials that could be preserved in this solution couldst for a week before necrosis started. It would also allow the both of themplete ess to this skyscraper. Even if it was the most secure location, she¡¯d be able to enter.

    However, the prerequisites of all this was reliant on the assumption that the skyscraper was able to operate with electricity, and that the building did not have any zombies.

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34: Daybreak

    What ZhangYu had mentioned earlier about ¡®Gxy¡¯, was referring to aboratory-created model of a biologically operable robot. It was a level 7 ssified, top secret project. Within the entireboratory, the people who knew of it could be counted on one hand. Thus LiHui was given the responsibility ofposing the foundations of ¡®Gxy¡¯, and ZhangYu was responsible for the biological aspect of it. They were probably the only two alive who would know of the existence of ¡®Gxy¡¯.

    ¡°¡®Gxy¡¯ isn¡¯tplete, so starting her up would be dangerous. No one knows if she can be controlled. We also don¡¯t know where she¡¯s being kept. Since this entire skyscraper is filled with zombies, if we looked around, we might get eaten by zombies before finding ¡®Gxy¡¯.¡± LiHui shook his head, thinking that ZhangYu¡¯s suggestion wasn¡¯t very realistic.

    ¡°I feel that ¡®Gxy¡¯ could be hidden within the skyscraper¡¯s basement. It could be within the second basement floor¡¯s warehouse.¡± ZhangYu told LiHui. Since she¡¯d been was curious, she was particrly mindful and had monitored its movement.

    [TN: I think she means B2. The second floor of the basement.]

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s within the second floor basement warehouse, we can¡¯t go down there now. The warehouse has officer patrol that should have became zombies. Also¡­ we don¡¯t have electricity. Even if we¡¯re able to unlock the electronic door, we can¡¯t open the warehouse¡¯s steel door.¡± LiHui shook his head again, all this was tooplicated to him.

    ¡°True.¡± ZhangYu sighed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time, I should go down before it¡¯s toote.¡± LiHui took off his whiteboratory robe. He was preparing to take the risk and scavenge for food.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go together with you.¡± ZhangYu told LiHui.

    LiHui pondered for a moment, but eventually epted her offer. Both of them found a backpack. ZhangYu carried the authority card and preserved bottle. She was thinking that by the time she went downstairs, if they had the chance, they could enter the warehouse in the basement, and that then these things would be useful.

    Working at San Xing Corporationsboratory, ZhangYu only has an ID authority card with level 3 ess. All she ever wanted was to obtain level 4 clearance, so she could understand more of theboratory¡¯s secrets. Of course, it was only out of curiosity.

    Now she has the executive¡¯s level 7 authority card, as well as the executive¡¯s thumb and eye, but she doesn¡¯t have any opportunity to investigate the top secret areas.

    LiHui and ZhangYu were careful as they walked over to the office¡¯s metal door. First, they listened to any movements outside, then LiHui opened up the door a little to look outside.

    The building seem quiet enough, it didn¡¯t seem like there were any zombies. LiHui grabbed ZhangYu¡¯s hand, and they quietly made their way across to the fire escape staircase. Once again, they carefully listened for any sound indicating movement, then walked gently downstairs.

    On a normal day, no one would walk down the fire escape stairs. Every floor of the fire escape stairs had a steel door that would normally be shut tight. Although this building had quite an amount of zombies, there were none in the fire escape. These two people had quite the luck on their side.

    Upon arriving at the first floor, ZhangYu still wanted to go further downstairs to search for Gxy, but below the stairs came the heart-stopping sound emitted from a zombie. Suddenly, she abandoned her original n of going further down.

    ¡°Two blocks past the parking lot is a small supermarket, which sold arge variety of food. I used to take that path to work, so I frequently stopped by the store to buy crackers. Why don¡¯t we go there and take a look.¡± ZhangYu suggested to LiHui after they had safely left the building.

    ¡°Good suggestion.¡± LiHui nodded in total agreement. Staying close together, they carefully walked alongside the buildings, monitoring any movements and avoiding the zombies, and headed in the direction of the supermarket.

    ¡­

    Sitting on the balcony, was LuLu yawning and sighing, until she saw that the alley had some sudden movement. She became alert, and focused into the distance.

    It was a male and a female, both wearing backpacks as they went into the small supermarket. It seemed like they were trying to scavenge for food at daybreak.

    LuLu watch as they disappeared into the supermarket, hesitant of whether or not to wake up Liu Gan. After thinking a bit, she decided to wait a little while. If the two people didn¡¯te towards them, then they wouldn¡¯t be of any threat, so there was no need to wake up Liu Gan.

    At this moment, the minimart couldn¡¯t possibly have any food left. The inside didn¡¯t have much food left, and the rest of the drinkable fluid had all been taken by Liu Gan¡¯s group into the hardware store.

    [TN: It¡¯s the same supermarket from before. I used minimart for Liu Gan¡¯s group. Small supermarket from ZhangYu¡¯s point of view.]

    After a little while, from outside the minimart, came a wave of footstep noises. This time it was 5 brightly colored males, and judging from their outfits, these people didn¡¯t look like normal males. It seemed like they were society¡¯s scumbags. They had someone watch the minimart¡¯s entrance, and the other four entered the store.

    It seemed as if they¡¯d discovered the two male and female, and then decided to corner them in the store.

    Inside the minimart came a horrible scream, which soon quieted down. Then the male and female were dragged out by the gang. By the time the male was outside, his body was all covered in blood and unconscious. The female¡¯s body had had her clothing removed, and her face and body had been bloodied. It was evident that she¡¯d violently resisted getting stripped naked and was then beaten by them.

    After the scumbags dragged the female onto the street, one of them immediately threw himself onto her, with his expression revealing how enjoyable it was.

    The unconscious male woke up and tried his best to get up to pull the scumbag off of the girl. Eventually one of the nearby scumbags used his iron rod to smash his brain in. Sitting on the balcony, LuLu could clearly hear his cranial fracture sound. The male who got his head smashed in didn¡¯t get up again.

    The female getting harassed gave out a cry, with one of the scumbag still on top of her. He smacked her face several times. The female suddenly stopped crying.

    LuLu having witnessed everything on the street, suddenly got up off the chair and hid behind the pole, breathing in deeply. She was very worried that the scumbags might have noticed her. Then, the next person to be dragged out to be harassed would be her. This was everything that she feared could happen.

    Is this still a game? If this is still a game, how can they allow yers to kill each other. How could they tolerate male yers harassing female yers?

    Originally, Liu Gan gave the order of ¡®if anything happens outside, then the person on guard duty has to wake the others up.¡¯ However, LuLu was even more frightened now, so she hid on the balcony, not moving an inch. No one went in to wake Liu Gan and Pan Hua up.

    Soon LuLu got even more scared¡­ Afraid that the scumbags would head towards her, and take turns doing the same thing to her, after they were done with the other female.

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35: Adapting to different situations

    Originally, the five scumbags were just passing by so they didn¡¯t have any interest in the hardware store. That was until, LuLu knocked into the chair, producing a sound; enough to cause one of the gangster to be aware.

    That gangster lifted his head and saw that hiding behind the balcony railings was LuLu. He called for the other gangsters.The gangster lifted his head and shortly after his eyes met with LuLu hiding behind the balcony railing, proceeded to call for the other gangsters.

    ¡°This house has someone living in it? No wonder the minimart has no food or water left. It must have been them who took all the supplies!¡± Several of the gangsters were done releasing their anger, thus, they now had no interest in the women and only wanted to take away the food and water.

    To survive in this world, food and drinkable water was the most important resource.

    LuLu, seeing that she has been discovered, couldn¡¯t hide anymore. Frightened, she rushed into the room where she was blocked by Liu Gan, who had already woken up with a hand covering her mouth so she won¡¯t scream.

    LuLu wanted to say something, but Liu Gan pushed her into the room after releasing her. Then walked over towards the balcony to look down below. One of the gangster tied down both hands of the female, who was covered in blood. From the looks it, the girl was not allowed to escape.

    ¡°Young man, if you can send the female down to us together with the food, we will let you go!¡± Of the five gangsters, a tall and sturdy yellow checkered-shirted male shouted up towards the balcony where Liu Gan was, disying his might.

    LuLu in the room heard the shout from below, with her whole body trembling. She knew that if she took the goods downstairs, the scumbags would do the exact same thing they did to the other girl, to her; they will treat them as sex ves.

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t agree?¡± Liu Gan replied to the yellow checkered-shirted male.

    Hearing Liu Gan¡¯s reply, LuLu was able to release her breath. Luckily, Liu Gan didn¡¯t agree to those people. Otherwise, she would have had no escape.

    ¡°Don¡¯t agree?¡± Hahahaha¡­ Do you know what is in my hands?¡± Yellow checkered-shirted male disyed two of his hand grenades to Liu Gan as a show of his prowess.

    ¡°Hand grenade?¡± Liu Gan raised his eyebrow, that is good stuff¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll count to three.If you don¡¯t agree with my suggestion, I will send the hand grenade flying into your house. I¡¯m sure you will know the consequences of that,¡± Yellow checkered-shirted male threatened, tantly allowing an expression of amusement be present on his face.

    LuLu hearing that, once again felt her heart sink. If she were Liu Gan, she would probably have had to make the exchange this time. The difference in power between both sides was too huge, neither she nor Pan Hua had any battle capability. No matter how strong Liu Gan was, he couldn¡¯t fight against all five by himself.

    Another thing, if the three of them decide to remain in the hardware store, and the enemy tosses the hand grenade in, all three of them would undoubtedly die.

    ¡°Fine, you win. I will ept your terms of agreement! The goods and the female are yours!¡± Liu Gan at the top of the balcony replied to yellow checkered-shirted male.

    ¡°Young man you know how to adapt to the circumstances,¡± Yellow-checkered shirt male praised. Hand grenades were very valuable assets. Unless he had no choice, he wouldn¡¯t choose to rashly use them. These were the beginner weapons of starting yers, and the use count would decrease by one after every use.

    ¡°I beg you, don¡¯t give me to them¡­ Fatty, we agreed¡­¡± LuLu trembled with fear as she begged Liu Gan and at the same time looked toward Pan Hua.

    ¡°What did I tell you before? What did I tell you to do when you were supposed to be on guard? Now that people want toe kill us, you want to me me?¡± Liu Gan angrily replied to LuLu.

    ¡°I¡­ I was scared¡­¡± LuLu¡¯s body shook with fear before turning her gaze towards Pan Hua.

    ¡°Youmitted your own mistakes, now own up to it! Follow me down!¡± Liu Gan shouted to LuLu, while moving over to his backpack to pick it up.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going down! I¡¯d rather they blow me up!¡± LuLu bit her lip as she replied to Liu Gan. She¡¯d rather get blown up than be down with the people below. They were truly brutal, worst than scums.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be weighed down by you! Stupid woman!¡± Liu Gan walked over and gave her a p that made her drop to the floor. LuLu tried to resist, but Liu Gan produced a rope and proceeded to tie her arms and legs while a piece of white cloth covered her mouth.

    Then Liu Gan lifted LuLu onto his shoulder, with the other hand holding the backpack.

    ¡°Boss, you don¡¯t need to be like this¡­¡± Pan Hua blocking his path down the stairs.

    ¡°Move! Otherwise, I will hack you to death with my axe¡± Liu Gan bellowed.

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t be like that¡­ LuLu was too scared that¡¯s why she forgot what you ordered her. She didn¡¯t do it on purpose¡­¡± Pan Hua shook with fear, but didn¡¯t move away from the stairs.

    Liu Gan advanced a few steps forward and rammed into Pan Hua, making the man fall to the floor in a daze.. By the time he got back up, Liu Gan had already carried LuLu to the floor below.

    Pan Hua searched everywhere and finally found a knife. With that in hand, he rushed downstairs.

    By the time Pan Hua reached the first floor, Liu Gan had already lugged LuLu down the stairs and produced the key to open the first floor metal grating gate. Carrying the backpack and LuLu, he made his way to the back alley.

    ¡°This woman here doesn¡¯t obey, so I could only tie her up. Here¡¯s the food and water, you can take it. Also, I was wondering¡­ if you bosses are epting applications for new members? I have some brute strength, so I can help carry stuff. All I want to do is survive under you bosses,¡± Liu Gan said as he dropped LuLu and the backpack on the ground. At the same time he threw the axe onto the floor, disying both hands in a show of non-aggression to the gangsters.

    ¡°Seeing that you are a person who can adapt to circumstances, moreover, you have some skills and you show us respect. You can follow us!¡± Yellow checkered-shirted agreed to Liu Gan¡¯s request. To survive in this world, one additional able body was hard to find, and recruiting a few more people wasn¡¯t a bad idea anyhow.

    When Liu Gan went downstairs, he was very obedient in trading the female and the goods, with his axe thrown onto the floor. Yellow checkered-shirted male thought Liu Gan was truly going to pledge his allegiance.

    ¡°Good! I will call you Boss from now on, and Boss you have to take care of me.¡± Liu Gan joyfully walked closer with his smiling face and attitude disying respect.

    ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± Yellow checkered-shirted male couldn¡¯t help but smile, but his smile onlyst a few seconds before it came to an abrupt end¡­

    Liu Gan swiftly attacked him with one of his alloyed metal hands, and within a short moment, grabbed his neck and broke it.

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36: Identity card

    The sudden turn of events left the remaining four scumbags bewildered and shocked. The moment they had realized what transpired, they were frantically scrambling for their weapon and attempting to surround Liu Gan; to which Liu Gan reacted by raising the approximately 80kg Yellow checkered-shirt¡¯s body over his head and vigorously tossing him towards two of the scumbags. After that, he rushed in front of the other two.

    One of the two that Liu Gan was rushing towards raised the machete that he was carrying and hacked down forcefully at Liu Gan as soon as he was within reach. With swift agility, Liu Gan shifted his body sideways and beautifully dodged the machete. With one of his hands clenched into a fist, Liu Gan punched at the machete-wielding scumbag¡¯s chest, easily sting a bloody hole in his chest. The machete-wielding scum weakly crumbled to the ground, never to move ever again.

    [TN: I shit you not, it says a hole]

    The other pile of human-shaped dirt was filled with terror, appalled as he peered at his former ally whose face was touching the floor and had long since stopped moving. Thinking to himself, ¡°F*ck, is he even human? A punch of his blew up a hole in hisrade¡¯s chest¡­¡±

    Liu Gan removed the machete from the dead scumbag¡¯s hand and unhesitatingly hacked at the neck of the scumbag who was still in shock. With no resistance at all, the scumbag, now on the floor, was killed instantly.

    The other two who were knocked down by the flying yellow checkered-shirt man Liu Gan had tossed earlier, were slowly getting up. As they were crushed by the heavy yellow checkered-shirt man, they were still in a daze as they stood up. The force of impact was as if a minicar ran into them. Hence, they met their maker shortly after, due to the inability to put up any resistance against Liu Gan who rushed towards them and hacked them to death.

    Pan Hua, who was following behind, was thoroughly appalled at the scene and had stopped moving for a moment. After which he hurriedly rush towards LuLu, cutting loose the ropes that bound her wrists and legs. After which, with an embarrassed expression, spoke a few words to her.

    LuLu continued to sit on the floor and sluggishly stared at Liu Gan. The ughtering of those waste-of-space nobodies happened to fast that LuLu was still trying to make out what really happened.

    ¡°Boss, I am in the wrong. I should not have suspected you. I almost made the matter worse. I already knew that you were a good guy, you would definitely not harm LuLu.¡± Pan Hua walked towards Liu Gan and apologized sincerely.

    Liu Gan coldly looked at Pan Hua and did not reply him. He turned around, picked up his backpack and went forward to search the bodies of the dead good-for-nothings.

    Both Pan Hua and LuLu were too weak, especially LuLu. She was so timid that during her job as a sentry for the team, she could not even notify Liu Gan that something had happened in time. This type of stupidity was not tolerable at all. After what happened this morning, Liu Gan decided not to let them remain by his side.

    To continue in this post apocalyptic world, a team with strong-willed and trustworthy members was the key to survival. Especially after a long and arduous day, if there weren¡¯t any trustworthy teammate, sleeping was also considered very dangerous. No matter if it were zombies, other yers or lucky survivors of The Trembling World, there were manytent dangers which forced people to remain guarded.

    Even if there weren¡¯t any suitable team member, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t haphazardly let anymore random people form a team with him as it would only lead to a faster death for himself.

    LuLu who finally gathered her wits, went over to the shivering nakeddy and released her from the ropes. After that she supported her and lead her back into the hardware shop. LuLu then came out and walked towards the minimart as she recalled that thedy¡¯s clothes were there.

    Pan Hua gazed at Liu Gan who was raiding the corpses, hesitated for a moment, before picking up a machete and hurried to the side of LuLu who was trudging over to the minimart.

    The loots gathered from the five scumbags were pretty good. Other than the two grenades that Yellow-checkered shirt had, Liu Gan managed to find a few packs of bread and bottles of drinks. There were even disinfectants and sters; looks like they managed to plunder a drugstore.

    Liu Gan also managed to find three cards on the Yellow checkered-shirt guy. The cards looked seemingly like some kind of identity cards and on them was the San Xing Corporation logo. Liu Gan cannot but furrowed his brow as he pondered the reason as to why the scumbags have these identity cards.

    The photo on the identity card did not match any of the men. Liu Gan then walked into the pawn shop andpared the photos with the nakeddy. Seeing that one of the photos was a perfect match, Liu Gan realized that the identity card would most probably belong to the nakeddy.

    Liu Gan walked over to the corpses and retrieved a shirt from one of them. He then walked to the nakeddy and covered her with the shirt.

    ¡°Are you one of the workers from San Xing Corporation?¡± Liu Gan asked thedy.

    Thedy did not reply Liu Gan and looked at him with immense fear while her whole body trembled uncontrobly.

    ¡°Is your name¡­ ZhangYu?¡± Liu Gan used the identity card topare and asked.

    Thedy remained silent, she did not acknowledge with even a nod or shake of her head.

    ¡°What is the cause of this apocalyptic world? Are the zombies a product of your experiments?¡± Liu Gan inquired.

    ZhangYu shook her head with visible strain, the fear on her face had gotten even more intense.

    ¡°Do you know about the video game [The Trembling World]?¡± Liu Gan asked ZhangYu again.

    When ZhangYu heard the words ¡°The Trembling Word¡±, she had a distracted gaze, but continued to remain silent. She was already at her limit; traumatized and numbed at everything said or done to her.

    ¡°I did not and will not cause you any harm. I was the one who rescued you from that group of scum. I would like to ask whether you know about this game? If you do, why are we yers trapped in the game?¡± Liu Gan asked ZhangYu in a gentler and warmer tone.

    ZhangYu shook her head and her facial expression disyed some confusion, as though she did not understand what Liu Gan was talking about.

    Looking at her, Liu Gan was reminded of the time when he was trapped on the billboard where met the female crewmember from the helicopter. At that point in time, he had a lot of questions he wanted to ask her. However their conversation was totally incoherent and he could not understand what she was saying.

    Now he managed to meet another San Xing Corporation worker but wasn¡¯t able to find out anything from her.

    ¡°What are the uses of these identity cards?¡± Liu Gan ced the three cards in front of ZhangYu. Previously when he was ying games, there would always be items that could be obtained and would trigger conversations or give information about some specific quest. He was hoping that by doing that he would be able to obtain some facts from her.

    ZhangYu did not shake her head this time, however she continued to keep her mouth shut and refused to speak. She continued to look at Liu Gan fearfully and her trembling got worse.

    Liu Gan furrowed his eyebrows and figured that thisdy had been traumatized to her limits by the group of scumbags. She was not replying no matter what he asked her. No matter how he continued asking her, it would probably make her even more fearful and make the matter worse.

    Pan Hua and LuLu walked into the hardware shop. LuLu managed to find the clothes of ZhangYu near the entrance of the minimart. She squatted beside ZhangYu, trying to help her wear her shirt back.

    Liu Gan stood up and went outside the hardware shop, observing their surroundings.

    ¡°Boss! I found a weird looking bottle outside the minimart. There is a San Xing Corporation logo on it.¡± Pan Hua walked towards Liu Gan and handed it over to him.

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37: Frantically rushing

    Liu Gan extended his hand and took the bottle from Pan Hua. The small bottle was made of metal. After looking at the San Xing Corporation logo, he gave the bottle a shake to see if there was anything inside. He could feel waves pushing against the inner walls of the bottle, denoting that there was probably some kind of liquid held within. Liu Gan flipped the bottle and saw that there was a small word ¡°Incubator¡± written on the base of the bottle. However, a description of what the bottle was incubating wasn¡¯t present.

    ¡°Incubator? Maybe it is some disease or virus? Boss you must take caution when you open the bottle,¡± Pan Hua hurriedly cautioned Liu Gan after he saw the word. The purpose of handing over this bottle, which he found, was to fawn over Liu Gan. It would be big trouble if the bottle ended up causing him harm.

    Liu Gan figured that thedy named ZhangYu would know what is contained in the bottle. Hence he turned around and made his way back into the hardware shop. However at that moment, a shrieking from the hardware shop.

    Liu Gan and Pan Hua immediately rushed into the shop¡­

    There was a freshly cut wound along ZhangYu¡¯s throat, fresh blood was spurting out of the wound, dying the ground crimson red. She looked like she was still conscious and there was a piece of metal de found on the ground beside her where her handid. This ZhangYu must have searched for this metal de from the hardware shop when Liu Gan and gang weren¡¯t paying attention to her.

    ¡°What does this bottle contain? What is it for?¡± Liu Gan rushed towards ZhangYu and applied pressure to the wound and pressed on her carotid artery hoping that the blood will stop.

    ZhangYu nced at the bottle, opened her mouth and muttered something that was not audible. A short while after, her eyes became lifeless and devoid of any response.

    [Feldy: Wth, the new characters died so fast¡­ Might as well don¡¯t give them any names.]

    ZhangYu and her boyfriend LiHui had left the safety of their apartment in search of food at the break of dawn. They discovered that zombies were less reactive during the morning sunrise, but they weren¡¯t killed by zombies. They were ambushed by 5 scumbags, who killed her boyfriend LiHui and now shemitted suicide. Unable to handle the humiliation, fear, and the pain of losing her only loved one so she chose to escape.

    LuLu was on the ground crying, trembling in fear. Once again she witness death before her very eyes.

    Liu Gan searched through ZhangYu¡¯s clothes, but he didn¡¯t find anything. The 5 scumbags probably searched her thoroughly before him.

    ¡°This is all my fault, she is dead because of me¡­¡± LuLu started crying even louder.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault¡­¡± Pan Hua got on the ground beside LuLu trying his best tofort her.

    ¡°What happened this morning?¡± Liu Gan walked over to question LuLu.

    ¡°At the break of dawn¡­¡± LuLu forming words while huping as she sobbed.

    ¡°If I woke you guys up earlier, maybe you could have saved her and her boyfriend. It was because I was too gutless and useless!¡± LuLu finally showing her deepest regret on making a poor decision.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything, he turned and walked out of the hardware store. He gathered all the supplies and put them together before stuffing them in his backpack; because of the scumbags, he now had a few extra backpacks.

    ¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡± Pan Hua asked about the the corpses on the floor.

    ¡°Right now, there is no us. We will go our separate ways. You and LuLu are on your own,¡± Liu Gan stated coldly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that¡­ It is me who misunderstood you¡­¡± Pan Hua got on his knees to beg Liu Gan. Everything that urred this morning, is due to the cruelty of The Trembling World. The moment Liu Gan leaves, with him and LuLu¡¯s ability, they will be doomed. They won¡¯t be able to face off any enemies that were stronger than them.

    ¡°It is not that I won¡¯t help you two, but mainly because your personalities aren¡¯t suitable for this game. Resisting it will only bring more misery. Why not think of a way to escape, maybe you can leave the game early,¡± Liu Gan replied to Pan Hua.

    At this moment, a zombie that seemed to have smelt the fresh corpses in front of the hardware shop wandered from afar and finally turned a corner to see Liu Gan and Pan Hua together. It got really excited and let loose a howl that sounded like a hungry animal.

    Pan Hua got scared and took a few steps back. Liu Gan just stood still, only until the zombie moved very close to him, did he dropped his backpack and retreat rapidly. Raising only one hand, he twisted his body in one fluid motion while chopping off the zombie¡¯s head from the neck. The zombie¡¯s head flew up high in the sky as the headless body took few more steps before falling forward in front of Pan Hua.

    ¡°Boss, I know we are a burden to you and I don¡¯t have any rights to request anything from you. I only ask that you bring us away from this area¡­ Then afterwards, I won¡¯t bother you again¡­¡± Pan Hua with a face of dread walking to Liu Gan.

    The day started getting bright. The 5 scumbag¡¯s body reeked of fresh blood and this strong smell was sure to attract more zombies. If Liu Gan left them there, they would surely get surrounded and die miserably.

    Not too far off from an alleyway transmitted a smothered sound, much like a hand grenade explosion.

    ¡°Then you guys have to keep up.¡± Liu Gan nodded to Pan Hua¡¯s request.

    ¡°Now that people have died, we have to rush before more zombies gather. If we don¡¯t leave now, he won¡¯t wait for us,¡± Pan Hua rushed into the hardware store to tell LuLu.

    LuLu¡¯s face was pale white, but still got up to follow Pan Hua out of the store. At this moment, Liu Gan was already outside killing another three zombies that closed in on their location. As it got brighter, this ce was obviously no longer safe.

    Pan hua moved forward to help Liu Gan carry another backpack full of supplies, proceeding to follow closely behind Liu Gan towards a nearby alley. LuLu tried her best to catch up to them.

    Liu Gan and the group didn¡¯t walk too far, before they suddenly heard a noiseing from afar apanied by the sound of messy footsteps and cries for help. Liu Gan signaled for Pan Hua and LuLu to keep silent with a hand gesture, before quickly climbing up to the roof of a two-storey building nearby. Upon reaching the top, he peered in the direction of the noise.

    In the distance, were three males drenched in blood, screaming for help while running for their dear lives. Behind them were dozens of zombies that looked like a train chasing after them.

    Liu Gan bounced off the outer wall of the building twice andnded on the ground. He hurriedly pushed Pan Hua and LuLu into a dark alley and instructed them to hide themselves behind the rubbish bins and the junk that was piled in one corner. After they were hidden, Liu Gan climbed up the rooftop of the two storey building again and looked towards the zombie train.

    While Liu Gan was trying to hide his presence on the rooftop, the three males leading the zombie train reached a street close to where they were.

    The speed of the three males who were sprinting were considered pretty fast, therefore, the zombies were not able to catch up to them. The three males continued to shout and holler the whole way, subsequently dashing past the hiding ce of our concealed trio.

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38: Large campground

    Liu Gan shook his head, originally there were only a dozen zombies, but with their yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs, they were practically asking for the attention of all nearby zombies.

    With that many zombies following behind, what would screaming for help do? Even if there was someone willing to help, they would not take this risk¡­

    The three escapees coincidentally found the hardware store that Liu Gan¡¯s group had used as a resting ce previously. It was half open with the grated gate still up. Quickly, they tried to closed the gate and shut the door. However, the dozen of zombies following close behind didn¡¯t give them a chance to escape. The moment right before the metal grated gate was all the way down, a few zombies dove in between the floor and the gate. As the gate was not able to closepletely, it started to crawl through.

    A lot more zombies started to crowd in and soon the metal gate was forced to rolled up. Followed which, three screams resounded from within the house.

    Even if this were a game, the difficulty was too high. If yers came in here halfheartedly, they would not survive. Same could be said for inexperienced yers whocked survival skills, as they would be faced with different variations of carnage; but either way the ending would be the same ¨C death.

    There were two stragglers from the zombie train that seemed to have smelt Pan Hua and LuLu, and was charging towards the location where they were hiding. After discovering them, the two zombies let out a shriek as they pounced forward.

    Pan Hua was trembling, and could only hold up the machete, adopting a defensive stance while letting loose a bellow; the same kind of sound used to scare away wild dogs, except it was not effective against zombies. Without even the slightest hesitation, the two zombies just kept madly charging towards them.

    Liu Gan appeared from above andnded heavily onto one of the zombies, swiftly killing it. At the same time, he jumped and killed another zombie midair with the axe in hand. The zombies were definitely dead and Liu Gannded perfectly.

    [xDh20: Perfectnding 10/10]

    ¡°Run!¡± Liu Gan ordered the two in a low voice. He walked in the same direction the three males hade from; since all the zombies in the area were attracted to them, that path should be the safest route.

    One road at a time, because of those three males¡¯ ¡®contribution¡¯, there were only a few zombies encountered en route. Liu Gan gave his other backpack to Pan Hua. With one hand wielding machete, the other hand an axe, every time he saw one, he would kill one. After ughtering a dozen zombies, they arrived in front of an institution. The courtyard had signs of a recent battle.

    Liu Gan signaled them to stay, as he proceeded alone ahead.

    The institution door had a sign that read ¡°Bureau of Industry and Commerce of NinJing City¡±. The institution¡¯s metal gate was distorted and on the floor. Observing the pools of blood and messy footprints on the ground, this was probably where the dozens of zombies earlier came from.

    From the bloody mess, Liu Gan was able to notice a few particrlyrge footprints that were headed towards a different direction. This footstep reminded him of the za where he first killed the colossal zombie.

    Across from the institution was arge building, the front of this building was an open space that, at this moment, had be a ughter ground. Dead bodies of zombies littered all over. One of the corpse was burnt ck. There were a few zombies that were feasting on a body, greedily chomping on the organs and the meat.

    Needless to say, this must have been the campground where yers and lucky survivors gathered, but at daybreak they were ambushed by a corpse tide and a colossal zombie.Although the institution door looked like a really sturdy iron door,, the colossal zombie was able to easily strike it down with his humongous body; no matter the size or the defense of the gate, it was useless in the face of the colossal zombie.

    Those people had engaged in closebat with the corpse tide and colossal zombie. The difference inbat strength was too obvious. From the footprints, it was evident that only two groups of yers were able to escape ¨C one group being the three males that ran to direction of the hardware store and finally died there; the other group were chased by the colossal zombie and headed in a different direction. Liu Gan guessed that the other group was likely to have perished as well.

    Liu Gan looked at the corpses, bags and boxes on the floor. After hesitating for a little while, he finally decide to enter the institution.

    Several zombies that were eating their fallenrade lifted their heads and growled at Liu Gan before charging at him.

    Liu Gan raised the sword and the axe in hands and charged forward. He was able to kill the zombies with ease. He eliminated the first two zombies, then kicked another two zombies that were behind him. Quickly, he impaled the head of one of the zombies standing.

    Pulling the axe from the head of the zombie, Liu Gan turned his back to end the other two zombies that he kicked earlier. After confirming that it was safe in the area, he started searching through backpacks and boxes. Pan Hua and LuLu carefully followed behind and after discovering that the institution was safe and started to help Liu Gan scavenge the bags of those who had died there.

    These three got their hands on bountiful loot; they were able to find a good amount of food and bottled water. There were a few canned goods and stic packaged food. These were definitely the remains of the previous people who survived here. However, they were not able consume the food. So the three had four huge backpacks and two full luggages, that they manage to cram everything into.

    ¡°Boss, should we eat here before leaving?¡± Pan Hua suggested to Liu Gan sincest night he had not eaten much. Now, his stomach was empty.

    This time we were able to scavenge a lot of food, but half of it were the type that was not meant to be stored for long. Looks like Liu Gan won¡¯t be as thoughtless as to waste perfectly good packaged food.

    ¡°No way, there is a colossal zombie nearby, it could wander back here. If wee across the colossal zombie, you two will definitely die.¡± Liu Gan told Pan Hua. Liu Gan carried two backpacks and pulled a luggage retreating to the front of the institution door.

    ¡°Colossal zombie?¡± Pan Hua said in a suspecting tone, while struggling to keep up with Liu Gan.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to meet it, trust me. When my original group and I started, we were annihted by it. I was only lucky to be able to escape,¡± Liu Gan replied Pan Hua.

    ¡°That zombie must have been terrifying!¡± After hearing from Liu Gan, Pan Hua now knew that the colossal zombie was too strong, and even Liu Gan, who was overwhelming the other zombies, was afraid of this colossal zombie. One can imagine how fearsome it truly was.

    After leaving the front entrance of the institution, Liu Gan surveyed the fork road; he must choose one of the two paths to escape to.

    After choosing a path, they walked along a silent street that was a few tens of meters long, only to arrive at the gate of a residential district.

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39: Outside of the window

    This residential district had the words ¡°Lucky Garden District¡± on the sign. This was a newly built district, and the interior designs of the buildings were very new. Only a portion of the houses had finished interiors, so arge portion of the houses were still empty.

    [xDh20: Test time, who remembers Lucky Garden District from Chapter 1?] [Feldy: I don¡¯t. HAHAHA.]

    Looking in from the outside of the gate, there weren¡¯t any zombies wandering around inside. There were only zombies on the ground from the looks of it. It seemed like all the zombies were dead. ording to Liu Gan¡¯s analysis, this was possibly the first choice of the campground survivors since they had looted everything in these buildings and killed the zombies inside.

    The inside appeared to be really peaceful, so Liu Gan considered leaving Pan Hua and LuLu behind in this district. He would leave all the food and drinks that he could not carry for them as a token of hispassion.

    ¡­

    Five days ago, in the vicinity of Lucky Garden District.

    Torrential rain, booming thunders and shing lightning.

    A man wearing a suit was running in the rain without an umbre. His home was in the Lucky Garden District that was only a stone¡¯s throw away. Half a year ago, after saving his sry from slogging his guts out for five years, he managed to purchase an estate in the Lucky Garden District, and renovation waspleted a month ago.

    The man wearing a suit was called Li Zhu Liang. He had a happy and blessed family which consisted of his pretty and gentle wife and his clever and obedient son. Today was the 4th birthday of his son, Dong Dong. Therefore, even though the rain was very heavy and the sky was constantly battered by the sounds of thunder, Li Zhu Liang unhesitatingly braved the rain and ran in the direction of his house.

    As the torrential rain sttered on the ground, the rainwater that was not able to drain off umted into big puddles on the streets. Normally, this was a very normal scenario, however the water was red! As the rain umted on the streets, the red color of the water became more and more bright and ring. The ground looked like it was filled with blood!

    At the same time, a weird bloody smell started to emerge out from the streets overflowing with the red-colored rain water.

    Li Zhu Liang stood in a courtyard which had a sign hanging above his head with the words ¡°Bureau of Industry and Commerce of NinJing City.¡± Li Zhu Liang subconsciously touched his face and looked at his hand, which gave him a shock. When he saw that his hand was drenched in a blood-like liquid, he couldn¡¯t help but give a scream. His face lost all color and was very pale.

    At the same time, there were other pedestrians who were running in the rain and also found out that they were drenched in a blood-like liquid. Their faces became as pale as Li Zhu Liang¡¯s and they looked at their surroundings. Crying in fear, they cowered on the sidewalk, determined to avoid this torrential blood rain.

    Li Zhu Liang hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to continue running towards Lucky Garden District. After all, he was already drenched, and it was only a few meters until he reached home. Whatever the situation, rushing home was his priority.

    Li Zhu Liang, after running in the blood rain, rapidly found that he had started to feel very ufortable. The ces where he had contact with the blood rain like his eyes, nose, ears and mouth started to feel a burning pain, as though his body was getting corroded.

    ¡­

    Several dozen meters away, in the Lucky Garden Residential district.

    ¡°Mummy, it is raining outside.¡± The four year old Dong Dong, who was lying against the window, said as he stared outside.

    Dong Dong¡¯s home was situated on the third floor. The housingplex was situated to the right of the gate after entering the district, so from there he was able to see the entrance to the gate clearly. Every day at this time, his daddy, Li Zhu Liang, would enter this gate after he got off from work. Hence, Dong Dong had the habit of lying beside the window and looking in the direction of the gate every day.

    ¡°En, don¡¯t open the window, do not let the rain water enter.¡± Dong Dong¡¯s mother, a young and prettydy, casually replied to Dong Dong as she busily set up the table with food and Dong Dong¡¯s birthday cake.

    ¡°Will Daddy buy a spaceship for me?¡± Dong Dong eagerly looked out of the window and asked his mummy.

    ¡°Of course he will. He has already promised you that he will buy it for you.¡± The young Mother replied Dong Dong as she slowly and carefully inserted the candles into the cake.

    The young and pretty mother¡¯s name was Xu Qing. Her husband, Li Zhu Liang, had a pretty decent sry. Therefore after she gave birth to Dong Dong, Xu Qing resigned from her job and became a housewife. Every day for the past few years, she would take care of Dong Dong and prepare a warm and delicious meal while waiting for her husband to get off from work.

    ¡°Mummy, why is the rain red in color?¡± Dong Dong curiously asked his mummy as he looked at the reddishyer of water on the other side of the window.

    ¡°The rain is red because the light emitted from the streemps are red my dear boy.¡± Xu Qing replied to Dong Dong casually as she inserted the second candle into the cake. A four-year-old kid, with their curiosity at its peak, would have millions of question they would ask.

    ¡°It is raining so heavily, will Daddy be able toe home?¡± Dong Dong stretched out his tiny little hand and rubbed the window pane. He wanted to have a clearer look at the situation outside, to confirm whether his Daddy was going to reach home at this time like any other day. However due to the torrential rain outside, it was a futile effort.

    ¡°The rain will definitely subside. Wait till the rain is lighter, and Daddy will definitely reach home.¡± Xu Qing inserted the third candle and was preparing to insert thest candle.

    At this moment, there was a flurry of footsteps outside the door. After which, there was the sound of jingling keys and the clicking of the door being unlocked. Xu Qing put down thest candle and looked towards the door. The four year old Dong Dong, however, had already rushed over to the side of the door.

    As the door opened, the mother and son pair looked at the Daddy that was walking in and uncontrobly gave out a scream.

    His whole body was drenched in blood as if he was a bloody person.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m not covered in blood; it¡¯s all the red-colored rain.¡± Li Zhu Liang put down the box that contained the toy, quickly removed his shirt and pants, and threw them out of the house. After which, he closed the door and proceeded to the bathroom for a warm shower.

    Xu Qing walked towards the window and saw that the ss had been coated with the reddish water. With eyes widening, she couldn¡¯t even see through it.

    After a few minutes, Li Zhu Liang came out of the bathroom. The blood rain had already been washed off cleanly from his body. He changed into a clean set of clothes and walked towards the living room.

    ¡°What happened? Why is the rain outside red in color?¡± Xu Qing rushed into Li Zhu Liang¡¯s embrace and asked him with a trace of shock in her tone.

    ¡°I am not sure. Turn on the TV; there should definitely be news regarding the red-colored rain.¡± Li Zhu Liang and his wife moved over to the sofa and turned on the TV.

    ¡°Dear citizens, please do not panic. The relevant departments have already started investigating this phenomena of red-colored rain, and the results will be released shortly.¡±

    ¡°ording to my preliminary inference, this should be caused by the excessive red algae that have been aggressively breeding in the ocean and would have been carried up as the seawater evaporated to form rainclouds. Creating this blood colored rain phenomenon¡­¡± said from an expert on TV as he chatted with the TV host.

    ¡°I said there shouldn¡¯t be anything wrong, so let¡¯s not dy Dong Dong¡¯s birthday celebration any more.¡± Li Zhu Liang patted his wife¡¯s Xu Qing¡¯s shoulder and moved towards the dinner table.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40: Ramen

    ¡°It¡¯s the brave model! It can transform in helium suspension mode!¡± Dong Dong yelled as he excitedly opened his toy. He took the toy airne out of the box, while imitating an actor¡¯s lines from the TV series ying on the screen, in self-amusement.

    ¡°Dong Dong, oh, why did you open your gift? Opening the birthday present is supposed to wait until after eating the cake!¡± Li Zhu Liang went over to Dong Dong and confiscated it.

    ¡°Eat the cake!¡± Dong Dong threw himself at his father Li Zhu Liang and got carried off the ground, before being lowered onto the seat next to him. Li Zhu Liang ced the airship on the table by the window and proceeded back to the dinner table.

    ¡°Happy Birthday¡­¡±

    As the birthday song started, the family atmosphere suddenly changed to a soft and heart-warming one. Outside the tightly closed windows, the sky had already darkened. It was so dark that one¡¯s hand couldn¡¯t be seen even if it was ced right in front of oneself. The torrential downpour outside added to the nightmarish setting of the world. The puddles on the ground grew steadily darker and darker and more and more crimson.

    ¡­

    After the first night passed and by the next morning, the torrential rain had stopped. The sky had already brightened up.

    Dong Dong woke up extra early. After waking up, he first spotted the airne right by his bedside. Uncontrobly, he revealed a big smile as he quickly got out of bed and ran around his room with the airne for his own amusement.

    After running awhile, Dong Dong felt hungry. Pushing open his door, he walked out to the living room.

    His parents had yet to get out of bed; however, Dong Dong heard some strange noiseing from their room¡­ It sounded like someone eating something.

    [TN: Perhaps it¡¯s nuts and the ¡®crack crack¡¯ noise it makes]

    What are they eating? It must taste good. Dong Dong started salivating¡ªhe couldn¡¯t guess what it was, so he walked over silently. Leaving his toy ne on the floor, he quietly pushed open his parent¡¯s door.

    After pushing open the door, Dong Dong witnessed a scene that left him dumbfounded. His dad Li Zhu Liang was on top of his mom Xu Qing¡ªhis teeth gnawing at her face. Half her face remained intact while only the bones were left on the other half.

    Their bed at the far end of the room was full of blood.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Dong Dong shrieked, with his face pale white from fright. It was clear that due to his young age, he wasn¡¯t able toprehend what was happening.

    After hearing Dong Dong¡¯s sharp scream, Li Zhu Liang lifted his head, and his crimson eyesnded on Dong Dong by the door. He released a monstrous roar before charging towards Dong Dong with his blood-filled mouth wide open.

    Seeing the pale face and crimson eyes, Dong Dong clearly didn¡¯t believe that this man was his father. Releasing a loud scream, he turned on his heels, grabbed his toy off the floor, and ran back to his room to hide. He immediately dove under the bed and watched the door from underneath.

    With a jarring ¡®Boom!¡¯, Li Zhu Liang ran into the door and it swung wide open, rebounding off the wall. Following Dong Dong¡¯s path into the room, he hadn¡¯t discovered Dong Dong hiding underneath the bed. Adopting a weird posture, he walked aimlessly around the room and would periodically release a terrible cry.

    At this time, a sharp screech from within the Lucky Garden District reverberated through the house, followed by the loud siren of a police car. The Lucky Garden District had a rtively low poption rate. Right when the police car that was right below the building started the siren, Li Zhu Liang ran out and jumped through the window.

    ¡°Daddy¡­ Mommy¡­¡± Dong Dong whispered, as he clenched his airne closely with tears flowing from his eyes.

    ¡­

    Four dayster, within the Lucky Garden District.

    Liu Gan spent some time to clear all the zombies that were roaming around, and he randomly chose an apartment with a wide field of vision. After scouting the inside of the apartment for zombies, only when it was safe, did Pan Hua and LuLu decide to enter the apartment to rest.

    The floor of one of the rooms had blood, as well as meat and limbs from god-knows-who. By now, Pan Hua and LuLu had been used to this type of setting and was able to resist vomiting.

    The fridge, kitchen, and cabs seemed to have been scavenged through without any trace of food remaining. Pan Hua got quite lucky¨Cinside the storage room, he had found a cardboard box containing a barbeque rack and a bag of charcoal. Looks like the family who lived here previously, knew how to barbeque.

    Pan Hua ced some charcoal underneath the barbecue rack and he found a small pot from the kitchen. Pan Hua ignited the charcoal and poured the bottled mineral water into the pot before cing ramen inside.

    The faucet didn¡¯t have any running water; it had been long since dry. LuLu found a rtively clean bowl and three pairs of chopsticks that she had wiped with a napkin. She ced the cooked ramen into the bowl and walked over with the food to Liu Gan who was sitting at the kitchen table.

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you for saving us more than once. It was all my fault. I was too stupid and cowardly, and I was weighing us down,¡± LuLu apologized as she ced the bowl of food in front of Liu Gan.

    This morning, she had thought that Liu Gan was going to give her to the scumbags, but no one expected that she was actually used as bait, so that he could kill the bad guys. If it weren¡¯t for him, she would¡¯ve been defiled by those scum.

    ¡°No need to thank me; I was annoyed with those scumbags, too. They threatened my life, so I had to kill them.¡± Liu Gan picked up the chopsticks and started eating the ramen, expressionlessly replying to LuLu.

    ¡°Boss, I mistook you, I, too, thought that you were going to give LuLu to them! You should¡¯ve told us what you were nning, so we could cooperate with you.¡± Pan Hua said as he walked over with his bowl in hand and sat at the kitchen table near Liu Gan.

    Earlier that morning, Pan Hua had really been nning on blocking Liu Gan, but he was knocked back by Liu Gan instead. Pan Hua held a knife in his hand as he chased down the stairs after Liu Gan. He had lost all hope, but everything that happened afterwards was beyond his expectations.

    ¡°If I could defeat them, I would fight, but if I couldn¡¯t, I would have definitely given her to them to guarantee my safety,¡± Liu Gan drank the soup as he replied to Pan Hua. Eating this hot and steamy ramen was definitely tastier and more satisfying than crackers. After drinking the soup, his heart and body seem to warm up.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t! You aren¡¯t that type of cold-hearted person,¡± LuLu said to Liu Gan; she refused to believe that.

    ¡°You are wrong; you wouldn¡¯t understand what I¡¯ve been through, but that isn¡¯t important,¡± Liu Gan indifferently replied to LuLu. The Trembling World had changed his life. He didn¡¯t care about the kind of person he became because of one important point: after he had regained the use of his limbs, he wouldn¡¯t allow himself to be injured again.

    Alloy limbs, a punch that can break apart a tree, and a kick that could knock down a wall. Starting with such a huge advantage, Liu Gan would definitely continue ying and aim to be the most powerful existence.

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41: Gifts

    ¡°Boss, what do you n to do next?¡± Pan Hua was testing Liu Gan with this question. No matter what, all he hoped for was that Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t abandon him and LuLu. However, he knew that was impossible.

    ¡°Continue exploring this world, finding food, and looking for a safe ce to sleep while trying my best to survive,¡± Liu Gan indifferently replied Pan Hua.

    Pan Hua had something he wanted to ask, but he didn¡¯t. He wanted to know what was his n within this zombie world?

    Liu Gan had a n, but he never told Pan Hua and LuLu. Previously, when he discovered the footsteps of the colossal zombie in front of the institution, he wanted to continue tracking the colossal zombie to assassinate it.

    Every time he killed the normal zombies, he would obtain very faint, hazy orbs. The amount of experience he obtained felt nonexistent to Liu Gan. So if he could kill one or several colossal zombies, he might be able to absorb more ck orbs to improve his skills. He could also use the opportunity to test the durability of his alloy metal limbs.

    In the real world, Liu Gan was a quadruple amputee and useless in his opinion, but in The Trembling World, he found his new life¡¯s purpose¨Cto massacre zombies and be stronger. Just like this morning with the five scumbags, if it were in the real world before Liu Gan had his limbs amputated, he still couldn¡¯t do what he had done.

    But that simply just wasn¡¯t enough for him. He wasn¡¯t satisfied¡­

    ¡­

    After eating breakfast, Liu Gan tidied up his gear. He tried to bring as much food and drinkable water as he could, but he also had to consider an amount that wouldn¡¯t impact his mobility. Finally, he was able to fit all the things he wanted into one backpack; the rest was left for Pan Hua and LuLu.

    ¡°Boss, would you really not give us another chance?¡± Pan Hua asked Liu Gan. LuLu also looked over in the direction of Liu Gan.

    ¡°Outside of this door, the zombies are in charge, and in addition to that, there are other yers and local survivors; you guys should be safe here,¡± Liu Gan replied to Pan Hua.

    ¡°Boss, without you protecting us, no matter where we go, it won¡¯t be safe. We won¡¯tst very long,¡± Pan Hua expressed his concerns to Liu Gan.

    As LuLu looked up at Liu Gan, she knew it was hopeless, and her face showed that. It was her poor performance during the night shift that put them in danger, and due to this, Pan Hua and her had lost their worth and weren¡¯t needed beside Liu Gan.

    ¡°If you guys have time, find wooden nks of some sort and reinforce this area to create a stronghold that can¡¯t be breached easily. An escape rope can be nailed onto the balcony wall, so if you are within the house and in danger, use that as an escape route onto the next household rooftop.

    ¡°I left you these supplies, so you must find a hidden location to hide them all. Use only what you need. Even though this district doesn¡¯t have many people, there is a huge chance that yers and local survivors will wander into this location. Once they discover that you have so many resources, they will find ways to rob you of it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that this is a game, so killing zombies would level you up. After leveling up, your strength and bodily capabilities would significantly increase. So killing more would increase your chance of survival.¡±

    ¡°Lastly, in this apocalyptic world, you have to use your brain more often. Sincerity and honesty won¡¯t earn you praise. Being weak and cowardly will ultimately harm yourself and your teammates. If you want to gain power, you must earn it yourself, not only physical gain, but the mentality and willpower too.¡± Liu Gan gave thisst advice to Pan Hua, and looked to LuLu, before heading towards the door.

    That speech was thest gift he could give them; the meaning of it surpassed the food and water necessities in importance. If they could understand what he imparted, it would be their fortune; if they couldn¡¯t, then that was also their fate.

    ¡°Thank you, Boss, I will be forever grateful to you.¡± Pan Hua ran up to Liu Gan, who had already descended down the stairs and disappeared around the corner.

    ¡°What do we do? Should we follow him?¡± LuLu walked over to the doorway. She was panicking as she asked Pan Hua what to do next.

    ¡°He won¡¯t let us follow. If we tried to follow him, he wouldn¡¯t be too happy. It is very easy for him to lose us,¡± Pan Hua said after thinking for a little while.

    ¡°Without his protection, we will die.¡± LuLu felt a chill in her heart.

    ¡°I¡­ I will think of ways to protect you.¡± Pan Hua tried to reassure LuLu. Finally, he was alone with his idol, but he didn¡¯t have the ability to protect her. So deep down, he was ashamed of himself.

    ¡°Thank you¡­¡± LuLu whispered to Pan Hua, but from the expression on her face, it was evident that she knew he didn¡¯t have that capability.

    ¡°LuLu, we must strengthen ourselves. If we want to survive, we can¡¯t be such cowards,¡± Pan Hua motivated LuLu and himself.

    ¡°Yes,¡± LuLu responded gloomily.

    ¡°All this food canst us up to a week, so we must do as he said and guard this area. We should reinforce the windows and make other preparations against raids,¡± Pan Hua told LuLu his ns.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± LuLu didn¡¯t have any opinions, so she just agreed to what Pan Hua suggested.

    ¡°I will go down to the district to investigate and see if there are any usable materials. LuLu, you have to stay here and be careful; try not to create any noise. I will be back soon.¡± Pan Hua walked over to the window to scout out their surroundings.

    ¡°No way! What will happen if you encounter a zombie?¡± LuLu asked Pan Hua.

    ¡°This small residential district doesn¡¯t seem to have any more zombies. If there was one, it would be even better because I have to learn how to engage inbat with a zombie. Otherwise, if we do get surrounded, we will both die.¡± Pan Hua held up his iron rod, but both his hands were shaking.

    ¡°These zombies are too powerful; don¡¯t you dare try to engage them. You will die,¡± LuLu replied out of fear to Pan Hua.

    ¡°I have to take that risk; it is better than waiting to die. Liu Gan Boss was right. As you can see, I¡¯m only level 1, but by killing a few zombies, I could level up to level 2 or even higher. I will definitely bebat ready, so no matter where we go, we won¡¯t have to be afraid,¡± Pan Hua replied to LuLu after pondering for a little bit.

    ¡°Then count me in; two people will be stronger than just one. If we do find a zombie, you can distract the zombie from the front, and I will engage it from the back¡­¡± LuLu hesitated before giving her answer.

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42: Probing Device

    They were trapped within this game without any idea of when a rescue would arrive. If they were too weak, they wouldn¡¯t be able to protect themselves. They couldn¡¯t wait for another encounter with a strong yer like Liu Gan to continue protecting them, so they had to be stronger themselves. Just as Liu Gan had said, they had to strengthen their bodies both physically and mentally. This way they wouldn¡¯t be parasites that had to leech off of others to survive.

    ¡°You and me together? How will that work?¡± Pan Hua wasn¡¯t too convinced. Since LuLu wascking courage, she would definitely freeze in ce if she saw a zombie. By that time, if he had to deal with his own zombie, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to rescue her.

    ¡°I think I need to build up my courage slowly¡­¡± LuLu frowned as she replied to Pan Hua. She witnessed ZhangYu die horribly and was scolded by Liu Gan. This was especially traumatizing for her. She knew that she couldn¡¯t push her luck by not fighting; otherwise, her ending could be worse than ZhangYu¡¯s.

    ¡°I guess¡ªif the situation turns bad, then run and keep running. Don¡¯t worry about me and run as far as you can; I will find a way to escape.¡± Pan Hua finally agreed to LuLu tagging along.

    Honestly, when LuLu brought up the idea of killing zombies together, he was very happy. Being able to kill zombies with his idol was like a dreame true to otakus like him. It was everything he could ask for, but in reality this dream was nothing amazing. Nothing in dreams ur as nned.

    If it was just pressing a few buttons in game to massacre zombies, then that would be best. But now, it naturally meant walking up to a rotten corpse to kill it. There would also be a stench of rotten flesh and blood¡ªdefinitely, not romantic at all.

    After traveling down together, they surveyed the surroundings before going any further. If they found an injured, limbless, or solitary zombie, they would use it for practice or a warmup. Maybe that would be enough for them to level up.

    ¡°I have survived through a couple zombie games as a female broadcaster, so I can¡¯t let my fans look down on me!¡± LuLu picked up the machete and swung it a few times to regain some of her lost courage.

    ¡°Okay, good! If we encounter a zombie, I will go up front to distract it, and you will find the chance to kill it at the neck! Try your best to hack at it!¡± Pan Hua replied to LuLu, clenching his own iron rod. He felt brave.

    No matter what, he wouldn¡¯t let his female idol be too disappointed in him.

    With Pan Hua in front and LuLu following behind, both of them departed through the doorway. They carefully looked and walked around the Lucky Garden District . Since this district was newly built, there hadn¡¯t been many people moving into the area before the outbreak. Previously, because the local survivors and Liu Gan had cleared the remaining zombies, it made it difficult to find a living zombie in this area.

    First, Pan Hua searched through a few houses, confirming that the inside of the building was safe. They only found fallen zombies but were unsessful in finding anything else.

    Catastrophe struck only a few days ago, but the local survivors had been very thorough with their plunder. Also, several hundred thousand yers descended upon The Trembling World the day before yesterday. Assuming that yers were transferred into this small residential district, they would¡¯ve already looted this area. Finding anymore resources or food in this district would be even more difficult.

    But after experiencing this detailed search and investigation, both yers gained newfound courage. They wouldn¡¯t tremble in fear like before.

    ¡­

    ¡°Fatty, what do you see there?¡± LuLu asked while standing on the balcony of one of the households and lifting up her finger to point in the direction of the residential za center.

    This particr household had a full view of the za center, so everything that urred on the za could be seen clearly.

    Lucky Garden District had a dozen residential buildings, and the residential za was right at its center. Pan Hua made his way onto the balcony to see where LuLu was pointing. They saw a ck misty orb at the center of the za. Then, the ck orb dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, but a person was now lying down on the floor in ce of the ck orb.

    ¡°No way, is it another yer that got transferred here?¡± LuLu was surprised as she asked Pan Hua. She remembered the moment when they had entered; it was the exact same scene when all 7 or 8 of them were lying down on the rooftop.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s not a yer. He¡¯s a San Xing Corporation worker!¡± Pan Hua saw that the male lying down on the ground had the exact same San Xing Corporation uniform and its distinct three circle logo.

    Pan Hua participated in the San Xing Corporation hosted event that announced the game. So he was very familiar with their work uniform, and from his angle, it was the same uniform distributed within San Xing Corporation.

    ¡°That is awesome! Finally there will be someone to rescue us! We should hurry and go down!¡± LuLu encouraged Pan Hua.

    ¡°Yes, we should hurry and ask him what is going on around here. Maybe he will have a way to help us escape back to the real world!¡± Pan Hua was also excited just thinking about this idea. Quickly, they both left the room and headed downstairs toward the center of the residential za.

    At the center of the residential za, the male person had woken up. He was just sitting on the floor and looking around at his surroundings. He saw LuLu wielding the machete and Pan Hua charging at him with his iron rod, frightening him. Quickly, the male took off his backpack. From it, he pulled out a ten inch PDA and a trumpet-like device that could attach to the PDA, and he aimed it towards Pan Hua and LuLu.

    [TN: It¡¯s not aptop, and it isn¡¯t an touch pad so closest was PDA, personal digital assistant]

    ¡°We are yers! We don¡¯t mean you any harm!¡± Pan Hua saw the odd movement of the guy, so he quickly dropped his iron rod onto the ground. LuLu copied Pan Hua andid her machete onto the floor; both were several meters away from the guy.

    The male used the trumpet-like instrument to probe the location of Pan Hua and LuLu to initiate a deep examination. After discovering that Pan Hua and LuLu both had dropped their weapons and had no ill intentions, he rxed, moved his hand away from the PDA, and put back the probing instation.

    ¡°How are you? Are you San Xing Corporation¡¯s worker?¡± Pan Hua asked. Seeing that the man had put back the weird instrument, he walked up to greet him.

    ¡°Yes, are you guys the yers from the day before yesterday?¡± The man replied to Pan Hua and LuLu. His hand was still on the PDA, but the machine didn¡¯t turn off. It was still on, and it seemed like it was gathering information.

    ¡°Yes, my surname is Pan, as in Pan Hua. She is LuLu. You are¡­¡± Pan Hua got excited since he heard the guy confirm that he is worker from San Xing Corporation. Furthermore, as a worker from San Xing Corporation, he must have known that they had been trapped here since the day before yesterday. This could very well be the rescue they had been waiting for.

    ¡°My surname is Jiang. Call me Jiang JinYuan.¡± The male introduced himself to Pan Hua and LuLu.

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43: Spatial Laboratory

    ¡°Mister Jiang, are you a GM? You came to rescue us, right?¡± LuLu promptly walked over with high expectations for a yes to her answer as she asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Sorry, I am just the corporation¡¯s technical staff. I was sent here to investigate the current situation, and I don¡¯t have any GM authorities. I was originally supposed to be transferred directly to the main city¡¯sboratory to start my investigation, but it¡¯s clear that I have been sent to a wrong location¡­¡± said Jiang JinYuan as he disappointedly replied to LuLu. Meanwhile, he looked at his PDA with the map.

    ¡°If you cane here, then you must have a way to bring us back right?¡± After hearing Jiang JinYuan speak, LuLu abruptly asked another question.

    ¡°A way¡­ of course I do, but you guys need to update me on what has happened so far. Start from the moment you entered and be as detailed as possible.¡± Jiang JinYuan dodged LuLu¡¯s question.

    ¡°The day before yesterday, when we entered the game¡­¡± For the sake of trying to get back, LuLu spilled the beans on everything that had happened so far to Jiang JinYuan. Pan Hua didn¡¯t hide anything either and also told Jiang JinYuan everything he knew.

    ¡°You guys talked about Liu Gan. Is this yer really strong? One time he could kill several zombies and another time he was able to kill 5 delinquents, is that right? Where is this person now? Can I meet him?¡± Jiang JinYuan was obsessed with Liu Gan from what he had heard so far from Pan Hua and LuLu.

    ¡°He went out to find more food because he felt like we would weigh him down, so he didn¡¯t bring us along. He could possibly be at¡­ possibly¡­¡± Pan Hua felt embarrassed even as he exined this to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Everything you asked us, we have told you already. Howe you haven¡¯t told us how we can return to the real world yet!¡± LuLu interrupted Pan Hua. She asked the question she was most concerned about.

    ¡°The main city contains San Xing Corporationsrgest interspatialboratory. Myputer has a map. If you guys could help me get to the main city and get into theboratory, I couldmunicate through a special channel and request them to transfer you back to the real world.¡± Jiang JinYuan showed his PDA and offered his proposition to LuLu.

    ¡°Then hurry and bring me to the main city¡¯sboratory!¡± LuLu rushing Jiang JinYuan. She wouldn¡¯t even want to stay a minute longer in this ce.

    ¡°That is too bad. I was originally supposed to be at the main city¡¯sboratory working right now. I have no idea why I was sent here. You can look here¡­ There are the several cities on the map, and the city in the center of thergest ind is the main city. We are currently located on one of the inds on its outskirts. We need to think of a way to reach the main ind. Perhaps a ship or an airne could get us there.¡± Jiang JinYuan showed off the PDA to Pan Hua and LuLu, as well as exining how it works.

    The PDA screen showed a vast ocean with arge ind in the center¡ª6 inds of various shapes encircled the main ind. A green dot was on one of the inds shing non-stop. This was obviously pinpointing Jiang JinYuan¡¯s location, which also included Pan Hua and LuLu.

    ¡°How far away are we from the main city andboratory?¡± Pan Hua and LuLu looked at the PDA map with a bit of disappointment.

    ¡°ording to the map, it is at least several hundred kilometers away. We must find a method of transportation to reach the ind.¡± Jiang JinYuan was disappointed after finding out how far it was. His original n was to enter the game, arrive at main city¡¯sboratory,plete his reconnaissance, and then think of a way to get transferred back to the real world. He couldn¡¯t have imagined that he would be sent so far off target. So if he wanted to reach the main city¡¯sboratory, he had to think of a way himself.

    ¡°You mentioned something about getting transferred? What is that? I thought we only just joined the game, so why would it do something so strange as a transfer?¡± LuLu suddenly had so many more questions she wanted to ask Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; that is why thepany sent me. I¡¯m here to find the reason behind all of this.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to LuLu.

    ¡°Where the heck are we? Why would San Xing Corporation have aboratory experiment here? Is it possible that this game is a real world?¡± LuLu had a frantic expression as she asked Jiang JinYuan. She started second guessing herself, but the moment Jiang JinYuan confirmed it, she couldn¡¯t help but to get angry.

    Several hundred thousand yers got trapped in this zombie world because of a mess San Xing Corporation made. She had personally witnessed yers die in here, as well as a female getting defiled. If she couldn¡¯t find a way to leave this area back to the real world, she suspected she wouldn¡¯t be able tost too long. In addition, she had worked more than a year to get her broadcaster status, and if her fans dropped her, then who wouldpensate her?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Although I work for San Xing Corporation, I am only a simple technical staff. I have a low position, so I don¡¯t know much about thepany¡¯s operations.¡± Jiang JinYuan continued to shake his head.

    ¡°San Xing Corporation already knows how to use such advanced technology like instant transmission technique, right? This is a scheme, right? San Xing Corporation is using us as experiments, right?¡± LuLu kept pressing Jiang JinYuan for answers.

    [TN: Yes, I used instant transmission because it conveys the idea best. I will use it from henceforth]

    ¡°I already told you. I am San Xing Corporation¡¯s hired help, so it isn¡¯t that I don¡¯t want to tell you, but I really don¡¯t know anything. Concerning any managerial questions, even if you keep questioning me, I don¡¯t have an answer for it.¡± Jiang JinYuan helplessly sighed.

    ¡°For yers that die here, what happens to them?¡± LuLu was unsatisfied with Jiang JinYuan¡¯s previous answer, but she still asked another question. Pan Hua had so many questions he wanted to ask, but because LuLu asked Jiang JinYuan first, he chose not to interrupt. If there was a question LuLu hadn¡¯t thought of asking, then he would ask Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°They¡­ may have¡­ gone back to the real world?¡± Jiang JinYuan said that, but his eyes revealed that he was being dodgy.

    ¡°They went back? You mean if we voluntarily suicided, we could return back to the real world?¡± LuLu showed a hint of excitement in her expression.

    She had already lost hope in being able to reach the main city across the several hundred kilometers of open water; not to mention, the search for the interspatialboratory, so that she could return back to the real world. This was because she didn¡¯t have any courage in being able to survive much longer in this zombie world. If there was a quicker method, she wouldn¡¯t mind trying it out.

    ¡°I only said maybe. To be honest, I am not quite sure. I suggest¡­ if you want to survive getting back, you should help me reach the main city¡¯sboratory first. I can¡¯t guarantee what you might get out from it.¡± Jiang JinYuan rified after he proposed his suggestion to LuLu.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44: Smell of death

    ¡°You are definitely hiding something from us. Why wouldn¡¯t the game have a log-out function?¡± LuLu saw that Jiang JinYuan was not answering her questions truthfully, so she questioned him again.

    ¡°LuLu don¡¯t be like that¡­¡± Pan Hua quickly tried to defuse the situation. Right now, if they wanted to get back to the real world, they would need Jiang JinYuan¡¯s assistance. Deep down, Pan Hua was furious, but he didn¡¯t want to offend Jiang JinYuan and lose the only chance to return to the real world.

    ¡°There should be a logout function. Before I arrived, I didn¡¯t know it was unavable, so maybe it is a technical problem? I am sorry that the game has abnormalities. I am only an ordinary worker from San Xing Corporation, and because they don¡¯t understand what is going on over here, I was sent to investigate. If I live long enough to enter the main city¡¯sboratory, then I will do my best to send my report on the situation here to thepany. Thepany will only be able to rectify their mistakes after reviewing my report. Hopefully, that will allow you to logout normally.¡± Jiang JinYuan sighed as he tried tofort LuLu, but the manner in which he said it felt like he was toying with her.

    ¡°San Xing Corporation won¡¯t bother to help us¡ªthis is all onerge scam! We have been hurt by San Xing Corporation!¡± LuLu¡¯s body temperature dropped and shivered as she realized the importance of what she had just said.

    ¡°No matter what, you just have to escort me to the main city¡¯sboratory, and then we should be able to return to the real world. Let¡¯s not stay here to rant, but let¡¯s think about how we should reach the main city.¡± Jiang JinYuan tried his best to convince them to join his cause.

    ¡°He does bring up a good point. LuLu don¡¯t get so aggravated. Let¡¯s think of a n together.¡± said Pan Hua as he tried to convince LuLu.

    ¡°How do you want to execute your n? How will you prepare to travel to the main city?¡± LuLu coldly asked Jiang JinYuan. She was trying to regain herposure.

    ¡°You said something about Liu Gan earlier. Could you contact him?¡± Jiang JinYuan was very much interested in the topic of Liu Gan. Right now, he needed a strong bodyguard more than anything. ording to what Pan Hua and LuLu had said about Liu Gan, he must be really strong. His personality shouldn¡¯t be too bad either, so if they were to reach an agreement, he seemed trustworthy enough to keep his word.

    ¡°You are scheming for him to take you to the main city, but leave us behind here, right?¡± LuLu brought this up after hearing Jiang JinYuan express his interest in Liu Gan only.

    Of course, being weak will only be subjected to discrimination!

    ¡°No way, I am not that type of person. If we find other yers along the way, I will definitely bring them along. I will try my best to bring as many people as I can.¡± Jiang JinYuan quickly tried to rify his situation.

    ¡°In the moment you are endangered, you will choose to abandon us. That is because you only want to reach the main city¡¯sboratory. Even now, you are only talking to us, so you can get more information from us as to where Liu Gan is.¡± LuLu said to Jiang JinYuan as she lost all confidence. It was just like how Liu Gan had abandoned them here earlier.

    ¡°No way¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to LuLu.

    ¡°Boss Jian, when this game began and several hundred thousand yers disappeared. What did the government do? Did theymunicate with our families¡± Pan Hua finally broke the silence the moment LuLu stopped asking. This was Pan Hua¡¯s main concern.

    From yesterday to today, more than a day¡¯s time had passed already. With several hundred thousand yers disappearing, one could only imagine that the inte in the real world would be in great turmoil¡­

    ¡°From yesterday the moment the game server started, I have been inside thepany. Yesterday night, I also slept at thepany, so for these issues I am not too clear.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

    ¡°How is that possible? Don¡¯t you use a cell phone? Doesn¡¯t yourpanyputer have inte ess? You have been lying this whole time!¡± LuLu overheard the conversation, but got even more angry from what Jiang JinYuan had said.

    ¡°I work in the department that was responsible for research, and it involvespany secrets so we definitely can¡¯t use cell phones. Theputer only has ess to thepanywork¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan patiently described to LuLu.

    ¡°All of this doesn¡¯t make sense! With several thousand yers disappearing, San Xing Corporation didn¡¯t get shut down? Didn¡¯t the government send an investigation squad to yourpany to investigate? What else are you hiding?¡± LuLu was obviously frustrated with his exnation and got rowdy.

    ¡­

    At this time, suddenly the ground started shaking. Jiang JinYuan looked from afar and suddenly widened his eyes¡­

    A colossal zombie had appeared in the Lucky Garden District. After it appeared around a corner several buildings away, it saw three people at the residential za center. It shouted and started charging towards them from afar.

    Even though these three hadn¡¯t seen a colossal zombie before, it looked dangerous based on its physical features. It stood at a height of three to four meters high with a bulky body thatcked any skin and only had exposed muscles on the outside. With a hideous looking face and mouth full of protruding teeth, the yers realized that this monstrous figure charging at them was dangerous.

    Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t help but curse from deep within. First, thepany sent him to the wrong location, about several hundred kilometers away, and now arge colossal zombie appeared. With this many obstacles, how did thepany expect him toplete his mission? He entered the game with the understanding that he might not return, but if he didn¡¯t finish his mission then he wouldn¡¯t receive the negotiated benefits. Unable to receive the benefits, then what would his wife and kids live off of?

    Jiang JinYun and Pan Hua felt something was wrong, so they headed toward the opposite direction of the colossal zombie and started running. LuLu saw the high-speed colossal zombie charging and froze in ce. Even if she wanted to run, her legs wouldn¡¯t move at all.

    ¡°LuLu, quickly run!¡±

    Pan Hua was already over ten meters away when he noticed LuLu was frozen in ce. After a short moment of hesitation, he ran back to LuLu and shouted at her to move. Then, he attempted to drag her.

    LuLu suddenly woke up from her dream-like state, which was followed by a short scream; finally, she started running. However, Pan Hua wasn¡¯t so lucky. His sudden movement attracted the attention of the colossal zombie. The moment he tried to drag LuLu to escape, the colossal zombie was already close to them. It raised its meaty fist and smashed Pan Hua onto the floor, which was followed by a w that ripped through Pan Hua¡¯s clothes and into his intestines. The intestines spilled outward from Pan Hua.

    Pan Hua screamed from the sudden pain with loud cries for help. But he knew that it was useless in this situation to cry for help because no one could help.

    Pan Hua smelled a lingering scent of death in the air; if dying could return to the real world, then he would embrace it. The pain was so excruciating though. It was just a game, so shouldn¡¯t they have nullified the pain for the yers?

    This method of dying was too realistic, especially now that Pan Hua was experiencing this strong sensation. If he really died in the game and died in real life, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to return to the real world.

    [TN: If you guys have suggestions for my writing style, please leave a message here or on Discord]

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45: Sledgehammer

    LuLu ran forward a couple of steps before turning her head to look back. Once again, she froze in ce and started screaming at the top of her lungs. The San Xing Corporation worker called Jiang JinYuan was nowhere in sight, as he had already escaped as fast as he could.

    Just as the colossal zombie was preparing to gnaw on Pan Hua, a ten kilogram sledgehammer flew through the air from afar andnded right on the back of the colossal zombie¡¯s head. At the same time, from the location where the sledgehammer was thrown, a figure appeared; it was Liu Gan.

    When Liu Gan departed from the Lucky Garden District, he had not ventured too far away. After all, he was tracking the movement of the colossal zombie. He scaled the tallest building and from the rooftop, he was able to see the colossal zombie. The colossal zombie seemed to have sensed something because it was charging straight towards Lucky Garden District.

    While chasing this colossal zombie, Liu Gan passed a field of zombie corpses. There were at least a dozen zombies. Based on the weapons they used, it didn¡¯t seem like they were yers¡ªmore like local survivors. Around their corpses wererge bloody footprints; it seemed like they had encountered a colossal zombie.

    In this corpse-stricken field, Liu Gan found a firefighter¡¯s axe. This axe,pared to his current short axe, was a lot sharper andrger in size. In addition, he found a sledgehammer, the type ofrge hammer that you used to break down walls in construction. The sledgehammer was a meter long and weighed around 10 kilograms. It was most suitable for both closebat and ranged attacks, so he took them with him on his back.

    [TN: The firefighter¡¯s axe = Fire axe so you won¡¯t get confused with his short axe]

    If it were the Liu Gan from before, he wouldn¡¯t have had enough strength to carry so many materials, especially the sledgehammer. Previously, he wasn¡¯t able to swing it around continuously, even with both hands. However, now that he had improved strength, he was not like before, having gained the ability to brandish the sledgehammer weighing 10 kilograms with ease.

    Liu Gan was able to track the colossal zombie all the way back to Lucky Garden District, but he was a step toote. Pan Hua had already been smashed up by the colossal zombie, as heid motionless on the ground.

    The colossal zombie was struck on the back of its head by Liu Gan¡¯s flying sledgehammer. The hammer took the zombie by surprise, and it got knocked a few steps back. This action incited its rage as it turned its body around, subsequently, giving up trying to attack Pan Hua on the ground and giving Liu Gan its full attention instead.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t continue the fight. He dropped his backpack, started running directly to the district¡¯srgest tree that was nearby, and quickly climbed to the top of it.

    When the colossal zombie approached, it bellowed while repeatedly charging towards the tree after spotting Liu Gan atop it. The diameter of the tree was around 30 centimeters, and as the colossal zombie crazily rammed against it, it shook vigorously back and forth. Liu Gan was hanging on for dear life on the treetop while the colossal zombie knocked down a seemingly unending amount of leaves. However, it still wasn¡¯t able to bring Liu Gan down with the tree.

    Liu Gan was soon able to borrow the inertia from the forceful shaking of the tree. Mustering all his strength, he managed to jump and grab on to the side of a building not far away. He held onto the guard railings of the fourth floor balcony, and after jumping over the railings, he disappeared into the adjacent room.

    The colossal zombie discovered that Liu Gan had escaped from the treetop into the building. Furious at what had happened, it let go of the tree and instead, charged into the building where Liu Gan was. The colossal zombie smashed a huge gaping hole in the first floor¡¯s window and walls, but since it had lost sight of Liu Gan, it turned back. Leaving from the hole it created, its gaze returned to Pan Hua who was strewn on the floor.

    At the same time, LuLu was pulling Pan Hua¡¯s body, trying her best to pull him away towards cover.

    ¡°LuLu¡­ I can¡¯t¡­ You¡­ You just run¡­ Leave me¡­¡± Pan Hua started coughing up blood from his mouth as he spoke to LuLu. His abdomen had caved in from the powerful grip, and exposed intestines were leaking out of his body. In The Trembling World, there were no hospitals. Even if there were, based on his injury, he was impossible to save.

    ¡°Fatty, you must hold on. I said I won¡¯t let you go. You will be okay¡­¡± LuLu cried as she did her best to tug at Pan Hua¡¯s body.

    Just as the colossal zombie was preparing to rush up to resume feasting on Pan Hua and LuLu, Liu Gan appeared on a different building¡¯s third floor balcony. He took this opportunity to jump off the balcony and onto the colossal zombie¡¯s shoulder, straddling it.

    Before the colossal zombie could react, Liu Gan stuck both his hands deep into the eyes of the colossal zombie and tugged. A tremendous roar could be heard, as Liu Gan had just pulled both its eyeballs out.

    The colossal zombie went batshit crazy. With both hands flinging around, it was able to knock Liu Gan off its shoulders. Liu Gan got sent flying back seven to eight meters; he did a barrel roll to lessen the damage and stood back up on his feet. After surveying the area for a bit, he walked along the outer edge of the flower terrace to pick up a small rock before throwing it towards the colossal zombie, intending to create a disturbance as the rocknded with a loud thud.

    The colossal zombie had its eyeballs ripped out, so it lost its sense of sight. The moment Liu Gan chucked a rock, the angry beast charged towards the location where the noise was produced.

    Liu Gan immediately retreated a good ten meters and pulled the ring off a hand grenade. Counting in his heart, he waited for the colossal zombie to collide with the half-a-meter tall flower terrace and fall down to throw the grenade. Liu Gan released his hand grenade, and it let loose a terrifying st at that exact spot and at the perfect time.

    The colossal zombie¡¯s heavy body weight was used to suppress the grenade explosion that would have otherwise generated a deafening explosion. More than half of the impact was absorbed by the colossal zombie, and the sound was kept at a minimum. The colossal zombie wobbled while trying to get up from the ground. There was a gaping hole in the middle of its stomach with its intestines and organs spilling out. The arms and legs were also severely injured with exposed bones jutting out.

    But of course, it didn¡¯t die.

    Liu Gan wasn¡¯t in a rush to move in for the kill. All he did was circle it, chucking rocks and sticks at it so as to exhaust all the remaining energy it had left. The colossal zombie was bleeding profusely with its innards grotesquely hanging from the hole in his stomach, and it became even weaker. Within ten minutes or so, it let out an angry howl as it breathed itsst breath.

    Liu Gan walked over to pick up the sledgehammer he threw earlier. Then, he started smashing at the colossal zombie¡¯s arms and legs. After the limbs were all broken, the final step was to destroy its brain. With that, the colossal zombie was thoroughly finished.

    This was Liu Gan¡¯s first time fighting against the colossal zombie in a battle to the death. After the sh, Liu Gan reflected on the tactics he had thought of previously and how the execution of said strategies had been extremely sessful. He was able to perfectly kill the colossal zombie without any harm to himself; the bonus was that the sound produced was kept to a minimum.

    Arge dense ck orb leaked out of the corpse of the colossal zombie and seeped into Liu Gan¡¯s body. This caused a heat to surge within him; it was even hotter than when he leveled up from level 2 to level 4.

    [TN: Liu Gan: Lv 5.]

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46: Advancement

    ¡°Right before I left, a coworker warned me about [The Trembling World]. The moment yers reach level 5¡ªthat¡¯s the true beginning stage of the game. No matter how many normal zombies the yers kill, the maximum level they can obtain is level 4. To reach level 5, the requirement is to kill a colossal zombie.¡±

    ¡°It looks like this yer was around level 4, and by killing the colossal zombie, he was able to advance to level 5. Then he should be feeling the beginnings of an awakened power, right?¡± Jiang JinYuan thought.

    While hiding within a nearby building, Jiang JinYuan witnessed Liu Gan sessfully delivering the killing blow to the colossal zombie. Uncontrobly, he felt extremely pleased, especially if Liu Gan would be willing to be his bodyguard. It looked like his journey to the main city¡¯s interspatialboratory would have a higher chance of sess.

    Liu Gan checked his level on his alloy watch; he was level 5. Aside from the increases in strength, speed, vision, and hearing, he felt that his limbs were all harder than before.

    In addition, his alloy watch had an extra attribute on it written with two words: ¡®mist armor¡¯.

    It was simr to the other attributes that had a green color. However, Liu Gan didn¡¯t know he obtained this awakened power when he had advanced to level 5. He only wondered what type of armor the awakened power was, specifically if it was for physical or mental defense.

    The only way to find out was to test it. Liu Gan used the short axe like a hammer to his arm. Apparently, he heard a ¡®dong¡¯ noise, but his arm didn¡¯t feel anything like the smash of a hammer. The short axe rebounded backwards, and he only felt a tingling, numbing sensation.

    Liu Gan tested the short axe on his chest this time. Just like when he had tried to hammer his arm, this time it also produced a ¡®dong¡¯ sound, and the short axe also rebounded backwards. The feeling was simr to wearing a metallic armor and having something smash into it. The point being that Liu Gan wasn¡¯t actually wearing any metallic armor.

    Liu Gan gave the attribute bar a closer look, and he found out that it was mostly green with a slight tint of red within it. It seemed like this ¡®mist armor¡¯ was pretty durable. Like the other attributes, the color would change from green to red and finally to ck when it broke.

    Liu Gan would have to wait for livebat to experience the full benefits of this skill.

    After reaching level 5 and obtaining ¡®mist armor¡¯, Liu Gan was definitely happy. He felt like his power at level 4 was iparable to his power level now. Simply speaking, when he would continuously swing the sledgehammer at level 4, he would tire out quickly, but now, he could easily swing it single-handedly without any tiredness at all.

    In addition, when he had his backpack with the short axe, fire axe, and sledgehammer, it would exhaust him if he had to jump walls and climb with all this weight. So right before he engaged inbat, he dropped all the unnecessary gear for more mobility. Now that he was level 5, he could shoulder his backpack and gear and still easily climb and perform parkour. This mastery of weight showed that his body strength had increased significantly.

    From now on he also had the protection of the ¡®mist armor¡¯. Even if he was careless and zombies ambushed him, his armor could absorb the damage. This was an invaluable asset that could improve his survival.

    Once Liu Gan finished with the colossal zombie and investigated his loot, he walked over to LuLu and Pan Hua. He crouched down and saw Pan Hua¡¯s injury. Pan Hua¡¯s abdomen was ripped open with his intestines spilling out. Getting injured like this was definitely so severe that it left no hope of survival. Since the wound was created by the colossal zombie, it was undoubtedly infected. So after his death, he would also be a zombie.

    ¡°Boss¡­help me¡­. Just cut off my head¡­.I don¡¯t want¡­to be one of those zombies¡­¡± Pan Hua sighed as he told Liu Gan his concern. Pan Hua wanted his pain to end quickly because the suffering from having his abdomen torn apart was too much. But he wanted to keep his pride in front of his female idol, so he made up an excuse to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Fatty, no¡­¡± LuLu held Pan Hua¡¯s hand while she cried loudly. She knew he was injured by that colossal zombie because of her. If it wasn¡¯t for him, the person lying there with the stomach ripped apart would be her.

    ¡°LuLu¡­continue¡­surviving. Dying like this¡­would be too painful¡­.It¡¯s too real¡­I¡­don¡¯t think¡­this is a game¡­¡± Pan Hua tried his best to exin to LuLu while enduring the pain.

    ¡°If this isn¡¯t a game, what is it?¡± LuLu asked with a nk look.

    ¡°LuLu¡­sorry¡­I am¡­useless¡­.After this¡­I¡­can¡¯t¡­protect¡­you¡­anymore¡­ ¡± said Pan Hua.

    ¡°You saved me; in my heart, you are already my hero.¡± LuLu said while crying her heart out to Pan Hua.

    ¡°LuLu¡­very happy¡­to be able to¡­meet you here¡­.It is¡­a ¡­beautiful¡­ident¡­¡± Pan Hua suddenly couldn¡¯t feel the pain anymore. He was able to rx his frown and show LuLu a smile on his face.

    ¡°You will be okay; do you want me to sing you a song? I will sing to you¡­¡± While LuLu was holding Pan Hua¡¯s hand, she seemed to think of something and started singing to Pan Hua.

    ¡ºHearing the winter¡¯s departure¡»

    ¡ºIt took me years and months to realize¡»

    ¡ºI think I waited and I look forward ¡»

    ¡ºThe future can¡¯t be nned rationally ¡»

    ¡º¡­¡»

    [TN: This is a legit song.]

    ¡°Boss¡­please¡­ I beg you¡­one favor¡­¡± Pan Hua tugged Liu Gan¡¯s hand. His consciousness started to waver, so he knew that he didn¡¯t have much time left.

    ¡°Talk to me¡± Liu Gan said.

    ¡°LuLu¡­is a good female¡­.Take her along¡­.Don¡¯t abandon her¡­please?¡± Pan Hua spewed blood from his mouth, as he gave Liu Gan a begging look.

    ¡°Sorry, that type of favor, I can¡¯t promise that to you.¡± Liu Gan frowned.

    ¡°Then¡­teach her¡­how to kill¡­zombies¡­okay?¡± Pan Hua tried a different request.

    ¡°Kill zombies? Okay. That I can promise you. I will teach her for an hour. Once I am done, I will leave, so I hope she learns whatever she can during that time.¡± Liu Gan hesitated for a moment, before finally agreeing with Pan Hua.

    Taking LuLu along with him was a task that he absolutely could not agree with. However, teaching her how to kill zombies was an easy task. At most, it would only dy him for an hour. That was eptable to him.

    As for this game, Liu Gan had thought of a few theories and hypotheses that he could test on LuLu¡¯s body to help him survive longer in this world.

    ¡°Boss¡­you are a¡­good person¡­¡± Pan Hua smiled at Liu Gan. Then, he turned his head to look back at LuLu.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47: Sincerity

    ¡ºI went forward flying past the sea¡»

    ¡ºWe are often hurt by love¡»

    ¡ºI see the road into our dream is narrow¡»

    ¡ºMe meeting you is the best ident¡»

    ¡º¡­¡»

    Apanying LuLu¡¯s singing, Pan Hua¡¯s focus started to fade away. His hands also gradually lost strength to grip. His facial expression was very peaceful, as if he was sleeping.

    Liu Gan unconsciously stared at LuLu. This girl¡¯s singing was definitely pleasing to listen to, especially when she was singing the sad parts that expressed feelings of despair and sorrow. This type of singing could move a person¡¯s soul.

    Regardless, it wasn¡¯t useful.

    Liu Gan shook his head and brushed away all of the negative feelings he had.

    ¡°Fatty, wake up! Wake up! You promised me¡­ that you will protect me, take care of me¡­ You can¡¯t just leave me behind!¡± LuLu stopped singing and was crying her eyes out when she shook Pan Hua¡¯s body. Clearly, Pan Hua wouldn¡¯t be able to wake up again.

    ¡°He said he would let me chop his head off.¡± Liu Gan said to LuLu. Pan Hua had been infected by the colossal zombie, so the wound was definitely contaminated. After he died, the chances of him bing a zombie was very high.

    ¡°No!¡± LuLu kept shaking Pan Hua¡¯s corpse as she cried loudly.

    ¡°My condolences, but if you keep crying that loudly, you will only attract more zombies here. If that happens, even I can¡¯t protect you.¡± said Liu Gan while pulling LuLu away from Pan Hua¡¯s corpse. Then using his axe, he sliced Pan Hua¡¯s neck.

    LuLu sat on the side of the floor crying, just looking at Pan Hua¡¯s corpse. Her eyes were red from crying so much, but she managed to hold in the noise from crying.

    ¡°You are Liu Gan? Nice to meet you!¡± Jiang JinYuan revealed himself from a nearby building as he saw Liu Gan turn in his direction. Quickly, Jiang JinYuan revealed a smile as he introduced himself.

    ¡°A worker from San Xing Corporation?¡± Liu Gan looked at LuLu. He guessed this person found out his name from Pan Hua and LuLu.

    Liu Gan also recognized Jiang JinYuan¡¯s work uniform from his previous two encounters with San Xing Corporation¡¯s workers, but they were not able to give him the information he needed.

    ¡°Yes, the game appeared to have a small problem. The corporation sent me to investigate.¡± Jiang JinYuan walked closer as he exined.

    ¡°A small problem? You call this a small problem?¡± LuLu suddenly rushed over to kick Jiang JinYuan in the shin.

    Liu Gan managed to pull LuLu away and set her on the side of the za¡¯s terrace.

    LuLu sat with her knee caps facing the ground and started crying again. She tried her best to suppress the sound of her crying. Now that Pan Hua was dead, Liu Gan definitely wouldn¡¯t bring her along, so she could only imagine how grim her future would be.

    As Liu Gan walked in front of Jiang JinYuan, he looked around to make sure that his battle with the colossal zombie didn¡¯t attract more zombies, since this small za was almost empty before the battle.

    As Liu Gan was tracking down the colossal zombie, it had strange moving patterns. It headed straight towards the Lucky Garden District, even though there were no noise generated from Lucky Garden District.

    ¡°My probing device indicates that there are no nearby zombies so we should be safe for now.¡± Jiang JinYuan disyed his PDA with a probing device as he pointed it to the surroundings.

    ¡°Oh? That thing can detect zombies¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan¡¯s PDA with the probing device. Liu Gan had an idea, it was the urge to kill for this device.

    Considering that Jiang JinYuan publically disyed the item to him, it must be really special. Liu Gan had to make sure Jiang JinYuan didn¡¯t have GM capabilities first, then he would reconsider what intel he could give before thinking about killing him.

    ¡°Yes, it generates a map, so it can help us escape danger. It has my DNA so it locks in on my location; other than me, it can¡¯t locate other people¡¯s location.¡± Jiang JinYuan giggled as he exined to Liu Gan. Jiang JinYuan generously gave the PDA with the probing device over to Liu Gan¡¯s outstretched hand.

    Liu Gan tried his finger on the PDA, and it didn¡¯t register any effect. No wonder Jiang JinYuan was so generous in showing this valuable object in front of him.

    ¡°I was telling them about the main city¡¯s interspatialboratory. I can tell you about it¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan said as Liu Gan was ying with the PDA. So Jiang JinYuan exined everything from the beginning including what LuLu and Pan Hua¡¯s questions to him; all this was to show his sincerity.

    ¡°If I reach the interspatialboratory, can I return to the real world, and everything that I earned here can I bring back to the real world?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan. Clearly, his concern was very different from Pan Hua, so his questions are different from what Pan Hua had asked.

    ¡°Body function technicalities I don¡¯t know for sure, maybe someone at the interspatialboratory will understand. Once we reach there, you can ask them.¡± Jiang JinYuanughed after he said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Tell me the truth! You know this game has a problem, yet you dared to venture in here? Even after you enter you are so calm and collected! If you don¡¯t tell me the truth, I will strangle you to death!¡± Liu Gan held his hand on Jiang JinYuan¡¯s neck and added pressure so Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t breathe.

    Based on Liu Gan¡¯s current strength, he could easily lift Jiang JinYuan as easily as he could lift a chicken.

    If Jiang JinYuan had GM capabilities, this would be the right moment for him to use it.

    It looked like Jiang JinYuan didn¡¯t have any GM authority nor any abilities. With Liu Gan clenching his neck, he could only try his best to keep his mouth open gasping for air,¡é and then he waved around his hand to show that he couldn¡¯t open up his mouth to speak.

    Liu Gan set Jiang JinYuan back on the floor and loosened his grip, but he didn¡¯tpletely let go of his neck. It was loosened only enough for him to speak naturally.

    ¡°Right now in the real world, I have cancer, and it is malignant. The doctor said I have a little over half a year left. Thepany gave me a good amount of money if I epted their mission. They promised to pay me as long as Ipleted the mission. Dead or alive, they will give my family a lump sum of cash aspensation.

    ¡°To me, it is either to die soon or dieter. This type of death can at least help my family members to live a little better. What do you think I would choose?¡± Jiang JinYuan told the truth to Liu Gan. Having been sent here, he had no choice but to reveal his secret.

    Liu Gan looked into Jiang JinYuan¡¯s eyes. It didn¡¯t seem like he was lying, so Liu Gan let his hand go.

    ¡°I want to ask you to escort me to the main city¡¯s interspatialboratory.¡± Jiang JinYuan was trying to lure Liu Gan in.

    ¡°Why would I do that? How would that benefit me in any way?¡± Liu Gan replied to Jiang JinYuan.

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48: No rush

    ¡°Once we reach the main city¡¯s interspatial experimentboratory, you can return back to the real world! Is it possible that you don¡¯t want to leave this terrible Trembling World? Don¡¯t you want to return to the real world to reunite with your family and rtives? The main city¡¯s interspatialboratory is heavily guarded with zombies. Without my help, you won¡¯t have a chance of entering at all.¡± Jiang JinYuan already thought of a way to convince Liu Gan.

    ¡°If I told you that I¡¯d rather stay here than head back to the real world, what do you think I would choose?¡± Liu Gan coldly replied to Jiang JinYuan. This came as a shock to Jiang JinYuan since he was so convinced that Liu Gan was going to ept his offer.

    ¡°Then¡­ you will be able to level up even more, because once you reach level 5 killing normal zombies will not have any effect. Only if you can kill colossal zombies will you be able to be stronger. I have my probing device to help, so that you can effectively hunt and kill more colossal zombies.¡±

    ¡°In addition, staying at the main city is a lot better than staying at Ninjing city. There would be even stronger zombies than colossal zombies. Once you reach the next stage, killing colossal zombies won¡¯t level you up anymore. Your only choice is to enter the main city to reach an even higher level.¡± Jiang JinYuan counter-offered with his reply. Even if Liu Gan didn¡¯t want to return, he would want to get stronger in this world. Jiang JinYuan must be prepared here to convince Liu Gan to go.

    ¡°Oh? Since you told me the report for it. I already know the main city will have more advanced zombies. So why should I follow you to protect you? Even if I don¡¯t have the probing device¡¯s help, I can also hunt down colossal zombies. Once I am stronger, then I will find ways to enter the main city to kill those advanced zombies.¡± Liu Gan shook his head, as he wasn¡¯t too pleased with Jiang JinYuan¡¯s reply.

    These San Xing Corporation workers wouldn¡¯t be honest with you to tell everything right away. Since Liu Gan was in control of the flow of the conversation, without receiving anything beneficial, he wouldn¡¯t easily ept the task.

    ¡°Okay then¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan seemed to have thought long and hard about it. After thinking about it, he then tiptoed whisper to Liu Gan¡¯s ear.

    ¡°The Trembling World has a lot of San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratories and top secret experiments. Everyboratory has a secret location for storing different drugs that don¡¯t exist in the real world or never-before-seen high-tech gear. These drugs can directly increase your level or certain aspects of your attribute. The high tech gears can be equipped on your body to help supplement your defense, so it will definitely help you.¡±

    ¡°However, without my help you can¡¯t enter San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratories and the secret locations. So don¡¯t even think about getting high tech gear or those drugs that can strengthen. ording to my map¡¯s indicator, we are at Ninjing city. If we leave this small district and head a few streets over, we will find arge San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratory. If you are willing to bring me there, maybe I can find you some good equipment like I told you earlier.¡±

    After Jiang JinYuan finished speaking, he took a step forward to Liu Gan, aside from his PDA and the probing device, he had nothing else to give to Liu Gan as of right now. Jiang JinYuan wasn¡¯t sure if what he said was enough to convince the person in front of him, since his benefits seemed a bit vague and not something he could receive right away.

    ¡°You better answer a few questions honestly, then we can continue talking about the protection duty! If you aren¡¯t honest in answering my questions, not only will I not escort you, I will kill you myself!¡± Liu Gan thought of something after Jiang JinYuan¡¯s reply.

    He wasn¡¯t in a rush, but the only person in a rush was Jiang JinYuan. There was no one else Jiang JinYuan could rely on, so he had to rely on Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, ask me.¡± Jiang JinYuan knew it was hopeless, and that Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be easily convinced since Liu Gan was thinking clearly.

    ¡°You just entered into the game world, so how do you know that the main city has even more powerful advanced zombies? Do you have some sort of strategy?¡± Liu Gan tried to get more intel from Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Before entering, my coworker was telling me about it. I don¡¯t y games regrly, so when he was talking about the zombies, I didn¡¯t quite understand it. I also didn¡¯t memorize it. However, for theboratory portion, I memorized it. As for zombiebat, I can¡¯t give you much information. However, once we reach theboratory, you will definitely be surprised.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan¡¯s question. All Jiang JinYuan has to do was take Liu Gan to anyboratory, and after that it would be a lot easier for him to convince Liu Gan.

    ¡°Why did you join the game without any GM authority? If I think you are lying or attempting to use me, it will only have one ending. You will die by my axe.¡± Liu Gan showed off his fire axe with its characteristic features of sharpness.

    Jiang JinYuan went silent for a long time, and he was thinking long and hard on for an answer to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan wasn¡¯t in a hurry, so he stroked the edge of the axe and stared down at Jiang JinYuan. This only added to the pressure. Jiang JinYuan, a San Xing Corporation worker, was sent into the game, so he had to have information that regr yers wouldn¡¯t have. This information would help Liu Gan understand the game better, so he could live more easily.

    ¡°Let us walk away and then speak.¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at LuLu on the terrace as he suggested to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan guessed that Jiang JinYuan was definitely hiding something from LuLu and Pan Hua, so whatever he had to say next, he didn¡¯t want it to be heard by LuLu. To him, that didn¡¯t pose any threat, so he followed Jiang JinYuan further away.

    LuLu was on her knees crying, and she was immersed in her own suffering and hopelessness. She wasn¡¯t even paying any attention to Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan¡¯s conversation.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to return to the real world but want to remain on this side, then I will tell you everything regarding the game and all that has happened in the past two days. I don¡¯t have any further purpose in continuing to lie to you.¡± Jiang JinYuan came forward with the truth.

    ¡°Ah, continue.¡± Liu Gan nodded his head. If his guess was right, this should be enough to force Jiang JinYuan to tell the shocking truth.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49: Hijack

    ¡°I am actually thepany¡¯s hired help. I volunteered for this. The moment I joined, I was prepared to die here because¡­ even if I am able to return, I believe I won¡¯t have much time left. It will be very painful during those moments.¡± Jiang JinYuan said after pondering for a short while.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything. Jiang JinYuan came into the game because of cancer and after joining, he didn¡¯t want to return. This point was something Liu Gan could rte to himself. In the real world, as a quadruple amputee, he felt like he had no higher purpose in life. Rather than live that way, he wanted to stay in The Trembling World with all his limbs intact.

    Even if this area was highly dangerous, everyday, it would be a fight to find food to eat and water to drink. Even finding a ce to sleep was a struggle. He had to be on high alert because a mistake could cost him his life. Living like this was definitely better than living in the real world without his limbs. In the real world he was like a pig trapped in a cage that only knew how to eat and sleep; he was only waiting to die.

    ¡°Before I entered the game, I overheard my coworkers talking. They said this on the day of the official server release. After entering the game, there is a scene that looked simr to San Xing Corporations scenery. In fact, it¡¯s actually hijacked by a powerful mysterious force. It is somewhat simr to an ill-intentioned person installing a cover over an ATM to purposely jam the card. The person might think they are inserting their card into their bank, but in fact it¡¯s trapped in ce.¡± Jiang JinYuan tried a different analogy to exin it.

    ¡°What you¡¯re saying is that upon entering San Xing Corporation¡¯s game, the yer¡¯s loading screen is no longer in San Xing Corporation¡¯s jurisdiction? So the moment the yers join the game, they were already in the process of instant transmission?¡± Liu Gan had already suspected this was the case.

    ¡°ording to the conversation, that is what happened. The day of the incident, San Xing Corporation stopped all of its server functions and the government stepped in. The government organized arge investigation squad in an effort to control the executive-level workers . The strangest thing is that even after San Xing Corporation servers had been shut down, the yer loading screen still showed up and were able to log into the game.¡±

    ¡°There are some yers who didn¡¯t install the game, but the moment they turned on theirputer, the infamous game loading screen also popped up for them. There were rumors of cellphones showing the game loading screen, and all they had to do is press confirm to enter the game. Despite newspaper, media, and all other websites publically tellingizens not to enter the game, there will always be someone who didn¡¯t receive the warning or miss-clicking confirm¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan continued exining.

    ¡°Upon entering the game, would the person still be sitting in front of theputer in the real world? Or would they disappear?¡± Liu Gan suddenly interrupted Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Disappear. Upon entering the game, there is a split second when they be a hazy orb. Then, it disappears without a trace. The whole city is panicking and production was at a standstill in the city. Conspiracy theories and judgement day rumors started spreading like wildfire throughout the city. The government had to step in and sendrge armies to maintain thew and order rted departments to investigate the origin of all of this.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Looks like the real world started to be chaotic. It¡¯s no wonder they need volunteers like you.¡± Liu Gan started realizing the situation.

    ¡°We came over on this side to establishmunications between the two worlds. Furthermore we are to investigate the situation and report back to the real world. After establishingmunications, the government would definitely send in armies of rescuers to save the hundreds of thousand yers trapped within this game.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined the strategy.

    ¡°So ording to what you just said, this game incident is unrted with San Xing Corporation? It was only hijacked at the entry login? If this is all unrted with San Xing corporation, then why is that device in your hand able to probe the location of zombies? How did you guys obtain that technology?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Whether this game incident is rted to San Xing Corporation, I¡¯m notpletely sure. The game developers are all locked up for interrogation and for assisting with the government investigation squad. As well as paying a hefty reward for volunteers that opted to join the game, we are all part of the investigation efforts. The other volunteers and I have chosen to ept the offer presented to us and joined the game. I have a PDA that was given to me by the game developers. From the current situation, this device in game is very useful. So I am very skeptical that San Xing Corporation canpletely brush off the responsibility of this incident.¡± Jiang JinYuan told the truth to Liu Gan.

    ¡°If that was the case, howe the game developers didn¡¯t give you a set of god-tiered equipment for entering? Or maxed out your levels before entering? Even giving you guys GM authority would be better than nothing. So when you guyse in and investigate, wouldn¡¯t that make it easier? Only giving you guys a PDA with probing device is pitiful¡± Liu Gan exined his thinking to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Before I entered, there were a couple of volunteers. The game developers attempted to change their levels and gave them more capabilities, but the result was a failure. They found that with this project, it was impossible to edit. So they changed their style of thinking, and instead sent us with some high technology equipment. Before, when they were in the process of transferring aspiring volunteers, the majority of the equipments were left behind in the real world.

    ¡°ording to their analysis, the game login screen has a system of countering cheating. So the initial yers joining the game had their data analyzed and revised.¡± Jiang JinYuan continued to analyze the situation.

    ¡°However, you were able to bring in the PDA and probing device; isn¡¯t that considered cheating?¡± Liu Gan heard Jiang JinYuan exin, but he couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrow. Upon mentioning the abnormal data, his own body¡¯s data was highly abnormal. The alloy metal limb was wrongly misjudged as a real body, so in some sort of sense, it was a cheat that had not been revised.

    ¡°I think this device is the reason why I was sent to the wrong destination. Upon arriving, I encountered a colossal zombie. If it weren¡¯t for yers like you who killed the colossal zombie in time, I could¡¯ve been easily killed by the colossal zombie. I think it is possible that The Trembling World has an alternative method of modification? So once I die, then I am unable to cheat.¡± Jiang JinYuan spected.

    After listening to Jiang JinYuan¡¯s words, Liu Gan suddenly thought of something¡­. When he was chasing after the colossal zombie, the colossal zombie changed directionspletely even though he didn¡¯t hear any sounds. The colossal zombie started charging toward Lucky Garden District. It could possibly be the reason. If Jiang JinYuan¡¯s spection was right, then the colossal zombie must have been influenced by a mysterious force to change directions in order to kill Jiang JinYuan.

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50: Communication equipment

    This was simr to the time when Liu Gan initially joined the game. Unexinably, a colossal zombie also came charging in his direction, which led to the death of ten yers in his squad. It also caused him to be trapped on the billboard, which was enough for him to die nine times out of ten with only one chance of escape. Perhaps, the system was sensitive to the data for his limbs, so as an attempt to patch it, the system sent a colossal zombie at him? Because he was able to stick it out through the end and kill the colossal zombie, as a result, would his body¡¯s abnormality be epted by the system?

    Both encounters with the colossal zombie seemed to match the exnation Jiang JinYuan had given about bncing the game.

    Of course, all of this was simply Liu Gan¡¯s spection based on the clues he was given. As to whether this theory was really true, at the moment, there wasn¡¯t enough evidence.

    ¡°Okay, all my questions have been asked, so tell me what your n is.¡± Liu Gan thought about it deeply before opening his mouth. If he had any more questions that came upter, he could always ask Jiang JinYuan while on the road with him; Liu Gan was in no rush.

    ¡°ording to my PDA¡¯s indicator, we are within Ninjing City¡¯s residential district. San Xing Corporation¡¯s branch for Ninjing City is only a few blocks away, and it contains aboratory with a focus on researching biochemical intelligence.

    ¡°First, let¡¯s go to the closestboratory and figure things out from there. That way you can secure some more practical benefits for me from theboratory.¡± Liu Gan agreed to escort Jiang JinYuan to the closestboratory only if it was beneficial to him.

    Liu Gan currently had three different ID cards from San Xing Corporation, a strange vial, and a USB drive. If he hadn¡¯t met Jiang JinYuan, he would have still headed towards San Xing Corporation¡¯srge building to test his luck. However, if he went alone he would have achieved limited sess because he didn¡¯t understand the way technology worked in San Xing Corporation. Now that he had procured a guide, Jiang JinYuan¡¯s familiarity with the corporation woulde in handy. So if he traveled with Jiang JinYuan to theboratory, it would be like a treasure hunt.

    [TN: Liu Gan doesn¡¯t know the vial is an incubator bottle yet.]

    ¡°Oh, you knew there was a location?¡± Jiang JinYuan, seeing that Liu Gan agreed to escort him, was undeniably happy.

    Even though Liu Gan only temporarily agreed to escort him to San Xing Corporation¡¯s closestboratory, Jiang JinYuan was very satisfied with this oue. Jiang JinYuan still needed to think of a way to reach the main city¡¯sboratory. His handheld PDA had something the main city¡¯sboratory needed urgently, so as long as he sent a request to the main city¡¯sboratory, they would definitely send out a ship or an aircraft to pick him up.

    ¡°I came from that direction. It was close to a hundred-story building and corpse tide, so we must proceed with caution.¡± Liu Gan nodded as he grabbed Jiang JinYuan¡¯s PDA to look at.

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t rush with the corpse tide; instead, if we investigate nearby maybe we can avoid it.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°What else can this thing take readings of?¡± Liu Gan suddenly had an idea and asked Jiang JinYuan.

    Jiang JinYuan took out the trumpet-like detector extension and connected it with the PDA. After turning it on and pointing it all around his surroundings, the probe generated new data on the handheld PDA¡¯s monitor.

    ¡°These three green dots represent us three, right?¡± Liu Gan pointed at the monitor of the PDA as he asked Jiang JinYuan the question. Sooner orter, he would find a way to obtain this probing device from the hands of Jiang JinYuan, so it would best if he figured out the functions early.

    ¡°You are correct.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded.

    ¡°If red dots represent zombies, then what is this blue dot¡­?¡± Liu Gan pointed at a different location with a faint blue dot that wasn¡¯t too far off from their spot, as he asked Jiang JinYuan the question.

    ¡°That is a non-infected local. Looks like this small district still has a local survivor. How about this? We should go check out the local survivor¡¯s hidden location and ask him a few questions. Maybe we can find clues as to what happened on the day of the disaster. He might have some useful information.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan. Jiang JinYuan¡¯s mission was to gather intelligence, but he didn¡¯t realize he would have to personally gather it from the outside.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

    Since he reached level 5, the amount of weight he could carry increased significantly. If they were to head to San Xing Corporation¡¯srge building, they might end up staying up there for the night. So before that, he had to carry a bit more food and water from this location before setting off.

    Besides, he just recently promised Pan Hua that he would spend an hour to teach LuLu how to kill zombies. Since he gave him his word, he had to keep his promise. It would also give him a chance to examine the differences between him and the other yers leveling up in Trembling World.

    As for this blue dot or lucky survivor, Liu Gan¡¯s wasn¡¯t even remotely interested. Once they found him, he could ditch Jiang JinYuan with the local survivor if there wasn¡¯t any danger. Then he could deal with his own matters.

    Liu Gan went over to LuLu¡¯s side and patted her on the shoulders. LuLu was still at a loss as she lifted her head up to look at Liu Gan. Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything. He just turned his body and walked back to Jiang JinYuan, and they both headed toward the building where the blue dot was located.

    After a slight hesitation, LuLu got up and immediately followed behind them. She still had the slightest hope that Liu Gan would bring her along. To her, it seemed that only Liu Gan was strong and capable enough to protect her. In addition, he didn¡¯t disy any nasty behavior towards LuLu previously.

    ording to the handheld PDA¡¯s indicator, Liu Gan lead the two nearby the blue dot. The blue dot¡¯s location within the district was by the front gate¡¯s left side building. Jiang JinYuan operated the PDA for a bit when two ¡®+¡¯ symbols appeared beside the blue dot¡¯s location. Apparently, that seemed to indicate the distance between their location exceeded six meters, meaning he was located on the 3rd floor.

    Liu Gan scaled the staircase from the exterior and circled back to open the apartmentplex¡¯s tightly locked door, letting Jiang JinYuan and LuLu in. The three of them reached the third floor when Jiang JinYuan verified that the blue dot was in a bedroom located just to the left side of the hallway.

    [TN: So Liu Gan went in first, checked, and then opened the door. The next paragraph describes this in detail. ]

    The room was equipped with a locked, anti-theft metal door, but it wasn¡¯t enough to block Liu Gan. He easily climbed from the staircase onto the balcony by the room with the blue dot. After entering the room and scouting the surroundings for security, he then returned to open the apartment¡¯s front door, letting Jiang JinYuan and LuLu in.

    ¡°The blue dot seems to be in the children¡¯s room and is located on the left side of the wall. The room doesn¡¯t have any zombies or other people.¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at the children¡¯s room, as he walked over to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan got closer, gently pushing open the door to the children¡¯s room. When he was scaling the exterior and next to the window, he didn¡¯t notice anyone within the children¡¯s room. If there was someone, they must have been hiding underneath the bed or within the dresser.

    [TN: San Xing Corporation exists in both the real world and in game. The system is bncing the game in response to any cheat.

    rifications: Liu Gan still level 5. ]

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51: Drawing

    ¡°LuLu, go take a look inside.¡± Liu Gan told LuLu. There was not much time left before he and Jiang JinYuan had to depart, so he had to try his best to develop her courage. At least he could give an eptable response to Pan Hua, even if he didn¡¯t owe Pan Hua anything.

    ¡°Whoever is inside,e out and show yourself. We don¡¯t have any ill intentions.¡± said LuLu as she nced at Liu Gan. It was as if she guessed that Liu Gan was testing her. Carefully, she peeked into the room to look around.

    There were no movements in the room nor was there a response. Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan to probe the room once more just so he could familiarize himself with the process. However, Jiang JinYuan yed with the PDA for a little more but shook his head.

    ¡°Each reading will take at least ten minutes to cool down, so its functionality can recharge. Only when it¡¯s fully recharged will it be able to take readings.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Even though I say it is scanning, it isn¡¯t a live feed. After every scan, it will only sense the location of zombies at that one instant.¡±

    ¡°So within that ten-minute cooldown, the zombies could change positions, but the monitor wouldn¡¯t indicate that?¡± Liu Gan was slightly disappointed when he heard it.

    There is a huge difference between scanning once every ten minutes and scanning with live updates. Previously, with other games, the map¡¯s red dot indicator would update in real time. It was a reliable method of finding the enemy¡¯s location and movement patterns.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded as he answered Liu Gan¡¯s question.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t ask any further. Even though it wasn¡¯t a live feed, but a scan every ten minutes, it was still much better than relying solely on his eyes. Compared to other yers, this scanning device was an amazing cheating tool.

    LuLu was panic-stricken as she peered into the room and gave it a good look around before finally walking into it. Liu Gan followed LuLu close behind with the PDA in hand. They both entered into the room, just to confirm the blue dot¡¯s location. It should be hiding in the room on the left corner of the wall and under the bed.

    Liu Gan lowered his body closer to the ground and peeked under the bed. Sure enough, he saw a four-year-old child hiding underneath the bed. His eyes were wide with fright, peering out and looking around.

    ¡°We don¡¯t mean you any harm,e out.¡± Liu Gan called for the young child. This had to be the game world¡¯s local survivor. There was absolutely no way this was a [Trembling World] game yer.

    He didn¡¯t know the theory behind how Jiang JinYuan¡¯s scanning device worked to differentiate between a game yer and a local survivor¡­. It couldn¡¯t be because of the alloy watch, could it? It was known that every yer who entered into the game had an alloy watch on their wrist that fit perfectly.

    The young child was still tightly holding onto the toy airne, and even after hearing Liu Gan scream, he didn¡¯te out. In fact, he retreated further in and was even more afraid of Liu Gan.

    [TN: Liu Gan used CALL. Not very effective.]

    ¡°What is your name? I won¡¯t hurt you, soe out.¡± Liu Gan called for the young child once again.

    Yet the young child still hid under the bed without moving.

    ¡°This is a local survivor, a 4 or 5-year-old child. I called, but he won¡¯te out. Do you have any questions to ask him?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan who had just entered the room.

    ¡°If he is too young, I won¡¯t get any useful information from him.¡± Jiang JinYuan frowned.

    LuLu gently put her machete on the floor. She flipped through a couple of drawings sitting by the bedside table and then lowered her body to look under the bed.

    ¡°DongDong, I am the older sister that you metst time, do you remember me? This sister here has crackers, some very tasty crackers¡­¡± LuLu gave a piece of cracker to the young child under the bed. It was clear that she saw the young child¡¯s name on the drawings on the table and pretended like she was familiar with him.

    The young child quickly stuffed the cracker into his mouth. It looked like he had been starving for quite awhile.

    The young child¡¯s room window was wide open, and the fridge and kitchen had been ransacked. It was clear that previous local survivors or yers had visited this ce and removed all the food, but failed to notice the young child hiding away in the corner.

    LuLu also gave DongDong a bottle of water. Unaware of what had been spoken between Lulu and DongDong, DongDong finally came out from hiding underneath the bed, and LuLu picked him up.

    ¡°His name is DongDong. Today is his fourth birthday.¡± LuLu said as she held him in her embrace, exining to Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°DongDong, what happened in your house? Where¡¯s daddy and mommy?¡± Jiang JinYuan started asking DongDong.

    DongDong quickly stuffed theplete cracker into his mouth. His expression still showed that he was tense and afraid, and he was unsure of how to answer Jiang JinYuan¡¯s question.

    ¡°Do you think it was a rainstorm¡­ red-colored rain? Did his dad get soaked in the rain and bite his mom? This is the preset background story.¡± Liu Gan walked over to the desk and picked up DongDong¡¯s crayon painting as he asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Red-colored rain¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded his head.

    ¡°Did you think of something?¡± Liu Gan immediately asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

    ¡°The loading screen of the game is red-colored rain, too.¡± Liu Gan reminded Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Yes, that I know. Even though I work at San Xing Corporation with the intention of joining the game, I am not familiar with these types of games. I don¡¯t even y games regrly¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan was embarrassed as he forced a smile and faced Liu Gan.

    ¡°Tell sister, did you see red-colored rain pour down from the sky?¡± LuLu asking DongDong while he was in her arms.

    DongDong didn¡¯t say a word, but nodded.

    ¡°Was daddy soaked in the rain, and then did he bite mommy?¡± LuLu asked DongDong again.

    DongDong nodded once again, with his body resting on LuLu. He had the look of a heart-broken child.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a game; you guys know that right?¡± LuLu turned and asked Jiang JinYuan and Liu Gan.

    ¡°Whether this is a game or not, thinking about it is meaningless. You are trapped here, unable to leave, so continuing this topic is pointless.¡± Liu Gan replied to LuLu.

    ¡°It seems like this child only knows this much. We should hurry to theboratory.¡± Jiang JinYuan urged Liu Gan.

    ¡°Will you bring me along?¡± LuLu asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°There are zombies everywhere. Even if I take him to theboratory, I might not escape myself. I don¡¯t have extra energy to take care of you, too. If you follow us, you will only die faster. Stay in this ce, and you can survive longer.¡± Liu Gan replied to LuLu. Of course he would object to taking her.

    ¡°You said you would bring us along though?¡± LuLu looked at Jiang JinYuan.

    Jiang JinYuan immediately snapped his head in a different direction, pretending like he didn¡¯t hear LuLu.

    ¡°Brother Liu¡­ You promised to teach me how to kill zombies¡­¡± LuLu said after seeing Jiang JinYuan ignore her, so she could only turn her attention back to Liu Gan.

    ¡°As promised, I will do that. Do you want to learn now?¡± said Liu Gan as he nodded his head.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52: Wounded Beasts

    ¡°Yes, I want to start learning now.¡± LuLu lowered her head because she didn¡¯t have any other choice. Either she would be abandoned and left to die, or she would have to work hard to survive by learning how to kill zombies.

    In modern society, there are many children who act arrogantly when they are with their parents. Even when they are only slightly unhappy, they will throw a tantrum. However, when they are ced in the care of their nursery school teacher, or parents¡¯ friends and coworkers, they be obedient and will stop throwing tantrums.

    The reason is simple: children will stop relying on their parents when their parents aren¡¯t by their side. Without anyone to rely on, the foundation for their arrogance will also subside. They know that they will be punished and scolded for throwing a tantrum. Their attitude now,pared to when they were with their parents, would bepletely different.

    LuLu had the support of her super-fan Pan Hua by her side before, so she could be a bit unruly. Now that she had nobody else to count on, she could only rely on herself.

    ¡°Do you have your alloy watch?¡± Liu Gan turned his attention to tell Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Alloy watch¡­ yes, is this it?¡± Jiang JinYuan lifted his wrist for Liu Gan to look at.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Now take a look at your current attributes, and check out if you have the line that says level?¡± Liu Gan advised.

    ¡°Yes, there it is. I¡¯m level 1!¡± Jiang JinYuan said as he nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, I will take you to kill zombies.¡± Liu Gan said to Jiang JinYuan and LuLu, as he headed toward the front door.

    LuLu ced DongDong on the floor. Only after she coaxed him, he finally let go of her hand. Then, she headed toward the area where she left her machete. Herplexion turned somewhat pale from fear.

    DongDong quickly went back to hide underneath the bed. He clenched the toy airne he left behind earlier, as he fearfully peeped out from below.

    Liu Gan brought Jiang JinYuan and LuLu to the district¡¯s back exit. Earlier, he had alreadypletely scouted this district, so he remembered that a street behind the back exit had quite a lot of zombies. It was a perfect chance to bait some zombies for Jiang JinYuan and LuLu to practice.

    LuLu trailed behind Jiang JinYuan and Liu Gan, knowing that she would be forced to cut down zombies. She grew nervous, but it was toote to change her mind. She could only ride it through. If she didn¡¯t take this opportunity to learn how to kill zombies, then how would she protect herself in this apocalyptic world? The moment Liu Gan left, she would have no choice but to wait for death.

    She was also unsure of how Liu Gan would train them. Surely he wouldn¡¯t directly lure them to her to kill right? Actually, ording to Liu Gan¡¯s behavior, he might do that. He might not give her time to adjust. LuLu felt as if she was being torn apart by the zombies. Thinking about that moment, her scalp felt numb as the hair on her head started to stand up.

    Should I escape?

    What happens after I escape?

    ¡°You guys wait here; I wille back shortly.¡± Liu Gan said to the two and quickly went out the back exit.

    LuLu looked nervously in the direction out of the district¡¯s back exit. Deep within her inner turmoil of emotions, she felt a variety of things: hesitation, conflict, then a moment of regret, and a feeling of fear. But in the end, she encouraged herself to be brave and face this trial.

    Jiang JinYuan¡¯s expression was peaceful. He tried his best to maintain a distance from where LuLu stood. He avoided looking at her as he was afraid she might me him for not bringing her along. Luckily for him, LuLu was paralyzed in fear for what was going to happen next, so she wasn¡¯t even thinking about ming Jiang JinYuan.

    She already knew that no matter how much she med Jiang JinYuan, it wouldn¡¯t help.

    After a few minutes, Liu Gan came running towards them from the back exit. A male and two female zombies were shouting non-stop and following behind him. LuLu paled in fright, as she subconsciously retreated. She was so afraid that she thought about running away. Jiang JinYuan got nervous as well, as he had only witnessed zombies through movies. He didn¡¯t even y zombie games regrly, and now he had to view the zombies up close. His body was covered in goosebumps, as he realized how sinister a real zombie looked like up close.

    Jiang JinYuan regained hisposure and didn¡¯t run away. He knew that Liu Gan definitely wouldn¡¯t let the zombies do as they pleased.

    Liu Gan definitely wouldn¡¯t allow these zombies to charge directly at Jiang JinYuan and LuLu. The remaining distance between the zombies and them was only a few meters. In a few quick movements, Liu Gan knocked down the three zombies, but he didn¡¯t kill them, only knocking them down until they couldn¡¯t put up a fight.

    ¡°You can use the axe to chop off its head and kill them.¡± Liu Gan gave his short axe to Jiang JinYuan, so he could try to kill them.

    Jiang JinYuan frowned. Even though he loathed doing these type of things, he lifted up the hatchet while standing a few meters away from the zombies. He had to choose from the three zombies lying on the ground, and in the end, he chose the weakest looking female zombie and walked over.

    Before this female zombie was infected, she was a middle school student. She still wore a schoolbag, but the textbooks inside were all gone. Now, her face didn¡¯t have a middle school girl¡¯s pure look. She was roaring like a wounded beast, constantly trying to charge at Jiang JinYuan from the ground.

    Jiang JinYuan got closer to the middle school female zombie lying on the ground, and both of his legs suddenly trembled. However, under Liu Gan¡¯s constant shouting, Jiang JinYuan kept one of his eyes closed, as he used both his hands to hold up the axe and sh down.

    ¡°Are you a man? Did you put any effort into it? I told you to chop off its head; why would you chop down on the chest?¡± Liu Gan screamed at Jiang JinYuan.

    Jiang JinYuan quickly nced at the zombie, then realized where he chopped at and felt cold. Under Liu Gan¡¯s urging and cursing, Jiang JinYuan put some more effort into his shes, finally managing to chop off the head from the neck.

    After sessfully chopping it off, Jiang JinYuan kept panting as both of his hands started shaking. His stomach churned, and he had the urge to vomit. Unsure of why he felt like that, it was as if he had killed a human being for the first time.

    A faint hazy ck orb leaked from the zombies body, and it seeped into Jiang JinYuan¡¯s body.

    ¡°Who told you to stop? Hurry and kill these two as well! If not, after a while when they are able to move, I won¡¯t help you!¡± Liu Gan ordered Jiang JinYuan, as he got ready to leave through the back exit.

    Hearing Liu Gan say that these zombies could move again, Jiang JinYuan got really scared. Liu Gan wasn¡¯t here, so if these two zombies got up, no one could save him. Jiang JinYuan held in his vomit, and with both hands he lifted his axe and started chopping at the two zombies¡¯ necks until their heads fell off.

    After the first time, the second and third time didn¡¯t feel that bad. Even though the urge to vomit still existed, it was still possible to suppress that urge.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53 New Way of Thinking

    Not long after, Liu Gan came back from the outside. This time, he brought back four zombies with him. The moment he came back, Jiang JinYuan as ordered had finished cutting down the two remaining zombies that were on the ground.

    ¡°Did you reach Level 2?¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan and asked.

    ¡°No¡­. I¡¯m still level 1.¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at his alloy watch and shook his head.

    Liu Gan couldn¡¯t help but frown. He remembered getting level 2 from level 1 after killing his first three zombies. So why was it not the same for Jiang JinYuan? Is it because these zombies were seriously injured by him beforehand? Therefore, was that why Jiang JinYuan didn¡¯t gain most of the experience points allocated to him?

    If this was the case, then did Liu Gan not gain all the experience points when he killed the first colossal zombie?

    This matter definitely needed to be rified. After staying in [The Trembling World] for a while and meeting other strong yers, many instances of BOSS Kill Steals will ur. rifying the rule on experience point allocation would allow Liu Gan to have better battle tactics in future fights.

    ¡°Are you aware of how this game allocates experience points? Is it allocated based on the amount of damage dealt or on the one who deals the killing blow?¡± Liu Gan asked even though he felt that Jiang JinYuan might not have known the answer.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± Jiang JinYuan answered with an awkward expression. If he had known that he would not be directly transported to the main cityboratory but instead transported to a ce hundreds of kilometers away, then he definitely would have carefully understood and studied the game¡¯s rules. No matter how many times Liu Gan asked him, his answer was simply¡ªI don¡¯t know.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything else, again making Jiang JinYuan cut down the four zombies lying on the ground. However, Jiang JinYuan still didn¡¯t gain a level. Thus, Liu Gan did not make Jiang JinYuan cut down the next four zombies he brought over. Instead, he asked LuLu to cut them down.

    As LuLu was preparing to swing the machete she was holding, Liu Gan seized the machete in her hand and gave her the hatchet he gave to Jiang JinYuan earlier.

    The machete was a yer¡¯s initial weapon. After using it, Liu Gan felt that it was awfully weak. While it was initially sharp, it would be very dull after a few uses. With sufficient force, the machete could cut off a zombie¡¯s head in one swing without any problems. But after cutting down several zombies, the de became blunt very quickly. It was also inconvenient to sharpen it. Hence, Liu Gan felt the axe was far superior to the machete.

    Liu Gan found the axe in the minimart earlier. The de of the axe was rtively thicker, broader, and many times heavier whenpared to the machete. Therefore, LuLu needed to use both her hands to lift it up. She wondered why Liu Gan didn¡¯t let her use the machete and made her use the hatchet instead. But she didn¡¯t ask any questions.

    Shaking with fear, LuLu held the axe and approached the four zombies that were on the ground. Looking at the four zombies, her hands started to shake, and soon she waspletely unable to swing the axe.

    ¡°Swing it with all your might! You can¡¯t be that stupid to mess up something this simple right?¡± Liu Gan¡¯s appearance looked unsightly while reprimanding LuLu.

    LuLu pouted her lips and hesitatingly looked at the zombies on the floor. She lifted up the hatchet and then put it down again, still unable to properly swing it.

    She had two cats and a dog back home. From birth up to the present, she has never killed, not even a small animal. Therefore, these zombies, apart from their blue face and bloodshot eyes, looked no different from a normal human being.

    ¡°Are you a pig? You¡¯re really useless! I might as well cut you down with my axe!¡± Liu Gan let out a few curse words. He walked over a couple of steps and suddenly swung the fire axe down at the ground beside LuLu, scaring her and nearly causing her to jump up.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to push me. I¡¯ll do it!¡± LuLu answered back at Liu Gan with a somewhat aggrieved expression. Lifting the hatchet with her hands again, she finally hacked at the body of the zombie on the floor, but she was unsessful in chopping the head off.

    ¡°Concentrate and focus on one spot! You¡¯re the most useless person I¡¯ve ever met! I don¡¯t have so much time to dilly dally with you here!¡± Liu Gan cursed again at LuLu.

    LuLu stared at Liu Gan unhappily, but in the end she said nothing. Lifting the hatchet with her hands again, she forcefully swung at the zombie. After the first swing, her courage grew more and more. Under Liu Gan¡¯s roaring voice, she finally cut down one zombie. A faint dark orb floated into her body, making her body¡¯s strength improve slightly.

    ¡°Again! Don¡¯t stop!¡± Liu Gan continued yelling, causing LuLu to remember the military instructors in high school that made them do drills.

    After killing the first zombie, LuLu didn¡¯t have the urge to vomit like Jiang JinYuan did. She wasn¡¯t sure whether it was because she already saw too many gruesome scenes of zombies devouring humans. Her mood even calmed down quickly. Under Liu Gan¡¯s criticisms, she quickly used the hatchet in her hands to cut down the remaining three zombies on the floor.

    After absorbing the ck orbs that escaped from the corpses of the four zombies, LuLu¡¯s body suddenly felt burning hot. The hatchet in her hands felt much lighter than before. Even her sight, hearing, and so on all improved a certain level.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liu Gan asked LuLu. He noticed that LuLu¡¯s face was slightly red, as if realizing something.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t have leveled up right?¡± LuLu stroked her burning hot face with a somewhat puzzled expression.

    ¡°Look at your alloy watch. Is there a change in the attribute column?¡± asked Liu Gan with a frown. Earlier, Jiang JinYuan cut down no less than six zombies and did not level up. However, how could LuLu only cut down four zombies and level up?

    Regarding this matter, Liu Gan was still somewhat unable to make sense of [The Trembling World]¡¯s experience point allocation rule. At least, his earlier spection was wrong. He had to look at it from a different perspective.

    LuLu looked at her alloy watch, and the number disyed for LEVEL definitely changed from 1 to 2.

    ¡°I leveled up! I really leveled up!¡± LuLu had a slightly excited expression, immediately showing the alloy watch to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan started to contemte¡­. Earlier, he believed Jiang JinYuan did not level up after cutting down six zombies because he seriously injured them before handing them over to Jiang JinYuan to cut down. This caused Jiang JinYuan to have insufficient experience points. But after analyzing the circumstances of LuLu leveling up, he realized his earlier spection was wrong.

    Jiang JinYuan also leaned over. After seeing LuLu¡¯s alloy watch disy level 2, he looked back at his own alloy watch that disyed level 1. He couldn¡¯t help but feel very depressed. Why did LuLu, a girl, level up after cutting down four zombies while he was still stuck at the same level after cutting down six?

    ¡°After we separated, did you kill any other zombies? ¡± Liu Gan asked LuLu.

    ¡°No.¡± LuLu shook her head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie!¡± Liu Gan¡¯s asked, sounding a bit harsh.

    ¡°I¡¯m not! I¡¯m definitely not lying!¡± LuLu immediately answered Liu Gan.

    After thinking for a bit, Liu Gan had a new way of thinking regarding the [The Trembling World]¡¯s experience point allocation.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54: I can¡¯t watch anymore!

    If experience points were allocated based on damage dealt, then LuLu¡¯s case simply made no sense. Experience should have been gained based on who dealt the final blow.

    Furthermore, this game didn¡¯tpletely depend on the number of umted zombie kills to level up. It also contained a hidden attribute simr to aptitude, growth value, etc. A person with aptitude could level up by killing a few zombies. A person without aptitude could only level up after killing many more zombies than other yers.

    LuLu was a female game broadcaster. In the first ce, she must have loved ying games. Also, because her work was also rted to ying many games, she definitely had aptitude in this field. However, Jiang JinYuan, who worked for San Xing Corporation, dealt with matters not rted to the game. In addition, he himself was not fond of games, so his aptitude was very poor. Thus, after killing the same amount of zombies, he gained very little experiencepared to both Liu Gan and LuLu.

    The result earlier basically validated Liu Gan¡¯s spection. After killing the tenth zombie, Jiang JinYuan was finally promoted to level 2. Jiang JinYuan wasn¡¯t a dedicated gamer, so this oue didn¡¯t really matter much to him. If Liu Gan had discovered that he had an aptitude like Jiang JinYuan¡¯s, he would likely immediately look for a few thick trees and bash his own head in.

    Jiang JinYuan¡¯s aptitude was extremely poor. He also had little interest in killing zombies for experience points. Liu Gan no longer forced him, naturally not wanting to waste arge amount of time on him. He focused his energy on training LuLu instead, which honored the promise he made earlier to Pan Hua.

    Liu Gan soon left through the district¡¯s rear exit. After a few minutes, he brought along four zombies and made LuLu kill them after knocking them down.

    After gaining a level, LuLu¡¯s arm strength increased slightly. She chopped through the zombies¡¯ necks with greater easepared to before. Moreover, her hands did not even tremble this time due to her prior experience, and she finished killing the four zombies very quickly.

    Liu Gan remembered that he himself leveled up from level 1 to level 2 after killing his first 3 zombies. Afterwards, he immediately killed a colossal zombie, which made him go from level 2 directly to level 4. Thus he wasn¡¯t sure as to how many zombies needed to be killed to go from level 2 to level 3 and from level 3 to level 4.

    LuLu killed four zombies and gained one level. It looked like her aptitude was not too different from his. Based on his past experience ying games, if going from level 1 to level 2 required 3-4 zombies, then Liu Gan guessed that going from level 2 to level 3 possibly required killing roughly 10-20 zombies.

    Afterwards, Liu Gan ran out no less than five more times. After bringing back twenty zombies for LuLu to cut down, LuLu again experienced a feverish sensation throughout her body. Her alloy watch also showed that she leveled up from level 2 to level 3. Apparently with her aptitude, going from level 2 to level 3 required killing at least over 20 ordinary zombies.

    ¡°Do you feel that your strength has increased a great dealpared to before? ¡° Liu Gan asked LuLu.

    ¡°Yes.¡± LuLu waved the short axe. When she first started, she used both hands to barely lift the short axe. Her arms would ache painfully after waving it a few times, and she would have to grit her teeth just to continue.

    But upon reaching level 2, she no longer needed to expend a lot of energy to wave the axe with both hands. She also did not feel as tired as before. Now that she was level 3, she could lightly wave the short axe with one hand. This caused her to be amazed, and she seemed more excited than before.

    In a post-apocalyptic world, the most important thing was to have the ability to survive. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan using this method of cheating to help her, she definitely would not have any way to kill zombies to reach level 3. Only by increasing one¡¯s level and strength would a person have the confidence to not lose one¡¯s head out of fear like before when confronting zombies.

    ¡°Good, let¡¯s move to actualbat training.¡± Liu Gan once again rushed out of the district¡¯s rear exit. This time he brought along a zombie, but he did not knock it down. Instead, he chopped off both its arms, and had LuLu fight it.

    With both arms cut off and only having both feet, the zombie was still very aggressive. It rushed at LuLu with its mouth wide open, wanting to bite LuLu to pieces. Of course, although it currently looked aggressive, it had already be a toothless tiger. Without both arms, it was unable to grab hold of its target. It was very hard to bite a target with just a wide open mouth.

    [xDh20 Note: Toothless tiger/paper tiger: Something not to be feared of.]

    However, when LuLu saw the zombie aggressively rushing towards her, her body trembled. She held the axe unsteadily in her hand, and she stood there in a daze.

    ¡°Are you a pig? You will die if you don¡¯t cut him down! Nobody will pity a pig like you!¡± Liu Gan could not help but curse at her when he saw LuLu¡¯s reaction.

    Liu Gan¡¯s shouting finally caused LuLu to snap out of it. She immediately raised the axe in her hand and violently hacked at the zombie¡¯s head. The armless zombie, with its forehead split, continued to charge very aggressively, pushing against the axe in LuLu¡¯s hand and nearly knocking LuLu to the floor.

    ¡°You pig brain! Its charge is very powerful. Don¡¯t you know how to sidestep? Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to hack the back of its head after moving out of its way?¡± Liu Gan looked at LuLu speechlessly. He no longer wanted to teach such a stupid student.

    With Liu Gan¡¯s criticism, LuLu finally seemed to understand something. She immediately sidestepped the zombie. The forward momentum of the ferociously charging zombie stopped, as it wasn¡¯t able to hit anything. This caused it to stagger while moving forward. LuLu finally found an opportunity and swung the axe towards the back of the zombie¡¯s head.

    Unfortunately it didn¡¯t have enough force.

    The zombie turned around very quickly. It extended its head with its mouth wide open to again try to bite LuLu. LuLu took a step back in confusion, nearly falling on the ground.

    ¡°Kick it while it¡¯s turning! Can you be any stupider? Are you nning on breaking humanity¡¯s limit on stupidity?¡± Liu Gan watched furiously from the sidelines.

    Tears began to form in LuLu¡¯s eyes up due to the scolding, but she still stretched out her leg to kick the zombie. Unfortunately, the opportunity has already passed. Not only did the kick fail to knock the zombie down, but it also caused her own body to stagger. After falling back a few steps, she fell to the floor.

    ¡°Crap! I can¡¯t watch this anymore!¡± Liu Gan banged his head against a tree nearby. If LuLu couldn¡¯t kill this zombie, he would no longer continue teaching her.

    With great effort, LuLu crawled back up from the floor before the zombie pounced on her. She sidestepped the zombie¡¯s attack, and she kicked at it right when the zombie was about to turn around to try to bite her again. The zombie suddenly lost its bnce, shakily falling on the floor.

    LuLu immediately rushed forward a few steps, and she followed the training earlier by fiercely hacking at the zombie¡¯s neck. A few swingster, she was finally able to chop off its head, which ended its life.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55: Insensitive and Inconsiderate

    Seeing that LuLu finally killed the zombie, Liu Gan atst regained a bit of confidence in her. As a result, he left via the district¡¯s rear exit again.

    Liu Gan lured another zombie over, but this time he only cut off one of its arms, which let it retain some fighting power.

    ¡°This time don¡¯t be in a hurry to kill it. Carefully study its attack pattern and practice dodging its wing attack.¡± Liu Gan exined these training methods to LuLu while he clutched the back of the zombie¡¯s neck with one hand and twisted the zombie¡¯s arm with his other hand.

    ¡°Will the zombie still be as ferocious as before?¡± LuLu asked Liu Gan. Even though she wasn¡¯t as scared as before, she was still a little bit worried because the zombie now had one arm intact.

    ¡°Yes. Once the zombie sees a target, the zombie will instinctively rush over and jump attack it. When the distance of this jump attack is around one or two meters away from you, the zombie will speed up further. After speeding up, the zombie will have a strong forward momentum. As long as you grasp the right timing to sidestep the zombie the instant it speeds up, the zombie will be unable to jump attack you. However, the timing is very important. Dodging too early will cause the zombie to change direction, but dodging toote will result in you being caught.

    [xDh20: The way the zombie attacked, might be a skill, but for now I don¡¯t think we will name it yet. Until there¡¯s more details from the author]

    ¡°After failing the first jump attack, the zombie will stumble forward for a few steps. After which, it will turn around and initiate another jump attack on you. The zombie is the most unbnced when it turns around. You must rush towards it in that instant and forcefully kick it. This kick will knock it to the ground with enough force. After it is knocked down, getting rid of the zombie will be significantly easier. Of course, you are only practicing the sidestepping and kicking right now. There¡¯s no rush to kill the zombie.¡± Liu Gan turned towards LuLu as he exined these specific instructions.

    These were the experiences and tactics gained from his previous battles with zombies, which was very useful to the current LuLu who had almost no experience in dealing with zombies.

    The current Liu Gan no longer needed to use these kinds of tactics. If a zombie charged at him, he would immediately use his fist or axe to deal with it or send it flying with a jumping roundhouse kick. The zombies would definitely not have any chance to jump attack him.

    ¡°Wait¡­ there¡¯s one more thing!¡± LuLu immediately blurted this out, as she saw Liu Gan preparing to release the zombie.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°When you swing the axe, do you get any blisters on your hand? I am not sure why my hands have so many blisters, and it is very painful¡­¡± LuLu bit the bullet and asked Liu Gan while opening her pale, bloodied hands for him to see her blisters.

    ¡°Grab a clean piece of clothing from the zombies on the floor that has not been stained with blood or zombie fluid. Then use your machete to cut it into strips and wrap it as tightly as possible around your hands. This will prevent blisters from forming when you are swinging the axe to kill zombies.¡± Liu Gan frowned and considered for a moment before replying LuLu.

    LuLu looked at the zombies on the ground. Use their clothes? Would the blood infect her if it touched her hand? She hesitated for a moment before removing her jacket, so she could cut it into strips to wrap around her hand. After all, she was starting to feel warm while wearing too manyyer of clothes. Killing all these zombies also caused her to work up a sweat.

    Jiang JinYuan, who was originally looking at Liu Gan and LuLu listlessly, suddenly became spirited when LuLu took off her jacket. Jiang JinYuan eyed LuLu who was wearing a crop top with short shorts over her voluptuous body and her soft, white tender-looking skin. If this wasn¡¯t an apocalyptic world, this gorgeousdy walking down the street would surely turn more than a few heads.

    After sensing the somewhat indecent look of Jiang JinYuan, LuLu slightly raised her eyebrow and subconsciously nced in Liu Gan¡¯s direction to see his reaction. To her dismay, Liu Gan was waiting impatiently for her to get ready while stepping on the body of the zombie. He did not even give her a second look.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± LuLu wrapped the piece of clothing around her hand and took a few steps back while holding the axe with both hands.

    Liu Gan lifted his leg and violently kicked the zombie towards LuLu.

    From her past experience of dealing with armless zombies, LuLu was much calmer this time around. She followed Liu Gan¡¯s instructions and started the training to learn how to dodge and kick the zombie to the ground. Very quickly she realised that even though Liu Gan¡¯s advice was very simple and straight forward, it was still very useful. If she could grasp the timing well, the zombie wouldn¡¯t be able to jump attack her that easily, and LuLu could kick the zombie to the ground without breaking a sweat.

    However, due to her not being familiar with dodging, there were a few times where she was thrust into a dangerous situation during the training. Thankfully, Liu Gan who was guiding her reacted in time to stop the zombie from jump attacking her. After dozens of attempts, LuLu finallypletely grasped the technique to deal with the zombie. She could easily dodge the assault of the zombie and urately kick the zombie to the ground.

    However, during this period of training, she was reprimanded by Liu Gan countless times. In her whole life, no one had called her a pig so many times. Due to the scolding, she started to doubt her own intelligence and wondered if she was really that stupid.

    After the training with the one-handed zombie, Liu Gan left the premises and attracted another zombie. However this time, Liu Gan did not cause any harm to the zombie and wanted LuLu to engage in a battle with it.

    The current LuLu should not underestimate the fighting power of a zombie. An uninjured zombie with both its hands has a significantly higherbat capability than one that has lost an arm. Even though LuLu sessfully killed the one-armed zombie before, if not for the protection of Liu Gan, she would have been caught and bitten by the zombie a few times.

    Thankfully, LuLu had already leveled to level 3. Her strength, speed, and reaction time had increased by arge amount. Her hearing and vision were much more acute and after the 30 minutes of grueling zombie training, she had instinctively reacted to the assault of the zombie. Being able to kick the zombie down to the ground became second nature to her after the practice.

    If not for the fact that she had leveled to level 3, she would most probably be out of energy and lying on the ground exhausted. The benefits from leveling up in [The Trembling World] were very obviously substantial.

    ¡°You are already so flustered when facing a single zombie. What if several zombies surrounded you? You are so stupid that I have nothing else to say. If I say you are a pig, I would be insulting the pigs!¡± Liu Gan berated LuLu because he was unsatisfied with the progress and performance of LuLu.

    When LuLu heard what Liu Gan scolded her with, she had the urge to rush at him and take a bite out of him. However, it was only a thought. LuLu was certain that this insensitive and inconsiderate brute who did know how to treat a girl nicely would use his axe to lop off her head if she dared to do anything to him.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Are you that pissed off at me? Alright then, from now on I will not protect you anymore. If you get bitten, it¡¯s your fault not mine! If not, you better get rid of this zombie! Prove to me that you are not as stupid as a pig!¡± Liu Gan violently cursed at LuLu and moved a few meters away from the zombie.

    [xDh20: So it will get bloody and realistic like the walking dead series VERY SOON. It isn¡¯t for the faint of heart.]

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56: Spirit

    [xDh20: So in the previous chapters, I wrote the toy from DongDong as ¡°Brave model¡±, upon further investigation it is actually a spirit rover as seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(rover) ]

    ¡°I¡¯m not upset with you! I can kill it!¡± After LuLu replied to Liu Gan, she focused on the zombie in front of her. Recalling the words Liu Gan cursed her with a moment ago, she felt furious and utterly humiliated. She also felt that she had no more face, so she vented all of her fury onto the zombie in front of her.

    After sessfully dodging the zombie¡¯s attack, LuLu viciously swung the hatchet at the zombie¡¯s nape area. The zombie immediately fell to the ground after receiving such a heavy attack. LuLu rushed forward, stepped on its back, and swung the hatchet twice, effortlessly cutting off the zombie¡¯s head.

    After channeling her anger, she indeed was able to produce an even more powerful fighting strength! If Pan Hua were still alive to see this scene, he definitely wouldn¡¯t believe that this was the weak female game broadcaster he knew from before.

    ¡°Very good. You have proven that you¡¯re not a pig; however, this is still far from enough!¡± Liu Gan once again rushed out of the district¡¯s rear exit and brought back a zombie.

    LuLu was bing more and more skilled, continuously killing more than ten zombies in a row. She only encountered dangerous situations at the beginning. Afterwards, shepleted everything without Liu Gan¡¯s assistance¡ªkilling everything perfectly. This gradually gave her more and more confidence in battle while Liu Gan had fewer opportunities to curse at her.

    After Liu Gan went out again, he brought back two zombies this time: one with both arms intact and the other with both arms cut off by Liu Gan.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, be their food, or be a pig again, then don¡¯t let them nk you! If you feel something¡¯s off then quickly run away and draw them out to form a line. Afterwards, turn around and evade their attack while looking for an opportunity to strike¡­¡± Liu Gan continued to shout instructions at LuLu from nearby.

    Having built the foundation from the training earlier, LuLu easily killed the zombie with both arms intact. Then she killed the one with both arms cut off, so there wasn¡¯t an opportunity for Liu Gan to call her a pig.

    Liu Gan once again brought back two zombies¡­

    The hour of training that was originally nned, unknowingly, became three hours.

    Under Liu Gan¡¯s guidance, LuLu killed at least a hundred zombies in these three hours, but she still hadn¡¯t reached level 4. But now she could easily handle a pair of zombies with both arms intact at the same time. With three hours of training as her baptism (ED:rite of passage oring-of-age ceremony), she was no longer the same weak girl who relied on other people¡¯s protection and who could only wait for death.

    In the final half hour of training, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t find a single opportunity to call her a pig.

    Although [The Trembling World] was filled with danger everywhere, it also let people grow quickly. Changes that were impossible in the real world, even after several years, only took a few hours in this ce. The human race, only when faced with dire situations and constant death, could they tap into and disy their full potential.

    ¡°This is the final test, so be careful!¡± Liu Gan once again left through the district¡¯s rear exit after speaking with LuLu. When he returned, he brought back around seven to eight zombies.

    After LuLu killed the first two zombies, she was very quickly surrounded by the remaining ones. This made her be extremely frightened. Blocked on her left and on her right, she was surrounded by danger, so she was finally forced to look to Liu Gan for help.

    Liu Gan was standing nearby when Lulu was about to be pounced on by the surrounding zombies, so he easily knocked them all down in a few seconds.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± LuLu was scared half to death, so she instinctively thanked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Thanks, my arse! So many zombies are charging at you, and you still act this careless? Why didn¡¯t you quickly turning around to escape? Do you know what it means to act ording to the situation? Do you know what it means to use your brain? You still really are a pig! You are so dumb that I don¡¯t know how else to describe you!¡± Liu Gan finally found once again an opportunity to curse at LuLu.

    It was very clear that thesest seven or eight zombies were not forbat training, but rather, survival training to test LuLu¡¯s ability to adapt. However, LuLu¡¯s reaction to the situation once again disappointed Liu Gan.

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t tell me¡­¡± LuLu¡¯s face had a very grieved expression.

    ¡°Training is already over! In the future, there won¡¯t be someone around you cursing at you. Let me tell you, everything depends on yourself! When something happens, use your head! This is a not a ce where you survive with your looks, but rather with your head! Your head! Understand?¡± Liu Gan pointed at his head and berated LuLu a few more times.

    ¡°I got it.¡± Lulu looked down. Since she was born, no one had ever scolded her this harshly with such nasty words. But in her heart, she couldn¡¯t bear to get angry at him.

    ¡°If you want to rely on your own strength to survive, learning to kill zombies is not enough. In this world, the most frightening things are not zombies, but rather the remaining survivors and other yers.

    In a post-apocalyptic ce, humanity¡¯s ugly side is fully revealed. When you run into these kinds of people, you shouldn¡¯t be kindhearted. Don¡¯t naively believe everything they say, and don¡¯t be overly sympathetic. Otherwise, even if you have already mastered killing zombies, you will die by these people¡¯s hands sooner orter.¡± Liu Gan told LuLu in a milder tone.

    Liu Gan considered the promise he made to Pan Hua to teach LuLu how to kill zombies fulfilled; incidentally, he also taught her a few survival skills. He did not consider these several hours as not wasted on her. If she could listen to these words, it would be her good fortune, but if she chose to ignore them, then that would be her fate.

    ¡°Is humanity that bad? I don¡¯t think so. You saved me so many times, and you have always been helping me.¡± LuLu replied to Liu Gan, bravely looking him in the eyes.

    ¡°I helped you because I promised Pan Hua.¡± Liu Gan looked away.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t even on friendly terms with him. You helped me because deep down you are very kindhearted. You deliberately act indifferent to hide that side of you.¡± LuLu continued speaking.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fancy yourself to be a psychologist! Men are far moreplicated than you can imagine.¡± Liu Gan coldly replied to her, and after calling Jiang JinYuan, walked in big strides towards a residence near the district¡¯s entrance. It was the same residence that he helped find for Pan Hua and LuLu to use as temporary shelter.

    The training took longer than expected. It was now almost noon. LuLu went ahead into the residence and carried Dong Dong over. The three adults and one child ate a simple lunch together¡ªmainly bread, biscuits, and instant noodles prepared by LuLu.

    Dong Dong became slightly more familiar with the three. He probably realized that they meant no harm, and he eventually stopped looking afraid. After eating his fill, he held his toy airne and ran around the table.

    ¡°Spirit! Transform in helium suspension mode!¡± Dong Dong stopped beside LuLu, lifted his toy airne, and said in a loud voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s called Spirit?¡± LuLu asked while eating her noodles.

    ¡°Yes, my grandpa is the captain onboard Spirit!¡± Dong Dong proudly replied.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57: Constant downpour

    ¡°Then is Spirit, which belongs to your grandpa, a boat or an airship?¡± LuLu asked Dong Dong to continue the conversation with him.

    ¡°Spirit is a transformer. It can be a boat on water or an airship in the sky.¡± Dong Dong¡¯s face filled with yearning, as if recalling a fond memory, when he replied LuLu.

    Liu Gan nced at LuLu and thought to himself, ¡°Looking at how familiar she is with the kid and with her temperament, she will definitely want to bring the kid along. With the kid beside her, he will only be a burden and nothing else. Once they encounter any danger, he will most likely drag her to her demise.¡±

    However, this was none of his business.

    ¡°Dong Dong, is your grandpa the captain of Spirit?¡± Jiang JinYuan, who wasn¡¯t very talkative at the start, began to take an interest in this topic, and he eventually found a chance to interrupt the conversation to ask his question.

    ¡°Yes, he is the captain.¡± Dong Dong ran around the table as he raised his airship.

    ¡°Do you know where your Grandpa is?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked Dong Dong.

    ¡°He might be on the sea or in the sky.¡± Dong Dong replied to him.

    [xDh20: COUGH COUGH ;)]

    Jiang JinYuan frowned after he heard Dong Dong¡¯s reply. Asking was almost the same as not asking. His answer was totally useless. Even though he desperately wanted a boat or airship to transport him to the city¡¯sboratory, it would not be feasible in this post apocalyptic world. Whether the airship Spirit that Dong Dong mentioned might have been infected and already crashed was unknown.

    In addition, what this four year old Dong Dong said might be something he made up and could not be fully trusted. Even if Spirit really existed and was functioning, Dong Dong¡¯s house had no way to contact his Grandpa. Having this piece of knowledge was useless because nothing would be solved until after reaching theboratory a few streets down the road.

    After eating their meal, Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan repacked their belongings to prepare for their trip to theboratory. Liu Gan carried an oversized backpack while Jiang JinYuan was carrying only his own luggage. If Jiang JinYuan were to carry such a huge backpack, walking a single step would be very difficult even with his strength.

    LuLu followed them to the doorway, hoping to start a conversation with Liu Gan, but Liu Gan left without saying anything.

    ¡°Big sister, will the Unclese back?¡± Dong Dong asked LuLu curiously. After bing familiar with them, they unexpectedly left.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± LuLu carried Dong Dong and walked towards the window to watch Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan walk out from the building and then to the main gate. In a short while, their silhouettes quickly disappeared from the inside of the alley.

    ¡°Big sister, please don¡¯t cry.¡± Dong Dong raised his small hand and wiped off LuLu¡¯s tear-stricken face.

    ¡°I¡¯m not crying.¡± LuLu quickly wiped her tears.

    Liu Gan had shouted at LuLu the whole afternoon. His mouth was really foul, but he enjoyed lecturing people. LuLu¡¯s eardrum was sore from all of his shouting, but after Liu Gan left, the world suddenly became silent. The silence made her feel suffocated.

    At this moment, how she wished that he would continue to be with her and continue scolding her.

    ¡­

    The sky started to turn ck again. In the distant horizon, lightning and thunder from the day before was seen and heard. It was gradually moving towards their area.

    ¡°The weather in this game only has this setting? Can it please be changed? Is the brain of the producer waterlogged? Thunderstorm, thunderstorm, thunderstorm! Don¡¯t you people find it boring and repetitive?¡± Liu Gan cursed as he looked into the distance from the roof of a building. After which, he jumped down and continued forward.

    [xDh20: Liu Gan is tilted]

    He had to bring Jiang JinYuan to theboratory before the thunderstorm arrived. If not, then it was easily possible for them to be stuck on the road. The difficulty of these thunderstorms were something Liu Gan experienced first hand and had caused him to change his attitude.

    ¡°Do you have a family in the real world?¡± Jiang JinYuan took the initiative to ask Liu Gan as he dragged his luggage and followed closely behind him. It was obvious that he was trying to worm his way into being friends with Liu Gan.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Liu Gan replied while using theputer and probing equipment that he carried in his hands. He didn¡¯t intend to return it yet, and Jiang JinYuan also didn¡¯t ask for it back.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to go back and reunite with them?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked. Only if Liu Gan had this goal would he safely send him to the city¡¯sboratory.

    Liu Gan nced at him, but did not give him a reply.

    ¡°I have a daughter, and she is turning six this year.¡± Jiang Jin Yuan continued the conversation. The best way to familiarize yourself with a stranger was to discuss your family. This way, you could easily shorten the distance between two people.

    ording to Jiang JinYuan¡¯s deduction, Liu Gan should also be in a simr situation to him in the real world. He was either someone who had an illness or someone had some unsolvable trouble. If not, it would mean that he didn¡¯t have any family members. Therefore, he would rather stay in [The Trembling World] and not return.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Liu Gan was not interested in having a conversation with Jiang Jin Yuan. However, when he mentioned his daughter, Liu Gan gave a reply to show his respect.

    ¡°The day my daughter was born was like today, a constant downpour.¡± Jiang JinYuan took out his wallet and showed Liu Gan a picture of his daughter. In the picture, there was a small girl with a bright smile.

    ¡°Your daughter is very pretty.¡± Liu Gan gave a perfunctory reply.

    ¡°She is. My daughter looks just like her mother. She is the exact replica of my wife when she was younger.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan with a tinge of pride and unconcealed sorrow on his face.

    Sometimes, as a man, we had to bear the burden on our own.

    ¡°I can see that you have a blessed family¡­¡± Liu Gan had a better opinion of Jiang Jin Yuan, as he nced at Jiang JinYuan and saw happiness and sorrow in his eyes.

    ¡°Before I was diagnosed with my illness, our family was indeed very blessed.¡± Jiang JinYuan smiled at Liu Gan and looked into the distance.

    Liu Gan did not speak any further. Everyone had their own misfortunes. Just like him, he lost all his limbsst year and it was indeed a misfortune. However, now he had already started anew. From his point of view, this was being happy and blessed.

    ¡­

    Two streets away from Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan, there was a family of three that was carefully searching for food. The parents were both thirty plus years old, and they were bringing along a 12 or 13 year old girl. Maybe the ce they were staying at was no longer safe, so they decided to bring their daughter along.

    The ce they were searching for food didn¡¯t have any zombies nearby, but they didn¡¯t know whether the zombies ran to another area or were killed off. A safe area was such a rare opportunity, so they spent a lot of effort looking for food and water to bring back home.

    ¡°Daddy, I am very hungry and dizzy. I can barely walk anymore.¡± The daughter clutched her stomach andined to her father.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58: BBQ!

    There was a family household of three, and the father¡¯s name was Yao WeiDong. The mother¡¯s name was Cheng Qi, and the daughter¡¯s name was Yao Yi. They were Ninjing City¡¯s locals. The disaster from a few days ago caused their neighbors, friends, and colleagues to all turn into zombies. However, no one knew why the family of three was spared.

    Originally, many people lived in the world where their muddled day-to-day lives were not much different from wandering zombies. For those living with a clear mind, every day was a constant struggle to survive, and they feared death. Being alive didn¡¯t necessarily mean that it was better than being turned into a zombie.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be impatient. We¡¯ll find some food to eat soon.¡± Yao WeiDong pacified his daughter.

    There was a two-storied family restaurant building. The reception hall on the first floor led directly to the second floor and was very bright and spacious. Beside the hall was a row of privatepartments. On the second floor was a veranda with guard rail. There was also a row of privatepartments stationed on the veranda to give a good view of the reception hall on the first floor.

    When the disaster urred, the restaurant should have been just closing up. Currently, there weren¡¯t any zombies present, but there were some old traces of blood and a few bloody footprints. This seemed to imply that although zombies might have been present previously, they had already long since left the restaurant, following the zombie wave and moving to other ces.

    The food in the restaurant¡¯s kitchen had all been stolen, and the leftovers were already rotten and inedible. The family of three gained nothing after scouring the restaurant. Their faces showed tiredness, disappointment, and even hopelessness.

    The timespan of five days was sufficient to cause all the non-canned food to rot. As days went by in this post apocalyptic world, food only became scarcer and harder to find. It was a very huge challenge for those that were living. This family of three only had each for support. In this post-apocalyptic world, there was nothing more important than having your family members alive and together by your side.

    Just as the family of three wanted to leave the restaurant via the first floor to continue searching for food, the main door of the restaurant was pushed open. Two males entered the restaurant. One was about twenty years of age and the other was approximately sixteen or seventeen.

    The twenty-year-old male was holding a metal rod, and the other was holding a machete. If Liu Gan saw them, he would have recognised that these were the starting weapons of the yers in the game.

    ¡°Big bro and big sis, are you looking for food to eat?¡± The male holding the metal rod smilingly asked when he saw the family of three.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yao WeiDong turned towards him and smiled. However, Yao WeiDong was on alert, as he gripped the wooden stick in his hand tightly. In this post-apocalyptic world, strangers were the most dangerous. Even if the other party was smiling from ear to ear, they might be hiding their killing intent.

    If he was searching for food alone and then had encountered the two males, he wouldn¡¯t have been so cautious. However, bringing along his wife and daughter meant that he couldn¡¯t help but consider their safety.

    ¡°Did you find anything to eat?¡± The metal rod male asked.

    The male wielding the iron rod was called Zhao Hui, while the other youth holding the machete was called ChenChen. As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together. When they were in the real world, they were vile characters. There were surfing the at an inte cafe together with a group of friends. Yesterday, they didn¡¯t actively log into the [The Trembling World], but they were carelessly pressing buttons when they disappeared. Only the two of them were sent into the game, and they were even sent to the same location in the game.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t find anything because this ce had already been looted by other people. There¡¯s only rotten food in the kitchen. If we had found anything, we would have definitely shared some with you.¡± Yao WeiDong replied to them fawningly.

    Yao WeiDong sensed an evil aura from Zhao Hui¡¯s eyes, which gave him a very bad feeling. He couldn¡¯t wait to bring his family away from them, but the two guys were blocking the door. Also, they were holding a machete and a metal rod, so he didn¡¯t dare try to force his way through them with his family.

    ¡°We have some BBQ. Do you want to have some?¡± Zhao Hui asked Yao WeiDong with a smile on his face. Then Zhao Hui looked towards Yao WeiDong¡¯s daughter, Yao Yi, who was beside him.

    After hearing that there was BBQ, Yao Yi, who had not yet turned thirteen, swallowed her saliva with an audible gulp. She had not eaten anything for almost a day. Furthermore, she had eaten something disgusting previously. The chance to eat BBQ would have never crossed her mind.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have anything valuable enough to trade you for the BBQ.¡± Yao WeiDong helplessly replied Zhao Hui and smiled. Seeing that they continued to block their way, he was feeling increasingly worried.

    A post-apocalyptic world with zombies was not scary, but what was scary were the other survivors. The two males¡¯ clothes and ents didn¡¯t appear to look like that of a local survivor, which made Yao WeiDong even more cautious.

    ¡°There is no need for any trade. This BBQ is free, and I am giving it to you. In this post-apocalyptic world, humans should help one another and survive together.¡± Zhao Hui continued smiling while saying a few words. He looked at ChenChen who was beside him and gave him a strange smile.

    [Feldy: Why is it strange? Stay tuned for the next chapter or maybe next next or next next next chp XD]

    After hearing what Zhao Hui said, Yao Yi had a face full of expectation, as she looked towards her father, hoping that he would agree to ept the meat.

    ¡°We really appreciate your kind intentions, but we are not hungry and don¡¯t need the BBQ. You should save it for yourselves, as food is very hard to find now. In addition, I think that you also need the meat for yourself.¡± Yao WeiDong replied after sensing that this matter definitely wasn¡¯t that simple. In his heart, he was increasingly worried and could not help but start to tremble a little.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good habit to lie in front of your daughter¡­ It¡¯s so obvious that you are very hungry. Just a moment ago, when she heard that there was BBQ, didn¡¯t she swallow her saliva numerous times? However, you just said that you weren¡¯t hungry. This will lead to your daughter being very disappointed.¡± Zhao Hui said to Yao WeiDong while pointing at Yao Yi.

    ¡°Children don¡¯t understand. Even when they¡¯re full, they will be greedy for food if they hear any mention of it.¡± Yao WeiDong hurriedly moved closer to his daughter and ced her behind him to shield her.

    ¡°What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like that? We are kind-hearted and want to help you, but you keep rejecting us. Do you think we have malicious intent towards your family, so you keep lying? Don¡¯t you think your suspicion is too strong? Do you think the world really doesn¡¯t have any kind-hearted souls?¡± Zhao Hui smiled and waved his metal rod.

    ¡°We are very grateful for your kind intentions, but we really don¡¯t need it. We still have some things to do elsewhere. Later, if there is opportunity, we can continue chatting, OK?¡± Yao WeiDong felt that Zhao Hui¡¯s look was getting weird. He hurriedly asked his wife and daughter to quickly leave in a low voice.

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59: Control over Life or Death

    ¡°Fine. Since you don¡¯t appreciate my kindness, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. I have no choice but to consider that being kind doesn¡¯t pay!¡± Zhao Hui tucked away the metal rod behind him and unblocked the doorway. He beckoned towards Yao WeiDong with his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Then, we¡¯ll be leaving first. No matter what, we are very grateful towards your kind intentions.¡± Yao WeiDong courteously said to Zhao Hui. He then hurriedly asked his wife and daughter to leave the restaurant.

    Just at that moment, Zhao Hui suddenly waved the metal rod in his hand and smashed it against Yao WeiDong¡¯s kneecap when he wasn¡¯t paying attention. It was followed by the ¡°KACHA¡± sound of his bones being shattered. Yao WeiDong screamed and knelt on the ground.

    The pain of one¡¯s kneecap being shattered wasn¡¯t something most people could endure. Instead, it would lead to a loss of control in one¡¯s leg and the inability to continue standing. In this post-apocalyptic world, the presence of a shattered kneecap would cruelly signify death.

    Yao WeiDong¡¯s wife and daughter were scared sh%tless when they saw what had happened. They had no idea as to why Zhao Hui, who had disyed a smiling facade this whole time, would suddenly critically injure Yao WeiDong. He proimed that he was very helpful and had agreed to let them go.

    Cheng Qi and Yao Yi rushed towards Yao WeiDong to support him. Looking at Yao WeiDong grimacing and moaning in pain made them heartbroken. Then, they looked towards Zhao Hui with a face full of anger and resentment.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t provoke you, and neither did we obstruct you. Why did you have to do this?¡± Yao WeiDong endured the pain and questioned Zhao Hui. There was a trace of hopelessness on his face. His face was deathly pale after his kneecap was shattered, and what tormented him the most was that he could not walk properly. He was now a burden, and he had lost the ability to protect his family.

    ¡°I had kind intentions to gift you some food to eat, but you rejected me. Do you know this made me very angry? What I just did was to teach you a small lesson. I wanted to let you know how to be a good person and how to be a truthful father in front of your daughter.¡± Zhao Hui said to Yao WeiDong, as he reverted to his previously smiling face.

    ¡°I am very sorry. I know that I am in the wrong. Please spare my wife and daughter. If you want to punish someone, punish me. I will take responsibility.¡± Yao WeiDong grit his teeth and begged Zhao Hui. From the first impression Zhao Hui gave him, he suspected that something was wrong with him. Now that the truth hade to light, he really wasn¡¯t a good person.

    However, he had already lost the ability to fight. He waspletely unable to protect his wife and daughter. The only thing he could do now was to beg Zhao Hui and hope that there was a tiny trace of humanity left in his heart.

    ¡°I definitely have no problem with sparing them, but what is the purpose of the wooden stick in your hand? Are you looking for an opportunity to take revenge?¡± Zhao Hui waved his metal rod again.

    ¡°No, I use the wooden stick to help me look for things¡­¡± Yao WeiDong tossed his wooden stick a few meters away to show his sincerity.

    ¡°Very good, only¡­ you are already seriously injured. What will they do without you? They can¡¯t abandon you? What sort of people would they be? How about this? Why doesn¡¯t your whole family kneel down while I will teach you three a lesson and lecture you regarding the truths of life. After my lecture, I will release you.¡± Zhao Hui replied to Yao WeiDong and then nced at ChenChen.

    ChenChen took the hint and raised the machete in his hand high up, as if about to chop the mother and daughter pair. Cheng Qi and Yao Yi were frightened, and they hurriedly knelt beside Yao WeiDong. Each of them held tightly to Yao WeiDong¡¯s arm, as their whole body was visibly shivering.

    Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhao Hui felt very satisfied. When he was in the real world, he already had a tyrannical habit of killing cats and dogs. He loved to see the pitiful expressions on the animals¡¯ faces. His power to control life and death fed his desire to rule over everything and gave him deep satisfaction in his heart. Now in [The Trembling World], he could not only murder cats and dogs, but he could even murder any he encountered. He had their livespletely in his hands, and he watched them beg pathetically for their lives. This satisfaction he gained was far superior than that from murdering cats and dogs.

    ¡°When I came in, I really had no intention of making things difficult. I only wanted to give you some food to eat.¡± With a smile, Zhao Hui took out the BBQ and looked at Yao Yi.

    ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have doubted your kind intentions. I sincerely apologize. Please spare the two of them.¡± Yao WeiDong begged again.

    ¡°So you know your mistake and are now willing to eat the meat?¡± Zhao Hui passed the BBQ to Yao WeiDong.

    ¡°I¡¯ll eat. I¡¯ll eat the meat!¡± Yao WeiDong hurriedly replied Zhao Hui. He was very worried that Zhao Hui would be enraged and harm his wife and daughter. They were his only mental support in this post-apocalyptic world. He couldn¡¯t just sit by and watch them suffer any harm.

    ¡°Then hurry up and eat it. This is my newly collected BBQ. It definitely doesn¡¯t have any traces of rotting. Give it a try; the taste is pretty good.¡± Zhao Hui said.

    Yao WeiDong worriedly looked at the BBQ in Zhao Hui¡¯s hand. He was really worried that the meat came from zombies, so he was hesitant to put it in his mouth for eating.

    ¡°Are you worried that after you eat, you will get infected?¡± Zhao Hui asked.

    Yao WeiDong did not reply, but his face was full of hopelessness. He now knew that there was definitely a problem with the meat. He also knew that these two had malicious intent towards his family, but he didn¡¯t have the ability to resist them. He could only meekly ept their orders and follow them. If not, the consequences would get worse.

    ¡°So are you eating it or not? If you don¡¯t want it, then your daughter should eat it. She looks like she really wants some of the BBQ.¡± Zhao Hui looked at the silent Yao WeiDong and spurred him on.

    ¡°I¡¯ll eat, I¡¯ll eat!¡± Yao WeiDong said immediately after he heard Zhao Hui¡¯s words. Then, he stuffed the meat into his mouth. The piece of meat did indeed taste weird, but he wasn¡¯t able to find out why it tasted weird.

    [Feldy: I wonder why it tastes weird¡­]

    ¡°See, nothing happened right? The meat is perfectly clean. It definitely doesn¡¯t have any diseases. You bunch of people didn¡¯t trust my kind words. You misunderstood my kind intentions, so I became angry. If you had been good and epted my kind intentions, none of this would have escted this far right?¡± Zhao Hui haughtily reprimanded Yao WeiDong.

    [xDh20: Yao WeiDong is so gentle¡­ Reminds me of Hodor¡­]

 Chapter 60

    [Character List: Family of three: Father (Yao WeiDong), Mother (Cheng Qi), Daughter (Yao Yi). Two yers: Zhao Hui, ChenChen<hr>

    Chapter 60: Remember

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m really sorry.¡± Yao WeiDong could only continue repeatedly apologizing to Zhao Hui. If not, he didn¡¯t know what they would have his family do next.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your apologies nor your ¡®sorry¡¯s. Aren¡¯t you all famished right now? I still have some BBQ left over, so you should eat it all up.¡± Zhao Hui again took out some of that same BBQ.

    ¡°One person eating is enough for now; there¡¯s no need for them to eat. They¡¯re really not hungry.¡± Yao WeiDong immediately stopped Zhao Hui because he truly did not know what the BBQ consisted of nor what effects will ur after eating it.

    ¡°How can you be this selfish? It¡¯s only natural to share good things with family. If only one person eats, how is that normal?¡± Zhao Hui was unhappy again.

    ¡°Please let us go! If you won¡¯t let me go, then at least let the two of them go!¡± Yao WeiDong cryingly implored Zhao Hui once more. He had a very bad feeling. He felt that these two men, onerge and one small, were probably perverted to the core, and they would force his wife and daughter to do something perverse.

    ¡°What is a big man like you crying about? If youin like this again, I¡¯ll get very angry, very angry! If I get angry, then the consequences will be very serious!¡± Zhao Hui threatened Yao WeiDong with a serious expression.

    ¡°What exactly do you want us to do?¡± Yao WeiDong¡¯s expression was very desperate.

    ¡°I only want you all to eat your fill and not die of hunger. Why can¡¯t you understand my good intentions? You¡¯re really stubborn. No matter how I educate you, you won¡¯t repent!¡± Zhao Hui walked around the family of three. Walking behind Yao WeiDong, he suddenly lifted the iron bar and fiercely smashed it at Yao WeiDong¡¯s back.

    The bones in Yao WeiDong¡¯s back were broken and fractured, and once again he screamed in pain. Both Cheng Qi and Yao Yi shrieked again fearfully.

    ¡°Are you going to eat or not? If you won¡¯t eat, then I¡¯ll have to beat him to death.¡± Zhao Hui walked back in front of the family of three, threatening both the mother and daughter.

    ¡°We¡¯ll eat! We¡¯ll eat!¡± Cheng Qi had no other choice. While crying, she agreed to Zhao Hui¡¯s demand and immediately stuffed her mouth with the BBQ in his hand.

    ¡°You, too.¡± Zhao Hui put a piece of BBQ in Yao Yi¡¯s hand. Yao Yi was very scared, so she immediately stuffed the BBQ in her mouth and swallowed it whole.

    ¡°Do you know what kind of meat this is?¡± Seeing that all three of them ate the BBQ, he then asked.

    The family of three was very afraid, and they instinctively shook their heads to show that they did not know.

    ¡°This meat isn¡¯t from zombie corpses, but we found it all for our personal stash. You can eat it without worry.¡± Zhao Hui said while grinning, and then, he put a piece of BBQ in his own mouth.

    ¡°Sorry, we were wrong about you.¡± Cheng Qi immediately apologized, hoping that he would let the three of them go.

    ¡°Come, eat some more.¡± Zhao Hui took out all of the remaining BBQ and handed it to the family of three.

    Although the family of three saw Zhao Hui also eat the BBQ, they were still terrified. However under Zhao Hui¡¯s coercion, they still didn¡¯t have any other choice but to eat all of the BBQ.

    They were iparably famished, but the feeling of being forced to eat roasted meat of unknown origins didn¡¯t feel very good.

    ¡°Last night when we brothers were wandering all around outside, we found a home. A family of three, just like you, lived there. They warmly weed the two of us and shared all of what little food they had left. This world sure has a lot of good people, right?¡± Zhao Hui sighed while eating the BBQ.

    ¡°Right¡± Cheng Qi agreed after listening to Zhao Hui¡¯s words.

    ¡°In order to repay their kindness, we turned them into BBQ and brought them with us before we left. In this way we will always remember them.¡± Zhao Hui continued speaking.

    After hearing what Zhao Hui just said, the family of three felt their stomach churn and suddenly had the urge to vomit. Their faces became extremely unsightly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want to throw up the food you just ate. Don¡¯t you know that wasting food is a shameful act? Y¡¯all are really hopeless!¡± Zhao Hui criticized the family of three. He suddenly lifted the iron rod in his hand and smashed it against Yao WeiDong¡¯s head.

    Following the sound of a skull fracturing, Yao WeiDong wentpletely silent and copsed on the ground. Blood covered the ground as his body thrashed a couple of times before lying motionless. Both the mother and daughter werepletely terrified, and they began to scream after seeing Yao WeiDong¡¯s corpse.

    ¡°Stop screaming! If you scream again, I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Zhao Hui lifted the steel rod in his hand into the air and waved it a few times, looking very upset.

    Both the mother and daughter immediately fell silent and looked at Zhao Hui with fear and indignation. Losing a family member left them desperate and in pain. But under the intimidation of the two men, they didn¡¯t dare make a move nor did they have the courage to get up and run.

    ¡°Tie them up!¡± Zhao Hui ordered the teenager, ChenChen, who was standing by his side.

    ChenChen handed the machete to Zhao Hui as he took out two strings of rope and headed towards the mother and daughter.

    ¡°Please let us go¡­.¡± Cheng Qi desperately pleaded at the two men. If her daughter, Yao Yi, was not here, she would have immediately attempted to run away.

    But at this point, her daughter, Yao Yi, lookedpletely terrified. Cheng Qi knew that if she ran away, nothing good woulde to her daughter who would be left in the hands of these two men. If her daughter was left to be tormented, then her whole life would no longer have any meaning since her husband had already died.

    Just when ChenChen came over to tie Cheng Qi, she suddenly stretched out her hand and violently grabbed at ChenChen¡¯s eyes. However, Zhao Hui who was standing at one side already on guard, immediately smashed the iron rod at Cheng Qi¡¯s back. Her body shuddered in pain before she copsed on the floor. Afterwards, ChenChen tightly bound her up.

    Soon after, her daughter Yao Yi, was too scared to fight back and was also bound up by ChenChen.

    ¡°These people are fools. Not knowing how to fight back resulted in their current situation. Tell me something. That man has two arms, two legs, and plenty of muscle; he¡¯s much stronger than the both of us. If he used that wooden stick at the start and fought both of us with his life at stake, then would his family fall into our hands? Would he have been killed by me so effortlessly? Maybe we would have been the ones killed by him if he reacted!¡± Zhao Hui educated ChenChen.

    ¡°Right!¡± ChenChen immediately nodded.

    ¡°In this post-apocalyptic world, we have to be vicious and merciless to survive. Only through this way can we control everything. Otherwise, the ones who will be bound and trampled on in this ce will be us two brothers.¡± Zhao Hui lectured ChenChen.

    ¡°It is just as what brother said!¡± ChenChen looked at Zhao Hui with a hint of worship.

 Chapter 61

    [Character List: Family of three: Father (Yao WeiDong), Mother (Cheng Qi), Daughter (Yao Yi). Two yers: Zhao Hui, ChenChen<hr>

    Chapter 61: Good Behavior

    After tying up Cheng Qi and Yao Yi, Zhao Hui lectured ChenChen about the rules of surviving in this post-apocalyptic world. Afterwards, the two of them carried Yao Weidong¡¯s body into the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.

    After a while, some smoke and strange fragrance of BBQ drifted over from the kitchen¡¯s direction.

    Both the mother and daughter seemed to understand what the BBQ aroma meant. They were lying on the ground with tears flowing nonstop. Their hearts were desperate and the anger and fear they felt reached the extreme.

    Cheng Qi wanted to seize the opportunity when the two men went into the kitchen to break free of the ropes and escape through the restaurant¡¯s open front door with her daughter. But after struggling against the bindings on her hands and feet, she discovered that she couldn¡¯t move at all. This made her even more desperate.

    Her heart shuddered, as she thought of the things that she and her daughter Yao Yi would experience if they were unable to leave this ce.

    ¡°Fresh BBQ is delicious! I never thought that finding food in this post-apocalyptic world would be so difficult. You can only find a lot of things to eat by using your head.¡± After ten or so minutes, Zhao Hui and ChenChen cheerfully walked out of the kitchen. Zhao Hui proudly imparted post-apocalyptic survival skills to ChenChen as they walked.

    After returning to the restaurant in the first floor hall, ChenChen walked to the entrance and looked around outside. The weather was even gloomier than the weather this morning, and it always seemed as if a thunderstorm wasing. It looked like they may be staying the night in this restaurant. With Cheng Qi and Yao Yi to keep thempany, surely tonight would be entertaining?

    The previous night, he and Zhao Hui had an extremely wonderful and exciting time. He had never encountered something so wonderful in his entire life. Recalling that unforgettable scene made him unimaginably excited, and he greatly looked forward to experiencing it again. This time it would be with Cheng Qi and Yao Yi.

    Zhao Hui looked at ChenChen who stood beside the door, then walked towards Cheng Qi and her daughter. He then brought out a steaming piece of fresh BBQ in front of Cheng Qi and told her to eat it.

    ¡°I won¡¯t eat!¡± Cheng Qi cried loudly.

    ¡°You won¡¯t eat? What we¡¯re going to do next requires a lot of energy. If you don¡¯t eat your fill, how will you keep up?¡± Zhao Hui said with a stern face.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Cheng Qi looked panic stricken.

    ¡°What do you think? Anyway, if you won¡¯t eat, then I¡¯ll just have your daughtere to my room first.¡± Zhao Hui pointed at Yao Yi while threatening Cheng Qi.

    ¡°I beg you, spare us!¡± Cheng Qi once again implored Zhao Hui. Her worst fear was about to happen.

    ¡°Boss, it seems like someone¡¯sing!¡± ChenChen who was standing near the door and looking at the weather outside heard distant footstepsing from the street corner.

    ¡°There are voices as well.¡± ChenChen said in a hushed voice.

    Zhao Hui vigntly stood up, walked to the side of the door, and gave a quick look down the street. Discovering that there really were two men walking over, he immediately took up two strips of rags from his knapsack and separately gagged the mouths of Cheng Qi and Yao Yi.

    ¡°If you dare make a move, I¡¯ll roast your daughter alive!¡± Zhao Hui threatened Cheng Qi and then, afterwards, went out of the restaurant¡¯s front door.

    ¡°Come with me. I¡¯ll teach you how to easily dispatch that brute!¡± Zhao Hui dropped the iron rod onto the ground and reached for the dagger at his waist. He then came out of the restaurant with ChenChen before shutting its doors closed.

    The two men who were talking whileing down the corner of the street were actually Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan. They were headed for theboratory of the San Xing Corporation¡¯s branch office. Based on Liu Gan¡¯s suggestion, Jiang JinYuan had earlier changed his work clothes to dress like an ordinary yer. This was to avoid drawing too much attention and causing unnecessary trouble while on the road.

    [xDh20: GG boy, you better run from LG]

    Seeing a lone young man trotting over to meet them, Liu Gan stopped walking and frowned at him. Observing the man¡¯s skinny physique, Liu Gan didn¡¯t perceive him as a threat. Liu Gan felt that he could deal with the lone man with one swing of the axe if the man dared to make a move.

    The person trotting over was Zhao Hui. He lifted both his hands up in the air to show he meant no harm, and then he stopped and smiled when he was a few meters away from Liu Gan.

    ¡°Hello, big brothers!¡± Zhao Hui bowed to Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan. He very quickly observed that between the two, Liu Gan was tall, strong, and looked cold. He should be the main force of the group while Jiang JinYuan looked harmless and probably did not have any fighting strength.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Liu Gan frowned at Zhao Hui. His strengthened vision clearly saw that the look in the young man¡¯s eyes was somewhat evasive¡ªthe kind that he loathed.

    ¡°Surviving in this post-apocalyptic ce is very hard. We two brothers wish to rely on you big brothers and follow your lead. Would you let us be yourckeys?¡± Zhao Hui grimaced.

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in taking you in.¡± Liu Gan rejected Zhao Hui¡¯s request.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so cruel big brother! We brothers are quick on our hands and feet. We can help you carry your bags and help you run errands. Just giving us a bit of food to eat so we don¡¯t die from hunger is good enough.¡± Zhao Hui respectfully stepped aside and continued to implore Liu Gan.

    ChenChen also walked over, following behind Zhao Hui. His eyes could not help but look at the big knapsack behind Liu Gan and the suitcase in Jiang JinYuan¡¯s hand. Although BBQ tasted good, he was, however, already tired of eating only BBQ. It would be nice if there were some other food.

    ¡°I see they seem to be quick on their hands and feet. Rather than stay on the side, they can help us carry our bags or something. Also, they are young guys, so if you spend time to train them, they will certainly be much more powerful than LuLu. On this trip, the more people we have, the better.¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at Zhao Hai and suggested this to Liu Gan.

    Dragging the suitcase while on the road, Jiang JinYuan was already feeling very tired. It would be best if he could get someone to substitute for him and drag the suitcase.

    ¡°Okay. However, whether I take you in or not at all depends on your behavior.¡± Liu Gan was silent for a moment and then nodded agreement.

    ¡°Great! Big brother! We will definitely be on our best behavior. We won¡¯t let you down!¡± Zhao Hui looked very excited. After winking to ChenChen to the side, the two walked over towards Liu Gan.

    ¡°First, help me carry this knapsack! I¡¯m dead tired!¡± Liu Gan dropped the knapsack from his back onto the ground, pretending to look very tired. While he stretched out his muscles, he intentionally left his back unguarded to Zhao Hui.

    ¡°What¡¯s inside your knapsack big brother? It¡¯s so heavy.¡± After walking over, Zhao Hui tried to lift the knapsack and asked Liu Gan. He secretly reached towards the concealed dagger on his waist and grasped it in his hand.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62: Weakness

    ¡°We told you to carry the bag, so carry it. Less chitchat!¡± Liu Gan scolded Zhao Hui, and then once again he continued to stretch with his back to Zhao Hui.

    Zhao Hui originally wanted to chat up Liu Gan in order to find an opportunity, but he never expected that this brute would be so stupid. He wasn¡¯t even the least bit vignt by exposing his back to him despite being this close. This chance came a bit too quickly, right?

    If he had this opportunity and did not seize it, how could he still call himself Zhao Hui? He just said that he would give ChenChen a demonstration on how to dispose of this brute effortlessly while also seizing their backpack and luggage.

    ¡°Yes, big brother! From now on I am your little errand boy. If you want anything, just say so!¡± Zhao Hui deceivingly promised in a loud voice while he swiftly thrust the dagger in his hand towards the center of Liu Gan¡¯s back.

    The moment the dagger thrust out, Zhao Hui could already hear the ¡®puchi¡¯ sound as it pierced Liu Gan¡¯s chest¡­ Yesterday, he had done the same thing to a man simr in size to Liu Gan. Until the moment he died, he still had a look of disbelief on his face. He was unable toprehend why this little brother whom he had just epted would do such a thing.

    Surviving in this post-apocalyptic world required ruthlessness and decisiveness when needed. One could only maintain an advantage with these methods. Zhao Hui felt that aside from him, other people were very stupid. Take Yao WeiDong and his family for example. He had been worried that his family might get hurt, so he only thought of running away after seeing Zhao Hui. Zhao Hui only needed to find the right opportunity to smash him in the back with an iron rod to make him yield and beg forgiveness.

    As for Liu Gan, this dumb brute, Zhao Hui only needed to show him a smiling face. Also, he had to call Liu Gan big brother and himself little brother, a few times, for him to get carried away and let his guard down.

    ording to what Zhao Hui told ChenChen, this was humanity¡¯s weakness. As long as one was an ordinary person, they would definitely have this kind of weakness. So long as they fully exploited this weakness and acted decisively, they would have the opportunity to obtain more resources andrger living spaces in this post-apocalyptic world.

    However, what Zhao Hui hadn¡¯t expected was that his dagger strike did not seed. In the split second he stabbed with the dagger, his wrist was grabbed by a big vice-like hand. This hand was very powerful, and the pain in his wrist was so intense that it felt like his wrist would break any minute.

    ¡°Big brother, spare me!¡± Not only had Zhao Hui¡¯s attack had failed, but he was even discovered and countered, so he immediately begged Liu Gan for mercy. He never thought that he would fail to stab Liu Gan in the back when thetter had his back turned towards him, moreover, at such a close distance.

    ¡°You wanted to kill me, and you ask me spare you? Are you kidding me?¡± Liu Ganughed coldly. He was able to see through Zhao Hui¡¯s act from the beginning. Zhao Hui clearly had a devious n, and thus he intentionally approached Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan. He never expected Zhao Hui to reveal his true nature so easily just by exposing his back to him.

    ¡°Big brother, have pity on us two brothers! We have been starving for more than a few days and have been looking for food. I was confused just now, and therefore, it caused me to have such devious thoughts. We are still young and don¡¯t know any better. We won¡¯t dare to repeat this in the future!¡± Zhao Hui begged in an agonizing cry. This apologetic attitude made it unbearable for Jian JinYuan nearby to not speak up, and he wanted to persuade Liu Gan to spare others where possible as people make mistakes.

    ¡°In the future? You think that you will still have a future¡¯?¡± Liu Gan further strengthened his grip and a ¡®kacha¡¯ sound could be heard. The dagger fell on the ground after Zhao Hui¡¯s wrist broke under the pressure from Liu Gan¡¯s alloy arm.

    Zhao Hui immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream. He was already used to breaking other people¡¯s bones; however, this was the first time he had his bones broken by someone else. He never thought that a broken bone would hurt this much. It hurt so much that it causedrge beads of sweat to drip from his forehead and for his mouth to continuously gasp for air.

    Seeing that things weren¡¯t going so well, ChenChen immediately rush over from the side of the road. He lifted the machete in his hand and viciously chopped towards Liu Gan¡¯s back. Naturally, Liu Gan was already on guard against ChenChen¡¯s sneak attack. After hearing the ruckus, he used a bit of force and pulled Zhao Hui to himself. Liu Gan used Zhao Hui¡¯s uninjured arm to block the machete in ChenChen¡¯s hand.

    ChenChen¡¯s chop directlynded on Zhao Hui¡¯s arm, immediately causing a deep wound on Zhao Hui¡¯s uninjured arm. Liu Gan used this opportunity to pull, which caused Zhao Hui¡¯s dense bone to pierce through his muscles. Zhao Hui, again, howled in pain.

    Zhao Hui originally wanted to get rid of Liu Gan effortlessly before taking Liu Gan¡¯s and Jiang JinYuan¡¯s knapsack and luggage. However, now he realized that he ran into a truly ferocious character. In front of this vicious character, he was just a puppet who could be manipted and killed. This kind of feeling was unpleasant, knowing that in the past, he controlled who lived and died.

    After ChenChen¡¯s attack missed its target, he once again raised the machete and hacked at Liu Gan. Liu Gan who was controlling Zhao Hui lifted his entire body to once again block the hiting from the front. ChenChen¡¯s attack firmlynded on Zhao Hui¡¯s thigh, cutting through his muscles and even up to his bone.

    The pain almost made Zhao Hui faint. He cried out while shouting at Chen Chen, telling him to stop hacking at him.

    Seeing that things were not going well, ChenChen no longer dared to continue attacking Liu Gan. He turned around and swiftly fled down the street. But before he could take a few steps, a firefighter¡¯s axe that was half a meter away suddenly flew over extremely quickly. While it was spinning, it hit the already running ChenChen in the right knee.

    With his lower leg suddenly gone, ChenChen stumbled to the ground. The parts below his right knee were blown away andnded a few meters away together with the axe. A burst of extreme pain ran through him. ChenChen hugged the remaining part of his right leg and howled in pain, just like Zhao Hui. The pain from the broken bone was something he could not bear.

    Didn¡¯t Zhao Hui say that everything was under control? How did things end up this way? It looked like the ones being tortured and killed this time were not others, but themselves instead. This feeling was really unbearable!

    ¡°Kill them already. Leaving them shouting like this could attract a lot of zombies.¡± JiangJin Yuan came over and told Liu Gan.

    He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what had happened between both sides. He found it strange that Liu Gan would break the limbs of these two brothers who wanted to depend on them, all while not uttering a single word. However, since things were already like this, he could only help the brothers by freeing them from their pain.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say a word. He walked directly towards the axe that he had just used to cut off ChenChen¡¯s leg and picked it up. As for people who wanted to kill him for no apparent reason, he wouldn¡¯t let them get off so easily without first asking questions.

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63: Exploiting An Opportunity

    Right at this moment, Liu Gan¡¯s enhanced sense of smell caught something. He slightly frowned as he followed the smell to the restaurant at the side of the street and, with his foot, kicked open the restaurant¡¯s front doors before scanning the inside.

    Liu Gan saw the mother and daughter pair tied up inside the restaurant with a cloth tied over their mouths. Seeing Liu Gan enter, they looked at him as if asking for help, but their gazes were filled with even more fear. This was because they didn¡¯t know the personality of the person who had just came in.

    Liu Gan approached Cheng Qi and removed the strip of cloth from her mouth. He was about to start questioning her when Cheng Qi cut him off.

    ¡°I beg you, please help us¡­.¡± Cheng Qi pleaded with Liu Gan.This man looked a bit violent, so she did not know whether he was more wicked than Zhao Hui, but right now she had no other choice.

    ¡°Did the two men outside tie you up in this ce?¡± Liu Gan asked Cheng Qi.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Cheng Qi nodded while looking at Liu Gan in fear.

    Just now she was beside the restaurant¡¯s front doors when she had heard someone screaming from the outside, not knowing who it was exactly. After Liu Gan opened the restaurant¡¯s front door, it seemed as if the ones who were screaming had been Zhao Hui and ChenChen. Could it be that this was the man who had beaten those two up?

    She did not know if she and her daughter were really finally saved or if they had just fallen into an even worse living hell. But even if this man was wicked, he couldn¡¯t possibly be as wicked as Zhao Hui right?

    ¡°What do you need me to do for you?¡± Liu Gan asked Cheng Qi.

    ¡°Please let my daughter go, and I will do anything for you.¡± Cheng Qi clearly misunderstood Liu Gan¡¯s intentions. As a womancking even the basic strength to truss a chicken, when faced with two evils, she could only choose the lesser of the two. It no longer mattered what would happen to her now. She only wanted her own daughter to escape this living hell.

    [942: without the strength to truss a chicken -> refers to her physical condition being very poor]

    Liu Gan frowned and stayed silent before leaving the restaurant. When Cheng Qi saw that Liu Gan didn¡¯t even untie her bindings, she once again began to despair. In this post-apocalyptic world, aside from her own rtives, there was no one to trust and depend on. Why would others save and help her? Maybe this man was more cruel than the first two?

    Shortly after he left, Liu Gan walked back into the restaurant. This time he held the screaming Zhao Hui in one hand and the screaming Chen Chen in the other. These two were currently missing arms and legs, and their bodies were covered in blood while their pale faces disyed expressions of extreme pain.

    Not knowing why, when she finally realize what was going on in front of her very eyes, Cheng Qi all of a sudden no longer felt afraid. Instead, she felt fury brewing deep down within her for revenge. Zhao Hui and ChenChen had killed her husband, and they despicably turned him into BBQ. Taking things even further, they even tried to humiliate her and her daughter. Now that a person, much more evil than them, had maimed them, even if she died, even if she was humiliated by this sturdy man, she would still feel more at peace than before.

    Liu Gan threw both Zhao Hui and ChenChen on the ground of the restaurant¡¯s first floor. Then, he then stomped on their legs with his own alloy leg, stopping only until they werepletely broken. During this process, Zhao Hui and Chen Chen let out even more mournful wails.

    ¡°Right! Serves you right! You beasts! Smash them into smithereens!¡± Seeing Liu Gan¡¯s stomps and hearing their screams, Cheng Qi who was lying on the corner cursed out nonstop, the expression on her face somewhat crazy.

    While dragging the suitcase, Jiang Jin Yuan arrived at the restaurant doors. Upon seeing the bloody scene, he could not help but shake his head. He did not go in, and he just watched while trying to figure out exactly what was going on and why Liu Gan did these things.

    Liu Gan crippled both Zhao Hui¡¯s and Chen Chen¡¯s legs. Then he walked over to Cheng Qi and her daughter to remove the ck strips of cloth that were stuffed into their mouths.

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you very much! Thank you for avenging us! You are our great benefactor. I will willingly serve you! I will do anything you ask!¡± Cheng Qi cried as she expressed her gratitude towards Liu Gan. While thanking Liu Gan, she hoped that he would not touch her daughter.

    ¡°What happened here earlier? What did they do to you?¡± Liu Gan stopped Cheng Qi and asked.

    ¡°Our family of three went out to look for food, but we found nothing in this ce. When we were about to leave¡­¡± Cheng Qi cried as she narrated the things to Liu Gan. She spoke about Zhao Hui smashing her husband¡¯s knee. While speaking about being forced to eat roasted meat, she couldn¡¯t help but charge towards Zhao Hui and kick him.

    ¡°If you want to kick, then kick at the area where his bones are broken, so that it hurts even more. Or pour some salt on his wounds; that will surely be excruciating.¡± After watching, Liu Gan gave Cheng Qi some advice.

    ¡°Big brother, do you have to be so cruel?¡± After hearing Liu Gan¡¯s words, Zhao Hui could not help but protest out loud.

    Following Liu Gan¡¯s advice, Cheng Qi violently kicked at where Zhao Hui was holding, which was the broken part of his leg. Afterwards, she looked for her knapsack and took out a bag of salt. She scattered it on every wound on Zhao Hui¡¯s body. Sure enough, Zhao Hui painfully howled.

    ¡°These two really deserve to die!¡± After hearing the narration, Jiang JinYuan finally understood what had happened. He walked in and gave Zhao Hui and ChenChen each a kick.

    ¡°You know that death is not enough to pay for their sins, right? If we had believed them earlier and took them with us, they would have already taken action and killed me. They would then have slowly started to torture you to death and possibly even make you into roasted meat.¡± Liu Gan coldly snorted.

    ¡°They are newly arrived yers. In just two days time, how can they be corrupted so quickly? Listening to the story, they didn¡¯t go hungry the day before because they ate human meat. This doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± An unfathomable look appeared on Jiang JinYuan¡¯s face when he saw that the alloy watch was not broken on Zhao Hui¡¯s and Chen Chen¡¯s wrists.

    ¡°I bet these people have already eaten human meat back in the real world and did the same cruel things. Upon entering the game and seeing that there were no legal constraints, they became even worse and more unbridled. He did these things not to stave off hunger but simply for the thrill of it.¡± Liu Gan answered Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°How could they have done that in the real world? How is that possible? That would definitely be impossible!¡± Jiang Jin Yuan shook his head. His simple mind and ordinary life experience made him unable to believe everything that Liu Gan had said.

    ¡°If you two big brothers agree to one thing, I will help you solve this mystery!¡± After listening to Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan¡¯s debate, Zhao Hui felt that he could exploit this opportunity and immediately approached them.

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64: Go back on One¡¯s Word

    Cheng Qi didn¡¯t really understand what Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan were talking about. What real world, game world, and so on? But she was in no mood care about these things. She found a sharp screwdriver from her backpack, and continuously stabbed at Zhao Hui, wanting to let him continue experiencing pain from these injuries.

    Before the apocalypse, Cheng Qi was a kind woman; she would never have thought that one day she could do such a cruel thing to another person. But after recalling everything that Zhao Hui did to her family, she could not help but continue torturing Zhao Hui. Even if this did notpensate for the pain of losing her husband.

    In this world, nothing is better than hatred at tempering strength and bravery..

    ¡°Want to hear what he has to say?¡± After hearing Zhao Hui¡¯s words, Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Go ask him, then.¡± Liu Gan answered indifferently.

    ¡°What do you want us to promise you?¡± After seeing Liu Gan agree, Jiang JinYuan walked over and stopped Cheng Qi from tormenting Zhao Hui before asking.

    ¡°As long as you promise me that after I tell you the answer, you will make her stop tormenting me and immediately kill me so I could be free as soon as possible, then I will tell you everything you wish to know,¡± Zhao Hui told Jiang JinYuan.

    Jiang JinYuan looked at Liu Gan, it was very clear that this was not for him to decide.

    Liu Gan coldlyughed, but still nodded.

    ¡°Okay, he promises, now speak.¡± Jiang JinYuan urged Zhao Hui, if he didn¡¯t manage to rify this whole thing up, then he would always be puzzled by it.

    ¡°You¡¯ve tortured us like this, what¡¯s so different between you guys and us? Don¡¯t think that you are better than us¡­¡± After seeing Jiang JinYuan agree, Zhao Hui did not immediately answer the question, instead he questioned Jiang JinYuan as he panted, his face pale and grim.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything to you, I only wish to know why you did such a thing to the family of three for no apparent reason. There was no grievance nor hatred between you and them right?¡± Jiang Jin Yuan didn¡¯t answer Zhao Hui¡¯s senseless question, instead he continued asking. This level of cruelty and wickedness, was something that Jiang JinYuan¡¯s simple mind couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°No reason, I just wanted to. In the real world, I did the same thing torturing cats and dogs. One time I even hung up a stray dog and beat it for two days and two nights. I really liked seeing how it pitifully begged. Can you understand that kind of fun? HAHAHAHA¡­. ¡± Zhao Hui wildlyughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s so fun about that? Don¡¯t you feel disgusted doing such a thing?¡± Jiang Jin Yuan looked even more perplexed.

    ¡°There¡¯s no point in talking to people like you who are naive and stupid!¡± Zhao Hui gloomily looked at Jiang Jin Yuan, before switching his gaze over to Liu Gan who was standing at the side. In his mind, he felt that he and Liu Gan were the same, that he should be able to understand what he was saying.

    ¡°Why do you eat human meat? Weren¡¯t you in the game for just two days? It¡¯s not as if you were so hungry that you needed to eat human meat?¡± Jiang JinYuan disregarded Zhao Hui¡¯s insult and asked.

    ¡°If I tell you, that what yourpanion said was true about me killing someone and eating their meat in the real world, would you believe it?¡± Zhao Hui looked crazily and with pride at Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°What you¡¯re saying can¡¯t be true¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head. He had always lived a simple life ¨C go to work,e home from work, go home to his wife and daughter. He never thought that humanity¡¯s ugliness could reach such a degree, and that it actually happened in the real world.

    ¡°I was sixteen that year. I raped a female neighbor that I liked. Afterwards I was very terrified so I hid her in the mountains, beat her, and after torturing her for a whole day, killed her. I was worried that the corpse would be found by the police so I started a fire and cooked her. I ground all the bones and fed all of it to the dogs, I also tried some, the taste wasn¡¯t so bad¡­ ¡± Zhao Hui saw Jiang JinYuan¡¯s shocked expression, and very proudly talked about his glorious past.

    ¡°The police never solved the case. Afterwards, every time I remember that incident I would feel particrly happy and excited. I wanted to do it again. But the year I turned seventeen we moved to the city, and I never found another good opportunity. Upon arriving in [The Trembling World], I discovered that this ce had nows, no order; I could do whatever I wanted to do. No need to worry about being discovered or caught. Simply put, this ce is my paradise¡­¡± Zhao Hui continued to narrate in a loud voice, the look on his face growing even more psychopathic.

    ¡°It¡¯s just as brother Liu said.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head. Had he not heard Zhao Hui¡¯s narration with his own ears, he would never willingly believe that humanity¡¯s ugliness could reach such a degree. Barely in the game for two days and killing people for no reason, eating them, but now he couldn¡¯t help but believe it.

    ¡°He¡¯s not human! He¡¯s human scum! A beast!¡± After hearing Zhao Hui¡¯s story, Jiang JinYuan could not help pick up the screwdriver in his hand and violently stabbed at Zhao Hui.

    ¡°I killed your husband, do you have the guts to kill me? Hurry and kill me then! Aim it at my stomach!¡± Zhao Hui screamed and provoked Cheng Qi.

    After hearing Zhao Hui¡¯s words, Cheng Qi did not rush up to kill him, instead she continued stabbing at the non-vital parts of his body, venting out her pain and anger.

    ¡°You promised me! You promised that you would help release me after I told you everything! You there, Big brother! I know that you consider your words to have enormous weight, that you mean what you say. Don¡¯t go back on your word!¡± With the pain from Cheng Qi¡¯s stabs, Zhou Hui screamed while talking to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Do you believe that you can exit the game if we kill you?¡± Liu Gan walked over, squinted his eyes and asked Zhao Hui while stopping Cheng Qi from stabbing him.

    After Liu Gan said what was on his mind, Zhou Hui did not speak again. After entering the game, he had always treated others as his ythings, after ying he would slowly torture them to death. Never had he imagined that he¡¯d fall under Liu Gan¡¯s hands and feel so much pain after having his bones broken. Thus, he wanted to die as soon as possible and leave the game to free himself from this pain.

    ¡°I won¡¯t kill you. I will leave you in the hands of the mother and daughter, letting them slowly torture you to death,¡± Liu Gan told Zhao Hui.

    ¡°Big brother! A man must not go back on one¡¯s words right? You promised me earlier! You are a man of indomitable spirit, once you promise someone, you would definitely do it! Otherwise who would trust you in the future? ¡± Zhao Hui bitterly answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°I only keep my promises to people who deserve it. As for human scum like you, I will do whatever I want. You don¡¯t like it? Bite me! ¡± Liu Gan said with a disdainful look.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65: Should Hit The Road

    ¡°You¡­¡± Zhao Hui looked at Liu Gan, and the look on his face became even more desperate.

    ¡°Let me stab him a couple more times then!¡± Cheng Qi quickly approached after hearing what Liu Gan had said.

    ¡°If you poke him with that many holes, you might identally hit an artery and cause him to die. That¡¯s exactly what he wants. If you truly want to avenge your husband, then the best choice would be to put him in a state where he would wish he was dead.¡± Liu Gan advised Cheng Qi.

    ¡°How do I do that?¡± Cheng Qi asked Liu Gan. She was not good at these kinds of things. Also, the craziness she disyed earlier made her afraid of herself. In particr, her daughter Yao Yi, who had been constantly terrified, now had a nk look in her eyes and hadn¡¯t spoken ever since.

    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you.¡±

    Liu Gan took out a few strips of cloth and bound Zhao Hui¡¯s mouth first. Afterwards, he tied up Zhao Hui¡¯s thighs and upper arms, firmly binding them so as to not let him bleed to death when his hands and feet were cut off.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Zhao Hui fearfully peered at Liu Gan. This man did such dreadful things with such a calm demeanor, which made Zhao Hui again feel as if he was looking at himself.

    But now, the one being injured was him!

    ¡°You¡¯ll see soon enough.¡± Liu Gan answered Zhao Hui before forcefully pulling Zhao Hui¡¯s fractured arm straight. He then swung the firefighter¡¯s axe that he was holding up high with his other arm towards the area slightly away from where he had bound Zhao Hui¡¯s arm.

    ¡°AAAAAH¡±

    Zhao Hui again let out a heart-rending, lung-splitting cry. After the arm was cut off, the alloy watch that was on it suddenly disappeared, reappearing on his other arm.

    While Liu Gan was punishing Zhao Hui, he was also passively conducting an experiment to see what would make the alloy watch disappear. This was a rare opportunity to test this theory while a yer was still alive.

    Since the alloy watch appeared on the other arm, Liu Gan, consequently, used the axe to chop off Zhao Hui¡¯s other arm. The alloy watch once again disappeared from Zhao Hui¡¯s severed arm, and it appeared on one of his ankles this time.

    Thus, Liu Gan again cut off the leg wearing the alloy watch, and the alloy watch once again mysteriously appeared Zhao Hui¡¯s other leg. Without a pause, Liu Gan once again waved the axe in his hand, cutting off Zhao Hui¡¯s other leg. In the end, the alloy watch transformed into an alloy ring wrapped around Zhao Hui¡¯s neck.

    [xDh20: YOU PLAYING GAMES, ALLOY WATCH?]

    There seemed to be no way of removing this thing except for Liu Gan to cut off Zhao Hui¡¯s neck, but that would meanpletely killing Zhao Hui. The alloy watch would then turn into a dark mist dissolve into nothingness.

    Zhao Hui immediately fell unconscious from the pain of having both of his arms and legs cut off. But Liu Gan very quickly discouraged this by pinching his philtrum, which caused him toe to. How could he sleep and not fully enjoy such a wonderful moment?

    After cutting off Zhao Hui¡¯s arms and legs, Liu Gan took out a lighter and burned off the severed areas. He applied some antibiotic medicine and then took out several stips of clean cloth. He bandaged the wounds so Zhao Hui wouldn¡¯t die so quickly from an infectious wound.

    ¡°You are crueler than me and more evil. You and I are the same kind of person! You will go to hell with me!¡± Zhao Hui endured the pain and gaspingly cursed at Liu Qian. He had now deeply experienced what it felt like to be in hell because right now he was in hell¡­. No, more like he was in purgatory.

    ¡°You and I are not the same kind of person. You are evil for no particr reason, and I am evil towards evil. Therefore, the one going to hell is just you. I will live for a hundred years and send even more people just like you to hell.¡± Liu Gan once again tightly bound Zhao Hui¡¯s mouth before walking in front of ChenChen.

    ¡°Big brother, he did all the bad things! I didn¡¯t do anything! Ask that Aunt if you don¡¯t believe me! All of this has nothing to do with me¡­¡± After seeing what Liu Gan did to Zhao Hui, ChenChen had long since been scared out of his wits. Seeing Liu Ganing over with the axe, he thus implored Liu Gan.

    ¡°Birds of a feather flock together. What good results from staying together with scum like that?¡± Liu Gan coldly questioned ChenChen.

    ¡°Uncle, Auntie! Please help me! I don¡¯t want to be cut down by him.¡± ChenChen pleaded while turning his head towards Jiang JinYuan and Cheng Qi.

    ¡°When yourrade was ughtering my husband and bullying my daughter and me, what did you do? Don¡¯t try to act meless! You were his aplice!¡± Chen Qi¡¯s eyes showed an intense cold expression and was unwilling to help ChenChen ask for leniency.

    Liu Gan also ignored this nonsense. After stuffing ChenChen¡¯s mouth shut, he bound him until he became a human stick within a few seconds. He stopped after giving ChenChen the same treatment as he gave Zhao Hui. Even if someone helped ChenChen by asking for leniency earlier, Liu Gan would not have stopped. When Zhao Hui tried and failed to sneakily attack Liu Gan, ChenChen had attacked him from behind with a machete. Although he missed, this was still definitely unforgivable.

    ¡°Now they can only ask for a quick death. So if you want revenge, there¡¯s no need to do anything else, and letting them live a few days would be enough. Sometimes, the feeling of wanting to die but being unable to is even more painful than dying itself.¡± After finishing up everything he did, Liu Gan spoke to Cheng Qi.

    No one had more experience than Liu Gan when it came to losing both arms and legs and wanting to be dead rather than alive. He didn¡¯t mind letting these two human lowlifes fully experience this feeling.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Cheng Qi again teared up

    This robust man had a few simrities with Zhao Hui, like maintaining a calm expression while doing such cruel things. But it was very clear to Cheng Qi, that this man and Zhao Hui were not simr people. She was full of gratitude towards this man. Whatever this man did or asked of her right now, she would dly oblige.

    ¡°We should hit the road. ¡± Liu Gan pped his hands to call out to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Is our benefactor going already?¡± Cheng Qi looked at Liu Gan with a surprised look

    ¡°I already did a lot for you, but I can¡¯t help you anymore.¡± Liu Gan shook his head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re leaving them here?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Do you think I still haven¡¯t done enough for them?¡± Liu Gan frowned. He was not a knight or a savior, and his mercy and kindness had a limit.

    ¡°This mother and daughter pair¡­ If we don¡¯t bring them along, they would probably find it difficult to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. They might run into bad people again.¡± Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t help but mention this to Liu Gan.

    Back when Liu Gan had left LuLu at the Lucky Garden District, he had also wanted to ask Liu Gan to bring her along. But back then, he had been a bit worried that Liu Gan would go back on his word and not escort him to theboratory, thus he restrained himself and kept quiet.

    [xDh20: Disimer: I do not condone actions that are taken in this chapter, so please don¡¯t be expert torturers]

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66: Biochemical Intelligence Laboratory

    Looking at this mother and daughter pair, Jiang JinYuan did not know why, but it led to him to think about his wife and daughter in the real world. He was afraid that he would not be able to reunite with them. If he¡¯s not around, who would take care of them and what would their future be like, he wondered.

    The only way would be to finish this task and let thepanypensate them with a huge sum of money. It would then be considered letting their future have some certainty.

    When he thought of his wife and daughter, Jiang JinYuan sympathised with Cheng Qi and Yao Yi even more.

    ¡°If I bring them along, then how am I supposed to escort you to theboratory? Do you think I have the ability to protect so many people?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan. In this post-apocalyptic world, the number of people who were pitiful and needed to be saved were immensely huge. However, he wasn¡¯t a savior of the world. In this type of situation where he was not in a rush, he would still stop and assist those in need and save anyone he could.

    ¡°Yes, you did not bring LuLu along with us,¡± Jiang JinYuan sighed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! The weather is taking a turn for the worse. A thunderstorm might be arriving soon.¡± Liu Gan gazed at the ominous dark clouds in the horizon and urged Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°If we cannot bring them along, can we at least send them to a safe ce? If not, what was the point in saving them? They will still be dead.¡± Jiang JinYuan unwillingly pleaded to Liu Gan. After thinking of his wife and daughter in the real world, he was not able to steel himself and leave them in the lurch.

    ¡°In [The Trembling World], there will be people getting killed and bullied every minute and every second. Do you think we are able to care so much? We are not some savior of the world. The two of us are just normal human beings. Having the ability to survive is the most important. If you keep dilly-dallying, then I am going to leave you alone here.¡± Liu Gan sullenly replied.

    ¡°Alright, but please give me a few minutes more.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan and walked to Cheng Qi¡¯s side.

    Cheng Qi was feeling a bit lost. She looked at Jiang Jin Yuan and then turned to Liu Gan. Originally, she was worried that Liu Gan had malicious intent, so she was already grateful that he was not going to harm them. The thought of them continuing to help her did not even cross her mind.

    ¡°From this ce, walk towards that direction. After crossing one street, you will be able to see the Bureau of Industry and Commerce of Nanjing City. Continue to walk forward and you will be able to see the Lucky Garden District. In that district, there is a girl called LuLu. If she is not in unit 1 on the third floor of block 2, then she will most likely be at unit 3 on the fifth floor of block 1. That girl is pretty amazing. She is able to kill zombies, and she is kind-hearted. The both of you can rely on her for protection.¡± Jiang JinYuan drew a map on the floor and exined to Cheng Qi.

    ¡°I know where the Lucky Garden District is.¡± Cheng Qi nodded her head. She was originally a resident of this area.

    ¡°You must stay strong since she has already lost her father. If you do not stay strong, you will not be able to protect your daughter.¡± Jiang JinYuan encouraged Cheng Qi. He unconsciously thought of his own wife and daughter, and a tear could be seening out from the corner of his eyes.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Cheng Qi looked at Jiang JinYuan gratefully. In this post-apocalyptic world, not everyone was as vicious and perverted as Zhao Hui. There were also good and kind people like Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan. Regarding Liu Gan¡¯s unwillingness to bring them along, she understood and epted it. Furthermore, Jiang JinYuan was helping her by telling her of a safe ce that she could go to.

    ¡°If you meet any evil people again, then you must definitely fight against them bravely. Do not let them have the chance of harming you again.¡± Jiang JinYuan instructed Cheng Qi.

    ¡°En.¡± Cheng Qi gripped tightly onto the machete that belonged to ChenChen and nodded her head.

    ¡°You must stay strong! You must continue to live!¡± Jiang JinYuan wiped his tears away and shouted to Cheng Qi. He then quickly caught up with Liu Gan who had walked off earlier while clutching his luggage.

    Even though what Jiang JinYuan said was for Cheng Qi to hear, in actual fact, it was as though he was telling his own wife and daughter. At this point, he wanted to be able to reach theboratory quickly. No matter how difficult it would be, he wanted toplete his mission so as to allow his wife and daughter to be able to continue living even if he was not able to be by their side.

    ¡­

    While he was holding the PDA, it clearly showed all the status and presence of zombies in the radius of a few hundred metres. Even if it was only once every ten minutes, it was more than sufficient.

    When there were ces with zombie mobs, Liu Gan could avoid them. Whereas when the path had no zombies or one with a few zombies, Liu Gan would just rush forward and clear them with his axe.

    With the help of the search function, plus the fact that he had only brought Jiang Jin Yuan alone, the speed at which they were moving towards San Xing building was very fast. Furthermore he hade from that direction the day before. Hence, he was quite familiar with the area.

    After he took care of the two scumbags Zhao Hui and Chen Chen, Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan arrived at the vicinity of San Xing building shortly after. However, in front of the building a huge number of zombies were lounging about.

    As he did not pay much attention yesterday, after some scrutinizing, Liu Gan realized that the majority of the zombies were middle-aged women. It should be because these women would frequently gather at this area for mass dancing. So when they turned into zombies, other than following the other zombies drifting around in search of food, they would most of the time return to this area.

    ¡°You said that that ce is San Xing¡¯sboratory?¡± Liu Gan pointed at the distant building and asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°En, it should be correct. The biochemical intelligenceboratory should be in this ce.¡± Jiang Jin Yuan nodded his head, and he took the PDA from Liu Gan and continuously pressed on the screen.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t San Xing corporation exist in the real world? What is happening in theboratory?¡± Liu Gan asked as he knew that the question was of great significance.

    ¡°It should be modeled after the one in the real world, I guess? You should know that the producers and programmers are quite sick in their mind. It would be possible for them to have ced a zombie boss here¡­¡± Jiang Jin Yuan jokingly replied Liu Gan.

    ¡°Indeed they are quite sick.¡± Liu Gan did not ask any more questions, as he surveyed the surroundings. The sky was getting darker and ording to the situation, the thunderstorm should not be too far off. He would have to think of ways to enter the building with Jiang JinYuan as soon as possible.

    ¡°What methods do you think are feasible to get us safely into the building?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan. Whether in real life or the virtual world, Jiang JinYuan was the most familiar with the vicinity,yout of the building, and theboratory.

    [xDh20: Will have a sweepstakesing up real soon!]

 Chapter 67

    Chapter: 67 Robbery

    Liu Gan grabbed the PDA from Jiang JinYuan. After studying it, he turned to Jiang JinYuan and said, ¡°We can¡¯t go in from the front. We¡¯ll have to look behind the building and check if there¡¯s an entrance.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go in from the back.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded.

    Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan took the long way around the back of the San Xing building. There were fewer zombies in the back than in the front; however, there were still more than ten zombies wandering around back and forth in the outdoor parking lot and alleyway behind therge building.

    ¡°Stay here first, and don¡¯t make a sound. I¡¯ll go draw those zombies away ande back for you. We¡¯ll look for a way into the building together.¡± After surveying the surrounding situation, Liu Gan informed Jiang JinYuan. Afterwards, he charged towards the middle of the parking lot withrge strides.

    There were two zombies at the outermost part of the parking lot. One was a male wearing a security guard uniform, and the other was a female wearing working clothes. Upon seeing Liu Gan, they immediately rushed towards him. Liu Gan immediately charged towards them and waved the fire axe in his hand effortlessly as if it was an ordinary machete. He made two deadly arcs of light in the air, killing both zombies in an instant.

    Upon hearing the ruckus, the zombies lingering about in the outdoor parking lot and alleyway immediately came and surrounded Liu Gan. Liu Gan bounced to his left and jumped to his right, twisting and turning along the way. He very quickly fled the parking lot with a zombie train trailing behind him in a line.

    These zombies would go all out when chasing people; however, they did not tire, so an average person being chased by them would have a very hard time getting away. But after Liu Gan had reached level 5, his physical strength, speed, and more had been improved by a huge margin. He was faster than an average person and these ordinary zombies, so in this short sprint, Liu Gan was not worried of being overtaken by them.

    The rambling footsteps of the zombie train attracted the other zombies from the other blocks. They all gathered towards this alley and tried to attack Liu Gan from other sides.

    Feeling that nearly all the zombies in the outdoor parking lot and alleyways had been drawn out, Liu Gan used a damaged car on the roadside as his first point of contact to leap over the zombies before they had him surrounded. He used parkour to jump from the roof of the car to a nearby building roof, and then he jumped several times to the surrounding rooftops and easily disappeared without a trace from the zombies¡¯ field of view.

    Regarding this sort of massive zombie horde, it didn¡¯t pose too much of a threat to Liu Gan as long as they weren¡¯t all on a field or za. Using this building, Liu Gan could very easily draw them away from a street block and then safely escape.

    After Liu Gan escaped from the zombie horde, he went back to where Jiang JinYuan was hiding, but Jiang JinYuan was not there.

    The weather right now had turned gloomy, and not only had the winds grown stronger, but it seemed the sky above would soon transform into a thunderstorm.

    Jiang JinYuan would not go somewhere with the PDA still in Liu Gan¡¯s hands.

    Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan took a reading when they were in the building¡¯s front za, but they forgot to when they had reached the rear area.

    Right now, the PDA was in Liu Gan¡¯s hand while the probing device was with Jiang JinYuan. Liu Gan was not authorized to operate it again to locate Jiang JinYuan¡¯s position, so he could only try and search around the vicinity.

    Just when Liu Gan decided to looking once around the nearby alleyways, two men appeared from the next street.

    ¡°Put down the device, the knapsack, and all your things on the ground. Then move back in the middle of the street where we can see you. Otherwise, we will kill your partner.¡± A man with a machete whose de was pressed on Jiang JinYuan¡¯s neck threatened Liu Gan.

    The suitcase Jiang JinYuan was pulling was nowhere to be seen. It had apparently been stolen by the man¡¯s partner.

    In this post-apocalyptic ce, there was originally no enmity between survivors, but because of thepetition for food and living resources, a hostile rtionship was unconsciously formed. In particr, Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan, who carried and brought along a humongous knapsack and suitcase, couldn¡¯t help but make others greedy after seeing them.

    ¡°He¡¯s not my partner. He¡¯s part of the San Xing Corporationpany staff. He promised to bring me to the portal to return to the real world, so I am staying with him. If you want to kill him, then go ahead. The worst case is everyone gets trapped here, unable to return.¡± Liu Gan said with an indifferent expression.

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s like this, then we¡¯ll think this over.¡± The man holding Jiang JinYuan said in a not so startled manner, deliberately answering Liu Gan with a loud voice, distracting his attention.

    Right at this moment, another man carrying an iron rod appeared behind Liu Gan. He viciously swung the rod at the back of Liu Gan¡¯s head right when Liu Gan was about to speak. But what he did not expect was that Liu Gan seemed to grow eyes at the back of his head even before his attack hadnded. Liu Gan turned around and threw out his hand the instant the attacknded. He easily caught and firmly grabbed the rod that was forcefully being smashed down.

    Having his attack miss and the iron rod grabbed by his opponent, the man was unable to pull it back and couldn¡¯t help but stare nkly.

    Liu Gan¡¯s other hand had at an earlier time taken out the fire axe and chopped at the man¡¯s face, immediately smashing it in. The man didn¡¯t even scream and fell on the ground no longer moving.

    ¡°[email protected]#$!¡± Seeing what happened, the man threatening Jiang JinYuan with a machete couldn¡¯t help but curse and his eyes showed fear. He and his other partners had been hiding in the nearby streets when they saw Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan approaching. Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan had been carrying a humongous knapsack and suitcase; as a result, the bandits made a n to rob them.

    After Liu Gan left, they first captured Jiang JinYuan who didn¡¯t have any fighting power. They extorted him by threatening to kill him and more. In order to save himself, Jiang JinYuan told them of his identity, about the powerful PDA, the probing device on his partner, and more. He was wasting time while waiting for Liu Gan¡¯s return.

    After hearing what Jiang JinYuan said, these people decided to first swindle Liu Gan. Once they took the powerful PDA from his hands, they would talk with Jiang JinYuan again. They never anticipated that the person sneakily attacking Liu Gan would fail and would instead get killed by him. This foiled their original n of killing Liu Gan and stealing his treasures.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯re all yers who entered the game.¡± Seeing the alloy watch disappearing from the corpse, Liu Gan asked the person holding Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°What do you want to say?¡± The person asked in response. Liu Gan¡¯s fighting strength clearly made them somewhat afraid.

    [xDh20: Guys as promised, I will do a sweepstakes and here it is, Good Luck! Isn¡¯t this great? A chance to win something for reading a novel that you enjoy: ]

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68: No worries

    ¡°Since we¡¯re all yers that have entered the game, there¡¯s no need for us to fight to the death. Even though I killed your partner¡­ you shouldn¡¯t have had that strong of an emotional connection with him. You probably just met and grouped up, so you shouldn¡¯t have any reason to feel hatred towards me. How about we group up and cooperate?¡± Liu Gan suggested to the man threatening Jiang JinYuan. Liu Gan still needed Jiang JinYuan, so he couldn¡¯t let him die.

    ¡°How do you want to work together?¡± The male looked warily at Liu Gan as he questioned him.

    ¡°I know this guy is a worker from San Xing Corporation. Previously, we traveled together but only so he could bring me back to the real world. He still has a lot of secret information that I wasn¡¯t able to get from him. I wasn¡¯t able to meet any other yers, so I couldn¡¯t form arger team. But I do know that surviving in this game world alone is terribly hard, so I temporarily partnered with him.¡±

    ¡°Boss men, if you would be willing to ept me, I am willing to join you. As you can see, I am very good at fighting. Even though you have lost apanion, if you include me in the group, I am definitely more useful than him. If a team has a good fighter, then it will be a lot easier to survive while staying within [The Trembling World]. Our goal is to survive and return back to the real world, right? If you ept me, I can rece that person who died.¡±

    Liu Gan said this to the person holding Jiang JinYuan hostage, and at the same time, he looked around elsewhere. He knew the opponent definitely wasn¡¯t just two people, and they wouldn¡¯t be very unified since they were a temporarily formed group. By giving that speech, it should have been easy to convince part of the group members, so they could rx and lower their guard. Then, he could easily rescue Jiang JinYuan from them.

    Sure enough, right after Liu Gan had said these words, another three male yers came out from hiding and walked closer.

    ¡°Your skills are very good. If you are willing to join us, then it won¡¯t be a problem. But first, show us your sincerity.¡± A sturdy male yer said, as he came out of hiding.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to kill your partner. Since he attempted to assassinate me, I was forced to take action.¡± Liu Gan pointed to the male corpse on the floor.

    ¡°That is understandable.¡± The sturdy male yer replied expressionlessly. It seemed like it was as Liu Gan had guessed. These people were forced to grouped up temporarily.

    ¡°So boss, what must I do so you will ept me?¡± Liu Gan said to the sturdy male yer.

    ¡°Let us hold onto your weapon and bag. After we have felt that you proved your sincerity, we will return these items to you.¡± The sturdy-male yer said after pondering for a little while. As for when he would return these items, it wouldn¡¯t be up for Liu Gan to decide.

    ¡°Okay, I can give these items to you as a way to express my sincerity.¡± Liu Gan said after thinking for a little bit. Liu Gan acted as if he was hesitant before he threw the fire axe a few meters away from him. Then, he ced his bag and other weapons down on the floor. He even ced the dagger by his waist on the floor, and then he stepped back a few meters away.

    The sturdy male yer signaled another male yer at his side. The male yer carefully walked over and after giving Liu Gan a look, he grabbed the weapons and backpack back to the side of hispanions.

    ¡°Boss, how is my sincerity?¡± Liu Gan asked the study-male yer with a shout.

    ¡°In case you are hiding some weapons on your body, if you want to join us then let us search your body.¡± The sturdy-male yer opened Liu Gan¡¯s backpack and replied.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Liu Gan acted reluctantly, but he agreed and lifted both his arms up.

    The previous male yer, who came up to pick up the backpack and weapon, walked back over to Liu Gan to inspect him. After confirming that there were no more weapons, he went back to report to his threepanions.

    The four yers whispered in each other¡¯s ears, and it seemed like they were epting Liu Gan based on his sincerity and honesty.

    ¡°I wee you to join us.¡± The sturdy male yer said, as he waved his hands. Right now four yers were each wielding a weapon, but Liu Gan was empty handed. To them, if Liu Gan had alternative motives, they could chop up Liu Gan at a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°Boss, this San Xing Corporation¡¯s worker isn¡¯t honest. We must find a way for him to reveal all his secrets.¡± Liu Gan said as he closed the distance between the four other yers until he was two meters away from where they stood.

    The four male yers were definitely precautious towards Liu Gan. They had their eyes locked on Liu Gan, but since they confiscated Liu Gan¡¯s weapon, they didn¡¯t need to immediately kill Liu Gan. They decided to monitor him first before finally deciding to let him join.

    Meanwhile, the male yer holding Jiang JinYuan hostage, also put down the machete by Jiang JinYuan¡¯s neck. The male yer¡¯s purpose of holding Jiang JinYuan hostage was so his partner could kill Liu Gan. But now that Liu Gan had already surrendered, there was no need to continue acting.

    ¡°Yes, we should interrogate him, I always felt that this¡­¡± The sturdy male yer could only open his mouth to say a few words before Liu Gan suddenly charged forward. He sent an alloy punch that struck the face of the male yer holding Jiang JinYuan hostage. Immediately, his face caved in with the nose and eyes copsing inward, and without a sound he dropped to the floor. The machete in his hand also fell.

    Liu Gan was waiting for this moment when the machete left Jiang JinYuan¡¯s neck, so Jiang JinYuan¡¯s life wasn¡¯t in any life threatening situation. That was when Liu Gan had no further concerns.

    ¡°You¡­¡± The sturdy-male yer said while feeling that the situation had turned sour. Raising his iron rod to prepare to fight, along with the two other males to surround Liu Gan. Unexpectedly, Liu Gan got even closer and strangled the male yer¡¯s neck. Only ¡°kacha¡± could be heard as the neck cracked, and the sturdy-male yer¡¯s eyes became dull. His body just dropped to the ground.

    The other two males raised their machetes and charged at Liu Gan. Liu Gan raised the body of the sturdy-male yer and and threw it at the two other males. The force of the thrown body crashed into the two male yers wielding machetes and sent them flying.

    Liu Gan was scary with the fire axe, but even empty-handed, Liu Gan could also be frightening. Both his hands and feet were no different from an iron w and an iron hammer. In addition, he was already level 5, so his strength and speed had increased dramatically. If there were other yers that were level 5, they still couldn¡¯t be a match against Liu Gan. So with these yers at level 4 and below, it was as easy as crushing ants.

    [Feldy: Finally some action. Don¡¯t they get bored talking so much?] [xDh20: Killing everyone! By the way, checkout the sweepstakes!]

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69: Vacant Room

    The two yers got knocked back upon impact, and they stumbled to get moving quickly. Feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong, they were trying to run and escape. However, Liu Gan sent the body of the sturdy male yer¡¯s corpse flying like a sandbag and urately knocked one of the male yers onto the ground.

    Afterwards, Liu Gan chased up to the male yer that escaped and kicked him in the back sending him head first into the wall of an alleyway. On the wall it left a streak of brain mush with blood trail, the body just fell onto the ground.

    ¡°Boss, let me live, we just met and grouped up, I don¡¯t really mean to kill you.¡± The sturdy male yer pleaded after seeing that Liu Gan easily killed the other three of hispanions. The sturdy male yer was frightened so much by the scene that he kept repeatedly begging for mercy.

    ¡°So now you want to ask for mercy. What happened to the courage and pride you were boasting before when you tried to kill me?¡± Liu Gan coldly replied. He walked up and used his fists to crush the study male¡¯s neck and let the body drop to the floor.

    Jiang JinYuan had seen Liu Gan¡¯s fearlessness before, but he was shocked watching him suddenly kill four people. In his eyes, he wondered what this person might have done in real life to be so familiar with killing someone. He couldn¡¯t be a professional hitman, right?

    In particr, thest yer was injured and begging for mercy; but Liu Gan didn¡¯t hesitate in killing him. He used his own hands to crush the yer¡¯s neck, and it was an extremely violent way of killing. After watching it all, Jiang JinYuan felt for a brief moment that this was hard to ept.

    ¡°I hate people who threaten me.¡± Liu Gan said after finishing up. He walked over and gave Jiang JinYuan a pat on the back.

    ¡°Yes, they weren¡¯t good people.¡± Jiang JinYuan was still trembling, as he replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so afraid of me. As long as you don¡¯t provoke me and you listen to my words, I won¡¯t do anything to you. I will do my best, so you can arrive at the main city¡¯sboratory. However, if I find out that you are hiding something from me or taking advantage of me, I will not be happy. When I¡¯m not happy, the consequences will be severe.¡± Liu Gan said as he scavenged the corpses for loot.

    ¡°I won¡¯t cause you any unhappiness.¡± Jiang JinYuan quickly replied to Liu Gan. Based on what he had heard Liu Gan say to the other yers and judging from Liu Gan¡¯s actions and expressions, Jiang JinYuan was so sure that Liu Gan was definitely trying to join them. He really didn¡¯t expect Liu Gan to fake all of it, just so he could get close to kill them all.

    This person was really meticulous as well as fierce. When he was resolving matters, he was calm and he wouldn¡¯t do a sloppy job. It was rare to see a person with this type of fierce role. Those who were able to be his friend were very fortunate, and those who would be his enemy would have terrible endings. Jiang JinYuan didn¡¯t need someone to spell it out for him to know which side to take.

    Liu Gan was only able to find a decent amount of food and water from looting as well as rope and other materials. Because of the limit of his backpack, he could only choose a few things he felt were useful to store in the backpack.

    The sky gradually darkened. Even though it didn¡¯t rain yet, the sound of thunder could be heard and shes of lightning could be seen. Getting ambushed by those 5 yers was a short dent in his time frame, and Liu Gan tried his best to bring Jiang JinYuan into the building after resolving the issue.

    After looting, Liu Gan took the probing instrument and scanned San Xing Corporation¡¯s building. He obtained the location of the zombies that were dispersed throughout. Liu Gan investigated the locations, and he found an appropriate entry point. It was through therge building 2nd floor open window, on the device it seems like an empty room without any zombies guarding.

    The window was at least six to seven meters off the ground. The buildings external surface was very slippery, so it was impossible to scale. This didn¡¯t faze Liu Gan at all. He took out his rope and measured the approximate distance, and then he tied the end of the rope to his fire axe. He then tossed the axe into the window, tugging tightly on the other end of the rope until the fire axe was lodged onto something in the room. Then, he proceeded to climb up.

    Previously, when Liu Gan went rock climbing, he was experienced in rope climbing techniques. With his improved strength, Liu Gan scaled the building with ease as he pulled on the dangling rope. The only annoyance was that his current alloy metal limbs added more weight to his body, If the rope material wasn¡¯t sturdy, then it would snap with his weight.

    Luckily, the rope didn¡¯t break yet. Liu Gan used a mere 10 seconds to climb up to the top. If the rope was to break, he was prepared mentally, so that when hended, it would do the least amount of damage. Right now with his body¡¯s quality, even falling six or seven meters down, he needed to be in the right posture when hended to minimize damage.

    Seeing that Liu Gan easily climbed the dangling rope six or seven meters up from the window, Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he questioned what type of person Liu Gan was. Now he understood why Liu Gan would want to remain in [The Trembling World] and refuse to return to the real world. Perhaps this type of world was better suited for people like him to survive in.

    After climbing to the second floor, Liu Gan peeked in the window. He discovered that it was a washroom, and within it there were no detected zombies. However, the noise from throwing the fire axe would have attracted the zombies¡¯ attention. So the moment Liu Gan reached the window, there was a zombie with rotten flesh from the mouth to the ear that charged into the bathroom at Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan naturally didn¡¯t give it a chance to bite. At the same moment he climbed through the window, he gave a good kick at the zombie, and itnded backwards on the floor. Liu Gan rushed forward and stomped at it¡¯s neck, which broke it. Thus, it ending the life of the zombie.

    After confirming that there were no other zombiesing, Liu Gan walked over to lock the washroom door. Then, he walked back to the window to let Jiang JinYuan tie the rope to his waist, so he could climb from the ground below.

    Jiang JinYuan wasn¡¯t as nimble as Liu Gan. He tried his best to climb upwards, but he soon found himself out of breath unable to climb up. At the same time, a few zombies in an alleyway nearby started charging towards Jiang JinYuan, who was hanging in midair.

    Jiang JinYuan panicked and tried his best to pull himself up two times. But most likely since he was too nervous, not only did he not climb up, but he slid back down a bit both times. The iing zombies moved at a very fast pace, and in a few moments, they were right by Jiang JinYuan¡¯s side. One zombie reached out with its ws and bloody mouth, as it attempted to reach Jiang JinYuan.

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70: Backup power source

    Liu Gan felt that something wasn¡¯t right, so he rushed towards the window and used his legs as leverage against the windowsill to pull on the rope with both of his hands. He was trying his best to pull Jiang JinYuan up toward him.

    Right when the zombie wed at Jiang JinYuan, Liu Gan¡¯s tug boosted Jiang JinYuan up half a meter, and Jiang JinYuan narrowly avoided infection.

    Jiang JinYuan also mounted both his leg along the building¡¯s exterior, so the zombies wouldn¡¯t scratch his legs. However, there was a very stubborn middle-aged female zombie that kept jumping upward and reaching for his bum. She was able to w off arge piece of cloth, and Jiang JinYuan was almost infected.

    Once again, the middle-aged female zombie tried jumping and wing at Jiang JinYuan, but Liu Gan mustered up enough strength to pull up Jiang JinYuan another half meter. By the time Jiang JinYuan reached the top, his clothes were soaked through. This was his first life-threatening situation. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan pulling him upward with brute force, then Jiang JinYuan would have ended up within the ws of those zombies. His demise would¡¯ve been horrifying.

    These zombies couldn¡¯t reach Jiang JinYuan by jumping, so they could only watch frustratedly from below. Unwilling to move on, they focused their res at Jiang JinYuan. Just in case Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t hold on or Liu Gan let go, then they would have a great feast if Jiang JinYuan crashed into them.

    Jiang JinYuan once again tried to climb upwards, only to find out that he was so nervous from before that he didn¡¯t have any extra strength left. He simply couldn¡¯t pull himself up. Since Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t climb up himself, Liu Gan could only continue pulling Jiang JinYuan bit by bit using brute force. The moment Jiang JinYuan finally climbed through the window, both of them were exhausted. They sat with their backs to the wall of the window to recharge their strength.

    ¡°You wore pink colored boxers.¡± Liu Gan asked curiously while eyeing the gaping hole in Jiang JinYuan¡¯s pants that was ripped open by the female zombie.

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t enjoy wearing boxers bought from a shopping mall. This is hand-sewn by my wife, and at that time, she could only purchase this color of cloth.¡± The boxers¡¯ color was supposed to remain hidden, no one would be able to see it unless it was ripped. This was an embarrassment.

    ¡°You have a good wife.¡± Liu Gan said to Jiang JinYuan and gave him a thumbs up.

    ¡°Yes, she is very virtuous person.¡± Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t help but smile as he said that. Liu Gan was so cold with him this whole time, so this type of casual conversation between them wasn¡¯t something Jiang JinYuan was used to.

    As they were conversing, a sh of white light from lightning cast a shadow through the window, which was followed by deafening thunder that sounded like a bombardment nearby. Jiang JinYuan got startled and trembled from the surprise. Closely following the thunder wererge droplets of rain water that sshed against the window panel, creating a rustling noise that was carried by the gust of wind.

    ¡°Luckily, we made it into the building before it started raining outside. The rain turned into a torrential downpour after the sudden scare from sh of lightning .¡± Jiang JinYuan said after retreating a few steps away from the window. He rejoiced from the recent turn of events, as he said to Liu Gan. If the both of them were still outside, they would definitely be soaked from head to toe.

    ¡°If you stay here after awhile, you will get used to the rain from the thunderstorm.¡± Liu Gan replied to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Does this ce have thunderstorms frequently?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s often, but it rained yesterday. It will also rain again today. It was almost around the same time too.¡± Liu Gan looked out as the raindrops started falling more rapidly. It reminded Liu Gan of the very day he was trapped upon the billboard.

    Especially since the lightning was active for at least half an hour, it was a moment that Liu Gan would never forget for as long as he lived.

    Apanying the thunderous sounds were shes of lightning and a torrential downpour. The sky quickly darkened. The ray of light in the building also started to fade away at dusk. Jiang JinYuan was able to calm down a bit after entering the building through the window. But as the darkness overtook the faint light, he became nervous. He didn¡¯t have much time to regain hisposure ever since the zombies tried to turn him.

    [The Trembling World] was slowly but surely bing more and more frightening to him. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan, he would¡¯ve died a few times over and been unable to move further on.

    Liu Gan looked at the time and let Jiang JinYuan use the PDA to sweep the surroundings. After probing the building surroundings, he found it hard to distinguish the the dense clusters of zombies. Jiang JinYuan yed with the PDA for a bit, and he chose the setting that showed the floor n of the zombies on their floor. Now, the PDA screen cleared up a lot more, and they could clearly tell the cement of the zombies on their floor.

    Even if the probing instrument could scan every ten minutes, the zombie¡¯s location could suddenly change within these ten minutes. Still, the instrument was better than relying on Liu Gan¡¯s senses. As of this moment, every zombie on the second floor could be seen on the PDA. As long as they could avoid the crowded gatherings in certain areas, they could naturally bypass them. This small amount of zombies posed no threat to Liu Gan.

    If they left this floor to another floor, they could use the newly scanned data to analyze. If it would help thempare the amount of zombies between the new data and old data, then it is worth analyzing.

    ¡°You said the high-technology gear and stat-improving drugs were around here. So where would they stash the items in this ce?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan in a whisper, as they reached the staircase.

    ¡°We should first restore the building¡¯s electrical system and then plug the PDA into the building¡¯s operating system to download the majority of the building n. This way it would be much easier to scout for the high-technology gear and stat-improving drugs.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan. Even though he said that, his alternate motive for restoring the building¡¯s power was to use themunication system in addition to helping Liu Gan find the goods.

    Once themunication system was restored, Jiang JinYuan could take advantage of it andmunicate with the main city¡¯sboratory. Perhaps they could send out an airne or ship to take him to the main city¡¯sboratory, so he couldplete his mission. That way, his daughter and wife could receive thepany¡¯s benefits.

    ¡°You feel like you can reinstate this building¡¯s electrical system? The city¡¯s electric power nt has already stopped operating.¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan strangely.

    ¡°San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratory definitely has a backup electrical power source. I can download the information from this terminal.¡± Jiang JinYuan looked around and replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Where does the building¡¯s backup electrical power sourcee from, and how do we start the backup power source?¡± Liu Gan asked as he questioned its credibility.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71: Unable to see five fingers

    ¡°Generally speaking, the building¡¯s electrical machines and backup power source should also be located underground to avoid radiation. It could also be in basement level 1 or basement level 2 type locations.¡± Jiang JinYuan just remembered as he replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°So, we should head downwards and not upwards.¡± Liu Gan responded to Jiang JinYuan¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded.

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll head downstairs and look for the building¡¯s backup power source. After regaining the electric power to operate the building¡¯s master operating system, you can download arge portion of theyout for the building and search for theboratory.¡± Liu Gan recapped to confirm the next step of the n, as they both headed to go down the stairs.

    Jiang JinYuan followed closely behind Liu Gan. With each step he took down the steps, he nervously looked upwards and around. Even if Liu Gan was walking in front of him, he still didn¡¯t feel very safe. He was afraid that in between the floors, a sudden rush of zombies would possibly appear in these dimly lit stairs. By that time, even if Liu Gan was brave, it was unlikely that he could protect both Jiang JinYuan and himself.

    However, the fire escape staircase was very peaceful and after going down three flights of stairs, they hadn¡¯t even encountered a single zombie. After reaching the first floor, the PDA started to automatically readjust the indicators to reflect the zombies on the floor. Based on the indicators, the first floor lobby had at least a dozen zombies wandering about. Near the exit by the metal door three zombies were standing guard outside. Luckily, the two of them didn¡¯t need to enter into the lobby, and they could continue heading down to the basement. They proceeded to the building¡¯s basement level 1 and headed into the parking lot.

    Originally, the weather wasn¡¯t that great, and the light sourceing in was very low, so it was dimly lit. As they headed lower, the source of light would only be fainter. Everything around them seemed to release an eerie sinister feeling. In addition, they heard the moaning of zombies both near and far. This caused people¡¯s concentration to waver and be nervous.

    The danger and the secrets thaty underground were all unknown factors to be discovered by these two.

    Liu Gan pulled out the shlight that he found earlier in the minimart and carefully illuminated the stairs as they went down. ording to the PDA indicator for basement level 1, the exit had at least 4 or 5 zombies wandering on this floor.

    Although Liu Gan was level 5, his strength had improved quite a bit. Right now, facing off with 4 to 5 zombies was a piece of cake. The only factor that limited his ability was the setting within a small, dark, and narrow room. If he wasn¡¯t careful, the zombies could infect him by biting him. On the other hand, he had to protect Jiang JinYuan as he was the treasure guide and the only one who could use the PDA. Knowing this, Liu Gan had to be extra careful in everything he did.

    After reaching basement level 1, the stairs can continued proceeding downward. It seemed like there were more levels going deeper like basement level 2 or possibly beyond that. However, it was too dark to see further down.

    Basement level 1 was the parking lot, ording to Jiang JinYuan and San Xing Corporation¡¯s construction design characteristics. The electrical machinery and backup power source couldn¡¯t possibly be on basement level 1. So he suggested to Liu Gan to continue heading downwards. Liu Gan didn¡¯t have any objections, so they both continued. By the time they reached basement level 2, the stairs reached the end, and they couldn¡¯t continue further down.

    If this undergroundboratory resided deep within the building, these stairs wouldn¡¯t be the way down to it.

    Exiting the fire escape stairs was a long interior hallway. By the time they reached this area, their surroundings were pitch ck. They could extend their hand, but it would be so dark that they couldn¡¯t even see their five fingers. Liu Gan had his senses strengthened, especially his eyesight, but even in this darkness he couldn¡¯t see clearly. He was like a cat that relied on partial darkness to distinguish objects. But upon experiencing this type ofplete darkness, he was more like a blind person unable to see anything due tocking light sources.

    Right now, Liu Gan had to rely on the shlight¡¯s weak ray of light to check out the surroundings. However, the shlight¡¯s brightness amongst the dark setting was a huge contrast that could attract the attention of zombies. So Liu Gan was very reluctant in leaving the shlight on in this dark hallway. asionally, he would turn on the shlight and shine it on his surroundings and then proceed to move forward by relying on his sense of touch.

    This pitch-ckness freaked Jiang JinYuan out, and he had goosebumps ever since walking down the stairs. It was as if he was a child relying on an adult, and he held onto Liu Gan¡¯s arm to avoid getting lost in the dark.

    Amongst searching in this pitch-ckness, it reminded Liu Gan of an earlier moment when he was ying a frightening game. In the game, he knew the dangers that were within the dark, yet he could only continue forward.

    Luckily, the PDA was very helpful, but it couldn¡¯t beat having eyesight. So they could only proceed forward and let any monsters in the dark ambush them.

    ording to the PDA, in the basement level 2, the hallway didn¡¯t have any zombies. Only when they reached the end of the hallway by the metal door were two zombies waiting on the other side. Other than these two zombies, the whole basement level 2 floor oddly didn¡¯t have any other zombies. So knowing this, they can headed toward the metal door at the end of the hallway. They went to kill the two zombies, which meant basement level 2 was somewhat safe.

    Even though it was somewhat safe, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t exin his faint feeling of uneasiness. It was like the calm before the storm. The dangers that he was about to face unsettled him. However, since they already arrived at this location, they couldn¡¯t just leave without getting anything.

    After arriving at the metal door near the end of the hallway, a key wasn¡¯t required. It opened simply by turning the door lock, and the noise created from opening the door attracted the two nearby zombies over. However, the two zombies didn¡¯t pose a threat to Liu Gan anymore. After shining the light for a little bit, Liu Gan took two steps and sent one of the zombies flying. Then with the fire axe he crushed the skull of the other zombie.

    The zombie that was sent flying had its pelvic bone shattered, so it was unable to move. It could only crawl on the floor toward Liu Gan. Liu Gan walked a few steps and crushed the zombie¡¯s neck.

    Based on the two zombies¡¯ clothing, they seemed to be this level¡¯s security guards and were designated to guard here.

    ¡°If this epidemic was caused by the blood rain, then why did these two on-duty security guard that were isted from the outside world be infected. How about the colossal zombie?¡± Liu Gan shined his light on the two zombie corpses as he asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°This I don¡¯t know.¡± Jiang JinYuanughed lightly in embarrassment. He got close to Liu Gan and retrieved the PDA. Even though it showed that there were no zombies nearby, he still had an unexinable fear.

    Humans were naturally afraid of the dark, and this fear was innate. But this ce was really just too dark.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t ask any further, and he shined the light to the four corners to see the situation.

    Basement level 2 wasn¡¯t a parking lot, and after exiting the hallway was this safety check area. These two security guards were responsible for the safety check. After the security check, another metal door was situated a few meters ahead. The safety check was only an empty shell. It seemed like to enter the basement level 2 secret area, they must pass through the heavy-duty metal door in front of them.

    [xDh20: Sorry for the dy, lost two trantorsst week, one came back. It¡¯s just me tranting and one editor. *sadface*]

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72: Electrical Door Lock

    Liu Gan searched the security guards¡¯ bodies and found two police truncheons. He went to their work counter to search a bit, but he didn¡¯t find anything useful, especially not a powerful weapon like a handgun.

    It seemed in this world was simr to the real world where gun control was very strict. It seemed like the only ce to obtain a gun or firearm would be to go to the police station or local army camp.

    After searching for a little bit, Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan once again stood in front of the metal door. Using the shlight as light, he investigated and came up with the conclusion that the door was opened by swiping a card. But because there was no electricity, the card swiping system was unable to function, so the door remained in its shut and locked state.

    ¡°It looks like this ce isn¡¯t the location of the backup power source. It seems to be the ce to store top secret materials. Why don¡¯t we go up to the parking lot to look around?¡± Jiang JinYuan said to Liu Gan as he shined the shlight around. It seemed like he was starting to regreting down here.

    ¡°How can I when the treasures are almost within my grasp?¡± Liu Gan said in a very excited tone. Basement level 2, with its security clearance and the heavy-duty metal door, was almost too obvious that this was the typical setting for a secret area that was hidden away for treasured goods.

    ¡°Yeah, perhaps there might be valuable products behind that door, but this heavy-duty metal door won¡¯t operate without electricity.¡± Jiang JinYuan scratched his head at this problem.

    ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s a different method to open this heavy-duty metal door, and I still feel that the backup power reserve was behind this heavy-duty metal door. So after the power loss, this door automatically locked itself preventing any repair technicians from entering,¡± Liu Gan guessed.

    ¡°Since this heavy-duty metal door won¡¯t open, we should go back upstairs to the parking lot to look around. We might find the electric generator room within the parking lot. Once we turn on the electricity, we cane back here to try again.¡± Jiang JinYuan suggested to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan definitely didn¡¯t want to leave after getting this far, so he took two steps back. Then, he charged forward and with onerge leap, he kicked the heavy-duty metal door. The metallic door just produced a loud ringing sound, but the kick wasn¡¯t enough to knock it open.

    Even though Liu Gan created such a loud noise, the location was very hidden. The additional hallways had doors to barricade the sound within, so the zombies upstairs wouldn¡¯t hear the sound from below. Essentially, this ce was sound-proof.

    ¡°The metal door is very thick, so relying on brute force won¡¯t kick it open.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

    ¡°There is definitely another way to open this door,¡± said Liu Gan, refusing to give up as he looked again.

    ¡°Perhaps we can use my PDA as a power source to charge up the card swiping system. After wiring it up, we would still need an identification card, fingerprints, and iris authentication.¡± Jiang JinYuan said after checking out the electronic panel by the metal door.

    ¡°Identification card. Would this work?¡± Liu Gan recalled as he pulled out a card from deep within his backpack. It was one of the three identification cards that he obtained from the yellow-checkered shirt male and a female. He showed the picture to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Yes, this is the correct identification card, but you are still missing the fingerprint and iris authentication. How about this? Let me try to connect the PDA to the electric panel that controls the doorlock to see if it will be enough to start up the panel.¡± Jiang JinYuan was very doubtful that it would open, but he knew that Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t give up that easily. So Jiang JinYuan could only do his best to support Liu Gan, and in the meantime, Jiang JinYuan would investigate the panel by the metal door.

    ¡°Do you need to open up the exterior shell?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Yes, but there¡¯s no appropriate tool.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded.

    Liu Gan pulled out metal pliers, screwdrivers, and other simr tools. Jiang JinYuan yed with the panel and tools for a bit, but it was to no avail.

    ¡°First, I need to remove this outer shell, but these tools are not appropriate for that job.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined.

    Liu Gan frowned, then for a brief moment, he stuck out his hand. ¡°BAM!¡± In one palm strike upon the panel¡¯s exterior shell, he was able to crack the stic exterior shell.

    [xDh20: LOL, I died when he did this. Guess he really wants to go in.]

    ¡°It¡¯s fine now. I only need to find the electric supply wire now.¡± Jiang JinYuan quickly blocked Liu Gan, so he couldn¡¯t do any more damage to the lock. Jiang JinYuan held on to the screwdriver and weaved it in between the crushed stics and wires. On the inside of the panel, he picked out several wires that were red, ck, and yellow in color.

    After separating the wires, Jiang Jin Yuan took apart his PDA¡¯s back cover. Carefully, he connected the PDA with the main electric supply line.

    ¡°The PDA uses rechargeable batteries, right?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°It uses sr energy to recharge, so if it¡¯s a sunny day, then it will recharge very quickly to full energy. Once full, this high energy rechargeable battery canst around three days.¡± Jiang JinYuan messed with the PDA¡¯s monitor, then pulled out a very thin sr panel for Liu Gan to check out.

    ¡°Oh, I see now.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    Jiang JinYuan fiddled for a little longer, and he was able to start up the metal door by hooking up the PDA as an electrical outlet. Liu Gan passed over the identification card for swiping, but the red blinker kept shing to indicate that its clearance wasn¡¯t high enough.

    ¡°Try this identification card.¡± Liu Gan pulled out a different card to hand over to Jiang JinYuan. This identification card had a picture of a 50-year-old male, and based on his seniority, his authority must be higher.

    Jiang JinYuan swiped the card again, but this time it worked as the lights lit up green. Next was the fingerprint authentication.

    ¡°Where did you get this identification card, and do you have the person¡¯s fingerprints and iris. We can¡¯t open the door without those.¡± Jiang JinYuan said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Fingers and eyeballs.¡± Liu Gan suddenly thought of the vials Pan Hua gave to him. It was left behind by the female San Xing worker. The vial had the writings incubator bottle on it. It couldn¡¯t possibly have the fingers and eyeballs.

    Liu Gan found the small vial and gave it to Jiang JinYuan. Jiang JinYuan was astonished as Liu Gan was so resourceful, but with little hesitation he opened the vial cover.

    Of course, a finger and eyeball were floating inside.

    ¡°Where did you get these things?¡± Jiang JinYuan curiously asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I picked it up off the floor.¡± Liu Gan replied.

    Jiang JinYuan figured that Liu Gan didn¡¯t want to share details, so he didn¡¯t continue questioning. With his bare hands, he took out the finger and requested napkins from Liu Gan to wipe it off. Then, he pressed the finger onto the verification area.

    A green light lit up once again, and the iris authentication was next.

    Jiang JinYuan used the same napkin to wipe the iris dry, and then he aimed the iris at the eye scanner. After scanning, a red light lit up. Clearly, it was a sign that it failed the authentication!

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73: Unknown Organism

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°There are small, fragmented pieces of tissue here¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan found the source of the problem as he examined the eyeball. Carefully, he rolled up a thick piece of paper to remove the particle before adjusting the angle of the eyeball for the iris scanner again.

    This time the scanning was sessful, and the electronic lock opened with a ¡°Beep!¡± while echoes reverberated throughout the ground. Apart from the sound of the door, there were several tongue-like deadbolts that retracted from the lock. At the same time, the heavy-duty metal door revealed a small crack. Clearly this door didn¡¯t swing inwards; it was the type that slid open by pulling.

    ¡°Alright, now just use your brute strength to pull it open. My PDA can generate electricity for the door lock, but it won¡¯t be enough to make the door swing wide open.¡± Jiang JinYuan said as he put the eyeball back into the incubator bottle and capped it.

    Liu Gan dug his fingers into the slim crack of the metal door frame and tried to pull it open, but the opening was simply too narrow. He couldn¡¯t get a grip on the edge.

    After thinking of a possible solution, Liu Gan forced the sharp edge of the fire axe into the crack before using it as a lever to widen up the doorway. With that method, his fingers would at least manage to get a better grip. Gathering his strength and with Jiang JinYuan¡¯s help, the both of them were able to move the heavy-duty metal door open ten centimeters, which was just enough for them to slip in.

    After slipping through the metal door, Liu Gan peeked inside to make sure the coast was clear. Afterwards, he proceeded to close the metal door until only a two centimeter gap remained. His reasoning behind this was that by the time they returned, they wouldn¡¯t want hidden zombies to wander around and ambush them as they leave.

    After closing the heavy-duty metal door, Liu Gan took his shlight and waved it around. The inside room was arge underground warehouse with a height of six meters, and the ceiling was lined withplex pipelines. Storage shelves, which held a wide variety of instruments that Liu Gan didn¡¯t recognize, were on the ground. There were also boxes that contained junk information.

    The warehouse wasn¡¯t particrlyrge, but the junk ced inside amounted to a lot. As Liu Gan walked into the room, he immediately tried to find any high-technological gear, stat-improving drugs, canned goods, or any food rted objects.

    After searching the room, Liu Gan decided that this warehouse didn¡¯t contain any canned goods. Everything within the room was either facility equipment or documents. It was as if there weren¡¯t any useful items to be found with the exception of a crowbar located near the wall.

    ¡°You said I would be able to find treasures in this location?¡± Liu Gan asked disappointedly as he saw Jiang JinYuan walking back to him empty-handed as well.

    ¡°These are all worn out instruments and not high-technological gear.¡± Jiang JinYuan was clearly embarrassed. His ulterior motive ining to thisboratory was to take advantage of Liu Gan¡¯s suspicion, but since they couldn¡¯t find anything good, he felt uncertain.

    At this moment, unsure of whether if it was from underground or another ce, a subtle rumbling sound could be heard. Normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to hear it, but only Liu Gan who had all of his stats improved, especially his hearing, could.

    ¡°Can you hear that rumbling sound?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t hear anything.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably from the thunder outside,¡± Liu Gan guessed.

    This ce severely disappointed Liu Gan because of all the work he had done to get in. Just as he was prepared to call Jiang JinYuan to leave and resume their search for the backup power source, he suddenly thought of the PDA probing device. He told Jiang JinYuan to start it up and scan this underground warehouse.

    After scanning the location, Liu Gan saw an anomaly on the PDA. It was a bright yellow dot. Although it was very dim, if he hadn¡¯t looked closely, he would have easily missed it.

    ording to what Jiang JinYuan had said before, green meant non-infected lifeforms, red represented infected lifeforms, blue represented local survivors, but what did yellow represent?

    Next to the yellow dot was a -5 symbol. This represented that the yellow dot was at least ten meters below the warehouse.

    ¡°A yellow dot on the PDA shows that the master system has ssified the organism as an unknown category. This shouldn¡¯t be an infected zombie or colossal zombie. If it were, then it would be a red color or deep red color,¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan followed the direction of the PDA to an area indicated right above the yellow dot. They found that this location had several storage shelves that were lined up and obstructing something. Previously, when the both of them were searching this location, they didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. They only felt that the junk inside was not very important. No one would¡¯ve thought that this would be the hidden entrance to a secret space.

    The yellow dot represented an unknown organism, so there was a secret location here.

    Could it be a guardian boss that guarded a legendary weapon? Liu Gan couldn¡¯t stop thinking of all the possibilities.

    Without the guidance of the PDA, Liu Gan would never have seen the abnormality within these storage shelves. Come to think of it, this underground warehouse had a safety check and on top of that, it required high security clearance before being allowed to enter. With this much security for an underground warehouse, this wasn¡¯t your normal secret hideout. So after getting this far, it must be searched thoroughly.

    Liu Gan relocated the products on the shelf to another spot, and then with his strength, he proceeded to pull away the shelves. A square shaped entrance that led to an empty space was located behind the shelves. Only a single center column adorned with decorative patterns at least one meter in diameter was inside this space.

    ¡°What does this mean?¡± Liu Gan walked as he entered the square shaped entrance into the cavern and then circled the column twice.

    Liu Gan carved his axe into the decorative pir a few times before he stopped. The core was made of reinforced concrete, and it seemed like a sturdy pir. Perhaps there was nothing behind this storage shelf, and the shelves were only ced around the pir for decorative purposes.

    This disappointed Liu Gan, and as he retreated a few steps, something beneath his feet didn¡¯t feel right. So he walked around the whole area, stomping his feet as he walked.

    As he stomped on the floor, ¡°boom boom¡± sounds were generated. Liu Gan was analyzing the sounds every single time to distinguish any discrepancy. Ultimately, he stood by a tile that he confirmed had a slight difference in sounding from the neighboring tiles.

    Liu Gan felt the edges of the floor tile, but he didn¡¯t feel anything abnormal. After thinking for a little bit, he smashed the tile with the sledgehammer and as much strength as he could muster. The floor tile and the cement beneath it crumbled into pieces. After shifting away these shattered fragments of tile and cement, a circr metal door appeared beneath the rubble.<hr>

    xDh20: Only a few days left for the sweepstakes!

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74: Vanish<hr>

    Under normal circumstances, this hidden contraption would have opened with electricity. The floor tile would then reveal the location of a hidden metal door. Now that the building had lost power, even if Liu Gan couldn¡¯t find the switch, all he had to do was use brute strength to break the floor tile to find the metal door.

    ¡°What do you think San Xing Corporation¡¯s biological researchboratory would have stashed here in the Level 2 basement? Would there be an unknown organism hiding there?¡± Liu Gan asked for Jiang JinYuan¡¯s opinion.

    ¡°Should we not go down then because nobody knows what danger lies below? We don¡¯t even know if this unknown organism will attack.¡± Jiang JinYuan was trying to convince Liu Gan to change his mind.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that way. All you need to do is think of a way to open up the lock.¡± Liu Gan interrupted Jiang JinYuan halfway. It was as if Liu Gan gave him amand.

    Jiang JinYuan had no choice, so he could only investigate the metal door and nearby areas. Perhaps, it was due to a slight press on a hidden button, but a panel revealed itself. It was another type of electrically powered metal door lock. Just like before, Liu Gan broke the outer sheet metal for the panel. Then Jiang JinYuan pulled cables from the interior and proceeded to connect the cables into his PDA¡¯s ports.

    The electric door lock lit up, evidently since it obtained the power it needed from the PDA. Jiang JinYuan¡¯s PDA provided the correct electrical current to the panel.

    However, this time the panel revealed a frame for a password and virtual keyboard. It seemed like this time the password had to be manually entered to open the electric lock. The password seemed lengthy with up to 20 digits of numbers and letters.

    ¡°Do you happen to have the password?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Liu Gan shook his head.

    ¡°Well I don¡¯t have it either. I guess we can¡¯t continue any further ahead.¡± Jiang JinYuan shrugged.

    ¡°You promised that once we arrived at theboratory, we would be able to find some high-technological gear and stat-improving drugs for me. Now that I have escorted you here, you can¡¯t deliver that promise? Do you know the consequences of tricking me?¡± Liu Gan said threateningly as his expression changed dramatically. He withdrew his Fire Axe, which was hanging on his waist into his hand. It felt as if at a moment¡¯s notice, Liu Gan was going to slice Jiang JinYuan in half.

    ¡°Calm down. There¡¯s no need to rush. I am thinking of another way.¡± Jiang JinYuan said quickly. Then he proceeded to get busy. This life-threatening moment reminded Jiang JinYuan of the time when Zhao Hui and ChenChen were turned into human sticks. Their expressions were horrifying. Jiang JinYuan was hesitant on stalling any longer, as Liu Gan would really cut him up and turn him into a human stick too.

    Jiang JinYuan once again took apart the PDA¡¯s back cover and thoroughly pulled out wires. From the electronic panel, he pulled out a thin wire that connected to the port of the PDA motherboard. Then, he started some application on his PDA. A shing sequence started shining with a flood of green lights and numbers flowing on the screen like a waterfall. Procedures on the interface panel also flickered with non-stop blinking lights and fluctuating numbers in the codebox.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing this was manufactured by San Xing Corporation. The Data Interface could still be used. I am currently running a decryption procedure for all of San Xing Corporation¡¯s algorithms. It seems like this is an effective solution to this password problem. We will be able to hack into the door panel and open up the door.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan could only stare at the PDA¡¯s screen without making a sound. After ten minutes, Liu Gan started to get antsy while the PDA still flickered with numbers and letters on the screen. Then, it finally stopped on the first letter, and the lights stop flickering. It was able to breakthrough the password¡¯s first letter.

    ¡°After the first letter, then everything that follows will be a lot quicker.¡± Jiang JinYuan was finally able to rx.

    As Jiang JinYuan had said, after sessfully breaking through the password¡¯s first letter, the following twenty other digits were decrypted at an even faster speed. Every ten seconds or so, it was able to crack another digit. After a few minutes, the password was all filled and produced a ¡®Ding!¡¯ with the lights glowing green. It also requested the identity card notification.

    After the identification card, it requested the fingerprint scanner and the iris authentication afterwards. Following the same procedure used on the previous door, all the authentication tests sessfully passed. The metal door made an unlocking sound ¡®Ka-Ching¡¯. It was the sound of deadbolts retracting, and then a small crack appeared between the circr metal door and the ground.

    ¡°As I said before, the PDA can only give energy to the door lock, but it is unable to provide electricity for the mechanisms that moved the door. This metal door is even more difficult and heavier than the one before. This door doesn¡¯t have the handle, so opening it manually seems impossible.¡± Jiang JinYuan felt the edges of the metal door as he said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Liu Gan said as he jammed a crowbar into the crack between the door and the ground. Then with several bursts of strength, he would try to pry it loose, but the end result was only half a centimeter difference. In addition, the crowbar was starting to deform and bend. This metal door was definitely thicker and heavier than thest one. Normally the door was supposed to slide open smoothly, but right now it was not smooth at all. Without the support of electricity, normal tools would have a hard time pushing it open.

    Luckily Liu Gan¡¯s strength had increased many times, so if it didn¡¯t work the first time, he would attempt it again. Prying open the metal door wasn¡¯t a hard task to him, as it was only a question of when he could get it open.

    After continuously prying open the metal door several centimeters, Liu Gan shined his shlight down inside. He discovered that it was another room¡ªa very dark room that didn¡¯t seem like there were anything alive inside. Liu Gan shouted a few times and didn¡¯t hear a response from within.

    Previously with the probing instrument, the result was that there were no humans or zombies. Only the unknown organism existed there as indicated by the yellow dot on the PDA monitor thatid ten meters below ground.

    Once again, Liu Gan used his brute strength to pry open the door further, and hebined both of hands pushing open the door while his legs bnced his weight. After ten minutes of this continuous effort, the metal door opened up a passageway of ten centimeters. It was enough for a person to slide down into the passage.

    If it was the old Liu Gan, he definitely wouldn¡¯t have been able to pry open the sliding metal door. Only after he reached level 5, did his immense strength y an important role.

    Liu Gan looked at the time and then told Jiang JinYuan to probe the chamber below. However this time, the yellow dot mysteriously disappeared from the monitor!

    ¡°What happened? Why would the yellow dot vanish? Is the probing instrument faulty?¡± Liu Gan raised his eyebrow as he asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°The probing device shouldn¡¯t have any problems.¡± Jiang JinYuan said in a questioning tone.

    ¡°Then why was the scan result different from before?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, in fact¡­ I don¡¯t feelfortable with everything that¡¯s happened so far. If we go down, I feel like we might be in danger. How about we not go down?¡± Jiang JinYuan said with a horrific expression.

    It was unbearably dark in this underground chamber. The heart of darkness was like entering the mouth of a demon, which was ready to swallow any wayward adventurer.<hr>

    If you like what you read, upvote on novelupdates :D

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75: Istion<hr>

    Right at this moment, Liu Gan heard a rumbling sound again. Furthermore, since he was crouching near the passage opening, he heard this rumbling sound even clearer than before. He could already now determine that this rumbling sound didn¡¯t originate from the thunder outside, but it originated from at least ten meters deep underground.

    As to answer the question of what terrifying creature produced this kind of rumbling sound would be basically impossible. One would personally have to travel further downwards to be able to clearly investigate.

    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± Jiang JinYuan had a face full of dread as he asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I heard it. I also heard it earlier, but you didn¡¯t.¡± Liu Gan¡¯s face still showed an indifferent expression.

    ¡°Then, do we still have to go down!?¡± Jiang JinYuan scowled miserably as he asked Liu Gan. Finding a very formidable bodyguard for oneself had its advantages and disadvantages. If it weren¡¯t for Liu Gan, he simply couldn¡¯t even reach theboratory safely. Yet at the present moment, all of this was clearly not what he had wished for.

    Jiang JinYuan only wanted to restore this building¡¯s electricity andmunications equipment as quickly as possible. Then, he would get in contact with the main city¡¯sboratory, so that they could dispatch an aircraft or ship toe over and pick him up. This would allow him toplete his task for the San Xing Corporation, and what was meant for his wife and daughter was thergepensation as previously agreed upon.

    However, Liu Gan¡¯s only goal was for the both of them to risk going below into an underground world.

    ¡°Of course we¡¯re still going down. If there were an unknown organism inside, then it¡¯d be a good reason to be worrisome. But now that we know there isn¡¯t a single thing inside, what are you so afraid of?¡± Liu Gan shined the shlight onto Jiang JinYuan¡¯s face and then into the passage underground.

    Looking at the results from the PDA¡¯s disy, no person or zombie could be seen hidden inside, apart from that inexplicable disappearing yellow dot below the surface. But in order to prevent any idental mishaps from urring after entering, Liu Gan, nevertheless, again used his strength to push open the metal door several times. Now, the metal door was already open to about a hundred centimeters wide, so he could push it directly instead of using the crowbar.

    Even if Liu Gan considered it likely to encounter danger, he still decided to go down to investigate more. It was such a secret area, so who knew what powerful treasure could be found there? If one didn¡¯t take risks when ying a game, one would definitely not obtain any fabled legendary equipments.

    Only after pushing aside the metal door to a sufficient width, did Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan both finally descend down the metaldder very carefully into the bottom of the underground cavern. After entering the room, Liu Gan shined the shlight all around and, nevertheless, could not find any kind of door whatsoever.

    Could this be another secret enclosed chamber?

    ¡°This wall should have a mechanical door powered by electricity, but in this situation without any electricity, then it should be possible to push open.¡± Jiang JinYuan said to Liu Gan while pointing at a specific wall after he had examined all around the area. Although they were inside a game world, Jiang JinYuan was familiar with the designs of these special structures inside aboratory. Actually, thisboratory did not differ much from San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratory of the real world.

    Liu Gan walked over to take a look and felt what Jiang JinYuan said was true. At this moment, the entire wall he was facing was possibly just like a sliding door. Therefore, Liu Gan reached out with his hands to grab onto some part of the wall to try shaking it. He discovered that this sliding door was not as heavy as the previous metal doors, and also, there were even wheels underneath. He only used a little force to push the wall in front of him, and another opening appeared at once. The opening was at the corner of the room.

    Not long after the opening appeared, a beam of light suddenly appeared from the outside, and it was extremely bright and dazzling. Furthermore, the rumbling sound of a mechanical operation and the sound of electrical currents apanied the beam of light¡¯s appearance. Jiang JinYuan was frightened without warning and almost screamed out loud. Liu Gan seemed rtively more unperturbed, but he too was susceptible to the blinding light. As he had been enveloped in darkness, his eyes ufortably adjusted to the sudden appearance of the bright light.

    The bright light slowly dimmed, and Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan¡¯s vision adjusted after ten seconds. Only then did they discover a framework ofdders and tforms immediately on the other side of the trap wall beyond the opening. There were seven partitions leading to eightyers, and the zigzaggingdders descended more than ten meters downward to the ground floor of the cavern. This huge underground cavern happened to be underneath San Xing Corporation¡¯s hundred story building.

    After walking passed the trap wall facing the open cavern and upon walking up to the top of the tform that oversaw the cavern, you could see the center of everything. Previously the PDA monitor indicated that the center of the cavern should be the location of the yellow dot. There was a spherical or annr electromechanical system more than ten meters in diameter. The previous beam of light precisely originated from this huge system.

    If one looked carefully, it wasn¡¯t a spherical or annr mechanical system at all. Rather, there were 3 ring-shaped electromechanical devices joined together to form the sphere. These 3 rings were just slowly rotating, so it seemingly looked spherical.

    Just as the beam of light was gradually dimming, the 3 rotating rings were also slowing down. After they finished slowing down, Liu Gan could see a tform in the center of the spheroid, and a metallic cab was ced horizontally across the tform. If the yellow dot that appeared previously was meant to represent something, then it may be assumed that it should be located within that metallic cab now. Looking at the information from the PDA¡¯s scan, the location¡¯s coordinates matched identically.

    He just didn¡¯t know why the yellow dot suddenly disappeared.

    ¡°Have you seen anything simr before?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan. Before when he was ying another sci-fi game, Liu Gan also encountered this kind of huge high-tech electromechanical system. Now that he personally saw his circumstances in the presence of such a huge system up close, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel shocked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t, but I think those rings should be maic energy generators. This kind ofrge-scale maic energy array is often used for research, specifically designed to iste or shield some unstable substance.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan as he examined the gradually dimming beam of lighting from the spherical system.

    ¡°A maic energy generator system? Didn¡¯t you say the building¡¯s electricity supply was offline? Why did it produce such an intense light just now, and why is it still rotating?¡± Liu Gan continued to question Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°When we entered, a thunderstorm was raging outside. If I were to make an educated guess, the rooftop of this kind of tall building must have a lightning rod that extends several hundred meters straight up into the sky. Lighting in the sky is precisely one of the electrical power sources for this maic energy generator system.¡± Jiang JinYuan continued his analysis.

    ¡°This building¡¯s lightning rod really is something strange.¡± Liu Gan nodded a little. Previously, he always thought it was strange why this kind ofrge building attracted almost all of the lightning nearby. He had guessed whether or not thisrge building had some sort of secret that required this lightning, but he didn¡¯t expect that he had actually guessed correctly.<hr>

    If you enjoy this, be sure to upvote on NovelUpdates and remember to join the sweepstakes~

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76: Metallic Chest<hr>

    ¡°Why did we have to find such arge maic energy array here? What does this have to do with biochemical intelligence research? What kind of secret project were they researching? What kind of terrifying thing is trapped inside the maic energy array?¡± Jiang JinYuan mumbled to himself there as he stood up.

    At this moment, the maic energy array once again produced a brilliant white light, and the rumbling noise of the operation began afterwards. It was very clear that just now the top of the building acted as a lightning rod to absorb a surge of lightning, and it was channeled inside to power the maic energy array.

    ¡°The secret of all this should be located within the metallic chest surrounded by the maic array at the center of the tform. Do you have a way to stop this device? Perhaps we can find some useful things inside that metallic chest.¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan after adapting to the blinding white light that appeared moments ago.

    ¡°We still have time to leave right now, and whatever is trapped inside the maic energy array is definitely something very terrifying. There¡¯s a reason that it is trapped inside the maic energy array and never let out. If we let it out without careful consideration and mess up, then it can lead to certain disaster.¡± Jiang JinYuan again tried to persuade Liu Gan with a few words.

    ¡°Disaster? The entire world is already like this, so why are you still worried about what will lead to disaster?¡± Liu Gan had a very unconcerned expression. Even if his heart warned him of what terrifying thing was trapped within the metallic chest, he still couldn¡¯t help but fancy knowing everything inside. Could it perhaps be a unique legendary weapon?

    If this maic energy array was a refining tool used for a high-tech furnace, then the lightning drawn from the sky was the fuel for the refining tool that burned like fire from heaven. If the metallic chest doesn¡¯t produce a legendary weapon, then this trip wasn¡¯t worth the danger he undertook.

    Liu Gan had the `Mist Armor` covering his body, the strength from reaching Level 5, and substantially upgraded speed. Even if he were to encounter danger at some point, he still had confidence in himself to promptly escape the situation.

    ¡°If you must try it, then let us go down to take a look.¡± Jiang JinYuan was forced topromise. Although at this moment he felt unwilling and extremely afraid, he was a specialist in science and technology. To say that he waspletely uninterested in the metallic chest at the center tform of the maic energy array was impossible.

    Jiang JinYuan understood the saying ¡®curiosity killed the cat¡¯. Logically, he wasn¡¯t willing to continue taking any more risks. Now that he had been pressured into this situation by Liu Gan, he had no other choice but to bite the bullet.

    The metaldder zigzagged between eachyer, which had a small tform. Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan descended down around 7 stories when they finally reached the bottom of the underground cavern.

    Liu Gan first used the shlight to search all over the area, visually confirming the previous scan result. Indeed, there weren¡¯t any regr or colossal zombies down here. If there really were any dangerous creatures inside this underground cavern, then they would be inside that metallic chest on the center tform of the maic energy array.

    Shouldn¡¯t there be a guardian protecting this legendary weapon? He didn¡¯t know why the scan previously detected it, but afterwards, the scan couldn¡¯t detect it anymore.

    ¡°If we want to reach the center of the tform, we must first shut off the circuit breakers between the lightning rod and the maic energy array. Then, this kind of lightning rod won¡¯t conduct lightning into the maic energy array. Then, it will instead be safe to venture deeper into the underground cavern.¡± Jiang JinYuan said to Liu Gan after examining some workstations in the surrounding area of the maic energy array.

    ¡°Then, you can think of a way to shut off the circuit breakers.¡± Liu Gan nodded a little. Now that he was on the ground floor, the distance between the maic energy array was shortened, so he could feel the vast aura given off by the maism. He felt more shocked than when he was on thedder. This kind of enormous electrical machine instation produced a feeling of awe to those who didn¡¯t understand the logic of how to operate it.

    After Jiang JinYuan had searched all over the workstations, he walked up to a nearby electrical kit on the wall. He opened the kit and sure enough found a veryrge and thick circuit breaker inside. He took a hold of the circuit breaker¡¯s handle with both hands and pulled down with all of his strength.

    The main rumbling operation was due to the three huge revolving maic rings that gradually stopped. Even the bright light slowly dissipated away. Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan each had their own shlight and proceeded to walk closer to it.

    ¡°I have already pulled down the circuit breaker between the lightning rod and the maic energy array. Now, it should be safe inside the maic energy array.¡± Jiang JinYuan told Liu Gan.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure. If you¡¯re worried, we can wait for a little while and see if lightning is drawn into the maic energy array.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan after thinking for a while.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan retreated back towards thedder and sat down nearby. In order to ensure his safety, he decided to wait a while before proceeding.

    Jiang JinYuan felt restless. He turned on the shlight and went to examine the other electronic instations inside thisrge cavern. It was evident he was very interested in this equipment. Unfortunately, the conventional electricity was suspended; otherwise, he would stay here to mess around and investigate the equipment.

    After ten minutes or so, Liu Gan told Jiang JinYuan to conduct a scan with the PDA probing device to sweep the surroundings. Still, it could not detect the yellow dot from before. The maic energy array didn¡¯t power up and revolve. It seemed like Jiang JinYuan¡¯s work with the circuit breaker was able to disconnect the lightning rod from the maic energy array.

    ¡°I feel like it should be safe now. Should we go up and take a look?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, you go first. I will follow and protect you.¡± Liu Gan responded to Jiang JinYuan.

    After Jiang JinYuan had climbed up the tform, he walked up next to the metallic chest at the center of the tform. He used the shlight to thoroughly examine the chest. Liu Gan followed up the tform and stood behind Jiang JinYuan.

    The metallic chest in the center of the tform was about the size of a coffin. After examining it for a while, Jiang JinYuan tried to open the top te of the metallic chest. Because there was no electricity, the top metal te was very heavy and hard to open. Liu Gan walked over to help. The two of them had to use extreme force topletely open the top metal te.

    After the top metal te was opened, a transparent crystal cab was inside. After Liu Gan used the shlight to illuminate the contents, he unexpectedly found a woman lying inside the crystal cab.

    [xDh20: I¡¯m done. He finds a girl.]

    This woman had many wires connected to her head. Her eyes were closed, and she was wearing ck skintight clothing. She had a pretty face and figure, but her chest was not moving. This seemed to imply that she wasn¡¯t breathing at this moment. However, her skin had a healthy-looking color unlike that of a dead or infected body.<hr>

    xDh20: Upvote us on novelupdates if you enjoy!

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77: Reinforced muscles, steel bones<hr>

    Previously on the PDA, it had a yellow dot. It possibly detected this woman.

    ¡°Why did we find a woman? What is going on?¡± Liu Gan frowned. An expression of disappointment was all he could show. His original n was to kill the guardian beast and then obtain a legendary weapon. For example, he imagined he could obtain an ancientrge axe with dragon decor on it. In reality, what appeared was not what he expected, but it was a woman.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t happen to know more than you already knew.¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head. He searched around the crystal cab, and he quickly found the control for the panel. Then, he took a minute to figure out the controls. Afterwards, Liu Gan helped him destroy the surface cover, so the wires were essible.

    Jiang JinYuan found a few wire cords that he could connect to his PDA, so he could supply the panel with electricity from the electric circuit. Once he sessfully powered it, he was able to take control of the panel. The panel turned out to have many functions.

    ¡°She¡¯s in hibernation mode, and around every ten or so minutes, her heart would rhythmically beat once. Only when her heart is beating, did it indicate a lifeform. Previously, when we scanned, it showed a weakly lit yellow dot. Perhaps when we synced up, it synchronized with catching her heartbeat. Otherwise, we would have had no idea she existed here.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, what exactly is she?¡± Liu Gan asking Jiang JinYuan again. While hibernating, she was surrounded by a maic energy array, which was powered by lightning. Liu Gan didn¡¯t believe that this woman was ordinary. However, the real question was whether it was possible to benefit from finding her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know unless we wake her up and interrogate her.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan

    ¡°Wake her up? I feel like you should think of a way to get this cab door open, and then I can tie her up or dislocate her joints before continuing.¡± Liu Gan replied to Jiang JinYuan. This woman was just too strange, so it would be wise to be cautious.

    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± Jiang JinYuan pouted a little. Right when he was about to convince Liu Gan otherwise, a sound ¡®di di¡¯ wasing from the control panel near the edge of the crystal cab. The heartbeat and breathing frequency were on the indicator screen. Both were increasing and the blood pressure was rising as well. It seemed like the woman lying in hibernation mode within the crystal cab had been awoken.

    ¡°What did you do? Did you wake her up?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan. Quickly, he drew the fire axe from his waist into his hands.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything yet. I only supplied the control panel with electricity.¡± Jiang JinYuan was as confused as ever. Seeing how the situation changed, he ripped the cords connecting the PDA with the panel.

    ¡°She is already awakening.¡± Liu Gan shined his light onto the woman within the crystal cab.

    Jiang JinYuan walked over to take a look. Liu Gan was right. Lying within the cab, the woman opened her eyes wide, and she stared at Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan outside of the cab.

    She moved her eyeballs a few times, a clear sign that she was waking up. At the same time, the crystal cab¡¯s cover also split down the middle into two at the edge of the cab, and it naturally opened up.

    Liu Gan wasbat-ready as he eyed the woman from within the cab. Even though, he didn¡¯t immediately use his axe to chop her up, it could be said that he was ready for fight or flight.

    If it was a regr woman, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be so alert, but this woman has been entrapped within the lightning powered maic energy array. No matter how you looked at it, this definitely wouldn¡¯t be a normal woman.

    Jiang JinYuan smiled at the woman and waved his hand. The woman smiled back at Jiang JinYuan. So far, it didn¡¯t seem hostile.

    ¡°We should try tomunicate with her.¡± Jiang JinYuan suggested to Liu Gan in a whisper.

    ¡°Up to you.¡± Liu Gan signaled Jiang JinYuan with a gesture.

    The woman detached the the electrical cord from her head, and she slowly sat up. Her skintight clothing was possibly a metal texture since the electrical cords were attached directly to her skintight clothing.

    ¡°Who are you? Why were you lying here?¡± Jiang JinYuan approached cautiously while using his friendliest tone to question the woman.

    The woman was very calm originally, but then she abruptly stuck out her hand around Jiang JinYuan¡¯s neck. Then from the cab she stood up and held up Jiang JinYuan. It seemed like her strength was abnormal. Jiang JinYuan was strangted by the woman and lifted off the ground, unable to breathe and scream for help. He could only w at the forearm of the woman lifting him up. Then, Jiang JinYuan attempted to pry apart her fingers, but nothing he did made her move.

    ¡°Let him go!¡± Liu Gan felt that the situation had taken a turn for the worst and raised his axe high, charging toward the woman and releasing a warcry. To Liu Gan, Jiang JinYuan still had some use, so he couldn¡¯t let the woman kill him so soon.

    In one fluid motion, the woman tossed Jiang JinYuan onto the ground. Then from both sleeves, she unsheathed a sharp de and looked hostilely at Liu Gan.

    ¡°! Is this how you treat people who save you?¡± Liu Gan screamed his frustration. Then, he charged at the woman with the fire axe.

    The woman¡¯s movement was very quick. In one smooth sidestep, she was able to dodge Liu Gan¡¯s heavy strike. Then, with both of her arms and sharp des facing forward, she charged towards Liu Gan¡¯s body. Liu Gan retreated in a quick session of steps and was able to narrowly avoid the woman¡¯s series of strikes. Then, Liu Gan was able to find an opening and furiously kicked her body.

    The woman flew like a kite that had lost its string anchor. She flew a few meters, crashed into the maic rings, and thennded onto the tform¡¯s ground.

    Liu Gan released his breath. It seemed like this woman wasn¡¯t that formidable, it was just her movements were very quick.

    The womannded on the floor and did a backwards somersault beforending on her feet. Then, she started charging at Liu Gan once again.

    Liu Gan still felt uneasy¡­ His limbs were stronger than steel. Regr zombies that were kicked by his feet would end up with broken bones and be unable to move or get back up. This woman was able to endure his kick without any harm? Could it be that her whole body was made out of reinforced muscle or steel bones?

    The center of the tform was rather small, so Liu Gan had difficulty moving around. This woman with lightning fast movements had an advantage over Liu Gan. So the moment this woman charged at him, Liu Gan didn¡¯t hesitate to jump off the tform, 6 meters onto the ground floor. Hended sturdily onto the ground.

    After Liu Gan jumped, the woman followed suit and jumped. Liu Gan understood that this woman wa really malicious. So the moment shended onto the ground, Liu Gan charged at her with the axe. The woman used her de attachments on her arm to block. It was able to stiffly absorb Liu Gan¡¯s chop.

    Liu Gan retracted his axe, ?nd he was surprised to find that the moment both of their weapons shed, his short axe¡¯s de edge had a half-a-centimeter indentation.

    This woman¡¯s sleeve de was definitely created from some unknown metal. There was no way it could be this durable and sharp. If his body was pierced, there would definitely be a bloody hole.

    The woman blocked Liu Gan¡¯s attack, and then she stood up firmly on the ground. She took a few steps backward before she waved her sleeve de to attack while charging at Liu Gan.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78: Controlled<hr>

    The woman was almost always on the offensive and rarely blocked. Her attacking motion was extremely quick, and it looked well-practiced. Liu Gan was struggling to handle the mixture of real and feint blows together. Moreover, she didn¡¯t even look particrly tired. Even if Liu Gan struck with his short axe repeatedly, she didn¡¯t have any injuries. Also, even after Liu Gan sent her flying with a kick or throw, she immediately got up from the ground to continue fighting.

    A few minutester, Liu Gan was dripping with sweat under these kinds of concentrated attacks and couldn¡¯t support himself any longer. The woman¡¯s sleeve des struck his body many times, and fortunately, his ¡®Mist Armor¡¯ protected him from any critical injuries.

    If they were to continue fighting like this, she would eventually break open his ¡®Mist Armor.¡¯ At that time, Liu Gan would worry for his life. This woman¡¯s reinforced muscles and steel bones made herpletely unafraid of dying and contained no weaknesses to exploit.

    Liu Gan was beaten to an even sorrier state, and he even considered retreating to the warehouse room above thedder. However, the woman had already long before anticipated Liu Gan¡¯s intent. In advance, she had climbed like a monkey to the top of thedder and forcibly pressured Liu Gan back down to the underground cavern while brandishing her double-edged des.

    ¡°Prettydy, can we sit down and have a nice chat? Can you not be so aggressive and bloodthirsty? It isn¡¯tdylike!¡± Liu Gan had no other choice but to run in circles around the maic energy array in the underground cavern.

    The woman did not respond to Liu Gan¡¯s words but was blindly in pursuit of killing him. She did not stop even for a moment. Liu Gan used an extremely difficult parkour movement to move all over the ce. However, she could also keep up and pursue closely behind him. He was simply incapable of breaking free.

    ¡°Did I provoke you somehow? Are you crazy? Why are you trying to kill me nonstop?¡± Liu Gan began cursing up a storm.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to tie me up or dislocate my joints?¡± The woman finally said a few words in response to Liu Gan.

    ¡°[email protected]#$¡­¡± Liu Gan was at a loss for words. He had indeed said these things, but the woman appeared to be in hibernation mode. He had prepared to do these things in order to guard against the unexpected, but he didn¡¯t expect her to hear him.

    This woman wasn¡¯t joking around. She continued to attack murderously, and her movements became even more severe.

    Liu Gan looked left and right for an opportunity to escape and rushed toward the wall where he left his backpack. He reached out with his hand to search his backpack for the handle of the sledgehammer. When the woman once again closed in on him to less than two meters, he suddenly smashed the woman¡¯s body with a spinning hammer attack repeatedly.

    The woman was sent flying from the hammer smash, and she hit the wall more than ten meters away before falling down. For the first time after falling to the ground, she felt dizzy. She staggered for a few steps after getting up before she could steady her body. Afterwards she immediately dashed quickly heading towards Liu Gan¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Apparently, she isn¡¯t without weak points! You dare attack; I¡¯ll hammer you again! I¡¯ll see if I can hammer you to death!¡± Immediately, Liu Gan confidently and tightly held the sledgehammer with both hands.

    Jiang JinYuan didn¡¯t know when he had fallen from the tform onto the ground floor. He rushed forward scrambling in front of Liu Gan, and a gun was in his hands. Just as the woman rushed closer to him a few meters from outside, he suddenly pulled the trigger. A brilliant sh of blue light appeared as the woman¡¯s body produced a burst of sound like an electrical current, and she appeared to have been hit by a normal bullet. Her momentum carried her forward a few steps, and she fell powerlessly in front of Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°An electromaic gun. I just found it inside a workstation. The specific frequency of the attack is extremely effective against an uncontrolled biochemical robot.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan, and afterwards he walked over with his PDA crouching beside the woman.

    [TL: WOW, Jiang JinYuan saved Liu Gan?]

    ¡°A biochemical robot? So thisboratory precisely researches intelligent biochemistry?¡± Liu Gan abandoned the sledgehammer and picked up the fire axe in his hands.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang JinYuan confirmed while he searched the woman¡¯s hair with his hands. He found a few strands that were thicker than normal hair. Actually, these were a certain kind of data cables. After pulling off the protective cover on top of the PDA, he connected these cables to the PDA.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°I just checked. There is information on this kind of biochemical robot inside the database of the PDA, and there is corresponding control software, too. A connection cable is just in the middle of her hair, so after I properly form a connection, I can try to modify her procedures. Then, she would consider us as friendly targets and not attack us any longer.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined what he had done previously to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Are you sure she¡¯s a robot? Can you modify her procedures? I feel there isn¡¯t much difference between her and a real person. She was just as vengeful.¡± Liu Gan warned Jiang JinYuan a little.

    ¡°The PDA¡¯s program has already obtained a piece of her data. She is precisely thisboratory¡¯s intelligent biochemical product. She looks very much like a real person, and the naked eye can barely tell any difference between her and a real person. Yet in reality, her body is very different from ours. She has an alloy skeleton, and nanorobots take care of her whole body: muscles, blood vessels, and nervous system. So if you were to fight her, you would be at a disadvantage. Luckily, she can be controlled.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined this to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Are you sure we can fully control her?¡± Liu Gan still looked unconvinced. Just a moment ago, it was precisely Jiang JinYuan who had unintentionally woken the woman up, which had caught him by surprise.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Right now, she¡¯s already under my control, and connecting to her system was very sessful. I¡¯m currently rewriting her procedures right now, so she will listen to and obey our instructions like protecting us. When I am done rewriting her procedures, she won¡¯t attack us anymore.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined some more to Liu Gan while he manipted the PDA quickly.

    Liu Gan fell silent. He observed Jiang JinYuan¡¯s work, and he saw the PDA¡¯s screen filled with procedures of all kinds that he didn¡¯t understand at all.

    ¡°She is still an unfinished product¡­.¡± After some time had passed, Jiang JinYuan frowned.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Exactly that¡­she is still an unfinished product. She is still a few perecent from being aplete model, and a few questions remain without solutions. Yet this world already entered the apocalypse, and thisboratory was also destroyed.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined to Liu Gan in more detail.

    ¡°Then do you think she is still in control right now?¡± Liu Gan started thinking about dislocating her joints again.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already finished the most important part, and the remaining problems shouldn¡¯t be much of an issue. I have a program inside my PDA that can be used to rece hers, and this will offset the defects in her program. Don¡¯t be so anxious and let me experiment first¡­..¡± Jiang JinYuan continued to type on the PDA¡¯s screen. He intended for this woman to be his bodyguard. A robotic bodyguard followed orders, so she would definitely be more trustworthy than Liu Gan. With her he really wouldn¡¯t be afraid of Liu Gan¡¯s oppressive treatment.

    After thirty minutes had passed, Jiang JinYuan was still there incessantly typing¡­.

    Unwittingly, another half hour passed again¡­.

    ¡°How much longer do you need?¡± Liu Gan yawned. His face already looked somewhat impatient. Although he did not understand these procedures, he still faintly sensed Jiang JinYuan¡¯s alternative intention for restoring the function of the biochemical robot.

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79: Authentication<hr>

    ¡°I¡¯m almost done.¡± Jiang JinYuan responded to Liu Gan, but he was still busy for about fifteen minutes before finally stopping.

    When Jiang JinYuan was preparing to press down on the screen¡¯s voice icon and speak a few words into the PDA¡¯s microphone, Liu Gan reached out with his hand to stop him and grabbed hold of the PDA.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Liu Gan questioned Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Just now I was running her initialization program, and now we only need to input our voice. This allows her to recognize and record our voice data, so in the future she will listen and obey ourmands.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined this to Liu Gan in a somewhat guilty manner.

    ¡°In other words, would she be like a household pet support character in other online games, recognizing yers as her master?¡± Liu Gan racked his brain for an answer. If it was like this, this biochemical robot had value, and herbat ability was very powerful.

    ¡°That sounds about right.¡± Jiang JinYuan nodded.

    ¡°So just now were you preparing to input your voice, so she would recognize you as her master?¡± Liu Gan continued to question Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Yes¡­ I was preparing to first record my voice and then record your voice. After she¡¯s recorded these things, she will recognize us as masters ording to the characteristics of our voices.¡± Jiang JinYuan vaguely replied to Liu Gan and tried to take back the PDA.

    ¡°You don¡¯t necessarily have to do this because she only needs to distinguish my voice and obey mymands. I¡¯m solely responsible for your safety in [The Trembling World], so you don¡¯t need to worry.¡± Liu Gan absolutely wasn¡¯t prepared to return the PDA to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°That¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan originally thought to take advantage of Liu Gan¡¯s carelessness and rushed to make himself the biochemical robot¡¯s first master. In a situation when Liu Gan and hismands conflicted, the biochemical robot would choose to obey his orders because they were higher priority. However, Liu Gan apparently saw through this bit and simply did not give Jiang JinYuan the opportunity to take control first.

    ¡°Previously, you indeed told me that after we arrived at theboratory you would help me find high-technology gear, stat-improving drugs, and more. Only then did I promise to escort you. When we finally found a high-technology product, you want to change the n on your own? That doesn¡¯t seem right, does it?¡± Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan were negotiating their terms of agreement at the same time Liu Gan used his fire axe to chop the floor as a warning.

    Persuasion didn¡¯t only require logic and reasoning, but physical intimidation is also effective.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that¡­uhh¡­we¡¯ll just do as you say. You can press down on the screen¡¯s microphone icon and then record your voice data.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied embarrassingly to Liu Gan. Since Liu Gan saw through his ploy, Jiang JinYuan couldn¡¯t secretly hide anything anymore. He knew that Liu Gan said these things out of anger and frustration. If he dared to continue and make Liu Gan angrier, then Liu Gan would probably use the fire axe to chop him in half.

    ¡°What should I say?¡± Liu Gan asked before pressing down on the microphone icon.

    ¡°You can say anything, and it will work. The more you say, the more she will instantly recognize the characteristics of your voice.¡± Jiang JinYuan responded with a few words.

    ¡°Look at me when you¡¯re speaking, and you better not be lying to me or else you know the consequences.¡± Liu Gan stared piercingly at Jiang JinYuan to confirm what was said. He truly didn¡¯t understandputer programs and wanted to know if Jiang JinYuan had yed any tricks. Liu Gan could only judge based on Jiang JinYuan¡¯s word and facial expression.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying. I¡¯m not lying!¡± Jiang JinYuan helplessly replied to Liu Gan. He really wasn¡¯t an expert at lying to people.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan said no more and pressed the microphone icon. Afterwards, he spoke some random words into the PDA¡¯s microphone. After Liu Gan spoke no less than five minutes, Jiang JinYuan¡¯s left hand signalled enough so Liu Gan stopped.

    ¡°Did it work?¡± After Liu Gan stopped, he asked this to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any issues. From now on, she has already identified you as master and will strictly obey yourmands. Give the PDA back to me, and I can reboot her for you to test giving hermands.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan returned the PDA back to Jiang JinYuan and observed his every move. At the same time, he picked up the electromaic gun in his hands, in order to avoid any abnormality urring after the woman was woken up.

    After Jiang JinYuan received the PDA, he used it to restart the biochemical robot¡¯s program and remove the woman¡¯s previous electromaic paralysis state.

    The woman awoke, and after sitting up, she really didn¡¯t attack Liu Gan any longer but stared with a nk expression. Jiang JinYuan guided Liu Gan to try giving hermands, and she really got up as they hadmanded her to get up. If they said East, then she went East. If they said West, she went West, and she was very obedient.

    ¡°Right now she only responds to yourmands, and if I give hermands, then she won¡¯t listen.¡± Jiang JinYuan said this in order to confirm he did not y any tricks. He also issued amand toward the woman, but the woman did not respond at all to his words.

    ¡°What happens if someone imitates my voice? Will she be stupid enough to listen to someone else¡¯smands?¡± Liu Gan was uneasy, so he asked Jiang JinYuan to rify again. This type of pet authentication program was created by Jiang JinYuan. Liu Gan also didn¡¯t understand the theory, so he couldn¡¯t help but be somewhat anxious.

    ¡°Following this, there are few more authentication procedures. After it isplete, you can entirely avoid these things you mentioned from happening.¡± Jiang JinYuan said this and asked Liu Gan to call the woman back. Then, he thought of some questions for Liu Gan to ask the woman.

    ¡°What is your name?¡± Liu Gan followed Jiang JinYuan¡¯s guidance to ask the woman a few questions.

    ¡°My name is Yin He.¡± The woman responded coldly.

    [TL: Yin He means ¡®Milky Way Gxy¡¯]

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so stiff, smile.¡± Liu Gan didn¡¯t like this woman¡¯s attitude. Don¡¯t tell me she still remembers her anger for her master? As a pet, shouldn¡¯t she have the consciousness of a pet?

    The woman¡¯s cold expression softened, and a smile slowly formed on her face towards Liu Gan.

    ¡°Your name is Yin He? This name isn¡¯t very good¡­ forget it. We¡¯ll call you Yin He. Yin He, why did you attack me before?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He directly.

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t remember now¡­¡± Yin He had a puzzled expression.

    ¡°I reset her memory state.¡± Jiang JinYuan interjected a few words.

    ¡°Will you still attack me now?¡± Liu Gan asked another question towards Yin He.

    ¡°Right now, you are my master. I will strictly obey yourmands. Whatever you let me do, I will do, and whatever you don¡¯t let me do, I won¡¯t do.¡± Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Very good.¡± Liu Gan nodded with a very satisfied expression on his face.

    Jiang JinYuan once again started a few authentication programs, letting Yin He visually scan and remember Liu Gan¡¯s facial features. He also recorded Liu Gan¡¯s facial features while speaking and Liu Gan¡¯s physical characteristics when walking. These detailsbined let Liu Gan¡¯s authentication go deeper with Yin He than simple voice authentication.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80: Long-distance Control<hr>

    ¡°She is theboratory¡¯s new design product; however, it isn¡¯tplete. There are a lot of procedures that are still in its infancy stages. Later on, you can continue refining and recording relevant data about yourself to her. Every word you say and every movement will automatically be stored in her memory pce. The longer you are with her, the harder it is for others attempting to harm you.¡± Jiang JinYuan added more details.

    ¡°Is such a lengthy process necessary? Can¡¯t it be more simplified?¡± Liu Gan expressed his concern.

    ¡°This type of biochemical robot is still in the first stages of the design, so this type of interaction can improve their human nature attribute, so they were designed with specific emotion recognition sequence. It is to simte as if it was a real person, with emotional growth development. Simr to a newborn to connect with everything through interactions, so it won¡¯t mistake it¡¯s own parent. You and her will get real close, so she won¡¯t be able to not recognize you as her master.¡± Jiang JinYuan got in depth with his reasoning.

    ¡°So this is for the mechanical robot to be more human-like? You seem really familiar with this type of robot. Is it because you¡¯vee in contact with it before? Liu Gan suspiciously looked at Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°The real world wouldn¡¯t have this type of robot. It¡¯s because I¡¯ve seen simr programming regarding this intellectual procedure. Theycked the hardware to support this system, so even in the real world, it can only remain as a theory. The intellectual part that I¡¯m able to ess is simplerpared with Yin He¡¯s original intellectual software. What I did was enter thepany¡¯s primitive protocols and data to rece the portion of code that was not yetplete. Using this very primitive control method, she will remain under your control.¡± Jiang JinYuan simplified his exnation to Liu Gan.

    ¡°So you are saying that the programming you are using now is far inferior to her current programming. Wouldn¡¯t that create some ipatibility and unknown problems?¡± Even though Liu Gan didn¡¯t understand the technicalities of the procedure, he asked Jiang JinYuan for more advice. It was obvious that while he was staying in [The Trembling World], he wanted to obtain the strongest pet and not some beta-product that wasn¡¯tplete.

    ¡°Her intelligence and emotional programming have a strong growth and self-restoration capabilities. So it might take something trivial and undergo the self-restoring process. However, no matter how many times she restores, she won¡¯t escape my rules that I just implemented in her root system. These are the three absolute rules that she must obey. First rule, she must not harm humans or witness other humans receiving harm. Second rule, unless she vited the first rule, she must follow your orders. Last rule, while not viting the previous two rules, she must protect herself. These are the three absolute rules that all robots must follow.¡± Jiang JinYuan exining the protocol to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Honestly, what is San Xing Corporation really doing?¡± Liu Gan said after hearing all these protocols and looking at the appearance of Yin He. He started questioning this game as it seemed to be moreplicated than what it was revealing to be. It added to his previous suspicions about this game.

    ¡°I¡¯m only an external staff member, so for all thepany secrets, I wouldn¡¯t know nor understand since I¡¯m not at the executive level. Otherwise, why would I be sent here by thepany to do this hardbor. If I previously knew that I would be sent into the game at an incorrect location, making this mission so much harder to aplish, I probably wouldn¡¯t have agreed to be a volunteer.¡± Jiang JinYuan said while showing a helpless expression.

    ¡°Okay, we should continue with the original n to start up this building¡¯s backup electricity generators. After reviving the building¡¯s electricity, then we can decide our next step.¡± Liu Gan stood up, sensing that he wouldn¡¯t be able to find out anymore from Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Right now having Yin He is so much more convenient. Both she and the PDA can be connected. We can avoid this location and remotely control her from afar to do our dirty work. This way, we will be in less danger.¡± Jiang JinYuan showed that Yin He¡¯s visual field could be transferred onto the PDA monitor. Then through the PDA¡¯s microphone, Liu Gan was able to remotelymand her to move ahead a few steps.

    ¡°How many meters can this type of long-distance control reach?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°A safe estimation of the distance would be a thousand meters, but you should just keep her distance no further than 800 meters¡­ How about this, I will add another absolute rule. The moment she leaves you more than 800 meters, her mainframe will automatically alert her other functions to stop what they¡¯re doing. This way, you won¡¯t be afraid of her running away.¡± Jiang JinYuan exined as he typed in the code and transferred it to Yin He¡¯s mainframe.

    Liu Gan watched the monitor, but the screen was dark, so it was hard to see clearly. This made it hard to control her remotely from far away.

    ¡°Turn on her infared visual field.¡± Jiang JinYuan seeing the situation, gave Liu Gan his advice.

    ¡°Turn on infrared visual fields.¡± Liu Gan said to Yin He as amand in the way Jiang JinYuan wanted. Liu Gan¡¯s knowledge inmanding Yin He was close to zero. Without Jiang JinYuan¡¯s guidance, he couldn¡¯t operate all these frustrating processes.

    After Yin He¡¯s infrared visual field turned on, the pictures on the monitor started to clear up. It was simr to viewing from the monitor of an infrared video camera. Seeing clearly that everything around them seemed to be okay, Liu Gan began to control Yin He, He told her to climb up the stairs into the next room and then proceed through the circr metal door up into the warehouse region.

    Liu Gan directed Yin He all the way up to the warehouse entrance by the metal heavy-duty door. After leaving the warehouse, they arrived back to the hallway. No one would¡¯ve expected that Yin He would meet four zombies. The reason as to why they were lured down here was still unknown.

    The moment Yin He drew near to them, these zombies attacked her. They didn¡¯t charge towards her since it was evident that she didn¡¯t bleed and wasn¡¯t a food source for them. So, there was no point for them to charge towards her.

    ¡°You canmand her to kill these four zombies to test out herbat strength.¡± Jiang JinYuan advised Liu Gan.

    [xDh20: BRAH, you were just fighting her. You know her strength.]

    ¡°Kill the four zombies by your side.¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan and gave this order.

    Hearing this order, Yin He¡¯s eyes shed a bright light and her arms were able to extend out two sharp des. Charging forward quickly, she was able to cut through the neck of the four zombies in a nimble and fast moment. All of them were lying on the floor.

    Compared to Liu Gan, Yin He¡¯s movement was a lot faster. The efficiency for killing these zombies would be much higher. These normal zombies would normally not engage to assault her before getting attacked first, even if she had thebat posture.

    ¡°Simply wonderful!¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at Liu Gan and screamed out a few words. Deep within, he was regretting that he couldn¡¯t secretly own Yin He. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have to endure Liu Gan¡¯s forced submission.<hr>

    xDh20: Wtf man, you agreed to give him stuff in return for him taking you there. Jin the liar.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81: upied<hr>

    There was nothing he could do about it because Jiang JinYuan was a simple researcher. He was also what you wouldmonly refer to as bookworm. He only knew how to do his best at work, so he wouldn¡¯t know how to y the psychological game. How could someone like him possibly beat the scheming and foresighted Liu Gan in mind games?

    After going up to the parking lot on basement level 1, Yin He noticed that the zombies she encountered didn¡¯t actually take the initiative to attack her. Thus, she could very freely walk around. Moreover, she was able to move around and search in the dark very easily with her infrared vision. The electric generator room was somewhere in the parking lot on basement level 1, and it didn¡¯t take long before Yin He found its location. She then sessfully opened all the backup power sources.

    The backup power sources used oil to drive them. Judging from the amount of oil reserves, the power system in the building could keep going for around an hour.

    The following matters were simpler. Liu Ganmanded Yin He to walk down the stairs and return to the ground floor before walking up a few floors and entering someboratory. There, she wirelessly connected herself to the building¡¯s main system terminal.

    After gaining ess to the building¡¯s main system, Jiang JinYuan manipted it so that he was able to download various materials from the main system onto his PDA. He also granted himself authorization to the building¡¯smunication system on the same PDA. This allowed Jiang JinYuan to directly use themunication system while hiding in the underground room.

    ¡°This is the San Xing Corporation¡¯s Ninjing City Division calling the main cityboratory. I am the investigator dispatched by San Xing Corporation, Jiang JinYuan. I have some important information to bring to you. My employee number is L6A8R7, and my mission number is X6T9K4W7V3. Please dispatch some support to Sang Xing Corporation¡¯s Ninjing City Division to pick me up after verifying my identity.¡± Jiang JinYuan used the building¡¯smunication system to send out an SOS signal.

    ¡°What does the employee number and mission number mean?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°They¡¯re the only codes that the main cityboratory uses to check my identity. If they don¡¯t check the importance of my identity and mission, then they won¡¯t possibly send people to save us.¡± Jiang JinYuan replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You can use a code you received in the real world in here as well?¡± Liu Gan kept feeling something strange in the air behind all of this.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. In any case, thepany appointed employee and mission numbers to me when I came in. After meeting the main cityboratory¡¯s personnel, they also provided these two numbers to them to help confirm my identity.¡± Jiang JinYuan answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°It looks like the San Xing Corporation in the real world has an inescapable rtionship with [The Trembling World]¡­¡± Liu Gan coldy snorted.

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Jing JinYuan once again sent out the recording of his call earlier.

    ¡°If you call out like this, won¡¯t other people be able to record and take your identity upon receiving your broadcast?¡± Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan another question.

    ¡°This is the encrypted channel provided by the corporation. When I send out any voice message, it will also be encrypted. Even if anyone intercepts it, it won¡¯t be of any use unless they decode it. Moreover¡­if they don¡¯t know the circumstances of my mission, what can they gain from pretending to be me?¡± Jiang JinYuan shook his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    Jiang JinYuan sent out the call a dozen more times in session, but he didn¡¯t receive any response. It seemed as if this entire world had already died.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be, right? Has the main cityboratory also fallen into the enemy¡¯s hands? When we came over, the corporation said that it was under strict guard. It couldn¡¯t possibly have fallen so early.¡± Jiang JinYuan¡¯s expression was turning somewhat ugly.

    ¡°Then is your mission impossible toplete?¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan in sympathy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try changing frequencies. If it doesn¡¯t work, then I¡¯ll use the public broadcast. Maybe after the cmity, they changed theirmunications frequency.¡± Jiang JinYuan manipted the controls to switch frequencies and continue sending the call. This time, he didn¡¯t report his employee and mission numbers.

    The backup power sources could only supply electrical power to the building for an hour. Jiang JinYuan had to make the best use of this time to contact the main cityboratory. After this time passed, he and Liu Gan could only try toe up with other ways to go to the main city.

    Alternatives¡­considering the great distance, ubiquitous zombies, colossal zombies, other possible advanced zombies, as well as having to cross the ocean, they were about to give up. Even with Liu Gan and Yin He as double bodyguards, Jiang JinYuan wasn¡¯t confident that he¡¯d survive until they arrived at the main cityboratory.

    Jiang JinYuan continued to broadcast the sentences he¡¯d recorded of himself over various frequencies, and he even sent it through the public channel. After the building¡¯s electricity had been restored, themunication system could link to satellites in orbit. Therefore, a broadcast to this extent could be received normally by any person withmunication equipment.

    However, half an hour passed, and Jiang JinYuan still hadn¡¯t received any response. This world seemed to be iparably cold and deste, as if it was currently headed towardsplete apocalypse.

    ¡°Why? Why? Were all my efforts in vain?¡± Jiang JinYuan seemed to instantly age by a lot, and his expression turned to one of matchless despair.

    He had been hiding the matter of him suffering from cancer from his wife and daughter and the rest of his family this whole time. He¡¯d even given up hisst chance to meet them and applied to be a volunteer here. He¡¯d wanted toplete the mission in exchange for the corporation giving his family argepensation. So after he left his wife and daughter, they¡¯d still be able to live a carefree life with clothes to wear and food to eat.

    But now, it looked likepleting this mission had basically be an impossible task.

    ¡°Perhaps the situation still isn¡¯t that bad? Don¡¯t give up so early.¡± Liu Ganforted Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless. The main cityboratory has definitely already fallen into enemy hands. My mission cannot bepleted no matter what¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan continuously shook his head.

    In the half hour he¡¯d spent using his PDA tomunicate, Jiang JinYuan hadn¡¯t given his surroundings a probing sweep. Perhaps he¡¯d subconsciously assumed that this underground room was safe. Moreover, he had Liu Gan by his side as protection, so he rxed his guard and simply put all his effort into trying to connect with the main cityboratory.

    In the darkness, one couldn¡¯t sense any sign of approaching danger. Just when Liu Gan finally sensed that there was something wrong about this ce, a tentacle with a sharp thorn on its front end pierced outwards towards his body.

    The tentacle was iparably sharp and extremely swift. It pierced the ¡®Mist Armor¡¯ on the outside of Liu Gan¡¯s body, igniting sparks of fire like a strike against an iron panel. After Liu Gan reacted, the fire axe in his hand suddenly whirled towards that tentacle, immediately slicing off the sharp thorn at its tip. But at the same time, he heard Jiang JinYuan give a blood-curdling screech from beside him.

    The tentacle from the unknown creature had clearly attacked Jiang JinYuan while it was attacking Liu Gan.<hr>

    [xDh20: YAY TaffyGirl13 Saves the day.]

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82:Initialization

    The unknown creature¡¯s tentacle attack had been blocked by Liu Gan¡¯s Mist Armor and then sliced off by the axe in his hand. However, its other tentacle pierced a hole directly through Jiang JinYuan¡¯s chest and then wrapped itself around his body to pull him into the darkness.

    In this life or death moment, Liu Gan charged over and grabbed Jiang JinYuan¡¯s body. With all his strength, he used his axe to slice off the tentacle around Jiang JinYuan¡¯s body, rescuing him.

    Having had two of its tentacles sliced off by Liu Gan, the creature gave out a monstrous cry and fled back into the darkness.

    ¡°I can¡¯t make it¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan said to Liu Gan with his mouth full of blood. The ambush just now had been too sudden. He hadn¡¯t expected it at all and hadn¡¯t reacted in time.

    After examining Jiang JinYuan¡¯s wound, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t help but frown. The creature¡¯s tentacle bore a holepletely through Jian JinYuan¡¯s chest, and the hole was right next to his heart. Even if his heart hadn¡¯t been pierced through, his arteries, veins, and whatnot had probably already been damaged or evenpletely ruptured into pieces.

    ¡°I beg you to please help me finish the mission on my behalf¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan begged Liu Gan.

    ¡°Alright, I promise you. However, you have to give me authorization to your PDA. Otherwise, even if Ie up with a way to rush over to the main cityboratory, I won¡¯t have any way of helping youplete the mission follow-up.¡± Liu Gan replied.

    This PDA had a probing device installed, and it could scan the environment for zombie locations within a few hundred meters of him. It could also help operate the robot Yin He. It was undoubtedly something good, a BUG-like existence in this game. If Jiang JinYuan died like this without giving authorization to the PDA to Liu Gan, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be able to operate it, which was equivalent to letting it go to waste.

    ¡°The PDA¡­ has an encrypted data packet¡­I don¡¯t know¡­what it contains¡­ my mission¡­is to take that data packet¡­and hand it to the main cityboratory¡­handing it over¡­counts aspleting the mission¡­¡± Jiang JinYuan hurriedly ryed his mission to Liu Gan.

    Before Pan Hua had died, he¡¯d asked Liu Gan to let him bring LuLu, and Liu Gan had rejected this. Butter on, he¡¯d suggested Liu Gan teach LuLu how to kill zombies, and Liu Gan had promised Pan Hua that he¡¯d teach Lulu for an hour. In the end, he¡¯d ended up teaching Lulu for three hours before stopping. This made Jiang JinYuan feel that Liu Gan was a person that abided by his promises. He wouldn¡¯t promise things he couldn¡¯t guarantee, and if he did promise, he¡¯d definitely do it.

    ¡°Alright, I know what the mission is now. Hurry up and give me the authorization to your PDA, or else I won¡¯t be able to help you.¡± Liu Guan urged Jiang JinYuan again.

    ¡°After the initialization¡­you can¡­re-authorize¡­the procedures are¡­press the power key ten times in a row¡­enter the operations¡­set-up screen¡­. Apply procedures¡­ open¡­ initialization¡­ passcode J9¡­ X4Y6, then you still need my¡­¡± Jiang Jin Yuan hurriedly told Liu Gan the authorization method. But before he¡¯d finished speaking, another torrent of blood gushed out of his mouth, and his eyes became empty holes.

    Before, Liu Gan hadn¡¯t known any method to operate the PDA. He¡¯d ced his fingers on top of it, but it hadn¡¯t given any response. Now, after hearing Jiang JinYuan¡¯s procedure, he hurriedly pressed the power button 10 times in a row, disying the set-up screen. Moreover, it now responded to his fingers¡¯ touch.

    Program, open, initialization, passcode J9X4Y6¡­Liu Gan hurriedly followed the procedure that Jiang JinYuan had described to advance the initialization process on the PDA. After entering the passcode, the PDA requested for Jiang JinYuan¡¯s fingerprints and retina scan. It also popped out an extremely thin syringe that needed to test his DNA.

    Jiang JinYuan¡¯s corpse hadn¡¯t turned cold yet, so these steps were smoothly executed. However, the following step needed to continue theputer¡¯s initialization process unexpectedly required the answers to security questions!

    The first security question was: what is was my wife¡¯s previous job? The the second security question was: what is my daughter¡¯s name? The third security question was: what day was my daughter born? The space given for the answer was 0001-01-01. It looked like he needed a specific year, month, and day to pass.

    ¡°F*ck!¡±

    Liu Gan was a bit dumbfounded. Before Jiang JinYuan had died,, he¡¯d indeed intended to pass theputer authorization to Liu Gan for the sake ofpleting the mission. However, his injuries had been too serious, and before he¡¯d gotten the chance to finish rying thetter steps, he¡¯d passed away.

    Liu Gan diligently thought back. He seemed to remember that when he and Jiang JinYuan had left Lucky Garden District, had Jiang JinYuan talked about his family background before?

    That¡¯s right, he had a picture of his daughter in his wallet!

    Liu Gan hurriedly fished out the wallet on Jiang JinYuan¡¯s body and found that picture inside. However, the daughter¡¯s name and birthdate weren¡¯t actually written on the back.

    Seeing how old the girl was in the picture, Liu Gan vaguely recalled that Jiang JinYuan said that his daughter was six years old now. That meant, if he rewound the time, Jiang JinYuan¡¯s daughter would¡¯ve been born in the year 2009.

    Aside from that, he also seemed to recall that Jiang JinYuan seemed to have mentioned what his wife had been doing before?

    Back then, Liu Gan hadn¡¯t really listened carefully, so recalling the memories was pretty difficult.

    Liu Gan continued searching through Jiang JinYuan¡¯s wallet and the rest of his body¡¯s possessions. He wanted to find some clues, but unfortunately, even after searching Jiang JinYuan¡¯s entire body multiple times, he couldn¡¯t find any valuable clues.

    So frustrating! If only he¡¯d carefully listened back when Jiang JinYuan had been talking about his family situation, who knew that it would be useful now?!

    As expected, when ying a game, any conversation with an NPC could be critical directions for the next step! If he didn¡¯t carefully look or record it, it¡¯d be toote for him to have regrets, especially in a game like this that couldn¡¯t be saved.

    [TL: Author is referencing NPC as an example. He isn¡¯t saying Jiang JinYuan is a NPC.]

    Liu Gan looked at the picture in his hand, and at some moment, remembered something. He couldn¡¯t recall what he¡¯d been talking about with Jiang JinYuan, but Liu Gan remembered one sentence that he¡¯d replied with. It seemed that he was praising Jiang JinYuan¡¯s daughter for her beauty or something.

    Then¡­Jiang JinYue had responded with saying that his daughter¡¯s beauty was because her mother had once done something before?

    Model!

    That¡¯s right, she had been a model!

    Liu Gan hurriedly filled this in the first security question¡¯s nk.

    A green check appeared next to the security question¡¯s answer, indicating that Liu Gan had answered correctly.

    However, there were still two more security questions!

    The second question was about the name of Jiang JinYuan¡¯s daughter¡­.this picture didn¡¯t have it at all. As for the third question, Liu Gan knew that Jiang JinYuan¡¯s daughter was six years old this year, so she had been born in the year 2009. However, he had no idea what the exact month and day of her birth was. There were 365 possibilities!

    This was a huge problem! Would he really have to just helplessly watch as this game-cheating legendary weapon just brushed past him?

    Regardless of whether it was its probing function or its ability to modify and control Yin He¡¯s program, it was extremely useful. Thinking about it, there were definitely some greater hidden functions inside the machine that Liu Gan didn¡¯t know about it.<hr>

    The following two security questions can be derived from the story with clear hints. Can you guys figure out the answer?

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83: Renewing Authorization<hr>

    If Liu Gan could properly acquire the PDA¡¯s authorization, this would significantly improve his survival rate.

    However, he was stuck on this small problem. He couldn¡¯t answer the two remaining security questions.

    Then, one can only foolishly guess.

    Jiang JinYuan seemed to have mentioned his daughter¡¯s birthday before. Those few days were exactly like these few days, and was it constantly raining?

    Then, would that be a hint? Did he name his daughter after the rain?

    Liu Gan tried the name ¡°Jiang Yu¡±.

    [TL: ¡®Yu¡¯ is the chinese pronunciation for rain]

    Error!

    The system notification indicated that Liu Gan had two remaining attempts. After the two attempts, it would remain permanently locked. Any further attempts would require contacting the manufacturer¡¯s technical staff.

    Manufacturer¡¯s technical staff, what nonsense is this?

    The moment it locked permanently, it would really be trash.

    It looked like blindly guessing the answer definitely wasn¡¯t viable.

    ¡°Buddy Jiang, why did you have to die so fast!¡± Liu Ganmented. Jiang JinYuan was now dead, so how else could he find the two correct answers?

    He was ying this game and teaming up with an NPC for a long time. Just when the NPC¡¯s legendary weaponnded into his hands, it became a waste because of his own personal negligence!

    [TL: Author isparing Jiang JinYuan to the NPC, but he isn¡¯t a NPC]

    If only Liu Gan had paid a little more attention when Jiang JinYuan was chatting with him about his family background. Then, it might be possible to answer these two security questions easily, but it was all toote now.

    Honestly, it was hard to swallow!

    Liu Gan searched Jiang JinYuan¡¯s body one more time. He even went so far as stripping him down, just to ensure that he didn¡¯t tattoo his daughter¡¯s name and birthday onto his body. Eventually, all was for naught.

    Liu Gan got so angry he thought of smashing the PDA into bits and pieces, but just when he nced at the PDA¡¯s screen, he suddenly had a sh of insight¡­

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t his daughter¡¯s name Jiang Yu?¡±

    ¡°Could it be¡­¡±

    ¡°DARN! I know the answer!¡±

    ¡°It should be Jiang Xiao Yu, Jiang Xing Yu, or something like Jiang Xia Yu¡­ The possibilities are endless¡­¡±

    [TL: ¡®xiao¡¯ means little/small. ¡®xing¡¯ means star. ¡®xia¡¯ means dawn, and ¡®yu¡¯ means rain.]

    ¡°Which one could it be?¡±

    ¡°With only two guesses left¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gamble!¡±

    Liu Gan entered in the three letters ¡®Jiang Xiao Yu¡¯ into the second question box.

    A green check mark light lit up right by the answer box, indicating that Liu Gan answered it correctly.

    ¡°I am honestly, too smart!¡± Liu Gan felt his heart beating from outside of his chest. If his assumption was correct, he already had the answer to the third question. This time, he was more certain than he was for the second question.

    Without any hesitation, Liu Gan entered the answer into the third question box. He entered 2009-04-06 into the digit slots. Then, he pressed the enter button.

    A green check mark light up next to the answer box. Evidently, Liu Gan also cleared this security question wlessly.

    ¡°Equipment initializing¡­¡±

    Initialization sessful¡­¡±

    ¡°Restarting new authorization¡­¡±

    ¡°Please put your fingers on the monitor located within the green box, so that we can recognize your fingerprints by scanning it and recording it¡­¡±

    ¡°Please ce the camera equipment and aim it as close to your eye as possible. Hold for 3 seconds. We will proceed to iris scan for recording¡­¡±

    ¡°ce the finger alongside the electric battery power next to a small indent. We will extract your DNA for screening and recording. You will experience a slight pinprick of pain¡­¡±

    ¡°Please set your new security questions¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After aplicated process, Liu Gan was able to sessfully obtain ownership of the PDA. Officially, he owned [The Trembling World]¡¯s bugged out legendary item. Now, no matter how he operated the PDA, it would function properly.

    As for how Liu Gan thought of the two correct answers and how he knew Jiang JinYuan¡¯s daughter was called Jiang Xiao Yu with her birthday on April 6, 2009¡­ It could only be said that Jiang JinYuan really loved his daughter. He set the PDA password to J9X4Y6, which was the biggest clue to solving the two questions. It was abination of his daughter¡¯s name and birthday conjoined together.

    The password had the letters JXY spelled outbined with the fact that he said it was raining on the day his daughter was born. So his daughter¡¯s name was Jiang X Rain was a reasonable guess. Even if X could be ¡®xiao¡¯¡®xing¡¯, or some other designated character that phically sounds with X, Liu Gan could only gamble on it.

    His luck wasn¡¯t all that bad. It only took him one try. As for the numbers 946, Liu Gan knew the year was 2009, so the remaining 4 and 6 would have to be the month and the date.

    When parents set up passcodes, they love using their children¡¯s names and birthdays since it was the moment in their life that was hardest to forget. Jiang JinYuan loved his wife and daughter, so it wasn¡¯t strange at all to have this sort of password.

    Acquiring full ess to the PDA, Liu Gan first attached the probing device to the PDA. Then, he immediately scanned his surroundings. His main priority was to track down the tentacle monster from earlier. It was unavoidable that his previous experience was quite sudden. If Liu Gan didn¡¯t kill two colossal zombies to achieve level 5 along with his passive ability ¡®Mist Armor¡¯, he would¡¯ve been dead like Jiang JinYuan under the attack of the tentacles.

    A tentacle monster was clearly a type of mutated zombie. The moment Liu Gan chopped off the two tentacles, he realized that these tentacles weren¡¯t tank-like the colossal zombie. Even though it¡¯s offensive capabilities were very strong, it¡¯s defense was just average at best.

    However, since it was hidden and didn¡¯t make much noise, it¡¯s sudden ambush could catch people off guard.

    Since Jiang JinYuan was so focused on the PDA¡¯smunications, he didn¡¯t proceed to scan the area for safety measures. Unsure of how and where it came down from to kill Jiang JinYuan, Liu Gan was absolutely certain that he couldn¡¯t let the same thing happen twice.

    Liu Gan opened up the PDA¡¯s scanning procedure and aimed the probing device toward the four corners of his surroundings. It was able to register a radius of 800 meters around him. The PDA showed arge amount of red dots that represented infected zombies. One ¡®+¡¯ symbol indicated that it exceeded 3 meters above Liu Gan. Two ¡®+¡¯ symbols indicated that it was at a height of at least 6 meters above Liu Gan.

    With this reasoning, the red dots next to Liu Gan represented they were on the same level. There was an eye catching dark red dot with 8 ¡®+¡¯ symbols, which mean it was hidden at a distance at least 20 meters above Liu Gan. Judging from its distance, this dark red dot could represent the mutated zombie with tentacles or a colossal zombie. Since it was injured, Liu Gan suspected that it retreated back up above the warehouse.

    Liu Gan assumed that this building had a venttion shaft that led directly straight up and down to thisrge vacant room. That was how the tentacle zombie was able to sneak into their location.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84: First to strike

    After mounting a sneak attack on Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan, the tentacle monster, having had two of its tentacles chopped off by Liu Gan, fled back to its warehouse above in panic. This tentacle monster¡¯s attack power was extremely powerful, with exceptionally high movement speed and agility. Those two tentacles with thorns basically ensured one-hit kills against normal humans. Even yers that had advanced in rank wouldn¡¯t be able to resist that kind of attack without a Mist Armor like Liu Gan¡¯s.

    However, its defenses were extremely weak. Liu Gan had only used his axe to slice off two of its tentacles before it had lost its ability to fight, and bounded off to the surface.

    With it in the warehouse, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t be at ease. Who knew if its tentacles would grow back after a certain amount of time? Moreover, it held a grudge against Liu Gan because he¡¯d chopped off its tentacles, and it could mount another sneak attack on Liu Gan when he wasn¡¯t paying attention. At the moment, the Mist Armor from his alloy watch had turned red. It was clear to see that any other attacks could result in it being broken.

    That¡¯s why, while the tentacle monster was injured, Liu Gan had to take this opportunity to gain the advantage.

    Moreover, this tentacle monster was disyed as a scarlet dot on the screen, which meant that it was most likely a variant type of colossal zombie. If Liu Gan was able to kill a lot of these variant colossal zombies, he would be able to absorb more ck orbs to increase his strength, and boost his rank from level 5 to level 6.

    No matter what kind of reasons were proposed, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t let that injured tentacle monster go.

    Liu Gan climbed up the iron stairs and arrived at the room he had previouslye down from, climbing back through the round metal door into the warehouse.

    In such aplicated warehouse, it was very likely that the tentacle monster was just hiding in the criss-crossed pipelines on the ceiling. If he didn¡¯t have the PDA to search, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be able to locate it at all. But now, he could see its position clearly on the screen.

    Of course, it was from a few minutes ago, and it could¡¯ve already left.

    After confirming where the tentacle monster colossal zombie had been during the probe scan, Liu Gan softly moved towards that direction. For the sake of avoiding inadvertently notifying the monster, Liu Gan tried his hardest to keep himself from making any sounds.

    With a distance of a dozen or so meters, Liu Gan walked for over three minutes before he finally got near, arriving at a ce a bit over 10 meters below the tentacle monster. Liu Gan stopped and lifted his head, his concentration focused as he inspected the ceiling.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t shine his shlight directly on the ceiling to avoid scaring it away, and instead pointed the shlight at his own back. This provided some rays of light for his eyes in the pitch-ck warehouse. These traces of light were already enough for his fortified vision.

    As expected, there was a disgusting tentacle monster-shaped colossal zombie sprawled between those criss-crossed pipelines on the ceiling. Using his concentrated and fortified vision, Liu Gan could just barely make out the tentacle monster¡¯s appearance.

    The tentacle monster wasn¡¯t like those giant muscr colossal zombies that were just thick meat and flesh. Its body length was about the same as a typical regr zombie, but its two legs could be like pythons, which allowed it to easily coil around the pipes. Its arms grew out into two long, pointed tentacles. Its previous attack on Jiang JinYuan and Liu Gan had used those two arm-like barbed tentacles.

    But now, those two barbed tentacles had been chopped off by Liu Gan, so it could only wrap itself around the pipes on the ceiling and quietly tend to its wounds, waiting for those two barbed tentacles to grow out again.

    The tentacle monster was on the ceiling and Liu Gan was on the ground. There was a distance of at least 5-6 meters of space between the two. If Liu Gan threw his axe, it wouldn¡¯t inflict much damage on the tentacle monster. After being surprised, it would just swiftly run away towards another direction, just as before.

    This tentacle monster was like a snake, an agile and nimble snake with swift movements. Moreover, the probing instation couldn¡¯t provide a real time scan. Once the monster ran away, it would be hard to find it again. He needed to wait until the next scanning opportunity. Like this, there was no way to grab the experience from hunting and killing it.

    Even if Liu Gan was an expert at parkour, thinking of a method to use the shelves to climb up to those pipes on the ceiling couldn¡¯t ever result in his movements being as agile as the tentacle monster. It was for certain that once he appeared, he¡¯d lose his ability to attack, and the tentacle monster would just make a clean escape.

    Liu Gan pped his head¡­howe he didn¡¯t just get Yin He to help? He¡¯d just gotten this new pet, and hadn¡¯t been given the chance yet to test her true might!

    Liu Gan retreated off to the distance, and he used the PDA to manipte Yin He toe from above down to basement level 2. He quietly approached the warehouse door and then concealed himself within. After locking onto the tentacle monster above him as the attack target, he activated Yin He¡¯s free-attack mode.

    The exactmands were for her to attack to injure, as well as to capture, the tentacle monster. However, she could not end the tentacle monster¡¯s life. The final attack must be performed by Liu Gan. Only then would Liu Gan be able to absorb the ck orb dispelled out as the creature died, and boost his own strength.

    After setting this, Liu Gan looked at Yin He¡¯s glowing red eyes. Like a gust of wind, she swiftly climbed up the warehouse shelves and jumped onto the pipes above. leeve des suddenly appearing in either hand, she hacked towards the tentacle monster wrapped around the pipes.

    The tentacle monster didn¡¯t flee away, but rather, stretched out its two tentacles with its sharp tips severed and tried to wrap them around Yin He. However, Yin He¡¯s sleeve des were extremely sharp, and instantly cut off those two tentacles entirely. With a whine, the tentacle monster quickly fled along the pipes. Its movements were extremely swift, and with little effort, it instantly disappeared from Liu Gan¡¯s vision.

    However, Yin He¡¯s movements were also extremely fast. Moreover, after activating her infrared mode, she could clearly see everything in the darkness, thus not affecting her movements at all. While the tentacle monster was running away, Yin He quickly swung along the pipes like a monkey, following right behind the monster, and disappeared without a trace.

    However, Liu Gan could still see everything within Yin He¡¯s vision on the screen of his PDA. Right now, through Yin He¡¯s infrared mode, he could see that although the tentacle monster was fleeing extremely quickly, Yin He was chasing after just as fast. The distance between the escapee and the pursuer along the warehouse ceiling pipes hadn¡¯t changed at all. Meanwhile, the sleeve des in Yin He¡¯s hands had time and time again cut the tentacle monster¡¯s legs.

    After the tentacle monster¡¯s legs were injured, its speed gradually slowed as well. Its two legs and two tentacles, after being shed by Yin He repeatedly, finally ended uppletely chopped off at their roots. The tentacle monster hadpletely lost its ability to climb along the ceiling pipes, and was pulled down by Yin He, the both of them falling to the ground of the warehouse.

    Liu Gan leisurely walked over, brandishing his axe and cutting the tentacle monster¡¯s throat to end its life. Balls of giant orbs, about the same density as the ones from Giant Colossal Zombies, escaped from its body, each of them making their way into Liu Gan¡¯s body.<hr>

    [TL: the two colossal zombie Liu Gan fought earlier are has muscles exposed that fights like a tank (think of Mundo from league of legends). This tentacle one is a new variant type. I will call that Giant Colossal Zombie and this Tentacle Colossal Zombie.]

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85: Signal<hr>

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a little too easy? It¡¯s the same as power leveling!¡± Liu Gan eximed as he felt his inner strength and vitality refilled. He was also very happy with the results.

    If it were any other yer who encountered this type of Tentacle Colossal Zombie, they would die the moment they lowered their guard. Even if they were to injure the Tentacle Zombie, they had no way of tracking or chasing it in thisplicated environment. This type of variant zombie could be a much more dangerous existence than the giant colossal zombie.

    It was only thanks to Liu Gan¡¯s Mist Armor and Yin He¡¯s aid that the Tentacle Colossal Zombie wasn¡¯t able to do too much harm. If it appeared again, it would simply give free experience to Liu Gan, so deep down Liu Gan was thinking, ¡®Let these tentacle monsters be fiercer as theye.¡¯

    Even though he was feeling arrogant, he didn¡¯t really want to challenge extra tentacle colossal zombies. The appearance of these variant type zombies was something that you could encounter asionally but not call forth.

    Regr yers couldn¡¯t possibly fathom meeting a variant zombie since the moment they encountered one, their lives were in danger. However, the only thing Liu Gan wanted was to encounter more variant zombies. After reaching level 5, farming regr zombies lost its meaning. Only through assassinating more variant zombies would he reach a higher level.

    Yin He was a very strong type of pet even though the process that Liu Gan had to go through to obtain her was strange¡­ If it these series of events: starting with the executive of theboratory jumping off the building to suicide, which was in a window in front of Zhang Yu. That led to Zhang Yu obtaining the level 7 clearance ID card. If it weren¡¯t for Zhang Yu and her boyfriend wandering to the minimart to search for food, which led to them getting harassed by five yers and ultimately their demise. The level 7 clearance ID card finallynding in Liu Gan¡¯s hand after he killed those five yers.

    Pan Hua found the incubation vial that contained a finger and eyeball from the minimart, which he handed over to Liu Gan. Pan Hua¡¯s effort wasmendable. Liu Gan gave a moment of silence for Pan Hua. Finally, thest part of the puzzle was meeting Jiang JinYuan, who had the PDA scanning capability. This led them to discover the faint yellow dot that led them to Yin He.

    Every factor above couldn¡¯t be missing; otherwise, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be able to discover Yin He, this strong pet.

    ¡°The building¡¯smunication system is still wirelessly connected to me. I just received a signal. Do you want to listen,¡± Yin He suddenly said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Connect it,¡± Liu Gan replied to Yin He.

    Then, a sound came from the PDA¡¯s speaker. Liu Gan quickly lowered the volume and then ced it beside his ear.

    ¡°This is San Xing Corporation¡¯s Serenity aircraft. We are preparing to depart to the Main City¡¯sboratory. To Special Investigator, Mr. Jiang, our aircraft is currently being repaired at Green Pao Bay. The helicopter is damaged, so it can¡¯t be sent out to rescue you. If you want to reach the main city¡¯sboratory, pleasee find us at Green Pao Bay. We will remain here on standby for three days. After three days, we will fly straight to the main city¡¯sboratory.¡±

    ¡°Serenity aircraft?¡± Liu Gan suddenly remembered that DongDong said his grandpa had an aircraft called ¡®Spirit¡¯. It seemed like it wasn¡¯t the same aircraft. That didn¡¯t matter. It only needed to be able to carry him over to the main city¡¯sboratory.

    ¡°Green Pao Bay¡­¡± Liu Gan opened up the PDA¡¯s map to calcte the distance. He discovered that the distance between them was at least forty kilometers. It was on the other side of NinJing City¡¯s outer area. To reach the bay, he had to pass through the middle of the city, which was the most densely packed district of NinJing City.

    Without the help of regr transportation, to get there within three days was very difficult. Even if he had regr transportation, it had to be the type that could fly. The roads in this district had all been blocked off by wrecked cars or by zombies.

    Regardless, Liu Gan still wanted to reach Green Pao Bay. He even thought of taking over the aircraft. One could only imagine how many valuable goods it was transporting. In addition, with the aircraft, he could go wherever he wanted with ease.

    Therefore, Liu Gan quickly decided on his next course of action¨Ccross the city district in three days to Green Pao Bay and check out the situation there. If he couldn¡¯t reach the bay within three days, then he would head towards the district with the highest density of variant zombies to raise hisbat strength.

    After Liu Gan had finalized his ns, he tried tomunicate with the Serenity aircraft, but they never replied to his messages.

    ¡°You are an android?¡± Liu Gan tried tomunicate with Yin He. ording to what Jiang JinYu said, this pet had emotional growth development that resembled humans. It had the potential to grow through repetition.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yin He nodded in an expressionless manner.

    ¡°Smile a bit, you don¡¯t need to be so formal with me.¡± Liu Gan reached out to Yin He¡¯s chin and pulled it down.

    Right now he was her absolute master, and he wanted to test if she was really obedient.

    ¡°Please master, don¡¯t use such flirty manners towards me. I would feel unhappy.¡± Yin He¡¯s facial expression turned sour as she pushed his hand away.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t youpletely under my control? This type of attitude towards me isn¡¯t that appropriate.¡± Liu Gan raised his brow, I only touched your chin, you don¡¯t have to be like that?

    ¡°I am under your absolute control, but emotionally, I don¡¯t think we are close enough to the point where we can have body contact.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Your emotional processing¡­¡± Liu Gan was speechless. This San Xing Corporations created an android that had so much personality.

    ¡°That is system-programmed self protection.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°What must I do to increase our closeness level?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°Staying with me for long periods of time, so I can recognize your voice and speech pattern is the first step in familiarizing. Another method is that you can find me better body equipment and weapons, so I can improve. When I¡¯m weak, you can take care of me, help me recharge my battery¡­ Those are the other methods to increase our closeness.¡± Yin He gave a serious answer to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Liu Gan was absolutely speechless afterwards. Whoever wrote the script for Yin He¡¯s emotional recognition sequence¨Cwere these really considered normal human emotions? How absurd!

    If Jiang JinYuan was still alive, Liu Gan would definitely ask him to revise the program. However, that was no longer possible. Even though Liu Gan could control and operate the PDA, he wouldn¡¯t dare touch the other processes that changed Yin He. It might result in a faulty mess and screw everything up.

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86: Time is Ticking<hr>

    If any change to Yin He¡¯s system would cause her to suddenly attack him, then that would be a pity.

    After killing the tentacle colossal zombie, Liu Gan returned underground to search around. Unfortunately, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to find any high-technological machinery that would have any use in the apocalyptic world. Even if there had been any, he couldn¡¯t easily transport them out of there. This time, his scouting had no profitable oue.

    On top of that, The Trembling World had a serious lockdown on guns. Other than the yer¡¯s starter hand grenade, Liu Gan hadn¡¯t been able to find any deadly weapons, like a gun. However, Liu Gan was in possession of a gun, which Jiang JinYuan had pulled from the workstation nearby, and it was used to knock out Yin He.

    Meanwhile, Yin He had started disassembling spare parts from a pile. After tidying up, she bundled them up into a small backpack that she wore on her back. ording to her, theseponents were good backup items for fixing her body.

    ¡°Once you receive a maic attack, you faint. This type of weakness is quite obvious¡­¡± Liu Gan told Yin He as he held up the electromaic gun, pointing it at her. He was hinting that other people would take advantage of that knowledge and use it against her, and she would automatically lose all herbat prowess.

    ¡°That is because the gun is fine tuned to a set frequency that will cause my nanomites to be temporarily disabled within my body. The fine tuned frequency is like a password. Only when the set frequency reaches the nanomites will it make me faint. Other people don¡¯t know this set frequency, so even if they fired electromaic attacks, it wouldn¡¯t affect me,¡± Yin He exined the process to Liu Gan.

    ¡°If it¡¯s like that, then there¡¯s no need to worry.¡± Liu Gan nodded. Now that he had found a beautiful bodyguard and his body had no apparent weakness, he had no more worries. When he went to sleep, they could trade off standing guard, so he no longer had to worry about trivial matters like someone sneaking up on them.

    ¡°You¡¯re a robot, do you need to sleep at night?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He, thinking about the issue of standing guard at night.

    ¡°I require rest only if one of my body parts which contain machinery gets injured, so that my body¡¯s nanomites in the injured parts can regenerate. Other than that, I don¡¯t need to rest,¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Did you get injured when the two of us were fighting?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°As long as my body doesn¡¯t have more than ten injuries, they won¡¯t interfere with movements. The nanomites within me start regeneration right away. Right now, there¡¯s only an hour left until I ampletely repaired.¡± Yin He nodded.

    ¡°Oh? So ording to what you said, generally you don¡¯t need to go to sleep? And our conversation is actually restful for your system?¡± Liu Gan was trying to gauge the extent of the damage to Yin He¡¯s system..

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good, good.¡± Liu Gan nodded, very satisfied. Now he wouldn¡¯t even have to get up to stand on guard, and he could even have a full night¡¯s rest. During these apocalyptic times, besides the basic necessities ¨C food and water ¨C it was very important to have a good sleep.

    ¡­

    By the time Liu Gan and Yin He had arrived back to the ground floor, the building¡¯s backup energy had stopped generating electricity. Outside, the sky had darkened, and a torrential downpour was endlessly beating against the windows.

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. It should be around 7 o¡¯clock or so. Looks like we have to stay here for the night. It was a dark night, without any lighting out. Should we go around to scout for a better location to sleep, then discuss ns when tomorrowes.¡±

    Liu Gan once again used the probing scanner to get a detailed floor map around him, then he set it so that he could look through each and every floor.

    The front door of the ground floor was wide open. Nearly every window was broken, with shattered ss on the floor. The zombies outside could freely enter the building. It seemed that quite arge number of crippled zombies were near the shattered windows. It was highly possible that the recent corpse tide had caused most of them to get trampled on.

    The zombies within the building were mostly clustered around the ground floor. Above the third floor, the amount of zombies gradually lessened. The further up you went, the less zombies you were likely to meet. With that many zombies on the first floor, it was impossible to clear them all, and it wasn¡¯t necessary to clear them. In order to find a peaceful location to sleep, the only solution was to head up to another floor.

    Judging from the scan result, within theboratory building, fifth floor and above had the greatest decline in the amount of zombies, and consisted of messy office space, filled with scattered cubicles. If he chose a floor that was too high up, then escaping would be problematic. If it was too close to the ground floor, then any sudden movements or sounds they made would be heard by the zombies below. So the ideal floor was the fifth one.

    Liu Gan and Yin He arrived on the fifth floor, both standing in front of an office¡¯s doorway apany. Judging from thepany logo.trademark of the logo, this had to be one of San Xing Corporation¡¯s many departments, but this one seemed to be the headquarters of a department. The entrance to the office was obstructed. After Yin He entered, he found a single zombie inside, just standing there nkly. It heard movement and it looked over to Yin He, but didn¡¯t react.

    Under themand of Liu Gan, Yin He quickly used its arm to ce the zombie in a headlock, and then dragged it out of the room by its neck. After the zombie got attacked, it tried to bite Yin He, but Yin He¡¯s grip was too tight. With a little added pressure, she was able to render the zombie motionless and theny it on the ground.

    Yin He looted the zombie¡¯s body, and pulled out an identification card. Then, he ced the zombie¡¯s body at the end of the corridor, opened up the window, and dumped the body out through it.

    The chances of other yers and local survivors reaching this building weren¡¯t high. However, just in case, Liu Gan had to make sure to not arouse the suspicion of any passersbys, so he had Yin He dispose of the body.

    Even though he had Yin He by his side, Liu Gan¡¯sbat strength far exceeded typical yers and local survivors. However, he still wanted to maintain a cautious attitude. He didn¡¯t want his own negligence to cause some series of unfortunate events.

    It wouldn¡¯t be simr to that time, a year before, when he went mountain climbing at Mt. Everest and lost his sleeping bag, which lead to him losing his limbs. This type of tragedy definitely wouldn¡¯t happen again.

    Yin He returned to the office space and scouted once more. Her results were the same as Liu Gan¡¯s PDA scan ¨C this office only had one zombie.

    The office space had only one inner office. Inside it was a lounge, and it also had a simple bed. It seemed to be clean on the outside. Evidently, that department¡¯s chairman had be a zombie and hadn¡¯t gone back into the lounge to rest.

    For safety reasons, Liu Gan opened the room¡¯s air vents and stuffed pieces of broken parts from chairs and tables inside, clogging them up. This way, no matter how unusual the variant zombie was, it wouldn¡¯t be able to sneak into the room in the middle of the night. No sneak attack through the air venttion would be possible.

    Even if the variant type zombies decided to break through the improvised barricade from the air venttion, it would create a loud enough noise to alert Yin He, who would be on guard duty, or to even wake Liu Gan up from his slumber.

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87: Adjusting the ns<hr>

    ¡°Do you need to eat anything?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He as he sat on the sofa outside of the lounge. Then, he pulled food and water out from his backpack.

    ¡°No need.¡± Yin He shook her head.

    ¡°Then where does your body get its energy from?¡± Liu Gan curiously asked Yin He.

    ¡°My energy is provided by High Voltage sma,¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°High Voltage sma? What is that?¡± Liu Gan had never heard of this material before.

    ¡°When we were underground, did you notice those gigantic maic rings? Those are a set of refined maic generating instations, which create electrical sma throughpression,¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan in a few words.

    ¡°I see.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°Inside my body, every nanomite is a small version of the stored electrical sma.¡± Yin He held up her hand in front of Liu Gan¡¯s PDA and had her nanomitesposition model exported out on the PDA monitor.

    The subject in question was sphere-shaped, and it was simr to the structure of the maic energy array that he had seen underground in the basement. However, its dimensions were significantly smaller. The center had a very bright, radiating light.

    ¡°This here is a high concentration of electrical sma, the illumination intensity is several dozen times brighter than the sun,¡± Yin He continued to tell Liu Gan.

    ¡°Howrge can nanomites be in general? Do they have a grade differentiation? And how much of the electrical sma can one of them carry?¡± Liu Gan was still trying to wrap his head around how amazing this was with his countenance revealing his enthusiasm.

    ¡°Every nanomite has a small storage of electrical sma, but since there are so many of them, up to the trillions of billions and more, then the overall quantity bes quite significant. These nanomites can use the electrical sma as an energy source in order to move around, and at the same time, they provide my body with energy as metabolism. From the building¡¯s one lightning rod on the rooftop, the attracted lightning transforms into energy, which passes through therge-scale maic energy array and bespressed. After beingpressed, it is safe to transfer into the nanomites with the miniature maic array,¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan in detail.

    ¡°This is too fascinating!¡± Liu Gan still wondered.

    ¡°I have simply downloaded part of theboratory system¡¯s database. These facts are all from the database, even though I don¡¯t quite understand them myself,¡± Yin He added.

    ¡°The nanomites within your body can generate reserve energy, so how long can they generate for?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He directly. All other technological aspects didn¡¯t really concern him, but this question expressed his main concern.

    ¡°Before you guys woke me up, my body¡¯s nanomites had around 71% charged electric sma. If I can conserve my electric use and not go on electrical discharge strike, then it shouldst three days,¡± Yin He told Liu Gan, as she inspected herself.

    ¡°Only three days? That amount of time seems a little bit short. If your body¡¯s nanomites are all used up, what happens then?¡± Liu Gan asked, raising his eyebrows.

    ¡°I would pass out, until the nanomites would be charged up with energy again.¡±

    ¡°This building¡¯s rooftop has such a long lightning rod. Is that for the sole reason to supply your body with electricity? How long did it take to charge up to 71%?¡± Liu Gan inquired more from Yin He.

    ¡°ording to my database record, I was created two months ago. To charge up to 71%, the nanomites took roughly around a month?¡± Yin He gave an estimate to Liu Gan.

    ¡°One month is a lot of energy to be able to fill it up to that capacity? But, it can onlyst you three days?¡± Liu Gan said as he kept shaking his head.

    ¡°The transfer rate from the maic energy array to the electrical sma is really low. The chances of turning attracted lightning into electrical sma has a probability in the decimals. Plus, there isn¡¯t a thunderstorm every night,¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan as she essed her database.

    ¡°So having said that, in case you run out of energy, I must carry you back here and bring you back underground to the maic energy array in order to recharge. Is that right?¡± Liu Gan had just realized how troublesome that would be.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just checked, the underground maic energy array has been damaged by someone, so it can no longer charge the nanomites within me.¡± Yin He shook her head.

    ¡°Then are you unable to fully charge up?¡± Liu Gan said with a depressed look.

    ¡°Not necessarily, I just need to find the right spare parts. I can create a small scale electrical smapression device. So then, when it thunderstorms, we must find a ce with a lightning rod. Once I sessfully attach this small-scale electrical smapression device to the lightning rod, I can recharge my nanomites,¡± Yin He said, then pulled out a small metallic box from her backpack.

    The metallic box had severalponents scattered through it, none of which Liu Gan recognized. Even though it hadn¡¯t been assembled yet, this was clearly Yin He¡¯s future lunchbox.

    ¡°Where should we go look for your missingponents?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°ording to the system¡¯s database indications, the building at the top has spare parts that I require. I just need to search around this building. That should be sufficient for me to recreate the small scale recharging instation,¡± Yin He replied.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Liu Gan started to ponder. Perhaps, he would need to readjust his original n. Comparing the level of importance between having to reach the aircraft at Green Pao Bay and having to search for thisrge building, to him, solving Yin He¡¯s lunchbox problem was more important.

    Reaching the main city¡¯sboratory district could be done at anytime, but the moment Yin He fainted, he would have no chance of waking her up without Jiang JinYuan¡¯s guidance.

    ¡°The small-scale electrical smapression device has an even lower transformation efficiency. The rate at which it works is 0.015% while the undergroundrge-scale maic energy array canpress and transfer at a rate of 0.43%,¡± Yin He added.

    ¡°That is rather low¡­ how about normal electricity outlets? Would those be enough to recharge you?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He. Even though it was the apocalyptic world, there were still alternatives that could generate electricity, like gasoline.

    ¡°Those produce too low a voltage, and they aren¡¯t capable of generating sma. It has to be at least 100 million Watts.¡± Yin He shook her head.

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s like that? Then let¡¯s change our ns. Tomorrow, we won¡¯t go to Green Pao Bay. Let¡¯s spend a whole day to search this building so we can work on building up your smapressor,¡± Liu Gan said after thinking for a bit.

    ¡°Okay, thank you master,¡± Yin He said to Liu Gan as their intimacy slightly increased.

    ¡°Okay, you said something about an electrical discharge strike?¡± Liu Gan had just remembered that Yin He had mentioned it a while ago.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88: Borrowing some electricity<hr>

    ¡°That is something I can discharge in an emergency situation. I can release up to thousands and even tens of thousands of high voltage charges to strike down the opponent. If I do that, it will quickly empty out my remaining electric sma.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Before we find a reliable supply of electricity, you mustn¡¯t ever do that.¡± Liu Ganmanded Yin He.

    ¡°I agree with you, too.¡± Yin He nodded with a hint of a captivating smile.

    Liu Gan suddenly remembered something¡­ Yes! Luckily, Yin He prioritized her longevity. Otherwise, when they were fighting earlier in the underground chamber, she could¡¯ve released the Thousand Volt Discharge on him. He would have been burnt alive even with the mist armor equipped.

    How dangerous!

    ¡°Besides the sma, do you have any other method of charging?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He. This was because charging the sma was too troublesome. If there was a better alternative, it would be a lot easier.

    ¡°My bodily functions consume arge amount of energy, so only if we can find something more advanced than nanomites. For instance, something that can move my nanomites orpletely exchange the nanomites for an alternative. That way, I don¡¯t need to charge so frequently.¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Where will we find something like nuclear powered energy that can move your nanomites? Liu Gan asked casually.

    ¡° I don¡¯t know. The database only mentioned this option, but it didn¡¯t rify any further.¡± Yin He shook her head.

    Liu Gan also felt gloomy and shook his head as he sighed without saying another word. It seemed like this new pet wasn¡¯t that easy to take care of. Not only was good food hard to find, but it was harder to keep her full. If he wasn¡¯t careful, she might faint from hunger.

    ¡­

    The next morning.

    After waking up, Liu Gab and Yin He started sweeping the building floor by floor.

    [TL: this is a hundred story building remember?]

    Before starting the sweep, Liu Gan did a deep probing scan of the location, so his PDA disyed the locations of the zombies.

    When the deep probing scan reached the 50th floors, suddenly, three green dots appeared on one of the floors. Liu Gan raised his eyebrow¡­ These three dots represented yers. He wasn¡¯t aware that this building had three more yers. When did theye in? Also, how did they get up there? How long have they stayed there?

    There were no zombies above the 50th floor for 20 floors. It wasn¡¯t until the 80th floor that zombies appeared. After seeing this, Liu Gan seemed to grasp the situation. ording to his theory, these three yers or possibly more had been sent into the game starting at the 70th floor.

    They could only kill their way downwards in that situation. In that process, they discovered that killing zombies would raise their level, so they cleared out every floor. Within these two days, they cleared up to twenty floors of zombies and finally reached the 50th floor.

    He didn¡¯t know what they were doing yesterday during the hour when themunication broadcast urred due to the backup supply of electricity. Either the elevators were broken or they weren¡¯t willing to take the elevator downwards, so they were still stuck on the 50th floor.

    If they ever met up, it would be wise to see who they were. If they were honest, friendly, and normal yers, then exchanging helpful advice would be eptable. However, if they were the aggressive and rude type of yers, then they would have to die. He would then loot their bodies for hidden treasures.

    The PDA screen indicated that by the time they nearly reached the 90th floor, they had to becareful. Liu Gan found a deep dark red dot. This was a surprise for Liu Gan. The scarlet red dot meant a variant zombie. Even if he killed regr zombies, there wasn¡¯t any meaning. Only by killing variant zombies would he gain experience for leveling.

    Just when Liu Gan was opening up a map on the PDA to figure out which floor the variant zombie was on, the PDA suddenly popped up an ¡®out of energy¡¯ notification. He was unable to turn it on afterwards.

    ¡°It ran out of energy now? No way!¡± Liu Gan¡¯s eyes were wide open looking at the dark monitor.

    It wasn¡¯t strange that the PDA ran out of energy. Yesterday, Jiang JinYuan used it to power the locks on the door. Then, it was used to power the control panel on the crystal cab. It consumed most of the remaining battery avable. Finally, he used the probing scanner device to drain the rest of the battery.

    ¡°How does the sr panel attachment work?¡± Liu Gan recalled that Jiang JinYuan showed it to him once. Pressing a certain button released the sr panel on the PDA as he walked to the side of the window.

    ¡°[email protected]#$% this sun!¡± Liu Gan cursed as he noticed the cloudy sky. Ever since he entered this Trembling World, the sky had never been sunny.

    Not only this, everything in The Trembling World, even during the day, was dark and gloomy. Under these conditions, it was impossible to gather enough sunlight for the sr panel to generate electricity.

    It seemed like this object could only use the sr panel as a method of recharging. It didn¡¯t even have a charging device or adapter. Before Jiang JinYuan entered the game, the game developers gave him the PDA because they assumed that the apocalyptic world would have a hard time generating regr electricity. Therefore, they never set up a battery charger and just relied on the sr panel.

    The problem was they never once considered this unnatural and peculiar weather system here to be a factor.

    ¡°Is it possible to borrow electricity from your body?¡± Liu Gan walked over to ask Yin He.

    ¡°No way, my current output isn¡¯t a normal voltage. The lowest current I can produce is at least five thousand volts.¡± Yin He said as she looked at the PDA.

    ¡°Then nevermind, you would toast this thing¡­ Is there a way you can think of that will restore its energy?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He

    ¡°This is sr powered only, so it only needs the sunlight for a little while.¡± Yin He concluded after investigating the PDA.

    ¡°Come on sun¡­¡± Liu Gan really had no choice.

    ¡°Perhaps the sky will clear up soon?¡± Yin He tried her best to console Liu Gan.

    ¡°I wish.¡± Liu Gan ced the PDA and probing device back into his bag. Until there was a better way of supplying electricity or when sunlight broke through was when the PDA would be usable again.

    This whole building had approximately over 100 stories, and every set of floors was a designated region. Thirty floors and below housed all manualborers and intelligence researchers. Part of them were in charge of the emotion, social interaction, and learning programming.

    Biochemical material research was from the 30th to the 50th floor, and above that region would house the biochemical circtory region and research. When Liu Gan entered theboratory he had no idea what materials were valuable and what weren¡¯t without Jiang JinYuan¡¯s guidance. In these situations, Yin He can only be relied on for help.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89: Give up<hr>

    Yin He could offer all the information in the database and exin all the technicalities to Liu Gan only for him to never understand it. She could continue to exin to Liu Gan until he started feeling drowsy, but he still wouldn¡¯t be able toprehend the main points.

    After realizing that knowing these scientific terms and learning scientific gadgets had no particr use to him even after listening, Liu Gan didn''t tell Yin He to continue reading. His only option was for her to carefully search through it herself to find the spare parts. She struggled to fight against time to create her own lunch box.

    However, it became clear that Yin He had more interests than just her lunchbox. She most resembled a worker ant, and soon she gathered a pile of strange and weirdbination of spare parts. She gathered so much that she couldn''t move freely.

    ¡°Your lunch box¡­ Does the recharging device need suchplicated parts?¡± Liu Gan hopelessly asked.

    ¡°No, these parts are to recreate nanomite instations. Simply put, it is used for manufacturing the mechanism to inject nanomites, so if there is a surplus of materials I would like to have my nanomites undergo renovation.¡± Yin He tried to exined her ns.

    ¡°So do these materials require energy to move?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Yin He nodded.

    ¡°Then you should create a temporary recharging device because without energy, then no matter what you do these won''t work.¡± Liu Gan had to stop Yin He. Otherwise, if she kept collecting these, it would only add stress to her workload.

    Yin He widened her eyes looking at Liu Gan. She worked so hard to collect these materials, and she didn''t want to part with any of it.

    ¡°In life, there are a lot of materials that people feel like they can¡¯t let go, but it serves no actual purpose. So, no matter how unwilling you are, you won''t be able to move forward because of this load. Not only is it dangerous to be too attached, but you will lose out on better opportunities. So you must let it go for a taste of something better, understand?¡± Liu Gan could only think of a philosophical answer to reply to Yin He.

    ¡°Okay, I will hide away the other items, and then at ater time, I cane and put it to good use.¡± Yin He had a hard time searching for these small spare parts. Her final decision was to pick out parts that could be used to create a simple recharging device. Then, what would remain were non-bulky objects that wouldn¡¯t take up too much space with other spare parts. So after she finished all of that, then she would leave with Liu Gan.

    In one of the biochemical material research offices, Liu Gan found a coiled rope. This rope was roughly two to three millimeters thick, and after rolling it up, he figured the distance based on the fine print of nominal alongside it dictating that it was several hundred meters long. The surprise was when Liu Gan picked up the rope, it felt as light as a feather.

    ¡°Oh, I know this material.¡± Yin He said as she walked over after seeing the rope.

    ¡°What is this material made out of?¡± Liu Gan tried to tug on the rope to separate the strands, only to find that it was extraordinarily tightly bound.

    ¡°That is a type of biochemically created material, and it is very simr to the material used to create my skin. With iparable durability, this is simr to materials that won¡¯t snap when tugged on. It can hold up to 2 tons at its limit.¡± Yin He recalled from her database and gave Liu Gan her answer.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Liu Ganid out the rope onto the floor and used his fire axe to hack at it. The result was the floor cracking under pressure from the fire axe, but the rope was unscathed.

    ¡°This is very good material for climbing and for holding objects. It isn¡¯t too heavy to carry around.¡± Liu Gan said as he ced the coiled rope back into his backpack.

    ¡­

    Around noon, they almost reached the building¡¯s 50th floor. Liu Gan heard killing sounds, so it was highly possible that it was those three yers detected earlier. Liu Gan walked over stealthily to investigate. He discovered that there were two males and a female yer, killing zombies in the hallway.

    Their weapon of choice was the fire axe that they found throughout this building. They also felt that the beginner¡¯s weapon wasn¡¯t a good choice, so they threw it out and used the fire axe. These three yers showed quite capable teamwork with their ughtering. Based on their performance and physical attributes such as strength, speed, and dexterity, they should all be level 3 and above.

    Without a doubt, they were yers that had been trapped here since the beginning. Except, they had been sent to this building. Within these three days, they had been killing normal zombies floor by floor, so they must have gained plenty ofbat experience to level up.

    The probing device was able to detect a variant zombie around the 80th floor, but they hadn¡¯t encountered it. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the attacks of the variant zombie at their current level.

    These three yers didn¡¯t seem like the extremely terrible and brutal type. Liu Gan was also able to recognize one of the three yer¡¯s faces. The leader of their group, one of the male yers, was his high school ssmate. What was his name? His surname should be Zhang, but the rest of his name was a blur to Liu Gan.

    ssmate Zhang¡¯s personality was rather passionate and straightforward. However, Liu Gan had been quite low-profile, so they both had different groups of friends. Therefore, these two people were more like acquaintances.

    Since there wasn¡¯t a friendship bond between them, there was no need to greet them.

    Just as Liu Gan was prepared to give up investigating this floor and move to a higher floor, bypassing them, the three yers made a mistake.

    Originally, they were only killing two zombies, but in a nearby room three zombies suddenly ran out. The five zombies surrounded them, and they couldn¡¯t prevent it. Their formation was ruined by the surprise ambush. From the looks on their faces, they seemed to be in danger.

    Based on their level, three people against five zombies should have been more than enough. However, it seemed like they hadn¡¯t found anything to eat within these few days in this building, so they were famished to the point where they couldn¡¯t draw out their strength. At the same time, when facing off against five zombies at the same time, they seemed to have lost hope.

    After all, it was a high school ssmate...

    Liu Gan rushed over, wielding the fire axe with a wave of his hand. In one fluid motion, he was easily able to kill all the zombies,ing to the aid of these three yers.

    The moment Liu Gan rushed over, all three yers became scared. It wasn¡¯t until after they realized that he was there to help them kill zombies that they rxed. ssmate Zhang looked at Liu Gan and was able to immediately recognize him.

    ¡°Are you? Liu¡­ Gan?¡± ssmate Zhang was able to remember Liu Gan¡¯s name. After recognizing Liu Gan, he felt extremely happy because in The Trembling World, even being able to meet up with familiar people was not a likely situation.

    ssmate Zhang¡¯s full name was Zhang ShengLi. Even if he remembered Liu Gan¡¯s name, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to reciprocate and reply with his name. The moment Zhang ShengLi called out Liu Gan¡¯s name, the female by his side also took notice of Liu Gan and seemed as if she recognized him too. However, to Liu Gan, he had no impression of her.

    [TL: His name ¡®sheng li¡¯ means winning.]

    ¡°You also y this game?¡± Liu Gan tried to find a good time to chime in.

    ¡°It¡¯s been several years since we met, ssmate. Who would¡¯ve thought that we would meet up in here! It was seriously dangerous just now, so it was lucky to have you stick your neck out for us. Otherwise, we would have been in trouble.¡± Zhang ShengLi passionately thanked Liu Gan.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90: Having no clue<hr>

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t any effort at all.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi politely.

    ¡°It might have been as easy as lifting a finger to you, but it means life or death to us¡­ Yes, this woman here is my sister Zhang ShengNan, and this is her boyfriend, Hu Rong.¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he introduced the other two yers to Liu Gan.

    [TL: The sister¡¯s name ¡®Sheng¡¯ means victorious, ¡®Nan¡¯ means guy. The boyfriend¡¯s name ¡®Rong¡¯ means harmony.]

    ¡°A full family being transferred together isn¡¯t all that bad.¡± Liu Gan said as he nodded towards the male and female yers. This was his way of greeting them.

    ¡°I was forced here by these two to y this game! Who would¡¯ve thought that I would be trapped in this game! It¡¯s all their fault!¡± Zhang ShengNanined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Liu Ganughed at Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I recognized you. Do you recognize me?¡± Zhang ShengNan giggled at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Liu Gan¡¯s expression was quite embarrassed. He really had no impression of her.

    ¡°You are famous in school for being handsome and rich. I have a few female friends who have a huge crush on you!¡± Zhang ShengNan added since she could tell that Liu Gan didn¡¯t have any clue of who she was.

    [TL: Technically, it is ¡®FuErDai¡¯ as in second generation from rich families.]

    ¡°You don¡¯t though, right?¡± Hu Rong immediately said jokingly to Zhang ShengNan.

    [TL: OHHHHHHHHHHH SNAP. LOVE TRIANGLE.]

    ¡°And what if I do? What can you do?¡± Zhang ShengNan replied to her boyfriend. It seemed like her personality was the type to ramble on in an aggressive manner.

    ¡°I am Ru Hong. Thank you for rescuing us.¡± Zhang ShengNan¡¯s boyfriend said to Liu Gan as he expressed his gratitude by extending out his hand.

    ¡°Oh, it wasn¡¯t a big deal.¡± Liu Gan said as he shook hands. These three yers seemed courteous and modest. Liu Gan¡¯s impression toward them was quite positive.

    Zhang ShengNan¡¯s brother, Zhang ShengLi, and her boyfriend, Ru Hong, were both zombie enthusiasts. When the game server started, they begged Zhang ShengNan to participate with them. They really didn¡¯t expect this kind of oue after joining, but it was toote now to regret.

    Zhang ShengNan¡¯s boyfriend Ru Hong was an armed policeman, and her brother, Zhang ShengLi, and his friends opened a gym. His upation was as a fitness trainer. Zhang ShengNan¡¯s major in college was specialized in physical education. So physique of these three was considered rather well developed. The moment they entered into the game, they were able to ovee their initial panic and started to consider how to survive in this world.

    The three started on a floor that didn¡¯t have too many zombies. This gave them enough time to adjust to the surroundings, and by killing these scattered zombies, they were able to level up. By leveling up, they improved their body strength, speed, and dexterity, which allowed them to move more smoothly and naturally.

    From yesterday to today, the three of them had cleared around twenty floors of zombies. Amongst the three yers, Zhang ShengNan had already reached level 4. The two male yers were level 3. This wasn¡¯t because Zhang ShengNan¡¯sbat ability or innate skill was higher than the two male yers. The reason was because the two males left thest hit all to her. Therefore, she was able to level up a lot faster, and this way thebat ability in the team would be more bnced.

    ¡°That person is¡­¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan as he referred to the person behind him.

    ¡°We met in game, and her surname is He. Her personality is the antisocial type, so she doesn¡¯t like to talk with other people.¡± Liu Gan decided not to reveal the in depth details about Yin He.

    ¡°Brother Liu, do you know what is going on with this game? Why are we trapped here unable to return?¡± Zhang ShengNan decided to ask Liu Gan. They had been trapped within this building, so their knowledge was very limited, especially with all the things that had been happening outside.

    Liu Gan gave a brief summary of the situation to them. Then, he added that San Xing Corporation and the government definitely wouldn¡¯t abandoned them, so they would think of ways to rescue them. The additional exnation was Liu Gan¡¯s way of consoling them.

    Zhang ShengNan was of two minds about this. However, the two male yers by her side tried tofort her, so she wouldn¡¯t be too affected by this situation. Zhang ShengNan¡¯s only option was to not dwell on this topic.

    ¡°Well, you guys can continue killing zombies and leveling up. I won¡¯t bother you guys.¡± Liu Gan said as he prepared to leave.

    ¡°Brother Liu, where are you preparing to go?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan. He could tell Liu Gan was really strong. Also, he had the thought of asking him to join the party, but judging from the other party, Liu Gan didn¡¯t share that idea.

    ¡°I am preparing to head upwards and search this building floor by floor to see if I can find anything useful.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Ah? You still want to go up? We came from above and are heading downward. We have already cleared the several floors above us, and there are only instruments attached to the facility. We have found very little food and nothing useful.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You guys are still heading downwards?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Yes, we have been stuck here for more than two days. Since we haven¡¯t found anything to eat, we are going to starve. Once we are closer to the bottom, we can increase our tempo going downstairs. When we feel like we are ready for self-defense, we can go on the street to try our luck.¡± Zhang ShengLiid out his n for Liu Gan.

    ¡°I have some food here. You can split it amongst yourselves.¡± Liu Gan opened his bag and gave them three packs of cookies.

    ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s so kind of you, Thank you. We were really about to starve to death!¡± Zhang ShengNan and Ru Hong said after receiving the cookies. They gave their thanks.

    ¡°We found some drinks upstairs, and what¡¯s left are two cans of beer. We have finished the food, so do you want these?¡± Zhang ShengLi quickly opened his backpack and lifted it in front of Liu Gan¡¯s face.

    ¡°No need, I have enough drinking water.¡± Liu Gan shook his head.

    ¡°I feel really embarrassed to be eating away your food supply, but finding food in game is really hard. You should take the beer!¡± Zhang ShengLi felt very regretful, so he forced the two beer cans to Liu Gan.

    ¡°No need to be so polite. You need to eat to have strength to head down, right? Then, I shouldn¡¯t take up your time and chat too long.¡± Liu Gan said as he prepared to leave. As they were once high school ssmates, he could only this, which was within his ability. If they wanted to continue surviving in this world, they would have to rely mainly on themselves.

    ¡°Brother Liu, we should just group up and leave together. There¡¯s safety in numbers.¡± Zhang ShengNan finally suggested to Liu Gan.

    ¡°I am heading upstairs, and you guys are heading downstairs. We aren¡¯t going the same way.¡± Liu Gan now had Yin He as apanion, so he didn¡¯t need to group with other people.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. We cane with you upstairs, since we aren¡¯t in a rush to go anywhere. We want to level up ourbat ability before heading downstairs anyway. I¡¯ve observed the situation below. There was a corpse tide that had urred earlier, so without any real strength, going downstairs will be dangerous.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Liu Gan after thinking for a little bit.

    [TL: DON¡¯T DO IT. NO NEW FRIENDS!]

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91: Team<hr>

    ¡°If you insist on following me upstairs, we can do that. Let¡¯s go up together.¡± Liu Gan said after thinking about it deeply for a long time.

    Although Liu Gan had never hunted with Zhang ShengLi before, he knew that Zhang ShengLi was a part of the student council cadre. So his self-conduct was pretty good, and his reputation was quite positive among the other ssmates. In addition, the physique of these three were quite decent, and they had umted plenty ofbat experience from killing zombies. They also had great teamwork, so in short, they wouldn¡¯t be deadweight.

    Suddenly, Liu Gan had a different idea. Essentially, if he still wanted to head to Green Pao Bay, he would need to infiltrate the serenity aircraft and then hijack it. If it was only him and Yin He, trying to take over an aircraft would be very difficult. If it was arge aircraft, then more people were required to operate it, so the crew members had to stay alive.

    [TL: Liu Gan just upgraded to a terrorist]

    So under these conditions, he had to bring his own people over. It would be preferable if they could supervise the crew members and prevent them from rebelling. He would send one of them to go and learn how to pilot the aircraft. This way, he truly would be in control of the aircraft. So he could fly over to the main city anytime without any problems.

    ¡°Splendid!¡± Zhang ShengNan said happily after Liu Gan agreed.

    They proceeded up twenty floors, and Liu Gan didn¡¯t search meticulously. He sent Yin He to search around to see if there were any important spare parts. Once Yin He had left everyone¡¯s field of view, her search efficiency was very high. So along their way up, there wasn¡¯t any noticeable dy for gathering.

    Once they reached the 70th floor, this was the starting location where Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers had entered the game. As they continued upstairs, the number of zombies on each floor started to increase as well. When they encountered zombies, despite how many there were, Liu Gan just rushed through them with a fluid movement of punches and kicks. He was able to mow them down.

    However, he didn¡¯t kill them. It didn¡¯t serve any purpose for him to kill regr zombies anymore, so he left the killing to the other three yers.

    Liu Gan¡¯s efficiency enabled them to kill zombies at a higher rate. The three could only watch in amazement. Compared to before, they spent more than two days to carefully clear twenty floors when the three of them were alone. In the short period of time that they followed Liu Gan, they were able to clear five floors.

    As they continued towards the top, the number of zombies began to steadily increase. They were unsure of the reason behind this, but there was no point in investigating such matters. To Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers, they were happy they could farm experience from killing so many zombies. As Liu Gan was able to mow down arge portion of the zombies, this left the experience all to them. He purposefully slipped one or two zombies for them to practice their skills.

    Although Zhang ShengNan attempted to ask Liu Gan for his level, Liu Gan didn¡¯t answer her. Zhang ShengLi also stepped in to prevent her from asking anymore questions. They already could have guessed that Liu Gan¡¯s current level was much higher than theirs. Aside from the level difference, thebat technique, and experience, Liu Gan definitely had more experience than them. Inevitably, they recognized his ability and epted Liu Gan¡¯s position as the small group¡¯s leader.

    Ability to protect team members, sense to allow team members to benefit from this group, constant understanding of what the next step should be are all basic traits of a group leader. To be able to aplish this task, leading a small group like this wouldn¡¯t be too much trouble.

    They were unaware of the time, and the sky darkened as night started to set in. Liu Gan cleared out another safe room and distributed food for Zhang ShengLi and the other two, so they could all eat dinner meal together. Ever since Liu Gan left the Lucky Garden District, He and Jiang JinYuan brought along a lot of food. After reorganizing the portions, it was enough for him and the three to eat until tomorrow night.

    As for Yin He¡­ Liu Gan put on a charade and gave her a bag of cookies. Then she went and hid from their field of view, so others couldn¡¯t tell that she actually didn¡¯t eat anything.

    An eerie feeling was within the buildingte at night. Especially when it was after dusk, they were able to hear the zombie voices from close and from afar. The tingling sensation of hair rising uncontrobly came from this eerie feeling.

    In the previous two days, Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers ceased all activities once it got dark. They would then proceed to find a ce suitable for resting. However, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t thinking about stopping.

    Liu Gan had a strict time schedule he had to adhere to. Liu Gan estimated that he could finish exploring this building by tonight. Then, they could rest and reorganize at night. The very next day, they would head toward Green Pao Bay. If possible, they would rush over as soon as possible. If they couldn¡¯t make it, then he wouldn¡¯t force it. It was possible that at Green Pao Bay, there would maybe be more than one serenity aircraft? Even if the serenity aircraft had left, there were perhaps other aircrafts or ships parked near the bay.

    ¡°Are we continuing at night?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked as he saw Liu Gan prepare shlights and realized that they might continue.

    ¡°Would you guys be willing to keep following me?¡± Liu Gan asked the three yers officially.

    ¡°If you are willing to lead us and not feel like we are deadweight, then of course we would be d to follow you.¡± Zhang ShengLi said, representing him and his sister, and he was obviously very happy. Hu Rong also voiced in agreement to follow.

    After they all realized that they were trapped within this world ying this game, they were constantly in life-threatening danger. In addition, it was hard to find food, so they decided to follow Liu Gan then everything would be much easier.

    Although, Zhang ShengLi and Liu Gan hadn¡¯t interacted much, Zhang ShengLi believed that Liu Gan¡¯s moral character was trustworthy. He also knew that although Liu Gan was a 2nd generation sessor to a wealthy and powerful family, he never abused his position by bullying others. He also knew that Liu Gan, asionally, used his pocket money to help the impoverished.

    It was only natural that all these affairs were known by Zhang ShengLi as it was his duty to know within the student council. They could be at ease, knowing they were following a morally good and strong leader.

    ¡°This game world and real world are very different. It is very cruel. When I was on the ground below, the yers and local survivors were killing each other for food. Society as you know it, doesn¡¯t exist. The social ethics and survival rules have to be rewritten. Are you guys mentally prepared for that?¡± Liu Gan asked the three yers.

    ¡°That we can understand.¡± Zhang ShengLi and his sister nodded at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Only if you don¡¯t kill innocents and bully the weak.¡± Hu Rong added.

    ¡°Rx, Brother Liu isn¡¯t that type of person.¡± Zhang ShengLi told Hu Rong.

    ¡°Alright, if you are willing to follow mymand, I will protect you and provide you with food. Later, I have a n that I would require all of you to participate in. It is possible that we can help yers return to the real world. Once the conditions are right, I will tell you more details.¡± Liu Gan told them, after they had agreed to follow him. It seemed like the terms of agreement ended as the conversation drew to an end.

    ¡°Return to the real world?¡± The three yers heard this phrase, and their eyes lit up with hope.

    ¡°The specifics are hard to exin. First, we must reach the main city¡¯sboratory to see if that will be possible. By that time, I will share with you guys in detail. Let¡¯s not waste anymore time. Tonight, we must continue searching every floor upstairs. So by tomorrow early morning, we can go downstairs.¡± Liu Gan stood up and distributed a shlight to each of them.

    By now, the sky waspletely dark. Within the building, it would be impossible even to see their own fingers at a close distance without a shlight. Zhang ShengLi and the other two felt uneasy, they trailed closely behind Liu Gan with a shlight in hand.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92: Eager to try<hr>

    After reaching the 80th floor or so, Liu Gan started to be more cautious than before.

    Not only was it pitch ck, but the PDA probing device was also able to find a variant zombie in its scan.

    Right now, Liu Gan knew that the variant zombies weren¡¯t limited only to one type. There were possibly many different types of variant zombies. He first encountered the type with coarse skin and thick flesh that had a body the size of a tank, the Giant Colossal Zombie. Then, he encountered the Tentacle Colossal Zombie, which had two razor sharp tentacles for stabbing and slicing. No one knew which variant zombie was sitting on the 80th floor. Would it be a new variant zombie?

    The method of attacking for these new variant zombies was still unknown, so they faced an unknown danger. They had to be extra careful every step of the way.

    However, Yin He was in the front leading the way. Additionally, Liu Gan¡¯s body had the ¡®Mist Armor¡¯ protection. So even if an ident urred, they should be able to handle it with his and Yin He¡¯s current abilities.

    Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers were not only curious about Liu Gan¡¯s experiences in game, but they were also interested in the mysterious female ¡®Xiao He.¡¯ For the entire trip up the stairs, this person had not spoken once. She had a cold facial expression that would turn away anyone who tried to interact with her. Seeing that her abilities weren¡¯t beneath that of Liu Gan, they had no idea how she and Liu Gan met each other and grouped up.

    [TL: The resting b*#[email protected] face LOL. By the way, to three yers, Yin He is known as Xiao He.]

    Zhang ShengNan attempted to get close to Yin He. However, the moment he stepped too close, Yin He would immediately get out of the way. Sensing that, Zhang ShengNan gave up on that method.

    Eighty-seventh floor¡­ Eighty-eighth floor¡­

    Liu Gan became more and more cautious.

    ¡°On the eighty-ninth floor there is a high chance of encountering a variant zombie that is more powerful than regr zombies. Once this variant zombie appears, you guys don¡¯t need to panic. I will work on keeping its attention. In the meantime, you guys have to leave the battlefield and retreat far away, so you won¡¯t get injured,¡± Liu Gan said in a whisper to Zhang ShengLi and the other two.

    ¡°Variant zombie?¡± Zhang ShengLi and the others curiously asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Yes, these are quite different from the normal zombies. It can have a veryrge body with abat strength ten times that of normal zombies. It can also lurk in darkness, ambush us with razor sharp tentacles, and kill us with a one hit KO. Judging from your current strength, you are no match for these types of variant zombies in a direct confrontation. So if you do encounter them, be sure to retreat as far away from the battlefield as possible. Once I have finished, I wille back and regroup with you,¡± exined Liu Gan, going over in detail what they should do.

    ¡°This is a BOSS? Will killing them earn more experience? Will it drop any sort of treasure?¡± Hu Rong excitedly asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I killed three before, and it does give arge amount of experience. If you are level 4 and want to advance to level 5, then you have to kill a variant zombie. No treasures are dropped from killing it. If you want to follow me, I will leave give you an opportunity to solo kill these variant zombies to level up, but not tonight,¡± Liu Gan said to them.

    ¡°Can we watch from afar?¡± Zhang ShengNan curiously asked. Before Liu Gan and her two male bodyguards, she never experienced true danger, so her guard was always lowered.

    ¡°The moment the first variant zombie spawned, I was grouped up with ten other yers, located at the za nearby below. We were nearly wiped out. Only one other yer and I remained. The other yer was able to escape into the underground sewer, so his whereabouts are unknown. The second variant zombie showed up when I was with another male and female yer. The male yer was killed inbat, and the female yer managed to stay alive. As for the third variant zombie, a very importantpanion¡¯s chest was pierced through right beside me, and he died spewing blood from his body¡­¡± Liu Gan told them the dangers of these variant zombies.

    ¡°In that case, I will listen to Brother Liu¡¯s n and get as far away from the battlefield as possible,¡± Zhang ShengLi said that after Liu Gan went in depth about the dangers. Quickly, he also talked the other two into it.

    Hu Rong didn¡¯t seem quite satisfied with the arrangement, but didn¡¯t say anything. Male yers, when they encountered a BOSS battle situation, became excited even if it was dangerous, to the point that they were eager to try it out. Not being able to participate was a feeling that couldn¡¯t describe how disappointed they really were.

    Once they reached the eighty-ninth floor, they pushed open the fire escape door for the staircase, which revealed a long walk down a hallway.

    Wearing arge white gown, a zombie was standing in the hallway near the wall. After hearing the metal fire escape door open, it rushed toward them baring its teeth and hands.

    Yin He stuck her hand out and grasped the zombie by its neck to stop it froming closer. Then with slightly more strength, she was able to break its neck. She let it flop onto the floor, but didn¡¯t kill it. Others stepped out from behind her and rushed to kill it. Zhang ShengLi lifted up his fire axe and smashed the brain of the zombie.

    A dark ck mist floated out from the zombie into Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body. His body felt a familiar warmth as if it was boiling. His body strength and speed all indicated that he had reached the next level.

    ¡°I leveled up.¡± Zhang ShengLi said in a happy whisper as he looked at his alloy wristwatch.

    ¡°Congrats.¡± Others one after another congratted Zhang ShengLi on his achievement. Previously, when they were a group of three before Liu Gan had arrived, Hu Rong was able to reach level four before Zhang ShengLi. Now, everyone was level 4.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I can sense danger ahead¡­¡± Yin He said as she retreated back to let the group know and prevent further noise. Then she quickly disappeared into the darkness.

    After arriving at level 4, killing these normal zombies had no meaning to the three yers. So once Yin He and Liu Gan encountered the regr zombies, they no longer had a reason to hold back. Therefore, their scouting speed was a lot faster than before.

    Finally, Yin He stood in front of aboratory entrance and signaled to Liu Gan the pre-set hand signal for danger. Liu Gan and the other three reached the door quietly and stood by the wall. Once they noticed Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s serious facial expressions, the three yers couldn¡¯t control their nerves.

    If it was only Yin He and Liu Gan, then Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t have had such a hard time. A single variant zombie wasn¡¯t much of a threat to him anymore. Now, he had three yers following behind him whom he was grooming, and he didn¡¯t want to lose them. So it was wise to be more cautious.

    ¡°Is there someone outside? Save me¡­¡± Right when Yin He pushed open the door to enter, a small, young child¡¯s voice suddenly came from within the room.

    Amidst the darkness, everyone would have hairs standing up hearing a sound traveling through the room. This included Liu Gan, and he felt that something was not right.

    Is this another special type of variant zombie? How could it imitate the voice and sound of a child?

    ¡°I beg of you, can you save me, please?¡± The child started crying loudly from within. This loud crying echoed within therge building, making it extra clear and sending chills down the spines of those who heard it.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93: To Justify<hr>

    ¡°Who are you? Why are you trapped in this room?¡± Liu Gan shouted his question in the direction of theboratory room.

    ¡°Save me¡­¡± the voice replied as the sound echoed throughout the room.

    Yin He stood by the door near the wall where Liu Gan was standing and used a hand signal to indicate she would push open the door. Liu Gan nodded in approval. Next, Yin He abruptly pushed the door open and shined the shlight around theboratory room.

    Although she could turn on her night vision mode, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t have her seen with red eyes with Zhang ShengLi and the others nearby. So, she could only rely on the shlight as a light source.

    After looking inside, Yin He¡¯s facial expression revealed a baffled expression. Liu Gan knew that Yin He¡¯s emotional processing was very simr to a human¡¯s, so her facial expression showed everything. Judging from her facial expression, it was easy to guess that she must have seen something strange, perhaps it was something unimaginable.

    So, Liu Gan also took his turn to peer inside theboratory to take a look.

    There wasn¡¯t a strange zombie within theboratory, but it was actually a male child within.

    Right now, he was trapped within a metal cage. Perhaps the material for the cage was created from alloy metal. The alloy metal cage had very thick railings that were as thick as an arm. It seemed very sturdy and quite dense. It seemed as if it was to prevent anything inside from escaping.

    The shlight illuminated more of theboratory, and besides the alloy metal cage, there were a lot of workstations. There was a whole variety of instruments on top of every workstation.

    ¡°Save me¡­¡± said the young child trapped within the alloy metal cage as he saw Yin He push open the door. It quickly called for her help.

    Yin He quickly searched around a bit. After confirming this room didn¡¯t have any hidden dangers, she gave a hand signal to Liu Gan. Then, they all walked in.

    ¡°Who are you? Why are you trapped here?¡± Liu Gan said as he walked over to the alloy metal cage.

    ¡°My mom works in theboratory,ter on¡­ Theboratory had a strange monster¡­ Mom trapped me within this cage. Then, she never came back.¡± The young boy cried as he said it. This child was very adorable, regardless of whether it was crying or talking, his tone was very cute. He was the type that everyone would like once they saw him.

    ¡°Very adorable child¡­¡± Zhang ShengNan said as she approached the alloy metal cage. Once she saw this cute child, her heart melted.

    ¡°Auntie, can you rescue me? I am very thirsty, hungry, and tired¡­¡± The small child reached his hand out from the cage towards Zhang ShengNan asking for help.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t cry, don¡¯t cry. What do I need to do to rescue you?¡± Zhang ShengNan said to the small child as she held his pinky. Her heart melted from the kid¡¯s pleas.

    ¡°All you need to do is open up the cage¡¯s lock, and I cane out.¡± The young boy said to Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°What must I do to open the cage¡¯s lock?¡± Zhang ShengNan asked the young boy.

    ¡°The room next door has a few backup power sources. It is a square shaped. Move one over here, and then ce it by the wall. Rece the battery that is depleted. Then, go to the workstation terminal, and enter a series of passwords to open this cage¡¯s lock.¡± The young boy said the instructions clearly for Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Okay, I will go find the reserve backup power source and rescue you.¡± Zhang ShengNan said as she left the side of the alloy metal cage and headed towards the nearby room. However, she was stopped by Liu Gan.

    ¡°Let me ask him a few questions first.¡± Liu Gan coldly stared at the alloy metal cage trapping the young boy. He knew that the young boy was definitely lying. It was very possible that the young boy was lying and was the variant zombie that was previously detected. He was unsure of what methods the variant zombie used to change its physical features, so it could pretend to be human, It could trick Zhang ShengNan and others, but it couldn¡¯t trick Liu Gan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s first release him, give him some food, and ask him afterwards?¡± Zhang ShengNan didn¡¯t quite agree with Liu Gan¡¯s methods.

    ¡°After we release him, he won¡¯t be honest.¡± Liu Gan walked over to the alloy metal cage as he was ring at the young boy¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just listen to Brother Liu, since he has experienced a lot more than us.¡± Zhang ShengLi tried to convince his sister, Zhang ShengNan otherwise.

    ¡°It¡¯s only a sad little child. Why are you so concerned?¡± Zhang ShengNan didn¡¯t proceed to search for the reserve power source. She didn¡¯t understand Liu Gan¡¯s actions, and she had an expression that matched her attitude.

    ¡°What is your name? How old are you?¡± Liu Gan asked the little child.

    ¡°My name is DuDu, I am six years old.¡± said the young boy.

    ¡°Tell me, why should I rescue you? If I rescue you, what benefits will there be for me?¡± Liu Gan asked DuDu.

    ¡°Please, I beg you¡­¡± DuDu started crying and begging while looking in the direction of Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Brother Liu, don¡¯t be like that. Just release him first.¡± Zhang ShengNan couldn¡¯t continue watching Liu Gan¡¯s actions. Especially, asking a six-year-old boy for benefits! What kind of logic is this? She slightly nudged her boyfriend, Hu Rong next to her. She hoped he would be on her side.

    ¡°Once you save a life, you will be able to reach higher satisfaction, Brother Liu, you should just rescue him.¡± Hu Rong said after Zhang ShengNan nudged him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you guys find it strange that a small boy appeared here?¡± Liu Gan stood up as he exined to Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong. He had intentions to foster the others into being his loyal followers, so he was very patient with them. However, judging from this incident alone, he wasn¡¯t very satisfied with their performance.

    ¡°He just said that he was trapped here by his mother the moment the disaster urred. Wouldn¡¯t that be more than sufficient?¡± Zhang ShengNan exined to Liu Gan. She had a very stubborn temper. Once she firmly believed something, she would maintain it to the end.

    ¡°How long ago was the disaster? He didn¡¯t eat and drink while within this cage. Yet, still has enough strength to cry and beg us for help. Do you think that is normal?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°His name is DuDu. He was probably very fat and a children¡¯s body doesn¡¯t take a lot to sustain itself. So, his survivability was a lot stronger than an adult. It was only a few days time, so he couldn¡¯t have starved to death?¡± Zhang ShengNan continued trying to find an exnation to Liu Gan.

    [TL: THIS B$#%^ TRYING TO DIE?]

    ¡°Mommy left behind for me bread and drinks¡­¡± said DuDu after overhearing Liu Gan and Zhang ShengNan argue.

    ¡°Bread and drinks? Where is the bottle container?¡± Liu Gan asked DuDu, returning to the alloy metal cage.

    ¡°It was a drink carton. I got so hungry that I ate it¡­¡± said DuDu fearfully replying to Liu Gan.

    ¡°That¡¯s so sad¡­¡± Zhang ShengNan said after hearing DuDu say that. Her eyes started turning red.

    [ED: what¡­ so dumb >.>]

    ¡°A six-year-old child knows the procedures to unlock the cage¡¯s lock with step-by-step instructions. Such clear processing and reasoning ability, do you still think that is possible?¡± Liu Gan said while shaking his head.

    ¡°This is what my mom repeatedly told me, so I memorized it¡­¡± DuDu said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°My rtives¡¯ six-year-old child already understands a lot, and he can memorize clearly. So why is this so strange? You better let him out!¡± Zhang ShengNan said unhappily. She was starting to wonder if Liu Gan was psychologically perverted, trying to torment DuDu.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94: To Try Out<hr>

    [TL: ¡®DuDu¡¯ is the name of the young boy.]

    ¡°Do you know why XuanZang was eaten by BaiGuiJing? It was because of stupidity! There¡¯s no medicine for stupidity! It didn¡¯t matter what the BaiGuiJing monster said to XuanZang; he believed it. Even if his allies tried to persuade XuanZang otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t believe it!¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengNan as he was angry at her behavior.

    [TL: This is straight out from ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ with the monkey king. Look up ¡®Xuanzang¡¯ and ¡®BaiGuiJing¡¯.

    Originally, he felt that those three yers had potential in their physique. So, he had nned to nurture their growth and keep them by his side. However, after this first test, he was very disappointed. On one hand, strange and mysterious things wouldn¡¯t arouse suspicion, so their alertness was too poor. On the other hand, when there was a difference in opinion, as a team member, the one who is the team leader should decide. They definitely did not have good team member qualities, which is required for following the team leader.

    In fact, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to conclude that this young boy really was a problem, but he wouldn¡¯t easily release this boy. Basic verbal questioning was required. One aspect was that this was a top secretboratory, and he was trapped within this alloy metal cage. No one knew if it was some extremely dangerous variant zombie or some product of a dangerous biological experiment.

    DuDu was so weak, small, and pitiful, so who could say that he wasn¡¯t faking it? Maybe this was all a scheme for us to help him open up this alloy metal cage. After that, he could go on a rampaging massacre. Being this cautious wasn¡¯t for himself, but he was doing this for his three teammates. He didn¡¯t want them to end up getting ambushed and killed like Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Do you feel like you are the smartest person in this world? Do you have x-ray vision, and are you a know-it-all? Do you think other people are very dumb? You are really selfish and inconsiderate! No wonder you are always alone without any friends at school!¡± Zhang ShengNan started to attack Liu Gan after being insulted. She felt hurt and started instigating attacks onto Liu Gan since his tone wasn¡¯t too courteous to her.

    Liu Gan was really mad. He stared at Zhang ShengNan with a single nce and said no more.

    ¡°ShengNan, don¡¯t be rude to Brother Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi said to his sister after the debate started getting more and more heated. He tried his best to calm his sister down. Previously, Liu Gan had saved them before and helped them a lot. So from Zhang ShengLi¡¯s perspective, Liu Gan¡¯s cautious nature was required to survive.

    ¡°I know we owe him our lives, but he shouldn¡¯t treat us as if we are three-year-olds! Not everything he says is always right!¡± Zhang ShengNan saw that Liu Gan had stopped talking, so she decided to reason with her brother.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I am so sorry¡­ Please don¡¯t take take what this young girl had said seriously. She is just stubborn and has a bad temper. Even if she knows she is wrong, she won¡¯t correct herself. I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡± Zhang ShengLi stopped caring for her sister and walked in front of Liu Gan to apologize.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t bicker with her anymore.¡± Liu Gan waved his hand like it was nothing. However, deep down Liu Gan had decided that once they reached the ground floor of the building, he wouldn¡¯t continue leading them. Even though Zhang ShengLi¡¯s temperament wasn¡¯t that bad, he wouldn¡¯t leave his sister behind.

    ¡°I am so done with my brother! Why does he think that I am wrong? This is truly interesting!¡± Zhang ShengNan overheard her brother¡¯s conversation with Liu Gan and became even more upset. Her boyfriend Hu Rong was quite embarrassed, and he quickly pulled Zhang ShengNan aside to the other room and started talking to her.

    ¡°Brother Liu, why do are you skeptical about DuDu?¡± Zhang ShengLi squatted by Liu Gan¡¯s side as he asked him.

    ¡°Remember yesterday night, this building had an hour of electricity? Do you remember that?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Really? This building had an hour of electricity?¡± Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t quite remember. Yesterday, during the hour where the backup energy supplied electricity, the three of them were already in a room resting. That room didn¡¯t light up nor did any machinery turn on or off, so they wouldn¡¯t know about it.

    ¡°It was very possible that you didn¡¯t notice. I had a partner back then, and he was very good with handlingputers. He used this building¡¯s surveince instation system to discover that there was a variant zombie nearby on this floor. It is very possible that it is on this floor, so I suspect that DuDu is the variant zombie.¡± Liu Gan exined to Zhang ShengLi in detail. Of course, he didn¡¯t mention Jiang JinYuan¡¯s PDA, but instead he said it was the building¡¯s surveince system.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zhang ShengLi said after hearing Liu Gan¡¯s reasoning. He also raised an eyebrow at DuDu.

    ¡°If he was a normal young boy, he wouldn¡¯t be trapped by his mother within the alloy metal cage unless someone felt that he was dangerous.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°I was forced in here by my mom. She wanted to protect me, so she did that¡­¡± DuDu replied in a scared tone as he spoke to the two people standing outside his cage. Then, DuDu started crying again.

    ¡°If¡­ indeed if he is really a variant zombie, then would it be possible that thisboratory is participating in manufacturing this disease? This game world¡¯s disaster and outbreak could be possibly rted to their research, so they can¡¯t escape from this responsibility.¡± Zhang ShengLi guessed.

    ¡°Perhaps, this is also part of the background story to the game, but the truth of the situation is still unclear. That is because there are too few hints.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi as he stared into the cage.

    If this young boy was the variant zombie detected by the probing system, then Liu Gan would not let it go. He would definitely kill it to retrieve the valuable experience. ying these types of frightening games, it was usually the harmless looking individuals that caused the most damage. So, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t dare risk letting it out, so he would avoid more troubleter.

    Even if he was afraid of letting it out, there was still the question of whether or not he and Yin He could win. Nimble zombies were the scariest type, and it would try to escape if it were injured. So without the probing scanner¡¯s aid, it would be hard to relocate its position the moment it escaped. Then, all their work would be in vain.

    ¡°So how do you n on handling him?¡± Zhang ShengLi said, getting back to the topic of DuDu.

    ¡°Kill him.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Are you absolutely sure that he is the variant zombie that was detected before?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Not absolutely sure, but I¡¯m at least 90 percent positive.¡± Liu Gan answered Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± Zhang ShengLi revealed a painful expression. He couldn¡¯t bear to witness it. Everything that had happened in this game world led him to believe that this was no longer a simple game. Perhaps it was also a real world here, and they had just been transferred over to it.

    Then, that would mean this world¡¯s NPCs are also like them, living regr lives. The question of whether the young boy lied or not was still difficult to tell. Zhang ShengLi felt that Liu Gan also wasn¡¯t too sure, but he had already given a death sentence to the young boy. This was against Zhang ShengLi¡¯s code of moral ethics. The only difference between Zhang ShengLi and his sister was that he didn¡¯t voice his opinions.

    ¡°I am not a monster, please let me go¡­¡± DuDu noticed Zhang ShengLi¡¯s expression and started begging him for help while crying.

    Zhang ShengLi shook his head, and then he walked away. Right now, his inner feelings were in turmoil. It felt very strange andplicated. However, he didn¡¯t want to create any unpleasant feeling by choosing between DuDu or Liu Gan, even if he didn¡¯t quite support Liu Gan¡¯s methods.

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95: Cold blooded<hr>

    DuDu was trapped within this cage but the gaps in the cage were quite close. Even if Liu Gan wanted to kill him, it wasn¡¯t an easy task. Liu Gan thought about it for awhile. Then, he decided to use a dagger and attach it to a wooden handle. He would then stab at DuDu trapped within the cage.

    The space within the alloy metal cage was really small, once DuDu saw the daggering his way, he quickly avoided to the edge and pressed his body tightly sticking to the cage surface. Right when Liu Gan was preparing to pull out the dagger to try again, DuDu suddenly grabbed the wooden handle attached to the dagger. Now the daggery within DuDu¡¯s hands.

    ¡°I beg of you, please don¡¯t treat me like this¡­¡± DuDu angrily said while looking at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Right now you can see that he isn¡¯t normal, right?¡± Liu Gan held up the wooden stick to show Zhang ShengLi. At the same time, Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong also came out from the nearby room.

    ¡°You want to kill him, so of course he will dodge. If he didn¡¯t dodge and let you poke him full of holes, would that be normal enough for you?¡± Zhang ShengNan said to Liu Gan. Even though she had no idea what Liu Gan was doing, she was still uptight from being scolded by Liu Gan for being stupid. She just wanted to relieve her frustration by arguing with him.

    Even in the real world, there were a lot of yers like Zhang ShengNan. Even though their initial opinion differed greatly from others, the moment their error was pointed out or even scolded as stupid, their pride would be hurt. So no matter what followed, they would fight to the bitter end until they won.

    To confront her with an argument served no purpose because she wouldn¡¯t care if it was right or wrong anymore. She only cared about her reputation.

    ¡°Auntie! Save me! Don¡¯t let him kill me! I¡¯m really not a monster! Please!¡± DuDu continued to shout at Zhang ShengNan, his only protector.

    ¡°Stop Liu Gan! Don¡¯t make me hate you!¡± Zhang ShengNan attempted to walk over and pull Liu Gan away. She was stopped by both Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong in her path.

    ¡°Why are you males so cold-blooded?¡± Zhang ShengNan started to shout out loud.

    ¡°STOP SCREAMING! It¡¯s midnight. Do you want to lure all all the zombies here?¡± Zhang ShengLi quickly attempted to cover up his sister¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Release me! I won¡¯t shout anymore. I want to reason with him! Brother Liu, I know we owe you our lives, but if you try to kill someone would they not try to dodge? You aren¡¯t stupid, so you better tell me a reasonable exnation for all this!¡± Zhang ShengNan pushed aside Zhang ShengLi¡¯s hand and continued to shout.

    ¡°I won¡¯t try to debate with a blockhead like you anymore. I told the reason to your brother.¡± Liu Gan coldly replied to Zhang ShengNan. If it wasn¡¯t for her brother Zhang ShengLi, then Liu Gan would¡¯ve walked up and pped her, so she would wake up.

    Previously in the real world, Liu Gan would also encounter these types of people. For the sake of their reputation, they just wanted to win. They wouldn¡¯t listen to reason and would argue with others. With these types of people, arguing would only lower your own intelligence.

    ¡°Who are you calling a blockhead? Liu Gan, don¡¯t think that just because you saved us and gave us food, that you can casually call me an idiot! I will return the cookies to you!¡± Zhang ShengNan felt that she was very polite in what she said to Liu Gan before. She never expected Liu Gan to call her an idiot again. Now she was bursting with rage, and her body was shaking.

    ¡°Zhang ShengNan enough!¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he pped her face. Even if he didn¡¯t approve of Liu Gan¡¯s method in DuDu¡¯s situation, what Zhang ShengNan had just said crossed the line in his moral code. He couldn¡¯t hold it anymore, so he had to p her.

    Liu Gan had saved them all before. Just because of this, Zhang ShengLi felt that his sister shouldn¡¯t have used that type of attitude to speak to Liu Gan.

    [TL: I honestly really like Zhang ShengLi. He will be a good follower.]

    ¡°Brother, you hit me?¡± Zhang ShengNan widened her eyes and looked at Zhang ShengLi. Her eyes revealed that she was about to explode with anger.

    Hu Rong felt that the situation wasn¡¯t right and quickly pulled Zhang Shengnan out toward theboratory door.

    ¡°My brother dared to attack me!¡± Zhang ShengNan couldn¡¯t believe what had happened and eximed to Hu Rong. Ever since they had joined the game, these two males had been pampering her. The moment Liu Gan had called her stupid, she lost all her pride, so she had been trying regain it by proving her point. She didn¡¯t expect her own brother to p her face.

    ¡°Your brother is someone who repays kindness to people, plus what you said to Brother Liu was definitely over the line.¡± Hu Rong tried his best to calm Zhang ShengNan down.

    ¡°I crossed the line? He wants to kill someone! I¡¯m trying to stop him from killing someone. Is that wrong? Every time he opens his mouth, he calls me stupid! Did I curse at him in any way? Are your brains kicked by a donkey?¡± Zhang ShengNan was hysterically arguing with Hu Rong.

    ¡°ShengNan, he¡¯s not killing a person. That boy is just an NPC within the game, so don¡¯t be so serious.¡± Hu Rong said after not knowing what else to say.

    ¡°Serious? Have you seen that DuDu¡¯s eyes? Can you bear to witness that [email protected]$%#^& kill DuDu? When I first met you, you didn¡¯t seem like this type of person! Hu Rong, you are a policeman! What happened to your righteousness? And my brother was the VP of the school¡¯s student union and an outstanding student. When did his morals be corrupted to this degree that he can just witness the death of an innocent young boy? How can he just allow someone tomit a crime right in front of him?¡± Zhang ShengNan asked as she grew more and more agitated.

    ¡°ShengNan, please calm down. Your stubbornness is causing trouble, so that won¡¯t be too good.¡± Hu Rong said as he led Zhang ShengNan to the deeper end of the hallway.

    ¡°Calm down? I only wanted to save someone, but I ended up being called an idiot. You two also just keep holding me back and smacking me! And now you¡¯re telling me to calm down? Hu Rong, I thought I knew you. I was wrong about you!¡± Zhang ShengNan seemed to have poured all her anger onto her boyfriend.

    [TL: RIP rtionship. I wouldn¡¯t know, I don¡¯t have one. ]

    Right now, saving the young boy didn¡¯t matter anymore to Zhang ShengNan,. Everyone said she was at fault, Liu Gan called her dumb in public, and her brother pped her across the face afterwards. If she didn¡¯t fight back, then she would have to admit to these people that she was wrong and apologize. Once she lost her pride, there¡¯d be no way to gain it back.

    ¡°ShengNan, don¡¯t be so aggravated. I don¡¯t quite agree with how Brother Liu is handling the situation with Dudu, but he saved our lives. So if we disagree with him in this matter, won¡¯t we lose out?¡± Hu Rong said with an embarrassed expression.

    ¡°Save me! He wants to kill me! Auntie, please save me!¡± DuDu was crying his heart out as the sound echoed from the room and moved down the hall.

    ¡°Hu Rong, you have been my hero in my heart. My brother is being foolish, so are you going to be like him, too? Will you be passive and not try to save him?¡± Zhang ShengNan asked Hu Rong.

    ¡°This situation¡­ Brother Liu has been in this game longer than we have. Perhaps, there¡¯s something that he knows that we don¡¯t. You shouldn¡¯t continue this conflict. It¡¯s pointless.¡± Hu Rong said looking at his girlfriend. If it was in the real world, he would never allow this type of killing to ur with his values. However, this was within the gaming world.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96: Strange shout<hr>

    ¡°Hu Rong, you disappoint me! I want to break up with you!¡± Zhang ShengNan became even more angry. Even her boyfriend Hu Rong wouldn¡¯t support her in this situation. She became so angry that she was fully in her ¡®Godzi mode¡¯.

    ¡°ShengNan, you don¡¯t have to be like this¡­¡± There simply wasn¡¯t anything Hu Rong could do anymore. Even though DuDu looked very innocent, he really was strange. Liu Gan had been in this world a lot longer than they had, so he had more experiences than them. So if he said the boy was dangerous, then the boy was perhaps really dangerous.

    After it was all said and done, this young boy was an NPC that belonged to this world. If he had to choose between an NPC or someone who had saved him before, he would rather not have a falling out with his savior. Hu Rong couldn¡¯t do something like turning his back on his savior.

    However, ShengNan was the girl he was deeply in love with, and he was suffering. He was the reason why she was trapped within this game world. As a responsible gentleman, he would hold himself ountable for her safety. It was his way of feeling better, and it was his redemption for dragging her along into the game. His personal choice now was to separate ShengNan from Liu Gan so the situation wouldn¡¯t worsen.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I sincerely apologize for my sister¡¯s behavior. She really doesn¡¯t understand the situation! If there¡¯s any reason for this, it¡¯s because I spoiled her at home, so she became used to it!¡± Zhang ShengLi said after he heard the argument outside between his sister and her boyfriend. He felt so ashamed of his sister acting hysterically that he didn¡¯t have any words to say.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it; I won¡¯t take it to heart. She¡¯s your family, so you don¡¯t have to keep mepany here. You should stay with them. This is the gaming world now, and all moral ethics that you once knew from the real world are gone. Your sister is still confused and doesn¡¯t understand. I hope you can maintain a clear head and continue thinking things through. This is the only way you will be able to keep your family members safe.¡± Liu Gan smiled at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Brother Liu, thank you for your kind words and generosity. Once again, I want to thank you for saving our lives! If there¡¯s an opportunity, no matter where we are, I will think of a way to repay the favor!¡± Zhang ShengLi said this because he realized that he wouldn¡¯t be able to continue traveling with Liu Gan after this. He could only express his gratitude to Liu Gan with words.

    ¡°You are too kind, and let¡¯s not dwell on this. You should go find them quickly. This building is full of danger. Your sister is very emotional right now, so she will attract a lot of danger to herself.¡± Liu Gan said as he patted Zhang ShengLi¡¯s shoulders. He understood the difficulty of Zhang ShengLi¡¯s situation, being stuck between honor and family.

    ¡°Okay, Brother Liu, I hope we will meet again someday!¡± Zhang ShengLi stuck out his hand for Liu Gan to shake. With a face of embarrassment, he quickly left.

    After the two yers and Zhang ShengLi left, DuDu locked within the cage had no one left to plea with for help. It only maintained a frustrated, malicious look at Liu Gan.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to stare at me like this. I already know you are up to no good. If I let you out, the first thing you will do is kill and devour me. Am I right? So I must kill you to prevent this tragedy from urring.¡± Liu Gan said while he stared at the caged DuDu.

    ¡°If you kill me, you will go to hell!¡± DuDu cursed Liu Gan. From Liu Gan¡¯s eyes, DuDu only saw cold and indifference. There was no room forpassion, so he knew that pleading in anyway would not be effective. He didn¡¯t even bother to beg before him.

    DuDu was trapped within the alloy metal cage, so if Liu Gan wanted to kill him, it wouldn¡¯t be an easy task. However, this wouldn¡¯t stop Liu Gan. Although the whole building didn¡¯t have electricity, there were severalrge containers of backup water tanks near the faucet, which could be modified to release water.

    Liu Gan was able to dismantle the locks, on the side, which was holding the cage in ce. Then, he dragged it inside a nearby room, pushed it over, and closed the door. Liu Gan took apart a water pipe that lined the gaps within the room and released the water. In no time, the water started to fill up the floor of the room.

    This type ofboratory room had very good instion, especially after closing the door, it was able to trap most of the water. Although a few drops of water seeped out the cracks underneath the door,pared with the outputing from the water pipe, the excess water was negligible.

    Liu Gan crouched beside the cage while maintaining an undisturbed expression as he looked at DuDu. After ten minutes, the water gradually filled up the whole alloy cage. During that time, DuDu was cursing nonstop at Liu Gan within the cage and finally shut up. His eyes pleaded with Liu Gan, then filled with anger, and finally red maliciously.

    After ten minutes, DuDu submerged underwater kept ring and didn¡¯t suffocate fromck of oxygen. Liu Gan started to wonder within his own thoughts¡­ He was very sure that DuDu wasn¡¯t a normal human, but was it really the variant zombie detected by the probing scanner?

    If it really was the variant zombie, would it be simr to a human and require oxygen to survive? Would submerging it in water kill this strange monster?

    Another ten minutes passed by. Liu Gan started to feel impatient and was thinking of another method to kill this young boy. Just then, DuDu revealed an ugly expression of suffering, and his body started contracting.

    Shortly after, DuDu finally opened up his mouth and swallowed a mouthful of water. Its stomach swelled up, and its body violently contracted. After a short struggle, it stopped moving. The body was afloat within the metal cage.

    At the same time, a strange shout came from within the skull of DuDu. A metallic reflective glow and an insect-like creature crawled out from the orifices. From the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, it leaked out. It seemed like a strange material within the skull was forcing its way out.

    However, this strange creature wasn¡¯t able to leave DuDu¡¯s skull. After shouting for a while, it stopped moving. Right when Liu Gan suspected this creature was ying dead, arge orb of ck mist leaked from DuDu¡¯s body and Liu Gan¡¯s body absorbed all of it.

    Although there wasn¡¯t a boiling feeling, his wristwatch didn¡¯t indicate a level up. However, Liu Gan felt that his body strength, sight, smell, and hearing all received a significant boost.

    It seemed like DuDu was definitely the variant zombie detected by the probing scanner. Up until now, Liu Gan had sessfully killed two variant zombies after reaching level 5. ording to his estimation, if he killed another variant zombie, he could level up from 5 to 6.

    The real question started now¡­ It seemed like within this game world, San Xing Corporation was definitely rted to the catastrophe. Since the young boy they were studying was designated as a variant zombie, this would mean that they caused the catastrophe by releasing the virus, sending this world into chaos.

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97: Humiliation and Anger<hr>

    This was probably one of the preset background stories that would lead to an important clue for uncovering the truth. It was just that there were very few clues to begin with, and Liu Gan still wasn¡¯t able to find convincing evidence that this clue had meaning. It was possible this was a strategy regarding the truth behind this game. At least for Liu Gan, he merely uncovered the tip of the iceberg.

    Even though DuDu¡¯s corpse hadn¡¯t been dissected yet, Liu Gan could determine that within this young boy was a parasitic-type variant zombie. With a metallic reflective glow, this parasite resided within DuDu¡¯s skull. It could control the movement of this young boy, and imitate a human.

    A variant zombie that possessed intelligence was very frightening. Luckily, DuDu was only an iplete product. It was defective, so it wasn¡¯t able to bring out its truth strength. This parasite was unable to leave the body of the host, so once its host died, it followed suit.

    Since Liu Gan drowned the boy, he had no knowledge of this Parasite Variant Zombie¡¯s attacking andbat strength. So if he was to encounter another species of Parasite Variant Zombie, he wouldn¡¯t know how to handle the situation or how to fight them.

    Since this parasite could take control of a young boy¡¯s body,ter on it could take control of an adult and be free to travel. It seemed like the future of this game just became more difficult. Soter on, even if he met regr people, he would have to be on high alert to not be misled by this facade.

    As for the next step, Liu Gan really wanted to dissect the boy to investigate, but he couldn¡¯t break open the alloy metal cage.

    ¡­

    Zhang ShengLi caught up to Hu Rong and Zhang ShengNan. ShengLi pulled ShengNan over to a room by the stairs, and both males started to apologize and cate her. Zhang ShengLi even pped himself in the face twice, in hopes of appeasing Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Your ssmate¡¯s brain is not thinking straight. He would even kill such a small boy! Are we really going to follow him?¡± Zhang ShengNan hatefully asked her brother.

    ¡°He reconsidered and won¡¯t lead us anymore.¡± Zhang ShengLi replied to Zhang ShengNan. Deep down Zhang ShengLi knew that Liu Gan had nothing to lose if the three of them left, but it was a great loss for them without Liu Gan. Since this was their situation right now, he couldn¡¯t help it.

    ¡°What are your ns? Do we continue going down?¡± Hu Rong asked the Zhang siblings with his face downcast.

    ¡°The 90th floor is up above. I suggest that we go up and take a look around. What danger can this building possibly have? Right now, even if several zombies appear, we can still handle it.¡± Zhang ShengNan said after pondering for a while.

    ¡°It¡¯s close to midnight, so let¡¯s not take the risk. The floors below us are all cleared out, and we can find a safe ce below to rest up. As for our ns, let¡¯s decide tomorrow when the sun is up.¡± Zhang ShengLi suggested since he didn¡¯t agree with Zhang ShengNan¡¯s decision.

    ¡°Brother, are you a man? Why do you have no guts after leaving your ssmate? I don¡¯t want to rest yet; I want to kill more zombies!¡± Zhang ShengNan angrily replied to Zhang ShengLi. Ever since Liu Gan called her dumb, she didn¡¯t have anyone to vent her frustrations on, so it remained in her heart. She was in a bad mood.

    ¡°ShengNan, just listen to your brother.¡± Hu Rong said to Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°It¡¯s up to you guys. If you want to sleep, then go downstairs. I will go upstairs alone and kill zombies!¡± Zhang ShengNan said as she suddenly ran up the stairs. Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong had no choice but to pursue her.

    After the two of them caught up to Zhang ShengNan, they were able to convince her that once the 90th floor was cleared, they would find a ce to rest up. So, the three of them were together in the dark, investigating the floor.

    A zombie in the dark suddenly charged over. Since Zhang ShengNan was in the front, she had a fire axe in one hand and shed at the zombie¡¯s neck. She felt rejuvenated within her heart as she killed. She was imagining the zombies were Liu Gan.

    There were several zombies that charged over in the dark, but they were all chopped down by Zhang ShengNan¡¯s fire axe. This female¡¯sbat power was definitely strong, and these normal zombies were no longer a match for her. As long as they didn¡¯t surround her, she wouldn¡¯t be in too much danger.

    ¡°ShengNan, you better be careful! Don¡¯t charge too fiercely. Maintain our formation.¡± Zhang ShengLi reminded his sister throughout.

    ¡°Coward!¡± Zhang ShengNan made a hand sign with her thumb pointing downward.

    The 90th floor design was simr to the 89th floor. There weren¡¯t too many zombies, but it was definitely dark. With the aid of the shlight, the three of them were able to clear out the floor with ease. Especially Zhang ShengNan, when she felt humiliated and angry internally, she was able to bring out extraordinarybat strength. She killed a majority of the zombies.

    After ten minutes, the three yers cleared out the 90th floor, but Zhang ShengNan still refused to go down to rest. She started heading towards the 91st floor, and Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong were unable to block her path. If they forcefully obstructed her, she would shout and attract more attention, so they ended up just following her up to the 91st floor.

    After half an hour, Zhang ShengNan was able to kill her way up to the 93rd floor. She was satisfied with this type of venting to release her anger, and her body was bing exhausted. At the same time, there was suddenly a faint sobbing noise on the 93rd floor in the darkness. It seemed like a young girl was producing this sound. It was full of despair and helplessness.

    Thinking about DuDu on the previous floor, Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong suddenly were on high alert. However, Zhang ShengNan had already started walking quickly towards the source of the sound. After chopping down two more zombies blocking her way, Zhang ShengNan pushed open the room¡¯s door. Using her shlight, she shined her light over at the source.

    Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong quickly followed, and they looked into theboratory.

    They couldn¡¯t believe it. Thisboratory had the exact same setting as the 89th floor with the exact same alloy metal cage. A simr-aged girl as DuDu from before was within the cage! The sobbing noise that they heard was produced by the young girl.

    ¡°Please save me¡­¡± The young girl said as she saw the three of theming in. She started begging the three of them for help.

    Just like the cute young boy before, this girl was also very cute. With herrge eyes and lovely face, Zhang ShengNan¡¯s heart melted. Quickly, Zhang ShengNan walked over to the metal cage.

    ¡°ShengNan, this is very strange, don¡¯t go too close.¡± Zhang ShengLi reached his hand out to hold onto Zhang ShengNan¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Save it!¡± Zhang ShengNan brushed her brother¡¯s hand off and kneeled beside the metal cage.

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98 ¨C Benefits<hr>

    Previously with DuDu on the 89th floor, Zhang ShengNan was scolded by Liu Gan as dumb and stupid. She had lost all her pride. Even if Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong apologized to her and ShengLi pped himself on the face, she couldn¡¯t restore her pride. This was because she knew that these two men had always amodated her, even if they didn¡¯t share her viewpoint nor supported the things she did.

    However, an opportunity was right in front of her. This was a chance to prove to them that she was right and Liu Gan was wrong. She wouldn¡¯t miss this chance.

    ¡°ShengNan, DuDu said his mom put him inside the cage to protect him. Right now, there are two cages, so there¡¯s no way two mothers would trap their kids inside cages. There is something suspicious going on!¡± Zhang ShengLi understood his sister¡¯spetitiveness. He knew what she was thinking, so he had to remind her.

    ¡°Little girl, why are you trapped in there?¡± Zhang ShengNan ignored her brother, and she went straight to the cage to ask the girl a question.

    ¡°I was captured by them for their experiments, and they wouldn¡¯t stop injecting me with medicine. I don¡¯t know what they were doing. I¡¯m scared¡­¡± The young girl said while she was sobbing.

    ¡°DuDu was definitely lying!¡± Zhang ShengLi said after hearing that. At that time, he nearly believed the story told by DuDu, luckily Liu Gan was able to see through the lies.

    ¡°Even if DuDu was lying, it was because he wanted to protect himself! He didn¡¯t want to suffer from the hands of the perverted guy!¡± Zhang ShengNan immediately tried to refute what her brother had said.

    ¡°Please save me¡­¡± the young girl continued pleading from within the cage, and her expression made it difficult not to pity her.

    ¡°All this is very strange. It¡¯s not as simple as you imagine it to be. It¡¯s best if we went downstairs first and tell the situation to Brother Liu. This way he cane up, and we can listen to his advice.¡± Zhang ShengLi shook his head.

    ¡°Do you have a brain? Why do you seek his advice for everything? That person¡¯s psychological state is incredibly dark! It is extremely perverted! Even if they are game NPCs, then so what? I think I know why that perverted guy won¡¯t let us save them! It must be because this is one of the game¡¯s secret mission! After finishing this secret mission, we can obtain a reward. He wants for us to go away, so he can hog the reward for himself!¡± Zhang ShengNan seemed to have thought up a valid theory to support her irrational thoughts about Liu Gan.

    ¡°Hidden mission? Ah, that might be possible.¡± Hu Rong said after listening to Zhang ShengNan. He didn¡¯t think about it this way, but after what Zhang ShengNan said, everything suddenly made sense.

    ¡°We should try to talk with her. Maybe, she can reveal more clues.¡± Zhang ShengNan felt very happy that someone was finally supporting her from the bottom of their heart.

    Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t say anything after that. His expressions revealed that he was concerned for his sister. Tonight was a strange night, and he felt like he couldn¡¯t use enough of his brain.

    ¡°Young girl, how old are you? Zhang ShengNan asked the trapped girl.

    ¡°I am six.¡± says the girl shyly with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Young girl, what is your name?¡± Hu Rong also asked the girl.

    ¡°I¡¯m called LingLing.¡± the young girl replied to Hu Rong.

    ¡°If we release you from the cage, what benefits can you give us?¡± Hu Rong copying Liu gan from earlier.

    ¡°What are benefits?¡± asked LingLing.

    ¡°That is¡­. That would be¡­. Very powerful weapons, like something that goes ¡®bang!¡¯ and it can kill strange monsters¡­¡± Hu Rong tried to describe a handgun to LingLing. Even Hu Rong felt that this conversation was very strange, so heughed at his own behavior.

    ¡°I know! I know there¡¯s a location where you can find what you are talking about. I¡¯ve seen them use it to kill monsters. Once they use it, the monster would fall to the ground to sleep¡­¡± said LingLing.

    ¡°I told you there might be a secret mission! Asking a few more questions revealed it! Liu Gan really wants to hog the reward to himself, so that¡¯s why he won¡¯t let us near DuDu. He lied to us about killing DuDu!¡± Zhang ShengNan said after hearing LingLing talk.

    ¡°She is lying. When we entered, did you see any zombies getting shot in the head?¡± Zhang ShengLi was trying to seek out ws in her statement.

    ¡°LingLing, where is the thing that you mentioned that goes ¡®bang!¡¯ ced?¡± Zhang ShengNan ignored her brother and continued to ask the girl.

    ¡°It seems to¡­ be¡­ in the cab¡­¡± said the little girl after thinking for a little bit and pointing to a nearby cab along the wall.

    Zhang ShengNan rolled her eyes at Zhang ShengLi. While holding the shlight, she walked over to the cab. Right when she was about to open the cab door, she was supressed by Zhang ShengLi. Pushing aside ShengNan, Zhang ShengLi attempted to open the cab door slowly to see if they would be ambushed by any strange monster, before walking closer to look inside.

    The cab did indeed have a handgun.

    It wasn¡¯t the type that shot bullets. It was the type that could shoot at a distance with drugs like anesthesia, so it wasn¡¯t a real handgun. However, this only showed that LingLing wasn¡¯t lying to them. Zhang ShengNan was very pleased with herself and started to take this opportunity to bash her brother verbally.

    Zhang ShengLi was gloomy. He didn¡¯t open his mouth to argue, but he felt something was oddly off about this ce.

    ¡°What must I do to open this cage?¡± Zhang ShengNan asked while holding the tranquilizer gun. She walked over to LingLing.

    ¡°You just need to unlock the cage lock.¡± LingLing replied to Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Can we find a backup power source in the nearby room? It¡¯s square shaped, and you can ce the backup power source into the electrical socket. The cage nearby has an apparatus that can operate it. The monitor will ask for a code and after entering the code, the cage will unlock. Am I right?¡± Zhang ShengNan asked LingLing. She recalled the information from when DuDu told her that.

    ¡°Sounds like it.¡± LingLing nodded.

    ¡°How did you know how to unlock it?¡± Zhang ShengLi walked up to question LingLing. Previously, DuDu said that it was his mom giving him instructions, but that was a lie.

    ¡°When they finished with the experiment, they would take me to eat and pee, so that was when they would unlock it.¡± LingLing looked quite scared at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Hu Rong, you can go and bring the backup power source back over here.¡± Zhang ShengLi instructed Hu Rong.

    ¡°No, what happens if she attacks us the moment we release her?¡± Zhang ShengLi holding Hu Rong back.

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99: Can¡¯t sing<hr>

    ¡°Brother, are you sent by the monkey to make usugh? Didn¡¯t you hear they previously let her out before? In addition, we have this thing.¡± Zhang ShengNan waved around the tranquilizer gun.

    ¡°I feel that this whole situation is very odd. I still rmend that we go back downstairs to ask Brother Liu what he thinks. After he sees the young girl, maybe he will have a new perspective on this situation.¡± Zhang ShengLi tried his best to persuade Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°Then, hurry and call him upstairs.¡± Zhang ShengNan surprisingly agreed to her brother¡¯s suggestion.

    ¡°So before I bring him up here, don¡¯t act recklessly and definitely don¡¯t release her.¡± Zhang ShengLi ordered his sister and Hu Rong.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Zhang ShengNan said in an impatient tone.

    Zhang ShengLi pulled Hu Rong aside to give him clear instructions, and then he turned around to leave theboratory. Zhang ShengLi headed downstairs, but he didn¡¯t know which floor Liu Gan was on presently. If he continued downwards, then he was bound to find him, hopefully?

    ¡°Go bring me the backup electrical source,¡± Zhang ShengNan said to Hu Rong right after her brother left.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we agree to wait for them toe upstairs before releasing her?¡± Hu Rong asked Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be pathetic like my brother, right? This game has events that aren¡¯t too far off from the standard quests, so once you finish the quest, there will be a reward. This type of quest is extremely simple! Liu Gan only wanted to hog all the rewards, so he purposefully ushered us away. Luckily, there¡¯s another simr quest with a girl trapped here this time, so we can¡¯t miss this opportunity toplete the quest!¡± Zhang ShengNan nced at Hu Rong.

    ¡°ShengNan, you should just listen to your brother.¡± Hu Rong was in a difficult position.

    ¡°My brother is confused, so don¡¯t you follow in his footsteps! Quickly, before theye upstairs, we should rescue this young girl to see if there¡¯s any extra reward! If we wait for them toe upstairs, then it will be toote!¡± Zhang ShengNan urged Hu Rong.

    ¡°This situation isn¡¯t so good.¡± Hu Rong was still hesitant. While stuck in between sibling rivalry, he had to make a difficult decision.

    ¡°Both of you are useless!¡± Zhang ShengNan was in a huff as she yelled at Hu Rong. She dropped the tranquilizer gun in her hands. Then, she walked over to the nearby room and started carrying the backup battery by herself. Despite Hu Rong obstructing her, she ced the backup battery into the empty groove.

    Theboratory¡¯s light started to brighten the room. The nearby workstations echoed with noise as they were powered by electricity. The workstation right next to the alloy metal cage also lit up. The startup procedure began and lights flickered on the screen. An interface appeared where codes could be entered onto the screen, and an on-screen keyboard also appeared.

    Hu Rong didn¡¯t do anything to stop Zhang ShengNan, and he only picked up the tranquilizer gun. Then, he checked the drug within the gun, so he could prepare for any unexpected situation. Just in case, he would shoot the young girl and put her to sleep.

    ¡°What do I need to enter here?¡± Zhang ShengNan absentmindedly looked at the monitor with the code input box.

    ¡°I know.¡± said LingLing and repeated the code to Zhang ShengNan.

    That caused Hu Rong to be suspicious as he nervously looked at LingLing within the cage.

    After Zhang ShengNan entered the code, a notification popped up on the monitor that indicated it was unable to connect to the system. When Hu Rong saw that there was an error connecting to the system, he was able to rx. After a little while, LingLing gave Zhang ShengNan another code that was different from before. Zhang ShengNan entered the new code, and it still indicated an error.

    ¡°She has been trapped within the cage, so how would she know the code? Even if she knew the code, then that only showed that there was something suspicious going on.¡± Hu Rong opened his mouth to remind Zhang ShengNan because he felt uneasy.

    Zhang ShengNan was in a bad mood and red at Hu Rong. It was impossible to get through to her now, even if it was a friendly warning. Zhang ShengNan asked LingLing for a new code, and LingLing thought about it for awhile before modifying one letter within the code. Zhang ShengNan re-entered the modified code, and this time the system epted the code and entered into operation mode.

    Within the operation mode, there was an option to release the lock. Zhang ShengNan immediately pressed the unlock button. She didn¡¯t even care about the red words of warning right next to the button ¡®Your actions could possibly trigger severe consequences. Do you want to continue?¡¯

    At this moment, Zhang ShengNan only wanted to quickly release the young girl. All this was to prove to her brother and boyfriend that she was correct and that Liu Gan was wrong and inhumane.

    The moment Zhang ShengNan pressed the button, the alloy metal cage made a noise like a lock retracting, and LingLing exited the cage.

    ¡°Thank you Auntie for saving me,¡± LingLing said after escaping the cage, but she didn¡¯t attack Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong. LingLing only graciously looked at Zhang ShengNan. Hu Rong had been watching LingLing¡¯s actions closely, so he was very nervous. Now he could rx a little; however, he didn¡¯t let go of the tranquilizer gun in his hand.

    ¡°This is what we are supposed to do.¡± Zhang ShengNan said as she walked up to LingLing to hold her in her arms. On LingLing¡¯s soft cheeks, ShengNan gave a quick kiss.

    ¡°ShengNan¡­¡± Hu Rong looked nervously at his girlfriend and the young girl. However, LingLing didn¡¯t do anything abnormal. She only snuggled closely within Zhang ShengNan¡¯s arms, and it doesn¡¯t seem like LingLing would attack.

    ¡°This is such an adorable child, so why would there be any danger? It must be because Liu Gan is perverted!¡± Zhang ShengNan said to Hu Rong. After a while, Hu Rong felt LingLing wasn¡¯t going to be dangerous, so he was able to exhale all his nervousness.

    ¡°Yes, you are right.¡± Hu Rong replied to Zhang ShengNan. It seemed like Liu Gan¡¯s worries were unnecessary.

    ¡°Auntie, do you know how to sing ¡®Twinkle Twinkle Little Star¡¯?¡± LingLing suddenly asked Zhang ShengNan.

    ¡°What?¡± Zhang ShengNan was at a loss for words.

    ¡°Can you sing ¡®Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?¡± asked LingLing unhappily.

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t sing¡­¡± Zhang ShengNan was a physical education student, and she was tone deaf. In addition, she normally didn¡¯t sing regrly.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you know how to sing?¡± asked LingLing as she became even unhappier.

    ¡°Auntie can¡¯t sing.¡± Zhang ShengNan tried her best to exin.

    LingLing¡¯s facial expression became more and more sinister. Suddenly, she reached out and wed at Zhang ShengNan¡¯s cheek. Zhang ShengNan wasn¡¯t able to defend in time, and an eyeball was ripped forcibly from its socket by the young girl¡¯s steel-like fingers. Arge portion of Zhang Shengnan¡¯s face was torn off, causing Zhang ShengNan to scream at the top of her lungs.

    Everything happened too suddenly, so Hu Rong had no time to react in that moment. He was simply dumbfounded. Just when he came to his senses, he raised the tranquilizer gun and pointed it at LingLing. He fired. The drug¡¯s needle struck LingLing¡¯s back, but it didn¡¯t seem to have any effect as LingLing continued to w at Zhang ShengNan.

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100: Irony<hr>

    The young girl¡¯s ws were extraordinarily sharp, and after a few downward swipes onto Zhang ShengNan¡¯s clothes, they were shredded into pieces. Her mutted body had wounds causing her to bleed out onto her body.

    Hu Rong quickly threw away the tranquilizer gun and grabbed the young girl¡¯s shoulder. He attempted to pull her from Zhang ShengNan¡¯s body. However, the young girl turned her head and viciously took a bite out of his hand. The iron-like gums and steel-like teeth bit off two of his fingers. Hu Rong could only produce a painfully miserable shriek.

    However, Hu Rong didn¡¯t let go of his grip. He used his remaining strength to pull LingLing off of Zhang ShengNan. This caused the young girl to be even angrier, and as a result, she grabbed onto Hu Rong¡¯s body like a beast, wing and biting.

    ¡°ShengNan, get the fire axe! Cut her down!¡± Hu Rong felt that this young girl¡¯s strength was abnormally strong. After he was caught, he had no chance to escape from her grip and jaw, so he could only beg Zhang ShengNan.

    Zhang ShengNan was blind in one of her eyes, and her body was left with deep scars. The pain was unbearable, yet she struggled and charged over to the wallside where the fire axe was. She grabbed the fire axe, rushed over to the young girl, and started hacking away.

    It was as if the girl had eyes growing on the back of her head. She dodged Zhang ShengNan¡¯s fire axe swings with extreme swiftness. Zhang ShengNan swung with all her might. After LingLing dodged it, the fire axended onto Hu Rong¡¯s shoulder. In a sh, Hu Rong¡¯s arm and half the shoulder was chopped off. Hu Rong could only scream when struck and ultimately copsed.

    LingLing took advantage of this timing while she was on Hu Rong¡¯s body. She feasted on his neck and snapped his carotid artery. Fresh blood continued to stream out of Hu Rong¡¯s bite wound.

    Hu Rong only had one hand remaining to hold onto LingLing¡¯s neck. Yelling loudly, Zhang ShengNan once again tried to sh at LingLing. However, LingLing was able to escape from Hu Rong¡¯s grasp, so she naturally dodged it.

    This time, Zhang ShengNan¡¯s axe directlynded onto Hu Rong¡¯s skull and split apart Hu Rong¡¯s skull. It only took one swing, and he fellpletely lifeless.

    Zhang ShengNan was in a state of shock. She screamed as she pulled out the fire axe stuck to his body. Dropping the axe onto the floor, she kept trying to shake him awake, but it was futile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you leave me¡­¡± Zhang ShengNan cried as she ced her hand on Hu Rong¡¯s face. Now she really knew Liu Gan wasn¡¯t lying to them, and he was truly warning them of the dangers.

    This was all because she wouldn¡¯t believe Liu Gan¡¯s words and only insisted on her own views. She thought Liu Gan was inhumane. It was her fault for releasing the young girl who would then w out her eyeball, which wounded her and led Hu Rong¡¯s death.

    Now that the young girl had ripped out her eyeball, she understood what Liu Gan meant when he said she couldn¡¯t look past her own ws. This was just too ironic!

    Zhang ShengNan realized it now that the evil deed had been performed, but it was all meaningless to her.

    The young girl rubbed the neck region that Hu Rong had grasped to ease the pain. Then with a shrieking voice, she charged towards Zhang ShengNan. Right at that moment, theboratory door swung open. Zhang ShengLi appeared. Seeing all the blood on the floor and the stench of flesh, Zhang ShengLi couldn¡¯t control himself.

    He hadn¡¯t found Liu Gan yet. Right when he was downstairs, he suddenly heard a scream and sensed something was wrong. He ran back upstairs, but he came in toote to save Hu Rong.

    ¡°Brother! Quickly run! Don¡¯t worry about me, just escape!¡± Zhang ShengNan yelled to her brother. She knew her brother¡¯sbat power. He couldn¡¯t possibly win against the young girl. If he ran over to try to save her, the only result would be him¡­dying like her boyfriend under the young girl¡¯s ws.

    ¡­

    After Liu Gan had killed the young boy, he tried to dissect the body and open the brain. He wanted to find the mystery behind his body and to see what was lying within. However, Liu Gan was unable to open up the alloy metal cage and retrieve the body, so he had to give up on that idea.

    After leaving theboratory on the 89th floor, all was quiet. The other three yers were nowhere to be seen, so Liu Gan guessed they had gone downstairs to rest up for the night. As to where specifically, he had no interest in them anymore.

    In the apocalyptic world, trying to findpatible teammates was really hard. Compared to the peaceful real world, there were too many people who were blindly stubborn, greedy, dumb, easily frustrated, narrow minded, and impulsive. They couldn¡¯t handle criticism, but most importantly they were egotistical. These weak points in the real world wouldn¡¯t lead to their demise, but times were different now. They could really harm themselves or others around them.

    These types of zombie games generally weren¡¯t yed by females, so girls were particrly spoiled and pampered by the male yers. Once they encountered hardship or scolding, they would throw a tantrum. They would only think about their own pride and nothing else would matter. Liu Gan felt pity for Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong since they had to withstand her temper. When they weren¡¯t in danger, then it was still manageable, but if they encountered a deadly foe, then both of them would be dragged down by her actions.

    As long as they were human, they would have their own personality. As a team member, in life and death situation, it was hard topletely entrust your blind spots to your teammates to cover.

    Perhaps, only androids like Yin He wouldn¡¯t have tantrums andpletely obey their owner¡¯s orders. This was the most preferable teammate. Especially in life and death situations, it was hard topletely rely on your partner to cover your back. This was just simply too hard to do.

    Liu Gan still wasn¡¯t tired yet, so he didn¡¯t need to rest up. When he went to the fire escape stairs, he kept going up the floors to investigate. The 90th floor didn¡¯t have zombies wandering; however, there were piles of dead zombies on the floor. Liu Gan was easily able to guess that those three hadn¡¯t rested up for the night yet, and they were on the floors above him.

    They were really in the mood, and they were bold, too. Those three dared to go up and explore the area in the dark. Liu Gan shook his head in disbelief. Yin He¡¯s role was to guard the floor by the stairs and then run through every floor in search of valuable items for her. After her thorough search of the floor, they continued onto the next floor.

    The 91st floor and 92nd floor were also cleared out. It seemed like these three¡¯sbat abilities weren¡¯t that bad. Even without Liu Gan, they were able to clear out the three floors. Even with their current strength, it was unfathomable to Liu Gan that they were scouting and hunting down zombies. Unless it was Zhang ShengNan being impulsive, but why would Zhang ShengLi then follow her lead?

    Perhaps, he wasn¡¯t able to convince her.

    Trashy teammates! That would be the death of them.

    Just as Liu Gan reached the 93rd floor, a faint yelling noise was heard from the floors above, and it seemed like Zhang ShengNan¡¯s voice. There was another set of sounds on the staircase like footsteps that were increasing with speed the further they traveled as if someone was running upstairs.<hr>

    Can you guess what will happen next?

    Finally I reached 100. Next 100 wille faster.

 Chapter 101

    TL: xdh20

    ED: Tim

    Chapter 101: Prior To Departure<hr>

    Liu Gan frowned. Then, he followed Yin He silently up the stairs as they both proceeded toward the source of the noise.

    When Liu Gan was looking at the PDA scan right before the battery ran out, he wasn¡¯t able to see past the 89th floor. So he wasn¡¯t sure if there was any danger beyond this floor. Even though Liu Gan was a level 5 yer, he had to be especially careful when venturing deep into darkness. Under Yin He¡¯s protection, he would proceed. These three yers dared to rush that far into darkness. They must have had a deathwish.

    Surprisingly, the 93rd floor was illuminated, but from the stairs it could only been seen originating from the end of the hallway where aboratory was located. The noise of loud screaming could be continuously heard from theboratory.

    Right when Liu Gan drew closer, he could see there was a panicky shadow hurriedly leaving theboratory. Liu Gan was able to recognize the person as Zhang ShengLi, and a shadow with short stature was following him closely. He soon saw that It was a young girl covered in blood. She was very nimble as she moved, and she leapt from the floor to the walls and ceiling like a spring. She opened up her ws and readied her fangs as she pounced closer to Zhang ShengLi.

    Zhang ShengLi kept turning his head back to look at where the young girl was as he ran. It was as if he wanted to lure her away from theboratory.

    The young girl¡¯s age seemed to be rtively close to the age of the boy that Liu Gan had drowned. As he drew closer to theboratory, he was able to recognize the noise as Zhang ShengNan¡¯s screaming. After seeing that Zhang ShengLi was being chased, he could guess what had happened¡­ Zhang ShengNan must have released the little girl, and then the girl took a bite out of ShengNan before she started to chase Zhang ShengLi.

    Hu Rong didn¡¯t appear, so Liu Gan guessed that he must have suffered a major injury or died in the process of rescuing Zhang ShengNan.

    Liu Gan guessed that this young girl was like the young boy, a parasitic variant zombie. In Liu Gan¡¯s eyes, this was an opportunity to obtain a lot of experience, so he wouldn¡¯t let it pass by.

    Liu Gan readied his fire axe as he saw the direction of where the young girl was heading. Then, he swung at the location where they were supposed to collide, but the young girl was able to easily dodge the attack. After retreating two steps backward, she had an evil look in her eyes toward Liu Gan. It seemed like all of her attention and anger was focused on him.

    The young girl prepared herself as she crouched and built up energy from wobbling left and right, and then she rushed forward at Liu Gan with her ws extended. Liu Gan was unable to block with the fire axe, so he was only able to punch the little girl. His punch was able to send her flying to the wall behind her. The young girl screamed and then very quickly retreated far away.

    It was evident that she was able to recognize the difference inbat power between the person in front of her and the previous yers. Since she couldn¡¯t win, she chose to retreat.

    ¡°Capture her!¡± Liu Gan knew that he couldn¡¯t keep up with her speed, so he ordered Yin He to do it.

    Yin He revealed her shining sleeve des, and she rushed over to the young girl like an arrow. Once the young girl had reached the stairs at the end of the hallway, a loud ¡®bang!¡¯ noise was heard as shattered ss fell onto the floor. She broke through the ss window and was scaling the exterior of the building to escape. Yin He continued to chase after her on the outside of the window. Liu Gan reached the end of the hallway where the ss had broken. He could only hear sounds of battling and more ss breaking, but they quickly disappeared out of his line of sight.

    Ten minutester, Yin He climbed up from the window, just to report that she lost her target.

    ¡°I was able to injure her critically. If I had continued chasing, I would¡¯ve caught up. However, my set program designates that I can¡¯t leave my owner by more than 800 meters, so I had to return.¡± Yin He exined with a face full of regret.

    ¡°Okay, what you did is right.¡± Liu Gan nodded to her as he looked down from the window.

    His level of intimacy with Yin He was still very low. If it were not for the preset 800-meter program in her, she might have left him if they were too far apart since her emotional growth development was very open for interpretation. That would have been terrible if she ran off with someone else.

    Yin He¡¯s speed was exceptional, but she wasn¡¯t able to catch up to the young girl. It seemed like this young girl had a top speed that was equally fast if not faster. The young girl¡¯s speed and her prating attack power made her a deadly foe for Zhang ShengLi and the others who still hadn¡¯t reached level 5. After Liu Gan sent her flying with his punch, she wasn¡¯t as much of a threat anymore to Yin He and Liu Gan.

    The little girl absorbed the full force of Liu Gan¡¯s punch, and she was severely wounded by Yin He. It should be safe to assume that the young girl wouldn¡¯t return to the building to ambush them. Liu Gan felt regret that he wasn¡¯t able to obtain experience points from killing it. It seemed like he had lost his chance to advance to level 6.

    The PDA detected the young boy. It would have also detected the young girl, but Liu Gan hadn¡¯t had time to check before the PDA turned off from low battery. Since the young boy was still trapped, Liu Gan was able to obtain easy experience from it. However, the young girl was released by idiots.

    Clearly, the little girl didn¡¯t feel deeply grateful that it was released; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have fallen as prey. It was ruthless in its attack. Previously, when the young boy had died, the zombie released a ck orb. It seemed like the ck orb was its source of power making it no different from the variant zombies.

    In Liu Gan¡¯s current state, hisbat strength was enough for him to face off against a colossal zombie, especially with his bonus skill, Mist Armor, that protected him from the tentacle attack. However, to protect against ambushes from these parasitic variant zombies, his strength had to be superior.

    Right now, Liu Gan had very many unanswered questions, and this young boy and girl were a product of San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratory experiments. Even if they were normal young kids, the moment their brains became infected by the parasite, they were transformed into zombies. This type of parasite¡¯s body had a metallic glow, and it was able to transform the young kid¡¯s bodies.

    If these parasites were considered variant zombies, then they could possibly be carriers of the virus. Once again, this pointed to San Xing Corporation as responsible for the catastrophe.

    By the time Liu Gan had walked back to the brightly lit room in theboratory, there were sshes of blood everywhere.

    Hu Rong was in his own pool of blood, and he was long gone, beyond saving. Zhang ShengNan was sitting beside him, holding his body and crying. She had lost an eye, and her face and body were covered in blood. Her clothes and flesh were torn apart; she was just too bloody.

    Zhang ShengLi wasn¡¯t injured, but his facial expression said it all. He only kneeled beside his sister and cried. He tried to open his mouth tofort her, but he didn¡¯t know what to say.<hr>

    NOOO HU RONG.

    Oh yeah, I¡¯m TLing faster than my editor can edit :(

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102: Top of the Building<hr>

    ¡°Brother Liu, thank you so much for rescuing us once again in our time of need.¡± Zhang ShengLi walked over to Liu Gan to express his gratitude, but his expression was full of pain and misery.

    ¡°I¡¯m so stupid! It was all due to my stupidity. I caused his death¡­¡± Zhang ShengNan said to Liu Gan while she burst into tears.

    If only she had listened to Liu Gan¡¯s advice and not argued, then it wouldn¡¯t have escted to the point where she felt like she had lost self-respect. There was no medicine to treat regrets. The fact was, Hu Rong had died, her eyeball had been ripped out, her face scarred and torn, and her body severely wounded, so sooner orter she would die. Everything was toote to regret.

    Liu Gan ignored Zhang ShengNan and walked around to investigate. He had to make sure it was safe, and then he headed back to the doorway. This result was just as he had suspected. He just hadn¡¯t realized that she would bring them down so soon, but he wouldn¡¯t say such things during this time.

    ¡°Brother Liu, don¡¯t go!¡± Zhang ShengNan shouted at Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan stopped in his tracks, turned his head around, and coldly stared at Zhang ShengNan. Since this was caused by her stupidity, he did not have a hint of pity for her.

    ¡°I know it was my stupidity, naivety, and stubbornness that caused all of this. I am unforgivable! So thank you for saving my brother. I know that I have no right to ask you for anything, but please, I beg you to bring him along. He has always listened to you, so he isn¡¯t stupid like me.¡± Zhang ShengNan begged Liu Gan in her final moments.

    Only after this tragic ident, did Zhang ShengNan finally wake up. She knew that her stupidity caused the death of her beloved boyfriend. So, she didn¡¯t want to drag down her brother too.

    ¡°ShengNan don¡¯t say anymore. No matter what happens, I won¡¯t leave you.¡± Zhang ShengLi interrupted his sister.

    ¡°I am guilty of everything! Brother, you have to listen to Brother Liu from now on and don¡¯t be stupid like me.¡± Zhang ShengNan replied to her brother. Then, she pulled out a hidden knife and cut open her neck.

    ¡°ShengNan!¡± Zhang ShengLi suddenly shouted and rushed over, but it was all toote. She had cut open her carotid artery, so fresh blood spewed out from it. Now it was impossible to save her.

    ¡°NO! NO!¡±

    Zhang ShengLi screamed loudly and applied pressure onto ShengNan¡¯s carotid artery. But, the blood didn¡¯t stop pouring out from the opening. After a few minutes, the blood stopped pouring, but Zhang ShengNan¡¯s eyes were gray and lifeless.

    Zhang ShengLi kneeled on the ground unable to lift his head. He could only helplessly cry. Even though he knew that his sister was at fault, regardless he would still love her because she was all he had left. Seeing her die this way in front of him, he couldn¡¯t ept it. It was too painful.

    ¡°Maybe she was forced out of this game, and she returned to the real world. My condolences, so you don¡¯t need to worry.¡± Liu Gan couldn¡¯t bear to see Zhang ShengLi so grieved and tried to console him.

    ¡°Really?¡± Zhang ShengLi suddenly had a glint of hope in his eyes.

    ¡°With this type of game, no one can be sure?¡± Liu Gan shook his head.

    Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t continue the conversation, but he only sat on the floor and stared at the bodies of ShengNan and Hu Rong. He still felt that this was all too surreal. Did they really die? Or did they return to the real world?

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you ten more minutes to mourn. During this time, I want you to think carefully if you want to follow me. I will bring you, but if you choose to stay and continue mourning, I will respect your decision.¡± Liu Gan patted Zhang ShengLi¡¯s shoulder a few times as he prepared to leave.

    If Zhang ShengNan hadn¡¯t died, Liu Gan definitely wouldn¡¯t bring Zhang ShengLi along. Now that she was dead, Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t have any more deadweight. Previously, Zhang ShengLi¡¯s performance was spectacr. In addition, his sister¡¯s death served as a reminder that Liu Gan was right. So, Liu Gan was definitely willing to give Zhang ShengLi another chance.

    Liu Gan really wanted to takeover a Serenity aircraft. However it was hard to control arge aircraft with only him and Yin He. So he had to recruit more people.

    ¡°No, I will leave with you right now.¡± Zhang ShengLi wallowed in his misery and stood up. From the nearby room, he found a few white cloths that were used to cover instruments. He used that to cover up the bodies of Hu Rong and Zhang ShengNan. Then, he silently stood for half a minute. He turned around and left theboratory, closing the door behind him.

    Liu Gan wanted to remind Zhang ShengLi that he should separate their head from their bodies, just in case they reanimated as zombies. After thinking about it for awhile, he decided not to open his mouth. The reason was because he was curious if the two would actually be carriers of the virus and turn into zombies.

    After he was done searching through the building, Liu Gan would eventually have to pass through the floor to get down. By that time if they did be zombies, it would only verify his idea.

    Of course, judging from both of their wounds, Zhang ShengNan had the highest chance of bing a zombie. Hu Rong might not have had that possibility since his skull had been cleaved and crushed into parts. It would be very unlikely for him.

    Liu Gan waited for Zhang ShengLi to leave through the door and then headed towards the stairs of the fire escape. Zhang ShengLi quickly caught up in a few quick steps. Even though his expression was miserable, he was calming down.

    ¡­

    Around 2AM in the early morning, Liu Gan led Zhang ShengLi with Yin He to the top of the building.

    From above the 90th floor, there were no more strange events. They didn¡¯t encounter any type of variant zombies. However, there were still some straggling regr zombies. Liu Gan and Yin He were able to mow down all of them without resistance.

    It wasn¡¯t raining tonight; however, the wind was very strong on top of the roof. A helipad was at the top of the building, but there was no helicopter. Zombie corpses were scattered everywhere. The repugnant smell of rotten flesh was lingering in the air. It seemed that someone had been here before, and they had been fighting. ording to Liu Gan¡¯s hypothesis, it must have been yers that had just entered the game and left behind these clues.

    A lightning rod was on top of the building. It stood around half-a-meter tall. It was strapped down by a couple of sturdy wires at the sharpest tip of the rod. Stairs were located beside the lightning rod, and repairs could be made by climbing up them.

    However, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t interested in climbing up.

    While standing on top of this hundred floor building, he overlooked the entire Nanjing city. Even though arge portion of the city was shrouded in darkness, you could see a faint shimmer of light at a far away location.

    It seemed like there were more local survivors and yers around like Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi. They were scattered throughout the city, struggling to survive.

    Liu Gan was standing at the top while the gusts of wind breezed past him. He was deep in thought, thinking back on his journey and all that he had been through to get here. He could finally collect his thoughts.

    This was truly a horrifying and dangerous game. There were ambushes everywhere, so every step had to be cautious.

    The Trembling World, the name very urately described the game.

 Chapter 103

    Yin He stood guard for the night, but Liu Gan didn¡¯t let Zhang ShengLi stand guard.

    After waking up from their night¡¯s rest, Zhang ShengLi¡¯s mental state was still not quite whole. He was still grieving, but he kept his emotional state in check. He didn¡¯t reveal too many of his emotions. He only had to organize the backpacks, so he could demonstrate to Liu Gan that he still had some use.

    Yin He had some free time to create a few strange contraptions while standing guard. ording to her exnation, shepleted a miniature lunch box for her sma converter and a miniature collecting box for her nanomites.

    The only question that remained was where to find the nanomites that she needed. The new nanomites had to have much better capabilities than her current ones. Even she didn¡¯t know where to find it.

    ¡°This is the earpiece I modified. You can use this tomunicate with me within 800 meters.¡± Yin He ced the earpiece into Liu Gan¡¯s hand while exining its uses.

    ¡°Oh, this will be quite useful. You are very capable.¡± Liu Ganplemented Yin He.

    ¡°As long as I have the blueprint and parts, I can replicate it.¡± Yin He dered as she felt happy from thepliment.

    ¡°Okay, then in the future we will pay more attention.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡­

    After Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi ate their simple morning meal, they began their descent down the building. A hundred flight of stairs wasn¡¯t an easy task for normal people. However, Liu Gan was level 5, and Zhang ShengLi was level 4. Both of their bodies had improved qualities, so they could travel faster.

    Yin He appeared and disappeared like a ghost. Zhang ShengLi understood the things he should and shouldn¡¯t ask very well. This was thetter in this case where he shouldn¡¯t ask Liu Gan even though he was very curious.

    Duringst night¡¯s events, he knew that his sister¡¯s stupidity caused an unfortunate end, which led to Liu Gan¡¯s disappointment. So right now, he had to work hard to not be useless nor intolerable.

    Now that the building had almost been entirely cleared of zombies, they didn¡¯t hear much moaning the whole way down. That was until they reached the 93rd floor. A moaning sound was transmitted from the room. After hearing the sound, Zhang ShengLi stopped moving, and his face changed into a pained expression.

    The moaning sound was indistinguishable from another zombie¡¯s, but to Zhang ShengLi, it was no different from when they were alive. Zhang ShengLi recognized the voice as his sister¡¯s and Hu Rong¡¯s.

    They had definitely be zombies.

    ¡°I¡¯ll apany you to check it out.¡± Liu Gan noticed something different with the moans. It seemed like the young boy and girl were both carriers of the virus. So, being bitten by them would lead to an infection. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons why this whole building became infected.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Zhang ShengLi nodded and walked up to push open the fire escape doors. He entered theboratory on the 93rd floor.

    After passing through a hallway, they turned the corner. Then, they walked forward another ten meters, which was the location of the tragedy. The zombie moaning sounds wereing from that ce.

    By the time Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi drew close enough, the reanimated Zhang ShengNan had wobbled over. The clothes on her body were shredded, but she didn¡¯t mind. After noticing Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi¡¯s entrance, she charged over

    Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body was shaking. Liu Gan readied his axe and stepped forward. Then, he felt Zhang ShengLi hold him back.

    ¡°Let me do it.¡± Zhang ShengLi whispered and charged up. With his axe, he swiftly chopped off Zhang ShengNan¡¯s head. Then he kneeled onto the floor and picked up the severed head. He embraced her zombie-bitten head and cried loudly.

    After hearing all of themotion, another zombie exited from theboratory. This one was Hu Rong. Who would have thought that even after the open wound in his skull, he would still be a zombie. Liu Gan walked over and sighed as he shook his head. In a swift sh, he ended its life. Gently, Liu Gan ced his body back onto the floor.

    If only Zhang ShengNan wasn¡¯t so dumb, Liu Gan would have had three more useful bodies that werepatible with each other as teammates. Now, all he was left with was a single person.

    Zhang ShengLi ced Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong¡¯s bodies back into theboratory and covered it with white sheets again. Once again, they departed from theboratory.

    ¡­

    Since Yin He was leading from the front while scouting a path, Liu Gan¡¯s journey was a lot safer. After leaving the building, Liu Gan wanted to find a secluded dwelling. Yin He could keep guard while he sketched out a rough drawing of the map from memory.

    Liu Gan remembered when he was holding the PDA to find his way that he had marked several crucial points along the route. From his current location, he could walk forward and head straight to Green Pao Bay. The first definite rest stop would be arge supermarket called Fortune and Youth.

    [TL: the supermarket is called ¡®Fu Man Chun¡¯, which means Full of fortune and Youthful.]

    Theserge supermarkets containedrge quantities of food, which would include rice and noodles. Perishable food like pork, goat, or beef would all be spoiled, so he didn¡¯t even bother hoping for such luxurious items. However, there was still a good chance that there were canned and vacuum sealed meat products like ham sausages.

    After two days of eating biscuits and instant noodles, the food had be so nd that everything seemed tasteless. He didn¡¯t want to eat any of those things again. If they could find rice, noodles, or any packaged meat that was suitable for cooking, he would love to enjoy a cooked meal.

    However, Liu Gan was also ready for a different scenario¡­ If therge supermarket had a corpse tide, then it would be impossible to draw close. Also, if other yers that spawned nearby had reached that location first, then they would dere it their territory.

    Today was the Trembling World¡¯s 4th day since the server release and the catastrophe¡¯s 7th day, so anything was possible.

    With his fully regenerated Mist Armor, the PDA¡¯s assistance, and the scouting android, Liu Gan felt confident in being able to ovee any unexpected events. After he redrew a simpler map, he headed toward Fortune and Youth supermarket without any hesitation.

    Whether there was a corpse tide or whether local survivors or yers had upied it, Liu Gan was very confident that he would be able to venture into the supermarket. He would seize food from the tiger¡¯s mouth in order to procure fresh ingredients, and so he would change the eating pattern of biscuits and instant noodles all the time.

    Even though there were countless wandering zombies on the street, it was no longer a challenge to Liu Gan. As long as it didn¡¯t clog up the street and turn into a corpse tide, then nothing would block his path forward.

    As for the variant zombies that yers wanted to avoid? Liu Gan wished he could encounter a few.

 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104: Asking for Directions<hr>

    NinJing city was muchrger than what Liu Gan had imagined. The Lucky Garden District and San Xing Corporation were actually located on the outer edges of the city. In order to reach Green Pao Bay, Liu Gan had to cross through the entire city.

    Shortly after leaving the building, Liu Gan started wandering through the city¡¯s building infrastructure as if he was lost. The entire city had zombies wandering regardless of the streets¡¯ size. Even though these regr zombies were not a threat, killing them wouldn¡¯t give Liu Gan experience, so it was more of a nuisance to him.

    To avoid any unnecessary trouble, Liu Gan routed his path, so it avoided therge group of zombies. This type of routing made it a lot more difficult. He had even lost the direction he was supposed to head towards Fortune and Youth supermarket.

    If this were a normal situation where he was alone and lost in arge city, then he would ask the locals for direction. However, now that most locals had be zombies, that was wishful thinking.

    Liu Gan looked at the map he drew earlier with the PDA, especially at the marked crucial nodes. Fortune and Youth supermarket was closest to a nearby node. Right now, since he was lost, he had missed the node. It would prove to be even harder to look for the next node on the map, so he would have to change his preset n.

    Unconsciously, two hours had passed. Liu Gan with Yin He and Zhang ShengLi took a path that kept avoiding crowds of zombies. After looking everywhere for secure routes to go forward, they arrived at the edge of arge river that flowed through the city. There were river dikes on both sides of thisrge river and were overgrown by nts. As of that moment, there were no zombies to be seen by the river dikes. Liu Gan decided that he would use this as a resting area to recollect his thoughts.

    Prior to the catastrophe, this area must have been visited for its scenery. This was the prime location for couples to take romantic strolls in the evening. There might have even been kids running alongside the river. However, now that the river dike had been taken over by the nts, there was only a lingering smell of rotten corpses aside from the few zombies nearby.

    Not too far down the river, there would be asional corpses floating downstream. Some seemed to be struggling, and it was hard to fathom that they were live people and not zombies.

    ¡°That looks like a person.¡± Zhang ShengLi pointed at the far end of the river bank and whispered to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan looked in the direction where Zhang ShengLi pointed, and indeed there were two outlines of people. Each one of them was holding onto a bamboo pole along the riverbank trying to fish for something.

    ¡°You sit here and don¡¯t move. I will go check it out.¡± Liu Gan guessed that these two were probably local survivors, so they could tell him the route to Fortune and Youth supermarket.

    If they encountered local survivors or yers within the city, it was a dangerous situation. However, it was not much of a problem for Liu Gan. He trusted in his own abilities to handle the threat of local survivors and yers. In fact, they should be afraid of him because he was more dangerous.

    As Liu Gan drew closer, he noticed that the two figures who were in the river trying to fish for something immediately dropped onto the bank and stopped moving. Their bodies were covered in mud and aquatic nts, which provided them with natural cover.

    While using his improved eyesight, Liu Gan could clearly see their facial expression and how frightened they were. These two were around ten or so years old, but it was still difficult to tell what they were doing in the river. Perhaps, they were avoiding zombies or other yers, so they ended up dressing like this.

    Judging from the way they acted and their facial expressions, Liu Gan guessed that these two weren¡¯t yers but were local survivors. Right now, Liu Gan was lost and needed directions. Therefore, these two were perfect candidates for providing directions to Fortune and Youth supermarket since they were locals.

    Liu Gan continued walking alongside the river bank. The two figures crouched down suddenly and became even more nervous. Judging from their expressions, Liu Gan was sure that they were scared. Were they waiting to decide whether to run or to continue hiding? They knew for sure that Liu Gan had discovered them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean any harm. I only wanted to ask you for directions, so if you are willing, please answer me. I can trade you biscuit and instant noodles in exchange for information.¡± Liu Gan walked about ten meters away from where they were lying down and asked them this question.

    While hiding, these two locals knew they had been discovered and their path up to the shore had been blocked. At this point, they realized it was pointless to continue hiding. The two were whispering to each other, and then the oldest between them gathered enough courage to walk up to Liu Gan. He walked up outside of Liu Gan¡¯s three meter range and was uneasy throughout.

    Even though he was outside the three meter range, Liu Gan was able to smell this person¡¯s odor. It was the type of sludge smell found along the riverbanks. Perhaps, they purposely wiped it on their bodies. At the same time, they hadrge quantities of water nts covering up their heads, so it seemed like a strange monster from the outside.

    ¡°Where do you want directions to?¡± The local person walked over. Even though ¡®his¡¯ face was covered in mud and the tone had a deeper tone, Liu Gan was able to recognize that he was actually a girl.

    ¡°Little girl, I just want to know the way to Fortune and Youth supermarket.¡± Liu Gan asked the little girl.

    The little girl became even more nervous when Liu Gan was able to distinguish her gender, but she tried her best to maintain her calm while answering Liu Gan.

    ¡°It is within 5 blocks of this district. You can continue walking along the edge of river, and then after walking around 5 blocks, you will reach a forked road. At that point, follow the direction leading to a red building and walk past it. Continue walking straight past two traffic light, and you will find an intersection. Turn right at the intersection and walk ten meters. Then, you will find Fortune and Youth supermarket.¡± The little local girl said to Liu Gan in detail. Then, she observed his expression. This heavy stranger is particrly dangerous to her.

    ¡°Thank you. Here is your reward.¡± Liu Gan pulled out a bag of biscuits and instant noodles and threw them in front of the little girl. Then, he turned around and walked toward Zhang ShengLi and Yin He¡¯s hiding ce.

    Liu Gan walked around ten meters or so, and then he discovered some noises behind him. He saw that the two locals were tailing him. After they discovered Liu Gan had looked backwards, they quickly froze in ce. Silently, they were ncing at Liu Gan¡¯s expression and whispering to each other at the same time.

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105: Exchange for Food<hr>

    Seeing that Liu Gan was standing still and staring at them. The two local kids quickly trotted over. They stopped a few meters away from him.

    ¡°Do you have anything else?¡± Liu Gan asked the two loudly. The other kid that was hiding on the bank, had mud on her face and had a stinking body, was also a female. She was younger than the one who spoke with Liu Gan earlier.

    ¡°Do you have any more biscuits and instant noodles?¡± The older of the two girls asked while looking at Liu Gan¡¯s backpack.

    ¡°Yes, but I also need to eat too so I can¡¯t give more.¡± Liu Gan replied to the older girl.

    When he had to ask her for directions, Liu Gan already gave her a bag of biscuits and pack of instant noodles, in the apocalyptic world this type of reward was a very luxurious. Even though, Liu Gan was disgusted from eating all the biscuits and instant noodles, but he couldn¡¯t be very generous to the point of giving away all his food.

    Even though these types food was very hard for him to swallow, but they were necessary to fill his stomach. So before he finds a new source of food, he must rely on these to hang onto his life/stay alive.

    ¡°Can we use some food in exchange with you?¡± the younger girl courageously asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Which food/what type of food do you have for exchanging/to exchange?¡± Liu Gan suddenly got interested. He really didn¡¯t want to keep eating biscuits and instant noodles, so if there was something else to exchange, he would give it a try.

    ¡°You can follow me.¡± the younger girl said to Liu Gan. Afterwards, every time she move forward, she would turn back her head to check if Liu Gan was still following.

    Liu Gan turned on the earphones which was given to him by Yin He. He told Zhang ShengLi and Yin He to join him. Soon, they revealed themselves from their hiding ce and walked over. When the two younger girls saw them, they nervously looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°They are my friends, they aren¡¯t bad people.¡± Liu Gan exined to the two younger girls.

    Zhang ShengLi was standing behind Liu Gan and attempted to smile at the two younger girls. The two younger girls seem to have felt that Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t have any bad intentions, so they smiled back as they continued to lead the way.

    Even though Zhang ShengLi was a bit worried about the two identities of the mud covered girls. He wasn¡¯t worried about possibility of a trap. Seeing that Liu Gan didn¡¯t question this matter, it was pointless if he asked now. From his standpoint, Liu Gan was very cautious and he wouldn¡¯t easily fall for other people¡¯s trap.

    The three followed the two younger girls as they walked past a nearby river dike when they arrived at a miniature park. The two younger girls who were leading the way, suddenly stopped moving. They gave a warning then they changed route gesture. When Liu Gan looked ahead he saw that several zombies were wandering inside the miniature park.

    ¡°When we came here before, they weren¡¯t there. I don¡¯t even know when they got there. Even though they won¡¯t bite us, they will definitely bite you. We should find another way around.¡± The older girl whispered to Liu Gan.

    ¡°The ce you want to go is up ahead?¡± Liu Gan pointed at the small park.

    ¡°Yes, it is in that house.¡± the younger girl pointed at the row of houses past the park.

    ¡°Okay, then we don¡¯t need to take a detour.¡± Liu Gan said after picking up his fire axe then she started to charge towards zombies. When he got close to the zombies and he chopped off the their head. The decapitated zombies fell onto the ground.

    After Liu Gan put away his fire axe, he signaled the two younger girls to move forward. After the two younger girls witnessed everything their eyes were wide open with shocking expressions. They never knew that this guy would be so powerful. These few zombies, he was able to kill those zombies easily..

    ¡°You are awesome!¡± said the younger girl with a thumbs up. Her sludge painted face showed that she was worshiping him.

    It looked like her age was around around sixteen or seventeen years old. The other one who was the younger, was around fourteen or fifteen years old. They both had a strong stench of smell of sludge. The moment Liu gan got close to them, he would stop breathing, otherwise he would pass out from their scent.

    ¡°With this odour, zombies won¡¯t bite us.¡± The younger girl exined the purpose of the smell to Liu gan. Her face revealed a mischievous look, not only does the stink deter zombies, it will also deter any males that have alternative motives.

    ¡°You are very clever.¡± Liu Gan gave a thumbs up to the younger girl. Even though she was very young, to able to survive for seven days after the catastrophe was splendid. It showed that she was very intelligent.

    The young girl smiled at Liu Gan then ran up to the other girl. The two local girls walked them through the miniature park and walked to the house they pointed earlier.

    After walking through the small park, they didn¡¯t encounter any other zombies. Liu Gan followed the two young girls to the row of houses. These row of houses were constructed on a hignd. Their exterior looked broken and worn down, like the old parts of the city that still had the ancient designs and didn¡¯t get the modern renovation yet.

    Even though these row of terrace houses looked shabby, but their bottom halves were stone based, the top halves were held together by a thick solid brick, so they were definitely a sturdy old houses.

    The young girl walked around the terrace house, after confirming that the surrounding was safe. She pulled out a key to open the lock. So that Liu Gan and his party could enter.

    After opening the door, from the room inside emitted a wet moldy smell. The design of the room was very simple. It had two filthy beds, and an old wooden table inside/ old wooden table that was in the middle of the room inside. On top of the wooden table there were textbooks for school assignments and such. The wooden table had two stool shaped chairs, and on the floor there were variety of materials.

    Zhang ShengLi sat down and started to chat with the two girls. He learned that they were sisters. The older sister was called Lee DingXin and she was 16. The younger sister was Lee DingXiang and she was 14. A few years before the catastrophe, their parents died in an ident and they both became orphans. So originally they both disn¡¯t live here. They were part of NinJing city¡¯s homeless people. During the day, they would go to the city and beg around, or even look through garbage for food. At night, they would hide in the street sides or under bridges or anywhere quiet to sleep.

    This catastrophe didn¡¯t effect their original living style, previously they would have to hide from city workers and now they would have to avoid zombies. Before the catastrophe, they didn¡¯t have a set residency. Wherever they go, they would get kicked out. But now, they could live wherever they want.

    When the catastrophe urred, they two sisters didn¡¯t reach this location yet. They were following the river banks to avoid some zombies. Then they found their way to these terrace houses that no one lived and the surrounding zombies were few in number, so they moved in.

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106: Large Pharmacy<hr>

    At daybreak when they went out to search for food and daily items, Lee DingXiang would lock up the house so that no straggling zombie could enter by chance.

    For their safety, the sisters would cover themselves withrge amount of sludge with revolting smell. ording to what they said about the peculiar aspect of warding off zombies was a specialty of this pungent smell that could only be found in this sludge .

    When the sludge on their body nearly dried, the disgusting smell would dissipate and it would be less effective in warding off zombies. So throughout out the day, the sisters would had to go to the river to renew their cover with sludge. The aquatic nt was a cover so local survivors and yers had a hard time recognizing.

    ¡°It was only because I had a great cover, that you were able to discover me.¡± Lee DingXiang jokingly said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°So what good stuff do you have to trade with me?¡± Liu Gan asked the two sister. Mainly because this room was very revolting, he couldn¡¯t bear to stay in here longer than he needed to.

    ¡°These few days around the river, we digged up quite a lot of water caltrop, if you can cook it thoroughly then it won¡¯t get contaminated. Even if you are unwilling to trade, these water caltrop you can just take them. Take as much as you can carry.¡± Lee DingXiang walked over to the kitchen and took out arge pot of cooked water caltrop, and ced them on the table.

    ¡°You invited us over, and showed us all your food. Aren¡¯t you afraid getting robbed?¡± Liu Gan picked up a water caltrop and skeptically asked the girls.

    Their trust in him is way over the line. Even though Liu Gan felt that they are kind hearted and they didn¡¯t have any ill intentions, but there was a chance of the water caltrops having some poison. As long as there was a chance, he had to be alert for these types of situations.

    ¡°You won¡¯t. I can tell that you are a nice person.¡± Lee DingXiang smiled. Even though her face was covered with sludge, her smile was still very convincing. In the apocalyptic world, these type of positivity in a smile was rare.

    ¡°Sometimes people might seem like nice people, but they might not be. Who is to say that they won¡¯t kill you!¡± Liu Gan suddenly showed a malicious face.

    Lee DingXiang and her sister Lee DingXin got scared and they quickly tugged onto each other for support. Nervously both of them looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Brother Liu, don¡¯t scare the poor kids.¡± Zhang ShengLi couldn¡¯t hold back anymore.

    ¡°I¡¯m just doing it for their benefit.¡± Liu Gan shook his head and stopped his evil look. Then picked up a water caltrop and ced it in front of Lee DingXiang.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat now.¡± Lee DingXiang shook her head as she replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°If you eat it, then I can confirm that this food isn¡¯t poisonous.¡± Liu Gan said expressionlessly to Lee DingXiang.

    ¡°Why would it be?¡± Said Lee DingXiang. Then she finally understood meaning behind Liu Gan¡¯s words. Quickly she ate the whole thing, just to put Liu Gan at ease. Then grabbed another two and ate one more, and she passed one of them to her sister. They both wanted to prove that the food definitely wasn¡¯t poisonous.

    ¡°This brother here is actually very kind, but he has encountered many bad people before. So he has to be extra careful. Please don¡¯t mind him.¡± Zhang ShengLi exined to the two sisters.

    ¡°Okay then that should be expected.¡± Lee DingXiang smiled at Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan picked one up and bit down, even though these didn¡¯t have any particr favor, but if youpared them to the biscuits and instant noodles, these had an amazing taste.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him, I¡¯m not a good person, but I am willing to trade with you.¡± Liu Gan opened his backpack and pulled out some food to trade with the two girls.

    Both girl¡¯s eyes lit up when Liu Gan pulled out some flowery green biscuits and an instant noodle out. It looked like they were tired of eating water caltrop as well, so they were more interested in eating other stuff like biscuits and instant noodles.

    They carefully took a box instant noodle and box of biscuit. As they approached, they observed Liu Gan¡¯s expression. Only after seeing that Liu Gan didn¡¯t do anything they were able to rx. They were very satisfied this trade, they would be willing even if Liu Gan took all their water caltrop away.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to eat this many water caltrops so we will only take a portion.¡± Liu Gan used ac to packaged up the water caltrop. With the amount of biscuits and instant noodle given, he took a simr amount of water caltrops.

    ¡°Old man you don¡¯t have to be courteous with us. It was very easy for us to obtain these water caltrops. We can go everyday to the river to collect some. In the water, they grows very fast. So everyday we can have a big harvest t.¡± Lee DingXiang said to Liu Gan. She examined Liu Gan¡¯sc, then ced arge pot of the water caltrops into the bag.

    ¡°I only have to wait until I go to Fortune and Youth supermarket, then I can get more good stuff to eat. It¡¯s not because I¡¯m being courteous with you.¡± Liu Gan got up to leave and after thinking for a little bit, he pulled out two more bags of biscuits and two bags of instant noodles and ced them onto the table. This was his way of equal value bartering.

    ¡°Old man you still want to go to Fortune and Youth supermarket?¡± Lee DingXiang stood up and asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Liu Gan nodded. It was inappropriate for her to call him old man even though Liu Gan was 23 years old and previously no one called him like that before,. Even if he didn¡¯t shaved for few days, but his phenomenal physique was quite a threatening sight. So if they made a mistake about his age, it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise.

    It would normal if a girl that¡¯s younger to call him old man, since it¡¯s technically isn¡¯t wrong.

    ¡°If you want to go to Fortune and Youth supermarket, I can lead you there. Even if I give you instructions, this district¡¯s roads are veryplicated. You can easily get lost.¡± Lee DingXiang said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Liu Gan said as he stood still in front of the the door.

    ¡°We are this city¡¯s rats. We know every nook and cranny of every route, waterway, underground passage. So we will have no problem guiding you.¡± Lee DingXiang added.

    Lee DingXiang¡¯s survival instinct was very strong, she wanted to follow Liu Gan, not because she wanted to rely on him to survive but for her own reason¡­ Her sister Lee DingXin had a peculiar blood disease, so she would need a special type of medicine to treat her ilness. Before the catastrophe, she didn¡¯t have any money to treat her sister. Now that it was an unguarded pharmacy after the catastrophe, it was easy to just take it.

    The nearby pharmacy that Lee DingXiang searched for didn¡¯t have this particr medicine, near Fortune and Youth supermarket, a block had arge hospital and severalrge flourishing pharmacies. So they must had a medicine to treat her sisters diabetes. But she knew that her own strength that she couldn¡¯t get there alone.

 Chapter 107

    This was the chance she had been waiting for. Lee DingXiang could tell that Liu Gan was very powerful so if she could tag along with Liu Gan to Fortune and Youth supermarket then she had a chance to obtain the special medicine to treat her sister¡¯s peculiar blood disease.

    ¡°Okay¡­ That is fine as well.¡± Liu Gan hesitated before epting. He already experienced howplicated the routes were so if he didn¡¯t had a guide with him, he felt that it would be impossible to reach Fortune and Youth supermarket. Without this first crucial node, Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t know how to reach his next node.

    ¡°When we reach there, can we take some of the food from the supermarket too?¡± Lee DingXiang asked Liu Gan. Since she and her sister were tired of eating water caltrops so eating anything else would be wonderful.

    ¡°Of course you can, if Fortune and Youth supermarket haven¡¯t been upied then there should be plenty of food. I can¡¯t take all of it.¡± Liu Gan nodded, this would be theirpensation for being his guide.

    The sisters were very happy that Liu Gan epted. Then they prepared a small backpacks and got ready to leave with Liu Gan.

    ¡°On our route there will be a lot of zombies so if you don¡¯t want anything bad to happen then you must listen to mymands. No matter what happens, you must not panic and lose control of yourself. Even though you are temporarily joining us, we are still a squad. I will do my best to protect you. So if you panic and start running around, I can¡¯t protect you.¡± Liu Gan

    ¡°Okay, we already know that it is dangerous outside. We will definitely listen to your orders and follow yourmands.¡± Lee DingXiang nodded to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Her?¡± Liu Gan looked at Lee DingXin, since she didn¡¯t make a sound.

    Lee DingXin quickly hid behind Lee DingXiang.

    ¡°You can talk to him, he isn¡¯t a bad person.¡± Lee DingXiang urged her sister to speak up and pushed her forward.

    ¡°I will¡­ behave¡­¡± Lee DingXin quickly told Liu Gan, but she was still nervous. Normally/ Even before the catastrophe, she didn¡¯t like to speak much, so when she tried to speak her mouth was dry, her nervousness might had contributed to the broken speech.

    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s depart!¡± Liu Gan nodded. These two sisters roamed the streets as homeless people so their survivability was quite high. They wouldn¡¯t slow them down.

    ¡°Old man wait a second, the previous instructions I gave about to Fortune and Youth supermarket was for the shortest route. But, if we leave from here then our road will definitely be blocked by zombies. We must go to another route by the river even if it is longer, but there won¡¯t be as much zombies so overall we will get there faster¡± Exined Lee DingXiang.

    ¡°Then we shall travel to the route alongside the stream.¡± after listening her exined Liu Gan decided. Everywhere around was filled with zombies, and detouring to areas with a lot of zombies wasn¡¯tt a great idea. Even if he was a capable fighter, if a street was filled with zombies then it was still best to avoid that ce.

    ¡°Follow me!¡± Lee DingXiang said holding hands of her sister as she lead the group towards river bank.

    ¡°By the riverside, there were some zombies that identally fall into the river and once they fell in they couldn¡¯t climb out so they were being swept away by the river water. This was why routes along the river had very little zombies. After walking for an hour or so, we will reach the route that leads directly to the side of Fortune and Youth supermarket.¡± Lee DingXiang exined to Liu Gan as they walked.

    ¡°Okay, then just focus on leading the way, if there are zombies, I will handle them.¡± Liu Gan replied to Lee DingXiang.

    ¡°Old man when you killed those zombies, your moves were very cool!¡± Said Lee DingXiang.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t care about Lee DingXiang¡¯s words of praise. His eyes were looking at the river side. When Lee DingXiang saw that Liu Gan didn¡¯t respond, she rushed to Zhang ShengLi at the rear and smiled then returned to the front with her sister leading the way.

    ¡°ssmate Liu is always very cold so it¡¯s hard for people to get attached.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Yin He in a whisper.

    Yin He coldly looked at Zhang ShengLi and ignored his words.

    ¡°These two are definitely a match made in heaven. Both of them are equally cold. No wonder they can get along?/together.¡± Zhang ShengLi shook his head and mumbled to himself.

    ¡­

    These two sisters definitely had high survivability, and their reactions were also quite sensitive. Once they see zombies, they would quickly notify Liu Gan and ask for his advice about continuing this way or taking a detour. Since they were familiar with the geographic locations, they did their best to avoid zombies and Liu Gan didn¡¯t need to worry too about them.

    The most important aspect is to save time.

    After an hour, Lee DingXiang led the group away from the river bank and headed into the city.

    This area could be considered this city¡¯s most popr area. Therge and small streets were flooded with zombies. Even if it couldn¡¯t considered as packed, the distance between every zombie was around a meter or two, but for normal people this was already an obstacle.

    To pass through this street, Liu Gan and Yin He was forced to kill their way through like bulldozers. Both of them were like high efficiency killing machines. After the ughter, they finally cleared zombies in this street.

    Zhang ShengLi really wanted to help, but while trailing behind Yin He and Liu Gan he couldn¡¯t find an opportunity to help. So he was very mad, he couldn¡¯t even be useful in a fight. He questioned if he continued to follow Liu Gan, could he offer offer any assistance to him. Perhaps his existence was nothing more than an abandoned child.

    For these few streets, Liu Gan had a tactic. He would run around frantically and lure zombies in order to create a zombie train. Once this train was long enough and before they surround him, he borrowed infrastructure of streets to escape and return to the squad.

    The zombies wouldn¡¯t attack Yin He first, so the task of being bait had to be Liu Gan. It was a good thing that his body was close to perfect condition. This would also be a good chance for him to familiarize with points for corpse tide. So running a lot might not be a bad thing, it would only prove to be beneficial to his survival with experiences he gained from learning how to dodge.

    With this, the squad was drawing closer to Fortune and Youth Supermarket in that district.

 Chapter 108

    ¡°We just need to pass through two more streets, and then we will arrive.¡± Lee DingXiang said happily to Liu Gan. She could only recognize the ce by looking for familiar buildings.

    Once they reached the street where the Fortune and Youth supermarket was located, she could enter the fewrge pharmacies to retrieve the special medicine for her sister.

    After passing the intersection up ahead, the surroundings suddenly grew colder. The amount of zombies also decreased significantly. There were arge amount of rotting corpses on the ground, as if someone had been through here massacring zombies.

    In this post-apocalyptic world, it was very dangerous, but this was especially true when humans were involved. Therefore, Liu Gan had to be extra careful. With his current strength, Normal people who wanted to attack him wouldn¡¯t be able to with his current strength. However, he still had to protecting the squad¡¯s safety, so it was better to be safe.

    ¡°There are hundreds of thousands of yers entering the game, and there should be many local survivors like these sisters. The supermarket they want to reach is up ahead. If I had to guess, that area is a hotspot worth fighting for.¡± Zhang ShengLi walked up and whispered to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°Since the nearby streets have been cleared by people, that would mean the Fortune and Youth supermarket could be upied already.¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he ced the backpack he had been holding in his hands on the ground. He had a backpack in his hands and on his back since his role was to carry the bags.

    ¡°This is unavoidable. Along our way over here, I was thinking about that, too.¡± Liu Gan scouted left and right, as if he felt something was terribly wrong.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked.

    ¡°If the supermarket has been taken over, then the only way to get the food is to steal¡­¡± Liu Gan replied staring at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°No matter what you do, I will support you.¡± Zhang ShengLi said as if he knew that Liu Gan was testing his reactions.

    Ever since Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong died, Zhang ShengLi had been in deep introspection. He realized that everything Liu Gan had said was correct. Using rules from the real world as a standard in [The Trembling World] was a mistake. They had to do everything that they could to survive here. Even if those were things they never wanted to or were unable to do before, they had to be done. Otherwise, only death awaited.

    Therefore, whatever Liu Gan decided to do, all ShengLi had to do was suppress his inner moralpass for good and evil.

    ¡°Great, as long as the opposition knows what¡¯s best for them and epts my terms of agreement to share some food with us, I won¡¯t make things difficult. But if they aren¡¯t willing to share, then I can only vanquish those who stand in my way! I¡¯ve alreadye this far, so I don¡¯t want to return empty handed.¡± Liu Gan said as he clenched his fist in preparation for battle if it really came down to it.

    ¡°Okay, you are the squad leader, so I will support you unconditionally.¡± Zhang ShengLi said in a whisper and lowered his head. Right now, he couldn¡¯t be of any value in his current condition while staying at Liu Gan¡¯s side. Even if Liu Gan were to fight in the supermarket, he would likely not be able to offer any assistance.

    The faint shadow of a person suddenly appeared in a nearby dim alleyway, and it kept waving at Liu Gan¡¯s squad signaling them enter the alleyway. Liu Gan raised his eyebrow, and right when he wanted to ask the shadowy person ¡®what it was that he wanted¡¯, a few bamboo sticks pierced through the air straight at Liu Gan. They were the type that had the front end sharpened, and it was made out of bamboo! This bamboo javelin was clearly thrown from on top of one of the roofs.

    Yin He stood in front of Liu Gan in a sh. She was able to lip and grab ahold of the two sharpened bamboo javelins while in a mid-air jump. Then, Yin He looked over at the direction where the javelin was thrown from¡­ It was from a certain building in front of them. There were several shadows that disappeared, and unmistakably, those javelins were aiming to take his life.

    The Lee Ding sisters felt that something was wrong, and they quickly hurried away into the dim alley. No matter what, Liu Gan had to guarantee their safety. Since they escaped into the alley, they could help Liu Gan by not hindering him.

    Liu Gan went straight into the dim alley to hide. When he turned back to look, he discovered that one of the bamboo javelins pierced into Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body, and it pierced through his chest. If his back was toward the javelin, then the backpack would have blocked the damage from the javelin. Unfortunately, his body was facing the javelin.

    Zhang ShengLi¡¯s face was extremely painful, but he didn¡¯t make any sound. He could only bear the pain of having his chest pierced.

    [TL: omg, NOOOOOOOO NOT ANOTHER ONE]

    ¡°[email protected]%! It!¡± Liu Gan cursed and quickly held Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body. Then, he pulled him aside to the dim alley.

    Yin He also followed and used her body to protect Liu Gan.

    ¡°Go kill them all!¡± Liu Gan ordered Yin He as he pulled Zhang ShengLi into the dim alley. He had lost a valuable member of his squad, so he was very angry.

    Yin He received the order and quickly charged toward the buildings up ahead. Even though the streets contained a few leftover zombies, they never took too much interest in Yin He. Only after she bumped into the zombies would they chase her for a few steps before giving up.

    Yin He charged right in front of the building, and then she proceeded to scale from the exterior of the building all the way up to the sixth and seventh floor. She was at the rooftop within half a minute, and afterwards, several screams were heard from the roof.

    As Liu Gan was holding Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body, a few men appeared from the darkness of the alleyway. They were all holding manmade shields, and they held it up to protect themselves from the direction of those javelins. One of them helped carried Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body with Liu Gan deep into the alley.

    Several of these were young men, and it seemed like all of these yers were from the real world. They were the ones that warned Liu Gan and his group and then risked their lives to protect him. It was clear that these people were not ill-intentioned.

    Zhang ShengLi suffered an injury, yet he was still able to hold onto the bag and dragged it over. Liu Gan took the backpack off Zhang ShengLi¡¯s back. Then, he gently ced him onto the floor to check out his wound.

    ¡°With his kind of wound, I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t survive.¡± The leader of the group said, as he checked Zhang ShengLi¡¯s wound.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t make a sound. He knew it would be difficult for Zhang ShengLi to survive this kind of wound. This ce wasn¡¯t like the real world where he could be sent to the hospital for surgery. While suffering from this kind of injury, even if the bamboo javelin didn¡¯t sever any major blood vessels, it still pierced through the body. Even suturing the wound and preventing infection would be a huge problem.

    Right now, they could only ask Zhang ShengLi for his opinion. Would he want an axe to the head to end his pain and suffering.

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109: Few words<hr>

    ¡°You guys are yers that entered the game too?¡± One of the men asked as he disyed his alloy metal watch on his wrist. His facial expression seemed kind and not like the scheming type.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Liu Gan said as he showed his own wrist watch.

    ¡°We were battling a group of local survivors, and they forced us over here. Then, you guys stumbled onto the battlefield, and they mistook you for a target. I originally wanted to call you over here to hide, but it was toote.¡± One of the men apologized to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan felt depressed as he shook his head. This matter already had him heated. The opposition threw the spear from quite far away, so it wasn¡¯t likely for it to actually strike one of them. Right when Yin He rushed over to protect Liu Gan, she could only hold onto two spears. Zhang ShengLi was simply too unlucky, and he was pierced by one of the spears.

    Liu Gan originally wanted Zhang ShengLi¡¯s three person squad, but Zhang ShengNan¡¯s stupidity had caused two of them to die. Then, he was left with only one, but who knew that this would be the end here.

    Yin He appeared in front of the dim alley holding a few bamboo spears. She came back to whisper a report into Liu Gan¡¯s ear. All five people at the top of the building had all been taken care of.

    The yers in the alleyway were all bewildered while staring at Yin He. When they were still hidden, they witnessed Yin He scale the exterior of the building. Then, she carried the bamboo spears back. They guessed that several of the people on the eighth and ninth floor had been killed.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I can¡¯t do this. Please help me end the pain!¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he had his back against the wall.

    Liu Gan sighed and looked for his fire axe, but he did not wield it.

    ¡°Maybe my death can force me to log off? Brother Liu, help me. I regret that I have yet to pay off my debt to you for saving my life.¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he suffered unbearable pain. His wound was clearly not as life threatening as Jiang JinYuan¡¯s. If this were the real world, then he was definitely savable.

    ¡°Okay, but before that I need you to shut your eyes. I have something important to tell you.¡± Liu Gan kneeled and opened his backpack.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Zhang ShengLi felt it was strange, but still he closed his eyes.

    Liu Gan pulled out something and handed it over to Yin He. Then, he whispered something into her ear.

    ¡°Brother Liu, just do it. I know you are very direct and efficient, so I won¡¯t suffer any pain.¡± Zhang ShengLi closed his eyes and epted his fate.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move. I have something very important to tell you¡­¡± Liu Gan walked over and pretended to say something. Then, he grabbed the bamboo spear and yanked it out from Zhang ShengLi¡¯s chest¡­ He only said he wanted to tell him something to distract him, so he wouldn¡¯t concentrate on the pain of a bamboo spear being pulled out from his chest.

    Zhang ShengLi screamed loudly. Liu Gan used the cloth that he had prepared and shoved it into ShengLi¡¯s mouth. Then, he unwaveringly held it against ShengLi¡¯s body. Yin He followed Liu Gan¡¯s order and cut open Zhang ShengLi¡¯s clothes. With Liu Gan¡¯s assistance, she doused Zhang ShengLi¡¯s two open wounds in the front and back with antibiotic powder. Then, they quickly prepared a needle and thread to suture the wound where the bamboo spear once was.

    Zhang ShengLi¡¯s wound kept spewing blood, and his face turned pale white. His body was saturated with sweat, and he kept trembling. However, Liu Gan held down his body and was unable to move.

    The Lee Ding sisters stood a few meters away, and they had witnessed all that was happening. The both of them could only hug each other and stare while they trembled.

    ¡°If you do that, it will kill him!¡± said one of the yers who had studied some medicine before, but Liu Gan didn¡¯t care about him.

    Yin He was able to quickly finish suturing Zhang ShengLi¡¯s wound in the front, and the wound was stitched together very tightly. It was perfect to stop the flow of blood. Then, Liu Gan flipped Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body over, and the wound in the back had less surface area than the front. Therefore, the blood that flowed out was a lot less. Yin He got to work and quickly stitched together Zhang ShengLi¡¯s back wound tightly.

    After noticing that she was able to suture the wound perfectly, Liu Gan was speechless¡­ It was definitely the handiwork of a machine. The sutured wound was as if it had been sewn by a sewing machine. Normal humans couldn¡¯t produce something so orderly and quickly.

    ¡°This won¡¯t work, right? He will bleed internally.¡± The yer who had some knowledge in medicine said, but Liu Gan continued to ignore him.

    After observing that Zhang ShengLi was calm and not shaking, Liu Gan removed the cloth that was in ShengLi¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Brother Liu, if I¡¯m like this¡­ can I be saved?¡± Zhang ShengLi wanted Liu Gan to give him a swift end, but who would¡¯ve thought that he would pull out the bamboo spear from his chest. Then he operated on him¡­ Of course, he couldn¡¯tpliment on the skills for the surgery. It was rash like the style of a veterinary surgeon.

    ¡°We aren¡¯t normal human beings anymore. So, your immune system might be able to resist infection. Your healing may also have surpassed normal people? The most important part is that your vital organs and blood vessels haven¡¯t been wounded. If your vital organs or blood vessels had been ruptured leading to internal bleeding, then you would definitely die. Since you haven¡¯t died yet, then it shouldn¡¯t be a big deal.¡± Liu Gan tried his best to console Zhang ShengLi, as he sat down beside him.

    Right now, Liu Gan treated Zhang ShengLi as if he was a horse, and he gambled on this experiment. If everything proceeded ording to Liu Gan¡¯s suspicions, then a yer¡¯s body would have had better regenerative powers after leveling up. If that were true, then, Zhang ShengLi would be able to survive and return to normal.

    If Zhang ShengLi were to survive, then his status could be monitored. It would be vital information to Liu Gan¡¯s survival. Liu Gan couldn¡¯t guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t suffer such a critical wound. However, if Zhang ShengLi were to recover, thenter on Liu Gan would have experience with handling this scenario.

    ¡°I may¡­¡± Zhang ShengLi revealed his suffering expression. Zhang ShengLi originally felt like he was deadweight to Liu Gan, but he was still able to carry the backpacks. Now, Zhang ShengLi couldn¡¯t even aplish that.

    ¡°I originally wanted to rush to Green Pao Bay, but two days have passed. Even if we leave now, we won¡¯t make it. So if we take longer, it won¡¯t matter.¡± Liu Gan shook his head and stopped Zhang ShengLi from speaking.

 Chapter 110

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Sara

    Chapter 110: Emptied out<hr>

    ¡°Brother Liu, you said you wanted to tell me something important¡­ did you really have something to tell me¡­ or did you want to¡­ distract me?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan sluggishly.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°I did have something to tell you,¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhang ShengLi started as he asked Liu Gan.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°It is¡­ previously, I had someone die right beside me, so no matter what I couldn¡¯t have you dying on my watch,¡± Liu Gan replied in a few words. If Zhang ShengLi really did die, Liu Gan will be alone again. It¡¯s as if whoever is closest to him, will die and it¡¯s just hard to ept that.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Brother Liu, Thank you.¡± Zhang ShengLi¡¯s tears started flowing out.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°There are two streets in front, is Fortune and Youth supermarket there?¡± Liu Gan stood up and asked the few male yers around him. Today, he didn¡¯t want to wander around; it would be best to find a ce to settle down.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Yes, Fortune and Youth supermarket was our stronghold, but those local survivors wanted to take it from us. They ambushed and killed one of our people. We have been fighting with them since,¡± replied one of the male yers, his name was Han GuangMing. In the real world, he was studying in a police school.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan frowned. His original n of taking over Fortune and Youth supermarket was foiled; he couldn¡¯t do so now.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°My surname is Han, what is your name?¡± Han GuangMing introduced himself.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Surname Liu,¡± Liu Gan replied.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Brother Liu, you want to go and check out the supermarket? If the people on the roof had really been killed by this youngdy, then we could move to get a closer look. As well as bring yourpanion into our stronghold to recuperate,¡± Han GuangMing invited Liu Gan. He knew that Liu Gan and Yin He were very capable, and they wouldn¡¯t leave behind their woundedpanion, so he had favorable opinion of them; they were worth forming friendships with.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Then let us proceed.¡± Liu Gan held onto the idea of robbing the ce, and decided to check it out. Since they have wasted so much time to get here, returning empty-handed would cause internal disputes.

    <h5></h5>

    Before leaving, Liu Gan trudged over to one of the buildings and took apart the door. Then, he started modifying the door through brute force. He was able to make a stretcher from it.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°No need for such trouble, I can try to walk myself.¡± Zhang ShengLi tried to stand up, but it was too painful and only resulted in a scream of pain. In the end, he ended up on the stretcher.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°You guys can help carry him,¡± Han GuangMing said to the three other yers around him.

    <h5></h5>

    The three yers were slightly reluctant, but since Han GuangMing was their squad leader they could only obey and picked up the stretcher.

    Yin He walked over to pick up the tworge backpacks that were left behind by Zhang ShengLi. Then quickly, she caught up to Liu Gan¡¯s footsteps. Before Zhang ShengLi had the honor of being the mule, now that Zhang ShengLi was injured, the role naturally fell onto her shoulders.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°You can go protect the stretcher¡¯s safety,¡± Liu Gan instructed after thinking about it. Yin He nodded and walked to the back, following the three yers carrying the stretcher.

    <h5></h5>

    The three yers carrying the stretcher seemed like college students, they¡¯d witnessed how powerful Yin He was. They got nervous now that Yin He was behind them, so they swiftly carried the stretcher and followed Han GuangMing and Liu Gan.

    <h5></h5>

    The Lee Ding sisters followed behind everyone else. They were very carefully scanning the surroundings. Yin He had killed the ambushers on the rooftop, so the street was considerably safe. What remained were the sounds of zombies that came from an unknown direction.

    <h5></h5>

    Han GuangMing was level 3, so he was very interested in killing the scattered zombies. Once the zombiese rushing over, Han GuangMing would prepare his formation to assassinate them for experience. Since Han GuangMing didn¡¯t ask for help, Liu Gan didn¡¯t bother to offer. Only when zombies appeared in numbers he wasn¡¯t able to handle, would Liu Gan step in and heavily wound it; Han GuangMing would thus dispose of the already severely injured zombies for experience.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Brother Liu, you are too kind,¡± Han GuangMing thanked Liu Gan for saving his life.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal,¡± Liu Gan replied humbly.

    <h5></h5>

    After crossing a few streets, arge pharmacy appeared at the corner of the street. Lee DingXiang¡¯s eyes brightened; it might contain the medicine that she had been searching for! Liu Gan proceeded towards the pharmacy too.

    <h5>

    </h5>

    ¡°Brother Liu, you don¡¯t need to go to the pharmacy, every single medicine had already been emptied out by us or the local survivors. Whatever¡¯s left were medicines for treating rare diseases. If you want to help yourpanion, you can try our supermarket. We will help in providing you the medicine you need,¡± Han GuangMing offered Liu Gan.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan nodded, and ceased his advancement towards the pharmacy. He wants to get some medicine for Zhang ShengLi. However, with so many yers and local survivors, this pharmacy must have been looted many times.

    <h5></h5>

    Lee DingXiang heard Han GuangMing said that, yet she still wants to go to the pharmacy at the street corner. The medicine that her sister needed was very special, yet rare. So for people without this particr disease, they normally won¡¯t even grab it. So there¡¯s still high chance of it still being there.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Old man!¡± Lee DingXiang rushed up and shouted for Liu Gan.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liu Gan stopped and looked at Lee DingXiang.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°We took you to the Fortune and Youth supermarket, I think¡­ I want to go with my sister to stroll around.¡± Lee DingXiang said to Liu Gan.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°You don¡¯t want toe with us to the supermarket?¡± Liu Gan curiously asked Lee DingXiang.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Yes¡­ Temporarily not yet.¡± Lee DingXiang wanted to rush to find the medicine that her sister needed.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Okay, once you are done with your task,e find us at the supermarket. I will leave some food behind for you,¡± Liu Gan replied to Lee DingXiang.

    <h5></h5>

    ¡°Okay! Thank you old man!¡± Lee DingXiang smiled at Liu Gan sweetly, before dragging her sister over to the street corner to search the pharmacy.

    <h5></h5>

    Liu Gan shooked his head, he didn¡¯t quite understand what Lee DingXiang wanted to do. Since Lee DingXiang wouldn¡¯t say it, he wouldn¡¯t ask. Liu Gan continued towards the direction Han GuangMing pointed to. Right now, it was of utmost urgency to give Zhang ShengLi proper medical care. It would be best if they could find some pain-killers.

    <h5></h5>

    After a few minutes, Han GuangMing led Liu Gan through arge street near Fortune and Youth supermarket. From afar, the supermarket seemed to be constructing a few small scale modifications. While others were working, there were a few that had watch guard duty; it seemed like the ce was definitely upied and there were quite a few people too.

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111: Meat<hr>

    Seeing that Han GuangMing had brought a few strangers over, three males stepped out from the nearby building to block Liu Gan and Han GuangMing from proceeding any further.

    ¡°Brother Wang, they are also yers. We fought together and they were the ones who killed the local survivors that had ambushed us.¡± Han GuangMing reported to the head supervisor.

    ¡°Oh? Good good! How are you? Thank you for helping us,¡± thanked Wang, who stepped forward without a weapon in hand. He took the opportunity to introduce himself to Liu Gan and smiled; his manner was quite modest.

    ¡°I''m good,¡± Liu Gan replied politely, since the other person seemed friendly. Internally, he was in turmoil. He wanted to take over the store, but who would''ve thought that these people were so friendly. Now it would be hard to justify those actions.

    ¡°You want to take him into the supermarket?¡± The male yer named Wang whispered gently to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Yes, he wants to take a look. His moves are quite good. I want to bring them into our group,¡± Han GuangMing whispered into the Wang''s ear.

    ¡°Hey little brother, do you know who the main character of Resident Evil: Revtions 2 is?¡± Wang asked Liu Gan suddenly, after he heard Han GuangMing¡¯s response.

    [TL: they aren''t ¡®brothers¡¯ it''s a kind of term you call someone out of respect. ]

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Liu Gan raising his eyebrow. This person¡¯s question was too peculiar and weird.

    ¡°Brother Liu, don''t get angry. We are fighting with the local survivors, I only asked to confirm your identity. As a mere formality, it is also a requirement set by our Camp Boss, Tiger Lord. This is to prevent local survivors from mixing into our camp.¡± The male yer politely exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Brother Wong, there''s really no need¡­¡± Han GuangMing replied instead.

    The male yer was embarrassed, in the real world, he was a certainpany''s team leader in charge of security. He always went by the book; so long as the rule had been dered, it will be followed and upheld undoubtedly. Therefore, to others, he might seem inflexible.

    ¡°Resident Evil: Revtions 2 main characters are ire, Moira, Barry and Natalia,¡± Liu Gan answered after thinking for awhile. Liu Gan also knew that yer Wang didn¡¯t mean any harm.

    ¡°Who is the main character in Resident evil 7?¡± yer Wang asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Prior to entering [The Trembling World], Resident Evil 7 haven¡¯te out yet. Thetest release was only up to 6. To examine if they are a yer or a survivor isn''t thatplicated. Every yer has an alloy wrist watch.¡± Liu Gan stared at the yer Wang. It''s weird no matter how you look at it that he asked such weird questions.

    ¡°You definitely are from the same world as us! In this world, they don''t have the Resident Evil games so even if the questioned was asked, the local survivors wouldn''t be able to answer. Sorry¡­ you see, yesterday, the local survivors tried to imitate the alloy wrist watch and mix with us. We dealt with them in no time, however, they were able to injure one of our members and had also stolen resources from us. So our Camp Boss wanted us to be strict with confirming every yer''s identity.¡± The male yer was blushing from embarrassment as he exined to Liu Gan in detail.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand now,¡± Liu Gan replied indifferently.

    ¡°Brother, nice to meet you. My surname is Wang, my name is Wang DeCheng, what is your surname?¡± yer Wang politely asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°My surname is Liu, full name Liu Gan.¡± Liu Gan was very open about it, as there isn¡¯t anything to hide.

    ¡°Hello, Brother Liu, at Fortune and Youth supermarket, there is an established camp. I am the Team Leader of my small squad that guards this camp. Han GuangMing is the Vice-Team Leader, we are currently recruiting people. Do you have any interest in joining us?¡± Wang DeCheng brazenly asked Liu Gan, hoping to take him in.

    ¡°No, thank you.¡± Liu Gan politely rejected Wang DeChang¡¯s invite. Reason was that Liu Gan wascking in the personnel department. He wanted to recruit more people for his cause of taking over the aircraft, but since this camp already had a Boss. He wasn¡¯t interested in following others for survival.

    Unless¡­ Unless Liu Gan kills their boss, then recruits these people under hismand. The only way he can take action is if the boss isn¡¯t passionate and friendly like these two.

    Upon hearing Liu Gan¡¯s reply, Wang DeChang and Han GuangMing both revealed disappointment. Within the camp, they were only a small group, so their boss had ordered them to recruit as many yers as possible.

    ¡°Your currentpanion is heavily injured, why not temporarily stay in our campgrounds, the decision to join could be finalizedter,¡± Han GuangMing offered after looking at Zhang ShengLi on the stretcher.

    ¡°Okay, but if I still decide not to join then please don¡¯t take offense to that,¡± Liu Gan agreed to Han GuangMing¡¯s offer.

    ¡°No problem, we are both yers that had entered the game. Just between us yers, no matter if you join or not, we will still be brothers. So what do you have in mind, like where are you thinking of heading to?¡± Wang DeCheng felt dejected that he had been rejected, but he wasn¡¯t angry.

    Even though Wang DeCheng¡¯s attitude had been quite friendly, the same couldn¡¯t be said for the two other male yers that were in his team. While Wang DeChang and Liu Gan were exchanging words, they kept eyeing Yin He, who stood right next to Liu Gan.

    Firstly, Yin He had a beautiful, smooth and silky face, with an attractive body¡­ Secondly, although she was a beautiful woman, she carried arge backpack on her back while also holding onto another. To outsiders it would seem as if Liu Gan didn¡¯t have the protective feelings for the other sex since Liu Gan stood empty-handed.

    If they were like the other yers from before, who had witnessed Yin He¡¯s abilities, then they definitely knew she was a force to be reckoned with; in fact they would be avoiding her.

    ¡°I originally wanted toe to Fortune and Youth supermarket to find something to eat, but since it is being upied by your group, then once mypanion has healed, we will try our luck elsewhere,¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng.

    Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were too polite, so now Liu Gan¡¯s original n to rob the supermarket had been foiled before it even started. Wang DeCheng¡¯s two other male yers were still sizing up Yin He, but they weren¡¯t at the point of taking action. That made Liu Gan feel gloomy because he couldn¡¯t find a reason to steal from them.

    ¡°Brother, if you join us, you can take whatever you want from the camp; if you aren¡¯t willing to join us, you can also enter our camp to shop around and exchange materials. You should temporarily stay here, since we yers are very nice and open-minded.¡± Wang DeCheng continued to talk with Liu Gan.

    ¡°Supply exchanges? Like bartering? That would work for me.¡± Liu Gan was excited from the news. Since robbing from them won¡¯t work, exchanging supplies work too.

    He had some medicine, biscuits, instant noodles, as well as arge bag of water caltrops. Since this was a supermarket, the variety of food must be abundant. So if possible, he preferred to get some bags or canned meat.

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112: Tiger Lord<hr>

    [TL: his name is so boss.]

    ¡°Come follow me.¡± Wang DeCheng gestured a hand motion toe, and started leading the way. He says he is taking Liu Gan to the ce for a supply exchange, but in reality, he wants Liu Gan to stay longer so he warms up to them and join his group.

    Even though the number of yers that entered the game far exceeds a hundred thousand yers, but the area of spawning is too wide. So there were high death ratios, to establish the camp is as hard as it is to recruit enough people.

    Liu Gan¡¯s impression of Han GuangMing and Wang DeCheng is quite good, it is too bad that they are already following another Boss. Otherwise, Liu Gan would really want to obtain them for himself, since he really needs useful yers too. It might still be possible¡­ if this camp¡¯s Boss is the evil type, then Liu Gan will help take out the evil-doer for everyone''s sake and sessfully take over this group.

    Nothing can be done now though, he can only wait for them to make their move first.

    Liu Gan told Yin Ge briefly, and then they followed Wang DeCheng closer toward Fortune and Youth supermarket. The two male yers that were with Wang DeCheng¡¯s group walked up close to Yin He¡¯s side. They wanted to win her heart by helping her out with the bags, but Yin He only coldly red at them and moved further away.

    Does this female like the abuse? The two yers must have thought. If they had a beautiful female like that, they would just pamper her, they wouldn''t let her do the heavy duty work. So this was quite puzzling to them.

    After they entered Fortune and Youth supermarket, inside were shelves with rocks holding down ironceds for inneryer fortifications, so every aisle was blocked off.

    Seeing that Wang DeCheng was bringing Liu Gan over, the few guards along with the two male yers from Wang DeCheng¡¯s team worked together to push apart a hidden, but not quite heavy shelf. The angle they pushed open at allowed them enough room to walk in.

    Every section within the supermarket had beenpletely redesigned. Using the shelves as dividers, it was sectioned off into a few zones. ording to Wang DeCheng¡¯s introduction, there was entertainment zone, daily activity zone, storage zone, and a medical bay. Everything that wasn''t necessary such as electronics were all ced into the shelves that separated the zones.

    The medical bay was very simple in terms of treatment, and it was to the entrance of the supermarket¡¯s right side. Using more shelves as dividers for a treatment area and bedroom area. Outside of the treatment area were guarded by a few yers and inside were severalrge locked cabs. The bedroom area had several beds. Han GuangMing ordered the three yers carrying the stretcher to ce Zhang''s ShengLi down and roll him onto it.

    The yer responsible for the medical bay was introduced to them as a medical student in medical school by Han GuangMing. He walked over to inquire upon the condition and checked the suture wounds. Then, he proceeded to use an iodine-like solution on the wound and started wiping it up. Afterwards, he got two more pills of antibiotic for Zhang ShengLi to take.

    Zhang ShengLiying on the bed was in agonizing pain and his facial expression only showed how miserable it was.

    ¡°Do you have pain-killer?¡± Liu Gan asked the yer.

    ¡°Pain-killers are limited resources, without Tiger Lord¡¯s approval it can''t be used.¡± The medical-student yer shook his head.

    ¡°Show me some respect! This person helped us a lot and saved several lives, it was only because he tried to save us that led to him getting injured.¡± Han GuangMing pulled aside the medical-student yer and asked him.

    ¡°Okay, I can only give you one pill. If Tiger Lordes back to find it missing, you can exin to him.¡± Said the medical-student yer. It seems like the medical-student yer and Han GuangMing are rather familiar with each other. After a few words of exchange he was willing to give the pill. He opened up the cab and took out the pill to give to Zhang ShengLi.

    Zhang ShengLi swallowed the pain-killer and the pain dissipated to the point where he seemed to be asleep when he closed his eyes. Liu Gan didn''t bother him and the whole group of people left the medical bay. This is all he can do for Zhang ShengLi, now ites down to his regenerative ability and willpower.

    ¡°We will need to continue our duty of patrol. Brother Liu, you can continue chatting with Brother Wang. Brother Wang is a good person.¡± Han GuangMing said as he departed from the medical bay.

    ¡°Ah, okay you can do your stuff. Don''t worry about me.¡± Liu Gan said as he nodded to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Brother Liu, if you do decide to leave, you must wait for me to return from my patrol. I have to treat you to a drink!¡± Han GuangMing stretched out his hand.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Liu Gan shook Han GuangMing. Liu Gan smiled and deep down, he felt warmth.

    ...

    ¡°Brother Liu, it''s hard to survive alone in this world. There''s power in numbers, so we should group up then everyone can have food to eat, and protect each other when another is hurt. Only this way is it possible to survive, otherwise, if everyone does their own thing then it would be easy to fall victim to the local survivors.¡± Said Wang DeCheng after Han GuangMing had left.

    ¡°Local survivors are killing payers?¡± Liu Gan questioned as he felt as though there was more to it.

    ¡°Yes! Brother if you continue your path forward on this road, then you will arrive at arge hospital. There the local survivors established a camp. They wouldn''t let us close enough to use the hospital equipments and medicine, and yesterday night they ambushed us at our camp and killed three of our yers¡­¡± Wang DeCheng said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Oh? Howrge is the yer¡¯s camp? And how many at the hospital are with the local survivors?¡± Liu Gan asked Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°We have gathered 40 people inside, there''s several small patrols out right now to protect the supermarket. The hospital side has around several hundred local survivors. Right now we have the strategic advantage since arge majority of the people haven''t eaten yet. So there''s a high chance that they will attack us again soon.¡± Wang DeCheng said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°When you transferred into the game, you had 40 people together?¡± Liu Gan continued his questions. Liu Gan knows that his initial starting point was NinJing City''s outskirts. Even though NinJing city is fairlyrge, the street that Fortune and Youth supermarket was on wasn''t even considered the heart of the city.

    ¡°No, when we transferred into here, there were at least 300 yers. However, arge portion of the yers were separated by the zombies. Finally our leader, Tiger Lord, with overwhelming courage lead us to group together. We were able to gather these 40 yers.¡± Wang DeCheng said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Hearing about your boss, makes him seem very powerful.¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Yes! Tiger Lord is the leader of 40+ people. He has already reached level 5, so he awakened a new ability! Do you know what happens to yers who reach level 5, and the concept behind it?¡± Wang DeCheng was very excited as he asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°No I don''t, I thought that level 4 was already very exhausting. There''s someone who reached level 5? What ability did your boss awaken?¡± Liu Gan lied about his true abilities to learn more about the boss.

 Chapter 113

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Amaranth

    Chapter 113: Killing for their property<hr>

    ¡°What abilities boss has awoken, I''m not too sure about. Brother, you are level 4? Ah¡­ and I wanted to recruit you to my team! If you are level 4, you can directly join Tiger Lord¡¯s elite team! Currently the elite team has 5 yers. Tiger Lord has been working very hard to recruit more people to his elite team. If you are willing to join us, then you will be ying a big role. Almost all of the resource in this camp will be avable for you to use.¡± Wang DeCheng got even more excited and had even more respect for Liu Gan. Since Wang DeCheng himself was only level 3, his position was that of a small team leader, so he doesn''t even have a chance to join the elite team.

    Hearing that Liu Gan was level 4, the two other yers that were with Wang DeCheng stopped gawking at Yin He and immediately became more restrained. They couldn''t dare to be that rude anymore.

    ¡°Is entering level 4, that hard? Wouldn''t just killing more zombies work? Since they started with 300 yers and now only 40 remain, so to survive you must have killed a lot of zombies. Thinking about it shouldn¡¯t you be quite strong by now?¡± Liu Gan kept asking Wang DeCheng more questions.

    Simr to Zhang ShengLi and Hu Rong, they both were stuck at level 3. The moment they followed him, in a day they reached level 4.

    ¡°It''s not easy to get to level 4. Your innate ability is very important, even if you kill more zombies it will be useless. Originally, Tiger Lord had a dozen level 4 yers, but yesterday afternoon a variant zombie ran nearby! After a violent battle, most of the level 4 yers were heavily injured and even half of them were killed. Only Tiger Lord was powerful enough to kill the variant zombie and reach level 5.¡± Wang DeCheng said regretfully.

    ¡°Level 4 to level 5 is the most significant gate. Even killing more normal zombies would be useless, one must be like Tiger Lord. Killing at least one variant zombie would work.¡± Added one of the yers who was gawking at Yin He before; the yer while revealing an envious expression as he talked.

    ¡°A variant zombie ah?¡± I haven''t seen one yet.. Too bad.¡± Liu Gan continued his facade.

    ¡°That is because you are lucky. If you had encountered one, you would''ve died.¡± Wang DeCheng replied quickly to Liu Gan. When the dozen of level 4 yers surrounded the variant zombie, Wang DeCheng was watching from afar on a buildings to0p, so the desperate battle was still fresh in his memory.

    ¡°Yes! The variant zombie requires a lot of yers to charge forward and waste arge quantity of hand grenades and molotov cocktails. Only the luckiest one has a chance to kill a variant zombie and reach level 5.¡± said the other yer who was alongside Wang DeCheng in a sorrow tone.

    ¡°But you manage to reach level 4 alone, that alone shows that you have a high innate ability.¡± Wang DeCheng said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Liu Gan smiled. Previously, when he was ying solo, he had no perception of level differences and it wasn¡¯t apparent. Now that he was grouped up with Wang DeCheng and the other yers, it was clear that even a difference of 1 level in strength was enough to maintain his dominance amongst the group. Wang DeCheng had reached level 3, the two yers that followed him reached level 2. When they look at Liu Gan, they could only revere and envy him.

    As Wang DeCheng was talking with Liu Gan, they headed toward the zone where food was kept.

    As they passed a shelf, Liu Gan heard of a crying of a female voice from within, there was also another strange sound. Then, he could hear a male voice loudly scolding the female. The female voice kept begging the male to not do something.

    ¡°Oh, inside here is where interrogate all local survivors we catch. There is an interrogation going on at the moment .¡± Wang DeCheng exined to Liu Gan and hurried him towards another direction.

    Liu Gan gave Wang DeCheng a re, but didn¡¯t ask much. However, Liu Gan remembered that Wang DeCheng introduced this area as an entertainment zone, and not the ¡®interrogation¡¯ room.

    Wang DeCheng lead Liu Gan and Yin He around many corners and turns before they reached storage area of the supermarket. Inside there were 3 males and 1 female ying poker¡­ One of those males ying poker was embracing a female in his arms, in addition there were also two other males, who were chatting. This should be the camp¡¯s rather/most important area, that was reliant on heavy guarding.

    [TL: There¡¯s a total of 6 people in that room, before Liu Gan entered. 5 males, 1 female.]

    The female¡¯s clothes were rather short, her wrist doesn¡¯t have a wrist watch, seems like she is a local survivor.

    Inside there wererge stacks of various foods and the amount of food was definitely abundant. Liu Gan casually walked in and saw arge bag of rice, flour, noodles, mung beans, yellow beans, powdered milk, canned goods, vacuum packaged meat, it was definitely enough to supply these 40+ people for half a month.

    It couldn¡¯t be said that these people were lucky or not. After starting nearby the supermarket, but yet close enough to the city center. From 300 yers they were down to 40 yers, one could only imagine how violent the battles were when they transferred in.

    ¡°Brother Li! How are you!¡± Wang DeCheng walked over to respectfully greet the tall and sturdy male, who was embracing the female.

    The tall and sturdy male yer was called Li ChangHui, he looked up to see Wang DeCheng, then at Liu Gan. Lastly, he set his eyes upon Yin He¡¯s face. He discovered that Yin He¡¯s cheeks was smooth and she was very pretty, her body was perfect. Li ChangHui immediately lost interest in the female he was embracing.

    ¡°This ce has too many people, do want to kill them all?¡± Yin He saw Liu Gan¡¯s expression changed subtly and immediately she was aware of it, and whispered in his ears.

    ¡°Not yet, temporarily maintain friendliness and smile. If I need to kill them, I will let you know.¡± Liu Gan lightly whispered back to Yin He. His original n was to kill these people and steal the goods, but Han GuangMing and Wang DeCheng were very courteous. He couldn¡¯t massacre this whole camp just for the food.

    Unless there was someone who didn¡¯t know any better, and picks a fight with him.

    If this person in front of him, Li ChangHui would do something stupid. Liu Gan was betting on his stupidity to pick a fight, which was more than enough of a reason for Liu Gan to kill that person and take the goods.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Yin He immediately changed her facial expression to an indifferent smiling expression. With her beautiful cheeks and charming smile, the lecherous Li ChangHui had his heart melted and had the intention of iming this girl as his own.

    ¡°Little Wang, what do you need me for?¡± Li ChangHui asked, while thinking of a way to execute his n. Wang DeCheng¡¯s age was obviously older than Li ChangHui, but Li ChangHui purposely referred Wang as ¡®Little Wang¡¯ as a way of demeanoring him. Because Li¡¯s status was above Wang¡¯s status.

    ¡°Reporting Brother Li, I found a level 4 yer, but he doesn¡¯t seem to be willing to join our camp. He only wants toe in and exchange goods with us. I brought him here with me.¡± Wang DeCheng respectfully reported to Li ChangHui.

    ¡°Level 4? Would you care to take out your wristwatch and show us all?¡± Li ChangHui disdainfully looked at Liu gan. They had 300 yers, now that had 40+ yers were alive. There was only a handful of yers who were reached high levels, the level 5 Tiger Lord and several level 4 yers. So with a sudden appearance of a casual yer who entered their camp and dered himself as level 4? It was too suspicious.

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114: Bullying Intolerably<hr>

    Li ChangHui is a member of the elite team. Of the whole camp there are only 4 other yers in that elite team. In the real world, he worked in a famous city as a manager of dayborers. He has a bad temper, so other yers are quite afraid of him. They are all afraid that he will rage at them and it will lead to them getting beaten up.

    Previously in the real world, government officials one level higher would pressure you. Here yers one level higher do the pressuring. Just like Li ChangHui¡¯s previous upation with governing peddlers, now as a member of the elite team every yer level 2 and 3 will have to be honest in front of him.

    ¡°I only came here to exchange materials, not to stir up trouble. So as to what level I am, isn¡¯t really important. If you feel like I¡¯m not level 4, then pretend I¡¯m level 3.¡± Liu Gan indifferently replied to Li ChangHui.

    ¡°Speaking straightforwardly!¡± said Li ChangHui. Li ChangHui clearly had obvious signs of his violent tendencies with his contradicting words, and this is exactly how Liu Gan wanted it to y out.

    ¡°This Brother just arrived, so he doesn¡¯t know how to pay attention to his tone. He actually is a nice person. On the outside, he rescued ¡®little Han¡¯ in my squad, so please Brother Li, just excuse his manners.¡± Wang DeCheng trying his best to diffuse the situation.

    ¡°Okay, you want to exchange supplies? What do you have? Take it out for us to look at.¡± Li ChangHui with a long face asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I have instant noodles, biscuits, mineral spring water, antibiotic medicine, band-aid, and water caltrops.¡± Liu Gan replied.

    ¡°What do you want to exchange?¡± Li ChangHui asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°For one bag of brine chicken.¡± Liu Gan pointed behind Li ChangHui¡¯s to a shelf that had two bags of brine chicken.

    ¡°He wants brine chicken?¡± the two yers, standing next to Li ChangHui, sneered out loud as they ridicule Liu Gan. Brine Chicken is a high level food, even within the camp. It is only supplied to the elite team members as well as yers that have obtainedmendable merits. Liu Gan was just an outsider, and wants to trade with Li ChangHui. Isn¡¯t Liu Gan asking for trouble?

    ¡°Instant noodles and biscuits we don¡¯t want. You can show me your spring water, antibiotic medicine, band-aid, and water caltrop and maybe we will trade those.¡± Li ChangHui pointed out as he rolled his eyes while scheming something.

    Liu Gan opened his backpack and pulled out one bottle of antibiotic powder, and ced it in front of Li ChangHui¡¯s desk. This bottle was from the five scumbags from before. He used one bottle on Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body earlier though, so now all that remains is this one bottle.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Li ChangHui stared at Liu Gan.

    ¡°One bottle of medicine for one chicken.¡± Liu Gan replied Li ChangHui.

    [TL: LOL LG GOT BALLS OF STEEL]

    ¡°So this bottle? You are joking right? There¡¯s too little. No exchange.¡± Li ChangHui waved his hands in front of Liu Gan.

    ¡°Medicine in the apocalyptic world is a high demand resource, This bottle of medicine is enough to exchange two brine chicken. I only want one so why not?¡± Liu Gan replied to Li ChangHui.

    ¡°One bottle of antibiotic medicine and you want to exchange for two brine chicken? Do you know how many of those medicines we have? Nearby we have severalrge pharmacies! Boy!¡± Li ChangHui couldn¡¯t help but smirk as he looked at his nearby other male yers, and the two nearby yers cracked upughing, all of them ridiculing Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then okay, I¡¯ll throw in these water caltrops okay?¡± Liu Gan pulled out a small bag of water caltrops out and ced it onto the table in front of Li ChangHui.

    Li ChangHui opened up the stic bag and started eating the water caltrops. He also shared with the people around him. When he was done eating, they finished off half the bag, but they never once mentioned about trading.

    ¡°Now can you give me the brine chicken?¡± Liu Gan asked Li ChangHui.

    ¡°HE WANTS BRINE CHICKEN! Haha. He really wants that brine chicken!¡± Li ChangHui said as he took another bite out of the water caltrops. Li ChangHui sneered at Liu Gan the whole time, meanwhile all the others around him also joined in on the taunt.

    ¡°This brine chicken belongs to the supermarket, it doesn¡¯t belong to you so anyone can get food. Even though, you came first, I won¡¯t object to that. I proposed to use 1 bottle of antibiotic and 1 bag of water caltrops to trade only 1 brine chicken. That already is very beneficial to you, but your took this horrible attitude in this sort of matter. It is intolerable bullying!¡± Liu Gan looked at Wang DeCheng initially, then at Li ChangHui with an additional emphasis in his tone.

    Wang DeCheng was also quite mad at Li ChangHui¡¯s way of handling the situation. Even if Li ChangHui didn¡¯t want to exchange food with Liu Gan, he didn¡¯t need to humiliate the other party. To tell the truth, if they didn¡¯t want to trade the brine chicken then say so. Liu Gan was brought here by Wang DeCheng. With Li ChangHui disrespecting Liu Gan like that, it was as if he was also disrespecting Wang DeCheng. It was only due to the fact that Li ChangHui¡¯s position within the camp was higher than his that Wang DeCheng was unable to speak up for fear of getting punished.

    ¡°You feel like that I¡¯m bullying you intolerably? Okay okay okay! If you want the brine chicken, then leave all your luggage behind, then you and your girl can leave!¡± Li ChangHui picked up a bag of empty chicken bones from beneath the table and threw in front of Liu Gan.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? Want to pick a fight?¡± Liu Gan looked the bag of chicken bones on the floor in front of him, then looked at Wang DeCheng. Liu Gan¡¯s facial expression changed.

    The meaning behind this was clear, previously he was respectful to Wang DeCheng so he didn¡¯t take action to rob the storage. He only had the intention of exchanging supplies. However, this Li ChangHui¡¯s attitude was very vile. From the manner in which he bullies people, it is hard to be forgiving and not take action.

    Wang DeCheng released a sigh. He no longer knew how to diffuse this situation.

    ¡°What if, I am picking a fight? Are you dissatisfied?¡± Li ChangHui said in a demeaning manner to Liu Gan. Li ChangHui smacked the table and the female along with the four other males also stood up. All the males charged forward to Liu Gan.

    The female local survivor noticed the change in atmosphere and rush aside to hide so she wouldn¡¯t fall victim to an ident.

    ¡°Both of you Elders¡­ Please let¡¯s talk it out¡­ Let¡¯s not fight¡­ Just put the me on me¡­¡± Wang DeCheng was very embarrassed and rushed in between Li ChangHui and Liu Gan.

    ¡°Move aside!¡± Li ChangHui shoved Wang DeCheng aside. His arm strength was quite powerful. It was enough to throw Wang DeCheng onto the floor.

    Li ChangHui already decided to beat up Liu Gan in a fury of punches. Then, take his backpack and the pretty girl. The pretty girl will be presented to Tiger Lord for a reward or perhaps, he can leave her by his side so he could enjoy her. This Wang DeCheng dared to block his path?

    ¡°You went as far as to hit my Brother Wang?¡± Liu Gan lifted up Wang DeCheng off the ground. As righteousness and indignation empowered his actions, his inner feelings were quite happy with this oue¡­ Li ChangHui¡¯s short temper was very suitable for his ns. Right now with this situation, Liu Gan could justify his actions of killing the yers and taking the goods, and even win the heart of Wang DeCheng over.

    ¡°Brother Liu, forget it¡­ A wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him. Let us leave. When we get back, I will tell Tiger Lord of the situation.¡± Wang DeCheng whispered to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115: Busted<hr>

    Even though Liu Gan looked like a fighter, and a self-proimed level 4, but he was no match in numbers against Li ChangHui¡¯s side. A powerful dragon couldn¡¯t crush a snake in it¡¯s hole!

    ¡°You are my brother, he attacked you. How can I just let this go? If anyone else knew that my brothers can be picked on while I stood and did nothing, then how can I live?¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng. Then, Liu Gan walked in front of Li ChangHui.

    ¡°I will count to three. If you didn¡¯t leave your bag and the girl, then don¡¯t me me for my actions!¡± Li ChangHui shouted at Liu Gan. Now it was clear, that he wanted to take Liu Gan¡¯s girl too.

    Yin He didn¡¯t receive an order to kill, so she stood aside watching everything that was happening. asionally, you could catch a glimpse of her smile,her smile was so alluring that one would die to see it.

    The other yers within the camp discovered that Li ChangHui was in a staredown against a stranger, so they rushed over and soon they surrounded them. Some people were smiling mockingly at Liu Gan while others revealed pitiful or sympathizing expressions.

    Li ChangHui had the worst temper in the elite group. Today, this stranger dared insult him, it was evident that the stranger would have a bad end.

    ¡°One, Two¡­¡± Li ChangHui stood right in front of Liu Gan. Arrogantly, he started to count down. This was his territory, so if Liu Gan dared to fight, then he was looking to die.

    Before Li ChangHui could reach ¡®three¡¯. The surrounding 10+ yers all heard a loud ¡®pa¡¯ noise followed by an echo, then in front of them Li ChangHui¡¯s body flew to out of the circle.

    Liu Gan¡¯s didn¡¯t even use his full strength, and half of Li ChangHui¡¯s teeth were broken while his cheeks swelled up.

    Li ChangHui was crawling up from the ground, he covered half the side of his face that was aching . He was shocked, he never thought that Liu Gan would dare to smack him in front of all the other yers. Even though it was just a smack, howe it was so heavy?

    The surrounding yers were also stunned, this was their camp! Li ChangHui was part of the elite team and Tiger Lord¡¯s right hand man! This stranger dared to attack Li ChangHui? Did the stranger want to live?

    ¡°You dare toe here to stir up trouble, I will hack you to death!¡± Li ChangHui suddenly shouted angrily. While he was cursing, he picked up his chopper which was on next to the wall and charged at Liu Gan.

    In front of all these other yers after getting smacked by this stranger. If he didn''t get some face back, by hacking Liu Gan to death, then how else could he, Li ChangHui, survive in this camp?

    The surrounding yers also cried out in fear, deep down they all knew that this stranger honestly didn¡¯t know the way things worked in the camp. Not only did the stranger lost his chance to walk away, but he smacked Li ChangHui on the face in public. Since Li ChangHui waspletely infuriated, judging from his temper, he would definitely kill the stranger.

    The next moment, stunned the surrounding yers once again¡­

    Li ChangHui, and he swung his chopper downward while Liu Gan was standing in the spot and didn¡¯t move, so Li ChangHui thought that he was going to hit Liu Gan. Li ChangHui thought that he could redeem the respect that he lost in public by killing Liu Gan. However, right before the choppernded, Liu Gan¡¯s body suddenly sidestepped the attack. The next thing he saw was Liu Gan kicking his waist.

    Li ChangHui would never have expected that Liu Gan, who looked so normal had an ample strength behind that kick. The moment the kicknded on his body, Li ChangHui felt as if his body had been hit by an iron hammer. Even the half-eaten brine chicken, he had eaten moments ago, oozed out from within his ruptured stomach. In addition, several of the lumbar vertebrae bones located at the lower back were shattered time. His whole body flew off like a kite that was detached from its string, he was sent flying a dozen meters away andnded on the wall, then he gradually pulled himself up so that he could sit on the floor.

    He tried to to stand up, but he was extremely shocked since he couldn¡¯t feel his legs.

    Even though Liu Gan didn¡¯t use his full strength, the reason why Li ChangHui¡¯s legs lost nerve sensation was because Liu Gan was a level 5 yer with alloy metal limbs. It was just too easy, with nopetition when fighting up against a level 4 yer it was as if an adult beating up a kindergartener.

    Even if Li ChangHui wasn¡¯t alone, even with 10 or 20 yers who was as strong as him wouldn¡¯t be a match for Liu Gan!

    ¡°He is a spy who was sent by the local survivors! All of you go up and attack him!¡± Li ChangHui couldn¡¯t stand up, he was scared and felt cornered so he shouted at the nearby yers. Because half of his face was swollen and some of his teeth broken,the sound he made was very unclear.

    ¡°You dare to attack? I will disable whoever dares toe. Come in pairs and I will kill you both!¡± Liu Gan stretched out his bones and muscles so his whole body was cracking with his the joints creating popping sounds. His face showed a sinister expression the whole time.

    [TL: I crack my body like that too!]

    This all started because he got tired of eating biscuits and instant noodles, so he had to endure countless trips to reach here to find meat to change the taste in his tastebuds. Since Fortune and Youth supermarket was upied by these yers, he gave up on the idea of robbing the ce, and settled for a supply exchange, but no one would¡¯ve thought that this would be the result. Now he didn¡¯t want to be courteous any more.

    (EN: Only readers would have thought that xD)

    Other yers were terrified of Li ChangHui, so when they hear hismand, they had to obey. However the moment, they noticed Liu Gan was even more powerful than Li ChangHui especially after witnessing that kick. Even level 4, Li ChangHui wasn¡¯t Liu Gan¡¯s opponent. Since these people were level 2 and 3 yers, they definitely didn¡¯t have a chance. After Liu Gan shout, all ten yers who were in a circle,backed up and nobody dared to rush forward to die.

    This included the close yers that were near Li ChangHui. At this point, they all slipped away, leaving behind a cloud of dust behind them as they ran out, heading towards their boss Tiger Lord to report this situation.

    Within the supermarket, another dozen of yers came over since they heard disturbances. They soon gathered around, and in a moment¡¯s notice they surrounded Liu Gan with nearly 20 yers.

    Wang DeCheng was suspiciously looking at Liu Gan but he didn¡¯t say anything. Originally, he thought that Liu Gan was going to get beaten up, but he never would¡¯ve thought that both times when Li ChangHui attacked Liu Gan, it didn¡¯t even touch Liu Gan. In fact, both times that Liu Gan attacked, each time it was more powerful than previous and that lead to Li ChangHui bing disabled.

    In this terrible world, being disabled was worst than being killed. Even dying would be easier, since being disabled meant to live while suffering.

    Liu Gan fiercely looked around and swept over the areas with supplies. He picked up a vacuum sealed brine chicken and popped open a can of beer and started eating while drinking.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116 - Forcibly Seize in a Grand Manner<hr>

    Liu Gan soon finished eating the two packs of brine chicken, then he opened up several canned beef. In a few seconds, he finished eating everything. He even finished the can of beer.

    After To eat meat and drink beer after a long time could only be described with one word. Amazing.

    ¡°Brother Wang, don¡¯t be polite,e join me.¡± Liu Gan motioned Wang DeCheng over.

    ¡°No need, Thank You.¡± Wang DeCheng was embarrassed. He didn¡¯t know what to say. The good alcohol and meat were reserved by Tiger Lord and his elite team members. If Tiger Lord found out that he epted the offer then he wouldn¡¯t be able to stay in this camp.

    Deep down in his heart, he didn¡¯t have a n. Since Liu Gan was brought in by him and now he created such a huge mess. Once Tiger Lord finds out, he didn¡¯t know how he could diffuse the situation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, eat first. I will take responsibility for everything. Since you are my Brother, I won¡¯t let anyone bully you.¡± Liu Gan could tell what Wang DeCheng was worried about, so Liu Gan tried to reassure Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Really, there¡¯s no need.¡± Wang DeCheng was flushing from embarrassment. Wang DeCheng waspletely lost, he could only tremble in fear for Liu Gan as he watched him.

    Since Wang DeCheng wouldn¡¯t eat, Liu Gan could only continue eating. Ever since he entered the game, he only ate biscuits and instant noodle. Now there was finally a chance to eat meat, he could only continue eating because it tasted so amazing! One bite after another he continued eating. Liu Gan also found more vacuum packaged or canned meat and without restrained, he emptied all of them.

    Since even if he wanted to take some, he wouldn¡¯t be able to carry them. So why not fill up his stomach.

    Throughout the entire process, 10+ yers could only stare at Liu Gan with their mouths open. Not one of them dared to walk up and stop him. These meat products were the supermarket¡¯s prized food section. Only Tiger Lord and his elite team members were able to enjoy these resources. Now that Liu Gan was pigging out on the food and drinks, Tiger Lord would definitely be mad if he witnessed this.

    Li ChangHui was still screaming and cursing, but once the yers nearby him learned about his spine injury, then they didn¡¯t bother with him. With theck of doctors and medicine, his injuries would seal his fate as a crippled. So even if others continue to fawn over Li ChangHui, there wouldn¡¯t had a significant meaning.

    Today it was Li ChangHui¡¯s turn to guard the supermarket. Tiger Lord and the other three member of the elite quad as well as a few level 3 yers whom they were away. Since they were worried about the supermarket getting ambushed, the ce where they were farming experience wasn¡¯t too far away. The messenger quickly arrived and informed the camp boss that someone strong had entered into the supermarket, and injured Li ChangHui, with the intention of robbing their goods.

    Tiger Lord was enraged when he heard this news, and immediately ordered the elite team members to return to the supermarket.

    By the time Tiger Lord returned to supermarket , majority of the yers already surrounded the storage zone. From afar, they were watching Liu Gan eat and drink. Li ChangHui was in a lot of pain while sitting along the wall.

    ¡°Tiger Lord!¡± Li ChangHui shouted when he saw the camp Boss returned. Normally, he would call him Brother Tiger, but now that he needed help, he called him Tiger Lord.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± Tiger Lord looked at Liu Gan and then to Li ChangHui. Then walked over to Li ChangHui¡¯s side and asked.

    ¡°Tiger Lord! This person forced his way in! I only asked what he wanted and he didn''t give any exnation then beat me up. I mentioned your name, then he said you were a joke! Afterwards, he ate all our stuff! Please Tiger Lord, help get justice for me!¡± Li ChangHui plead with tears and snot flowing out from nose. Li ChangHui deliberately lied to start a fight between Tiger Lord and Liu Gan.

    However, Tiger Lord only nodded but didn''t reply. With a darkened face, he walked over to Liu Gan and stopped a few meters away.

    Liu Gan looked at Tiger Lord briefly, thenpletely ignored his presence and continued eating and drinking. He continued eating until he felt bloated, it¡¯s too bad that Zhang ShengLi wasying down to rest and the other two sisters were not here, otherwise they could have joined him eating all these food.

    He did promise Lee DingXiang to give her some food for guiding him, so what he could do was package some of the meat for her.

    Even after reaching level 5, he had been eating only biscuits and instant noodle so he was feeling sluggish. Only after eating meat and drinking alcohol Liu Gan felt like he rejuvenated to full strength.

    ¡°This brother, what is your honored surname?¡± Tiger Lord asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°No need for honoraries, surname is Liu.¡± Liu Gan finally lifted his head and looked at Tiger Lord and finished the can of beer within his hand.

    ¡°Three days ago, I was with 300 of my brothers when we were transferred to an area that was nearby Fortune and Youth supermarket. Me and my 300 brothers worked very hard to clear up zombies. Now only 10% zombies remain, then we took over this supermarket. If you are a yer, who is starving and thirsty then you can join us. If you didn''t want to join, you could have used your stuff to barter with us. There was no need to for you to severely injure my follower and forcibly take it in a grandeur manner for yourself.¡± Tiger Lord coldly asked Liu Gan.

    Seeing that Li ChangHui had been beaten so badly, Tiger Lord knew that Liu Gan couldn''t be low leveled. It was possible that he was also level 5. Even though, Tiger Lord rushed back with his elite squad, Liu Gan continued to eat and drink. This made Tiger Lord very mad because Liu Gan ignored him while eating and drinking, but before acting on impulse, he asked Liu Gan for an exnation.

    This Tiger Lord in the real world was a special forces member, who was retired few years ago. After retiring, he felt that his physique was still good shape so he had hopes of bing an elite soldier like the ones in online novels. Where he could be a bodyguard to a beautiful youngdy or female CEO and enjoy the luxurious life of the rich and famous.

    In the end, there was no beautifuldy or a pretty CEO that hired him as bodyguard. Tiger Lord had his hopes too high. He ended up getting hired by a newly rich CEO in a rural vige. Everyday he would do tasks that he felt were beneath him, like being a driver and running errands. To Tiger Lord, this was below his status that caused him he felt upset, but he didn''t want to leave since he was earning a hefty paycheck of couple of ten thousands monthly. With that alluring paycheck, he could only swallow his pride and continue.

    There was a time, when the newly rich CEO needed the car, but because Tiger Lord had something to do, so he waste to arrive. The newly rich CEO scolded Tiger Lord. On a normal day, Tiger Lord would''ve held in his anger, but that particr day he was having a really bad day. With the scolding, Tiger Lord beat up the newly rich CEO to the point where that CEO ended up in a hospital ICU.

    Committing this felony and pursued by the police, Tiger Lord only had the option of running away and be a fugitive.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117 - Grouping Up Around The Leader<hr>

    The few days after he became a fugitive, was the day that [The Trembling World]unched. Tiger Lord was at a certain underground inte cafe to log into the game. Then he was transferred here.

    After getting into the game, he relied on his own physique and fierce personality to survive. Out of the 300 yers, he was one of the lucky few that survived. Then he was able to gather these yers to form a camp. Yesterday, with thanks to sacrifices of several level 4 yers, he was able to kill a Colossal Variant zombie, and reached level 5. Now he was truly a survivor.

    Just like Liu Gan, Tiger Lord felt that this world suited him well. Everything here was obtained through strength. In addition, he didn¡¯t have to worry about getting arrested.

    Biggest difference between him and Liu Gan was that, Tiger Lord didn''t like to be alone. He enjoyed being a boss. Especially the feeling of getting whatever he wanted. He had a goal, he wanted to expand his camp, this way in the Trembling World he would be a very important person. Withnd and people, he could create an empire and rule his empire as the emperor.

    However , Liu Gan was giving off a dangerous aura, the type that surpasses the time when he faced off with the Colossal Variant Zombie. So his best scenario was that wouldn¡¯t lose face in front of his underlings, and get a verbal apology from Liu Gan. However, if things didn¡¯t resolve peacefully, then he can only use his fist to solve it.

    To establish this camp wasn¡¯t easy, Tiger Lord didn¡¯t really want to take a risk and lose everything by fighting with Liu Gan. If Liu Gan decided to take action, then he must kill Liu Gan in one move.

    ¡°I didn''te to take what I wanted. Although I dide here to take some food, but the moment I arrived, Brother Wang DeCheng told me that this area was upied. I gave up that idea. I only wanted to barter for goods.¡± Said Oiu Gan.

    ¡°In the apocalyptic world, what is the most expensive thing? Of course it is medicine. I have a bottle of antibiotic that could easily trade for at least two brine chicken, but I only demanded one brine chicken. I also threw in a bag of fresh water caltrops with my bottle of antibiotic, but yourckey Li ChangHui ate my water caltrops then he took my bottle of medicine. On top off everything, he threw me a bag of chicken bones. He also wanted to take my girlfriend. Brother Wang tried to persuade him, but he pushed Brother Wang to the floor. So tell me, was I wrong to teach him a lesson?¡± Liu Gan asked.

    Originally, he didn''t want to reason with Tiger Lord. However, after a lengthy deliberation, Liu Gan realized that if they were to fight, one of them would survive. Since this camp wasn¡¯trge enough for the both of them. After killing Tiger Lord, the camp would naturally belong to Liu Gan and the yers would all be under him.

    In order to leave a good impression for his future crew members, Liu Gan didn''t immediately take action to kill. Instead we would slowly reason with Tiger Lord.

    ¡°Tiger Lord! Don''t listen to his bull*h*t!¡± Li ChangHui overheard Liu Gan speak. Even though Li ChangHui didn''t hear entire conversation clearly, he just started shouting.

    ¡°Wang DeCheng, is that true?¡± Tiger Lord asked Wang DeCheng and ignored Li ChangHui.

    ¡°Wang DeCheng, don''t you dare betray me and bull*h*t! I will kill you if you do!¡± Li ChangHui threatened Wang DeCheng. He knew that if Wang DeCheng told the truth, then everything would be revealed. Li ChangHui was still arrogant even though he was disabled.

    ¡°It is just as Brother Liu had said.¡± Wang DeCheng hesitated briefly before replying to Tiger Lord. Wang DeCheng held a long grudge against Li ChangHui, even after he had be disabled, he was still so arrogant and it was unbearable.

    ¡°Li ChangHui! I knew that leaving you here would result in trouble! You alone managed to create this trouble!¡± Tiger Lord immediately start to shout in anger at Li ChangHui and marched forward.

    ¡°Tiger Lord! I, Li ChangHui, fought with you side by side to get this supermarket, now because of an outsider¡­¡± before Li ChangHui could finish speaking, Tiger Lord in a quick hand maneuver sliced open Li ChangHui¡¯s neck. ChangHui¡¯s throat was producing ¡®ka ka¡¯ sounds, soon both his eyes lost the glint of life.

    ¡°I said to everyone here before, all yers are our brothers! As long as they are pass through here then we must passionately greet them! Li ChangHui embarrassed our guest today so he deserved to be punished! I certainly hope the same thing won''t happen again!¡± Tiger Lord turned around to his group and announced out loud.

    ¡°Yes! Tiger Lord!¡± All yers in a respectful tone replied in unison.

    If this was a simple regr online game, then the camp that Tiger Lord established eas something like a union, and the strength in numbers wasn¡¯t as effective. However, now that these yers were trapped within the game, they discover the importance of having a camp, in this game it was no longer as simple as an union.

    Tiger Lord was their leader, their protector. Even though, this was a camp, it was ruled by the leader. Their respect to Tiger Lord was due to both fear and admiration. They knew that if they identally anger Tiger Lord, they would get kicked out of the supermarket and it was hard to survive alone in The Trembling World.

    Liu Gan coldly stared at Tiger Lord. He wanted Tiger Lord to make a single mistake and attack him. Just when Liu Gan was getting ready to kill the leader and take over the supermarket. No one would''ve thought that Tiger Lord was so sneaky and avoided taking the bait. Tiger Lord acted righteously and killed Li ChangHui. Now, Liu Gan had no justification to kill Tiger Lord, what a disappointing turn of events.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I apologize behalf of person who disrespected you. I have punished him. Are you satisfied with the result?¡± Tiger Lord walked in front of Liu Gan.

    ¡°Yes, since you have been very sincere and apologized. I will give you face.¡± Liu Gan stood up after wiped his face, he called Yin He to prepared to leave. As if they were getting ready to slip away.

    [TL: ¡®face¡¯ synonymous with respect and pride. Some people have died to keep it.]

    ¡°Tiger Lord!¡±

    There were three level 4 members of the elite team who witnessed everything, but they couldn¡®t bear to witness it. Who was this stranger? How could he dare to act so arrogantly in front of Tiger Lord? How could they face their subordinates after this scene?

    ¡°Brother Liu, your words doesn¡¯t seem appropriate!They were as if I did something wrong? The person to apologize should be Brother Liu. You owe me and my brothers an apology! Even though Li ChangHui made a mistake, but Brother Liu injured him already. Then, you messed up my supermarket. On top of that you ate so much of my food, there must be a suitable exnation about everything right?¡± Tiger Lord¡¯s look turning sour.

    ¡°Tell me what you have in mind¡± Liu Gan raised his brows.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118 - Sneak Attack<hr>

    ¡°It¡¯s simple, I already punished the person whomitted the offense. Now, Brother Liu you must kneel in front of everyone and repent for your offense! Then clean up the aisles and shelves that you messed up. In addition, for everything you¡¯ve ate and drank you need to pay double forpensation. Then I won¡¯t pursue today¡¯s matter anymore.¡± Tiger Lord eyed Liu Gan viciously.

    ¡°KNEEL! REPENT!¡± the three yers from elite team who followed Tiger Lord shouted.

    ¡°To kneel to repent and paying double forpensation? I think you are seeking death.¡± Liu Gan coldlyughed.

    ¡°Seems like Brother Liu, doesn¡¯t want to reason?¡± Tiger Lordplexion became more unsightly.

    ¡°You want reason with me? Fine, then I will reason with you! It was your people who insulted me and ate all my water caltrops first. I am only eating what I they owed me. Since Brother Han and Brother Wang are here, I won¡¯t continue bickering and this is your fortune! However if you choose to continue this meaningless bickering, it might lead to an unwanted result. Don¡¯t regret your decision if ites to that point!¡± Liu Gan shouted back at Tiger Lord. Liu Gan was revealing his sinister face.

    This Tiger Lord used evil people like Li ChangHui, and put aside good people like Han GuangMing and Wang DeCheng. Simr people were grouped together, so Tiger Lord shouldn¡¯t fall too far from that category.

    However, Liu Gan didn¡¯t kill Tiger Lord just to upy the camp, which was giving him a lot of respect. Based on his current abilities, killing Tiger Lord would be easy as lifting his fist. Furthermore, he walked several kilometers just to arrive at this location, and nearly lost Zhang ShengLi. If it was any other capable yer of Liu Gan¡¯s stature and was more sinister than him. They would invade and upy this camp and resources by force, and definitely without a reason they would empty this ce out.

    ¡°The result?¡± Tiger Lord suspiciously asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°That¡¯s obvious. I will kill you, take the camp by force. Then kill all those who don¡¯t bend to my will.¡± Liu Gan indifferently replied to Tiger Lord. The way Liu Gan said it as if it was a casual event of sorts.

    Tiger Lord didn¡¯t make anymore sound, he was only ring at Liu Gan.

    People around them finally quiet down. It was just like the calm before the storm, as air thickened within the supermarket. The surrounding yers in the circle didn¡¯t dare to make a sound, they only watched silently from the sidelines, awaiting for their leaders response.

    ¡°Such an arrogant fellow! Tiger Lord, he is only bluffing!¡± suddenly one of the elite yers shouted.

    ¡°Bluffing? Do you want toe and try me?¡± Liu Gan cracked his neck, then waved toward the yer to beckon him forward.

    ¡°You! Go to hell!¡± The yer eyed Tiger Lord, then pulled out his sword and got into position to charge forward. Only to have Tiger Lord ordering him to stand down.

    ¡°Tiger Lord!¡± said the elite yer unwilling to ept his face.

    ¡°Okay! I will handle this situation!¡± Tiger Lord shouted at the elite yer.

    The elite yer hesitantly retreated back towards the Tiger Lord¡¯s back. The elite yer was reluctant and ended up in a very bad mood. He should be d that Tiger Lord stopped him, otherwise his end wouldn¡¯t be any better than Li ChangHui¡¯s. He might immediately turn into a corpse as soon as he charged.

    ¡°Okay, since you aren¡¯t willing to repent, then let get this over with! Although, my camp will no longer wee you. You can your people and leave this area.¡± Tiger Lord silently pondered for a few minutes, then when he calmed down he told Liu Gan his decision.

    ¡°Tiger Lord!¡±

    There were a lot yers that were standing by Tiger Lord¡¯s side and they weren¡¯t willing to ept this situation. Why did he let them leave? It was too frustrating to watch. He ate so much meat, drank so many beers, and he even made a mess everywhere. Even if they demanded him leave behind the girl for them to mess around shouldn¡¯t it be fine?

    ¡°Let him go! Tiger Lord told his three elite yers. Of course, he wasn¡¯t really nning to let Liu Gan go, he was just waiting for a good opportunity to strike.

    Tiger Lord awoken another an ability when he entered into level 5. As indicated on his alloy wrist watch, it was [Swift Stab], in order to use this ability all he had to do is control his breathing inhale and exhale slowly and focus his concentration use it. After every use, there was a 15 minute cooldown period. During the moment to strike, his body would be fast as lightning, if the target was within 2 meters, it would be unavoidable.

    Previously, when he tested it on a few normal zombies, within 2 meters it was One-Hit Kill. However, he didn¡¯t had a chance to use it on Giant Colossal Zombie or other yers. This would be a good chance for him to test it. All he had to do was wait for Liu Gan to walk past him within 2 meters range. He will use the sharp de within his hand and aim for Liu Gan¡¯s heart. Killing this invader who dared to venture into his territory to eat his food would protect his face.

    Liu Gan nced at Tiger Lord. Then called Yin He over. ced the backpacks she was carrying on the floor. Then took out some biscuits and instant noodles all ou. He ced meat packs into his backpack and stuffed it full, then wobbled as he stood up.

    He promised to give Lee Ding sisters some food, so he wouldn''t go back on his words. Since Zhang ShengLi was still recovering, a little meat will give a nutritional boost to his health.

    Liu Gan picked up one of therge bulky backpacks, and gave the other bulky backpack to Yin He.

    ¡°Tiger Lord! They are moving! Are we really letting them go?¡± The three elite members could only witness this scene and try to restrain themselves. Liu Gan was taking their rations! How can a person eat this much, even though Tiger Lord wouldn¡¯t bicker with him, but he dared to stuff his backpack full.

    This was too humiliating!

    ¡°Let him go!¡± Tiger Lord once again held back the three elite yers, no matter what Liu Gan did, he must endure until the right opportunity emerges, then Liu Gan would be One-Hit Killed!

    Liu Gan seem to have drank too much beer, along with the heavy backpack which was filled t with packaged meat. He was wobbling left and right as he walked, with his hand on the fire axe, but it looked like carrying it was draining up his energy. With Yin He¡¯s arm supporting him, Liu Gan was able to maintain a steady and firm posture. Tiger Lord and his men were following closely behind them as they slowly closed in.

    ¡°Brother Wang, thank you for your reception.¡± Liu Gan thanked Wang DeCHeng as he held up a half empty beer can, while giggling uncontrobly.

    Wang DeCheng, stood by the shelves, sulking as he was speechless. If Liu Gan leaves now, Tiger Lord¡¯s rage wouldn''t simply end so easily. Wang DeCheng would be held ountable since Liu Gan was lead in by him and all of Tiger Lord¡¯s rage would be Wang DeCheng¡¯s burden.

    ¡°He is still bluffing.¡± provoked the elite yer from before as he was reluctant to giving up and he whispered to the people around him.

    ¡°Shut it!¡± Tiger Lord once again scolded him.

    Five meter, four meter, three meter¡­

    Tiger Lord was constantly calcting the distance between Liu Gan and him. Previously, when he practiced, within 2 meters was his [Swift Stab] most effective distance, once he activated it was unblockable!

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119 - Going Back On Their Word<hr>

    Even if he does this, there is no honor in sneak attacks. Presently, Tiger Lord has no choice but to take that option. In front of all the yers in the camp, he must kill Liu Gan so he can wash away all the humiliation he had to endure. Between humiliation or backstabbing, the former was a heavier burden on Tiger Lord¡¯s status.

    This ce was not big enough for the both of them. With strong opponents like Liu Gan nearby, it would affect the future development of the camp, so he must not let Liu Gan leave here alive.

    As for Liu Gan, he carried the backpack wobbling as he moved, but with Yin He¡¯s assistance they moved to within 2 meters of Tiger Lord...

    ¡°Go to hell!¡± Tiger Lord¡¯s face turned iparably malevolent, and at the same time in a sh, he charged over to Liu Gan with [Swift Stab] activated. The sh of a polished and sharp dagger lead the charge, and it was a sturdy dagger that wouldn¡¯t break easily.

    ¡®Dong!¡¯ a loud ring echoed like two metallic objects colliding¡­

    Tiger Lord¡¯s sharp dagger shed head on with Liu Gan¡¯s fire axe edge of the de and revealed half a centimeter indent.

    Liu Gan was obviously pretending to be drunk. Ever since the moment he acted like the bag was too heavy to be carried, and then he wobbled when walking. Liu Gan saw through Tiger Lord¡¯s bad intentions. Rather, it was just a feeling that he had as he approached Tiger Lord who was preparing to strike. Just as Tiger Lord was going to strike at his chest, Liu Gan¡¯s keen sense of sight and senses were fast enough for Liu Gan to react, and lift up the fire axe. Sessfully blocking the sharp dagger with the fire axe.

    Of course, even without the fire axe to protect that one strike, he had his [Mist Armor] to protect and defend against the assault.

    ¡°Want to kill me? You are looking to die!¡±

    Liu Gan blocked the attack, then cursed aloud and returned with a side kick. Tiger Lord was able to quickly move back, but the residual force still remained. Stumbling a few steps backward, he wasn¡¯t able to stand firmly on the ground. He ended up falling with his butt on the ground, as he felt so helpless.

    After this kick, Tiger Lord also felt fearful.

    He never would¡¯ve expected that even after using his ability it wasn¡¯t able to One-Hit Kill, and not only that, but Liu Gan blocked it! To sessfully sneak attack someone else, and not be sessful at it, ending up sitting on the ground with every yer watching. This is so pitiful.

    ¡°I thought we had an agreement, that this matter was resolved. Why the sudden change in ns to sneak attack me? As a leader to do such improper things, where is your honor? Would you dare to fight me in a match fairly?¡± Liu Gan scolded Tiger Lord for his action.

    To kill Tiger Lord was really simple, but there was no need to rush things. This way, it can be used to demonstrate his abilities and buy the hearts of the people watching.

    The surrounding yers were all stunned, especially the close elite yers of Tiger Lord. The elite yers knew Tiger Lord¡¯s true strength. Even when they were all level 4, the strongest amongst them had been Tiger Lord. On top of that the difference between level 4 and level 5 was a wide gap. After obtaining level 5, Tiger Lord¡¯s strength gained an incredible boost which made it seem like he was at a ce that was unattainable, so they looked up to him.

    However, the moment he used this lowly sneak attack on the stranger, then failed on the sneak attack, on top of getting kicked back. Tiger Lord could only sit on the ground, even a fool could tell who was stronger.

    Wang DeCheng stood his ground wondering¡­ isn¡¯t Brother Liu level 4? Howe he can cause so much distress to Tiger Lord. As well as returning a kick to Tiger Lord? This is too unimaginable, just how much strength does Brother Liu have? Could he possibly be stronger than Tiger Lord?

    ¡°Killing my brothers, taking my food. Do you really think I would let you leave here alive?¡± Tiger Lord shouted as he stood up. Now that things have reached this stage, it was definitely life and death between him and Liu Gan. There was no room for resolving it peacefully anymore.

    ¡°Go Tiger Lord! Show him your power! It¡¯s no big deal to fall down! Quickly use your special ability to kill the trash!¡± shouted an unknown yer from on the sideline.

    Liu Gan nced at the yer, this person really doesn¡¯t know the situation. How dare he call him some trash! Once the score is settled with Tiger Lord, Liu Gan will settle it with him too.

    ¡°Since you want to kill me, then I have no choice. I can only fight you to the bitter end.¡± Liu Gan dered and cracked his neck as he dropped his backpack to the floor. Every joint connecting to the bones produced a horrifying ¡®kaka¡¯ sound.

    When ying online games like this, killing so many monsters will prove to be boring. What¡¯s fun is the endless possibility from yer vs yer battles. Otherwise, why would anyone raise their levels?

    ¡°You are wrong! It¡¯s you dying, and me living!¡± Tiger Lord corrected Liu Gan¡¯s saying, then once again wielded the sharp dagger as he plunged toward Liu Gan.

    Tiger Lord¡¯s One-Hit Kill wasn¡¯t able to find its mark, and now knowing that a blitzkrieg strategy won¡¯t work, he has to rely on his special forces career to use wrestling techniques and agile side steps to close in on Liu Gan¡¯s body. Once he is close enough, he will produce numerous cuts on Liu Gan¡¯s body that will bleed out slowly. From what he had seen, Tiger Lord thinks that Liu Gan is clumsy so it will be hard for Liu Gan to win the fight.

    As predicted, taking advantage of the side steps to close in, Tiger Lord was adept in wrestling with the skill he had previously shown. While taking advantage of this situation, he forced Liu Gan to retreat slowly to the point of passively blocking left and right attacks.

    ¡°Tiger Lord go! Show him your power! Mess him up! Mess him up!¡± cheered on by a rowdy crowd of yers thatcked moral principle, things got even more heated as they saw Tiger Lord push back Liu Gan.

    Wang DeCheng was concerned, he knew that with today¡¯s situation and Tiger Lord¡¯s personality, it will be hard for him to stay here. Either way Wang DeCheng will be punished, regardless of whether Liu Gan leaves or dies.

    There was still arge portion of yers watching silently. They don¡¯t know just what will happen when two level 5 yers are dueling. Who in the end will emerge victorious? Just in case, what if that strange yer kills Tiger Lord? Would the side cheering Tiger Lord on through battle cries be held ountable for their actions? This is quite a difficult situation, stuck between a hard ce and a rock.

    Tiger Lord got more proficient as he got into his routine. While inbat, he slowly found his rhythm and this gave him a confidence boost¡­ Seems as if Tiger Lord was being overly cautious since this man in front of him was no big deal.

    Tiger Lord had his sharp dagger act as a decoy that Liu Gan fell for and Tiger Lord took advantage of it. Taking this opportunity, his other hand had a dagger that sessfully pierced toward Liu Gan¡¯s chest.

    This time, Liu Gan¡¯s axe was high overhead, chest unguarded, back to the wall with no room to retreat!

    ¡°Good Good Good!¡±

    ¡°Tiger Lord Win!¡±

    ¡°Tiger Lord Power!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Once again the rowdy bunch of surrounding yers cheered, even now those silent bunch of yers also started chanting loudly. Tiger Lord¡¯s fast speed and wrestling skills were unmatched. All Tiger Lord has to do now is to avoid Liu Gan¡¯s attack. Tiger Lord¡¯s next attack is an extremely precise attack, and it can seriously injure or even kill the opponent!

    This duel between the two first ss yers will soone to an end! The end of the fight will officially be dered!

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120 - No other choice<hr>

    This is a sponsored chapter. Thank you Eric Spencer! You have joined the Hall of Survivor''s!<hr>

    Right when Tiger Lord¡¯s dagger that was about to connect with Liu Gan¡¯s chest. Tiger Lord noticed that Liu Gan¡¯s eyes were revealing traces of a ridiculing expression, so Tiger Lord knew that something was off. It was as if he fell into a trap.

    It¡¯s toote.

    The moment the sharp dagger within Tiger Lord¡¯s hand was about to connect Liu Gan¡¯s chest, Liu Gan grabbed the dagger by the de! Now Tiger Lord couldn¡¯t even connect the de to the chest of Liu Gan.

    The fire axe in Liu Gan¡¯s other hand was immediatelying downwards. It was aiming for Tiger Lord¡¯s head. In a moment¡¯s desperate moment, Tiger Lord pulled away from Liu Gan¡¯s grip and leaped backwards, but he wasn''t quick enough. The edge of the fire axe had came in contact with Tiger Lord¡¯s chest creating arge wound while blood was gushing out. Liu Gan¡¯s attack even broke a few of the ribs of Tiger Lord!

    ¡°D*mn!¡± Tiger Lord was holding onto his wound as he retreated back. His pale face showed that he was frightened by Liu Gan. He wondered if his opponent was even human, since the dagger was extremely sharp but he grasped it like he didn¡¯t feel any pain?

    The other problem was his hand, clearly he was injured, but there was no blood, not even a hint of red.

    Every surrounding yer was just as shocked, now they couldn''t help but wonder if Liu Gan had iron skin and iron ws? They'' all witnessed that Tiger Lord¡¯s swift stab had no effect on him. Evidently, it was clear that in this exchange, Tiger Lord lost his advantage.

    Unconsciously, Yin He looked at Liu Gan, then to her own hands. Her skin was really durable since daggers couldn¡¯t pierce it. Now she was wondering, why her master¡¯s hand would be simr to her hand? Could it be possible that they were both the same species?

    At the same time, what Yin He was feeling sad since for this wonderful duel, her master didn''t call upon her to participate. If she joined in, then in a few minutes, she could finish off Tiger Lord. She had so many options to pick from, either rip him apart from the stomach or behead him cleanly.

    This human, Tiger Lord, was just too weak.

    Tiger Lord¡¯s expression became gloomier, now he could finally gauge the enemy¡¯s power. He was not Liu Gan¡¯s match, with his heavy axe swings and heavy kicks. Perhaps it was because of Liu Gan¡¯s new ability that could ¡®Harden¡¯ the body, Tiger Lord guessed. Liu Gan walked the path of a heavily armored warrior, while Tiger Lord wa following the path of an assassin. Tiger Lord¡¯s path puts heavy emphasis on being quick on his feet and was reliant on sneak attacks. The moment the two paths sh inbat, the only one with the disadvantage was the assassin.

    Tiger Lord never even considered for a moment that his opponent could have a body that is so thick?/hard. What a major miscalction, and now he had a severe injury from the axe attack. If he continued to fight with Liu Gan it would only prolong his own humiliation, other than that there was no reason to for him fight anymore.

    From Tiger Lord¡¯s point of view, if he didn¡¯t want to fight with Liu Gan. Escaping from the battlefield field was still a possible option. He didn¡¯t believe that Liu Gan¡¯s heavy body could catch up to his agile quick steps. However, he would have to give up his camp, that he worked so hard to build, over to Liu Gan. His actions had lost the faith of the people and it was very hard to regain it anew. Now this was what bothered Tiger Lord the most, he just couldn''t ept that fact.

    Tiger Lord was started to regret the way things have turned out. Wang DeCheng was a very honest person. He was the type of person that didn''t know how to lie to others. Judging from what Wang DeCheng said earlier, Liu Gan only wanted to exchange goods, but he what got was insults from Li ChangHui instead. That forced Liu Gan to act against Li ChangHui.

    Now that events had progressed to this stage, it was toote to salvage this situation. Tiger Lord could''ve stopped after he had killed Li ChangHui to resolve the situation and let Liu Gan go even after he had consumed so much of his food. At most, he would''ve only lost face, but could have still continued his life as a local warlord. If only he had stopped at moment¡­ his biggest mistake was attempting a sneak attack at Liu Gan and fighting for the camp. Now, he had no choice but to escape since he had sustained serious injuries.

    Was there really no other choice?

    Tiger Lord¡¯s eyesight shifted from Liu Gan onto Yin He since she stood a few meters behind him. Tiger Lord had an idea, a vicious and lecherous idea.

    This female was so pretty, and she had been by Liu Gan¡¯s side for awhile. So he should care for her wellbeing or she could even be his family member. Even if he couldn¡¯t beat Liu Gan, he would take that woman hostage and force him to submit!

    Liu Gan previouslymanded Yin He to not kill inside the camp and to maintain her friendliness and gentle smile. So when Tiger Lord was ncing at Yin He, she showed him a friendly smile. The next moment, Tiger Lord had his dagger by Yin He¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Immediately drop all your weapons! Beg for mercy on your knees! Otherwise I will kill your woman!¡± Tiger Lord threatened Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan humiliated him. Broke several of his ribs. Tiger Lord was so angry that he wanted mutte Liu Gan''s corpse to quell his own anger. Unfortunately Liu Gan was too strong, so Tiger Lord could only rely on these underhanded tactics. As for the other yer''s faith in him and his honour, he could regain those back after Liu Gan dies!

    Liu Gan also pitied Tiger Lord¡­ out of all people he chose to bother, he picked the android¡­ if I wasn''t her owner, I wouldn''t be bother her at all...

    Yin He looked at Liu Gan, as if she was waiting for his order. Tiger Lord was also frantically looking over at Liu Gan. Tiger Lord must have correctly guessed that this woman had a ce within Liu Gan''s heart. However, he wasn''t sure if that would be enough leverage for him to force Liu Gan to submit.

    ¡°If you want to kill, then kill him.¡± Liu Gan indifferently said to Yin He.

    ¡°Yes? You sure? Do you really think that I won''t kill her? I will show you that I will kill her now!¡± Tiger Lord hearing was mistaken, Liu Gan just gave an order to Yin He. Tiger Lord¡¯s pupil constricted as the de edged closer, pressing onto her neck.

    Even if Liu Gan didn¡¯t care for this woman, Tiger Lord could easily kill her and then escape. That way, he could count it as a mini payback for getting injured by his axe and all other previous humiliations he suffered.

    The moment Yin He heard Liu Gan¡¯smand. Her smile disappeared as her eyes grew cold. Both her two sleeve des each extended. The next moment, while Tiger Lord was holding his de on Yin He¡¯s carotid artery, he felt nothing but weakness and chest pain. It was as if something had pierced through his heart causing his arms and legs to get weaker.

    Followed by a metallic glowing light that shed before his eyes. Then Tiger Lord felt as if he was doing a somersault from a high height as hended on the ground. The world was spinning around him. Even everything settled down, Tiger Lord could see clearly. He saw his body was still standing behind Yin He, except the head was missing.

    Tiger Lord now understood what has happened. Could it be that someone chopped his head off, but who did it?

    Was it Liu Gan? But he didn''t see him move with the axe or was it Yin He whom he was holding as a hostage in front of him?

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121 - Failure to recognize

    However, Tiger Lord would never have a chance to find out anymore. Shortly after, his brain stopped working when the blood flow stopped supplying to his brain and his soul entered the evesting abyss.

    The other surrounding yers were all shocked. They thought that the moment their Tiger Lord attacked, Liu Gan would die for sure. It was highly unexpected that Tiger Lord wouldn¡¯t be able to beat Liu Gan and that he held Yin He hostage. Then it would end with Yin He killing him.

    These yer thought that the female was following Liu Gan only because he was strong. Other yers never would''ve thought that this female was just as powerful. While Yin He was held hostage at the Neck, her speed of motion was much faster. She pierced his heart, chopped off his head, and even some of these movements were too fast since it was just a blur.

    These two are truly killers!

    Right now, the yers were shaking in fear and they were nning to scatter in all directions, but Liu Gan shouted for them to stop.

    ¡°Everything that has happened today involves only me and Li ChangHui¡¯s quarrel. It doesn''t involve you bystanders. It is your leader¡¯s own fault for trying to ambush me with his sneak attack. I had no choice, but to kill him. Since this doesn''t involve you, don''t worry about me killing you guys.¡±

    ¡°Brother Liu, we¡¯ve witnessed everything. Li ChangHui was indeed stepping overboard. His death was his own fault.¡± Wang DeCheng walking towards Liu Gan.

    From his previous encounters with Liu Gan, it didn''t seem like Liu Gan was a violent aggressive person. It was all due to Li ChangHui¡¯s aggression, that lead to his own death. As for what happened afterwards with Tiger Lord was due to a failed attempt in a sneak attack on Liu Gan. Once Tiger Lord realized that he couldn''t win against Liu Gan, he tried to hold Yin He hostage; his actions were despicable.

    Even though Wang DeCheng was only a small squad leader, he got his orders from Tiger Lord. There were times when Tiger Lord¡¯s trusted aides also ordered Wang DeCheng like an indentured servant. Since there wasn¡¯t a deep bond between Wang DeCheng and Tiger Lord. Wang DeCheng knew that once Liu Gan was dead, his ending might be the same as Liu Gan.

    ¡°If Li ChangHui didn¡¯t hit you, I wouldn¡¯t have punched him. You were only trying to stop the quarrel, it was hard to watch.¡± Liu Gan took advantage of this chance to build a friendship with Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Much gratitude Brother Liu! No, actually I should call you Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng said in a grateful tone.

    ¡°No need¡± Liu Gan modestly declined.

    ¡°Elder Liu isn¡¯t a violent person, no need to panic everyone! Come out and look for yourself. Elder Liu¡¯s strength is more formidable than Tiger Lord¡¯s strength. He can protect us! We should have Elder Liu as our new leader!¡± Wang DeCheng suddenly shouted out to the rmed yers within the supermarket.

    Hearing Wang DeCheng shout this, the anxious yers suddenly seemed to have realized something very important. One after another they returned the shout, each one chanting loudly ¡°Elder Liu!¡± ¡°Elder Liu is Powerful¡± or even ¡°Long Live Elder Liu!¡± rted chants. As if they were indicating that they were willing to follow Liu Gan.

    The three yers who were Tiger Lord¡¯s trusted aides, especially the one that shouted that Liu Gan was bluffing, wanted to slip away amidst the confusion. Except after only taking several steps, Yin He blocked him off.

    ¡°Big sister please spare my life! I shouldn¡¯t have been disrespectful to Elder Liu. I deserve to die a million times!¡± Shouted the yer who said Liu Gan was bluffing. The yer got on his knee and even started smacking his own cheeks with both hands. The other two yers didn¡¯t dare to run, they only stood there frozen in ce. They stood in ce, unable to escape and they disyed a dismayed look.

    ¡°These three yers are part of Tiger Lord¡¯s clique. Even though every yer has their own group they associate with, I worry that after Tiger Lord¡¯s death they will create trouble behind the scenes. Why don¡¯t we have a few of our yers keep a close eye on them, even if it is temporarily.¡± Wang DeCheng whispered in a low tone to Liu Gan. Even though Wang DeCheng wasn¡¯t able to be apart of Tiger Lord¡¯s close circle, and even heavily relied on him, right now it was a good chance for him to disy his usefulness in front of Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t reply, only following Wang DeCheng as they walked toward the three yers.

    ¡°Elder Liu! It was my fault for offending Elder Liu, I failed to recognize your importance and I sincerely apologize!¡± said the yer on his knees in front of Yin He. He changed his direction toward Liu Gan and started to kowtow.

    [TL: ¡®kowtow¡¯ the act of getting on your knees and bowing until your head touches the floor, sometimes with a loud sound to symbolize how sincere you are. It is performed when praying or asking for something. ]

    ¡°Elder Liu, should we have someone watch them?¡± Wang DeCheng asked looking for Liu Gan¡¯s opinion.

    ¡°No, Yin He kill these three.¡± Liu Gan said after thinking for a little while.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Yin He replied and revealed her sleeve des, and with countless shes death ensued. No one could clearly see what she did, but the result was that the three level 4 yers were all dead soaking in a pool of their own blood..

    The other yers were shocked. Didn¡¯t they hear that they were safe, so they wouldn¡¯t be killed? This Elder Liu has a really bad temper! Perhaps he is even worse than Tiger Lord!

    ¡°I did indeed promise that I wouldn¡¯t kill people, but these three yers wanted to use the disorder to escape. They had intentions of slipping back into the supermarket for revenge! Even if they couldn¡¯t retaliate against me, they could definitely kill you guys to weaken our camp¡¯s strength. So to guarantee your safety and for your sake, I had to remove this thorn. My only option was to kill them.¡± Liu Gan exined to the once again rmed yers.

    Liu Gan loves to keep things to himself, if not for his ns to take over the airship, he really didn¡¯t want to be a leader to these group of yers. Now that he is in this situation though, he can only make an effort to be a temporary leader and guide these yers.

    ¡°Elder Liu is just!

    ¡°Elder Liu did it for our sake!¡±

    ¡°Support Elder Liu!¡±

    Previously the yers were in a panic, but now that they¡¯ve calmed down. One by one, they were cheering in support of Liu Gan. [The Trembling World] can¡¯t bepared to the real world, strong yers like Liu Gan are no different than ancient emperors. Whoever seems like a threat, can be eliminated in a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°The supermarket will be operated as it was before, I will assign two vice leaders though. These will be Brother Wang and Brother Han. Brother Han is on patrol duties so if there is a situation, you can report to these two. They will pass on the message to notify me.¡± Liu Gan announced to the yers. Then with Yin He, they left in the direction toward the medical bay.

    Managing the entire camp, with food rationing, and personnel arrangements should be the responsibility of the leader, Liu Gan. However, it is better suited for Wang DeCheng, as he is more knowledgeable about the camp, so he can set the camp in a good direction.

    In addition, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t prepared to remain stationed here for long. Even though, it is a supermarket here with plenty of food stored here, but it was so close to the city center, so no one could tell when the corpse tide wille. The best situation is to obtain the amphibious airship that can fly in the air and cruise on the sea. Perhaps it is better to have a mobile base of operation on the sea. It is definitely safer, and it is easy to travel to the main city whenever he wants to.

    Right when Liu Gan was walking in the direction of the medical bay, a loud noise and crying echoed out from afar. Liu Gan frowned and stopped in his tracks. Then, changed his direction to head toward the source of the noise.

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122 - Rescue

    There were two yers dragging a 30 year old girl, and the crying noise came from the female.

    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Liu Gan asked the nearby yers. Quickly the yers dragged the female over to Liu Gan and held her down.

    ¡°Previously, she was caught by Tiger Lord as a spy for the local survivors. Amidst the confusion and disorder earlier, a few of the others escaped, and we were only able to catch her.¡± reported one of the yers as they escorted the girl over. However his eyesight was very dodgy.

    ¡°Speak the truth.¡± Liu Gan pressured the yer.

    ¡°Actually¡­ She was caught by Tiger Lord to be an ¡­ entertainer. The reason why we are fighting with the local survivors is because when Tiger Lord went to the hospital, he kidnapped the female survivors there. Then, he kept them locked up here so they could supply entertainment for the elite team and some of the yers. Of course, this made the local survivors very angry, so that is why they have been trying to take revenge on us.¡± said another bystanding yer who courageously revealed the truth to Liu Gan.

    Within the crowd, there were several yers that had a scared look. Evidence that they were guilty of having participated in these activities.

    ¡°As long as these activities don¡¯t continue I will disregard the previous issues. However, if it continues, and I find out. I will let her handle this.¡± Liu Gan said in a few words to the crowd of yers that had gathered. The ¡®her¡¯ he mentioned, was designated to Yin He.

    Liu Gan still hadn¡¯t killed in front of these yers, but Yin He had killed four already. So it was easy to imagine which of the two yer within their hearts had arger deterrent power.

    ¡°Then¡­ what about her?¡± asked the yer who pointed at the female survivor to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Let her go. This whole situation is our fault.¡± said Liu Gan, now that he knew of the root cause.

    ¡°No way, she will reveal our secrets within here. She will reveal every encounter here about us and the local survivors will get definitely take revenge.¡± As all the yers there started to discuss.

    ¡°There are those that already escaped, they will already know.¡± barked out a yer.

    ¡°I feel we should kill her.¡± suggested another yer.

    ¡°Yes, if we leave her Elder Liu won¡¯t be happy about it. If we let her go, she will bring someone back to take revenge on us. So let¡¯s just kill her.¡± said a different yer.

    ¡°I won¡¯t bring people to take revenge on you, please let me go!¡± cried female survivor as she begged the surrounding yers.

    ¡°How can you guys be so cold-blooded? She was caught by Tiger Lord today, so she won¡¯t know too much. Letting her go, won¡¯t be too harmful.¡± said one of the yers, who disagreed with being more violent.

    ¡°Are you a spy on the side of the survivors?¡± yelled on yer as he used one yer who pointed toward the yer, who disagreed about being more violent.

    ¡°Elder Liu! The patient that came with you is on the verge of dying!¡± said one of the yers, who was sent to the medical bay.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Liu Gan frowned. As he was about to immediately rush toward the medical bay...

    ¡°Elder Liu! I am a doctor! I can help treat him! Please don¡¯t kill me!¡± the 30 year old female survivor cried out loud. She worked in the hospital, which was also the local survivor¡¯s camp ground. She had been wandering the outskirts of the camp to find more medicine, but got captured by Tiger Lord to enjoy for the night.

    [TL: I¡¯m so d Tiger Lord died.]

    ¡°Bring her over.¡± Liu Gan said to the yer holding the female survivor, as he rushed over to the medical bay.

    By the time Liu Gan arrived at the medical bay, Zhang ShengLi was no longer breathing¡­ It was that he was unable to breathe. His chest had swollen up so much so that it was making it hard for him to breathe, and his face had be purple to the point of fainting.

    ¡°You save him, and I will let you go and not kill you.¡± Liu Gan threatened the female survivor.

    ¡°This is a symptom of pneumothorax. It is an emergency! I have to release the air that¡¯s building up the pressure!¡± said the female survivor after she examined Zhang ShengLi¡¯s condition. To treat this condition she told the medical-student yer, that you need to use a needle and insert it into Zhang ShengLi¡¯s rib section and have the air released.

    The section where the needle punctured to release air, also had some blood and liquid drawn out. After several rounds of being punctured, Zhang ShengLi¡¯s chest swollen chest started to go down. The female survivor told the medical-student yer to find medicine that can be injected into Zhang ShengLi. Immediately after, she started to perform CPR on Zhang ShengLi, with chestpressions.

    With the female survivor¡¯s emergency rescue, Zhang ShengLi started to breathe again. His purple face had some rosy flush return back to his cheeks. However, Zhang ShengLi still hadn¡¯t woken up from his unconscious state. With beads of sweat dripping down the female doctor¡¯s forehead, she was able rx and sit by his bedside.

    ¡°As long as you are able to save him, I can guarantee your safety.¡± Liu Gan checked Zhang ShengLi¡¯s breath as he said to the female doctor.

    ¡°I need to bring his temperature down.¡± The female doctor said after resting briefly. Then, she got up and requested a basin of cold water. With the wet towel, she ced it onto Zhang ShengLi¡¯s forehead. Even after numerous times of repeating the process, it didn''t seem very effective in bringing down Zhang ShengLi¡¯s temperature.

    Zhang ShengLi was a fitness trainer, so the muscles on his body were quite developed.

    ¡°This suture, who did it?¡± the female doctor asked Liu Gan, while she pointed at the stitches.

    ¡°Her.¡± Liu Gan pointed immediately to Yin He.

    ¡°Her handiwork isn¡¯t bad.¡± said the female doctor. It was hard to tell if what she said was apliment or mockery, but she didn¡¯t say more of it. Afterwards she wiped disinfecting liquid on the wound.

    ¡°Whatever she needs, you will match her requests as much as possible. In addition, don¡¯t do anything disrespectful to her!¡± Liu Gan instructed the nearby yers as he got up.

    ¡°Yes! Elder Liu!¡± said the crowd of yers in sync.

    ¡°We lucky survivors hated the previous leader called Tiger Lord and his closeckey followers. You had avenged us by killing them. If you let me go, I will convince the survivors at the camp to not take revenge on you, and live peacefully with your group.¡± The female doctor said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Wait till you finish treating him, then we will talk about that.¡± Liu Gan replied to the female doctor. Then, turned to one of the nearby yer andmanded him to notify Wang DeCheng to head over to him.

    Wang DeCheng immediately ran over, Liu Gan left him with a few instructions. He wanted a few yers to keep guard on the female doctor, so there will be no violence directed towards her. At the same time, it was important to keep her health up, by providing her food and water.

    ...

    ¡°I heard something happened when I was gone?¡±

    By the time, Liu Gan walked out of the medical bay, Han GuangMing returned with his two team members from his patrol and headed back into the supermarket. As he greeted the door guards standing in front of the supermarket.

    ¡°Vice leader, how are you!¡± said the two door guards as they respectfully greeted Han GuangMing.

    ¡°What?¡± Han GuangMing was baffled in front of the two door guards.

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123 - Drawing lightning

    ¡°Brother Han, you have returned?¡± Liu Gan walked over to greet Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Brother Liu! You are still here!¡± Han GuangMing walked over excitedly and grasped Liu Gan¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Elder Liu, how are you!¡± said the two standing guards as they politely greeted Liu Gan.

    ¡°What is the matter?¡± Han GuangMing was unable to make any sense of the matter.

    ¡°The Tiger Lord you know is already gone. This camp ground¡¯s new leader is Elder Liu. The elite team that was following Elder Liu is also dead. Brother Han and Brother Wang have been promoted to the camp¡¯s new vice leaders. So please take care of this younger brother here.¡± said the door guard to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Han GuangMing was even more confused. He was still in doubt as he looked at Liu Gan.

    Wang DeCheng walked over from the medical bay and quickly pulled Han GuangMing aside to exin everything that had happened in his absence.

    ¡°Elder Liu was forced to take action. Li ChangHui was intolerable. Then, Tiger Lord killed Li ChangHui for his actions, but went back on his word on letting Brother Liu leave by attacking him sneakily¡­¡±

    ¡°Brother Liu beat Tiger Lord? Then¡­ his true strength¡­¡± Han GuangMing looked at Liu Gan with a new view. He knew Liu Gan was strong, but he didn''t think that he was more powerful than Tiger Lord.

    ¡°At least level 5 and above, it is hard to say!¡± Wang DeCheng answered Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Brother Wang, can you find me a ce to sleep?¡± Liu Gan walked over to ask Wang DeCheng, now that he was full from eating and drinking, and all the tasks had been assigned. He had been drinking a little, so he was drowsy and wanted to find a ce to sleep.

    ¡°Of course no problem! Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng answered promptly and respectfully.

    ¡°Wait til I am awake, then we will drink and chat.¡± Liu Gan patted Han GuangMing¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Okay, Elder Liu!¡± Han GuangMing was still stunned, but was able to reply to Liu Gan.

    Perhaps Elder Liu didn''t want to join his squad because he was different from them. He was the type of ambitious character that emerges in these dire situations. So it would''ve been belittling to have Liu Gan under his leadership. Now that he recalled everything, Han GuangMing¡¯s face blushed from embarrassment.

    ¡°Oh yes, there is one more thing¡­ Brother Han, please notify the patrol groups that if they see two stinky little girls or if they have arrived at the entrance of the supermarket, then invite them in for something to eat. Take care of them in my absence.¡± Liu Gan instructed Han GuangMing.

    ¡°You mean the two young girls that were following you earlier?¡± Han GuangMing said as he recalled the sisters¡¯ images in his head.

    ¡°Yes, that would be them.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°Then, I will send out the order to let the patrol squads know of their presence.¡± Han GuangMing answered.

    Under Wang DeCheng¡¯s new arrangement. The yers tidied up the second floor of Tiger Lord¡¯s room and switched out all the old bed sheets and mattresses so it would be new and clean for Liu Gan.

    This was a real bedroom. It was originally an office for the supermarket, but Tiger Lord changed it into his bedroom. The new mattress was soft andfortable, and this should be the supermarket¡¯s most safe location. The outside yers that have guard shifts were not allowed to create a ruckus, so this room was quite peaceful. Perfect for sleeping.

    Before Liu Gan closed the door to sleep, he gave Yin He a few instructions. For her to stand guard by the doorway, to be on alert mode, she can''t wander off, and if there was something unusual then she will wake him up. Thinking back on it, Yin He was a lot more reliable than when he was with Pan Hua and LuLu.

    As for the other yers, Liu Gan didn''t haveplete confidence in their abilities. Especially for Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing who had just been recently introduced so their respective abilities were still yet to be determined.

    Wang DeCheng also came over along with the guards near the location where Liu Gan was sleeping. After the sudden promotion to vice leader, every yer was very respectful towards him. So Wang DeCheng was personally there to be a security guard because he was terrified. He was afraid that if he made a mistake, then Liu Gan would have second thoughts about him being a vice leader, and revert his status back to the leader of his small squad.

    ¡­

    Liu Gan was awoken by the thunder. By the time he woke up, the sky outside had turned dark just like the previous few days. Rain also started pouring down and thunder followed. It was a violent thunderstorm.

    Yin He stood by the nearby window, and stared outside. She looked across the street from the Fortune and Youth supermarket at a veryrge building. Even though she created a small electrical smapression device, nowhere around the supermarket area was appropriate for attracting lightning strikes, so she felt jittery and disturbed.

    ¡°How much of your electric charge is left?¡± Liu Gan suddenly remembered and quickly asked Yin He.

    ¡°Thirty percent, I canst until tomorrow night.¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Seems like we have to go out for a trip, to find a suitable ce for luring electricity.¡± Liu Gan said with a slight headache.

    ¡°The electricity in the thunderstorm is quite dangerous to you. I can go alone. The distance from the top of the building to lure lightning is around 850 meters range.¡± Yin He said after she considered the distance.

    ¡°Oh yes, your program was set to a set distance of no longer than the range of 800 meters right?¡± Liu Gan suddenly thought and asked Yin He the question.

    ¡°You are my master, the procedure was set that I have to be within the range to respond to your presence.¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Respond?¡± Liu Gan drew a nk expression.

    ¡°Spirit response, as my spirit is veryrge.¡± Yin He continued to talk to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Androids have spirits? What is this procedure for response? And what is spirit response?¡± Liu Gan had a hard time interpreting this.

    ¡°I am a biochemically created android, not a regr android. I have a spirit.¡± Yin He stressed to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Ok, other than my response, what else can you sense?¡± Liu Gan remembered hearing Yin He talk about this. As he recalled the previous night by the building, Yin He was able to sense the threating from the young boy who stood outside theboratory doors.

    ¡°For example, I can sense possible threats, it is a type of perception.¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Can this perceptivity be strengthened?¡± Liu Gan was getting interested. The weather has always been gloomy and the sun can¡¯t be seen. So the sr panel that powers the PDA can¡¯t be recharged. If Yin He had perception capability, it could partiallypensate the regret.

    ¡°If we can find an even more perceptively stronger nanometers with higher grade response procedure, it will upgrade my perceptivity.¡± Yin He responded to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s discuss thister. You hurry over there. The thunderstorm might end any moment, so pay attention to your safety. If you can¡¯t find an appropriate location for luring lightning, then return ande get me. We will go further to try a different area.¡± Liu Gan looked out at the thunderstorm and said to Yin He.

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124 - Chemical Reaction

    ¡°Yin He responded and immediately charged out of the room, leaving the supermarket to search for a suitable ce for attracting lightning.

    Liu Gan was wandering around the supermarket. Due to the thunderstorm, all patrol groups were back in base. There were some yers who have been out the whole day and only learned about the change in power when they returned. They all learned about the Fall of Tiger Lord and the Rise of Liu Gan.

    After a while all yers epted the fact that there was a new leader now. They didn''t care much about who the new leader was since they weren''t very close to Tiger Lord to begin with. On top of that, there wasn''t a huge change in the way things worked. The one positive change was that Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing became vice leaders, so these yers were feeling at ease. It was well known throughout the base that Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were very courteous people, and this indirectly influenced Liu Gan. It showed that Liu Gan as a new leader was a good judge of character and he wasn''t malicious.

    No matter where Liu Gan went, there were always some yers who woulde up to greet him. However, this wasn''t Liu Gan''s style since he didn¡¯t like the ttery, which Tiger Lord enjoyed so much. As a second generation from a rich family, Liu Gan experienced these type of ttery and praises from a lot of people, so he knew that he valued his independent lifestyle.

    By the time Liu Gan was about to finish his trip around the supermarket, he reached to the medical bay. Zhang ShengLi were already awake as he sat up on the bed frame and he was chatting with the female doctor.

    ¡°Brother Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi cheerfully yelled as Liu Gan walked closer.

    ¡°Now that you are awake, how are you feeling n?¡± Liu Gan asked as he sat at the bedside.

    ¡°She said that you treated my wound just in time, then the doctor operated on my chest and lowered my temperature. So my current problem isn''t bad, it is just a matter of recovering from it. But, I don''t know how long that will take¡­¡± Zhang ShengLi replied.

    ¡°The sutures on wound seems to be healing fine.¡± Liu Gan looked at Zhang ShengLi¡¯s chest. Liu Gan recalled his earlier years when he was very active in sports. He would get all types of physical injuries, which sometimes even required stitches. Judging from his memory, with this type of injury, in the real world it would take at least two days for his injuries to this state.

    ¡°Yes, I stopped taking pain killers since it isn¡¯t as painful as before. Now, I can at least bear the pain.¡± Zhang ShengLi replied very happily. Zhang ShengLi had given up all hope and thought that he was dead for sure, so he never expected Liu Gan to pull him back from the verge of dying.

    ¡°That is good.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Brother Liu, it is my fault that I am slowing you down¡­ I also heard from people that you were fighting against a group? And you killed their boss?¡± Zhang ShengLi said apologetically.

    ¡°I didn''t want to do it. He wanted to kill me so I had no choice but to defend myself.¡± Liu Gan smiled at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Brother Liu¡­ No I should call you Elder Liu. My life was yours ever since you saved me and this wasn¡¯t the first time you have rescued me. If I can survive from the gate of death, then afterwards I will dly be first person who will unquestionably follow your lead! No matter what you order me to do,I will do it Elder Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi emotionally said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°No need to be so formal and serious, we are brothers.¡± Said Liu Gan as he patted Zhang ShengLi on the shoulder.

    ¡°Your personality is a lot better than Tiger Lord¡¯s, if you were here earlier than the local survivors wouldn''t have fought against you.¡± Interrupted by the female doctor.

    ¡°Wait until youpletely cure him first, if there is anything wrong with him then you shouldn''t hope to leave here alive.¡± Liu Gan replied to the female doctor.

    ¡°Rx, he is like a bull, he won''t die so easily.¡± Female doctor said as she glimpsed at Zhang ShengLi¡¯s exposed muscles and she blushed.

    ¡°Doctor Lee is actually a very nice person. I discover it when I was chatting with her and I was very fortunate to have such a specialized doctor take care of me. Otherwise, I would be dead.¡± Zhang ShengLi quickly chimed in positive words to help the female doctor.

    Liu Gan looked at the female doctor, then at Zhang ShengLi¡­ No way. There possibly couldn''t be some sort of chemical reaction between them right? This female doctor¡¯s was at least a few years older than Zhang ShengLi. In addition, no one knew if she has been bullied by Tiger Lord and his people¡­ but if Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t mind then all was good.

    ¡°I still need to walk around, you should rest up.¡± Said Liu Gan as he got up to leave.

    ¡°Okay! Elder Liu, thank you.¡± Zhang ShengLi gave his thanks, since he didn¡¯t know how else to repay back Liu Gan.

    ¡°You are too kind.¡± Liu Gan smiled at Zhang ShengLi and left.

    Liu Gan walked to the doorway of the supermarket and looked outside at the thunderstorm. Yin He still didn''te back, so he wasn''t sure if she found an appropriate location to attracted lightning with a lightning rod. Since there was a 800 meters distance, would that be an effective restriction on her? What kind of android was she?

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t feel like she was an android that was limited by protocols and restrictions. At times, she gave off the vibe that she was a real princess.

    Hopefully she will charge herself, otherwise by tomorrow night she would have to terminate herself. What a mind boggling issue. She also mentioned that the instation transfer efficiency was very low, so even if she sessfully attracted lightning, it was questionable on how much of it could be turned into spendable energy.

    She mentioned that when 71% of her nanometers were fully charged and that took 1 month to fill up to that point. If she is lucky, maybe she can fill up to 1% by tonight. It couldn¡¯t possibly be that absurd right?

    The most urgent task was to find her some high quality nanometers. To switch out these low standard electrical sma nanometers. Otherwise she would end up like the PDA, and be useless junk that serves no other purpose than being an ornament.

    He was unsure if there were other locations other than San Xing Corporation¡¯s secretboratories where he could find ways to upgrade her system or find some upgraded nanometers.

    Tomorrow was definitely a good time to search around nearby to look for top secretboratories. If those existed then they shall test their luck.

    When Liu Gan was walking around the supermarket, he start to chat with the supervising yers who were managing different districts. It looked like this supermarket was definitely an appropriate campground. Especially since the food supply was plenty. There were at least a dozen bags of 50 kg rice with numerous 20 kg bags of rice. With these With these all yers would feed themselves around another half a month.

    If it wasn''t for the worry of arge scale corpse tide threat, Liu Gan would consider staying here and set up base camp. Since it was possible to stay and train these yers then head out for other ces to go, as this would be a safer method.

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125 - Brother Liu

    Liu Gan¡¯s original goal was to search Green Pao Bay, for the serenity airship. Now, his other goal was to set up a reliable base which made it easier for him to move around safely.

    Tomorrow was the designated day when serenity airship was going to depart from Green Pao Bay, Liu Gan was definitely sure that he couldn¡¯t reach there in time even if he left now. In addition, even if he wanted to take over the airship, he would need a lot of crew to do that.

    These yers within the supermarket were trained under Tiger Lord¡¯s. So there should be some yers who were above level 3, who had decentbat abilities. At least, they were stronger than normal people. If he and Yin He took some time to train them, then they could reach level 4 quickly.

    If he could absorb around a dozen yers into his personal team, that wouldn''t be a bad thing. With his strength and Yin He, they definitely wouldn¡¯t dare to revolt. The only foreseeable w in this n was that there were too many people. The moment they left the supermarket, for find some food it was going to be troublesome.

    So before finding a reliable source of food supplier, it was best to travel with a light group especially in this apocalyptic world. Since this supermarket could still supply food temporarily, Liu Gan was going to use this opportunity to observe these yers. From now on, the yers would be under surveince andter a dozen yers would be hand picked and trained by him and Yin He. When food shortage that couldn¡¯t be resolved he would have to give up on majority of the yers in supermarket. He could only bring selected few with him.

    When Tiger Lord established his elite team, he had the same idea.

    After a few more hours, the sky got gradually darker, however the thunderstorm didn''t stop. Yin He was still outside, Liu Gan turned on the earphones that Yin He gaved him and attempted to reach her a few times, but there was no response.

    Was it because of the electrical interference from the thunderstorm or because she left the 800 meter range set by Jiang JinYuan?

    If she ran away, he would be alone once again. After arriving to [The Trembling World], he ced all his trust on an android.

    Could it be because their intimacy level wasn¡¯t high enough which caused a conflict in her system procedures?

    Standing by the window, the rain was pouring down and visibility was low. Liu Gan wasn''t able to see clearly at the tall building across the street. If he heads outside now, it would be dangerous for him. So even if Yin He escaped and he climbed up to the top of the building to search for her, it would be pointless.

    He could only hope that it was due to the interference of the thunderstorm that he couldn¡¯t reach her.

    Around 3am in the morning, the thunderstorm finally stopped. The night sky was about to clear up. Liu Gan was still sitting in his room quietly meditating, as he felt movement nearby, he opened up his eyes to find Yin He was back as he was in front of him as she stared at him.

    ¡°I''m back¡± said Yin He, now Liu Gan could finally rx a bit.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Did you charge up? Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°Charged up enough for another day.¡± Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Didn''t it take you a month and more to store up the electricity to 71% in underground? Since your instation efficiency rate is low, so howe all of a sudden you were able to charge up to a day''s¡¯ worth of electricity¡± Liu Gan curiously asked Yin He.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember all of it specifically , maybe they made me produce multiple electrical discharges, but tonight''s weather was really good. Therge building nearby had a lightning rod which could attract up to a billion high pressured voltage. So even if my sma converter had a low efficiency, since I can get lightnings fromf that power, then with one strike I was be able to gather plenty of electrical sma.¡± Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°So it¡¯s like that.¡±After hearing Yin He¡¯s exnation, Liu Gan was he able to rx. There were many things in this area that wasn¡¯t avable, but if it was an electrical lightning. It looked like there were a few hours in a day when there would be a thunderstorm. Within NinJing City¡¯s numerous tall buildings, as long as there was a thunderstorm, Yin He could go out and fill her daily needs.

    Even though, Liu Gan didn¡¯t personally witness the power of her electrical discharge, when her electrical sma was fully charged, the [Thousand Voltage Discharge] attack might be enough to char up the enemy or even vaporize thempletely.

    It was still possible that San Xing Corporation¡¯s biochemical intelligence department had anticipated the end of the world. Especially after foreseeing that thunderstorms would be frequent, they used this method to power up Yin He. Otherwise, it could be said that they were really stupid to use such a troublesome method.

    ¡°Master, you can rest now, otherwise tomorrow you won¡¯t have a lot of energy.¡± Yin He told Liu Gan.

    ¡°Now that you care about me, does that mean our intimate level is higher than before?¡± Liu Gan attempted to tease Yin He.

    Yin He thought about it briefly before answering ¡°Yes, I can hold your hand now.¡±

    ¡°Only holding hands?¡± Liu Gan said with a disappointed expression.

    ¡°Only holding the hand.¡± Yin He restated firmly.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s just hold hands.¡± Liu Gan stretched out his hand to grab Yin He¡¯s hand. He could feel that her hand was ice cold just like a metal.

    Yin He continued to stare at Liu Gan. Unsure of what she was thinking. Moments after, Yin He¡¯s hand rapidly heated up. Liu Gan thought it was strange.

    ¡°Your hand is generating heat?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°Yes, Master, I use electricity and convert it to thermal energy, so that it will feel more realistic like a human touch.¡± Yin He nodded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me master, it feels distant. From now on, just call me Brother Liu.¡± Liu Gan said after thinking about it.

    ¡°Okay, Brother Liu.¡± Yin He quickly adjusted to it.

    ¡°Really nothing more than holding hands?¡± asked Liu Gan while holding Yin He¡¯s hands. This wasn¡¯t because he had bad intentions, but he felt that even though he was with her for 2 days this closeness level was rising too slowly.

    ording to Jiang JinYuan, Yin He and Liu Gan¡¯s closeness level had strict protocols. So in order to get it higher, it would have to be when her procedure had some conflicts. She still could be able to recognize him, remember him, and had a high intimacy level.

    ¡°Only holding hands.¡± Yin He maintained her stance as she answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°You are a starting point. It always starts with holding hands¡± Liu Gan uncontrobly said. In the real world, when Liu Gan was bored, he would read novels and soon he discovered that a lot of the novels were missing pages when it rted to holding hands and romantic plots. Especially true with plots that involved holding hands and more.

    ¡°I am not a starting point, I am Yin He.¡± Yin He said in a strict manner as she had no idea how to answer to his strange statement.

    ¡°Forget it, I will just go to sleep.¡± Liu Gan shook his head andid down on the bed.

    Yin He sat down by Liu Gan¡¯s bedside, and she reached out to touch his hand. Then retract it, only to reach out to feel his hand again.

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126 - Prestige

    The second morning after Liu Gan woke up, he immediately rushed towards the medical bay.

    Zhang ShengLi was sitting up, and when he Liu Gan arrived, he got even more excited and voluntarily showed Liu Gan his wound.

    ¡°You guys are definitely not normal people, the wound healed up way too fast. Judging from the rate of healing, I can remove his stitches tonight. So by tomorrow, he will bepletely healed.¡± said Dr. Lee as she examined the Zhang ShengLi¡¯s wound.

    ¡°When he is healed, I will allow you to return to the local survivor¡¯s camp.¡± Liu Gan said to Dr. Lee. Even though, this camp really needed a doctor, but he promised her safe passage, so he couldn¡¯t go back on his word.

    Dr. Lee¡¯s full name was Lee Miao. Before the catastrophe, she was working at the hospital and her house was nearby. She was happily married with children, but the disaster took her husband and children away. She was the only one who was lucky enough to survive.

    After hearing Liu Gan said that, Lee Miao peered at Zhang ShengLi, but didn¡¯t reply to Liu Gan. As a lucky local survivor, survival was the most important thing for her. Even though the hospital side camp had a lot of people, but the food supply was running low. So in terms of food, the survivor¡¯s camp wascking.

    After Liu Gan killed Tiger Lord, even though there were still some yers who were keeping an eye on her, they were still courteous towards her as Liu Gan ordered.

    The most important aspect was that she and Zhang ShengLi were getting along really well.

    ¡°Dr. Lee, why don¡¯t you stay.¡± Zhang ShengLi suddenly suggested.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about that tomorrow.¡± Dr. Lee Miao replied to Zhang ShengLi. She felt that if she immediately said yes, it would be misunderstood as if she had no reserves and essentially as an easy person.

    Looking at the way the two talk to each other and the subtle expressions, Liu Gan felt there wasn¡¯t a need to worry about his camp not having a doctor.

    Wang DeCheng came over and whispered to Liu Gan ¡°Elder Liu, it¡¯s time for the morning meetings, we are all waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will head towards there now.¡± Liu Gan said as he left with Wang DeCheng from the medical bay.

    Right now was the training time set by Tiger Lord. Since Tiger Lord was no longer here, the yers were all gathered in an area close to the supermarket entrance which had arge vacant space. They were waiting for Wang DeCheng to call Liu Gan.

    ¡°Elder Liu Morning¡±

    Every yer greeted Liu Gan in unison. The troops lined up perfectly with every yer standing their backs straight up. It would be a difficult to maintain long term obedience and strict formation in the real world. However, after days of hardship there was no need for regting order, they voluntarily disciplined themselves.

    It¡¯s just like the ancient times in a court with government officials, when they had to face the emperor who had just seized the throne through force. They had to be honest in their intentions, otherwise, they could get beheaded any time. These regr yers when they faced stronger yers like Tiger Lord or Liu Gan, it was no different than a government officials facing the emperor.

    ¡°Morning everyone.¡± Liu Gan nodded to the crowd of yers.

    ¡°Elder Liu, yesterday I followed your instructions and told all the patrol groups to pay attention to the two young sisters, but they weren¡¯t able to track down their locations. Should we continue to expand the search radius?¡± Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan for instructions.

    ¡°You only need to notice them when you patrol, as for the patrol routes they will be managed by you so you can set the routes.¡± Liu Gan replied to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Okay, Elder Liu¡± Han GuangMing shouted in a loud voice, in a prideful manner.

    ¡°Elder Liu, yesterday, I had them tally up the supplies and created a lis. Then, I created a detailed proposal for distributing it. With this distribution n, our food supply canst for two months. You can go over it, if you feel like it is appropriate, then we will follow this distribution n.¡± Wang DeCheng reported to Liu Gan holding several papers of proposal.

    ¡°No need for the proposal, allow them to freely eat, but don¡¯t waste any food.¡± Liu Gan looked at the proposal and replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°But that¡­¡± Wang DeCheng was in shock, and can¡¯t wrap his head around Liu Gan¡¯s reasoning.

    Right now in this apocalyptic world, food wass the resource that was the most critical. If they eat without restriction, then the food supply wouldn''t evenst half a month.

    ¡°The supermarket is good, but it is too close to the city center, so at any moment there can be a corpse tide assault. These zombies are wandering aimlessly at the city center, so if we get ambushed , we will have to give up this campground. So all the food that we can¡¯t finish, will have to be left behind.

    Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng, ¡°So we have to eat heartily so our brothers can eat to their hearts desire. Afterwards, I will find a better location for a base. That location must have a steady supply of food, so we don¡¯t have to be so stingy with rations. The best oue is to rake in profits without putting in too much effort.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then we shall do as Elder Liu says, the brothers are allowed to eat unrestricted¡± Wang DeCheng announced.

    ¡°Long Live Elder Liu¡± the crowd of yers cheered happily. Tiger Lord had set up a harsh rationing system aside from the elite team yers, all other yers weren¡¯t able to eat much. So they always had a feeling of hunger. Now that Liu Gan says that the can eat to their heart¡¯s eat until they were full, there was nothing more pleasing and exciting for them.

    Next thing was Liu Gan¡¯s training program. Aside from the 4 patrolling squads to foil ambushes from the survivors, there were going to be two more groups. One group would remain here guarding the supermarket, another group would start leveling up with Liu Gan.

    Under Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s guidance, all the broken and heavily injured zombies were left for the yers to kill. yers who followed them were practically getting power leveled.

    (ED: Good old Taxi)

    asionally, there would be a level 2 yer who would happily say that they leveled up, and there were some level 3 yers who reached level 4.

    After eating they were able to level up quickly with Liu Gan as the new leader, their prestige and cohesiveness collectively increased. The previous days, the yers followed Liu Gan¡¯s orders because they were afraid. Today, after killing countless zombies, their fears turned into appreciation and admiration.

    Today, there weren''t any movements in local survivor¡¯s campside. They didn¡¯t send in anyone to bother the yer¡¯s campground. Liu Gan knew that the quarrel between both sides was all due to Tiger Lord¡¯s actions. So he dropped the idea of voluntarily attacking the local survivor¡¯s base camp. Right before the thunderstorm at night, everything was still peaceful.

    As thunderstorm approached, Liu Gan let out Yin He to go to the tallest building to feed herself.

    Han GuangMing walked over to report to Liu Gan. The patrol groups haven¡¯t been able to locate Lee Ding sisters or their corpses. Liu Gan guessed that the sister¡¯s might not be gutsy enough to approach the camp and they were possibly wandering elsewhere.

    ¡°Are they that important to you, should we expand our search radius to where zombies are? They couldn¡¯t possibly gone that far away.¡± Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan.

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127 - To be prepared

    ¡°No need, I recently met them. They were my guides me and I promised them food aspensation, but if you can''t find them then I can''t give them their rewards.¡± Said Liu Gan.

    ¡°Elder Liu is such a honorable person, who always keeps his word.¡± Han GuangMing said with admiration.

    ¡°That can only be said to the one who is qualified to keep that promise.¡± Liu Gan humbly replied to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Elder Liu, we ate a lot of food today so please take a look at this. After releasing the restraints, the amount they consumed was a lot more than expected. Judging from their speed of consumption, we canst around a week with supplies we currently have.¡± Wang DeCheng said as he walked over with the ledger.

    ¡°No need to worry, we won''t stay here that long.¡± Said Liu Gan as he pushed away the tally list since he had no intention of managing this.

    ¡°The Brothers were starving before, so since we opened up the food storage to everyone that''s why they ate so much. They won''t eat as much tomorrow.¡± Han GuangMing tried tofort Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang DeCheng was still feeling unsettled, but after Liu Gan spoke out, he didn''t say anything.

    ¡°Brother Wang, there is something I want you to arrange tonight.¡± said Liu Gan as he recalled something.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what do you need.¡± Wang DeCheng quickly replied.

    ¡°Can you gather the supermarket¡¯s most important resources like medicine, easily storable food products, warm clothing and store them up in backpacks. Arrange it so that every yer can carry them easily without it impacting their movements. Then leave them at the front entrance of the supermarket with all yer''s name written on them.¡± Liu Gan said to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang DeCheng agreed, but he didn''tprehend the reason behind this action.

    ¡°In addition, the streets within the city are disabled with blockages, from what I saw I see it we can still use bicycles. Can you pump air into all the bicycles we have, then park them by vacant area in front of the entrance of the supermarket.¡± Liu Gan added.

    ¡°Okay, I will go arrange all of this, but I don''t know why Elder Liu is going to do with these preparations¡± said Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°You will find out two dayster.¡± Liu Gan smiled and didn''t exin much.

    Liu Gan wasn''t sure of certain about what what will happen, but the only thing he could do was to be prepared for things that scared him. By cing these stuff at the entrance of the supermarket, they weren¡¯t a hindrance. If nothing happened, then they could just disassemble the bags and take the resources out.

    Another day passed. Zhang ShengLi¡¯s body waspletely healed. Seems like Liu Gan''s judgement was correct. After the yer''s leveled up, all their body properties increased and the healing regenerative property surpassed that of a normal person¡¯s.

    After reaching level 4, Zhang ShengLi had superb healing powers. So since Liu Gan was level 5, his regenerative power must be even higher.

    Originally after Zhang ShengLi healed up, as they agreed, Liu Gan was going to release Lee Miao back to the survivor¡¯s camp. However unexpectedly Zhang ShengLi convinced her to stay. After a brief moment of convincing, she agreed to remain there.

    In the post-apocalyptic world, people were lonelier. Only through dependency they could get through this. Just like Lee Miao and Zhang ShengLi. Originally, Lee Miao wanted to protect her life by saving Zhang ShengLi, but she developed some feelings for him while she treated him.

    Since the camp had a doctor now, it was very a good thing for them. Liu Gan dly created chances for them. For all his future ns, he grouped the two of them together so no matter what they did it would be a good opportunity for them to grow together.

    As for whether they werepatible or not, was far beyond his control so it wasn''t his main concern.

    Today marked the 4th day Liu Gan arrived at the supermarket.

    Right now, there were sixteen yers who sessfully reached level 4 under Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s guidance. The remaining yers reached level 3. The camp¡¯s overallbat ability was phenomenal and you couldn¡¯tpare their strength to four days ago.

    The local survivors at the hospital side had been very quiet. They didn¡¯t cause any trouble to the yers, they were unsure of what they were nning. Liu Gan didn''t think too much of it.

    The yers killed all nearby zombies to level up, but there were moments when Liu Gan wanted to take them further away.

    While he waso leveling up the yers, Liu Gan was hoping that he would meet a variant zombie, so he can advance to level 6. His only regret is that he wasn''t able to meet one.

    ¡°Elder Liu Liu Liu Liu¡±

    Just as Liu Gan and Yin He were leading a squad of yers to an area further away to kill zombies. A yer from nearby patrol squad ran over breathlessly. He rushed up to in front of Liu Gan and he couldn¡¯t catch his breath.

    ¡°What happened? Don''t rush, tell me slowly.¡± Liu Gan saw the fear in the yer''s eye. Liu Gan could tell something bad was happening.

    ¡°Arge wave of corpses are heading this way. They are close to the nearby street corner and the street are packed with zombies.¡± blurted out by the yer as he finally caught his breath.

    Liu Gan¡¯s facial expression looked very ugly. He quickly rushed over to the street side, and started to climb a building nearby until he reached its roof. With his strengthened eyesight, he look at the direction the yer said.

    After looking in that direction, Liu Gan¡¯s heart sank.

    Arge scaled, denselycked corpse tide was slowly moving towards their direction. They didn¡¯t look like the crazy rushing types, the way they were moving was like if they were being pushed. So naturally, they were forced to move. As for the what caused this corpse tide, it was still unknown.

    He witnessed the densely packed corpse tide, with only half a kilometer left in between them. The only good thing is that this is a slow moving corpse tide, it was moving as if it was being pushed to move. If this was the fast moving corpse tide, then the patrolling yers wouldn''t have time to escape and these yers just recently leveled up!

    The direction they were heading, was precisely the storefront for Fortune and Youth supermarket. Even though they were moving very slowly,they take them around thirty minutes and one hour to reach the block that the supermarket was in.

    With these types of corpse tides, were same as arge-scale ant swarms. No matter where they went, they would devour everything on their paths. So even level 5 yers or even stronger yers like Liu Gan would have trouble. If they were surrounded, the only route was death.

    ¡°You guys immediately split up and look for the patrol squads and send them back to the camp. If you can''t find them then you have to return to camp in fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, we will all leave this base camp¡± Liu Gan ordered as he jumped off from the roof top. Then Liu Gan and Yin He started to search nearby for the patrol squads as well.

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128 - Departure

    Wang DeCheng finally understood the purpose why Lui Gan asked him to leaving those backpacks and bicycles. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan¡¯s prior preparations, then they would be scrambling to gather the materials and resources, and the amount they could bring would be a lot less than it was now. Because the preparations werepleted, it made evacuation so much smoother and less hectic.

    Even though the time arranged for the search was fifteen minutes, but by the time they found all the squads 20 minutes had gone by. Judging from the updated speed of the corpse tide, around 20 minutes they would reach the street facing Fortune and Youth supermarket.

    There were obvious signs of difort and unease on the faces of some yers. At the same time, there were some yers who were mourning. Surviving in [The Trembling World] was very difficult. It was hard enough to establish a base camp in the supermarket. Then, they had to live with Tiger Lord¡¯s strict rationing system and rules. Finally when they assimted to the lifestyle of this temporary home and could satisfying meals with Liu Gan as their new leader something like this happened.

    Even though Liu Gan did mention that the food they couldn¡¯t eat would be left behind, but arge portion of it was still sitting in the storage. It was obvious that they didn¡¯t want to leave, but so they could only carry a small load.

    Even after leaving, they still had no idea on where to head towards. They also had no idea if the new location would have a big food storage like they had in the supermarket.

    With such low morale, the moment it would be very troublesome.

    ¡°I believe you all witnessed my abilities, then you should know my personality. So if you don''t want to follow me, then you can stay. I definitely won''t force you.¡± Liu Gan announced as he stood outside the supermarket and looked all the yers by their bicycles.

    ¡°Elder Liu, I am willing to follow you!¡± Shouted in reply by Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°I am also be willing to follow you no matter where you go!¡± the crowd of yers shouted together, but it was undeniable that they were still scared.

    ¡°It looks like no one wants to leave the group, okay as long as you are willing to follow my lead, I can guarantee your safety. So everyone must follow my rules, and no one will die while we leave the supermarket. I will protect you and find a new camp so everyone can settle down. Once we find some food, then we won''t have to starve.¡± Liu Gan continued with his speech to the crowd.

    ¡°Thank Elder Liu, long live Elder Liu.¡± Several of the yers shouted as they started to brush away their uneasiness.

    ¡°Let me tell you some good news. Before I arrived here, I found a report which said in a certain direction in NinJing City there is a bay. In this Green Pao Bay there is a airship. "There is a huge amount of food provisions in the reserves of the airships. Besides, this ship is very safe both in the air and on sea. It can be used as our permanent base of operations anywhere and it is definitely safe. As long as we reach there fast, we will be able to own such a base." Liu Gan continued to the yers.

    Even though there was a chance that serenity airship left the Green Pao Bay, Liu Gan didn''t tell that fact to the yers. Since he wanted to give them hope. Just like when Cao Cao¡¯s army was marching, but they were very exhausted and their morale was low. Cao Cao lied to the troops and said that just a bit further there were plum trees that had many plums and these fruits could be picked to quench their thirst. The moment the troops heard that, they marched faster with boosted morale and ultimately, reached their destination.

    [TL: Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms. What a beautiful ¡®white lie¡¯.]

    Liu Gan told the yers possibility if aserenity airship that may not exist, but it was so they could have hope for the future. They need to know that the leader had goal and location in his mind. Now, with Liu Gan leading them, they would set down their resolve to cross the entire NinJing City.

    If Liu Gan, as a leader, didn¡¯t have a target location in mind, only chose an escape n blindly. That would contribute to their panic and confusion. If this was the case, then it would be very bad news to the escaping squad.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s depart¡± Liu Gan used a brief minute to motivate the yers, then with a simple order he lead the yers away from the supermarket.

    As the yers left, many of them turned their heads back and looked at the supermarket. Their teary eyes revealed a reluctant expression. It was until they turned the corner of the street when they couldn¡¯t see the supermarket anymore, and thus they lost their chance to go back.

    ¡°Elder Liu, if we continued this way, we will pass arge sized hospital. That hospital is the base camp that houses hundreds of local survivors. If we get discovered by them, they will definitely attack us. I suggest that we change our current route.¡± Zhang ShengLi looked on ahead and suggested to Liu gan.

    There was no need to say it, but that suggestion was definitely not only his own. It came from thedy by his side, by Dr. Lee Miao. Zhang ShengLi was only voicing it out for her.

    ¡°What are your opinions¡± Liu Gan looked at Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing, since these two were more familiar with the location they would know what¡¯s best.

    ¡°Brother Zhang is right, if we continue straight, we will be nearby the hospital. The local survivors are around 100 people, if they all use locally manufactured bows and arrows, and spears they will be of a great threat to us.¡± Wang De Cheng and Han Guang Ming agreed with Zhang Sheng Li¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Okay, we will take a detour then.¡± Liu Gan nodded. Leading a group of yers with this much resources, he didn¡¯t want to add unnecessary troubles.

    The most important resource that they were carrying out from the supermarket was food. Some of backpacks were heavier than others. The especially heaviest one had vacuum-sealed bag of rice. This vacuum sealed bag of rice was definitely suitable for storing so it must be brought along.

    If they were average people, these yers would simply be unable to carry a bag of rice so easily But now, they could easily shoulder three to four bags of fifty kilograms, seven bags of eighty kilograms of rice. However their speed of travel would still slower than before.

    The bikes that some of these yers were pushing were able to carry some resources. Yet, when a team carried too many items in this extremely crowded road, their advance would be slower but these were yers leveled up their body¡¯s properties. So the overall speed of the group wasn¡¯t slow. Judging from their current speed, the corpse tide wouldn¡¯t catch up to them.

    Of course, this was very dependent on if they face an idents or not. If an ident urred, Liu Gan would order them to drop all of the resources and charge ahead. Even though it was hard to survive without food, but when their lives were threatened, food wass of the least important.

    Within the city there were still more patches of zombies or possibly ambushes by the local survivors of the hospital. It was unfortunate that the PDA can¡¯t be used, otherwise, Liu Gan could scan for possible ambushes up ahead and the current situation of the corpse tide behind him. Then, he wouldn¡¯t be feeling this anxious.

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129 - Disying One¡¯s might

    This whole day had been gloomy. asionally it would have thunderstorms. They never saw sun. Which made it impossible to recharge the PDA with the sr panels. So even if Liu Gan owned a very powerful tool, he was unable to use it to it''s full potential.

    The more Liu Gan thought about it, the more angry he got. When the game developers decided to hand this probing device to Jiang JinYuan, have they never considered the possibility of weather in [The Trembling World] and whether there were areas suitable for using sr energy as a power source or not, these were all such nonsense talk.

    Right now, as Liu Gan was organizing a formation for his troops, he thought of using a traditional method of scouting ahead to see if it was safe. Scouts would climb onto the roofs of buildings to check their surroundings from time to time, then shout back the report to the group.

    After passing through this district, they were going to reach the location by the river that the Lee DingXiang sisters had led Liu Gan earlier. Of course, the group wasn''t going to backtrack to the location Liu Gan got teleported. The issue was the region that was at downstream of the wide river. ording to Lee Miao, there was arge bridge. The wide river could bottleneck arge portion of the corpse tide, as long as the whole squad crossed therge bridge safely then they could escape from the grips of the corpse tide.

    Even though the corpse tide, wasn¡¯t chasing them, their current situation was no different from being chased. If the zombies caught up to them, only Liu Gan, Yin He, and a handful of yers would survive, most of the other yers would perish.

    The geography of the streets made their situationplicated. They had two options. If they head toward the bridge directly from nearby the hospital then there was a possibility of getting caught from behind by the corpse tide. The second option was that if they could took a detour using a longer route, then it would shorten the distance between the group and the corpse tide and it would took more time.

    Nearby the hospital didn¡¯t have many zombies blocking the road, but Lee Miao said that along the detour route, there were patches of wandering zombies.

    Even though these patches of wandering zombies fundamentally didn¡¯t pose any threat to Liu Gan. He could simply one versus ten zombies or more than ten zombies and it wouldn''t be a problem. The issue was that these type of battles would dy their travel. The longer it took, the threat of the corpse tide increased. So to escape therge scale corpse tide that was encroaching them, the group decided to use the hospital path, since it was a direct route.

    Even though the squad was travelling by with caution and producing minimal sounds, but they still alerted a scout of a nearby patrol squad that was nearby the hospital. When Liu Gan was moving up to clear out the path with zombies, at least a dozen people appeared on both sides of rooftops of two buildings. They were wielding simple hand gripped self-made bows and arrows or a simple bamboo spears or hadrge rocks in their hands. The locals shouted for Liu Gan¡¯s group to stop moving.

    The group wasted precious minutes on deciding the path and the corpse tide was not too far behind so if they stalled any longer, the result would be unthinkable.

    ¡°I am not here to fight with you. We gave up the supermarket due to arge-scale corpse tide that is heading this way. You should also hurry up and escape, otherwise you won''t make it if you wait too long¡± Wang DeCheng shouted in reply to the people on the rooftop.

    ¡°I am Dr. Lee, these people aren''t bad. The one called Tiger Lord was the bad person, he was killed off by our new leader who is very kind hearted.¡± Lee Miao added as she shouted too.

    ¡°Drop your baggages, then turn back and leave. Otherwise, don''t me us for treating you impolitely¡± said oa physically-defined male survivor who was wielding rather long spear. Hepletely ignored everything Wang DeCheng and Lee Miao told him.

    ¡°Tiger Lord is already dead, so everything bad that he had done is no longer rted to us. We don''t want to treat you as our enemy, so please don''t make this hard for us, we only want to pass through since there is a corpse tideing. If you don¡¯t take this chance to quickly notify yourpanions to escape from the hospital, then the corpse tide will devour everyone.¡± Wang DeCheng shouted in reply.

    ¡°You dead-beat-soldier, how dare you talk back to me.¡± said the physically-defined male survivor on the rooftop. The male survivor was very happy to hear that Tiger Lord was dead, sincest time they fought against each other. Tiger Lord proimed that he was a part of special forces, that was why the male survivor called Wang DeCheng a soldier.

    ¡°Our new leader is stronger than Tiger Lord, so don¡¯t make this difficult for us. It will bring you unnecessary trouble when we are only trying to give you our honest opinion with hopes of helping you.¡± Wang DeCheng replied to the opposition since they didn¡¯t want to drop the issue.

    ¡°F&%K You!¡±

    Wang DeCheng gave a warning to the opposition, in hopes that they would be intimidated, but the n backfired. The physically-defined male survivor on the rooftop got more angry and threw the bamboo spear at Wang DeCheng. Yin He received Liu Gan¡¯s order earlier and she was prepared to intercept the attack. Yin He quickly dashed and with mid air somersault she caught the spear. Quickly the other yers picked up a very simple shields and looked shelters to evade the attacks.

    As spears and rocks were raining from above, the physically-defined male survivor kept cursing and shouting out threats. The survivor kept threatening the yers to drop all their baggages and to retreat from the location or else they wouldn''t live to see the end of the day.

    Right when this male survivor was about to shout arrogantly again, a female gently bumped into his body. Then, he turned to look. He discovered that there was a tall and sturdy yer behind him, he was unsure of when this yer climbed up to the rooftop.

    ¡°Who are you and what do you want?¡± the male survivor was frightened as he shouted.

    ¡°I am their new leader, I don¡¯t care what issues you had with them before, but regardless of who is right or who is wrong, there is a corpse tideing as we speak. I will give you this onest chance to stop this foolishness. Drop all your weapons, and let us pass. From now on, we won¡¯t deal with each other anymore.¡± said Liu Gan.

    From what the yers told him said, Liu Gan knew that the earlier conflicts were indeed the yer¡¯s fault. This conflict started when Tiger Lord wanted to kidnap female local survivors. The yers were responsible for their wrongdoings, so Liu Gan decided to give these people a chance to live.

    As long as this male survivor promised to drop this issue and let his troops to pass through safely. However, if the male survivor continued to be blindsided by his foolishness and continued to block Liu Gan¡¯s path, then Liu Gan could only massacre them all. After all the corpse tide waits for nobody. If the troop stalls for any longer, the chances of escaping were low.

    ¡°Who do you think you are! Do you think that when you say a few words and I will take your word for it? Do you think I won¡¯t kill you right now?¡± replied the physically-defined male survivor as he recollected himself. The male survivor noticed that Liu Gan was the only yer up on the rooftop, and there were many survivors, so in terms of numbers, he had the advantage. So he wasn¡¯t afraid of Liu Gan anymore.

    The male survivor was thinking that this yer was quite stupid. He charged up to the rooftop solo and didn¡¯t ambush anyone. He dared to stand in front of all the survivors without taking advantage.

    ¡°I am not here to negotiate terms, I ammanding you to leave now and stop your persistent behavior. Otherwise, don¡¯t me me for what I¡¯m about to do next.¡± Liu Gan red his eyes at the male survivor and started to take steps closer to the survivors.

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130 - Hurrying Up

    Now, it didn''t matter, whether or not the opposition was innocent, as to how Liu Gan handled the situation. Since Liu Gan was the new leader of the yer''s group, his duty was to keep his group safe, and in addition he gave the survivors a chance. So if they didn''t appreciate that, then Liu Gan was left with only one option. It was to kill his way out.

    Yin He was standing by on the opposite building hanging in the shadows just awaiting his order. Once Liu Ganmanded it, she would immediately clear out the rooftop on her side.

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    The male survivor felt uneasy and took a few steps back. He lifted up the bamboo spear in his hand and threw it at Liu Gan. These lucky survivors seemed to have undergone the same upgrade as yers after they killed some zombies since the survivor¡¯s body qualities had all increased. The only difference between the survivors and the yers was that the survivors don''t know how they gained the strength. It was clearly evident that the arm strength of this male survivor was several times stronger than normal people.

    The bamboo spear wasn''t an optimal weapon for closebat attacks, so he had to increase the distance between them. So once they had a distance in between, he threw out the spear. And other survivors joined in with their weapons of bow and arrows and spears, and they bombarded Liu Gan with attacks all at the same time.

    What this survivor didn''t expect was that Liu Gan used both his arms and crisscrossed them in front of his chest, and then charged ferociously towards them. Like a shield, the spear bounced off of Liu Gan. Then with the next few steps he closed in on the survivor. Right before the male survivor could even react, Liu Gan lifted up his leg and and kicked him. The force of the kick sent him flying off the building roof top.

    The male survivor produced high pitched shrieks as he flew. Flying backward 10 meters or so andnded onto the ground from a seven story building. His head was the first to make contact with the floor and it cracked like an egg falling onto the ground, with brain paste sttered everywhere. His whole body, bones and organs were shattered, leaving behind a pool of blood, as heid there lifeless.

    ¡°The one you seek for your revenge is the previous leader, Tiger Lord! He has been evil for too long so I killed him! This is your onest chance for resolve this peacefully. Tell your men on the opposite building to back off! Otherwise, I will massacre every single one of you!¡± Liu Gan shouted to the survivors on his side of the rooftop.

    Every survivor stood in ce, shocked. With Liu Gan''s ruthless behavior, they all subconsciously dropped their weapons. They didn''t expect this yer to be so strong and brazen and that he would kill their leader right in front of them. With such fearless tactics, they openly handed over the rooftop to Liu Gan.

    He said he killed Tiger Lord, they realized hisbat ability must be above Tiger Lord. So he must be the strongest one there. They''d all witnessed the male survivor throw the bamboo spear at the yer, but the yer just used his arms to block it like a shield. So his arms must be hardened like metal, otherwise the spear wouldn''t have just bounced off.

    Then, the male survivor was sent flying off the building roof with a just kick. It was so one sided that the male survivor didn''t even have a chance to retaliate. Upon impact on the ground, he died instantly. Every survivor there knew that they were no match for Liu Gan. After the final warning from Liu Gan, they seemed to have awoken from their daydream and stopped resisting and shouted to the other buildings to do the same. Otherwise, they would all get ughtered by this strong yer too.

    ¡°I am Lee Miao! This is the new leader of the supermarket and he is stronger than Tiger Lord by a hundred times! If you don''t listen then you will die! I wouldn''t lie to you! Leave now quickly! Arge wave of the corpse tide is heading this way, and in around ten minutes or so it will be here! We are all escaping so you should let everyone at the hospital know too! They should head toward therge bridge to escape this. We have to beat the corpse tide in reaching the river! Otherwise it will be the end!¡± Lee Miao shouted at the top of her lungs warning the local survivors.

    The local survivors on the opposite building weren''t as stubborn. Once they heard their fellow colleagues shout to drop their weapons and Lee Miao¡¯s shout, they all obediently dropped their resistance and quickly left the premise of the rooftop.

    They were very lucky to have made such a fast decision, if they hesitated for a minute longer, Liu Gan would¡¯ve ordered Yin He to take care of it all. This was all for the sake of protecting the yer¡¯s safety. They didn¡¯t have anymore time to waste on the likes of these people.

    ¡°Hurry and let the people know within the hospital so they can escape in time! There is really a corpse tide! Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t leave the supermarket full of food!¡± Lee Miao kept shouting out loud. Since she was once a member of the lucky survivor¡¯s camp, she still felt a sense of connection to it.

    Lee Miao¡¯s loud voice attracted the attention of nearby zombies. A dozen of these stragglers followed the source of the sound and rushed over. However, these stragglers fell short of their target as they were killed off by experienced veteran zombie killers of level 3 and level 4 yers. They used their simple shields to line up in a formation. First they blocked, then in the other hand they each had an axe that they used to casually chop apart the brains of the zombies. Then, they felt the warmth given off by the ck orbs as it turned into experience to help level them up.

    Liu Gan silently observed from above. From his point of view, he got to briefly taste what it would feel like to lead a small scale battle. Truth be told, if he could honestly train more squads of yers, then he could lead a toon of yers. He will reach level 10, and every yer in the toon would be level 5. By the time there are a hundred or a thousand yers, then what a magnificent sight it would be when they charged into battle.

    Of course, it is just an idea. To execute that n into action, it wouldn¡¯t be too realistic, since the main concern in the apocalyptic world was still to secure a steady food source. If he had too many yers following him, then there would be too many mouths to feed and that would be a fatal problem.

    Even when Liu Gan was amongst the others, he still prefered to travel solo. Even if his status changed to the leader of the supermarket, that was only because he had to kill Tiger Lord. If by the time they reached Green Pao Bay, they still weren¡¯t able to secure enough food for all the yers, he would have to choose the option of abandoning them. At most, he could only take Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing and a few others.

    If this doctor¡¯s skills are as good as she says they are , then she could be taken along too, since her knowledge can save a life at a crucial point.

    ¡°Squads, we have to move quickly! The corpse tide is closing in! We have to rush over therge bridge.¡± Liu Gan quickly ushered the yers.

    The yers increased their speed and they quickly passed by the hospital and its¡¯ nearby district as they headed toward the direction of therge bridge. Right as they walked by the hospital backdoor, nearby that area the yers saw from afar that arge number of local survivors frantically rushed out from the backdoor.

    These local survivors were different from yers. Every yer that entered the game was healthy young men and after leveling up they had increased physical strength. However, the hospital local survivors were mostly the elderly, feeble, females and children. In addition, these few days, they had been running low on food so arge portion of them were as thin as a match. Their bodies were very weak. Even as they were escaping, there were many crying soundsing from within the group.

    ¡°I will have to go help them¡± Lee Miao saw this scene and couldn¡¯t bear it anymore.

    ¡°You stay right there in your spot! Otherwise, I will kill you immediately!¡± Liu Gan ferociously yelled at Lee Miao.

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131 - To Survive

    Lee Miao was shocked. She looked at Liu Gan, but was unable to make a sound since this was the first time she had seen him so fierce when he spoke to her.

    When they were in therge skyscraper, Zhang ShengNan was being foolish, but Liu Gan didn¡¯t stop her. Zhang ShengNan¡¯s temperament was very stubborn and he was dispensable. So in his future toon, he will would sure there will be no such person.

    However, Lee Miao was different. She was a doctor, so before Liu Gan could find a doctor with a better skillset, she must survive for the sake of treating wounded yers. His respect for her was limited to her job. So as long as she obeyed hismands, he didn¡¯t have a problem. If she decided to act foolishly without permission, he would have people restrain her and limit her freedom.

    He was doing this not to save her, but for the good of the whole group.

    ¡°We have arge wave of the corpse tide closing in on us. The elderly, the disabled and the sick will be walking at a slow pace. We can¡¯t afford to go help them. Even if we do help them, they will only slow us down. What will happen to our resources that we need to survive on. If we abandon these valuable resources now it is no different from giving up on surviving. Elder Liu is right, don¡¯t act selfishly.¡± Zhang ShengLi tried tofort her.

    The former Zhang ShengLi might have been the first to stand up and rush over with Lee Miao to help, but ever since his sister¡¯s death it would always be a painful lesson for him to remember. He would never make such a foolish mistake again. Although he didn¡¯t know whether this was a right or wrong decision, he knew that as long as Liu Gan spoke out against it then he would stand by his decision.

    After experiencing so many things, Zhang ShengLi finally understood one aspect of surviving in this post-apocalyptic world. He had never met anyone who would think things out more than Liu Gan and there was no other person than him that would be as calm in these situations. Ever since Zhang ShengNan died, Zhang ShengLi decided that no matter what Liu Gan decided to do, he would unconditionally obey.

    ¡°They are really pitiful.¡± Lee Miao sympathetically said again, but ultimately she gave up the thought of trying to help them and followed Zhang ShengLi with the group.

    This thirty year old female has experienced many situations so her temperament matured just as much, so she won¡¯t act like a spoiled teenager. She would ept criticisms and persuasions. Besides that, she knew that if Liu Gan got provoked, he would definitely kill her.

    After walking past the hospital back entrance, there was still a kilometer of distance between them and therge bridge. They must make it past these two long streets. As the group walked closer to the bridge, they could see that there were a lot of zombies gathered on it.

    From a nce, the bridge seemed to have been covered by many parked cars, but in between the cars on the bridge were many scattered zombies wandering about.

    Liu Gan climbed a nearby high-rise and he hung onto the infrastructure exterior as he used his enhanced eyesight to analyze the situation. His heart skipped another beat as he looked on¡­ Across the bridge that was close to the city center on the opposite side, had an established camp by the end of the bridge. The zombies nearby hadn¡¯t been cleared out in the vicinity. In fact, with a closer look, the streets were packed with zombies! Even though it isn¡¯t as packed as therge corpse tide, it was enough to cause a headache.

    Looking back at where they had came from. The corpse tide covered up his visual field of the horizon. They were steadily closing in on the location where the local survivors stalled the group earlier. An estimate of ten or so minutes was left before the corpse tide reached the group. It was really hard to determine the source of this corpse tide. It was as if the game was forcing these yers into a dire situation, as if it must kill off every single one of them.

    Amongst the corpse tide, Liu Gan could faintly distinguish arge bulky zombie from the rest. It was absolutely certain that this was the Giant Colossal variant zombie that Liu Gan was looking for. If only he could kill one, he would reach level 6, but seeing this variant zombie he wasn¡¯t too happy at all.

    Mixed amongst the corpse tide was this variant zombie. Even if he was a strong yer, charging straight into there was certain death with no remains left.

    Even after reaching level 5, this [Trembling World] was making it hard to survive in. From his point of view, the game was increasing in difficulty. Even if he pushed himself to get stronger, [The Trembling World] seemed to always have a surprise for him.

    ¡°You lead the group and continue toward the river, I will go with Yin He to see if there are boats nearby the river.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi and his other trusted aides, then left with Yin He.

    Noticing Liu Gan¡¯s grim expression, Zhang ShengLi and the others knew that the situation wasn¡¯t good. So they ushered the group to rush closer to the edge of the river. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan and Yin He having power leveled these yers, they wouldn¡¯t be able to clear a path through the zombies in their way.

    After Liu Gan and Yin He left the group. The group was stalled by the zombies on the street closer by the bridge. This caused the yers to advanced extremely slowly and they were barely able to move up half the street. By this time, the local survivors were able to catch up to the yers with the elderly, the disabled and the sick.

    A portion of the yers turned around to face them. They carried shields and axes as they watched the local survivors catch up. Amongst the local survivors they also had strong individuals that carried spears, swords, wooden sticks, and bows that were aimed towards the yer. It was as if war could break out at any moment.

    Just as the swords were about to be drawn and bows bent, someone yelled and everyone tensed up.

    ¡°If you want to live then join us! Humans shouldn¡¯t kill each other!¡± Lee Miao rushed up to and urged the people and yers on both sides.

    ¡°I only want to live!¡± replied a local survivor loudly.

    ¡°We do too! If you won¡¯t attack us, we won¡¯t attack you!¡± Zhang ShengLi, acting as vicemander, and replied for the yers.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s work together!¡± the local survivors lowered their weapons and supported the weak, disabled and sick as they mixed with the yer¡¯s group.

    The two groups mixed together, and they advanced, killing their way toward the bridge. Even though these two groups had fought and killed each other before so they had a hatred of each other, now they shared amon intention.

    It was to survive.

    Liu Gan with Yin He reached the river side, and his expression was even more grim. Alongside the river, he couldn¡¯t find a boat. Seems like if he wanted to avoid therge-scale corpse tide that followed behind. His only option was to force his way through the bridge. So before the corpse tide reached the bridge, he needed to secure a path first. He could find a secure locationter.

    Seeing that the local survivors and yers were mixed together, Liu Gan immediately understood what happened. He didn¡¯t speak much about it, and he only lead Yin He to the front to open up the road.

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132 - Killing on the bridge

    With Liu Gan and Yin He opening a path, the group''s momentum increased. Amongst the local survivors there were some strong yers. Especially those that were on the roof when they stalled Liu Gan earlier. After they witnessed Gan and Yin He ruthlessly killing zombies, only fear was visible in their eyes.

    Luckily, the local survivors didn¡¯t fight with the yers. If they fought these two god-killers would rush over and nobody could stop them. I would be aplete massacre.

    ¡°Throw away the bicycles! Charge towards the bridge with full speed and kill!¡± Liu Gan was feeling that the situation wasn¡¯t right as hemanded the yers.

    The yers were showing painful expressions, one could see their reluctance to part with their resources, since throwing away the bicycles meant leaving behind their food. A good amount of local survivors who were starving and physically thin, once they heard that yers were abandoning their bikes, they saw that there were a lot of food on those bicycles. They rushed towards bicycles and forced food into their mouths, it didn''t matter if food was raw or cooked.

    At this moment, not only the zombies on the bridge rushed over also all other zombies in area which heard the noise were also rushing towards group. Liu Gan and Yin He with stronger local survivors were killing more and more zombies, but these zombies wereing in like a big wave which made it harder to approach the bridge.

    For the elderly, sick, and disabled people who rushed over to eat the food was unhindered. With attacks from zombies their voices or cries for help could be heard. However everyone was focused on their battles, they had to care for their own safety, so it was impossible for anyone to care for the elderly, disabled and the sick people.

    The real world followed the survival of the fittest with only the strong surviving and the weak perishing. Even if they were transferred to [The Trembling World] thew of the world didn¡¯t change, in fact it became even more cruel. There was no pity for the weak, it wasn¡¯t because they weren¡¯t feeling any sympathy, but because they themselves had to work hard to survive and there wasn¡¯t time to feel sympathy.

    Facing this entrapment in [The Trembling World], no one was strong and everyone was weak. The degree of difference amongst the weak was not the same for everyone. Those that were overflowed with sympathy would disregard their own safety to rescue the elderly, disabled and sick, but they all would get dragged into doom of other people, by getting surrounded by zombies and then getting shredded to pieces.

    ¡°Do your hardest to protect the doctor! If you can¡¯t protect her then abandon her!¡± Liu Gan shouted ,as he fought off zombies, to Wang DeCheng and Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Yes. Understood.¡± Zhang ShengLi nodded. He had Lee Miao by his side. Lee Miao was carrying a simple shield, so every time the zombies close in on her, she would use it to push them back. Then, Zhang ShengLi woulde to her aide.

    With this many zombiesing closer. A loud scream came from behind, it came from a yer who was fighting zombies with the local survivors. After the elderly, disabled, and sick dead from the local¡¯s side were all . The yers and strong locals also started to diminish in number!

    After 10 or so minutes, Liu Gan was able to kill his way until he reached the bridge entrance, but by that time the corpse tide was nearby, the tide were looking like densely packed ants as it marched over. The number of zombies looked endless. Once they saw shes and heard sounds of battle, they rushed over.

    Following Liu Gan only 29 people remained alive as they continued to fighting against zombies.

    Liu Gan watched [The Walking Dead], an American TV series. In this show, the zombies were moving slowly even after they saw a human, it would chase to catch its food. So normal people could easily escape as long as they could run.

    But not in [The Trembling World]. Every single zombie here would run as long as it could. The zombie running speed was faster than running speed of a normal human and once it smelled the scent of fresh blood. It would run like a cheetah at its top speed, and ferociously w and bite.

    ¡°Everyone throw your backpacks! Once you are tired drop all the bags! Follow me towards the bridge! If you want to survive, then follow me closely! After I kill some zombies on the bridge, use the cars to set up a blockage! This was we can temporarily stop the flow of the corpse tide!¡± Liu Gan told the yers of his n.

    The situation was a lot worst than before. To protect their own lives, they had to give up certain objects.

    As Liu Gan was fighting with his fire axe in a swift fashion. Yin He also working hard to kill off straggling zombies, as she worked her way towards the bridge. Up ahead the bridge there was a car ident. A cement truck crashed into arge truck. Nearly half the bridge was sealed off. This was a perfect location for setting up a blockade.

    Liu Gan was assessing situation of surrounding area, while Yin He was clearing out the nearby zombies. Then yers and a few strong local survivors gathered behind them. Together they all pushed a nearby truck towards the traffic ident, with intentions of sealing off thest portion of the traffic ident before the corpse tide passes that gap.

    ¡°Wait for us!¡±

    There were several injured yers and local survivors who were doing their best catch them, as they were shouting loudly at the people pushing the truck. The zombie tide was just

    a few meters behind these injured yers. In a few moment, the zombies covered the roadway of the bridge, and for those who were in way of the tide. Their fate was very obvious...

    ¡°Shall we wait for them?¡± someone asked Liu Gan. Right now, not only the yers but also the surviving locals were also treating Liu Gan as their leader.

    ¡°We can¡¯t wait!¡± Liu Gan sighed as he looked the injured yers and locals. If they wait any longer, their lives would be in danger as we;;. Hearing that order, everyone pushed arge truck over to the gap. They sealed off the roadway for the bridgepletely.

    For safety¡¯s sake, after overturning therge truck. Everyone split up to push over suitable small cars to strengthen the blockade.

    From the other side of the car blockade they could hear loud screams and curses from the yers and locals. The remaining yers and locals that followed Liu Gan their faces were full of regret, and there was a hint of hopelessness in their eyes.

    However, there wasn¡¯t any time for them to feel despair and hopelessness. The scattered zombies all heard ruckus when they were moving the cars and they were rushing toward Liu Gan and his group. The weight of the zombie was more than ten tons so the cement truck started shifting from its¡¯ spot.

    The most daunting sight was when the zombies overrun the blockade purely by piling up one on top of another as they formed a zombiedder and the rest were able to sessfully climb on top of the car. Any sort of obstruction facing these blood-crazy zombies were nothing but a useless shell.

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133 - Daydream<hr>

    Liu Gan quickly scanned the circle of people who were still alive. Level four yers who he had trained personally, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing were still alive. As for the other level 4 yers, only two of them got surrounded by zombies in the corpse tide. The rest of the group were level 3 yers.

    Every time yers level up, their strength would increase substantially level 4 yerspared to level 3 yers were a lot of tougher, with more speed and power. Which was a great advantage. To be able to keep up with Liu Gan meant that they had a higher chance of staying alive.

    What Liu Gan did not expect was the fact that Lee Miao was actually still alive, perhaps it was because she was tightly affixed to Zhang ShengLi. Even that wasn''t enough to calm her nerves, her body kept trembling.

    Only five people remained from side of local survivors. Four men and one woman, and one of these young men and the woman was obviously a couple. Although not egotistical, they looked like they were capable fighters. Without a doubt out of the hundreds of local survivors at the camp, these five were the strongest.

    "Everyone, follow the Little He and start crossing the bridge while killing wandering zombies! Let me handle the corpse tide!¡± Liu Ganmanded the remaining people in the group. The ¡®Little He¡¯ that he mentioned was Yin He.

    "Roger!" Zhang ShengLi and others, didn''t know what tactics Liu Gan was going to use, but still they were very obedient as they followed Yin He to cross the bridge while cleaning up the wandering zombies.

    After everyone left the blockade, Liu Gan pulled out the ring for the hand grenade, then threw it at crawling with zombies which were climbing the stacked vehicles. The power of the grenade explosion sent those zombies flying and at the same time it ignited the fuel tank of the overturned vehicles. Fuel tanks were ignited and once they detonated, it caused a great surge of fire.

    Liu Gan was roaring as he pushed the nearby vehicles one by one into the me and soon the vehicles were on fire. The surface of the bridge looked like a sea of mes. As more and more cars were pushed into the fire, the surface area of the mes increased. Asrge amount of zombies rushed fearlessly into the sea of mes, they got burned. The zombies were contributing to fueling the mes. This was a temporary solution to block the corpse tide from overrunning the bridge.<hr>

    [TL: that''s lit.]<hr>

    As zombies at the frontlines were burning, the zombies that were following them also started burning since they were on top the zombiedder. The fire continued to spread from top of thedder to bottom. Even though zombies were burning, they still crawled over the sea of mes. Until they dropped dead before they could reach Liu Gan.

    "Hello, my name is Zhou, I am named Zhou MingLiang." A survivor came back to greet Liu Gan.

    "I do not care what you are called but you''d better stay with others. Otherwise I can''t guarantee your safety while I''m busy!" Said Liu Gan as he pushed another car into the sea of ??mes, he also threw the burning zombie back into the fire.

    ¡°Leader, you are really strong! How many more hand grenades do you have? I have a way that can permanently end the corpse tide if it works.¡± Said Zhou MingLiang in ce without departing.

    Zhou MingLiang looked about thirty years old. His hobby was to physically exercise whenever he could. After the disaster, he had to kill a lot of zombies before his mutation urred. He was one of the several Enhanced Survivors from the local survivors side. His current strength was almost equivalent to a level 4 yers. The other few survivors also the strength was almost equivalent to level 4 yers.

    "I have seven or eight left." Liu Gan replied, he was somewhat intrigued. He had ten hand grenades which he umted along the way. There were someying in the storage of the supermarket, and now they belonged to him.

    ¡°This roadblock can not stop them for a long time, crossing this bridge will take a long time since it is also full of zombies. We can¡¯t kill all of them fast enough, so it is likely that we will get surrounded on the bridge. We have to blow up the bridge topletely block stop the corpse tide. Or even if somehow we sessfully clear the zombies on the bridge, this corpse tide will endlessly chase us as we escape.¡± Said Zhou MingLiang.

    "You want to blow up the bridge with only several hand grenades? Are you daydreaming?" Liu Gan shook his head, even if he used all of his hand grenades it would be impossible to blow up the bridge, right?

    "I am not speaking nonsense, because I used to work in the vicinity of the bridge, I participated in the original design of the cable-stayed bridge so no one knows the weakness of this bridge better than I do. Plus, we don''t have to destroy the bridgepletely, we only need to pinpoint the key cable wires and destroy them. The other suspension cable wires will snap from tension and they will fall like dominos. Then half of the bridge surface will copse into therge river.¡± exined Zhou MingLiang to Liu Gan.

    "Are you sure that your idea is feasible?" Liu Gan stopped what he was doing and confirmed what Zhou MingLiang said.

    "It should be feasible if not, we can always jump into the river to survive." Zhou MingLiang take a look at the rapid river below.

    ¡°Jumping into the river? Don''t even think about it! In the water below there are very strong variant type zombies, and there are at least a few of them in there.¡± Liu Gan shook his head. Previously together with Yin he when he was searching for a boat around the riverside, they couldn''t find one. So they nned to enter into the river, but after they entered they saw several ferocious monsters which they never saw before chasing each other.

    Sometimes they would surface, sometimes they would dive back into the water. These variant monsters had a huge ugly strange structures with frighteningly sharp fangs and they could swim nimbly through the waters. Liu Gan even had a deep suspicion that those were no longer simple variant zombies, but these could be ssified as zombies which were mutated and reached advanced levels.

    "Ah?" Zhou MingLiang listened to Liu Gan and he was shocked silly. His swimming skills were quite good and he could swim for long periods of time. He chose jumping into the river as hisst escape choice. Now that he heard Liu Gans encounter with the Advanced Variant Zombies which could survive underwater, he felt as if there was was no way out of this situation.

    "Tell me more about your n about blowing up the bridge.¡± Liu Gan ushered Zhou MingLiang. At this point, only blowing up the bridge looked like it was the best solution to stop the zombie tide.

    Even though vehicles on fire caused a sea of me, but it wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the corpse tide for a long time. The zombies would march over the sea of mes since they were unafraid of death. The moment the oil from the oil tank was exhausted, the fiery blockade would also lose power sooner orter and it would be overrunned.

    "Youe with me." Zhou MingLiang rushed to the bridge with Liu Gan, and helped him to pry open the iron covers to get inside of the bridges maintenanceyer. Within the maintenanceyer there were a few zombies which were wearing uniforms and wandering round, but soon they were all killed by Liu Gan.

    As Zhou MingLiang was telling his idea to Liu Gan, blowing up the whole bridge would require knocking out at least several important nodes. Essentially, he was exining the principles of structural mechanics and how to determine which crucial points were the nodes where Liu Gan must of target.

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134 - Suspension cable<hr>

    [TL: I dyed releasing the next few chapters because the situation on the bridge was confusing as hell. I wanted to make sure it was as urate as possible to what the author would''ve wanted it portrayed. One chapter tonight only! My birthday celebration awaits! Bye all!]

    ¡°You only have to show me where these locations are, otherwise even if you told me I won¡¯t know which one is which.¡± Liu Gan interrupted Zhou MingLiang. Once Zhou MingLiang started talking, he really didn¡¯t know how to stop.

    ¡°Ah, okay.¡± Zhou MingLiang revealed a slight with an embarrassed smile and didn''t continue to show off his knowledge.

    As the two continued to walk, Liu Gan under the guidance of Zhou MingLiang opened all metal ted bridge panels. If there were any unexpected idents, escaping through any of these bridge panels was possible so they needed to open these covers up before they attempted to blow up the bridge.

    ¡°The space in base of this bridge is very narrow, so it''s the perfect location for maximizing the effects of a grenade. It should be enough to snap the cable wire holding the bridge. Once the cable wires snap, this half of the bridge will copse.

    ¡°The order that you should blow up the bridge should be like this. Start from there here, then here, after that there, don''t forget that location over there¡­ as long as you follow this order, you will have enough time to escape to a safe area. Once this half of the bridge copses, the corpse tide won''t be able to chase after us. Then we can stay on this side of the river and find a safe zone to survive.¡± Zhou MingLiang said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, let''s get started. Time doesn''t wait for anyone.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    "You wait, let me go back up before you start." Zhou MingLiang said as he was ready to slip back up to the bridge surface.

    "No, you and I stay are staying together, incase if I encounter with a technical difficulty that I need help with especially if I blow up the wrong ce." Liu Gan reached out to hold onto Zhou Mingliang.

    [TL: LOL you aren''t going anywhere bro.]

    ¡°I need to go back up tomunicate with the others above, so they can rush towards the other half of the bridge. Otherwise, they wouldn''t know the situation when we blow up the bridge and they might sink with this side of the bridge.¡± Zhou MingLiang was trying to find an excuse to escape.

    ¡°Oh you don''t have to worry about that.¡± Liu Gan took out his earpiece and told Yin He what the n was. He told her to rush towards the safe side of the bridge as fast as possible and wait for him there.

    Zhou MingLiang was helplessly tagged along with Liu Gan at the maintenanceyer. Liu Gan stood on standby until he heard from Yin He that they were nearly done killing off all the wandering zombies on the bridge, then Liu Gan started his n of blowing up the bridge.

    After choosing a safe spot, Liu Gan ced the a grenade at the first location, after he pulled the ring out and ran back to the cover spot. Just as he crouched behind the cover spot, there was a muffled explosion noise and a shock wave shortly followed it.

    The whole bridge shook, but there weren¡¯t any sound of cable wires snapping.

    "Doesn¡¯t sound like it snapped off?" Liu Gan asked to Zhou Mingliang.

    ¡°No need for it snap, it only needs to shift from it¡¯s position. As long as you follow the sequence and explode these point ordingly, then the whole thing will fall from its¡¯ own weight. At that point, the connecting point between the bridge and the cable won¡¯t be able to hold the weight and break. Trust me. My major was Material Mechanics. I helped to design this bridge, so listening to me won¡¯t be the wrong choice.¡± Zhou MingLiang vowed to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan half-believed him, half-doubted Zhou MingLiang. Since Liu Gan felt that all thing was unreliable, so he had no choice but to treat a dead horse as if it was alive. Just incase this hand grenade was unable to blow up this bridge, he could only escape before the corpse tide surrounded him. Worst case scenario, he had to abandon everyone else. Only with Yin He, two of them could to kill their way out.

    [TL: ¡®treat dead horse as if it¡¯s still alive¡¯ is an idiom, meaning trying is better than not trying at all in ast ditch effort of desperation.]

    Of course, it was hisst resort. It was not easy to train a powerful and obedient team. So he wouldn''t easily give them up.

    Second grenade, third grenade...

    The amplitude of vibrations of the bridge deck was getting stronger with every sessive explosion. If you listened to them carefully, you could already hear sound of the bridge cracking.

    Sixth grenade, seventh grenade...

    ¡°Okay! The bridge is about to copse! We better escape now!¡± Zhou MingLiang was attentively listening the sounds that were produced by the bridge. After the seventh grenade exploded, he yelled towards Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan quickly came out from his cover and together with Zhou Mingliang, they ran towards the exit. Liu Gan reached the bridge surface first, then reached out with his hand out and pulled Zhou MingLiang up. Once both of them were steady on the bridge deck, the first suspension cable produced a loud sound ¡®bang¡¯ in the process and it snapped off.

    The huge thick suspension cable instantly lost the ability to support the bridge, under the immense tension and the downward force shifted the bnce of the bridge. The suspension cable rebounded and swept across thenes. Cars that were in the middle of the road were swept up and were thrown off of the bridge. Cars started flying after a 10 meter drop they feel into the river below.

    The suspension cable swept by Liu Gan and Zhou MingLiang. It caused a strong gale due to the tension created from being extracted from the bridge deck. The location where it was pulled out from the ground formed arge pit in the ground. Friction from the cable generated sparks as it ricocheted back and forth in midair, reaching heights of 100 meters high from one side of the bridge to the other.

    ¡°F%#K! Was this also in your calctions?¡± Liu Gan panicked as he asked Zhou MingLiang. Luckily, the cable only swept 2 meters close their bodies, if it was any closer their bodies would get pulled in by the force. It would¡¯ve been impossible to survive that.

    "No! We hurry we need to run! Once the strength of the rebounding suspension cable is exhausted, other suspension cables will certainly snap and sweep as well!" Zhou Mingliang was extremely rmed as he answered Liu Gan. Then together with Liu Gan, they bolted towards the end of the bridge.

    Two Giant Colossal Variant Zombies trampled onto the bodies of the regr zombies, as they marched from the direction of the supermarket all the way up to the fiery blockade. With their gigantic hands, they pushed away the burning roadblock of vehicle remains. Then they were able to move everything in front of them aside and sessfully cleared a path through the blockade.

    While the two Giant Colossal Variant Zombie clearing the fiery blockade, their bodies also caught on fire. This type of fire wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill them, so after clearing out the path, they lead hundreds to thousands of fearless regr zombies that rushed at the bridge deck, as they charged toward from the other side of the bridge.

    After the first suspension cable snapped off, everything that happened afterwards was same as what Zhou MingLiang said. Another suspension cable snapped, producing horrifying sounds of ¡®bang bang¡¯! And once again the bridge plummet lower as it shifted in bnce from more suspension cables letting go.

    These gigantic suspension wires were swinging randomly at high speeds in midair, until they collided and wrapped and coiled around each other, then they whished onto the bridge deck with tremendous force.

    Dozens of regr zombies were caught in the bacsh sweep, within seconds after contact they were crushed as pieces of rotten limbs were sent flying everywhere. Even one of the Giant Colossal Variant Zombie was caught in the high speed suspension cable, it instantly separated the left shoulder its body, cutting through the abdomen with an oblique cut. Leaving behind two piles of mush on the bridge.

    [TL: the fiery blockade is near the side closest to the bank with corpse tide walking through. Liu Gan is blowing up the part of the bridge that is also on that same side. Liu Gan didn''t pass the midway part of the bridge yet.

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135 - After the Cmity<hr>

    [TL: Sorry for the dyed chapters.]

    The Giant Colossal Variant Zombie seeped out a dense ck orb. It was able to catch up to Liu Gan, who was trying to escape. It soaked all through his body.

    ¡Ñ¡£¡Ñ

    Meanwhile Liu Gan ran like a madman at his top speed, and suddenly felt a nice warm burst within his body. It was a familiar warmth that was simr to when he leveled up. His body ran faster as if his top speed had a new limit, and his sight and hearing became even more clear. Liu Gan had been frantically running so he didn''t witness the scene of the suspension cable whish cut the Giant Colossal Variant Zombie in half. So in his mind, it was indeed a strange phenomenon as he didn''t kill a Variant Zombie yet, so how could it be possible for him to level up without killing one?

    It was like the type of sensation that you got from leveling up though, but as Liu Gan was wondering what is going on, he didn''t have time to look at his wrist watch. The most important task is for him was to reach the safety on the other side of the bridge or to run out of the range of the suspension cable. Otherwise, if he got struck by the suspension cables, even his alloy limbs would not withstand the force and he would be smashed into mushes of meat.

    The suspension cables recoiled back into midair, and soon whipped back onto the surface of the bridge deck. Another dozen ordinary zombies also got struck and were sent flying off. Even with the suspension cable danger, these fearless zombies marched head on into it. They were no match for the massive cables though, and upon contact the zombies were obliterated.

    Liu Gan and Zhou MingLiang forced themselves into a sprint for the other half of the bridge deck. Only after they joined up with the group did they stop running. Then they both took deep breaths to regain theirposure and at the same time turned back to look at the scene of the suspension cables snapping around due to recoil.

    Compared to the scene where the suspension cables whipped back and forth, this was an even more attractive scene. It was a single Giant Colossal Variant Zombie leading hundreds of regr zombies behind him. Itpletely disregarded the suspension cables in midair, and with such a menacing aura, it continued to march.

    ¡°Howe the bridge didn''t copse?¡± Liu Gan asked, since he felt the situation didn''t seem right. If that half of the bridge doesn''t copse, and the corpse tide bypasses the fiery blockade then he didn''t have any other way to stop them.

    What was different with this corpse tide from thest corpse tide was that besides the front of the pack was being led by a Giant Colossal Variant Zombie, there were a few other Colossal Variant Zombies mixed within the corpse tide further in the back. Even Liu Gan didn''t have the confidence that he could kill the Colossal Variant zombies ande out unscathed.

    Right now, he judged that with his troops current ability if they decided to fight the Giant Colossal Variant Zombies mixed within the corpse tide then they would surely die.

    "Rest assured, the suspension cables broke off so it is bound to copse. It will soon copse, and ording to my calctions, it should be in these few seconds. If you don''t believe me, watch me countdown¡­ Five¡­ four¡­ three¡­ two¡­ one¡­¡± Zhou MingLiang started his countdown.

    The moment Zhou MingLiang said ¡°one¡±. The entire bridge body shook. Numerous nted suspension cables on one side of the bridge broke off at once. The cables couldn''t bear the tension and the massive weight and the whole thing made a terrible sound as it copsed downward into the river.

    There were already thousands of zombies up on the bridge deck and they all charged past the leading Giant Colossal Variant Zombie. All of them screeched as they fell with the copsed bridge straight into the river below. The broken bridge produced a loud sound and water sshed up. Upon impact, it produced a spiralling whirlpool that sucked all the zombies under. The Giant Colossal Variant Zombie and the regr zombies were all submerged into the water and then resurfaced, only to be carried downstream by the current of the river.

    As the whole bridge shook with tremendous force, the whole troop except Yin He, fell to the ground from the shockwave. They slowly got up, but didn''t dare to stand upright. They crouched on the floor nervously as they surveyed the surroundings just in case there was an aftershock from the bridge that shook and knocked them down again.

    When the bridge shaking finally settled down, everyone finally found their nerves to stand back up. Without the worry of the corpse tide, everyone looked at the other end of the bridge.

    As they looked across, everyone¡¯s heart skipped a beat..

    Due to partial bridge copse, it generated very loud noises that attracted all the nearby zombies to the side of the bank they were headed. After they gathered, they charged up towards them onto the bridge. Although the sheer number of these zombies wasn¡¯t as much as therge scale corpse tide from before, it could still be described as terrifying.

    Seems as if it was escaping out of a wolf¡¯s den and into a tiger¡¯s mouth! There wasn¡¯t a moment to rx at all.

    "Elder Liu, what should we do?" Everyone looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s use the old method. First let¡¯s use fire to burn them then we can n our next step!¡± Liu Gan instructed everyone to push the cars to form another blockade, that was simr to the blockade earlier on the copsed side of the bridge, before these zombies rushed at them. Only around a dozen cars were stacked up to form the blockade this time, and the caps for the oil tanks were intentionally left open so it would spill out when pushed over. Now they just had to wait for the oil to spread out onto the surface of the road.

    As the zombies rushed up, Liu Gan took the opportunity to pull out a hand grenade and threw it at the area where the gasoline seemed to have umted the most, and instantaneously these dozens of cars lit up.

    Afterwards, they pushed even more cars nearby onto the already burning cars. Between the zombies and the troop there was an around 20 meter sea of burning cars. Arge number of these regr zombies climbed onto the cars only to be burned to death. asionally a few zombies would get pass the blockade, but it lost most of its¡¯ ability to fight from being burnt thoroughly.

    On this side of the bridge, it didn¡¯t seem like it was able to form arge-scale corpse tide, and there weren¡¯t any signs of Variant Zombies. However, these 20 meters of burning fire, was enough to stop the thousands of zombies that had rushed up to it and burnt to death.

    Everyone was finally able to release a sigh, while some sat or stood on the road of the bridge as they watched the cars burn. For a brief moment, they felt relief like the type of happy feeling you get after you survived a cmity.

    Liu Gan finally took this chance to look at his alloy watch. What he didn¡¯t expect was that his level indicator really said ¡®6¡¯! While he was escaping on the bridge, it leveled up him! Thinking back on it, wasn¡¯t there a suspension cable that severed the Giant Colossal Variant Zombie¡¯s body in half. Liu Gan couldn¡¯t help but wonder why. Could it be that the suspension cable killing the Variant Zombie also factored into his experience points?

    Could it be¡­ since it was due to him blowing off the suspension cables that caused the Giant Colossal Variant Zombie to die, so indirectly it was him that caused the death of the variant zombie. So then, the experience points all went to him? If this was a type of rule, then he would have to make sure to use this method effectively in the future!

    For example, if there was a group of variant zombies standing by a gas station. If he threw a hand grenade at the gas station then after the variant zombies all died from being burned and blown up, then would the experience all go to him? What an awesome indirect method to earn experience!

    Having said that, to find variant zombies was very hard. The chances of finding a group of variant zombies standing by a gas station was nearly equivalent to zero.

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136 - Copse<hr>

    Ever since Liu Gan left the San Xing Corporation¡¯s building, he had been searching for Variant Zombies to kill so he could level up. It was just disappointing that aside from the corpse tide, he wasn''t able to locate any of them.

    Right when Liu Gan pondered upon how to abuse the system¡¯s game rules to earn experience, the remaining part of the cable-stayed bridge that was still connected, suddenly shook. Around them, appeared a huge crack. After that arge section of the bridge deck with the maintenanceyer started to deteriorate.

    Amongst the survivors in his group, the couple, and that male survivor were right on top of the copsed part of the bridge and he couldn''t react fast enough. So they fell along with the copsed road.

    His partner quickly reached out to grab his hand. The two of them interlocked their hands familiarly, but the female survivor didn''t have the strength to counteract the force of her boyfriend falling. In the confusion, she didn''t grab onto something sturdy and she ended up getting dragged down with her boyfriend.

    While this happened, right below them in the river a few meters within the range of falling debris of the copsed bridge appeared two faces of an extremely ugly monster. It''s body was ratherrge, and as it opened up its mouth, sharpened fangs were revealed. After themotion above, it faced the bridge deck and roared.

    Liu Gan didn''t let it slip by him. He quickly grabbed onto the exposed steel wire that stuck out in one hand and in his other hand he dangerously held onto the female survivor''s ankle.

    ¡°Quickly pull me up¡± cried the male survivor who hung right above the two ugly monsters with their mouths wide open. He was so frightened by what he saw that he didn''t need to know the consequences if he fell into the water.

    ¡°I fell too¡­¡± cried the female survivor desperately. She could only feel someone holding onto her ankle, but she was doubtful that they could hold on for long. In this condition, it was hopeless to expect both of them to get pulled up.

    Once Liu Gan took his stance firmly on the ground, he used his strength to pull the couple up. It would''ve been impossible for normal people to pull them up without using both hands, but Liu Gan only needed one of his hands.

    Others started to rush over and quickly helped. Together, they were able to pull the couple back onto the bridge deck quickly.

    When the couple got back on their feet, they followed everyone back to the area where Zhou MingLiang designated as safe. Only when they looked back at the broken bridge, did they realize how close to dying they were. They quickly thanked Liu Gan for saving their lives. 3 other survivors also walked over to thank Liu Gan, since the couple were their importantpanions.

    ¡°Now that we are together, we are a team. I would hope for you guys to be like us and unconditionally ept Elder Liu¡¯smands. Only this way, can he be able to guarantee your safety and help you guys escape from here.¡± Wang DeCheng walked over to lobby the few survivors into joining their squad.

    Previously on the bridge, while they were still on the bridge fighting off the corpse tide, the yer¡¯s side lost a good half of their yers. Since these 5 Survivors seemed quite capable, Wang DeCheng quickly went to be the lobbyist for their group.

    ¡°Elder Liu has a good personality. Originally, I was captured by Tiger Lord. It was Elder Liu who killed Tiger Lord and saved me. He also treated me with respect.¡± Lee Miao said as she walked over.

    ¡°Then, Brother Wang, how do we join you guys?¡± asked Zhou MingLiang. Zhou MingLiang loved to talk. He was an expert when it came to interpersonalmunications. After hearing the other yers interact with Wang DeCheng, by calling him Brother Wang, Zhou MingLiang followed suite. It was to close the distance between the two of them so they could be more friendly, even though he was older than Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Are you representing them?¡± Wang DeCheng confirmed with Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°We have no other choice, and if we follow them we could survive longer. What do you guys think?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked his other 4panion.

    The other four quickly nodded. They didn¡¯t object to the suggestion. Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s abilities were top-notch. In addition, Liu Gan seemed to be able to think calmly even in dangerous situations. This was evident throughout the whole time when Liu Gan guided them away from the corpse tide. Within this post-apocalyptic world, they could survive only if they followed strong individuals.

    ¡°Well this would still depend on Elder Liu¡¯s wishes.¡± after Wang DeCheng confirmed that these Survivors wanted to join, he looked at Liu Gan as it wasn¡¯t his own call to make.

    ¡°Elder¡­ Liu?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Liu Gan. Even though it was the first time he said it out loud, it sounded reluctant. In due time, it woulde out more smoothly because that was Zhou MingLiang¡¯s personality.

    ¡°If you are obedient, and your actions match mymands, then I will consider it. However, if I have to question your actions, then for my survival I can''t ept you. It would be better for both parties since it might cause disruptions within the ranks¡± answered Liu Gan. His answer was not a solid yes or no, and it was just that he would observe them since these people were strangers to him.

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s especially important that no matter what Elder Liu instructs you, you have to follow strictly and don''t do things on your own. Especially don''t do things that you feel are out of kindness from your standards. Not only will you kill yourself, but you will bring harm to your teammates.¡± Zhang ShengLi added. He brought that up because it reminded him of his sister, Zhang ShengNan¡¯s situation so this aspect still pained him.

    ¡°We will¡­ do our best.¡± Zhou MingLiang expressed his interest as he looked at his fellowpanions.

    ¡°Our lives were rescued by Elder Liu, so we are willing to follow Elder Liu and follow his rules.¡± Dered the male and female couple. If it weren''t for Liu Gan, they would both be in the stomach of the water monsters.

    The other remaining two male survivors looked at each other and disyed their willingness to follow the rules and join the yer''s group. Since the survivor''s camp no longer existed, and only 5 of them remained, and with 3 of the 5 of them willing to follow Liu Gan, these two were left with no other choice.

    ¡°Wee to our group!¡± Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, Zhang ShengLi and Lee Miao happily congratted the five Survivors and each of them introduced themselves to each other.

    [TL: oh please no, more names.]

    The couple amongst the Survivors, the male was HuJun and the female was Zhou JingJing. Their day job was being a package courier. The other two male survivors were called Zhang Hua and Xu ChangHui. Zhang Hua was a shop owner across the street nearby the Hospital. Xu ChangHui was a patient caretaker in the hospital.

    While everyone was introducing each other, the originally quiet bridge started shaking again. The nted suspension cables at the connecting nodes with the bridge produced a horrible ¡®kaka¡¯ sound. Especially the center of the bridge, the part, that was rooted deeply into the river; it also was the highest point of the bridge. As the heart of the bridge started leaning in the direction to the side that had copsed, it slightly tilted in that direction.

    ¡°Expert Zhou, would this be considered as within your predictions?¡± asked Liu Gan watching the bridge center start to rock with all its suspension cables attached. Even though, Liu Gan didn''t understand Structural Mechanics, he understood that if the steel infrastructure at the bridge center toppled over, then it might bring down the whole bridge.

    [TL: Liu Gan is making fun of Zhou MingLiang when he is talking to him in thisst paragraph. By the way, follow my ylist? :)]

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137 - Afraid of Heights

    <hr>

    TL: xdh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Allenwa<hr>

    ¡°It could be possible that once half of the bridge loses the support of the suspension cables, the tugging tension that was bncing the bridge will be lost. Previously, I thought we only needed to blow up that half of the bridge and that would cut off the corpse tide so we could escape. I never would¡¯ve thought that we would be trapped on this half of the bridge and unable to escape.¡± Zhou MingLiang embarrassingly answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then what do you suggest?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhou MingLiang again.

    ¡°To get off the bridge as soon as possible, as this half of the bridge could copse at anytime.¡± Zhou MingLiang answered Liu Gan truthfully.

    ¡°How do you suggest that we get off this bridge?¡± Liu Gan looked at the bridge deck with the and the mes were still burning. After the mes ignited the vehicles, they would burn for at least another 15 minutes. In addition, there were still hundreds of fearless regr zombies who rushed into the sea of mes toward them, meaning that putting it out was not a usible answer.

    Even if it was a pack of wild wolves, they would know when to retreat when faced with thisrge wall of mes. Only these strange monsters called zombies would not be afraid of anything. They will march on ahead with only the fear of there not being enough meat to split up.

    Beneath the bridge were two ferocious monsters, with sharp fangs that encircled them in the river. They were waiting for the food on the bridge to drop down. These would be the people who had lost hope and asst resort, jumped into the water to escape.

    No one said anything, they only looked on at Liu Gan, especially the yers. In their eyes, there was nothing Liu Gan couldn''t do, even in such a dire situation nothing would be able to stop him.

    ¡°Expert Zhou, if this half of the bridge also copses, then would that cause this steel pir to copse with it?¡± Liu Gan asked after he thought for a little while.

    ¡°No way, when it topples over at a certain angle, this half of the bridge will also copse. Once this half is gone, it will lose the counter tension from the steel cables. So based on my previous design, the steel pir¡¯s foundation within the water was very sturdy. It will allow the infrastructure to bnce out again.¡± Zhou MingLiang shook his head.

    ¡°You believe that this half will copse at any moment?¡± Liu Gan asked for confirmation.

    ¡°Yes, judging from the angle it is at now the bridge deck is nearing its¡¯ limit. If it tilts another half degree, then this side of the bridge will be like the other side. With suspension cables releasing in ce, it will copse into the river below. Could happen within this minute, or next minute. The bridge copse could ur any moment!¡± Zhou MingLiang warned Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then, we only have one route of escape. We have to climb up onto the steel pir. Once we reach the top, there maybe a t tform or surroundingrge concaves to use as shelter for us to temporarily stay in.¡± Liu Gan quickly suggested.

    The bridge deck had a sea of mes and the corpse tide blocked the escape route, so there was no chance to fight their way out. If they chose to remain on the bridge deck, the roads might copse any moment. By that time, nothing on the surface will be safe. Not only that, but the suspension cables would be dancing in midair and everyone would die upon impact.

    The best avable option was to climb on the steel pir. Then he would have a few options of choosing either the peak tform or surrounding concaves to wait for a better chance of escape. As long as he climbed higher, then there would be a lower chance of getting struck by the recoil of the suspension cables.

    If they escaped by the river, a few of them may be able to survive the attacks of the mysterious monster but if they were struck by one of the flying suspension cables, there was no chance of survival.

    ¡°It''s too bad that in case this half of the bridge deck copses, we would be stuck at the top of the steel pir. Would that mean we would be forever trapped up there? When will we be able to make it to the other side of the bridge?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Liu Gan. Other yers and survivors looked at Liu Gan as well.

    ¡°First we have to make sure the bridge doesn''t copse and then afterwards I can think of a n to get down. Yin He take the lead, I will cover the rear so everyone climb up quickly! ording to expert Zhou, this bridge might copse any moment!¡± Liu Gan quickly shouted and ushered them onto the steeldder attached to the exterior of the steel pir.

    Yin He went up first on the steeldder. To climb this type of steeldder was as easy as walking on the ground for her. Within two minutes of climbing, she reached the peak. Then, from her earphones, she reported the situation to Liu Gan. Liu Gan quickly decided that everyone would head up to the region right below the peak, which was a concave pit.

    The area at top of the steel pir had a suitable surface area, but it was too slippery. There weren''t any areas that could be used as leverage. The moment the steel pir nted at an extreme angle, the people who were climbing it would have a hard time trying to maintain bnce and slipping off was highly usible.

    There were some grooves in the area, and Yin He could use the rope she carried to wrap around the four corners to create a border. This would serve as a temporary fence railing, so when the yers stalled here, at least they would have something to fasten themselves. This sturdy ce also worked by catching them in case they slipped and fell.

    Afterwards, Yin He climbed back up to the top, there were some yers that were afraid of heights. As they looked up at the steel pir that seemed to be high up within the clouds, they shifted their attention to the steeldder right on the exterior of the steel pir. Suddenly, they felt dizzy and their legs were weak, as they were terrified.

    This half of the bridge also started to shake andrge crevices appeared. The suspension cables producedrge horrifying sounds as if the moment when it would detach from the bridge deck was soon. This was the deciding factor for the yers and survivors as they were forced to climb up on the steel pir and ushered from behind by Liu Gan.

    The cable-stayed bridge¡¯s steel pir seems to have reached into the clouds, in fact was a hundred meters high. It was like around the height of a 30 floor apartment. However, the sensation of standing at the top of a 30 story high building and standing at the top of a summit that neared 30 stories high were two different feelings. Especially to those who were afraid of height, this feeling wes deadly.

    The moment they reached the halfway point on the climb the wind speed increased, and there was a possibility of getting blown off. A yer in the middle of his climb, his heart rate elerated, started sweating from his palms. He looked at his surroundings and below. He felt weak in his grip as he got dizzier. In that moment, he lost his grip on the steeldder and fell from his spot.

    That was around 20 meters high in the air.

    Other yers quickly pulled themselves closer onto the steeldder just to avoid the yer that was falling down. Liu Gan felt as if something was wrong as he heard screams of terror from the yer. So he quickly stuck one hand out and gripped tighter on the other hand onto the steeldder, in an attempt to grab the yer¡¯s limb. Sadly the speed that the yer fell at was too fast, and Liu Gan was only able to grip part of his clothing.

    As the yer struggled, and screamed for help¡­

    ¡°Don¡¯t struggle! Grab the steeldder!¡± Liu Gan shouted. As he pulled the yer back onto the steeldder.

    The yer¡¯s clothes weren¡¯t tightly secured, and with only the sound of arge rip, Liu Gan was left with only a piece of cloth.

    [TL: Sorry for the dy broke my hand. Firstly, I added ¡°Character List¡± on the main page if you are wondering. Next addition to that page would be abilities.]

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138 - Feeling of Safety

    This yer screamed horrifically from that moment he was next to Liu Gan till he hit the asphalt on the bridge. His head and body smashed onto the ground with a tremendous force that caused him to tten out. Afterwards, there was no sound that came from him.

    Arge amount of blood seeped out from his crushed skull and body. It dyed arge portion of the bridge deck red.

    ¡°This is to everyone. You aren''t allowed to look down. Concentrate on climbing up! Once we reach the top, then I can guarantee your safety!¡± Liu Gan shouted to everyone above him.

    The yers and the survivors telephoned Liu Gan''smand up the chain. Since the previous yer''s fatal mistake, all the yers who remained became more cautious. They encouraged one another through shouts. Finally after ten minutes or so, one by one they reached the concave pit area right below the steel pir.

    [TL: So 29 people left in the group. 23 yers, 5 survivors, and Liu Gan.]

    Yin He had prepared a series of ropes that she tied around the concave pit in a circle to serve as protective railings. yers and survivors could follow one by one from the steeldder onto the pit and sit down.

    Looking up from on the bridge deck, the conves depression didn''t seem like arge area, but in fact it was quite huge. It spanned a lengthy distance of a dozen meters, with at least a meter and a half in width. This was plenty of room for the yers to sit down. After they sat down, they were able to regain theirposure as they held onto the rope that Yin He had installed earlier for their protective railing.

    Even so, yers on top had no real sense of safety. All they needed to do was look around and they would shake from fear. The worst part was that the wind speed was high at their altitude. They felt as if they would slide off or get blown off by the wind.

    Of the whole group, only Liu Gan and Yin He were really calm. Yin He was an android so not much needed to be said there. Liu Gan loved to mountain climb, and skydived in wingsuits for fun. There was also the time when he tried to climb Mt. Everest. So he lost his fear of heights long ago.

    This wasn''t even his first time being trapped at an elevated location. When he first joined the game, he was stuck on a billboard that was a dozen meters high for most of the day. That time he was alone, but this time he had a whole group of people to apany him.

    ¡°Elder¡­ Elder Liu, I have a bundle of rope and a small knife. We can cut up into segments and tie it onto the protective railings to form a gridttice. The extra parts can be used to tie to the waist of everyone, which will then tie to the. That way we will feel a lot safer.¡± Suggested one of the local survivor as he handed the rope and knife to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan agreed with his suggestion and they proceeded to cut his rope into short segments. From Yin He''s protective railings that formed the outer circle. The space in between the corner to corner, was tied down by these new short segments to form a. Then every yer attached extra rope pieces to connect from their waist to the. Now that they had tied themselves to the, when the bridge shook or swayed, the rope will be able to stop the yers from flying out of the concave pit.

    With this protective, the yer''s felt more at ease. Not everyone wasfortable at operating high altitudes. Even though they weren''t as scared as the yer who fell, sitting down at a hundred meters high was scary, but it still felt safer with a rope at their waist. Nevertheless, arge portion of the yers still shook from fear, and they couldn''t even look down.

    ¡°I miss my home, I miss my dad and mom!¡± Shouted a 19 year old college student (yer), as he burst in tears.

    This was just a game. There was just so much suffering. It was hard to escape from the corpse tide and survive. Now he had to endure the torture of waiting at high altitudes. Not everyone can endure all this just to survive!

    ¡°If we follow Elder Liu, there will be that day. He will lead us back to our world! Don''t lose hope!¡± Said Zhang ShengLi as heforted the nearby yer.

    While everyone stared at Liu Gan for an answer, Liu Gan stared up at the sky, he wasn''t prepared to answer this question.

    ¡°Where did you guyse from?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Wang DeCheng. The local survivors were already interested in the physiques of the yers. They can tell that even though both of them were humans, but they came from different worlds. Just from what Zhang ShengLi had said earlier proved that point.

    ¡°We originally were ying a game¡­¡± Wang DeCheng exined to Zhou MingLiang.

    Wang DeCheng and Zhou MingLiang started to chat, and that caught the interest of others. This was able to partially distract the attention of the yers and the survivors. The yer, who was crying earlier, was able to calm down a little.

    ¡°You mean that you are a person from another world, since ying this game called [The Trembling World], you were transferred into the game world?¡± Zhou MingLiang made sense of the situation.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wang DeCheng nodded.

    ¡°Does your world have a game called [The Trembling World] as well?¡± Liu Gan chimed in on the conversation. As he recalled, the billboard advertisement was advertising this game.

    ¡°Yes, there is this type of game. There were a lot of advertisements done online, locally, television, newspaper, and popr sites. However before the game servers were released the apocalypse urred.¡± Zhou MingLiang answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then what was the game content like? What were the advertisements saying about the game? Did it reveal any details regarding the gamey?¡± Liu Gan directly asked Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°No, it only mentioned that it was going to be the best game of this era. It can allow people to really experience the difficulties thate with surviving in the post apocalyptic world¡­ even though the game servers didn''tunch, we can still experience the difficulties it mentioned¡± Zhou MingLiang said with a depressed expression.

    Not only was surviving difficult, but there was also the pain of losing loved ones and friends. This modern era was reverted back into the primitive age. No it was worst than the primitive era, since at that time they wouldn''t have streets full of zombies.

    ¡°So everything we are experiencing now is rted to this game? Is it also the reason for the sky raining down red colored rain? That lead to these mutants?¡± Asked by a male survivor called HuJin. He was the male survivor who got saved by Liu Gan earlier.

    ¡°No one knows? I can only say that I find that San Xing Corporation doing biochemical research very suspicious. Somehow it got very famous, perhaps the rumors were true that they had powerful friends in the government. Oh does your world have a San Xing Corporation too?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Yes, it isn''t that different from the San Xing Corporation here. It''s like it got famous overnight too, but thepany itself was very suspicious. I have a friend who worked there as a security guard and he told me that he had to sign a confidentiality agreement.¡± Wang DeCheng added.

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139 - Starvation<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    ¡°So, what is your world like? Is it only one main ind with six satellite-like inds surrounding it? Were there further expeditions going beyond to ces not explored yet?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhou MingLiang. There were a lot of things he didn''t understand about this world, so this was a good opportunity to find out more.

    ¡°No, we are part ofrge country. Once we cross this vast ocean, there are more countries. However, after the catastrophe, many of theworks shut down. We are at NinJing city, but we don''t know what the conditions are like at the main city. Therefore it''s pointless to wonder about countries that are even further away.¡± Zhou MingLiang answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°On this, are oceans arge portion of it? How many countries in total?¡± Liu Gan continued asking.

    ¡°Yes, around 95% of it are covered by an ocean. Only a small portion of it isndmass. There''s around a hundred countries. It''s all separated by the ocean. Our country, Cathay Country, is considered quiterge. There are some countries that are even smaller than NinJing City.¡± Zhou MingLiang added.

    [TL: Cathay Country is the old name for northern China, back in the medieval ages.]

    ¡°On your, does everyone speak the samenguage we are speaking right now?¡± Liu Gan asked after thinking for a little while.

    ¡°There are different spokennguages! There are people of gold colored hair with blue eyes, as well as very dark skinned people. They both speak differentnguages than us. Even in our surroundings, there are people who are of the same color but speak differentnguages than us.¡± Zhou MingLiang shook his head.

    The yers had be very confused after they heard what Zhou MingLiang said, and it was reflected within their expressions. This world seemed to be quite simr to their own, but there were actually quite a lot of differences.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t speak afterwards. The interaction between the yers and the survivors intensified. The survivors started questioning the yers about their world. Thus, they chatted about the games they yed, novels they read, songs they sang,petitions they watched, artists they like. They chatted about everything. Between this cultural exchange, it was confirmed that both world had their differences and simrities.

    For example, many of the more famous songs that have been heard in the real world had also existed here, in this world. Theposers and artists were different, however.

    ¡°When you were at the hospital with over hundreds of survivors, where did you find food to eat?¡± Han GuangMing suddenly asked after the chatter had begun to die down.

    ¡°Yes, after these couple of days, we didn¡¯t see any of you guyse out from the hospital?¡± Wang DeCheng continued questioning the survivors.

    The survivors from the base in the hospital had two reasons for attacking the supermarket. The first reason was that Tiger Lord had kidnapped the female survivors from there. The other reason was that they had no food, so they had to steal food from the supermarket.

    During this period of time, they had caught a trespassing yer, but they didn¡¯t use this yer for hostage exchange for the women who were caught by Tiger Lord. Instead, they wanted to exchange with Tiger Lord a fifty kilogram bag of rice. Needless to say, Tiger Lord hadn¡¯t cared about the yer¡¯s safety. He ambushed the exchange site and slit the hostage yer¡¯s throat on the spot.

    When they had to quickly depart, the hospital had many elderly and sick people escaping. The numbers were close to a few hundred. It didn¡¯t seem like there were disorder amongst the people. It couldn¡¯t have gotten to the point where people had started eating each other, could it?

    ¡°If I told you guys that aside from eating tree barks and grassroot, we also ate zombie meat, would you believe me?¡± After a long silence, HuJun finally replied to Wang DeCheng¡¯s question.

    ¡°You ate zombie meat!?¡± The yers shouted after hearing HuJun¡¯s reply. Many yers were shocked and frightened. Those yers felt a feeling of regurgitation that resounded from deep within their stomachs.

    [TL: I¡¯m so done. This took me a week to digest before I came back to trante some more.]

    ¡°We had a biochemist in the hospital and he was very knowledgeable. After the supermarket was dominated by the yers, he found a ce where he could secretly investigate the properties of zombie meat when we couldn¡¯t scavenge anymore food. This was all because he was famished.

    ¡°ording to his investigation, the zombie meat doesn¡¯t follow the traditional definition of rotting meat. It was only modified by a virus to be poisoned flesh, and the proteins within it haven¡¯t been denatured. Although you can¡¯t eat it raw, that would definitely infect you. But after heat processing the meat at high temperatures, it is possible to kill the virus within the meat.¡±

    ¡°Purely processing the meat through high temperatures kill the virus within it, but it wouldn¡¯t clear out the virus-produced toxins. The toxins are deadly, so eating a few pieces could potentially be fatal. This biochemist used his knowledge to perform experiments on it. He immersed it in medicinal drugs, then extracted its liquid, then distilled it. This allowed the toxins to separate from the meat. Then¡­¡± HuJun didn¡¯t continue further.

    To survive, they had to go beyond the bottomline of what it had meant to be human. To fight against the famished feeling, they could only resort to this method.

    ¡°How does the processed zombie meat taste?¡± asked a chubby yer to HuJun.

    ¡°Very disgusting to eat, even after processing it, there was a heavy vor of medicine. Only when under extreme hunger did they resort to this option. The process of treating the zombie meat wasn¡¯t that simple, and there were hundreds of people. As such, the processed zombie meat could only be reserved for the very important individuals. The remaining elderly and sickly were only able to obtain small portions. It was just enough so that they wouldn¡¯t starve to death¡­¡± HuJun continued in a whisper.

    The yers didn¡¯t continue asking. Under this cruel reality, they really had to go all out for them to survive.

    As they were on this topic, the survivors viewed the yers with hate, although they didn¡¯t bring it up. There were so much food in the supermarket that, even when they were escaping, the yers still had an abundance. Meanwhile, over a hundred survivors in the hospital were starving to the point where they epted the twisted logic of eating zombie meat.

    HuJun didn¡¯t say it aloud¡­ but during the trial period, the biochemist had needed people to test out the questionable products, so he offered them to the elderly and sick. However, the source of the meat had not been disclosed to them. In the early stages of the trial period, as much as seven or eight people had died.

    What a truly sorrow story.

    After a moment of silence, Zhou MingLiang changed the topic to divert people¡¯s attention. Others also yed along to deliberately change the topic, and no one mentioned the processed zombie meat.

    While the yers and survivors were chatting in the concave pits, the steel pir didn¡¯t nt any further down. Aside from the huge crack from earlier, there weren''t any additional cracks or copses. The nodes connecting the suspension cable and the bridge deck didn¡¯te loose.

    The mes on the burning cars on the bridge deck were also being extinguished slowly. The thousands of zombies that had rushed up to it all burned to death. There was a clear path onto the other side of the bridge.

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140 - ck Substance<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    ¡°Zhou BuLiang, will this steel pir copse?¡± Liu Gan interrupted the conversation between Zhou MingLiang and others.

    [TL: Zhou MingLiang = Zhou BuLiang. Liu Gan likes to make fun of Zhou MingLiang by calling him the nickname, Zhou BuLiang.]

    ¡°Ah? Seems like it wouldn¡¯t continue copsing further¡­¡± Zhou MingLiang announced, looking down at the base of the bridge.

    ¡°Then, would it be a waste of our efforts to climb up?¡± Liu Gan said in shock. It indirectly caused the death of a yer, even though it was the yer¡¯s own fault.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Sorry, these types of situations are really hard to predict. Even though it deals withplicated principles of structural mechanics, I have to factor in the bnce of the bridge, as well as the temperature of the water in the foundation and the geology underneath the water. I also need¡­¡± Just as Zhou MingLiang was about to go into details...

    ¡°Okay! We are going back down! This is the best opportunity to escape! In the event that this bridge really falls, we couldn¡¯t even escape even if we want to.¡± Liu Gan proceeded to cut loose from his own rope. He proceeded to the steeldder and climbed downwards. He knew that in these situations, it was very hard to predict, so he couldn¡¯t me it all on Zhou MingLiang. Even if there was a slight possibility of it copsing, he still would¡¯ve taken the people up to the top of steel pir.

    One can imagine from climbing down such an elevated area that the yers and survivors¡ªafter having finally found a small window of peace¡ªwere getting nervous once again. There were some res that were shot at Zhou MingLiang, as if this whole situation arose because of him.

    Zhou MingLiang embarrassingly tried tough it off. This half of the bridge hadn¡¯t copsed, and when would it copse was very hard to predict. No one knew what had caused it to stabilize. In the event that it hadn¡¯t been stabilized and everyone had not climbed up onto the steeldder, they would¡¯ve fallen with the bridge deck into the monsters¡¯ mouths.

    Even if they hadn¡¯t climb so high up, getting struck by the suspension cables would also be fatal in the case that it loosened up!

    After ten minutes, Liu Gan lead the group back onto the bridge deck. Even though the cars had stopped burning, there were dense smoke covering their visibility. In addition, there were burning fleshes of corpses that caused the air around the bridge to smell very pungent.

    The yers and survivors returned to the bridge deck. They saw the fallen yer in the pool of his own blood. Naturally, they all fell silent at the unfortunate yer.

    During these past few days, they had gotten ustomed to people dying left and right. Every time they saw someone die, they would have the dreadful feeling of who might be next. Would it be themselves? While they were in mid-climb on the steeldder, arge portion of them became lightheaded. They felt as if their hands and legs had gotten weaker with every climb. Whether or not they would fall was decided in that moment of weakness.

    In an orderly single line formation, they tread carefully through the smoked filled area under Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s guidance. There were nearly over hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of zombie corpses that were piled up in continuous mounts of at least a hundred meters of burnt corpses. This was a scene that deeply chilled everyone as they stepped over the mountain of corpses. If they hadn¡¯t known that the apocalypse had urred, they would believe that they were in the middle of a massacre of war upon seeing so many corpses.

    [TL: Remember this is an orderly single line formation. Since piles of cars and zombie bodies are all around them.]

    After passing through therge heaps of zombie corpses, the group headed toward the safe end of the bridge. Along their path were crevices that ran parallel to their direction of travel. Ever so slightly, the bridge started shake with each tremor growing wilder in session. The steel pir seemed to have tilted even more. The rest of the suspension cables produced horrifying ¡®ka ka¡¯ sound at the same time. It seemed like the time hase for the bridge to copse on this side!

    Several of the yers that still had yet to recover from the dizziness of elevated height couldn''t withstand the immense psychological stress, especially the 19 year old yer that cried for his parents. He frantically ran towards the end of the bridge. This led other yers to start running as well. In a chain reaction effect, most of the yers and survivors also started running out of formation.

    Only a few yers like Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, and a few others had maintained the speed to match Liu Gan, only to be surpassed by those frantic yersing from behind.

    ¡°All of you, stop! Maintain the formation! Don''t run off separately!¡± Liu Gan shouted to the yers ahead. Arge portion of the yers who heard his shout immediately halted to a stop. Only the three yers in front that had ran for their lives were unable to hear Liu Gan''s order. They only heard the wind blowing by their ears.

    The moment these three yers rushed to the end, they proceeded to get off the bridge. In front of them, a spray of ck substance sshed toward them in midair. The smell was pungent to the nose as well. The neen-year-old yer couldn''t dodge the strange substance and was caughtpletely off guard. He grasped his face and started screaming.

    ¡°Ambush!¡± Shouted the two yers that were a few meters behind him. They immediately raised their simple shield to protect themselves as they tugged the neen-year-old yer backwards. Seeing that a yer had been ambushed, they reformed into formation and pulled him back to Liu Gan. The two yers suddenly screamed loudly with the wounded yer.

    Liu Gan was treading carefully forward to take a look, and what he saw next was horrifying. The face of a yer was unrecognizable; it was covered in the unknown substance that had been dissolving through his meat. The yer¡¯s facial bone and skull were revealing themselves. It was as if he had been sprayed with strong acid.

    Even with strong acid, it shouldn''t have reacted so effectively¡­

    The clothes on his body had also been dissolved by the ck substance. It prated through the flesh on his chest, breaking down the meat into mush and exposing the rib bone. By the time the two yers had dragged the acid-burned neen-year-old yer back to the group, his pulse was very weak and he was beyond rescue.

    The two yers that had dragged the neen-year-old yer back were originally wearing gloves. The moment their gloves came in contact with the ck substance, however, it corroded through. There was enough corrosion to prate the flesh and reveal finger tip bones! This was the reason for why they had suddenly screamed out loud, but by the time they had felt the sharp pain, it was toote.

    Aside from their hands, their simple-made shield also began to deteriorate as many pores revealed themselves. The clothing on the two yers also started spotting in weird ces. They were only trying to save their fallenrade, but they had identallye into contact with the ck substance and started to spread it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go near them!¡± Liu Gan felt that something strange and serious was going on. He doesn¡¯t understand the reason behind it now, so he quickly told others to be careful.

    ¡°You two, quickly throw your gloves away! Lee Miao shouted from behind Liu Gan.

    ¡°What is this substance? Why is it so potent?¡± screamed the two yer as they tried to detach their mushy flesh from the glove. They revealed their painful expression, and one of the yer even started crying.

    ¡°Toss that glove over to me, let me check it out.¡± Liu Gan said to the two yers. This case was too strange! They still didn¡¯t know what monster had caused them their injuries.

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141 - Spray Hole<hr>

    TL: xdh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    The yers obediently threw the gloves over and a draft of pungent smell followed. It was such a toxic fume that it caused Liu Gan to be dizzy. Liu Gan quickly retreated several meters back, then signaled for Yin He to investigate. It was to see whether she had any information in her database to find out theposition in the substance.

    Yin He carefully walked over, and after a quick sniff, she stretched out her hand toward the glove to gently graze it. She immediately retracted her hand after a brief moment of contact. It was enough to burn her fingerprint even though she came into contact with minute amounts of the ck substance!

    ¡°Not sure what this substance is. My skin was created to withstand degradation from strong acids and bases, but this substance was able to easily erode through.¡± Yin He whispered into Liu Gan¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Will your hand have any problems?¡± Liu Gan looked at the acid-burned scar that was left behind.

    ¡°No, the nanobots within my body will slowly repair the damaged parts.¡± Yin He answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Is there anyone here that learned chemistry? Does anyone know what this strong, pungent smell is and its chemical property? Is it acidic or basic? Or does anyone know what this material might be?¡± Liu Gan loudly asked everyone around him.

    ¡°Even though I''m not a chemist, I do know that even the strongest acid or base wouldn''t have such a fast corrosive property. Seems like anything it touches will deteriorate! It is really hard to believe!¡± Said a yer after he surveyed the situation.

    Without asking any more questions, Liu Gan climbed up the suspension cables all the way to the top and proceeded towards the source of the ck substance...

    After climbing high up, his enhanced vision detected something strange in the distance.

    Right at the adjoiningnd near the edge of the bridge appeared a creature that was at least two or three meters tall. Its whole body was covered in a gray color. It looked like a gigantic toad, but it only had two legs. Protecting its body was a dark-gray, bony outer shell. The way its legs were separated didn''t resemble a toad at all! It looked more like a m shell, since it wasn''t moving at all and its color was gray. It looked like it was trying to camouge itself as arge rock. If people weren''t looking carefully, they wouldn''t suspect it.

    The corrosive substance was found from that general direction, so it was highly suspicious. Aside from that, there were only regr zombies in the area by the end of the bridge. so there were no other suspects!

    That neen-year-old yer that had panicked and ran off alone clearly couldn''t see what was ahead of him because of the cars that blocked his field of vision. Aside from that, he ran really fast and wasn''t paying attention.

    Even if it were to attack, the distance was absurd. From where they stood, the path to getting off the bridge led down towards the junction, but the distance was at least fifty meters away from where the yers had been hurt! This creature¡¯s attack range was so far away and the ck substance was able to ovee the strongest of obstacles. This creature was blocking the path that everyone needed to cross. What a troublesome problem.

    Was this another form of variant zombie?

    Or was this an advanced zombie?

    ording to Liu Gan¡¯s guess, this would still be categorized as a variant zombie due to the cumbersome body and undeveloped legs. It seemed to be very limited in mobility, which limited its abilities. It has the capability to oppose the gods with its attacking power. If there were more variant zombies running around with this much fire power, then Liu Gan and everyone else would¡¯ve been long dead on the bridge.

    In the short time that Liu Gan stayed to observe, this peculiar creature stretched out one leg to take a small step. It dragged its heavy body forward half a meter, thenid motionless on the ground.

    It seemed like its mobility was definitely limited and poor.

    Now what must be done to dismantle the terrifying cannon? Liu Gan decided to move closer just to confirm that the ck substance had been sprayed out from this creature. Another thing that he needed to verify was the method with which it attacked, even though this was possibly the riskiest thing he had ever done.

    If he didn¡¯t attempt the risk, then there was no way to confirm the method of attack, and he wouldn¡¯t know how to get rid of it. Aside from that, the bridge deck and suspension cables were generating some strange sounds time to time. ording to Zhou MingLiang, this half of the bridge could copse at any moment. There was no time left for Liu Gan to hesitate.

    Liu Gan took one of therger shields from a yer and locked his sight on this new breed of variant zombie. Liu Gan walked on cartop of the vehicles and carefully hopped from one vehicle to another, as he moved closer.

    The new variant zombie had an exceptionally acute vision. It became more alert the moment Liu Gan had gotten closer to the location where the yer wasst injured by jumping from car top to car top. Originally, it wasying on the ground with its head on the floor, but it lifted its head up. It even stood upright and straight, increasing its previous height of 2.5 meters to 3.5 meters.

    At the same time, the giant shell started to crack open. Perhaps it was the head ot the body. It revealed disgusting and ugly pores that resembled spray holes. Now it was undeniable that the corrosive ck substance was spat out from the pores. From the looks of this half-body of the bony spherical shell, it seemed to containrge quantities of the ck substance!

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t attempt to continue forward. He only used his enhanced vision to carefully observe the creature from afar. Since Liu Gan didn¡¯t enter the attack range of the variant zombie, it didn¡¯t attempt tounch its attack. After ten seconds or so, it retracted its head back inside the giant shell due to theck of a threat and closed off the shell.

    However, the moment Liu Gan edged slightly closer, it opened up itsrge m shell again to reveal the multiple spray pores. The variant zombie readied itself, arching backwards as if it were going tounch any moment. Once again, after ten seconds, it retracted within the shell when it discovered that Liu Gan wasn¡¯t within the firing range. This time, the variant zombie moved closer another half a meter.

    After confirming that it was very slow-moving, Liu Gan was able to calm down. With such a powerful cannon-like attack, they wouldn¡¯t havee out unscathed if it was able to run around. It would¡¯ve definitely been impossible to continue ying the game.

    Liu Gan had to think for awhile about what to do next. Then, he jumped onto another rooftop of the car. Closing in on the location where the yers had been injured, Liu Gan was now within the attack zone of the variant zombie. As expected, this variant zombie opened up the shell and shot at Liu Gan withrge amounts of ck, liquid substances from ten or more spray pores.

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142 - Bamboo Spear<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    The liquid ck substance was shot out in an arc with the intent to kill. This creature attacked by spraying the substance over fifty meters in distance, scattering it over arge area. It covered nearly ten meters in the surrounding area of the spray. The velocity at which the spray wasunched wasn¡¯t very fast, but the angle was quite high. From the moment it was sprayed to the moment itnded in front of Liu Gan, it had seven or eight seconds of airtime.

    With such a long period of time, it was more than enough for Liu Gan to quickly escape from the area where the ck substance had wouldnd. The liquid ck substancended not too far from Liu Gan onto the bridge deck. At the same time, noises and a pungent smell came soon after as a hole burned through the concrete. Small potholes were formed, but there weren''t enough topletely burn through the bridge deck.

    Regardless of whether it was a strong acid or base, or a different variation of liquid with corrosive properties, it seemed that it would be weaker against concrete than it was for flesh. The yer had suffered considerable damage from burns, and even Yin He with her strong defensive skin wasn¡¯t able to avoid injuries.

    The most terrifying thing was that this Variant Zombie couldunch the substance at a distance. It reached fifty to sixty meters away, and there were multiple spray pores as well. If all of the spraying pores were open, it would be enough for a wide-area attack. The yers and the survivors were trapped on the bridge with only one possible solution. It was to block the ck substance froming into contact with their body so that it wouldn''t do any harmful damage.

    Another troublesome aspect of this Variant Zombie was its bony outer shell. Liu Gan assume the shell must be extremely durable, since it had to contain the ck substance¡¯s corrosion from within. Another giveaway of the shell¡¯s density was the mobility of the zombie. The only time the shell opened up was to attack, so it was easy to assume that it was very susceptible to injuries from the inside.

    It seems that whenever the shell opened up to reveal those ugly looking spray pores was its weakest moment. If a hand grenade was thrown in, then it should be enough to blow it apart. The problem was that Liu Gan couldn¡¯t get close enough. On the other hand, there was the question of whether or not the hand grenade will blow up midair, since it had to be thrown over fifty meters away. The angle had to be just right too. There were simply too many unknown factors to ount for.

    Liu Gan wasn''t entirely sure that [Mist Armor] could withstand the corrosive property of the ck substance. He wasn''t about to risk experimenting with himself against the dangerous substance, since even a minute amount was lethal.

    Turning his head back, he saw a local survivor with many bamboo spears, which got Liu Gan to think. To verify his idea, Liu Gan rushed over to the region covered in potholes of the ck substance. He pulled out the ropes developed by San Xing Corporation and held his breath. He plunged a small part of the rope into the pothole.

    The rope also eroded away under the corrosive property. Even though the biological material of the rope was considerably strong, after a good few seconds,a third of it was dissolved. Liu Gan was surprised. It seemed like his idea might work.

    No matter what he decided to do, he must hurry and take action. This side of the bridge could copse any moment. Even if he had the best strategy, it would be useless if it copsed.

    The local survivor carrying the bamboo spears was called Zhang Hua. This was the store owner who had been located near the hospital. Liu Gan asked for his bamboo spear. Then, he got some cloths and tied a rock down at the front. He turned around and tried to throw it at a car fifty meters away.

    Disappointingly, his uracy was too low. Liu Gan had a strong arm, and he was able to throw the modified spear fifty meters out. Even a hundred meters would''ve been fine, but the problem was that he had no experience with this type of technique. After trying three times, his spearnded too far from his target, and one of the spears even fell into the river.

    Yin He went to retrieve the spears under Liu Gan''s order and quickly returned with two spears.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what do you have in mind?¡± Zhang Hua asked as he walked over.

    ¡°I want to see if I could use this modified spear to shatter the front ss window of that car. The red-colored sedan car.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang Hua.

    ¡°Elder Liu, let me try.¡± Zhang Hua picked the modified spear which had a rock tied down. For the first two attempts, he wasn¡¯t too used to it. After he had gotten the feeling down, he retreated ten meters back, then charged forward andunched the modified spear from his hand. It soared through the air in a perfect alignment and crashed into the front window of the red car that was fifty meters away.

    ¡°Oh d*mn! Now we have a n!¡± Liu Gan got so excited when he saw it. He really wanted to kill the Carapace Variant Zombie himself, but he had no uracy. Who would''ve thought that the local survivor called Zhang Hua would''ve been so skillful with the bamboo spear.

    ¡°Elder Liu what do you want to do?¡± Zhang Hua still as confused as ever. Everyone looked at Liu Gan, still unsure of what the master n was.

    ¡°Can you guaranteed that every time you throw, it will strike the target with uracy? If we want to leave this bridge alive, our lives are in your hands.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang Hua.

    ¡°Before I retired from provincial athletics team, I was a Javelin athlete. Even though my results weren''t that great at that time, I¡¯ve spent more than ten years polishing this unique specialty. So if my target is within a dozen meters, I have ny percent uracy on the target. If the target was over a hundred meters, I have seventy percent uracy for a bullseye. After the catastrophe, my body physique and vision became stronger, so around fifty meters or so, I think I can manage up to ny-five percent uracy on the bullseye!¡± Zhang Hua confidently assured Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay good, follow me. We don¡¯t have much time, let¡¯s walk and talk.¡± Liu Gan said leading Zhang Hua toward the monster.

    ¡°Everyone else stay at least twenty meters behind us. Once you hear mymand, then proceed forward.¡± Liu Gan continued to order the rest of the people.

    ¡°Elder Liu, he won¡¯t make it.¡± said one yer pointing at the neen-year-old yer that got hurt from earlier. The bones on his body had been dissolved into patches of ck mush and his body was lifeless.

    ¡°There is nothing I can do. Who told him to run so frantically? Next time, if I don¡¯t order you to do something, then don¡¯t get caught up in the disorder. I can¡¯t protect you even if I wanted to.¡± Liu Gan said to all the yers, but at the same time, he nced specifically at the yers who ran in the confusion.

    [TL: Carapace Variant Zombie, oh great.]

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143 - Specialty

    <hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel

    [TL: yer list update: Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Han GuangMing, Wang DeCheng, & other unnamed yers.

    Survivor list update: Lee Miao, Zhou MingLiang, HuJun, Zhou JingJing, Zhang Hua, Xu ChangHui.

    Android: Yin He.]<hr>

    The yers were ashamed. After climbing down from the steeldder, they were caught off guard from the noise produced by the bridge nodes. In a moment of confusion, they couldn¡¯t recall Liu Gan¡¯s warnings, which resulted in one yer dead and two yers injured.

    Liu Gan lead Zhang Hua and Zhang ShengLi headed towards the junction at the end of the bridge. Along the way, Liu Gan was exining the particr parts of the Carapace Variant Zombie and his strategy.

    The tactics were simple. Liu Gan would attach the hand grenade to the front of the bamboo spear, then distract the variant zombie¡¯s attention and cause it to open up its shell. At that moment, Zhang Hua will take the opportunity to throw in the grenade-attached spear into the carapace.

    ¡°Elder Liu, you said the shell opens up at least three meters wide, at over fifty meters away. You want me to throw the grenade-spear into the shell. I guarantee that there won¡¯t be any problems and it will definitely hit the target a hundred percent of the time. Except, the ring needs to pulled from the grenade to explode, right?¡± Zhang Hua asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I will have a method so the grenade explodes at the right time.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang Hua. At this moment, the three have already reached the target destination. Liu Gan hopped onto the car top to look around. As usual, the Carapace Variant Zombie was edging closer to them at the lightning speed of a turtle. From the time since he hadst seen the zombie, it moved around two meters. It seemed like it moved very slow.

    Zhang ShengLi was curious as to what his duty was the moment Liu Gan whispered it into his ears. Zhang ShengLi was shocked. His body started trembling out of excitement. In Liu Gan¡¯s eyes, he had high expectations of Zhang ShengLi.

    Liu Gan¡¯s three man group stacked the vehicles that were connected to each other. This formed a long runway of at least a dozen meters. Then, Liu Gan tied down the hand grenade onto the front of the bamboo spear with cloth. From there, he pulled out the extraordinary lightweight coiled rope developed from the San Xing Corporation Laboratory and unfold it seven or eight times on the ground.

    Liu Gan tied one end of the rope onto the hand grenade ring and with the grenade already fastened to the spear head. Next, Liu Gan would jump from car top to car top just to cause the Carapace Variant Zombie to open up its shell. At the same time Zhang Hua jumped onto the car runway with the grenade-spear in hand as he got ready. His job was tounch the grenade-spear into the opening of the shell.

    Once the grenade-spear sessfullynded within the shell, he would then signal Zhang ShengLi to do his task. His job was to quickly tug onto the rope after it struck the Carapace Variant Zombie and detonate the grenade from afar!

    What Zhang ShengLi had heard from Liu Gan was that, he was allowed to kill a variant zombie so he could level up to 5! The opportunity to level up from 4 to 5 was a good opportunity to better defend themselves with their own ability!

    Liu Gan was already at level 6, so judging from his previous experiences, to raise to level 7, he would need at least a dozen variant zombies. Perhaps, he would find a chance where he could assassinate a variant zombie so he can jump levels from 6 to 8, like that time when he had first entered into the game.

    Zhang ShengLi had been devastated from his sister, Zhang ShengNan¡¯s, issue. Then, he had nearly died. He had given up on life. It was Liu Gan who pulled him out of death¡¯s hand. So he waspletely dedicated and loyal to Liu Gan. If he couldn¡¯t level up from 4 to 5, then he wouldn¡¯t be much use to Liu Gan. And so, giving this Variant Zombie to Zhang ShengLi will allow him to level up to 5. This way, there would be responsibilities that Liu Gan didn¡¯t have to personally carry out himself. He could allocate it to Zhang ShengLi.

    After everyone were informed of their tasks, Liu Gan shouted for everyone to get into position. He got onto the car top to divert the Carapace Variant Zombie¡¯s attention away. At the same time, Zhang Hua readied and aligned himself on the runway of cars. Gripping onto the bamboo spear, he waited for Liu Gan¡¯s signal. Liu Gan waited for the Carapace Variant Zombie to open up the shell, then shouted ¡®throw¡¯ to Zhang Hua.

    Zhang Hua threw the grenade-spear into the opening of the shell. Together with the lightweight rope, it flew into the opening of shell. Zhang Hua has the physical prowess of a level 4 yer, so with his full strength, the bamboo spear wasunched very quickly. In less than 4 seconds, it had reached over fifty meters in front of the Carapace Variant Zombie.

    The Carapace Variant Zombie felt as if there was something wrong, so it immediately sprayed outrge quantity of ck substance at the iing grenade-spear. The ck substance covered Liu Gan¡¯s line of sight, so he wasn¡¯t even sure if the grenade-spear was able tond on the target within the shell. However, judging solely on the flight pattern of the spear, he shouted to Zhang ShengLi to ¡®pull¡¯!

    Already readied, Zhang ShengLi tugged hard onto the rope, then ran back.

    Like the calm before a storm, everything was quiet. Since the ck substance was sprayed out in a form of a mist for wide-area effect, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to see if it hadnded. He wasn¡¯t sure whether it had evennded within the shell or simply dissolved before it even got close to the shell. There was also the question of whether or not Zhang ShengLi was able to get the ring off of the grenade.

    After three long seconds, ¡®Bang!¡¯ A muffled sound echoed from afar.

    Standing on the car top, Liu Gan was able to seerge amount of destroyed mush and carapace with ck substances spread out. There was a dense, dark-ck orb that only Zhang ShengLi could see with his own eyes. It move at a high speed all into his body.

    ¡°Did it die?¡± Liu Gan jumped off and asked Zhang ShengLi. Every time it was a confirmed kill on the zombie, a ck orb that signified experience will only be visible to the person who had killed it. Other people couldn¡¯t see it with the naked eye.

    ¡°It died!¡± Zhang ShengLi confirmed with Liu Gan. He felt his body burning, the same feeling as when had had leveled up before. This time, it was several times hotter, and it showed on his wristwatch that he had leveled up from 4 to 5.

    Liu Gan patted Zhang ShengLi¡¯s shoulder as a gesture of congrattion. All this was through gesture and not words. Zhang ShengLi looked at Liu Gan with gratefulness and lifted up his fist for a chest bump.

    ¡°Are we sessful?¡± Zhang Hua asked from the roadway. He still didn¡¯t understand what Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi were celebrating about.

    ¡°Sessful!¡± Zhang ShengLi happily replied to Zhang Hua. To Zhang ShengLi, this wasn¡¯t simply an obstacle, it was his chance of guaranteeing survival in this world.

    ¡°What you did here was a major achievement. You saved everyone here. When we return to eat, I will give you a can of meat as a reward.¡± Liu Gan praised Zhang Hua. To have a specialty skill of throwing spears, he was worth the effort to rope in and nurture.

 Chapter 144

    <ul><li>Tranted Tales <ul><li><ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li><li><ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li><li><ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li></ul></li><li>Original Tales <ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li><li>Manhua Tales <ul><li></li><li></li></ul></li><li>About Us <ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li><li>Teasers <ul><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li><li></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li></li></ul>The Trembling World

    Chapter 144 - To Liberate<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    ¡°Thank you, Elder Liu.¡± Zhang Hua receiving the praise very happily. When the local survivors were within the hospital, they had limited resources like grassroots, tree barks, and unpleasant smelling, medicine-treated zombie meat. So to have canned meat from the supermarket was a very attractive offer.

    ¡°I heard the Carapace Variant Zombie died?¡± asked the yers and local survivors from afar as they greeted the three people with gratitude.

    ¡°Right now was not the time to celebrate. This half of the bridge will copse any time, even though the Carapace Variant Zombie is dead. The exploded spread of ck substances are still very dangerous and active. We must push a car over to cover that area, then cop across on the car tops off of this bridge. If you want to celebrate then wait until we are off this bridge.¡± Liu Gan told them. Then, Liu Gan picked up his backpack as he started to lead the rest of the group over to the end of the bridge.

    The Carapace Variant Zombie imploded. It was definitely possible that before the bamboo spear had closed, Zhang ShengLi was able to pull off the grenade ring from afar. Then, the grenade had exploded from within the enclosed shell. This had maximized the power of the explosion. That exined why the site of explosion was covered in liquid ck substance. The air around it also smelled terribly.

    ¡°Seems like this carapace is very sturdy. Even though the explosion killed it, it wasn¡¯t able to destroy the shell, being able to withstand the corrosive nature of the ck substance. If it were to be used as a shield, it¡¯s defensive property must be really good.¡± A yer said as he examined the dead Carapace Variant Zombie.

    ¡°I agree that it is good, but whoever gets close to it will die.¡± replied another yer.

    Liu Gan stared at the carapace, also having simr thoughts. However, the extremely corrosive, ck substances on it were the major problem. Now that the carapace was covered with the ck substance, even an idental touch would be detrimental. It burns even through gloves and into the bones.

    Unless there was a hose withrge amount of water to wash it off cleanly, then you could reconsider taking it along.

    At the same time, the suspension cables from behind them started producing more terrifying sounds of wire snapping. The bridge shook as if it was about to copse. Liu Gan vanquished his thoughts of obtaining the carapace. He immediately took action and told the others to start pushing arge van over the explosion site and immediately bypass the site.

    The rest of the scattered regr zombies no longer posed a threat to the yers. The problem was that the bridge exit had arge gathering of zombies, a number surpassing a hundred. These zombies might have wandered to this point due to the loud sound.

    After seeing the yers rush off the bridge, nearly a hundred zombies at the bridge exit started rushing at them. Theypletely blocking off the exit, making it risky for the yers to fight.

    ¡°Let these zombies charge at me.¡± Zhang ShengLi told the yers. Then, he wielded the fire axe and charged forward.

    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Lee Miao seeing that Zhang ShengLi acedt so courageous against a hundred oing zombies, she got so frightened.

    Zhang ShengLi wasn¡¯t looking to die. It was because he had awakened his other ability after reaching level 5. It was [Tornado sh]. However, he had never tried it out so he didn¡¯t know what the ability did. As a veteran game yer, he could judge that it was an offensive type of ability based on the name.

    Right now, as more zombies were piling up, it was the perfect moment to use [Tornado sh]. He was emotionally excited, so he told everyone to step back while he charged forward.

    Liu Gan heard Zhang ShengLi shout and could guess the situation. He realized that he could witness Zhang ShengLi¡¯s ability firsthand. Thus, he told Yin He to follow Zhang ShengLi, just in case his ability was too terrible. That way, she could respond and rescue him.

    He ran up to the front of the zombie pack so he could activate his ability. His ability was an active ability, while Liu Gan¡¯s ability was passive. Therefore figuring out how to trigger the activation, even Liu Gan wasn¡¯t too sure of. In fact it was quite easy to Zhang ShengLi. If he had wanted to activate his ability, his body would naturally stimte itself and be restless. It was as if arge amount of energy was stored within his body.

    Afterwards, he felt as if all he needed to do was use the fire axe and swing outward. That would release all the stored energy at once. As such, he has such a strong urge to release the energy at once. What a good feeling it would be to release the pent up energy.

    As Zhang ShengLi shed his fire axe toward the crowd of zombie, his whole body started revolving. You could see the limbs and body parts of destroyed zombies flying all over the ce, and none of those zombies had gotten close enough to do any harm. He put a rotating spin on the axe, which severed numerous parts of their bodies.

    After a few seconds, Zhang ShengLi used up all his energy within the body and stopped spinning. From the crowd of over a hundred zombies, there was half left, close to forty zombies. From the force of zombies getting pushed outward, the ones alive were scattered everywhere. It wasn¡¯t packed like it was before.

    The moment Zhang ShengLi stopped [Tornado sh], he had killed sixty zombies but was surrounded by the rest of them, making it hard for him to escape.

    It was evident that his active ability couldn¡¯t be used again after he stopped revolving. Zhang ShengLi was exhausted and drained of power., so even if he wanted to do something, it was quite difficult.

    Liu Gan and Yin He lead other yers over to quickly kill the remaining forty zombies that were scattered around. Originally, this battle should have been quite difficult, since they would have been surrounded, but Zhang ShengLi was able to kill a majority of it due to his ability.

    ¡°Brother Zhang, you reached level 5?¡± Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were shocked. Only when they saw his [Tornado sh] did they understand the situation.

    ¡°Yes, Elder Liu helped me level up. If you guys follow Elder Liu¡¯s instructions obediently, then you will get a chance to gain more achievements and have a chance to level up to 5.¡± Zhang ShengLi said, putting a good word out.

    ¡°I envy you! I want to level up to 5 too so I can activate my ability¡±

    ¡°Yes, if my ability awakens, I wonder what ability it would be?

    ¡°...¡±

    As other yers started chatting, they all began to view Zhang ShengLi with endless envy. This was unavoidable, as he was the Elder Liu¡¯s first follower. Thus, from now on, they must do their best to gain achievements so they could reach level 5 and awaken their ability.

    The difference between level 5 and level 4 was a really big divide. It could be said that for ar yer, reaching level 5 was the ticket to truly entering into [The Trembling World].

    ¡­

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145 - Nothing is as good as the former times<hr>

    After he escaped the pursuit of arge scale corpse tide, conquered the hundred meter highdder climb, and survived the liquid ck substance from the Carapace Variant Zombie, and finally broke through to thend on the other end of the bridge, everyone felt a sense of relief. At the same time, they were hungry and thirsty. After the exhausting battle, everyone looked at Liu Gan for directions.

    Liu Gan was really reliable. Not only was his physical abilities are strong, his ability to make the correct judgement also surpassed that of a regr person¡¯s. Aside from all that, he was unusually collective, and his decisions would never be influenced by his emotions. Everyone that followed him seems to also have a certain level of intelligence, but with Liu Gan around, they all opted for him to think of the best solution.

    They had a feeling that Liu Gan would make the best solution that favored survival.

    Even though Liu Gan didn¡¯t talk with others, one could guess that he was thinking about what his next move was. At this moment, this half of the bridge started shaking closer to the steel pir, but this time it nted at least 5 degrees more.

    After more episodes of trembling, the suspension cable was stretched to a near breaking point until it had to loosen up. The nodes connecting the bridge to the suspension cable broke loose when the suspension cable couldn¡¯t withstand the concrete weight of the bridge. Finally, the deck started copsing under the immense pressure.

    The concrete cause the body of the bridge to copse more than a few meters before it found some bnce to stabilize. Followed by a series of more suspension cables releasing consecutively, with every cable released, it nts the steel pir by 5 degrees. The final series of suspension cables let loose. In midair, it recoiled crazily as if it was dancing.

    By that time, everyone on the bridge was already off. They were quite far away, so they were watching it as if it was a show. They don¡¯t have to worry about getting injured from the recoiling suspension cables.

    After a few more meters the steel pir sank into the river. The bridge deck loudly crashed dozens of meters below and produced loud rumbling noises as it fell. Waterworks ensued as it finally submerged into the river.

    Everything had been predicted by Zhou MingLiang. The steel pir in the middle of the bridge lost the second half of the bridge deck, but it was able to retain stabilization. It still stood nted within the water, but this was temporary. As time passed, the weight of the steel and the flow of the river would push this foundation over until the steel pir was fully submerged.

    Without the maintenance of man-made structures, this world was heading to it¡¯s end. The copse of this bridge was a symbol, a relic of the past.

    ¡°That bridge was my very own creation, and it was also destroyed by these same hands.¡± Zhou MingLiang looked at the copsed bridge, with a regretful look.

    ¡°Seems like if we ever want to return over to the other side of the bridge, we would have to think of a better alternative.¡± Zhang Hua said regretfully. His home was on the other side of the river, so his deep connection was understandable¡­ however, it couldn¡¯t be called a home anymore.

    ¡°There''s no point of returning.¡± HuJun and his girlfriend Zhou JingJing looked across the river bank with sadness. They had grown up there, so when the bridge that they were so familiar with copsed, it was a sadness that the yers couldn¡¯t rte to.

    There was also the pain of losing friends and families during the catastrophe that gued them.

    ¡°Why don''t you follow Elder Liu? You could tag along with us and try toe with us back to our world. Our world doesn''t have zombies, society is well managed, and everyone loves to support each other. It''s close to a perfect society.¡± Wang DeCheng said to the survivors.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather wish that my world be restored to the way it was before.¡± Zhou MingLiang softly said.

    ¡°That''s what it was like from our world before the game server date, but if San Xing Corporation is behind this, then who knows what might have be of our world. Since San Xing Corporation also has a stronghold there too!¡± Zhang ShengLi quickly replied to Wang DeCheng. Seems like Zhang ShengLi wasn''t as optimistic as Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what should we do now?¡± Asked one of the yers, causing all heads to turn to look at Liu Gan.

    ¡°The wind is picking up. Before it gets worst, we need to find a ce to rest for the night. Everyone should be thirsty and hungry, so I will take out my food and drinks from my bag and ration it into proportions for everyone to replenish their energy. Then we can discuss our next ns.¡± Liu Gan said as he looked up at the sky.

    No one objected to Liu Gan''s arrangement. Once again, they followed Liu Gan and Yin He as they made their way on foot. Zombies were scattered along the street side, but they were no match for the yers and survivors. With an easy sh, the zombies would drop like flies.

    This was especially true for Zhang ShengLi, as he had just obtained a new ability. Even if he didn''t use his ability, his strength was on a whole new level. The regr zombies that got close enough all died under his axe.

    Walking along the path from the riverside, they reached to a nearbyrge building. He ordered everyone to stop moving as he climbed up to the rooftop to take a glimpse. He needed to confirm which route had less zombies, that way he n his path of travel.

    In the night sky, clouds began to congregate. From afar,rge dark cumulonimbus clouds were closing on distance, giving off an eerie feeling. As the breeze turned into a gale, it could possibly start downpouring any moment.

    After a brief surveince at the rooftop, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t able to find a suitable ce to settle down. In any case¡­ as far as his eyes could see, these streets were spread out with zombies, which made Liu Gan wonder about the city center on this side of the riverbank. Would it be possible that there weren¡¯t any local survivors or yers?

    Even if there were, wouldn¡¯t they have headed outward to the suburb? Since the city center would be densely packed with zombies, it would be easier for a corpse tide to erupt there. It would be a living hell.

    Where to now? Continue to Green Pao Bay? What would be the safest route there? If they continued forward, and if he had to force his way to continue on, then would he have to abandon his teammates? For the first time, ever Liu Gan felt a tingly sense of vacancy. He was simply at a loss. If he was alone, however, he could have casually found a building with Yin He and rest for the night.

    But now, he was leading a whole troop, a troop that he had spent time and blood to nurture. There were quite a few individuals with specialized skill, so he must own up to his responsibility to them. Otherwise, all his efforts would have been for naught.

    As the gale umted speed, it would be best if they casually found a ce to settle down. After the few battles, the troops were physically and mentally exhausted. They don¡¯t have anymore means of continuing further.

 Chapter 146

    Liu Gan looked left and right, and ultimately selected a small residential neighborhood on the riverbank close to here. The neighborhood was on top of the dike and was a rich and superior residential neighborhood built on the downtown riverbank. There were several buildings situated along the river. Judging from their condition, it seemed that no one had gone in after the disaster.

    As long as it was a residential neighborhood, one should be able to find bagged rice, noodles, and other things in the homes of its inhabitants in order to resolve the troops¡¯ food supply issue. Ever since we had crossed the bridge, half of the yers had died. More than half of our supplies had also been lost. Food and drinking water quickly became a big problem.

    Just as Liu Gan was about to bring to everyone towards the river side small residential neighborhood, a yer pointed at the surface of the river and called out to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Elder Liu, look!¡± the yer said to Liu Gan as he pointed at the objects that floated along the river bank.

    Liu Gan followed the direction of his finger and looked over, and discovered that the blown off carapace of the variant zombie was now at this moment floating along the river bank. The ck liquid on the carapace had practically been washed clean by the flow of the river.

    ¡°Elder Liu, the carapace of this variant zombie must definitely be an important crafting material in the game. It would be a shame if we lost it! This carapace doesn¡¯t corrode and is so sturdy that it was unaffected by explosions. To be able to float in the water, it must also be extremely light. If we collect it, as long as we find suitable tools, we can turn it into shields or breasttes,¡± continued the yer.

    The yer¡¯s name was Martial Thunder. In the real world, he was a graduate student studying materials science. He had strong crafting ability ever since childhood. While ying inte video games, his favorite thing to do was to collect all kinds of materials, crafting all kinds of high level equipment.

    Now with such excellent crafting material before him, Martial Thunder be extremely unhappy if they weren¡¯t able to bring it with them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look,¡± replied Liu Gan, and nodded his head, after he observed the situation for some time. Afterwards, he led everyone down the dike to the river bank.

    A moment ago, the several pieces of carapace had fallen down along with the broken bridge and dropped into the water. After that, it followed the flow of the river and was flushed down to the river bank. After having been scrubbed by therge quantity of river water, there was no longer any sign of ck liquid on the carapace.

    Some of the people used bamboo spears to test the carapace before they pulled them back. As they saw that there were no signs of corrosion on the bamboo spears, soon after Yin He descended down to the river bank, she extended her hand to touch a piece of the carapace. Simrly, there was no corrosion. She began to fish out the carapace, piece by piece, from the water and ced it onnd.

    Liu Gan brandished his axe and chopped down on the carapace, to test its sturdiness. The conclusion was way beyond his expectations. The firefighter axe in his hands could not do any damage to the carapace!

    Fortunately, they had specially adopted long range attack tactics against the Carapace Variant Zombie. Otherwise, even if they charged up to it, the zombie would have withdrawn back inside its carapace. When that happened, they really wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to it.

    Liu Gan used the firefighter axe to chop off the corrosive flesh attached to the carapace. Martial Thunder moved closer. After he put on gloves, he carefully touched the carapace. After perceived there weren¡¯t any problems, he pulled off his gloves and carefully touched the carapace. He was left greatly and pleasantly surprised when his hands did not suffer any corrosion.

    The tworgest pieces were the carapace protecting the zombie¡¯s nozzle. They were about 1.5 meters in length and about a meter wide. If they had suitable tools, these two pieces could be crafted into shields of various sizes. The other pieces wereparatively smaller. After they took a look at their size, Martial Thunder decided to craft them into things such as breasttes and chest tes.

    ¡°These two pieces are too big and aren¡¯t convenient to carry,¡± stated Liu Gan as he looked at the two enormous pieces of carapace and couldn¡¯t help but be anxious, ¡°If we forcibly bring them along, it will affect the troop¡¯s speed. If we run into any problems, we will have to throw them away.¡±

    When she heard Liu Gan¡¯s words, Yin He actually walked over. She revealed her sleeve des, and she began to cut marks into one of therge pieces of carapace. After she had used her de to mark a few shapes, she used her feet to violently stomp on the carapace, and transformed onerge piece into four pieces. Afterwards, she did the same to the otherrge piece, and split it in four. In this way, the carapace was much easier to carry.

    ¡°Your sleeve knife can unexpectedly even cut this kind of thing so easily?¡± asked Liu Gan, as his entire face made a look of disbelief.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that my sleeve de is sharp, it¡¯s that the carapace was already divided into pieces,¡± exined Yin He to Liu Gan, and pointed to the edges of the cuts, ¡°I only cut where they were attached.¡±

    Only now did Liu Gan take a closer look at the carapace. Sure enough, it was as Yin He exined. The carapace was originallyposed of several pieces that fit together. Because they were fit together tightly, there weren¡¯t any clear marks to the naked eye, which caused everyone to think that it was oneplete piece. Yet, Yin He¡¯s eyes had aser scanning ability and could easily see those marks. Afterwards, she cut and followed the markings and was able to effortlessly cut apart therge pieces of carapace into four.

    The carapace was very convenient to carry with it cut apart. Its material was originally very light. Even if they were tied together, they were not all that heavy. After Martial Thunder had taken some things out of his knapsack and transferred the items into the knapsack of other yers, he put all of the pieces of the carapace into his knapsack.

    It was still necessary to process the carapace if one wanted to use them. Martial Thunder already had some ideas and intended to first craft a set of armor to protect the chest and back for Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, and some others. The remaining pieces would be crafted into shields. He did not have high requirements, and only asked that he be able to get one of the shields.

    After this business was finished, the wind grew stronger and blew so hard that everyone found it difficult to stand steadily. Although the stormy weather in [The Trembling World] was expected the winds were not normally as strong as today¡¯s.

    ¡°The wind is getting stronger!¡± shouted Zhang ShengLi to the entire troop, ¡°We should hurry to the small residential neighborhood up ahead as fast as possible!¡±

    ¡°There is no way we can travel under these conditions!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! The wind is almost able to blow us off our feet.¡±

    ¡°How could the wind suddenly get so strong?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The others all began to heatedly discuss the situation.

    Liu Gan¡¯s brows furrowed, and looked off into the distant sky. Under such strong winds, ordinary people would find it extremely difficult to travel on. There was even the danger of being blown away. Fortunately, Liu Gan¡¯s current weight was not ordinary. Even under these strong winds, he would be able to walk steadily as if he was a boulder.

    ¡°Everyone follow me! Be careful you don¡¯t get lost! We will try to get to the small neighborhood up ahead before the thunderstorm arrives!¡± shouted Liu Gan to everyone. Afterwards, he walked with Yin He at the very front of the troop.

    ¡°Elder Liu! It¡¯s not a thunderstorm! Look over here!¡± shouted a yer who pointed towards the left.

    When Liu Gan followed the yer¡¯s finger and looked left, he couldn¡¯t help but be shocked by what he saw. Although within this Trembling World, Liu Gan had already seen many unusual things, what he saw before him left him iparably shaken and frightened.

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147 - Falling from The Sky

    Several blocks away, a gustnado was taking shape. Judging from the wind power, this gustnado was going to be quite powerful. It was able to sweep up many broken down vehicles up into the air.

    This wasn¡¯t what had shocked Liu Gan. What he feared was the fact that the gustnado was able to sweep up many of regr zombies within it! Through his enhanced vision, he could clearly see that within the gustnado were countless zombies spinning with the vortex. Along with cars and other junk, the gustnado became a full fledged tornado that looked as if it was a column that connected the sky to the ground.

    Looking at this gigantic, zombie-infested tornado column, Liu Gan shuttered. Not only should mother nature¡¯s power be revered, humanity was genuinely insignificant in the face of nature. They were unable to withstand a single blow.

    Seems like they must hurry forward past the next few blocks to find a more sturdy location to take refuge in. Judging from the wind direction of the tornado, it could head towards this direction. If by chance, they hadn¡¯t found suitable shelter before the tornado hits, they would be swept up as well.

    Even a yer as powerful as Liu Gan would be swept up in an instant if they had to face off against the tornado. If he fell from the sky hundreds of meters off the ground, it would lead to his death. To survive the fall would definitely be impossible. Ever since Liu Gan had been trapped on the billboard, he knew the dangers of this world and essentially feared it. The dangers of this world wasn¡¯t limited to the corpse tides or different variant zombies, there were also the catastrophic weathers.

    As Liu Gan was watching the tornado¡¯s movement, yers and survivors started shouting and pointing fingers at the direction of the city center, which was more ind. Judging from the direction of where they were pointing, Liu Gan discovered several wall clouds forming right above the city center, aided by the rapid updraft from the ground into the dark sky. It formed the funnel and added to the expanding reach of the tornado.

    Looking at the dark night sky and the tornado column that hovered above the city center, if this was a game, then the atmospheric graphics were really realistic. It constantly captured the attention of every yer and shocked them, just as Liu Gan had been when he was sitting on the billboard, feeling the power of the thunderstorm upclose. From then up to the moment where he had been chased by therge-scale corpse tide and surrounded by the copsing bridge with recoiling suspension cables, there was never a moment that didn¡¯t leave behind a deep impression.

    Now, there was the appearance of this gigantic zombie-infested tornado.

    If these events were to be experienced as a game, sitting in front of a monitor and ying with a keyboard and mouse, then the shock would be pretty enjoyable since everything that urred through a monitor didn¡¯t corrte to the real body. All they had to do was enjoy the graphics overload through the monitors and enjoy it like a meal.

    The reality was that these yers were shocked, and this feeling wasn¡¯t pleasant at all. They didn¡¯t have the heart to enjoy it. Right now, they could only think of running away to a ce suitable for shelter to avoid this monstrosity.

    Liu Gan pulled out theboratory-created special rope and had everyone hold onto the rope. This was enough to prevent people from getting blown back by the wind. Quickly, they sped forward to the next few blocks. Suddenly, a big truck was flung at high speed in their direction. The truck smashed into the rooftop of the house, fragmenting the corner piece intorge parts which fell onto the yers.

    Thest two yers tailing at the end weren¡¯t able to avoid the big truck and was ttened into mush. Stuck together with the big truck, they rolled downhill into the river. Left on the ground were the remains of their severed arm and legs.

    With this sudden onset of death, several yers and survivors screamed. Liu Gan didn¡¯t scream, but his heart beat per minute reached nearly 200 beats.

    Those two yers painstakingly survived the corpse tide and the copsing bridge, but fell victim to arge truck falling from the sky.

    ¡°Quickly run!¡± Liu Gan shouted to the group. As he held onto the rope, he guided the shocked yers and survivors ahead over to a new district.

    Another small carriage smashed into the road ahead and a loud sound resonated. This time proved to be more fortunate, since the distance from where it fell was at least a dozen meters away from the group. Shortly after, zombies started falling from the sky. It was as if it were raining, but with zombies.

    There were some zombies that smashed onto the ground andid there lifelessly, but there were others that would still resiliently lift up its head and produced mournful sounds, even with severed arms, legs, and waists.

    It was a good thing the uing district was not too far away, around fifty meters or so. Under Liu Gan¡¯s guidance, the troop was able to safely arrive to the new district.

    Upon entering this district, there was a small za and a flower bed by a pool of water. It must have been an elegant view. This district was definitely a rich and superior residential area. Several zombies that were wandering around had been controlled by the wind in the za. After it saw Liu Gan, it shouted and tried to charge at them.

    The wind current in this district was very strange. At times, it would be tailwind or headwind. If it was headwind, the zombies would get blown back easily no matter how hard they struggle. If it was tailwind, then they would move with increased speed. Evidently, these zombies lost the ability to think, so it was not used to the sudden change in wind direction. It only wanted to rush forward to the food and eat. Thus, with the ever changing wind directions of tailwind and headwind, they fell onto the ground.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the zombies to crawl back up, unyielding as they tried to charge to the group of fresh meat that entered their district.

    Liu Gan, Yin He, and Zhang ShengLi charged in front of the group with weapons in hand. They easily killed these dozens of zombies that escaped the wind pattern. After clearing the way, Liu Gan lead the group to the closest doorway to one of the building in the za.

    Liu Gan climbed up to the second floor. He broke the window in the stairway and entered the building through there. He quickly killed the two zombies that were in the stairway. He rushed down to the ground floor to open up the door so everyone can get into the stairway. Then, he relocked the door. Now was a moment where everyone could rx. Exhausted, some of them were either sitting on the staircase or leaning against the wall.

    Even though the stairway, they can experience the immense wind power, but at least now they didn¡¯t have to worry about getting blown away or falling trucks and zombies from the sky.

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148 - Breaking and Entering<hr>

    TL: xdh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    ¡°I will lead the first group. Yin He, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, you will each lead your own group. Each pick two members in your group and split up to enter different household. Gather all the clean food and drink! After you are finished, gather on the 5th floor!¡± Liu Gan ordered out loud. As he appointed two yers to follow him and rush to the floors above.

    This building had seven floors, so Liu Gan chose the highest floor to clear out first. As he rushed up the stairs, the zombies in between the floors were all killed off by Liu Gan and hisckeys. With an effortless swing of the axe, the zombies died one by one.

    Upon arriving onto the seventh floor, they noticed that both sides had anti-theft door installed. As the twockeys were wondering how to break through the doorway, Liu Gan ferociously kicked onto the wall attached with the hinge. Several cracks immediately appeared on the wall.

    The twockeys were shocked at how powerful Liu Gan was. What they didn''t know was that Liu Gan didn''t use his full strength because he was afraid that the wall might copse on him.

    After the the wall had been cracked, Liu Gan waited for a bit just to be sure that the crack wasn''t too much for the structural integrity. That was when Liu Gan used his full force in several kicks and created arge hole in the foam brick wall. From that, they were able to enter into apartment.

    The household didn''t have any zombies and the balcony door was wide open with dried bloody footprints leading to it. It looked like there was a zombie in this ce, and it had jumped off.

    As the them three broke into the ce, they spread out to different, significant areas for searches. The fridge, kitchen, cabs held the highest possibility for containing food products. As long as people had lived here, there should be food. And so, they found half a bag of rice, cans of beer, and yogurt. It was possible this household had a child, since there were still tworge cans of baby powdered milk.

    After searching through the first household, Liu Gan created another hole in the anti-theft door on the household of the opposite side. They resumed their looting work there. After the catastrophe, it didn''t take long before it was filled with zombies near the downtown city center. yers and survivors like Liu Gan were few in number., which made it easier to gather resources in the city center than here in the suburbs.

    Floors below, the other squads also found separate ways to break into the anti-theft doorways, although they weren''t as efficient as Liu Gan''s group. By the time Liu Gan finished the sixth and seventh floor, the other groups were almost done with one floor of searching and ready to meet up.

    As they reach the fifth floor, Liu Gan was about to continue his routine kick. Right as Liu Gan was just about to create another hole on the hinge wall, a yer walked over to stop him. This yer was using a self-made strange metal tool that he shoved into the anti-theft door lock. Then with a few light twists and turns, he easily opened up the door lock.

    ¡°I''m not a thief. I was a locksmith¡­ Elder Liu don''t look at me like that. It''s true, my family have been generations of being locksmiths. Even though locksmiths here are almost as skilled as I was back when I was younger, and locksmiths do y video games¡­¡± said the yer as he quickly exined himself to Liu Gan.

    This yer didn''t lie. His name was Zhao Meng, and he was definitely from a family of locksmiths. In addition, he was a fanatic in finding different methods of unlocking anti-theft locks. Amongst his self created tools, there was no lock in the market that he couldn''t unlock.

    After entering into the game, to stand out amongst his fellow yers, Zhao Meng used his spare time to create this tool. Seeing that yers and enhanced survivors alike were judged based on their ability, it was possible that Zhao Meng could have a chance to reach level 5 too. Thus, he quickly used this chance to demonstrate himself.

    The doors to the several floors also had a few that installed anti-theft door locks that were opened by him.

    ¡°Our group definitely has some skilled individuals!¡± Liu Gan surprisingly looked at Zhao Meng with new sight. They quickly entered the household and closed the door behind them.

    Zhang ShengLi rushed in to check, quickly clearing out the two husband and wife zombies and reporting back to Liu Gan that it was safe.

    ¡°Close every window!¡± Liu Gan ordered everyone as he closed the small window in the living room.

    Other yers quickly went to check every room within this household. They checked to make sure the balcony door was shut tight. Even though this balcony door wasn''t a perfect fit, it was suitable for avoiding the wind.

    After closing the window in the living room, everything in the apartment was quiet. From time to time, it was possible to hear the doors from certain households resonate with a ¡®bang bang¡¯ as it swung open and closed. They could also hear the sounds of windows breaking as the ss fell onto the floor.

    This residential district was located for rich and superior people, so the materials used for the doors and windows were all superior quality. Under normal conditions, the windows wouldn''t break easily. So the object that broke the window must have struck it at immense force. After closing the doors and window, the wind couldn¡¯t prate the cracks, so everyone felt safe within this space.

    The household on this floor was thergest, with four bedrooms and two living rooms. Two yers took the initiative to remove the husband and wife zombies from the master bedroom to another bedroom, then closed the bedroom door. The other people wiped down the dust on the sofa and tea tables. Afterwards, Liu Gan, Yin He, and Zhang ShengLi sat on the sofa to discuss the next step.

    Only searching through one household had provided everyone with plentiful rewards. They had gathered many types of food, drinks, beer, yogurts, and many more. There were some fruits that hadn¡¯t spoiled yet, so everyone could enjoy their meal. There were some packets of food and powdered milk that couldn¡¯t be eaten directly and had to be eaten with rice or noodles.

    ¡°Should we ration the food?¡± Wang DeCheng asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°No need, eat as much as you can. We can¡¯t afford to stay here for too long. If you can¡¯t finish eating and can¡¯t carry it with you, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem since the city center won¡¯t have a shortage of food for awhile. We can pige and eat as we go.¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay! Everyone you heard the boss! Let¡¯s prepare for a feast! Enjoy your food!¡± Wang DeCheng told everyone. From Wang DeCheng¡¯s way of speech, his status upgraded from a security guard to high-ranking spokesperson.

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149 - To submit to the will of Heaven<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Allenwa

    <strong>This is a sponsored chapter. Thank you for your support. Happy Holidays everyone!</strong><hr>

    In a certain household, someone found a bag of charcoal used for BBQ, and another brought over arge wok. With a little water to clean it, they put in arge bag of rice and cooked it with some bottled water. To ignite the charcoal, they used books and scrap paper to heat it up.

    Good thing this household had anotherrge wok, which made it easy to cook on the makeshift stove. After the water heated up, they also added noodles into the boiling water. With the makeshift stove set up, the rich fragrance of rice and noodles seeped out from the kitchen. Now everyone in the living room couldn¡¯t resist drooling.

    ¡°This is for you.¡± Liu Gan pulled out canned meat and passed it onto Zhang Hua as everyone pulled out food from their bags to share with each other.

    Prior to when the rice and noodles finished cooking, there were some people that started eating the snacks or even powdered milk. Even though the powdered milk was just mixed with water, they stuffed their mouth full and forced it down with water just enough to temporarily fill their stomachs. They couldn¡¯t chew it like it was real food, so this was the only way to eat it.

    After the noodles and rice were done cooking in one of the woks, there were at least 20 people so each person could only get one bowl for now. Of course in the other wok, they were cooking up another batch of rice and noodles.

    Someone found mustard and other such sauces to apany the rice and noodles, as the yers crowded around the tea table with their bowls of food.

    ¡°Thank you Elder Liu! If it wasn¡¯t for you, we would¡¯ve all died. Now we have a chance to eat hot food and drink beer. This is a fortune that we would¡¯ve never thought of having ever!¡± toasted Zhang ShengLi as he held up a can of beer and thanked Liu Gan.

    ¡°From henceforth, we are brother and sisters of the same race, after we experienced life and death together, and Elder Liu is our leader. So let¡¯s salute Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng loudly said.

    ¡°No need to be like that, let¡¯s take this chance to quietly eat the hot food! You shouldn¡¯t worship me.¡± Liu Gan motioned his hand back and forth. He wasn¡¯t the type to get happy and hubris from all these praises. In fact, he didn¡¯t particrly like these types of people, especially if they said it all the time.

    As long as their performance was eptable, they didn¡¯t need to say too much. It was impossible to gain a favorable impression from verbal praise since Liu Gan judged only from their experience and how they reacted when they operate. The most important factor was if their unique ability could help in the crucial moment.

    Even though Liu Gan said that, everyone felt sincerely grateful. If it wasn¡¯t for his bravery and calm collected judgement, then they really wouldn¡¯t have survived to this point.

    Now that everyone had eaten their share, they were tired andid on the floor, sofa, and chair to sleep. As the yer who was on guard duty shouted in a loud call and woke everyone up.

    Liu Gan quickly went over to look over at the window. As he looked at the far horizon, his heart dropped and expression went gloomy.

    Zhang ShengLi and others came over to the window to see what was wrong. Their gloomy expressions also revealed the severity in the situation.

    Even if this was a game, this type of difficulty was too hard. Was there no time to rest even for a short minute?

    Within the city, while Liu Gan ate for twenty minutes, the tornado had dissipated, but a new series of tornados had developed. So the yer on guard duty, alerted everyone of the development of the new tornado. This new tornado was still in its infancy but it was quite close by to these few blocks. As it was heading towards them and gaining in strength.

    Seems like it was impossible to escape. It would be more dangerous outside of this room, so for now they had to rely on the reinforced concrete for shelter. If they decided to run around in theplicated pathway of these streets, they might get swept up by the high velocity tornado and meet their end.

    ¡°Elder Liu, now what should we do?¡± asked one of the yers as they watched the growing tornado gain in speed towards them.

    ¡°Stay far away from the window, and then it is in the hands of the heaven.¡± Liu Gan replied to them.

    Faced off with nature, even if one had wisdom, bravery, faith, and determination, it was not enough. Everything was weak and fragile, and unable to take a hit. Even for Liu Gan who was capable mentally and physically. For now, they were at the mercy of nature.

    Everyone was speechless, they were silently praying to heaven for mercy and to pity them. It was hard to differentiate this type of fear, whether it was the hopelessness or it was the bone chilling feeling that it was the end.

    Soon the tornado blew closer to the blocks nearby, and it swept up the zombies in the za that Liu Gan hadn¡¯t killed into mid air. Instantly under the high speed velocity of the wind, it banged on the building and produced horrifying sounds. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t break into the room that the people were in.

    The sky darkened and many more zombies flew into the vortex of the tornado. Other junk covered up the sky. So it looked as if it was from a nightmare. As the windspeed finally reached their building, it shook the foundation and started to tremble. Under immense wind pressure, the closed windows were ready to break open.

    With the building shaking, everyone were scared and their faces were bloodless . They didn¡¯t know if this structure would be able to withstand the abuse from the objects in the vortex. Just incase, this building couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure of the tornado or it copsed under the bashing of objects. Then, they would be crushed under the ruins of the building.

    To survive in the post apocalyptic world was a seriously hard task, but to top it off with mother nature¡¯s torment, this was one harsh test of survival.

    ording to what the local survivors had said, prior to [The Trembling World]¡¯s server starting date, this city¡¯s weather wasn¡¯t so extreme. It wasn¡¯t like today where it was cloudy. There used to be sunlight that illuminated every corner of the city for all four seasons. Now, everything was subjected to cloudy and extremely harsh weather conditions.

    Compared to the other yers who lost to their fear, Liu Gan was still calm. At this crucial time, he recalled his 20 years of experience. Especially a year ago when he had his limbs amputated. Even the most harsh days here were nothingpared to those days back then. He didn¡¯t believe he would die here, at least not without putting up a fight.

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150: Psychological Comfort

    ¡°From my experience, although the force of the wind is fierce and powerful, and is extremely terrifying it isn¡¯t too bad yet¡± Zhou MingLiang said, andforted everyone after having observed the situation for some time, ¡°It should not overturn or blow this five story building into the air. Everyone need not be overly worried.¡±

    But after they experienced the broken bridge incident, everyone was seemingly not convinced by this expert¡¯s words. stered on everyone¡¯s face was dread and despair.

    Even Elder Liu had said that they could only submit to the will of heaven. Was there anything that was as foul as this?

    ¡°Previously, did any of you live on the coast and experience going into a shelter to survive hurricanes? Right now, what is the proper procedure?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked everyone. It was obvious that he also did not take Zhou MingLiang¡¯s words seriously.

    All the yers looked at one another. It seemed like none of the yers had any real life experience on this front. As a result, Zhang ShengLi looked towards the couple of local survivors. They had lived here. Surely they must havee across this kind of weather before.

    ¡°In my memories there were indeed several typhoons that came in from the sea. However, before the catastrophe, none of those instances were as violent as today¡¯s,¡± said Zhou MingLiang, who took the initiative to respond after he saw Zhang ShengLi look towards him, ¡°During those typhoons, one only needed to close the doors, seek shelter, and reduce their trips outside.¡±

    ¡°Elder Liu, should we go downstairs? It¡¯s possible that it would be better to seek shelter in the lower floors,¡± suggested Zhang ShengLi to Liu Gan.

    ¡°It is best if we don¡¯t open the doors. The force of the wind should already be extremely strong in the stairwell. It may even be possible to blow a person away,¡± said Zhou MingLiang before solemnly vowing, ¡°Listen to me and take shelter here. We should be fine as long as we ensure that the doors and windows are tightly closed. After a few minutes or a dozen or more minutes, after the wind has stopped, we should be all right.¡±

    Unexpectedly the tornado really gave Zhou MingLiang a lot of face. After he finished speaking, suddenly the wind really stopped. The building ceased to shake and the windows ceased to produce the depressing droning sound. There was also no longer anything smashing into the building. Everything seemed to be iparably quiet, so quiet as to make everyone feel that it was abnormal so much that one suspected that they were within a dream.

    ¡°Quicklye take a look! What is this situation?¡± called out a yer, who had furtively snuck over to a window and looked out, involuntarily.

    Everyone else carefully moved towards the windows and looked out. At this moment, what was outside once again shocked the eyes and spirits of Liu Gan and the other yers. About a hundred meters from the building they were in, countless numbers of zombies, the wrecked remains of cars, and other junk items had taken the shape of an enormous blockade surrounding tornado.

    This rubble curtain around the tornado moved in the direction of the building.

    It enveloped the entire horizon outside the window. Earth-shattering, from the skies to the ground with a backdrop of a somewhat dim and dusky light, almost as if night had fallen.

    ¡°It is extremely likely that this curtain wall was formed from our surroundings,¡± spected Zhou MingLiang with the tone of an expert, ¡°Now, it has truly taken shape. At this moment, we are in the eye of the twister, therefore, we can¡¯t feel the force of the wind. However, the eye will soon pass, and the building will once again experience immense blows and will sway once more. If we are able to withstand that, then we will definitely be able to survive after the tornado has passed through.¡±

    Whether Zhou MingLiang¡¯s hypothesis was reliable was set aside for the moment. One couldn¡¯t but say that the quality of this person¡¯s psychological mindset was transcendent, or maybe there was just something missing in his brain. Under these circumstances, the feeling of nervousness and fear did not exist.

    Liu Gan looked at the approaching curtain wall made of zombies and wrecked cars that became increasingly thick and heavy. His heartbeat once again elerated to more than two hundred beats per minute. Just a moment ago, they had only merely experienced the initial force of the tornado. As a result, during the period when the building was enveloped by the enormous winds, the building only experienced small-scale blows and shook little.

    However, this tornado had now takenplete shape, and also had enormous power and destructive ability. The moment the wall of the tornado closed on the building, the curtain wall formed by those wrecked cars and zombies would definitely m into the building. When that moment came, everything would definitely not be as uplicated and effortless as Zhou MingLiang said.

    Under the current circumstances, if they did nothing and continued to submit to the will of heaven, then it was really likely that they would be buried here today.

    ¡°Everyone, depart from the window and enter that room!¡± bellowed Liu Gan at everyone. Afterwards, he called upon Yin He to take the lead and rush into the room that he had indicated. It should be this household¡¯s junk storeroom. It seemed to be over twenty square meters. It only had one wooden door and no windows.

    At present, all of the yers and survivors had been conditioned to reflexively listen to Liu Gan¡¯smands. After themand was issued, there was no misgivings or doubts engendered. Immediately, everyone followed him and charged into the room.

    After all of the more than a dozen yers and survivors entered the junk storeroom, Liu Gan abruptly pushed against the door with a cab by the wall, and firmly braced it against the door. Afterwards, he called on everyone to physically brace against the cab.

    A moment after hepleted these tasks, the building once again began to shake violently. Compared to thest time, the shaking this time was more severe. Everywhere were echos and frightening sounds.

    From the shelter of the junk storeroom, everyone could clearly hear the terrifying sounds of the living room and other room windows exploding one by one. Afterwards, there were various objects that smashed in, and dropped heavily onto the living room floor and produced terrible ear-piercing sounds. From time to time, the building would produce fierce smashing sounds. Apanying these terrible sounds, the building also began to shake more violently.

    From the ceiling fellrge quantities of dust and particte matter. The room¡¯s walls produced a frightening sound before several dozen cracks appeared, almost as if the building would copse at any moment and bury everyone inside.

    After the windows outside had exploded, the door to the junk storeroom also began to produce strange noises, almost as if there were people outside using tremendous strength to push on the door. Because there was no electricity, there was no light in the junk storeroom. Everyone stayed in this closed door room that was pitch ck, almost as if they were in the dark depths of night.

    Everyone crowded together and shivered with cold. They could only instinctively obey Liu Gan¡¯smands and desperately braced against the cab in order to prevent the door from being suddenly smashed open by some foreign matter. Doing this probably had no fundamental significance and only served as nothing more than psychologicalfort. However, everyone could only do this at present.

    Whether they could survive or not, all of it was up to the will of heaven.

    The heart stopping shaking and sounds of strikes against the building persisted for more than a dozen minutes before slowly weakening. In the darkness, someone lit a cigarette lighter. Under the light of the weak me, one could see that everyone¡¯s heads were covered by dust and particte matter. One could also see iparably frightened and desperate faces. After that, there was also the ceiling, and thepletely torn off wallpaper, and the innumerable cracks on the wall.

 Chapter 151

    After they allowed some time to pass, everything calmed down ¨C the building stopped shaking, and the terrifying sound of the strikes ceased. However, outside one could hear the anguished wails of zombies.

    At this moment, fear and tension disappeared from the face of the people who had just experienced the dozen or so minutes of the purgatory-like ordeal, reced with feelings of heavy exhaustion and despair. When would this kind of never-ending dread and tremblinge to an end?

    At the very least, they survived through the tornado.

    Liu Gan did not immediately open the door to let everyone out. Everyone stayed in the room for about twenty more minutes. Only after sensing that everything had stabilized, did he push aside the cab blocking the door, and pulled open the door to the junk storeroom, peaking out.

    There were indeed several additional zombies present in the living room outside.

    Moreover, the living room was inplete disorder. The window panes had all disappeared. Outside of the somewhat deformed anti-theft metal door, the door to the balcony and all the other doors to the various rooms had disappeared. The furniture in the room had copsed and was smashed into the ground.

    These randomly appeared zombies all had suffered heavy injuries. Some had their chests and stomach cut open. Others had suffered broken legs, broken feet, broken backs. One didn¡¯t need to think to know where they hade from. These zombies were definitely blown away and brought along by the tornado, they had entered the living room through the pane-less windows that had been blown apart.

    Just like how Liu Gan stayed on the billboard after he entered the game and a half body zombie had been sent flying onto the billboard by an exploding helicopter. One could not help but admit that these zombies were extremely tenacious. They had somehow survived being swept up by the tornado into a high altitude and spun around at high velocity, and smashed into the living room.

    Liu Gan charged into the living room and quickly took care of the heavily injured zombies. Afterwards, he examined the entire room.

    The northern wall of the building was badly damaged and had several holes. The parts that weren¡¯t broken open had many cracks. A piece of roundwood that was about a meter long and twenty centimeters in diameter was in the floor about a meter away from a hole in the wall. Without a doubt, the half a meter-wide hole in the wall had been made by this roundwood. One could not know where the tornado had swept this wood from to smash into the room¡¯s wall at such high velocity.

    If you stuck one¡¯s head out from the smashed windows and the holes in the walls, one could see that the wall on the northern side of the building was covered with blood, holes of all sizes, and cracks. This was all the masterpiece of the tornado.

    Although the tornado had passed, wind did not stop blowing outside. However, the force of the wind was a lot weakerpared to the wind when everyone had first entered the building. Below the building, the residential neighborhood was filled with massive quantities of junk, which included the wrecked remains of vehicles. It should be the junk that had been swept up by the tornado and intercepted by the building, and smashed into the building before sliding down the wall to the ground.

    Aside from this building, the condition of the other buildings in the small residential neighborhood were also shocking, all of them were riddled with scars. As far as the eyes could see, there was destion. One of the buildings had even entirely copsed to the side. It was likely that it had been struck by arge vehicle that had been swept up by the tornado and been knocked over.

    As he witnessed the scene before him, Liu Gan felt that the previous thunder and torrential rain, and the tide of corpses were just simply child¡¯s y. This present situation was the real end of the world. The prologue of the fear and the trembling of [The Trembling World] had probably just begun today.

    Some of the broken legged, broken footed zombies had been squashed underneath the junk beside the building, and were shouting and struggling incessantly. Some of the especially tenacious zombies had even torn up their own bodies in order to crawl out, and dragged their spilled intestines along as they crawled forward using their two hands.

    Aside from the zombies buried under all kinds of umted junk, the small residential neighborhood was actually rtively abnormally clean. Whether the zombies that roamed everywhere or the corpses of the dead zombies, or even the damaged and wrecked remains of vehicles parked on the road in the neighborhood, all had vanished without a trace at this moment.

    ¡°We¡¯ve ¡­ survived!¡± After everyone walked out of the junk storeroom, they walked towards the broken and damaged wall, and joined Liu Gan and gazed out. Aside from the look of rejoice from having gained a new lease on life, their faces were filled with deep helplessness and despair.

    Facing the zombies or the variant zombies, and even the zombie tide, one could still charge forward and risk one¡¯s life to find the opportunity to live. Facing the formidable devastating power of nature however the only idea that came to mind was to hide in a somewhat sealed room, and continuously pray and submit to the will of heaven.

    But finally, they had survived.

    At that moment everyone slightly rxed, the barely just restored bright sky suddenly once again showed anomalies. First, the sky suddenly darkened. Looking out the window and up at the sky, one could see a dense mass of what seemed like a ck cloud that floated towards their location. Very quickly, these ck clouds gradually approached the ground. Moreover, it fell rapidly to the ground.

    After several minutes, everyone could distinctly make out what these ck clouds were made ¡­ They were unexpectedlyposed of those zombies that had been swept up into the sky by the wind. Somehow, they were falling down on a block near the small residential neighborhood that everyone was hiding in.

    Looking at the earth-shattering situation, the number of zombies could number as many as tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands! The small neighborhood was very likely to be on the fringe of the impact location of these ck clouds. However, the subsequent matters would be sufficient to cause everyone to be panic-stricken.

    Very quickly, these zombies fell to the ground in the small neighborhood. The noise of mncholic sounds began to ring out. The sounds of bones breaking and viscera rupturing was extremely horrifying. These zombies, one by one, fell just like raindrops from a high altitude, and directly fell on the small residential neighborhood¡¯s cement ground.

    Some had their brainspletely smashed, some had their bodies smashedpletely to pulp, and some had their limbs broken by the fall. Lastly some had fallen into trees before they slid down and left branches and leaves in their wake. Those fortunate enough to have fallen into the trees first before falling to the ground, only had their clothes ripped apart and became naked. Afterwards, they shakily began to stand up.

    These zombies that had just stood there had just only taken a few steps before a great quantity of zombies began to fall again from the sky. By chance, one of these falling zombies smashed directly on a zombie that had just risen to his feet. The two zombies once again copsed to the floor, and no longer moved.

    The rain of zombies from the sky just fell like this, wave after wave of densely packed zombies. Very quickly, the ground of the small residential neighborhood was covered byyer afteryer of zombie flesh. The subsequent zombies dropped on this thickyer of flesh, and the injuries that they suffered were not as severe as their predecessors. Not long after they had fallen, they rose to their feet before being smashed by the subsequent waves of zombies.

    Furthermore, many of the zombies smashed onto the roof of the building where everyone was bunched. As they watched the rain of zombies, everyone could distinctly hear the mncholic sound of bangs and thumpse from the roof. This even caused the building to slightly shake.

 Chapter 152

    Some of the falling zombies fell through the opening of the broken windows of the room. Even as the bottom half of the zombie was cut off, it relentlessly revealed the desire to eat as it bared its teeth at the yers. Looking at the sickening view, a yer took his axe and ended the creature¡¯s life.

    This rain of zombies that covered the floor of this small district soon spread throughout therger region. The border where the zombies haven''t fell was nowhere in sight. On the ground at least tenyers of zombies were piled up.

    ¡°You said after you earned enough money, you wouldn''t do express delivery anymore and spend time with me to watch meteor shower. Well not that we are finally spend time together, we can watch this rain of zombies. So romantic.¡± Said Zhou JingJing to HuJun.

    ¡°Us being able to stay alive is the most romantic. As long as we stay alive, anything is possible. We might even get the chance to watch a real meteor shower.¡± Replied HuJun.

    After hearing these two flirt and the way they look at each other, even the most desperate person can''t hold back their smile. Temporarily, they forgot their worries. Zhang ShengLi and Lee Miao also looked at each other. Lee Miao gently slid her hand into Zhang ShengLi¡¯s palm. Once Zhang ShengLi felt her presence, he closed his fingers interlocking with her fingers.

    Yin He seemed to haveprehended that from observation. Then she looked at Liu Gan by her side. She also attempted it by lifting her cold small hands over at him. However, Liu Gan didn''t notice. He was deep in thought as he frowned by looking outside at the zombie rain. So Yin He could only retract her hands back.

    After the rain of zombies finally stopped, the zombies on the floor all stood back up. After surviving through the torment of the tornado, they were like wounded beasts and started producing terrifying roaring sounds.

    If it were a normal human or him that fell from such high heights onto the meatyyer, they will die. If they don''t die, they will be heavily injured. Without hospital care, death was inevitable. So these zombies that were able to stand up are truly resilient. Even after falling they were able to move smoothly as if nothing had happened.

    ¡°Maintain silence, don''t talk anymore. Try not to make any sound.¡± Liu Gan said and made a hand sign to move back closer to the room and away from the windows.

    While the yers were staring at the lovey dovey couple, they all stopped and moved back toward the wall when they heard Liu Gan.

    As more zombies got up off the ground, they started stacking inyers at the more dense locations. So if any one of them in the apartment above made any loud noise, they will attract the attention of the zombies. Once that happens, they might swarm up the building. Either by zombiedder or forced entry into the building openings.

    Trapped within this destroyed building isn''t simr to the time when he was trapped on the billboard. Since that billboard was a very slippery pir so even with a zombiedder it is quite difficult to reach the top. However with this building, every flight of stairs leads to the top.

    Once a zombie starts climbing close to them, it might trigger a special type of roar that will alert the others. By that time, the yers and survivors are doomed.

    After the rain of zombie died down, the sky finally cleared up. The wind also got weaker. If a person was looking from afar at the scene, it is possible to tell that the tornado was dying down. While the tornado was in the process of dissipating, the fallen zombies in this district stayed in the district as the wind power wasn''t enough to sweep them up again.

    Within the district and the district outside, more and more zombies stood up from the pile. The ones that stood upright were the ones that weren''t as injured and the ones that were stepped on were the ones heavily injured. This posed a huge problem for Liu Gan and his group. As they were trapped in within a room of a heavily damaged building. They had no means of escape.

    Now that the entire district had zombies roaming around, the zombies that were stepped on didn''t give up. As long as it could still move, it would fight and w its way to the top.

    Within the meatyyer on the ground, there wererge amount of intestines and stomachying around. This caused the air to be increasingly stinky. The pungent fragrant was enough to cause some people to pass out. This world was stinky enough without the street maintenance, but with this rotten smell of flesh adding to that mix, it gave Liu Gan and his group a whole new traumatizing experience.

    With this scene, the whole district seems to be a living hell. Not mentioning the scene of countless zombies walking around, there were the bodies of flesh that they were walking on. If the yer had less courage then they won''t even dare of walking on it. It was more than enough to scare them to death, if not then to the point of vomiting.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what should we do now? Should we just remain here?¡± Zhang ShengLi whisper gently to Liu Gan as all others stared on. There was no doubt that they were trapped here without any means of escape.

    This stench is not any ordinary stench. As long as it continues fermenting it will produce more poisonous gas and spread to the areas that supply clean air for normal people to breathe in. Even if the group doesn''t move a muscle, they will slowly die from the fermenting poisonous gas emitting from the rotting flesh.

    Liu Gan didn''t make a sound, he was quietly thinking. This is his third time in game being trapped. This time it was clearly worse than the first two times.

    The first time was when he was trapped on the billboard. Even on the billboard, if he continuously screamed the zombies couldn''t climb up the pir to attack him. The second time, was when he was on the hundred of meters high bridge. As long as he sat still, there wasn''t much danger.

    This time is different. Liu Gan and his group werepletely trapped. The moment they make a noise upstairs, then the zombies below will start crawling toward the source and there was the problem of being slowly poisoned by the air.

    He must think of a quick way to escape from this living hell. Otherwise, with this many people they were bound to create a noise and attract the attention of the zombies and by that time trying to escape would be difficult.

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153 - One chance of survival<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel

    <strong>This is a sponsored chapter! Thank you for reading and for your support! Happy Holidays, Eric Spencer! </strong><strong>P.S. I didn''t want to wait one a day. No one likes to wait when it''s full of suspense. </strong><hr>

    While on the billboard in the za, one of the nearby districts continuously generated explosion noises. The zombies would then move in that direction. That was how he had a chance to escape from the billboard. This time, however, his luck wasn''t like before, where a distant explosion could lure all the zombies away.

    This area was the center for this district, therefore, Liu Gan believed that his group was the only surviving group within this district.

    Without anyone else to save them, they could only rely on themselves to leave this district.

    This was such a desperate scenario. Even though he had be level 6, even though Zhang ShengLi was at level 5 and the rest of the yers were at level 4, they couldn''t dream of fighting against thousands and thousands of zombies, standing or crawling.

    However, if Liu Gan decided to abandon these teammates and escape with Yin He, there might be a certain probability in his survival rate. If he did that, then every yer in this room would be left to fend for themselves. Even though this was his best option for escaping and was a basic survival tactic, but doing so will add to the self guilt and psychological burden on Liu Gan. Thus, he didn''t want to make this decision so easily unless it was thest resort.

    If he had tried to take them along, however, he would do his utmost within his capability. Although the moment the situation takes a turn for the worst, he wouldn''t be able to defend himself. That was the moment he would choose to abandon them and escape with Yin He.

    As Liu Gan was quietly thinking, other yers also felt the tension in the air. Their usually calm and quick-thinking leader was no longer there. In addition, no one had a good idea to help at this crucial time, so they remain quiet. However, this quietness created more tension in the air.

    The yers that survived to this point in [The Trembling World], as well as the local survivors that survived the catastrophe, both knew of the severe consequences that will ur if the zombies were lured over.

    Liu Gan was pacing carefully in the room to ensure that he wasn¡¯t making any noise. As he walked over to every window to peek outside, he observed the movement of the zombies and the surrounding environment in the district as well.

    He believed in one aspect of life. There was always a way if you don¡¯t give up hope. If he could only proactively think about it, he would be able to find a way in this seemingly hopeless environment. Right now, Liu Gan was working hard. He was deep in thought, thinking of a method for everyone to safely escape this situation.

    In that spur of the moment, Liu Gan looked that the area behind this district¡ªarge river. He saw the hope that he was searching for through the thousands of cracks his building. He gazed from a certain angle, then above for two floors, sweeping his view horizontally and then passing a few windows. There. He saw it faintly at first, but it was that exact thing he needed to escape.

    Right by the river was a shipyard in which a yacht was docked. It wasn¡¯t flipped over!

    Since this yacht was docked by the river at a shipyard, the anchor must still be underwater. At the same time, there must be several chains at the tail end to lock it up tightly onto the dock. Even though the shipyard had been blown down to the metal framework by the wind, it was still held in ce by the steel framework. It wasn¡¯t blown away or overturned!

    This was the one chance for survival. Being pushed to this point by the game, the situation seemed very grim. If there was a chance to survive, it would be to escape with the yacht.

    The yacht was around 20 meters long. It¡¯s frame wasn¡¯t considered toorge or too small. It could fit more than a couple dozen of people with ease. The monster in the river was around 2-3 meters long, so the yacht could withstand the monster¡¯s attack, unless there was an evenrger monster lurking in the waters below.

    Since this district and the nearby districts are covered with zombies, it didn''t make sense to escape onnd. Thus, if they could start up the yacht it would at least have a higher chance of survival.

    The question was how would these 20 something people reach the yacht? Going down to the ground by foot was not possible. So if it wasn''t possible by foot, then maybe it would be possible by traveling through midair? As he saw a thick tree on shore near the yacht, Liu Gan suddenly thought of an idea. Since going by foot would mean having to fight through the horde of zombies, it was terrifying just to think about. If they traveled through midair, then everyone could possibly make it there alive.

    One of the zombie on the rooftop saw Liu Gan''s shadow and started drooling. It was dangling on the building exterior as it tried to reach the interior where Liu Gan was. However, Liu Gan was too quick and easily dodged the drool. He swung the axe and chopped its head off. Then, in a vertical jump with a wall assist, he was back into the other room with the others.

    Even though this time, his situation was a lot worst than when he was on the billboard, he still had an advantage. Firstly, he was level 6 so his capabilities were far superior than before. Secondly, he has Yin He, who could help him do many of the tasks that he couldn''t do.

    The most important factor was that Yin He didn''t have fresh blood and meat scent, therefore shecks any sign of life. If she turned off her function to create heat, she would be ice cold just like a rock.

    This way, the zombies definitely wouldn''t attack her if she didn''t attack first. As such, she could meander her way through the horde of zombies.

    Liu Gan took out the biochemically created, special rope that he got from theboratory. He spread it out on the floor of the room and told Yin He to hold one end and rappel off the building. Once shended on the meaty ground, the zombies took no notice of her. Yin He grabbed the rope and started walking further away to the river side in between two buildings closer to the yacht.

    Then, Yin He climbed up the thick tree trunk and tied the rope onto one of the sturdiest branch. This way, it formed a downward slope from the room of the building to the trees.

    In the building, Liu Gan secured the rope tightly in the apartment. Then, he used regr rope to create rope segments and called for the members toe over.

    ¡°I will zip down the rope onto the tree first. Once I am secure on the tree trunk, you guys will, one by one, take turn to slide down to me. I will be there to catch you. Make sure you don''t make any noise in this process. If you feel that you can''t hold onto the rope tightly, then tie the ropes to your wrist. If that''s still not enough, then take another segment and tie it to your waist. Otherwise, there is a possibility of falling down. If you fall, you know the consequences yourself.¡± Liu Gan whispered the instructions to them.

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154 - Large Tree

    ¡°Elder Liu, this is such a thin rope, would it be able to withstand this many people?¡± One of the members asked, looking suspiciously at the rope.

    ¡°If it can hold my weight, then it will be able to hold yours too. This type of rope can hold up to two people of the same weight without a problem. If you have any worries, I will be the first to go so everyone pay attention to how I slide across!¡± Liu Gan spoke as he tied a knot that would act as a harness on the special rope. Then, he gripped onto the tied, knotted ends of the rope, and readied himself with both hands on it.

    As Liu Gan climbed out the window, looking into the direction of the tree. He tested the tension of the special rope, then jumped forward and off the building. Liu Gan headed, with his body in midair, on the straight path towards therge tree. He slid down the rope at high speed. It seemed to be extremely smooth because it didn''t make any noise from friction throughout the whole process. Ziplining through the air didn''t alert too many of the zombies below.

    There were a small portion of zombies that tilted their head to look above. At this moment, they saw Liu Gan zip through in the air and reached out, moaning at Liu Gan. Then there were other zombies that decided to follow in the direction Liu Gan went.

    Liu Gan quickly reached the Large Tree. The steepness of the angle decreased, so naturally, the speed slowed down. Liu Gan stretched out his leg andnded on the tree, stopping on the tree trunk with ease. Then, he sat down on the trunk.

    The top of the trunk wasyered with zombie clothing. There were scattered broken limbs and organs. What a disgusting feeling. Although Liu Gan had gotten used to this eerie scene, he still had to confirm whether or not there were any zombies that can still move and pose a threat to him. Then, Liu Gan waved at the window from afar to signal that they can now zipline down.

    The group of yers were still skeptical, so Wang DeCheng decided to be the second one to go. Just as like Liu Gan had done, he suspended himself with the short segment of rope that he was given. After reaching the window, he leaped off the building with both legs. He smoothly ziplined toward therge tree.

    With Liu Gan''s assistance, Wang DeCheng also sat down on the trunk of the Large Tree. Once again, he waved toward the window for the third person to go through.

    ¡°Doctor Lee, you should go first. I will help you tie the rope onto your wrist and waist, so even if you can''t hold on tightly, you won''t fall down. On the other side, Elder Liu will catch you.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Lee Miao.

    After these few days of being together, he and Lee Miao were building their rtionship little by little. Even though the two of them didn''t say it out loud, they were reliant on each other''s presence in these harsh times. To Zhang ShengLi, Lee Miao¡¯s safety was more important than his own. Since he was now level 5, he had managd to have some capability to protect her.

    Lee Miao nodded to the suggestion. She didn''t say anything. Once she got near the window, Zhang ShengLi secured her wrist and waist with the rope. Then, with a push, she ziplined towards therge tree.

    Liu Gan and Wang DeCheng quickly helped Lee Miao loosen out of the ropes. They ced her on the trunk, then gave the signal for the 4th person.

    * * *

    Everything was going very smoothly. Nearly most of the yers and local survivors had ziplined onto the side of the tree. Only a yer and Zhang ShengLi remained.

    ¡°Little Wang, it''s your turn now.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to the yer as he help secure his rope. This yer was called Wang YongChang, and in the real world, he was a fresh recruit for civil services.

    ¡°I''m afraid of these type of ziplines! It''s too scary!¡± Wang YongChang shaking his head as he said to Zhang ShengLi. During Wang YongChang¡¯s college years, he and his ssmate had participated in these type of ziplines before in the theme park. That time, he hadn''t been able to muster up enough courage to do it, and when his ssmate went on, the safety locks all came loose. Thus, it resulted in his ssmate falling down to his death. Ziplining still haunted him to this day.

    ¡°What is there to be scared of? Didn''t you join us in the climb on the hundred-meter-high steeldder? If you could do that, then this height is nothingpared to before.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Wang YongChang.

    ¡°While I was climbing the steeldder, I was so focused on the foot of the person above me so I don''t even know how I got up. All this is like a nightmare. I don''t want to experience it twice!¡± Wang YongChang said with a pale face. He couldn''t stop shaking. Because of his ssmate¡¯s ident, he was been more scared of ziplining than climbing up the steeldder.

    Perhaps it was because climbing up to the top of the steel pir used up all his courage, but everything that had happened so far have caused him to be extreme stressed. Thus, he was clearly unable to be reasoned with.

    ¡°No problem. I will strap you in. That way you won''t fall down no matter what.¡± Zhang ShengLi said. To him, it didn''t make sense that a person could be afraid of ziplining from a dozen of meters high, yet had conquered a hundred meter climb before.

    Wang YongChang looked out of the window and saw the thin special rope attached to the tree far away. As he looked downward, he made out the shapes of the zombies that covered the entire floor and quickly stepped backward. He started hyperventting.

    ¡°You can go first, don''t worry about me. Let me calm down.¡± Wang YongChang said as he sat down by the wall. Right now, he didn''t feel too well. He even had the urge to vomiting.

    ¡°You better think about it clearly. Yin He is on her way back. Except she is there to collect the special rope. If you don''t zipline through before she gets here then we won''t wait for you.¡± Zhang ShengLi gave hisst warning as he prepared tounch. He didn''t want to waste anymore time and shook his head, then grasp the short rope and slid across.

    If it was before, Zhang ShengLi would''ve stayed by Wang YongChang¡¯s side to encourage and motivate him. Only after Wang YongChang had reach the tree safely would he then take his turn to go.

    However, after following Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi¡¯s attitude started to change. There was no room for the weak in this world. There was physical weakness, and then there was mental weakness. And so, if he hadn''t quickly change himself to adapt to the situation, he would''ve been the one to be eliminated or abandoned. This was the cruel reality.

    As a strong yer, if he sympathized excessively with the weak yers, then he might ponder too long at a crucial point. That would interfere with his own chances of survival. Zhang ShengLi has spent a really long time trying to convince Wang YongChang already. Since Wang YongChang couldn¡¯t pull himself together, then there was no one else to me.

    After Zhang ShengLi left, Yin He quickly climbed back up the building into the room. Seeing that there was still a member left in the room, shemunicated back to Liu Gan through the earpiece.

    ¡°Pass on my message, I will give him 30 seconds to decide if he wants toe along. If he doesn¡¯t get onto the zipline, you will collect the special rope and leave.¡± Liu Gan told Yin He.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155 - Yacht<hr>

    Trantor: Tannh?user

    Editor: Weirdo<hr>

    Yin He expressionlessly passed on Liu Gan¡¯s words to Wang YongChang. For ten seconds, Wang YongChang dealt with a headache before he finally summoned up the courage to stand on the window ledge. Panic-stricken, he looked down before he nced at the team members gesturing nonstop to him from the big tree across the way.

    Wang YongChang gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, tying himself to the slip rope hanging outside. Using all of his strength, he took a deep breath and stepped out onto the rope, sliding towards the big tree.

    While he slid, Wang YongChang kept his eyes closed, feeling as if the time he spent sliding was somewhat longer than anyone else. As a result, he could not help but open his eyes, ncing in all directions, discovering that he was still suspended in midair. Why was this? This caused him to suddenly recall an incident when one of his ssmates fell from a slip rope at an amusement park. Afterwards, he had rushed to the scene and saw the miserable sight of his ssmate¡¯s brains sttered all over the ground.

    Wang YongChang could not help but begin to tremble. His two hands grabbing the slip rope suddenly lost all strength. Moreover, as he had been hurriedly forced by Yin He to set out, he forgot Liu Gan¡¯s instructions on what to do when he lost his grip on the knot: the need to lock his wrist or waist against the slip rope. In the split second before he reached therge tree, his two hands suddenly lost their strength and grip on the slip rope.

    He was at a height of seven or eight meters. On the ground were several thickyers of corpses. Falling from this position would not necessarily cause him to die, but would cause him to be embedded in the pile of corpses, making it difficult to escape.

    If one doesn¡¯t do it, one won¡¯t die. He hadn¡¯t expected to fall from here. Wang YongChang let out a loud blood-curdling scream. Apanying the burst of screaming, his entire person fell down onto the nket of zombies at the base of therge tree. After he fell, he didn¡¯t suffer any injuries. It was only when he attempted to use his hands to prop himself up did he realize that his hands had been entangled in a pile of messy intestines. As for the owner of that messy pile of intestines, it picked this moment to suddenly open its mouth and bite down on the back of Wang YongChang¡¯s hand.

    Wang YongChang once again let out a blood-curdling scream. Hearing his screaming, all of the zombies in the vicinity roaming on the zombieyer were disturbed and began to charge and pounce towards Wang YongChang.

    ¡°Save me! Liu Gan, save me! Brother Zhang! Brother Wang! Save me!¡± Feeling his entire body being bitten, Wang YongChang realized that there were increasingly more zombies gathering around him. He was terror-stricken, once again shouting loudly.

    Zhang ShengLi hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to go save Wang YongChang. However, Liu Gan extended his hand and stopped him. It was obvious that Wang YongChang had already been bitten. There was no point in rushing forward to try and save him. It was likely that that would cause others to be bitten as well. The dozen or so team members on therge tree could only look on helplessly as Wang YongChang was brought down by the zombies, continuing to scream nonstop. Afterwards, his body was torn to shreds.

    ¡°This is really difficult to understand. He was able to climb up onto such high steel beams without any problems, and yet he ultimately died on this dozen or so meter tall slide. Was this worth it?¡± Zhang ShengLi¡¯s heart felt somewhat sad. After all, he had left Wang YongChang back there.

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t even do such a simple thing! When he was dying, he still screamed loudly enough to harm everyone else. It¡¯s fine if we no longer have this kind of teammate!¡± There was extremely unhappy expression on Liu Gan¡¯s face.

    Originally there weren¡¯t that many zombies underneath therge tree. After everyone had safely reached the tree, they only had to climb down the trunk, killing the few zombies below the tree and by the shore without disturbing the zombies in other parts of the residential neighborhood, easily boarding the yacht.

    However, the situation now wasn¡¯t so simple. Because of Wang YongChang kicking up a racket, now all of the zombies in the small residential neighborhood had been gathered here. This many zombies even took the shape of a small scale zombie horde. If at this moment, Liu Gan decided to forcibly climb down the tree and fight with the zombies, it was extremely likely that they would once again lose members.

    Therefore, at this moment, they could only abandon their original ns. Everyone was forced to slide again. This objective of this second slide was the yacht on the water. In the building, after Yin He untied the other end of the special rope, she did not return to the tree and instead pulled the rope to the vicinity of the yacht.

    Yin He first climbed onto the yacht, throwing all of the zombies, alive or dead¡ªdropped onto the deck of the yacht by the tornado¡ªinto the water. Then, under Liu Gan¡¯s guidance, she undid all the fastenings and chains. After she had weighed anchor and started the engine, she guided the yacht away from the dock. After tying the slip rope, she piloted the yacht to the middle of the river, pulling straight the slip rope.

    Under Liu Gan¡¯s arrangements, everyone began to slide again. Having already slid once, everyone seemed to be more proficient this time around. No one said a word as there were several hundred moaning zombies underneath the tree. They slid along the rope one by one until they reached the yacht.

    After everyone had boarded the yacht, Liu Gan piloted the yacht back to the shore. Yin He went ashore and climbed up the tree, recovering the special rope. She returned by stepping on the heads and shoulders of the zombies, hopping and skipping back aboard the yacht.

    This coil of special rope had already yed a major role twice. The first time was dealing with the Carapace Spitter Zombie, pulling the pin from a grenade. The second time, the rope allowed everyone to traverse through the air above the heads of the zombies to the tree before traversing to the yacht. Therefore, the rope must be recovered. One couldn¡¯t say for sure, but it was possible that in the future, the rope would be able to be as useful as these two previous asions, saving everyone¡¯s lives.

    Comparatively speaking, everyone this time was lucky. The fuel in the yacht was rtively abundant. After Yin He had safely returned, Liu Gan piloted the yacht to the middle of the river. Both sides of the river were densely packed with zombies. When they discovered the yacht in the middle of the river and the sound of the yacht¡¯s engine, some of the zombies unexpectedly jumped into the water. Moreover, they began to swim in the water.

    One could see that although these zombies would not normally enter the water on their own ord, once they discovered food and prey in the water, they would still jump into the water to swim over to hunt.

    Although these zombies could swim, their speed after they had entered the river was a lot slower than their speed onnd. Their sense of smell was also not as sensitive as onnd. Their sight was also badly affected. After they had followed and swam after the yacht for a little while, they were shaken off. Losing their objective, they turned and swam back tond. It seemed that they were spurred on by basic human survival instincts, unwilling to remain in the water for extended periods of time.

    All of the tornadoes in the city had vanished. The buildings on the both sides of the river were all like the building that Liu Gan andpany had previously sought shelter in, heavily and appallingly damaged. Adding the fact that all of the grounds were covered with the dismembered bodies and amputated limbs of zombies, it seemed like the present Ningjing City increasingly had the heavy feeling of the end of days.

    One could not know how this tornado had started nor how this tornado came to an end. In any case, it hade and gone, devastating the entire city, ravaging the confidence of all the yers and survivors. ording to Liu Gan¡¯s spection, more than half of all of the yers and survivors inside the city would have perished from the tornado.

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156 - River Channel<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    "I did not expect for Wang to die there, ah. Really, it was such a pity..." Sitting on the yacht deck, Han GuangMing sighed. All along the way, everyone could be considered friends that survived through hell together. Thus, as he looked helplessly at Wang YongChang falling into the heap of zombies, he felt hurt, like he had lost a close friend.

    "He has fear of heights, and when we were on the bridge, climbing the top of the steel pir, I also boasted about him with a few words! We survived the hundred meter high climb, so I did not expect him to die from ziplining seven or eight meters high. I feel bad for him! "Wang DeCheng alsomented a few words.

    The yers on board look a little sad. This sadness was not because of Wang YongChang, but also because it could¡¯ve been any one of them that fell.

    After entering into the game, these people had experienced death again and again. Only under the guidance of Tiger Lord and Liu Gan¡¯s sessful leadership during the camp at the supermarket were they able to have a few days of stability. Then, after the onset of corpse tide, they had to abandon their base camp and were forced to flee. All along the road, they had lostpanions. One moment, they might be joking with one another, and the next, they were forever separated.

    Although they survived, the sad mood involuntarily spread throughout the yacht. As the yacht cruised quietly down the stream, they had no idea which direction was correct, so no one spoke up. Everyone looked very tired, fearful, and tense. The fear and tension was more intense than how athletes would feel.

    In particr, just escaping from the building to the Large Tree and subsequently fleeing to the yacht required a lot of physical and mental consumption. The yers and survivors hadn¡¯t spoken much after they boarded, and soon drifted to sleep with eyes half-closedying on the yacht deck.

    "Elder Liu, where are we preparing to go?" Zhang ShengLi walked into the control cabin to Liu Gan and asked. Compared to other people''s exhaustion, he still had spare energy to be excited since he was promoted to level 5 today.

    "Of course, we continue to Green Pao Bay. With the yacht smoothly sailing down the river, we will reach Green Pao Bay faster. Once we reached Green Pao bay, we will check out if Serenity Aircraft is still there. If it¡¯s still there, then we will think of a way to steal it.¡± Liu Gan answered Zhang ShengLi.

    "Can we flow down the river and directly reach Green Pao Bay?" Zhang ShengLi asked again.

    "No. Green Pao Bay is by the south side. We need to pass through the hub of the city center to get there. Currently, we are traveling west." Liu Gan shook his head.

    "Then¡­ how do you intend to do that?" Zhang ShengLi thought and asked Liu Gan. Since he was now level 5 and was the acting vice leader, he wanted to offer as much help as possible. Thus, he has toprehend the way Liu Gan thought. That way, he could closely match Liu Gan¡¯s n. Or he could even help out by giving ideas and suggestions, therefore repaying the favor to Liu Gan.

    "My intentions? Of course, it is to leave this area, cross through the hub of the city center, and find a ce to dock before the gasoline runs out. Then, reach Green Pao Bay from the shortest distance on foot.¡± Liu Gan answering Zhang ShengLi.

    There was a very high chance, around eighty to ny percent, that Serenity Aircraft wasn¡¯t at Green Pao Bay, but still Liu Gan wanted to give himself a goal, give the team a target destination. Even if the target was illusory, it was better than having no goal. Otherwise, the team would once again fall into despair and hopelessness.

    "Elder Liu, the moral of the yers are very low now. Why don¡¯t you teach me how to sail so I can operate this yacht for a while. Then you could go and talk to the yers. That way, maybe you can encourage their morale or rest for a while?¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Liu Gan.

    "No need, even if the morale is low, that is something even I can¡¯t solve. Wait until we find a suitable ce to stay. The moment they know they are safe and realize that they don¡¯t need to experience fight or flight is when their morale will naturally go back up.¡± Liu Gan said.

    "Well, if you are tired, call me to exchange ces with you. I will head up to the deck to rest for a while." Zhang ShengLi sense that since he couldn¡¯t help Liu Gan, he turned back to the deck.

    The sky gradually darkened. This time, it had nothing to do with the tornado. Judging from the time of day, it was the correct time to be dark. As Zhang ShengLi left the control cabin, he was standing on the deck when he suddenly saw ripples in the water of something that was rapidly approaching. He moved closer to the side of the ship to take a closer look.

    The water really had something moving in it. Previously, when HuJun and Zhou JingJing were dangling on the bridge, there seem to have been a monster in the river when they had almost fallen into the water. Zhang ShengLi confirmed the presence of the river monster for sure this time. The monster rushed over to the yacht, and about three or four meters from the yacht, it leaped out of the water to take a bite at a yer.

    "Out of the way!" Zhang ShengLi suddenly rushed over and pulled away that yer. With a fire axe in his hand, he charged forward to hack it down.

    The monster screamed in pain before returning into the water. Zhang ShengLi had clearly wounded it with the axe. The wound was able to scare it before it had retreated back to the water. Quickly, it disappeared into the river below.

    It seems that some of these Variant Zombie had some wit. This one knew to escape after being injured, unlike like the ordinary zombie that blindly attacked regardless of any damage done to it.

    "Everyone pay attention! There are underwater monsters that will attack people standing on the side of the ship. Try to stay in the middle and do not stand on the edge of the boat!" Zhang ShengLi shouted to everyone while sitting on the deck of the ship.

    Everyone looked at him, still half awake. They moved from the side of the boat to squeeze toward to the center and went to sleep. Zhang ShengLi helplessly took up the position of guard duty and stood on the deck, constantly looking around.

    Liu Gan saw everything happening outside from within the control cabin. He felt that Zhang ShengLi could resolve the problem, and that there was no need to go out to do or say anything. Having another level 5 yer was really convenient.

    Until the appropriate time, he would upgrade these two trusted yers, Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing, to level 5 too. Thus, they could effectively y a role in the team''s security and management. That way, he could delegate the task into their hands and then concentrate on doing his own things.

    * * *

    "Brother Liu, ording to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center database that I downloaded, it shows a small-sizedboratory in the vicinity. This research center is a secretboratory opened here in this branch." Yin He came over to Liu Gan.

    "Small-sizedboratory? You said we are in the vicinity, does that mean it is onshore?" Liu Gan looked at the shoreline on both sides of the shore. Since both sides of the shore hadrge gatherings of zombies, there was no suitablending ce.

    "No, it''s in the river, right in front of where we are heading." Yin He shook her head and pointed in a certain direction.

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157 ¨C Small Ind<hr>

    TL: Tannh?user

    ED: NoriPixel<hr>

    ¡°Can you urately determine the direction of the small scaleboratory?¡± asked Liu Gan towards Yin He.

    ¡°I can,¡± replied Yin He, nodding his head.

    ¡°Then bring us there.¡± said Liu Gan, handing over control of the yacht to Yin He. As she read the coordinates in theputer data, Yin He began to orientate and pilot the yacht towards the small scaleboratory.

    As the yacht approached the vicinity of the location Yin He had mentioned, the width of the river began to broaden, opening up to take the shape of argeke. At the center of theke were several small inds. Some inds had nothing on them, and others had a few buildings. They seemed to have had few visitors. At the very center was aparativelyrger ind, and at a nce, one could tell that this ind had been transformed and reinforced.

    Thisparativelyrger ind had a high wall and had a dock. Beside the dock, two small boats were anchored, both of them flipped over on the surface of the water. It was clear before the catastrophe; this ce had frequent visitors. There should be some other boats that had not been tied up and had been blown away to some other location by the tornado.

    If there really was a small scaleboratory here, if it was constructed here, it would definitely not be easily discovered. However, wouldn¡¯t it be very inconvenient to build it here? Moreover, it was extremely inconvenient for the staff members of theboratory toe and go from work, requiring that they take a boat.

    However, this wasn¡¯t the problem that Liu Gan was worrying about.

    If the Trembling World was a game, the San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratory should have a copy of all the locations of the treasures. Moreover, it was a single-use copy. Whoever found it first, would be able to use it. Therefore, they needed to find all of the San Xing Corporation¡¯sboratories as soon as possible. Increasing his strength, as well as his ability to survive in the Trembling World, would both be extremely helpful.

    As the yacht approached the shore, it pulled up beside the dock. After Liu Gan dropped the anchor, Yin He was the first to jump ashore. After she reached shore, she securely tied the bow and stern of the yacht to the dock. Only then did Liu Gan call awake everyone else on the deck of the yacht, allowing them to get off in an orderly fashion to the dock.

    The sky was slowly darkening. The entire surface of the river was enveloped by the darkness, shrouding the two shorelines of the river and giving everyone an oppressive feeling.

    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Some of the members were in a daze after they descended from the yacht, somewhat baffled as they gazed upon their surroundings.

    After this hair-raising escape, the momentary rest on the yacht had be exceedingly treasured. Setting foot once again on the drynd after reaching shore gave everyone feelings of anxiety and fright. Although people sometimes gained courage from being in a crowd, it wasn¡¯t much use in the Trembling World, no matter how many people you had. Who knew when death would descend upon a certain person?

    ¡°This ce is an ind at the center of theke. The hour iste. We can tidy up this ind and temporarily settle here.¡± Liu Gan did not speak of the matter regarding the secretboratory. On the one hand, he couldn¡¯t confirm its existence. On the other hand, he did not want to cause any unnecessary panic.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we on the river? When did we enter ake?¡± asked a team member, clearly not fully conscious.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that simple? The river widened and took the form of ake,¡± replied Zhang ShengLi, answering that team member¡¯s question.

    ¡°To think this river would unexpectedly be so wide and form thiske. There is even arge ind at the center of thiske. It seems like the ind hasn¡¯t experienced a rain of zombies. Presumably, this ind should beparatively safe,¡± spected Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°I know what this ce is! This was previously ake, and because it took the shape of a semi-circle that was simr to a half-moon, its name was called Half Moon Lake. Reportedly, the small inds in theke were purchased by the rich and powerful of Ningjing City, building vis on them. In peacetime, there normally wouldn¡¯t be peopleing here,¡± said Zhou MingLiang. He became seemingly clear-headed, immediately opening his mouth to introduce the location to all team members.

    ¡°Let¡¯s first go explore and take a look at the situation on the ind,¡± said Liu Gan to the team members, taking the lead to walk off the dock. He walked towards the ind, walking up the steps.

    The center of the ind was encircled by a ring of high walls. The terrain of this ind was quite high. The entire ind did not seem to be formed by a sandbar in the middle of the water. The ind was covered in materialsposed of reinforced concrete; it seemed as sturdy as arge shoal rock in the middle of the ocean.

    After the yacht had descended onto the dock, everyone climbed to the height of the third floor and arrived at the top of the ind. For the top of the ind to have such high topography, it seemed that the ind¡¯s structures would not be submerged even if the tide rose.

    The center of the construction was surrounded on all sides by high walls, blocking all of the structures at the center. In general, because of the height of the ind and the high walls, boats passing by the ind would not be able to clearly see what the situation was.

    After they had climbed up front the dock, they found arge metal gate at the middle of the wall. Moreover, it was locked. Zhao Meng took out his lock-picking tools, and after busying himself, pried open the lock. Liu Gan had everyone take a few steps back before suddenly pushing open the metal gate. Afterwards, he retreated to side, taking precautions against anything abruptly charging out.

    However, nothing happened. Yin He also did not indicate that she had detected any danger. As such, Liu Gan led everyone through the metal gate and inside.

    Under the dusky light of nightfall, one could see a courtyard at the very center of the ce. Beyond the courtyard was a two story building that upied a significant area. At the center of the courtyard was a flowerbed. This courtyard was typical of Chinese style architecture.

    Although the courtyard did not have any wandering zombies, it still gave off a sinister feeling. The distant dark two-story building particrly gave off the feeling that no one would know what was hidden within and that something would burst through the door and charge out at any moment.

    On the floor of the courtyard were several corpses that appeared to have been dead for several days now. After walking over to study closely, it was discovered that these corpses all had arge hole in their heads. The brains inside of the skulls were all gone. All of the heads were empty shells.

    Aside from this, all of the corpses had signs of injuries from cuts and chops. Some of the corpses even had daggers stabbed into them. The odd condition of these corpses made everything about the small ind be ominous immediately.

    After seeing this, looks of rm were revealed on all the faces of the team members Some began to nervously and restlessly looked all around at their surroundings.

    ¡°Everyone be on alert, form groups of four and take defensive formation. The members of each squad must not be dispersed or separated. It is likely that someone hase here before and caused something horrific to happen,¡± ordered Liu Gan. He extended his hand to stop everyone, having them maintain defensive formations and increase their alertness. Afterwards, he had Yin Hend on the ind to investigate.

    ¡°What was it that ate their brains?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan after he moved closer to inspect the corpses. After he had reached level 5, his courage had clearly be greater than before.

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158 - Small Sized Laboratory<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel

    This is a sponsored chapter! Thank you Eric Spencer! <hr>

    "Certainly not normal people and regr zombies, there maybe even more new variant types." Liu Gan replied back to Zhang ShengLi.

    "Yes! Regr zombies will eat anything, not only the brain. It is hard to know know what kind of brain-eating variant zombie this would be." Zhang ShengLi frowned.

    "Judging from the degree of decay on the corpse, these corpses should have been dead from the start of the disaster. The cause of their death doesn¡¯t seem to be because of the brain being eaten, but the physical wounds on their bodies. These wounds came from attacks against each other, so it must have been afterwards, when they had their brains eaten.¡± Liu Gan guessed as he examined the wounds on their bodies.

    "Oh? This is strange, why would they attack each other? Is it a mental disorder? Could it be that someone changed into a zombie first, after which others took the opportunity to attack the transformed zombie?" Zhang ShengLi spected.

    "Clues are limited. As to what the specific situation is, it¡¯s still hard to give a definite conclusion." Liu Gan shook his head. The whole ind was very quiet within these high walls. If any variant zombie was in the vicinity, then it would¡¯ve attack thispound already.

    But the variant zombie hadn¡¯t appeared; perhaps the variant zombie ate all the brains of these people and moved on elsewhere to search for food.

    Although this was what they had guessed, Liu Gan would still not lower his guard. This was the secretboratory of San Xing Corporation, and the location was well hidden. Who knew what could be hidden inside?

    "The central building waspletely closed off. There were no traces of smashed windows or fragmented doors. The surroundings of the central building did not have any signs of life, and there were also no unusual activities of any creature." After a few minutes, Yin He came back with her inspection of the wholepound.

    "Are you sure this is the location of the secretboratory?" Liu Gan whispered to Yin He as he pulled her aside.

    "Yes, I am certain that the secretboratory is in thispound. It should be in the main building." Yin He nodded as she turned to look to the construct of the two-story building. Clearly, she was looking forward to exploring everything within theboratory, especially to find other types of nanobots to resolve her problem of not having enough electricity.

    Liu Gan walked back to the front to close off the main iron gate to the walls, using an iron door bolt to lock it from the inside. Now that it was locked with iron gate bolt, it would be hard for yers like Zhao Meng to pick. It definitely wouldn¡¯t be possible to open this iron gate now.

    With the high walls enclosing this region, it would be a safe zone. The first requirement of turning it into a safe zone would be to flush out all possible dangers. Liu Gan came to this secretboratory was for the purpose of finding something useful. So regardless of how dangerous it will be, he will turn this ce upside down until he finds it.

    The main building was built next to a small park with a garden path. Liu Gan didn¡¯t rush into the main building. He led his team members along the main road next to the main building and they headed to the far end of the ind. Although Yin He had previously explored this ce, it was better for them to familiarize with their surroundings by themselves. Thus, to fully know the ind, Liu Gan would still need to experience it on his own.

    Speaking of the ind, it was a rather suitable ce for a temporary camp. It was situated in the middle of ake sorge-scale corpse tides would have difficulty reaching this location. Even other yers and survivors would have a hard time reaching here. In addition, there were these high defensive walls. With some guards, even if zombies or enemy yerse here, it wouldn¡¯t be easy for them to get in.

    Behind the main building was arger garden area with several other smaller buildings. When the shlight shined through the window, they could see that some of these buildings were restaurants with public toilets. There was a table to y table tennis, as well as a Billiards table; it seems that they had a recreation room.

    These buildings did not seem to be made for housing people. It closely resembled the type of building made for a work environment, judging from the way it was designed. It seemed like Yin He was right. This ce was indeed aboratory, and before the disaster, there should have been a lot of people hereing to work.

    Corpsesid inside these small buildings, as well as outside in the courtyards. In both areas, the corpses had their brains removed with a big circumference carved around the head. There were a lot of traces of fighting, and one of the bodies had been holding onto a kitchen knife. The kitchen knife had dried blood stains on it, and judging from his clothes, he seemed to have been the restaurant¡¯s chef.

    Other than Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi, the other yers could tell that these corpses on the floor had a fierce fight with each other, since there were sh wounds all over the bodies.

    "Nevertheless, beware of your surrounding, as it could have been possible that a variant zombie wandered by this ce a few days ago. Although, there are no evidence of its activity within the walls and the main building, so it could have left shortly after devouring the brains. I have decided that we will stay in thispound tonight. Our highest priority is to eliminate all hidden dangers, therefore every building and structure must be thoroughly investigated. Only this can guarantee everyone¡¯s safety within these walls.¡± Liu Gan said to everyone, yet deciding not reveal his second agenda with theboratory.

    "Variant zombie?" All members of the team had heard about the existence of variant zombies before, so their faces looked very nervous. However, there were a small number of people who were excited. Ever since they had reached level 4, they knew they would have to kill a variant zombie to enter into level 5.

    Only strong yers like Liu Gan, Yin He, and Zhang ShengLi could easily kill these variant zombies. Thus, it all depended on whether or not Liu Gan would give them this opportunity. To these level 4 yers, the variant zombies represented both hope and death at the same time.

    ¡°Before I confirm the safety within these walls, maintain high alert!¡± Liu Gan once again reminded the yers.

    After discovering the corpses without brains, Liu Gan was already on the lookout for danger. But the true purpose of letting his teammates know was so that they didn¡¯t die from negligence. As for himself, with the capabilities of a level 6, these variant zombies didn¡¯t pose a threat. In addition, with Yin He as body guard close by, there was no need to be afraid of a surprise attack.

    The group of people were exhausted and really wanted to sit down and sleep for the night. However, Liu Gan had decided to search through the two-story buildings carefully before considering things like resting and eating.

    "There may be ambushes in the main building, so without my order, don¡¯t act on your own ord! If someone does not obey my orders, they might involve other teammates. I will kill you first so this situation never urs!" Liu Gan said strictly before entering into the main building, reiterating his discipline to them.

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159 - Full Sweep<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Allenwa

    <strong>This thest sponsored chapter from Eric Spencer! Thank you for buying me coffee!</strong><hr>

    "All will obey themand of Elder Liu, and no one will act without consent!" as the team members agreed to not have any objections, since Liu Gan was their guardian angel. Without the protection they got from Liu Gan, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive for long.

    As of now, Liu Gan was very strong and good with his abilities, he also has the almighty Yin He and loyal right-hand man Zhang ShengLi, who was level 5. There were also tightly united people around him - Han GuangMing and Wang DeCheng, who just waited for the opportunity to level up. Although the team is now much less than earlier on, the cohesion andbat effectiveness had improved a lot more.

    The courtyard in the main building had a front door and back door. The problem was that both doors were locked on the inside. This time, Liu Gan didn¡¯t let Zhao Meng pick the lock and smashed the ss window near the back door, so that Yin He could crawl through the window to scout that room. After she came back and confirmed that the small room had nothing strange, everyone crawled through the window.

    Liu Gan and Yin He were in the front of the party, while Zhang ShengLi acted as rear guard. This way the yers in the middle, felt more at ease.

    They pushed open the door out of the small room that lead to arge living room. The shlight illuminated the inside and the outline of the living room was clear. You could see the lock to the front door.

    This building had a total of two floors, like a duplex structure. The first floor of the hall was not as they had imagined, that it would haverge experimental equipments. Instead, it was built and decorated like a five-star hotel reception lobby.

    The first floor lobby had extremely few corpses on the floor for such arge space avable. These corpses also had their brains scooped out and there was dried blood by the bodies, so it seemed all corpses had died around the same time.

    After Yin He entered the living room and she immediately started to investigate and search around. Then, she returned to report back to Liu Gan. This main building had no abnormalities, so it was safe in this building.

    ¡°Since there are corpses inside who also had their brains emptied out, then this variant zombie could freely enter and leave the building. Except, I can¡¯t find any signs of damage on the windows. Could it have keys to enter through the door and lock it on its¡¯ way out?¡± Zhang ShengLi walked over to ask Liu Gan. Ever since Zhang ShengLi had witnessed a lying Parasitic Variant Zombie that killed Zhang ShengNan and HuRong, he still suffered from the trauma and was skeptical about everything.

    Zhang ShengLi wasn¡¯t the only one to wonder about this issue, other yers had as well. It¡¯s just that Zhang ShengLi spoke up about it first, and when he said it out loud, other yers started to look at Liu Gan. Compared to the so called Expert Zhou MingLiang, Liu Gan was more reliable with his spections and judgements.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t speak up as he was thinking.

    ¡°Could it be that this Variant Zombie camouged itself with the background? If so then it could be near us, and is just waiting for a chance to ambush us?¡± some of the members spected and got worried.

    Their worries, were already thoroughly thought out about by Liu Gan. In this type of situation, he deduced two possibilities.

    The first possibility was that the Variant Zombie attacked these yers, and then feasted on their brains. The way it could¡¯ve entered would be through the venttion pipes near the rooftop then it might have been attracted by all the noise by the riverbank and traveled elsewhere by swimming.

    The other possibility was that after these people started to kill one another, the Variant Zombie took the opportunity to feast on their brain and still remained on this ind and hid in the venttion pipes. It¡¯s just that Yin He and others hadn¡¯t discovered it yet.

    As for the possibility of the Variant Zombie hiding in the venttion pipe, that wasn¡¯t too high.

    Liu Gan had not found something that was considered too far beyond the scope of science and technology, it seemed that all types of Variant Zombies could be exined from a biochemical point of view.

    If this Variant Zombie was still hidden within the main building, then all these people were in danger, so it¡¯s best if they found out how this Variant Zombie had entered and where it might be.

    There was someone standing on the wall and subconsciously pressed the wall switch. No one expected the corner lights in the lobby to light up, and especially not the chandelier in the middle of the lobby. Seems like this was an emergency light, that was powered by batteries or an external power supply.

    When the light illuminated the room, it gave the team members a scare. It¡¯s been a long while, since they¡¯d seen powered lights. After they realized what was going on, the team members finally settled down. With the light from themps being so useful, Liu Gan gave a recount of how many yers were left.

    Now the team had only 13 people.

    The seven people from the yer''s camp that remained were Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, Martial Thunder, who was good at making equipments, and Zhao Meng, who was good at unlocking and Doctor Lee Miao; The local survivors had five people that remained. Expert Zhou MingLiang, shopkeeper and retired Javelin thrower Zhang Hua, hospital worker Xu ChangHui, as well as the couple HuJun and Zhou JingJing.

    Lastly, it was the android Yin He.

    Needless to say these five local survivors were definitely strong. Perhaps, after their survival in the hospital required them to have more wisdom than these younger yers. Since the beginning, the amount that followed Liu Gan was five and five remained by his side.

    ¡°Since we are now a group of thirteen. Let¡¯s split into three groups. I will lead a group, Yin He will lead another and Zhang ShengLi will lead thest group. Separate to search the entire building. Once you discover any signs of abnormality, call others immediately for support. Be sure to carry out a full sweep and don¡¯t let any small details slip by. All this precaution was necessary to keep the ind safe.¡± Liu Gan exined the duties and split up the group.

    To ensure that the ind''s security is one part of the agenda, the other hand, the Yin He has not found the secretboratory yet. Seems like this secret entrance is very hidden, so unless there was a detailed search, it would be impossible to find.

    Unless the secretboratory is not on the ind, otherwise the entrance should be here. On top of that, all evidence points to the fact that thisboratory should be on the ind.

    In this two-story building, other than the room that Liu Gan broke into by entering through the window. In the reception lobby there were other rooms. Pushing open the doors to these rooms, it also seemed like these rooms weren¡¯t like the ones in aboratory, but the ones from a hotel room.

    The two-story building wasn¡¯t thatrge like a mansion, but it wasn¡¯t small at all. After ten minutes of searching, the three groups split up to search the upper and lower floors. Even the rooftop was searched. They were able to confirm that there weren¡¯t any regr or variant zombies on the premise. They found the stairway to the rooftop was open, so if the variant zombie came in and left through the rooftop door it would exin why all the windows were still intact and the doors are locked from the inside.

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160 - Restaurant <hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Allenwa

    <strong>This is ast sponsored Chapter from Anthony Huynh! Thank you and Enjoy! No more sponsored chapters!</strong><hr>

    But this brought out another problem¡­ that is, these people before death were fighting each other. During their fight it was not violent enough to break the windows in the process and no one had even thought to escape. If they tried to escape, then there should have been signs of broken windows.

    What was the reason that led to their mental disorder that could''ve caused them to attack each other?

    Other than that, Liu Gan was unable to discover any sort of secret entrance of any sort so it might be possible that the entrance is somewhere else.

    This is an ind in the middle of ake, so if someone wanted to create an undergroundboratory then it was a hugeplicated construction. It isn''t as simple as digging a hole in the ground. They would have to set up the foundation so it wouldn''t copse inward. There was also the problem of preventing water leakages. If there was an undergroundboratory, they must have done unspeakable things down there otherwise it wouldn''t have to be so hidden.

    After they counted all the corpses, before the catastrophe there were at least twenty people working here. This was the amount of workers who were just working on the outside of theboratory so they might find even more scientists within theboratory.

    Based on the number of workers, thisboratory must be really deep underground. Otherwise, the moans could be heard if they became infected. Unless they were dead with their brains removed.

    Another issue with undergroundboratories, was that it would requirerge quantities of oxygen so wouldn''t scientists suffocate from theck of generators powering venttion?

    They judged from the previous search of the surroundings, this main building doesn''t have any venttion shafts so this was strange. Could it be that Yin He made a bad judgement call on this? Or it was the wrong coordinates? Was theboratory on another ind or closer to the docks?

    It was best to not toe to any judgement so soon.

    ¡°Elder Liu, there is nothing here. Everyone is tired. Do you think we should start tonight¡¯s meal?¡± Wang DeCheng walked over and asked Liu Gan.

    From their departure from the district, the food they ate in the apartment was several hours ago. After an intense journey, these yers were tired and starved. Liu Gan wasn''t satisfied until he found the entrance to theboratory and the dangers within it. But as he looked at the faces of his tired teammates, Liu Gan could only agree to Wang DeCheng¡¯s suggestion.

    When they escaped from the district, everyone carried a bag that stored a lot of food. They could eat at least two or three meals. Everyone had a certain limit on how much they could carry. If they had carried too much it would interfere with their mobility too much. Liu Gan¡¯s strategy was to eat wherever you go, that way the team members could travel light and maintain a standard speed.

    There was a restaurant outside. With this restaurant, they could use firewood to cook the rice.It definitely made sense to cook the night meal at the resaturant.

    After they searched the premise of thepound and theck of danger in the surrounding area with seven or eight meters high walls on top of Liu Gan¡¯s presence made the yers feel very safe.

    Everyone left the main building and walked through the backdoor. They took out food from their backpacks, and when they got outside, the night sky waspletely dark. Even though the tornado winds had halted, the surroundings had high walls that blocked out most of the winds. The breeze that ran over the top of the walls, gave off the familiar feeling of the chill of autumn.

    Liu Gan opened up the restaurant¡¯s door. He lead the members inside. This was a medium size restaurant, and they could serve seven to eight tables with each table able to hold up to ten people. This meant that there were at least seventy to eighty people on this ind. Which meant at least sixty bodies had not been found yet.

    Wang DeCheng had a few of the members clear out the bodies within the kitchen of the restaurant to a corner outdoors. Then everyone else gathered within the restaurant.

    Just like with the main building, the restaurant also had emergency lights. It was still unknown as to what supplied the electricity to it. There was no need to quickly find out the answer, so they could take their time. The brightness of the lights wasn''t too intense, and it was better than eating inplete darkness, and it reminded them of the days before the catastrophe when they had lights to use.

    After they arriving at the restaurant, a portion of the yers went into the kitchen. Luckily, they found some unspoiled and notpletely spoiled vegetables. There were potatoes, radishes, cabbage, cauliflower and more. Even though the catastrophe urred many days ago, these food materials hadn¡¯tpletely spoiled, and so long as they get rid of the spoiled parts it was still edible.

    The icebox in the kitchen wasn¡¯t refrigerated at all. All the meat within it had thawed and it gave of the putrid rotten meat smell when the fridge was opened. They could only throw out all the meat, which was a pity. When the other members saw the vegetables, their eyes lit up with excitement. In this world, this was as close to fresh vegetables they could obtain. Vegetables are that hard toe by. Even though it wasn¡¯t consider fresh, since the vegetable itself was mostly dried up, it was still better than what they have had to eat. When they hadn¡¯t eaten vegetables for a long time, even the sight of a vegetable would cause their appetite to increase.

    The oil to make stir-fry and condiments were all present. What made these members more excited was that this restaurant used the old-school type ofrge canisters of butane gas tanks, and there were at least more than a dozen of them. All of them werepletely filled and undamaged. It seemed like the restaurant had an inventory restock the day before the catastrophe.

    Not only that, but in the storage room were three bags of 50 kilograms of rice. There were also tworge bags of stic sealed rice-stick noodles, and each bag had an indicator of at least eighteen cylinders. So the total of the two bags of rice-stick noodles was around 70 kilograms worth of noodles. On the side of the rice, were ten boxes of beer and other soft drinks that were stored.

    Nearby the restaurant was arge water-tower, and this water supply flowed into the kitchen so it was very natural and clean.

    These food supplies, drinks and butane gas tanks, along with the food that the people had prepared earlier with them were all very useful. The amount of food that they had with them could supply them for more than week.

    To find food in the post-apocalyptic world was definitely hard, and only strong groups like Liu Gan¡¯s had the ability to wander elsewhere to scavenge for food. They dared to look in ces that local survivors and other groups were unable to go. That way the search for food suddenly became a lot easier, and just like this untouched kitchen, they easily foundrge quantities of food.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161 - Dispute<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: weirdo

    <hr>

    Under Wang DeCheng¡¯s division ofbor, the group of team members got busy, some responsible for selecting the vegetables and cleaning them. They were removing the inedible parts of the vegetables and leaving behind the small portion that was still edible. Other team members were responsible for washing the cooking and eating utensils, thest set of team members were cooking rice and making stir-fry.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t need to join in on the chores; he and Yin He were outside the restaurant patrolling in order to immediately react to any danger. Even though their search in the area wasn¡¯t fruitful, he didn¡¯t lower his guard just yet.

    If this was really aboratory, then there would definitely be a secret entrance and hidden danger present. It¡¯s just that they hadn¡¯t found it yet.

    As everyone got busy with their individual tasks, the heat burned in the kitchen intensely, the wok spat flipping the food within the wok, and soon, piles of steaming hot food and vegetables started rolling out from the kitchen. Thenrge bowls of rice were tossed out, as well as deliciously cooked stir-fry, all washed down with beer. This was the longed-for meal that they used to have before the catastrophe. Memories of the past and their happy lives were in their thoughts as everyone got buzzed from drinking so much.

    After the catastrophe, no one knew how long they could survive. A single moment could be the difference between life and death. Those who were alive, when they saw alcohol, wanted only to get drunk, seemingly feeling more alive through drinking. Liu Gan ordered to Wang Decheng announce that every person could only drink one bottle of beer. The main reason was that he didn¡¯t want anyone to cause trouble after drinking too much or lose control of themselves.

    While everyone was very busy eating and drinking wine, Hu Jun and Zhou Jingjing whispered to each other before standing up.

    ¡°Where are you two going?¡± Wang Decheng asked the two.

    "She wants to go to the toilet. I will apany her." Hu Jun looked embarrassed, and whispered softly back to Wang Decheng.

    ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t going there to do something else? Haha¡­ it must be nice to have a female by your side! I envy you!¡± Zhang Hua ridiculed. Zhang Hua¡¯s alcohol tolerance wasn¡¯t too high, and his face was flushed red. As he giggled at the couple, he looked at Zhou Jingjing¡¯s chest.

    ¡°How can you say that?¡± Zhou Jingjing angrily replied to Zhang Hua¡¯s mockery, as his nce swept across her chest. She really wanted to go to the bathroom, but Zhang Hua had publicly denounced her, and she had lost face. It didn¡¯t sit well with her.

    "It was just a joke, no need to be so closed-minded, right?" Zhang Hua felt as if he was only kidding around. However, Zhou Jingjing started barking back and Zhang Hua felt as if he lost face.

    "Who are you calling closed-minded? Only people like you would joke about it! Disgusting man!¡± Zhou Jingjing got even more upset. She seemed to want to charge over to Zhang Hua, but was stopped by Hu Jun.

    "Who are you calling disgusting? It was only a joke. You know what? Forget it! I¡¯ll treat it as if I was bitten by a dog and call it unlucky. I don¡¯t want to bicker with you.¡± Zhang Hua waved his hand demeaningly, still angry.

    "Who did you criticize as a dog? You started insulting people first and now you don¡¯t want to bicker with me? Seems like you are the dog! Are you sick in the head?¡± Zhou Jingjing started her series of insults after hearing Zhang Hua¡¯s reply. Hu Jun¡¯s facial expression started getting unsightly.

    ¡°Stop right there! No one will continue arguing! You dare to disregard Elder Liu¡¯s presence?¡± Zhang Shengli saw the situation going south, so he had to intervene. In a loud shout, he stopped Zhang Hua and Zhou JingJing''s situation from escting even further.

    After the two people heard Zhang Shengli¡¯s shout, they both stopped, disgusted looks on their faces. Zhang Hua felt as if he had only said something yful. Zhou Jingjing was slightly overreacting, but she felt that Zhang Hua¡¯s joke was definitely over the line and insulted her personally. After the jokes, he didn¡¯t apologize for his wrongdoings. By calling her a dog, it was a very bad insult so she was definitely in a bad mood.

    ¡°If you need to go to the bathroom, then go in a group. Don¡¯t split up.¡± Liu Gan heard the shouting and didn¡¯t look too happy. But since Zhang Shengli spoke up to intervene, he didn¡¯t need to speak up.

    There were many times amongst people that situations like these arose. Clearly they were friends in their circle of survivors, but some people¡¯s personalities weren¡¯tpatible. So if a few hurtful words slipped out, they might start arguing. Just like when Zhang Hua and Zhou Jingjing started arguing. It was hard to say who was right and who was wrong in this situation. So it was best if Zhang Shengli was left to mediate both parties.

    ¡°Jingjing, I will apany you to the bathroom,¡± Lee Miao stood up and said to Hu Jun.

    Lee Miao had to go to the bathroom, so Zhang Shengli definitely wanted to apany her. Then two more team members voiced that they wanted to go to the bathroom too. So six yers left the restaurant.

    Lights within the bathroom could also be turned on, and even though the emergency lights weren''t bright, it was enough for the people to see the surroundings without using a shlight.

    Arriving at the public bathroom, the male yers didn¡¯t let the females go straight into the bathroom. They had to check inside the stalls to confirm it was safe, then they allowed the women to go in. The male yers went to the bathroom in rotations--first two went in, while the other two were responsible for guard duty on the outside.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t they a little too cautious? Even going to the bathroom, they have to search it first.¡± Zhou Jingjing said after closing the woman¡¯s bathroom door.

    ¡°They are doing it for our benefit. Who knows what mighte out from the darkness?¡± Lee Miao replied to Zhou Jingjing, as they each went into separate stalls.

    ¡°There can¡¯t possibly be anything more, right? We¡¯ve searched this whole ind. This ind is like the size of my palm; there are only a few buildings. Sometimes I feel like Elder Liu¡¯s caution is right, but at other times he is overly suspicious of everything,¡± said Zhou Jingjing as she squatted down.

    ¡°It is because of his cautiousness that we are able to live to this day. Why do you still question him?¡± Lee Miao disagreed with Zhou JingJing¡¯s interpretation.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t question Elder Liu, I¡¯m just casually saying it. Sister Lee Miao, in your honest opinion, who is wrong in my argument with Zhang Hua?¡± Zhou Jingjing changed the topic. She clearly still couldn''t give up on the dispute that easily.

    ¡°Those men, all they do after drinking is trash talk, they don¡¯t know how to put some reserve into what they are saying. Zhang Hua¡¯s joke was definitely over the line, but since he said it only after he drank then you shouldn¡¯t bicker with him too much over it. Since arguing with drunk people has no meaning. Whatever they say when they are drunk, just assume they are talking rubbish.¡± Lee Miao tried her best to pacify Zhou Jingjing. At this time, she subconsciously looked at the area above that seemed to be creating some sort of noise.

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162 - Guilt<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: weirdo<hr>

    ¡°We are outside the door! If there''s anything wrong, yell for us and I will be the first toe in to help you!¡± Zhang ShengLi said in a worried voice, concerned for Lee Miao¡¯s safety.

    ¡°I know! If there''s anything wrong I''ll call for you!¡± Lee Miao replied, smiling, feeling very sweet inside.

    ¡°Sister Lee, Brother ShengLi treats you really well! After he gained more power, no one dares bully you. If my Hu Jun awakened his ability, I doubt that Zhang Hua would dare speak that brazenly.¡± Zhou JingJing envied the caring shout that Lee Miao got.

    Lee Miao¡¯s strength was apparently very poor, onlyparable to that of a level 2 or 3 yer. Zhou JingJing had capabilities to match that of a level 4 yer, but that was still no match for Lee Miao¡¯s boyfriend who had reached level 5, and had awakened his ability. So whoever disrespected Lee Miao meant they disrespected Zhang ShengLi as well; no one dared to try anything funny with Lee Miao.

    ¡°As long as you follow Elder Liu, you will have an opportunity to kill a Variant Zombie to awaken your ability. There''s no need to worry about not having face. It is very hard to survive in the apocalyptic world, so being together right now is already lucky. When you go back, don''t start arguing again with Zhang Hua. This will only make it hard for your boyfriend.¡± Lee Miao said to Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°Okay thank you Sister Lee Miao. I will try to take your advice and not get angry at him. I will just think of it as a dog nipping at me.¡± Zhou JingJing said that she would let go of some of the anger from before, but deep down the grudge was still there.

    ¡°That''s good. If you two continue to argue, Elder Liu will not be happy. Even though he didn''t say it, he didn''t look too happy. If Zhang ShengLi didn''t stop you guys, Elder Liu might have gotten angry enough to kill you both. Remember that warning he said earlier?¡± Lee Miao continued.

    ¡°Ah¡­ it could be that my reaction earlier was too emotional. I hope it didn''t negatively influence Elder Liu¡¯s impression on my Hu Jun,¡± Zhou JingJing said listening up to this point, her expression disappointed.

    ¡°That won''t happen. Elder Liu isn''t the type to be emotional about this sort of stuff. The two of you just need to behave. He will treat you the same as everyone,¡± Lee Miao replied to Zhou JingJing.

    As the conversation died down, the bathroom became quiet.

    ¡°Sister Lee Miao, do you smell something strange?¡± Zhou JingJing covered her nose as she asked Lee Miao, who was in the next stall over. Zhou JingJing was questioning whether her sense of smell was urate so she asked Lee Miao to confirm it.

    However, in the next stall over, Lee Miao didn¡¯t reply to Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°Sister Lee?¡± Zhou JingJing asked again, feeling something was off, and this time she knocked on the wooden stall.

    Still no response.

    ¡°Sister Lee! Are you still there?¡± Zhou JingJing felt as if something was wrong. So she screamed out and bent over to look through the bottom gap between the stalls...

    What she saw was an empty space where the feet were supposed to be. There was no one squatting inside there!

    Lee Miao wasn''t there. Then who was there talking to her before?

    ¡°Sister Lee Miao! Where did you go?¡± Zhou JingJing felt that something was very wrong and suddenly shouted loudly. At the same time, she stood up quickly and zipped up her pants and pushed open the door.

    She obviously didn¡¯t hear Lee Miao get up and leave, so where did she go? Isn''t this too strange? Could it be possible that she got taken away by something?

    As she left her own stall. Zhou JingJing immediately pulled open the stall door adjacent, but there was definitely no one inside! Lee Miao, who had entered that stall, suddenly disappeared!

    Zhou JingJing looked at the bathroom tiles above. The overhead was hollowed out, but she didn¡¯t see signs of Lee Miao getting taken away. There were no noisesing from the men¡¯s bathroom so she was standing alone inplete silence.

    ¡°Is anyone there? Anyone?¡± Zhou JingJing quickly pulled open other stalls. All empty. Even as she shouted, no one replied, not even the male yers from the men¡¯s bathroom, and so she felt a shiver go down her spine.

    Trembling for a moment, Zhou JingJing quickly turned and ran over to the bathroom door. She pulled hard on the door handle to open it, only to find that there was resistance preventing her. It seemed like there was someone outside pulling against the door.

    ¡°Brother ShengLi! Sister Lee Miao! Don¡¯t y this kind of joke! You can scare someone to death! Hu Jun! Darling, save me!¡± Zhou JingJing ferociously kicked and smacked the bathroom door and yelled for help.

    At this moment, Zhou JingJing seemed to hear some indistinct voice from behind, like someone was calling for her. Zhou JingJing thought it was Lee Miao and she quickly turned around to say something. But when she looked back, it wasn¡¯t Lee Miao, but a little girl!

    This little girl stood with her back facing Zhou JingJing, her hair quite messy.

    ¡°Whose child are you? Why did you appear here all of a sudden?¡± Zhou JingJjng questioned the little girl and simultaneously reached for the dagger hanging by her waist.

    With the sudden disappearing act from Lee Miao and this little girl¡¯s appearance in the bathroom, it was all too strange and suspicious, so Zhou JingJing had no choice but to up her guard.

    Slowly the little girl turned to face Zhou JingJing. Seeing her face, Zhou JingJing froze up. She started trembling furiously.

    ¡°How can it be you!?¡± Zhou JingJing trembled as she asked the young girl. Unconsciously, she retreated, pressing up tightly against the bathroom door.

    ¡°Is it strange to see me?¡± the young girl asked, step by step slowly advancing towards Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°WHY ARE YOU HERE? DON¡¯T COME CLOSER! DON¡¯T COME!¡± Zhou JingJing started shouting as she lost control of her emotions.

    ¡°Are you scared? Why are you scared? Is it because of your guilty conscience?¡± the little girl continued to pressure Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°THIS CAN¡¯T BE REAL! DEFINITELY NOT REAL! GO TO HELL!¡± Zhou JingJing had a pained expression and suddenly charged at the little girl with the dagger.

    Zhang ShengLi was standing a distance away from the bathroom, but when he heard Lee Miao scream loudly, he quickly rushed over to open the women¡¯s bathroom door. Zhang ShengLi saw Zhou JingJing stab her dagger into Lee Miao¡¯s shoulder. As Zhou JingJing tried to pull out the dagger to stab Lee Miao again, Zhang ShengLi ran up to suppress Zhou JingJing from doing any more damage, forcing the dagger out of her hand.

    Other male yers that were outside the bathroom also rushed over, shocked to see that Zhang ShengLi was suppressing Zhou JingJing. Especially Zhou JingJing¡¯s change of attitude, since she was resisting with all her might and cursing frantically.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163 - Impossible <hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Allenwa

    ¡°What happened? Zhou JingJing why are you like this?¡± HuJun dered bewilderedly as he got closer.

    ¡°Don''t get too close, she''s crazy! She wounded Doctor Lee!¡± Zhang ShengLi said angrily. Zhang ShengLi felt like something was off with Zhou JingJing¡¯s attitude and actions. So he could only use force to restrain her, but nothing more as he¡¯d hurt her.

    Hearing the ruckus by the bathroom, Liu Gan and Yin He also rushed over with the rest of the team members. Fortunately Lee Miao¡¯s shoulder injury wasn¡¯t too serious and the wound was just a deep cut without muchplication. It was only bleeding profusely, so Yin He was able to quickly suture up the wound with a needle and thread. While, Lee Miao endured the pain she bandaged herself with medicine on the sutures.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± Liu Gan asked after Lee Miao finished her self-bandaging.

    This whole time Zhang ShengLi had restrained Zhou JingJing: her mouth was open but no sound wasing out, it was as if she was now amute.

    ¡°No clue¡­ I was going with her to the bathroom. We were chatting for awhile, then all of a sudden she started banging on the stall wall. Then she started pulling on my door¡­ I saw that her state of mind wasn¡¯t right. She opened her mouth, but what she was saying I couldn¡¯t hear. Right when I got up and wanted to confront her, she ran toward the bathroom door. However, she was half a meter short of the door and she was hitting and kicking midair as if she wanted to get out¡­ Her actions scared me. I walked out of the stall and tried to call for you guys outside, but she turned around and pulled a dagger on me. Luckily, Zhang ShengLi came in on time to stop her¡­¡± Lee Miao exined the situation to Liu Gan and everyone.

    ¡°Her state of mind is normally okay, it isn¡¯t like this.¡± HuJun said quickly and worriedly as he looked on. He tried to plead to Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi on her behalf.

    ¡°Elder Liu, she suddenly lost all sense of consciousness and started to attack Doctor Lee. This might be the very reason behind why all these corpses started to attack each other.¡± Wang DeCheng whispered to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan stared at the now dull eyes of Zhou JingJing, such a pity.

    As Zhou JingJing was being restrained by Zhang ShengLi, HuJun stood on the side and constantly smacked her face and called her name. After a good while, Zhou JingJing seemed to have recovered from the dull state as her eyes started to regain part of her consciousness. She looked at Zhang ShengLi and HuJun with fright.

    ¡°No way! It¡¯s impossible!¡± Zhou JingJing eximed with her eyes wide as she finally spoke out loud.

    ¡°What is impossible? What exactly happened?¡± HuJun loudly shouted at Zhou JingJing. HuJun was able to rx a little as he saw her recover a little.

    As all other team members crowded around the bathroom entrance to watch. Zhang ShengLi saw that Zhou JingJing didn¡¯t resist like before, and he loosened up his grip but didn¡¯tpletely let go. Just incase she decided to go berserk and harm other people.

    ¡°Why did you hurt Doctor Lee?¡± Zhang ShengLi angrily asked Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°Doctor Lee? I wounded her?¡± Zhou JingJing asked with a shocked expression.

    ¡°Yes it was you, even now you are holding onto the dagger that wounded her. Luckily, Brother Zhang ShengLi came in time to stop you, otherwise you would¡¯ve done something you would deeply regret!¡± HuJun said to Zhou JingJing, as he looked apologetically at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ How could I do that? Sister Lee Miao was missing! I was looking all over for her. I don¡¯t even know what is going on!¡± Zhou JingJing started to cry as she exined herself.

    ¡°Oh JingJing, what exactly happened? We were talking, then I felt something was off when you suddenly started to smack the wooden stall. Then you ran to my stall door and pulled open my door. I squatted in there, yet you couldn¡¯t see me. You opened up your mouth, but no sounds came out.¡± Lee Miao held up her wound as she walked over to Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t see you! I really didn¡¯t mean to hurt you.¡± Zhou JingJing started to shake as she looked at all wounds she created on Lee Miao.

    ¡°I know you didn¡¯t mean to hurt me, I don¡¯t me you at all. I just want you to exin what you saw.¡± Lee Miao tried tofort Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I saw my sister. She terrifies me!¡± Zhou JingJing painfully said.

    ¡°Your sister? LingLing? Why would she be here?¡± HuJun shocked from what he heard. As far as he remembered, her sister LingLing was already dead. She had been dead for a year already.

    ¡°She was dead, for more than a year! Ever since she was born I have hated her! I despise her! She ruined my family! She ruined my life! I couldn¡¯t attend college because of her. So I had to work at an early age!¡± Zhou JingJing shook her head. Zhou JingJing was in pain as she revealed her painful past. Even if she didn¡¯t want to talk about it she had to since she was under pressure from everyone.

    ¡°Her sister died a year ago from leukemia.¡± HuJun filled in the story to everyone.

    ¡°If she was dead, then how was it possible that she appeared here?¡± Lee Miao asked the question that everyone else wanted to ask.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know myself... She¡­ She could¡¯ve been saved. The doctor said if they had opted for surgery early enough then she wouldn¡¯t have been in that situation. I matched with her type, so as long as I agreed to transnt my bone marrow to her, then that would be able to save her life. But, I didn¡¯t want to do that!¡±

    ¡°When my parents had her, I didn''t agree to a sibling. I know they wanted a boy, so they had another baby. The end result was this small disaster!¡± Zhou JingJing said as she started to cry nonstop.

    NinJing city had opened its¡¯ policy for second pregnancy, so my parents that wanted a second child were able to do so without repercussions. However, Zhou JingJing during that time was about to be an adult, and she strongly objected against that. So the moment the second child was born, and it was a girl, the parents were very disappointed. Regardless, they still loved her. The family¡¯s economic status hadn¡¯t been the greatest before her birth, but it got worst.

    From then on, Zhou JingJing and her parent¡¯s rtionship grew more distant. Zhou JingJing had excellent grades, but she dropped out of school and left the family so she could work. Then, for four years, she never went back home or talked with her parents. It was not until her parents called her for help.

    Her sister had leukemia. To treat the sickness, they pawned and sold everything possible. They even borrowed money from friends, rtives, and high-interest loan sharks.

    So Zhou JingJing gave all the money she had worked these few years to her parent, however the amount she gave was like pouring out a house fire with a cup of water. Her parents then forced Zhou JingJing to donate bone marrow to LingLing after they found out that she was a match, but the procedure would¡¯ve costed a hundred thousand.

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164 - Bnce

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: NoriPixel

    ¡°I wasn''t able to ept that situation I was forced to do, so I knew I had to go. I left my parents without another word. I left to somewhere far and changed my phone number. Then, about half a yearter, I heard from my rtives that LingLing died in the hospital since she wasn''t able to undergo surgery in time.

    ¡°San Xing Corporation found my parents, and they said they were willing to pay off the debt as long LingLing¡¯s body was donated for research purposes.

    ¡°My parents had so much debt that they had no other choice but to ept. On the day LingLing¡¯s body was being shipped off, they left behind their will. It was ten pages long with several thousand words, apologizing to me. Then they both jumped into NinJing River to suicide¡­¡± Zhou JingJing cried uncontrobly as she finished her story. The sounds of her crying resonated through the hearts of the people on site, as it was very painful to listen to.

    There were times when people in the modern era were more brutal than those that were in post-apocalyptic days. People contracted diseases, but there were no cures; they had rtives, but no recognition. The pain of living like this was the most hopeless, but only the person suffering would understand it best.

    ¡°I don''t know why she would be here to look for me, I don''t even owe her anything! I only came by to tell my parents to not have any more kids! With this poor financial condition, why would they decide to have another kid? She basically ruined my life! She caused my parents to die! I hate her! I HATE HER!¡± Zhou JingJing got even more heated, but there were no signs of her potentially harming anyone, so Zhang ShengLi finally released her.

    ¡°This isn''t our fault, don''t me yourself too much.¡± HuJun lifted up Zhou JingJing off the floor and hugged her. As he was consoling her, she started crying again in his arm.

    ¡°So, she means to say that her sister who died a year ago reanimated toe find her?¡± Other yers mumbled after they finally realized that point¡­at the end of Zhou JingJing¡¯s story.

    ¡°Could it be possible that this game has some sort of ghost or spirit set up?¡± Zhao Meng started specting.

    ¡°If there were appearance of ghosts, the game would be unbnced. This is definitely impossible with these supernatural activities, so there must be an appropriate exnation.¡± Han GuangMing said, shaking his head.

    ¡°No wonder, this game has that sort of bnce! All of a sudden, there is a corpse tide or tornado. If this was a bnced game then those events shouldn''t happen. It''s clearly set to hell difficulty! Thus, the appearance of spirits in hell aren''t very strange at all.¡± Zhao Meng strongly held onto his belief.

    ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night, don''t talk about ghosts or spirits anymore. You are scaring me!¡± Martial Thunder halted Zhao Meng from continuing. There were other members who were also troubled by the supernatural phenomenon. Today, they have experienced too much misery already, so they don''t want to continue experiencing more pain.

    ¡°As Zhou JingJing had said, it might be a case of seeing ghosts. If it''s not that case, then how else can it be exined? Could it be possible that she hallucinated?¡± Zhao Meng persistent on the topic.

    ¡°I also agree that this is a supernatural event. This is a game, so anything can happen in-game. Who knows if the game is capable of producing such things? Now that we are trapped in The Trembling World, as long as we can get results from our work then that is what matters.¡± Wang DeCheng said, supporting Zhao Meng¡¯s theory.

    ¡°Even if it was a game, it should have some sort of bnce. If such supernatural phenomenon ur often, then the yers won¡¯t have any method of handling it. So, how does the game bnce itself?¡± Han GuangMing didn¡¯t quite agree with Wang DeCheng this time, even though they usually agree on most things.

    ¡°This whole game is unbnced. Do you feel like this game is bnced? Ever since we entered the game, the difficulty to survive is harsh. There¡¯s no logical reasoning behind it!¡± Zhao Meng replied to Han GuangMing.

    Now, the yers split into two factions and the arguing intensified.

    ¡°This is our world, not some game. You are all talking about bnce and unbnce for some sort of game, but that is all nonsense! Even the talk about supernatural activities is nonsense! Dead people can be reanimated, so it¡¯s not so strange. Even now, reanimated people can roam the streets!¡± Zhou MingLiang had to pitch into this debate. However, his point was very different from everyone else''s point of view.

    To Liu Gan, he didn¡¯t quite agree with the supernatural talk, but he agreed with the aspect about the bnced game. This game was quite bnced from what he has experienced so far. For example, when he had alloy limbs, a variant zombie immediately went forward to attack him as if it was to amend that BUG in the system.

    Afterwards, Jiang JinYuan had the cheating PDA with probing instation, which resulted in a Colossal Variant Zombie attacking him. That Colossal Variant Zombie was originally amongst other zombies in the street wandering aimlessly, without any instigation, it charged at Jiang JinYuan in the Lucky Garden District and killing Pan Hua in the process.

    ¡°I feel like she isn¡¯t too normal today. It is best if she is tied up so she doesn¡¯t go around hurting people.¡± Zhang Hua looking at Zhou JingJing.

    ¡°Zhang Hua, why must you go against us?¡± HuJun couldn¡¯t resist getting angry at Zhang Hua.

    ¡°I¡¯m not targeting her. It is just that I feel her condition is very unstable and dangerous. Just like when she went crazy before, it might happen again.¡± Zhang Hua exining to HuJun. Right now, he was thinking of his own safety since he had been arguing with her the most earlier.

    This time, it was Lee Miao that suffered injuries. It could be possible that she was feigning madness and would wound him next in the process. Thetter was highly probable, since they were bashing at each other earlier.

    ¡°You are definitely directing your attacks against us! What is your goal?¡± HuJun wasn¡¯t too happy.

    ¡°Tie her up.¡± Liu Gan gave a short rope to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Elder Liu! JingJing didn¡¯t mean to harm Doctor Lee!¡± HuJun immediately said after Liu Gan gave out the order.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say she did it on purpose to harm Doctor Lee, but Zhang Hua is right. She is in unstable conditions and we don¡¯t know the reason behind it all. So for the safety of herself, yourself, and everyone else, it is best that we tie her up. When we find the reason behind all of this, or when she doesn¡¯t have any more abnormal activities, I will release her freedom.¡± Liu Gan replied to HuJun.

    Liu Gan acted only to reasoning. He didn¡¯t get swayed to any side or prioritized anyone. He only viewed from the aspect about the safety of the team.

    HuJun didn¡¯t speak up. He had no objection, and his only option was to release Zhou JingJing. Zhang ShengLi tied Zhou JingJing¡¯s hand behind her back with a dead knot. Throughout the process, Zhou JIngJing was very cooperative. She didn¡¯t resist at all.

 Chapter 165

    ¡°HuJun, you shouldn''t stick too close to Zhou JingJing for now so you won''t be influenced by your emotions and do something wrong. Let the others take care of her. Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, you two will be responsible and take shifts to observe Zhou JingJing. If she acts irrationally, report to me.¡± Liu Gan gave a direct order to Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing replied to Liu Gan. They turned andforted HuJun, and promised him that they would be kind to her so he shouldn''t worry too much.

    ¡°Yin He have you found anything abnormal?¡± Liu Gan watched Yin He move toward the wall of a bathroom stall, then he moved over and in a low voice he whispered.

    ¡°The walls have wet footprints, and the floor has wet stains. These stains seem to have been from the outside. It came in from that direction.¡± Yin He pointed at the air vent above them.

    Liu Gan also took a look at the bathroom stall that was closest to the air vent which had a water stain. The floor indeed had water stains. When Liu Gan first came in, he was watching the ongoing situation with Lee Miao and Zhou JingJing so he wasn¡¯t able to look for clues immediately. Luckily, Yin He hadn¡¯t been standing around idly.

    ¡°Doctor Lee, when you were in the bathroom, aside from Zhou JingJing¡¯s abnormal actions did you notice anything else in particr?¡± Liu Gan turned around and asked Lee Miao.

    ¡°I think¡­ I might have heard some strange sounds¡­ However, it sounded like it came from the men¡¯s bathroom. Other than that¡­ I didn¡¯t notice anything different.¡± Lee Miao tried her best to recall the events in her memories.

    ¡°Do you need me to investigate this clue?¡± Yin He walked over and whispered to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Investigate it a little, but don¡¯t go too far. Don¡¯t enter the water. If you find anything unusual, notify me first so I can think about how to handle it.¡± Liu Gan replied.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Yin He received Liu Gan¡¯smand, and she immediately kicked off the wall andnded on top of the stall. She chased after clues on the exterior of the air vents.

    If his PDA had power, Liu Gan could¡¯ve used the PDA to make tracking easier for Yin He. It was just upsetting that the PDA was out of juice, so he could only wait for the report from Yin He.

    ¡°The previous corpses contained scars from battling each other. Then they had their brains taken out either to be eaten or just removed. It is quite possible that everything that happened here might be about to be reenacted once again. If it wasn¡¯t for Brother Zhang rushing in to save Doctor Lee from Zhou JingJing, it could be possible one of their brains would¡¯ve been dug out of their skulls.¡± Zhou MingLiang started up his deliberation.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else that needs to be said - just that this ind is haunted. The things that Zhou JingJing said she saw and from what Doctor Lee has said, it could be possible that Zhou JingJing was possessed. So when she opened up her mouth, no words came out. She thought she saw her dead sister so that would exin why she withdrew her dagger to harm Doctor Lee. Only things like possession could demonstrate these activities.¡± Wang DeCheng affirmed his ghost theory.

    ¡°Me too! I also feel like it was the doings of a ghost! If it¡¯s like that on this ind, then that¡¯s too scary! I don¡¯t want to dwell on a haunted ind. Let¡¯s take the yacht and leave this ind. If we continue to stay here, then I¡¯m afraid we will be like the corpses we found. We might end up killing each other. Then have our brains removed! Zhou JingJing was only the beginning! First she lost control of herself, the next person could be you or me or everyone else! What else might be the reason behind the twenty corpses here?¡± Zhao Meng got agitated from yelling out his point as he expressed his fears.

    ¡°Yes! If it was zombies, or specifically Variant Zombies, we could do our best to fight them in a hard battle. However, if it was those supernatural activities from ghosts, we don¡¯t have that sort of ability to resist them. We can only submit to their will and allow it to kill us. I don¡¯t want to lie to you guys, but when I worked in the hospital before. I really encountered a ghost¡­ It was just too terrifying!¡± said Xu ChangHui in a gloomy tone. Since he was an employee of a hospital before.

    ¡°Ah? You saw a ghost? Let¡¯s hear it?¡± Zhou MingLiang said with an excited expression.

    ¡°Stop talking! Haven¡¯t you guys had enough? It¡¯s close to midnight and we are stuck on the ind, so that is already intimidating enough. Why must you talking about ghost encounters?¡± Martial Thunder loudly protested to them.

    ¡°Before anything is figured out, let¡¯s not jump to conclusions! Whoever is going to keep jumping to conclusions and spreading rumors is just disrupting the group morale! Don¡¯t me me if I will be harsh on them!¡± Liu Gan finally opened his mouth to stop the debate.

    Finally the debate stopped, but the damage had already been done. Many of the team members were scared. with all the corpses with wounds gained in battle against each other, and the removal of the brains from the skulls. These were all ssified as supernatural activities. In their eyes, it was a possible event since it happened to Zhou JingJing. They were afraid that someone nearby them would cause injury to them.

    If it urred then would their ending be the same as the corpses on the floor? First hallucinations, then they would fight amongst each other, then for unknown reasons their brains would be removed from their skull. To die this way was definitely too terrifying. It was already hard to survive to this point, so they valued their lives more than anything. They really didn¡¯t want to die to an unknown cause.

    ¡°Everyone return to the restaurant, I¡¯ve arranged for Yin He to investigate the matter. As long as everyone stays together, there won¡¯t be anything happening.¡± Liu Gan replied to everyone. As they all departed from the bathroom and headed toward the restaurant.

    ¡°ording to me, we shouldn¡¯t stick to each other. Sticking to each other is more dangerous, since we might kill each other inbat. It¡¯s best if we divide up so it isn¡¯t that dangerous.¡± whispered Xu ChangHui into Zhou MingLiang¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Yes, I am worried about that too.¡± Zhou MingLiang nodded to Xu ChangHui.

    ...

    After a few minutes, Yin He entered the restaurant and called Liu Gan outside to report her findings.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Yin He told Liu Gan as they headed toward the public bathroom. Liu Gan followed behind Yin He to the back of the bathroom until Yin He stopped behind a wall.

    ¡°Right here is a trail of a nonvisible liquid This trail leads over that wall.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    The sky waspletely dark. Without the visual aid of an infrared ray, Liu Gan couldn¡¯t see clearly. He could only use his shlight and pointed it on the ground. There was a thin wet trace, that was still a fresh footprint.

    This thin footprint lead all the way over the high wall. If a creature can create these footprints over the wall by escaping, then it must have really strong climbing capabilities since the wall is very high.

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166 - Air Vent<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    ¡°These set of footprints all lead toward the river. Regardless of what Zhou JingJing thinks she might have seen, it is definitely not her sister based on the evidence so far.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then why do you suppose she said that?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He. In his mind, he had an answer already, but he wanted to listen to Yin He¡¯s analysis. Besides, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to hear her out.

    ¡°This point isn¡¯t strange at all. Perhaps creating hallucinogens is one of the creature¡¯s ability? It would exin how it could cause her to hallucinate. I suspect that the remains we found in this area were also due to the hallucinations. However, the method of infection is still unknown. One thing is clear, it is that the hallucinatory ability of this Variant Zombie is very powerful. It was able to conjure the ability over a wide area, essentially turning every scientist on the ind against each other. Right now, its¡¯ ability is very limited, so it couldn¡¯t use the same ability on us. Therefore, it pinpointed Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao, who were isted from the rest. It was due to Zhang ShengLi¡¯s intervention that the creature couldn¡¯t devour the brains of those two.¡± Yin He exined without wasting a breath.

    ¡°You are very smart, and you found clues that no one else did. You were able to urately connect the dots through the evidence.¡± Liu Gan was highly impressed with Yin He. Is the reason she could spontaneously do something like analyze a situation perhaps due to how they had gotten slightly more friendly recently?

    ¡°It is still hard to say if that ispletely urate. First, we need to find this Variant Zombie. The problem with looking for this amphibious zombie is that it can travel bynd and water; to track it onnd is easy, but once it submerges itself into the water, then it is impossible to follow.¡± Yin He spoke her mind to speak to Liu Gan.

    ¡°As long as this hallucinogenic-causing Variant Zombie is nearby, it proves that there is a high chance of a secretboratory being situated around here. It is just that we haven¡¯t found the right entrance to it.¡± Liu Gan said out loud. He was more interested in the high-technological products and enhancing medicine than having the ability to produce hallucinations.

    If this Variant Zombie was a byproduct of theboratory¡¯s experiment, then he might be able to find the drug that can induce the same ability as the Variant Zombie. ording to what Jiang JinYuan had said, these drugs in theboratory could directly exploit the development of the yer¡¯s ability, either by injection or oral consumption. This way, he could have his own hallucinogenic-inducing abilities. This ability would be a wonderful addition to when he has to assassinate Variant Zombies or other yers that he mighte across.

    Right now, these ideas are all in Liu Gan¡¯s head as he spectes on what he can gain from thisboratory. As long as they are able to find the secret entrance to theboratory, then they will know.

    ¡°When I climbed onto the high walls, I realized that top of the walls had many air vents that are around ten centimeters in diameter. When I ced my ear close to the air vents, I was able to hear the roar of some zombies. I could also smell the distinct fumes released by zombies.¡± Yin He reported everything she had investigated.

    ¡°Ah? There are air vents? Seems like theboratory is definitely below the ground! We must undergo a thorough search.¡± Liu Gan¡¯s eyes lit up as he heard the news.

    After the exchange of words with Yin He, Liu Gan went back to the restaurant. He ryed to everyone his spections. It was a hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie. So that all their prior discussion regarding ghosts and spirits were not usible, effectively calming down those who were scared. With Liu Gan protecting them, they wouldn¡¯t have to be too nervous.

    ¡°This Variant Zombie has retreated back into the water, so it¡¯s safe to assume that it won¡¯te back anytime soon. The high walls surrounding thepound have air vents, so there must be a secret structure nearby. That poses a certain threat, so we will have to divide up into three groups again. I will lead one team; Yin He will lead another; and Zhang ShengLi will lead thest one. The goal this time around is to continue searching on this ind. Pay attention to the ground, I want us to search every inch of it. Make sure you find the entrance leading to the underground structure.¡± Liu Gan meted out orders to everyone in the restaurant.

    ¡°We need to search again?¡± A few team members showed signs of unwillingness. Today, they had experienced too many things. They didn¡¯t want to be tormented any longer. As Liu Gan nced at those few team members, they immediately lowered their voices.

    ¡°Elder Liu, should we release JingJing from her bindings? While it might dy the search process, don¡¯t we need to appoint someone to specifically watch over her?.¡± HuJun suggested to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, you can be in her group with Yin He. Look after her well. If she has any abnormalities, don¡¯t hide it from me. Report it to Yin He.¡± Liu Gan agreed to HuJun only on those terms. As this was a hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie, Zhou JingJing might be more sensitive and alert to that ability because she had been influenced by its hallucinations once already.. Even if she is recovering at this moment, it shouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem.

    Right now, the most important issue was to search through thispound. If they had to divvy up their manpower to keep a watch on her, it wouldn¡¯t be optimal. Since it wasn¡¯t safe anyway, it was best if she had her own freedom and was on Yin He¡¯s team. That way, if she acts irrationally, Yin He can immediately detect it and terminate the threat to prevent further damage to their other team members.

    If this hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie appears, then everyone on the field will have an equal chance of getting affected. The n was to find the secret entrance immediately, obtain the things he needed from theboratory, and leave this ind. Since they weren¡¯tt able to kill the Variant Zombie while it was underwater, this was the only option.

    ¡°Thank you, Elder Liu!¡± HuJun was surprised that Liu Gan had agreed, quickly releasing the bindings on JingJing¡¯s hand.

    ¡°No way? If she hurts someone else after she¡¯s released, then what happens?¡± Zhang Hua said in a concerned tone.

    After Liu Gan and Yin He left, HuJun and Zhou JingJing looked at Zhang Hua with hateful eyes. He felt a shiver going down his spine. The two would definitely bear their grudges against him, so if there was a sudden dagger plunging into his back, they wouldn¡¯t be responsible for it since they can me it on the hallucinations.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be in the same group as them, you can be in my group.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang Hua. Liu Gan was clearly not going to change his mind after he had made his decision.

    Zhang Hua rushed up to Liu Gan¡¯s side. He looked back into the angry eyes of HuJun and Zhou JingJing, who both stared back at him.

    Aftermencing the second search, Liu Gan and Yin He lead the groups separately toward the grounds outside of the main building. In addition to searching the ground, they were also paying attention to the activities up on the high walls.

    Zhang ShengLI was responsible for the area within the main building. Even though the inside of the main building was only around 200 square meters in total, Liu Gan¡¯s orders were to look through every inch, so they had to thoroughly inspect even the carpets and floor tiles. The entrance to the secretboratory could be anything.

    Chapter 166 - Air Vent<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    RL stuff is dying me.<hr>

    ¡°These set of footprints all lead toward the river. Regardless of what Zhou JingJing thinks she might have seen, it is definitely not her sister based on the evidence so far.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Then why do you suppose she said that?¡± Liu Gan asked Yin He. In his mind, he had an answer already, but he wanted to listen to Yin He¡¯s analysis. Besides, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to hear her out.

    ¡°This point isn¡¯t strange at all. Perhaps creating hallucinogens is one of the creature¡¯s ability? It would exin how it could cause her to hallucinate. I suspect that the remains we found in this area were also due to the hallucinations. However, the method of infection is still unknown. One thing is clear, it is that the hallucinatory ability of this Variant Zombie is very powerful. It was able to conjure the ability over a wide area, essentially turning every scientist on the ind against each other. Right now, its¡¯ ability is very limited, so it couldn¡¯t use the same ability on us. Therefore, it pinpointed Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao, who were isted from the rest. It was due to Zhang ShengLi¡¯s intervention that the creature couldn¡¯t devour the brains of those two.¡± Yin He exined without wasting a breath.

    ¡°You are very smart, and you found clues that no one else did. You were able to urately connect the dots through the evidence.¡± Liu Gan was highly impressed with Yin He. Is the reason she could spontaneously do something like analyze a situation perhaps due to how they had gotten slightly more friendly recently?

    ¡°It is still hard to say if that ispletely urate. First, we need to find this Variant Zombie. The problem with looking for this amphibious zombie is that it can travel bynd and water; to track it onnd is easy, but once it submerges itself into the water, then it is impossible to follow.¡± Yin He spoke her mind to speak to Liu Gan.

    ¡°As long as this hallucinogenic-causing Variant Zombie is nearby, it proves that there is a high chance of a secretboratory being situated around here. It is just that we haven¡¯t found the right entrance to it.¡± Liu Gan said out loud. He was more interested in the high-technological products and enhancing medicine than having the ability to produce hallucinations.

    If this Variant Zombie was a byproduct of theboratory¡¯s experiment, then he might be able to find the drug that can induce the same ability as the Variant Zombie. ording to what Jiang JinYuan had said, these drugs in theboratory could directly exploit the development of the yer¡¯s ability, either by injection or oral consumption. This way, he could have his own hallucinogenic-inducing abilities. This ability would be a wonderful addition to when he has to assassinate Variant Zombies or other yers that he mighte across.

    Right now, these ideas are all in Liu Gan¡¯s head as he spectes on what he can gain from thisboratory. As long as they are able to find the secret entrance to theboratory, then they will know.

    ¡°When I climbed onto the high walls, I realized that top of the walls had many air vents that are around ten centimeters in diameter. When I ced my ear close to the air vents, I was able to hear the roar of some zombies. I could also smell the distinct fumes released by zombies.¡± Yin He reported everything she had investigated.

    ¡°Ah? There are air vents? Seems like theboratory is definitely below the ground! We must undergo a thorough search.¡± Liu Gan¡¯s eyes lit up as he heard the news.

    After the exchange of words with Yin He, Liu Gan went back to the restaurant. He ryed to everyone his spections. It was a hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie. So that all their prior discussion regarding ghosts and spirits were not usible, effectively calming down those who were scared. With Liu Gan protecting them, they wouldn¡¯t have to be too nervous.

    ¡°This Variant Zombie has retreated back into the water, so it¡¯s safe to assume that it won¡¯te back anytime soon. The high walls surrounding thepound have air vents, so there must be a secret structure nearby. That poses a certain threat, so we will have to divide up into three groups again. I will lead one team; Yin He will lead another; and Zhang ShengLi will lead thest one. The goal this time around is to continue searching on this ind. Pay attention to the ground, I want us to search every inch of it. Make sure you find the entrance leading to the underground structure.¡± Liu Gan meted out orders to everyone in the restaurant.

    ¡°We need to search again?¡± A few team members showed signs of unwillingness. Today, they had experienced too many things. They didn¡¯t want to be tormented any longer. As Liu Gan nced at those few team members, they immediately lowered their voices.

    ¡°Elder Liu, should we release JingJing from her bindings? While it might dy the search process, don¡¯t we need to appoint someone to specifically watch over her?.¡± HuJun suggested to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay, you can be in her group with Yin He. Look after her well. If she has any abnormalities, don¡¯t hide it from me. Report it to Yin He.¡± Liu Gan agreed to HuJun only on those terms. As this was a hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie, Zhou JingJing might be more sensitive and alert to that ability because she had been influenced by its hallucinations once already.. Even if she is recovering at this moment, it shouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem.

    Right now, the most important issue was to search through thispound. If they had to divvy up their manpower to keep a watch on her, it wouldn¡¯t be optimal. Since it wasn¡¯t safe anyway, it was best if she had her own freedom and was on Yin He¡¯s team. That way, if she acts irrationally, Yin He can immediately detect it and terminate the threat to prevent further damage to their other team members.

    If this hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie appears, then everyone on the field will have an equal chance of getting affected. The n was to find the secret entrance immediately, obtain the things he needed from theboratory, and leave this ind. Since they weren¡¯tt able to kill the Variant Zombie while it was underwater, this was the only option.

    ¡°Thank you, Elder Liu!¡± HuJun was surprised that Liu Gan had agreed, quickly releasing the bindings on JingJing¡¯s hand.

    ¡°No way? If she hurts someone else after she¡¯s released, then what happens?¡± Zhang Hua said in a concerned tone.

    After Liu Gan and Yin He left, HuJun and Zhou JingJing looked at Zhang Hua with hateful eyes. He felt a shiver going down his spine. The two would definitely bear their grudges against him, so if there was a sudden dagger plunging into his back, they wouldn¡¯t be responsible for it since they can me it on the hallucinations.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be in the same group as them, you can be in my group.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang Hua. Liu Gan was clearly not going to change his mind after he had made his decision.

    Zhang Hua rushed up to Liu Gan¡¯s side. He looked back into the angry eyes of HuJun and Zhou JingJing, who both stared back at him.

    Aftermencing the second search, Liu Gan and Yin He lead the groups separately toward the grounds outside of the main building. In addition to searching the ground, they were also paying attention to the activities up on the high walls.

    Zhang ShengLI was responsible for the area within the main building. Even though the inside of the main building was only around 200 square meters in total, Liu Gan¡¯s orders were to look through every inch, so they had to thoroughly inspect even the carpets and floor tiles. The entrance to the secretboratory could be anything.

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167 - Mechanical Lock<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz<hr>

    Liu Gan and Yin He lead their respective groups back to the main building to regroup with Zhang ShengLi. On their end, they found no clues. Zhang ShengLi was very excited to report back to Liu Gan with a good message. What Zhang ShengLi had found was that in between the stairway from the first floor to the second floor there was a storage room. When he looked closely, he discovered a door that lead underground.

    The door was hidden beneath a wooden cab. After shifting away the cab, the trap door beneath the cab opened up to a passage. After opening it, a locked round alloy door came into view. There was no passage through unless the door lock had been dismantled.

    This round alloy door didn¡¯t have San Xing Corporation¡¯s logo emzoned onto it. It was different from the vault door he had seen in the basement level 2 of the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. It seemed like this door lock was not electrically controlled and could only be opened by a special set of keys.

    Zhao Meng made his way up front and started getting busy with his set of self-created keys. After a few minutes of frustration, he was depressed and had to give up.

    ¡°This door lock instation is of a type that I¡¯ve never seen before. It definitely requires a specific key to open. With just my technique, I can¡¯t¡­ open it.¡± Zhao Meng said to Liu Gan with embarrassment. Zhao Meng could tell whether the door could be opened or not merely from giving it a quick test. If it was capable of being unlocked unconventionally, then it would be based on how long it took, but if it couldn¡¯t be opened, then it would remain locked regardless of how long he tried.

    ¡°Really? You can¡¯t open it? Do you need more time to try it?¡± Liu Gan wasn¡¯t satisfied with Zhao Meng¡¯s performance.

    ¡°If it was capable of opening, then I would know just by trying it.¡± Zhao Meng replied to Liu Gan.

    After seeing that Zhao Meng, the locksmith, was unable to open it, Liu Gan resorted to forcing it open. After a long time had passed, Liu Gan also gave up on his attempt.

    Theposition of the groundprised reinforced steel and concrete, as confirmed by the sound that ensued when it was struck. Beyond the round alloy door was a steep drop like the entrance of a well. Most importantly, the walls of this well were still a mix of reinforced steel and concrete. Therefore, breaking through the area around the door itself was not possible. The only potential way to enter this door was by relying on the original key.

    So this time, they began immediately searching for the key and spread out into their three groups. Aside from searching through the buildings, they had tob through every corpse. As long as the shape was remotely key-like in shape, it was to be brought back to Liu Gan.

    ¡°It¡¯s already past midnight. Must we torment ourselves? This ind isn¡¯t safe. I feel we should leave this ind. Let¡¯s board back onto the yacht - that should be safer, and in the process, we should load all of our food rations back onto it too!¡± Zhou MingLiang couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer.

    ¡°Yes, I agree! Something happened to Zhou JingJing already, so it is hard to predict who is next. Who is to say that someone won¡¯t die next time. So let¡¯s leave before anything happens to our brains. We should all go on board the yacht and leave this ind!¡± Some other team mates chimed in.

    ¡°Elder Liu, please listen to the opinions of the others.¡± Zhou MingLiang gained confidence after he received the support of a few people.

    ¡°In this ce, it is not up to you to decide. If you don¡¯t want to follow my rules, then don¡¯t stay with the group. The next time we dock on the maind, I will give you a chance so you can roam free.¡± Liu Gan was already feeling frustrated from not being able to open the door, but with Zhou MingLiang¡¯s added words, it triggered his petnce.

    ¡°I am only stating an opinion. I didn¡¯t say it was my ce to decide? Elder Liu, don¡¯t be angry.¡± Zhou MingLiang immediately felt embarrassed and kept his mouth shut.

    Every team member was already too tired, so even if the team leaders wanted to urge them to move, they simply didn¡¯t have the strength. They didn¡¯t speak of it, but deep down, they felt like Liu Gan was torturing them. They were thinking, why must he look for it tonight? Why couldn¡¯t it wait for tomorrow?

    Liu Gan obviously had his own reasons. He personally felt that this ind was very strange. Especially with the hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie, so before that Variant gets killed, he didn¡¯t want to tarry for too long on the ind. It was best that he thoroughly searched the secretboratory and then immediately returned onboard the yacht. This also ounted for the safety of his team members too.

    The next search wasted more than half an hour. They searched through the rooms, the corpses, and found at least a dozen keys. However, none of those keys were able to open this round alloy door.

    ¡°Mechanical locks have two stages; the keyponents also have two stages. The first part of the key is that it is ten centimeters long; unlocking the second part would require eighteen centimeters. The key could have 5 cuts to it to form the ridges, and in between two cuts could be a concealer that masks the connecting point where it will trigger the lock¡¯s mechanical mechanism. This is only possible after the key has entered into the lock up to a certain depth. Then once the key and lockes in contact at the connecting point is when it triggers the second stage. To enter into the second stage is even trickier. The second stage trigger is located deeper within the lock, so only once that is reached with the key and lock will the door open up.¡± Zhao Meng exining the mechanism of the alloy door to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Is it possible to recreate the tool necessary to unlock this door lock?¡± Liu Gan asked with a concerned look.

    ¡°If this was my house, with my electricalthe and various tools, then in ten days I could recreate this set of specialized unlocking tool. It is merely that this location isn¡¯t suitable for producing it.¡± Zhao Meng shook his head.

    ¡°The team members are all exhausted. Elder Liu, what should we do? Return onboard the yacht and then rest?¡± Zhang ShengLi pulling Liu Gan aside. When Zhang ShengLi was with his group searching the area, he heard constant frustratedints about how tired they were.

    ¡°It¡¯s already past midnight. The yacht in the river isn¡¯t too safe. Yin He and I confirmed that this creature came from the waters of the river. It also has hallucinogenic-inducing abilities, so it can chase us down easily. If we stayed on the yacht, who knows when it wille out of the water to attack us? It can strike with its ability from a distance away, so everyone on board the yacht would be unable to do much. At that time, if something happens, it would be hard to separate.¡± Liu Gan shook his head. Before he had searched through the secretboratory, he would definitely not leave the ind.

    ¡°Your desire is to remain on this ind, and not head anywhere else?¡± Zhang ShengLi asking to reconfirm.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°ording to what you have said, this creature was in the girl¡¯s bathroom when it attacked Zhou JingJing with the hallucinogenic ability. So the distance it strikes must be limited to a few meters. Why don¡¯t we go to the first floor lobby and rest in the center and then have people stay on guard, on the lookout at the four corners. The moment it enters, they will alert everyone of its presence so that it can¡¯t put everyone under its¡¯ hallucinogenic ability. As long as Yin He, Elder Liu and I haven¡¯t been affected by the ability, we could strike the zombie down.¡± Zhang ShengLi proposed his n to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 168

    <strong>Chapter 168 - Resigned to fate</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    ¡°Let¡¯s do as you have suggested.¡± Liu Gan had no qualms with Zhang ShengLi¡¯s suggested n, as he had no countery against this hallucinogenic Variant Zombie. However, he was not ready to resign himself to fate just yet. After Zhang ShengLi arranged the personnel duties, he and Yin He would set out on the offense. Right now, he was thinking of the possible ways to kill this type of Variant Zombie.

    ¡°Let everyone rest up, separate into a few teams, and rotate to do night guard duties. Everyone must remain in the Lobby, so don¡¯t think about leaving! It is only a Variant Zombie that has a hallucinogenic-inducing ability. It isn¡¯t some spirit or ghost, so there is nothing to be afraid of! As long as you can keep watch of this ce then it can¡¯t get to us!¡± Zhang ShengLi dished out orders to everyone else after he understood Liu Gan¡¯s n.

    ¡°Yes, that is a great idea. We should remain in the lobby until morning. Once it is daylight, we will consider again if we will continue to remain here or take the yacht and leave.¡± Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing chimed in. Their hesitation was negated after hearing Zhang ShengLi convey Liu Gan¡¯s wishes. Since they had decided to follow Liu Gan, they would support his wishes regardless of what it was.

    Before fully settling into the lobby, Zhang ShengLi led some people to investigate the four corners and surrounding area to confirm that the doors were locked, and that the windows were shut. They were nning topletely seal off the room that they had broken into through the window. Additionally, Zhang Shengli led some people to the second floor to lock the rooms off as well, and seal the windows. Essentially, the idea was topletely seal off their location.

    When Zhang ShengLi returned, everyone started getting to work. The team members were moving the respective beds out of the rooms, adjoining them in the lobby with the couches together to form one giant bed that everyone could rest on together.

    Even though sleeping like this wasn¡¯t toofortable, it still beat sleeping on the floor for a night.

    ¡°For tonight, there will be three teams standing guard, and each team will have four people. My team; Wang DeCheng¡¯s team; and Han GuangMing¡¯s team.¡± Zhang ShengLi arranged their roles neatly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can sleep too well tonight, so I will lead the first shift.¡± Wang DeCheng told Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Okay. Sounds good.¡± Zhang ShengLi was extremely tired, so he didn¡¯t want to take the first shift. Since Wang DeCheng was willing, Zhang ShengLi would obviously not decline.

    ¡°I also will have a hard time sleeping tonight. I will join the first team.¡± Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang walked over to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Wang DeCheng nodded. He also called over Zhao Meng, making the four of them the first team to take the night shift.

    Finally, when everyone in the lobby settled down in order to sleep, Liu Gan and Yin He walked over to the lobby door.

    ¡°Elder Liu, you still want to go out?¡± Zhou MingLiang fixed his eyes in the direction he was guarding as he asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°You guys will be safe here, but I can¡¯t just sit here and await an opportunity. We are prepared to go and lure this Variant Zombie out and kill it. Staying here will be safe, but the moment we leave this location, I can¡¯t promise your safety.¡± Liu Gan replied.

    Liu Gan¡¯s purpose on this ind was for the secretboratory. If he couldn¡¯t find the key to open up the round alloy door, he definitely wouldn¡¯t be satisfied. Even if he had to stay a few more days here, he would be willing to do that. So unless he killed off this Variant Zombie, staying here on the ind would be dangerous for him since he could get ambushed at any moment. Therefore, he chose to go on the offense and rid himself of this uncertainty.

    Liu Gan and Yin He left the lobby. Wang DeCheng and Zhao Meng sat together on the corner of the centralized congregation of beds and couches, each staring into two different directions. However, Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang were only sitting on two chairs that were a few meters away from the mass of beds stacked together, as they looked on in their respective directions.

    ¡°This Liu teammate seems to have been hiding something from us.¡± Xu ChangHui whispered lowly to Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°I can also feel that.¡± Zhou MingLiang nodded.

    ¡°I am not relying on my feelings; it is when we were in the restaurant. Him and Little He went out to discuss something. I snuck into the male bathroom and heard their conversation. They said something aboutboratory and conducting experiments. I suspect that he wants to use us asb rats, and experiment on us.¡± Xu ChangHui continued to talk to Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°No way. It can¡¯t be that horrifying?¡± Zhou MingLiang gasped in a shocked expression.

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe what I said? Don¡¯t you feel like he has been strange the whole time? Not only does he not listen to us, but I¡¯ve been watching him closely. He says that he doesn¡¯t like ttery, but he¡¯s been brainwashing those close to him. These youngsters here have all been brainwashed into believing what he says. We are adult, so how could I fall so easily for his theatrics?¡± Xu ChangHui shook his head.

    ¡°Ah, I also feel that him and Little He are very strange. So they have been trying to brainwash us. You are right! We, adults, won¡¯t fall so easily for that.¡± Zhou MingLiang agreed with Xu ChangHui¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Just like right now, don¡¯t you feel as though he made us stay here so we can await our death? Him and Little He left this location to kill the Variant Zombie? It sounds as though we are bait for the creature to attack. Then, they can take their chances to fight, and if they win, then good. If not, then they will take the chance to slip away on the yacht. Leaving us behind and incapable of resisting the Variant Zombie. Then we might end up like the bodies we found earlier, dying from fighting against one another, and eventually our brains will get eaten.¡± Xu ChangHui spoke his mind. Normally, Xu ChangHui wasn¡¯t the type of person to speak much. He enjoyed observing people more and came up with his own deductive reasoning for everyone.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t want theboratory secret to be revealed too prematurely to the team members, but with his suspiciouste night activity leaving the team, it gave off a feeling that something secretive was happening behind the scenes. Zhou MingLiang seemed to have considered everything Xu ChangHui had said as the truth.

    ¡°So what do you suppose we do now?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Xu ChangHui.

    ¡°I feel like we shouldn¡¯t remain here any longer. We should take this chance and rush over to the dock. Steal the yacht before they get back. Otherwise, we really will die on this ind.¡± Xu ChangHui seemed to have had this idea nted in his head a long time ago.

    ¡°Do you know how to operate the yacht?¡± Zhou MingLiang asked Xu ChangHui.

    ¡°Of course I know.¡± Xu ChangHui continued to convince Zhou MingLiang with his treachery. Xu ChangHui gave a solid pat on Zhou MingLiang¡¯s shoulder. Previously, Xu ChangHui secretively observed Liu Gan on how he operated the yacht,mitting to memory the range of motion on the steering wheel, and it didn¡¯t seem too difficult to him.

    ¡°Elder Liu told us to remain here. Don¡¯t go anywhere else. We better not do anything rash.¡± Zhou MingLiang nced at Wang DeCheng¡¯s direction and hesitated.

    ¡°When you were scolding him, didn¡¯t you hear his attitude towards you? Don¡¯t you understand? We are disposable to him. He might even treat us as cannon fodder!¡± Xu ChangHui continued to encourage Zhou MingLiang.

 Chapter 169

    <strong>Chapter 169 - Mountains and Fields</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    ¡°He is not the type of person to be persuaded! I was just giving him a kind reminder, but he criticized me in return! My concern is that Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao were attacked because they were isted from the group. So wouldn¡¯t that happen to us, too, if we both left together?¡± Zhou MingLiang was still hesitant about taking action.

    ¡°That Liu person definitely doesn¡¯t care about the survival of us locals. If there is a moment of real danger, he will definitely save his own skin first. Afterwards, he will worry about the safety of those ¡®yers¡¯. We local survivors are cannon fodder, so if we want to survive, we can only rely on ourselves. If you want to stay here and continue to ept his abuse, then I have no objections. But I won¡¯t sit here and wait for that moment.¡± Xu ChangHui was disappointed in Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°His attitude toward us local survivors is as bad as you have put it. Every time I took the initiative to try and make conversation with him, he was cold towards me. We are like second-rate citizens,¡± Zhou MingLiang recalled how Liu Gan acted towards him.

    Clearly, Zhou MingLiang misunderstood Liu Gan. Liu Gan was annoyed at how talkative Zhou MingLiang was, always generating unnecessary noise. As for every team member, whether it was yer or survivor alike, it made no difference in Liu Gan¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Today, I took the opportunity to hide several cylinder cases of noodles in the flower bed outside of the restaurant. Let¡¯s take the opportunityter to pretend to go to the bathroom. Then retrieve these cylinder noodles and escape to the front door. Based on my observation, the big iron gate required retracting the iron bolt, before it swings open. So as long as we don¡¯t make too much noise, we can escape. We also have to be quiet when we unravel the yacht chains, and we can get off this ind! I am very familiar with NinJing city¡¯s riverway, we can follow the downstream flow and leave this godforsaken city.¡±

    ¡°When we reach the countryside, there are fields full of fresh vegetables and grain. The best part is that there aren¡¯t that many zombies! It is possible that we can find chickens and ducks, so, with both our abilities, I am positive we can live morefortably there than we do here. Otherwise, if we stay here, I¡¯m sure that Liu person will order us around like his ves, so there isn¡¯t much value in remaining here.¡±

    ¡°Now is our time to steal the yacht and escape in order to achieve everything I¡¯ve said. If we miss this opportunity, we might die on this ind. If we don¡¯t die even then, we will only have to rely on that Liu person and his gang. We will just have to be subservient to them; I¡¯ve worked several years as a hospital caretaker in the pre-apocalyptic days. That is why I don¡¯t want to continue to lower my head to others!¡± Xu ChangHui said with a firm tone.

    ¡°What are you two whispering about?¡± Wang DeCheng seemed to have caught onto how Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang were whispering into each other¡¯s ear. So Wang DeCheng walked over and asked the two of them.

    ¡°I ate too much. My stomach hurts, as though I have diarrhea. I was wondering if I could go to the bathroom.¡± Xu ChangHui stood up and replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Going to the bathroom? It¡¯s not safe to go alone.¡± Wang DeCheng hesitated.

    ¡°Let him apany me. We will be quick, and nothing wrong will happen¡­ It is about toe out of my pants!¡± Xu ChangHui held onto his stomach with the pretense of urgency.

    ¡°Okay, be quick about it. If there¡¯s anything wrong, then shout loudly. If I hear it, I wille to you guys.¡± Wang DeCheng could only agree to it.

    ¡°Ah, okay!¡± Xu ChangHui immediately pulled Zhou MingLiang. Zhou MingLiang was hesitant, but he was forcefully dragged along by Xu ChangHui. As the two left the safety of the lobby, they headed toward the back door and pulled it open.

    Wang DeCheng had his worries, so he followed for a few steps. He opened the door to see that the two of them were definitely heading towards the direction of the bathroom, before closing the door again. He sat back to Zhao Meng¡¯s side, as this time he and Zhao Meng had to split the surveince of the two sides each. At least until Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang got back.

    Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang walked for a little while, looking around for Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s presence; they weren¡¯t sure of the direction those two had gone. Xu ChangHui quickly ran toward the flower bed, pulling out his several cylinder cases of noodles in a stic bag. Subsequently, he continued to drag Zhou MingLiang toward the main iron gate by the high walls.

    Zhou MingLiang was hesitant once again. He kept thinking of the situations that could potentially crop up and even more-so what might happen if Liu Gan discovered them. Even though this ind was very dangerous, Xu ChangHui¡¯s offer was very enticing.

    NinJing City may be located on an ind, but it is also part of arger continent. The city surface area upies only around ten percent of the whole ind. So leaving the city, we will find ins, mountains, and forests. As long as we find an area where few zombies are gathered, it will be very easy for us to survive on our own.

    To them survivors, thest thing they wanted to do was leave the city ever since the catastrophe. As long as they were able to reach the mountainside or oceanside, they definitely wouldn¡¯t find as many zombies as there were in the city. At least in their new location, they could live off the field by farming vegetables.

    Xu ChangHui is right, this is the most opportunistic time. If we don¡¯t leave, we will definitely be servants and cannon fodder to Liu Gan and his group.

    While all these hesitations were unfolding in Zhou MingLiang¡¯s head, Xu ChangHui was already gently opening up the iron gate. Zhou MingLiang followed him closely, but it was toote to regret anything after passing through the gates.

    Liu Gan and Yin He were patrolling the area outside of the high walls. They were looking for traces of the Variant Zombie. It suddenly got windier as they took a detour to the far end of the high wall. The wind noise masked the sounds generated from opening the iron gate.

    Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang opened up the iron gate, peered outside, and looked at their surroundings. There was no presence of Liu Gan. So, quickly, they ran toward the dock. The yacht was still docked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry! This is the chance we have been waiting for! Otherwise we will die!¡± Xu ChangHui was able to rx the moment he arrived at the dock. Finally obtaining the yacht for himself, he was very happy. He urged Zhou MingLiang even more, as he himself rushed down to the dock to start unraveling the chains tying the yacht down.

    The chains were tied down very tightly, Xu ChangHui spent a few minutes to unchain it all and dropped it onto the boat. He looked back and saw Zhou MingLiang stopped moving and didn¡¯t follow.

    This person is quite useless, isn¡¯t he? Even though he reached this step, he actually wanted to back out! Xu ChangHui shook his head. He no longer took the effort to continue convincing Zhou MingLiang. He had a strong enough survivability, so he didn¡¯t have to bring Zhou MingLiang along.

    Xu ChangHui turned his head just as he got ready to board the yacht solo. He couldn¡¯t help but be stunned at the sight.

 Chapter 170

    <strong>Chapter 170 - Making mistakes again!</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    The yacht was gone!

    How is this possible? Such arge yacht ¡ª it was still there before he turned to look at Zhou MingLiang. It couldn¡¯t possibly have disappeared into the river after thest chain he had unhooked and thrown aboard the yacht, right? Wasn¡¯t this all too strange?

    Not only did the yacht disappear, the other two overturned boats tied to the dock had also disappeared.

    ¡°Zhou MingLiang? Expert Zhou? Are you there?¡± Xu ChangHui felt a chill run down his spine as he turned around again. If Zhou MingLiang didn¡¯t follow him onto the boat, it would¡¯ve been eptable had the boat still been present. Now that the yacht was missing, it would be impossible for him to escape alone!

    It can¡¯t be that ghost, right?

    Xu ChangHui was anxiously walking back up the steps. In such a precarious situation, he could only sneak back into the lobby, find Zhou MingLiang, and then make up a story to deceive Wang DeCheng. On the contrary, he could hide. However, once Liu gan gets wind of the fact that he tried to steal the yacht, no stone would be left unturned on the ind in search for him. With Liu Gan¡¯s aggressive temper, who knows what sort of consequences would lie in store for him?

    Walking all the way up to the top of the stairs, he met a person. He stopped moving. It wasn¡¯t Zhou MingLiang. Xu ChangHui¡¯s facial expression changed, shocked deeply.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Xu ChangHui yelled at the countryside girl in front of him.

    ¡°I missed you, so I came here looking for you. What, I can¡¯t?¡± the countryside girl said to Xu ChangHui loudly.

    She was Xu ChangHui¡¯s countryside wife. When Xu ChangHui arrived at NinJing City, he met anotherdy in a hair salon. Soon after, he lived together with this newdy friend, and abandoned his countryside wife and daughter. When his countryside wife had arrived in the city, she had caused much havoc, but she was beaten into submission by him and went back to the countryside. The two of them had nevermunicated ever since.

    ¡°Impossible! It can¡¯t be you! How can you enter into the city? I was with Zhou MingLiang, but he is gone, and there you are! There is definitely something wrong! Are you a ghost? Or is this my hallucination!?¡± Xu ChangHui shook his head frantically. Knowing the prior experiences of what had happened to Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao, he wouldn¡¯t let himself be fooled so easily.

    ¡°I am me. For these past two years, did you enjoy having fun with that rotten woman? I gave birth to your daughter, and I wasted ten years of my youth and feelings on you. Do you think you can get away that easily?¡± The countryside woman turned violent. Suddenly, she was wielding a sharp knife and repeatedly shed at Xu ChangHui with it.

    Xu ChangHui was shocked. He snapped out of it the moment her sharp knife was swinging at him, quickly dodging the attack. From his own waist, he pulled out a dagger and stabbed at the countryside female.

    The countryside female got stabbed and went even more crazy. She was cursing and using her knife to sh at Xu ChangHui. He used one of his hands to hold down her wrist, stabbing at the her chest with his other hand, and plunged the dagger into her stomach multiple times. Only when she was a bloody mess and ceased resistance did Xu ChangHui let up.

    In a shing moment, Xu ChangHui felt something was wrong. His brain was telling him something, but he couldn¡¯tprehend it. A buzzing sound pervaded his brain, ¡®Om¡¯! Suddenly, he remembered. He looked down only to perceive how the personying on the floor wasn¡¯t his countryside wife, but his pal, Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°Why did you attack me?¡± Zhou MingLiang spat out blood as he asked Xu ChangHui.

    Zhou MingLiang saw that Xu ChangHui was finished with unraveling the chains and stood in ce on the dock, dumbfounded. Zhou MingLiang walked over to ask if Xu ChangHui was regretting leaving. However, Xu ChangHui stared nkly into empty space, not responding to any questions. So once again, Zhou MingLiang repeated his question, reminding him that, if he regrets now, they can both return to the lobby and pretend finishing up with the bathroom break. So Zhou MingLiang proceeded to walk up to the top of the stairs.

    After a while, Zhou MingLiang discovered Xu ChangHui actually followed along, whereupon he turned around and called out to him. Upon seeing Xu ChangHui¡¯s expression and his staggering gait, Zhou MingLiang hesitated for a moment before walking back down the steps to assist him. He didn¡¯t think Xu ChangHui would ferociously assail and stab him like that.

    Zhou MingLiang wasn¡¯t able to dodge it in time. Out of all the dozen stab wounds on his body, the most fatal one had struck his chest. He was beyond saving.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to kill you¡­ I was just¡­ I was¡­¡± Xu ChangHui was racked with remorse. He was consciously aware that he had been caught in a hallucination. How could he have fallen for this trick. He only wanted to avoid her sh, but he ended up striking back, and Zhou MingLiang paid the price in blood.

    Zhou MingLiang didn¡¯t speak another word. Blood spilled from his mouth and every wound on his body.

    Xu ChangHui trembled as heid down Zhou MingLiang¡¯s corpse. He turned and looked at the river. There was the yacht! Clearly, the sight from earlier had been a delusion conjured in his head after he heard the buzzing sound of ¡®Om¡¯! Everything the Variant Zombie generated with the hallucinations disappeared. Xu ChangHui bit down his teeth as he prepared to board the yacht to leave solo. Right at the top of the stairs, however, two individuals stood, one being Liu Gan and the other Yin He.

    Xu ChangHui saw the two of them and suddenly went ghostly pale. Both his feet were stuck to the ground. He knew that, today, he wasn¡¯t going to escape. Even though he wielded a dagger, he knew of Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s fighting capabilities. He was no match for them.

    Liu Gan rushed down and grabbed the dagger in Xu ChangHui¡¯s hand, subduing him shortly after. Yin He rushed over to the waterside, frically stabbing at something in the water with the bamboo spear in her hand. The water surface revealed bubbles and a spiral, as if something was quickly submerging into the river.

    Yin He chased a few steps, but she didn¡¯t enter into the water. It was impossible to continue chasing it further.

    ¡°Why are you two here?¡± Liu Gan looked at Zhou MingLiang¡¯s bloodied corpse as he questioned Xu ChangHui.

    ¡°It was Expert Zhou¡­ He¡­ He wanted to look around. I was worried that something might happen to him, so I apanied him¡­¡± Xu ChangHui stammered as he exined to Liu Gan. Since Zhou MingLiang was dead, Xu ChangHui could say anything and no one could confront him on it.

    ¡°The chains on the yacht are untied. Did you two think about escaping yourselves? So everyone here can remain on this ind? Were you nning to screw everyone over?¡± Liu Gan saw through Xu ChangHui¡¯s attempt.

    ¡°NO! Elder Liu! It was all Expert Zhou¡¯s idea. I was forced by him toe! I didn¡¯t want to make another mistake, so I killed him¡­¡± Xu ChangHui kept adding on to his lies.

    ¡°Considering Zhou MingLiang¡¯s temper, would he truly force you to do this? Do you think I¡¯m that gullible?¡± Liu Gan would have none of Xu ChangHui¡¯s lies. He instructed Yin He to tie down the chains of the Yacht again, and then, like a mother chicken carrying her chicks, he grabbed Xu ChangHui by the neck and dragged him back to safety within the high walls.

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171 - Learning from past mistakes<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    Liu Gan and Yin He arrived at the main building, Wang DeCheng was walking up to greet them. Since he still thought that Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang had gone to the toilet, he was very worried as they had yet to return. He wanted to immediately report to Liu Gan about it. However, he couldn¡¯t leave his post in the lobby as it was his duty, but he was also worried about their safety. Therefore, like an ant on a heated pan, he paced back and forth.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what is wrong?¡± Wang DeCheng saw that Xu ChangHui was covered in blood and getting dragged by the neck by Liu Gan. Wang DeCheng was frightened by what he saw as they walked closer.

    ¡°Wake everyone up.¡± Liu Gan said to Wang DeCheng.

    Quickly, Wang DeCheng ran into the lobby and woke everyone up, as they all sat by the conglomerate of beds.

    ¡°Now tell everyone. Why did you kill Zhou MingLiang! If there¡¯s even a hint of deceit in your words, I will chop your legs in half!¡± Liu Gan tossed Xu ChangHui on the ground in front of everyone.

    Hearing that Zhou MingLiang was killed by Xu ChangHui, almost all team members were shocked. There¡¯d been people constantly dying ever since their escape from the hospital. Precedently, it was the near-death experience with Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao by the bathroom, and now it was Zhou MingLiang.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to kill him! I saw my countryside wife! She tried to use her knife to kill me, so I was forced to retaliate. I didn¡¯t think it was all a hallucination. I mistook Zhou MingLiang for my countryside wife. The moment I realized it, it was toote! I definitely didn¡¯t mean to do that¡­¡± Xu ChangHui revealed everything the moment he heard Liu Gan¡¯s threat.

    ¡°Zhou MingLiang is a chattery person, but he isn¡¯t the type of person to be that daring! Whose idea was it to steal the yacht to escape? You better give me an honest answer!¡± Liu Gan shouted as he hefted his axe, menacingly pointing its head at Xu ChangHui¡¯s legs.

    ¡°It was me¡­ It was because I was too afraid! I feel that this ind isn¡¯t too safe! It¡¯s best we leave this area, otherwise we will all be killed one by one by that Variant Zombie with its hallucinogenic ability, and then eventually we will have our brains eaten!¡± Xu ChangHui said outloud.

    Xu ChangHui revealed the truth. Everything he had said was the fear of all the team members, and it brought it to the surface. They looked on at Xu ChangHui and started whispering amongst themselves.

    First it was the earlier incident with Zhou JingJing and Lee Miao in the bathroom, and now this ident with Xu ChangHui and Zhou MingLiang! It seemed as though this monster of a Variant Zombie had a very powerful hallucinogenic-inducing ability. It could cause two people to fight amongst one another. No one could know for sure who was affected by the hallucinogenic ability in their group amongst them; even an all-out brawl was not entirely out of the question. This was simply too scary to think about.

    ¡°This ind has no safe ce! If you continue to stay here, you will all die! We should all convince Elder Liu to take the yacht and leave! I could lead you guys to the countryside¡­¡± Xu ChangHui noticed that his words had caused an effect, so he quickly changed the topic. He crossed his fingers in high hopes that Liu Gan would fail to remember he had attempted to seize the yacht behind their backs.

    Liu Gan heard Xu ChangHui¡¯s encouraging shouts of disturbance and got angrier. With his hands already holding up the fire axe, he brandished it at Xu ChangHui¡¯s neck, cleanly separating the head from the neck. As the head rolled off the body, a streak of blood shot upward a meter high for a second before diminishing. A truly horrific scene.

    ¡°Xu ChangHui instigated Zhou MingLiang in an attempt to steal our yacht. They would¡¯ve caused all of us to die! Afterwards, he killed Zhou MingLiang. These set of actions are forbidden from urring! If I let him live, he will find ways to exact revenge on us. To get rid of this thorn, I have to kill him! For those you who might have a simr idea, if you dare follow in his step and go against my rules, then let Xu ChangHui be a good example.¡°

    With the corpse tide, the bridge, and the tornado events, Liu Gan thought this group was very united. No one would¡¯ve foreseen that Xu ChangHui would try to betray them, so Liu Gan was very disappointed and angry at the same time. At the dock, he was prepared to kill Xu ChangHui on the spot. The reason why he kept him alive was to do it in front of everyone so his death would serve as an example to others. That way, the others would obey discipline among the ranks. In addition, how could Liu Gan tolerate Xu ChangHui spreading such misleading rumors?

    Everyone was still drowsy from sleeping, but the news of Zhou MingLiang¡¯s sudden death due to Xu ChangHui, and witnessing the public execution of Xu ChangHui with the blood shooting out from his stump of a neck, shocked everyone present. They were all deathly pale in the face and trembled with fear, unable to speak another word.

    ¡°That Variant Zombie, I have ns on killing it already! As long as you obey me honestly, I will do my best to protect you all! If you don¡¯t want to follow this team, when I arrive at the next location, we can go our separate ways. I definitely won¡¯t stop you! However, if you scheme behind my back or spread rumors, it vites my bottom line. When I kill people, I am not remorseful about it!¡± Liu Gan said angrily as he walked toward the lobby door.

    ¡°Xu ChangHui was nning to steal the yacht. If he did that, then we would all be stranded here! He definitely deserved to die!¡± Zhang ShengLi finally understood the situation and immediately stated his stance on the situation.

    ¡°Yes! If he actually seeded to steal the yacht, then we would be stranded on this ind without any other methods of escaping it. What he did is unforgivable!¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know what the person is thinking, especially when he looks so honest. Who would¡¯ve thought that he was capable of something so evil.¡±

    ¡°Elder Liu treats us very well! How could Xu ChangHui do such a thing? What an ungrateful person!¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is an ungrateful person!¡±

    <strong>. . .</strong>

    The others started chiming in with their viewpoints and fervently stated their loyalty toward Liu Gan and the group. Whether or not what they had said hade from the heart, at least none of them would be as daring as Xu ChangHui and have designs on stealing the yacht.

    ¡°Elder Liu, Xu ChangHui lied to me about going to the bathroom and acted as though he had to go urgently. I watched him head toward the bathroom, and while I was worried about him, I didn¡¯t follow. I didn¡¯t know that they would do such a thing! It¡¯s all my fault. Please punish me, Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng pleaded for punishment as he was embarrassed about it having happened under his watch.

    ¡°In the end, this was a team gathered impromptu, so if there were instances of trouble makers getting into the mix, it is not a surprise. Wang DeCheng, you don¡¯t have to me yourself. Just work together with Zhang ShengLi on watching these people. Before I return, don¡¯t let any of these people leave your line of sight.¡± Liu Gan¡¯s tone mellowed when he spoke to Wang DeCheng.

    Liu Gan wasn¡¯t brutal to everyone, only toward those who didn¡¯t oblige to hismands. Naturally, those who disobeyed would have to be punished severely. Only with someone like Wang DeCheng, who was loyal to him, would he skimp on the punishment and pardon the mistake.

    ¡°Thank you, Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng was d that Liu Gan didn¡¯t me him for his responsibility. Quickly, Wang DeCheng ran to Zhang ShengLi and transmitted the message given by Liu Gan - to watch everyone in the room and not let them leave their line of sight.

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172 - Darkness<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    One more chapterter tonight!<hr>

    ¡°You thought of a way to kill the Variant Zombie? It runs quickly and can also swim. We can''t go underwater to kill it.¡± Yin He said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°That is why we need to split up for it to work. I will be bait, whereas you will have to stand far away from my location and hide yourself. However, you must keep me within your sight. If I stand there dumbfounded without moving an inch, then you will look nearby for the presence of this Variant Zombie.¡± Liu Gan exined his n.

    Aside from Xu ChangHui stealing the yacht, this Variant Zombie was also an annoyance. So tonight, he must think of a way to kill it. After eliminating the threat, he would set his sights on opening the alloy door and entering the secretboratory.

    Otherwise, they were busy for no reason.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Yin He agreed as they split up.

    Liu Gan wasn''t sure if this assassination would be sessful, since he didn¡¯t know how much intelligence this Variant Zombie had. Whether or not it would fall for it, they would only know by trying.

    Liu Gan roamed the ind alone, walking to the dock while keeping his distance from the water, and made a few round trips back and forth between the main building and the dock. Whenever he returned to the main building, he would confirm the condition of the members inside the lobby each time. Wang DeCheng appointed another four team members for the night shift.

    Two hours passed, and it started getting darker into the night. However, the Variant Zombie had yet to show itself. Perhaps, Yin He had alerted the Variant Zombie earlier when it almost got killed. Now that it had been alerted, it might not appear again tonight. As Liu Gan went for hisst attempt by the riverside, he heard some strange activities taking ce behind him.

    Turning around, he saw that the person behind him wasn''t Yin He. It also wasn''t the Variant Zombie, but it was someone he was very familiar with.

    Liu Gan¡¯s brother, Liu Kun.

    The hallucinations had begun. Liu Gan had thought about who he might encounter during his hallucination. It turned out to be his brother Liu Kun.

    ¡°I know you must be curious about that year when we went mountain climbing, where your sleeping bag mysteriously disappeared.¡± Liu Kun reached into his suit pocket as he walked closer to Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan didn''t answer. He was peaceful and calm. He understood that all of this was a hallucination. If he really wanted to resolve that problem with Liu Kun, it wouldn''t be here. There will be a certain day when he reaches the Main City District and use theboratory to find the transporter that can send him back to his own world. With his alloy limbs, he will return to his world and resolve that matter.

    These types of wealthy families usually had fights over the inheritance, with each descendant trying to usurp the other in an attempt to gain more wealth. The behind-the-scenes battle between siblings was something that also urred within Liu Gan¡¯s family.. It was also Liu Gan''s only unresolved issue that had been weighing him down. It was also the rtives backstabbing each other that turned Liu Gan away from a happy and positive childhood. When Liu Gan had lost use of his limbs for the past year, he had fallen into depravity and the throes of depression.

    This was Liu Gan¡¯s deepest and darkest regret, and it was awoken by the Variant Zombie¡¯s hallucination.

    ¡°I will tell you right now ¨C it was actually I who threw your sleeping back over the mountain! Afterwards you had your limbs amputated and imprisoned at home up on the mountains by me! How does that feel!¡± Liu Kunughing sinisterly.

    Liu Gan remained peaceful. He was looking at everything objectively without moving. He knew that this Hallucinogenic Variant Zombie was already closeby, using his deepest and darkest secret to attack him.

    Liu Gan trusted in Yin He¡¯s capabilities, so he wasn''t worried about his own safety. As long as this Variant Zombie revealed itself, Yin He would be able to strike it down. At this point, it didn¡¯t matter if it was heavily injured or killed. However, if he lost control of his emotions, then he would fall for the Variant Zombie¡¯s n.

    ¡°You are a coward! You already know that fact clearly, but you haven''t said or done anything! You were only living in your fantasy life! Of course, that was if you still had your limbs, but since you lost them, you are useless! You can''t even do what you want to do! To tell you the truth! I am not even your brother! When my mom married your idiotic father, she was pregnant with me. Now, I am the Liu family¡¯s person in charge! Hahaha¡­¡± Liu Kun startedughing loudly.

    Liu Gan only silently watched Liu Kun without any change in expression. His pair of radiant, illuminating eyes seemed to prate deep into the darkness with equal prominence to the moon and the stars.

    ¡°If you have guts, thene on over and kill me! Come take back everything that belongs to you! Did you know that a month ago, your father died of a heart attack. Ever wonder how that happened? He had suspicions that I caused you to be like that, so he had someone investigate that matter and was prepared to allocate everything in his will to you! After everything my mom and I had carefully nned, how could he do this to us? So he forced our hands. Ah¡­ you two, father and son, are both so stupid! After getting to this point, are you sure you won¡¯te over to kill me?!¡± Liu Kun walked closer to the waterside as he tried to pick a fight with Liu Gan.

    At this point, Liu Kun suddenly became arge ck orb that dispersed all around. Liu Gan saw that Liu Kun had disappeared and in his ce stood Yin He. She was carrying a Variant Zombie¡¯s body while walking towards him.

    If Liu Gan actually lost control of his emotions and went forth to attack, then the person getting struck would not have been his imaginary brother Liu Kun, rather it would have been Yin He.

    This zombie looks rather normal. In fact, if it weren¡¯t for the tworge gills in the neck, there was no other physical difference. It was still unclear as to how it had obtained the ability to be amphibious. Although it would constantly be underwater, the clothes on it were intact. It was wearing arge white robe that had slightly changed colors due to being soaked in the river over long periods of time.

    At this moment, as it was close to dying since it had been beaten by Yin He to that state, it had yet to cross over. The final kill was left to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Since you didn¡¯t move from your location, I quietly went around and found it by the riverside. This time, I didn¡¯t let it escape.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan. Of everyone on this ind, the only one not affected by the hallucination ability of the Amphibious Variant Zombie was Yin He.

    ¡°Yin He, you did us all a huge favor.¡± Liu Gan praised her. Following that, Liu Gan had Yin He watch over the Variant Zombie as he walked back to the main building. He called Wang DeCheng over.

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173 - Forage<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    Next chapter of the week will be tomorrow! See ya, next week! I fixed up all the previous mistakes from chapters 90 - 130 with the help of a reader, Yorben. Thank you for letting me know. So all the confusing parts on the bridge have been rified.<hr>

    Wang DeCheng wasn¡¯t sure why Liu Gan had called him out in the middle of the night, out to the riverside. He didn¡¯t bother asking too many questions; he only quietly followed Liu Gan. Then he saw Yin He holding down a zombie. When he saw the zombie with two gills on its neck, he seemed to have vaguely be aware of something.

    Wang DeCheng¡¯s heart rate increased¡­ Could it be that this is his lucky day?

    ¡°This is the Variant Zombie, the one that has the ability to produce hallucinations. Little He was able to heavily injure it. However, the final kill will be for you.¡± Liu Gan handed his fire axe to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Thank you Elder Liu!¡± Wang DeCheng shouted, excited by the news. Both of his hands started precipitating with sweat.

    With a deep breath, Wang DeCheng lifted the fire axe high above his head and chopped it at the neck of the Variant Zombie. In several more swings, its brain was mushed into pieces as he effectively ended its life.

    Arge dense ck orb floated out from the body of the Variant Zombie into Wang Decheng¡¯s body. After a heated feeling, Wang DeCheng looked at his alloy wristwatch, which clearly disyed that he had reached level 5.

    ¡°What different ability did you awaken?¡± Liu Gan asked Wang DeCheng. Liu Gan really wanted to assemble a squad of loyal and obedient team members. He had helped cultivate each and every member, so he was very concerned with their growth.

    ¡°! ! Sh1t!¡±

    Wang DeCheng looked at his wristwatch with a strange expression, but it wasn¡¯t the type that was filled with excitement. It was closer to disappointment.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liu Gan raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°Elder Liu, look for yourself¡­¡± Wang DeCheng was sulking as he shoved his wrist watch in front of Liu Gan. Using the shlight, it revealed two words.

    ¡°[Forage]?¡± Liu Gan looked at the two words with a confused look as well.

    ¡°This¡­ What does this even mean?¡± Wang DeCheng appeared helpless.

    ¡°Is this ability activatable?¡± Liu Gan suggested.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Wang DeCheng thought about the two words. Briefly after, from the interior of his body, he charged up some energy and forced it out. What appeared in his sea of consciousness were many green dots of different sizes. With a range covering the entire small ind, he could correctly pinpoint location and distance from, to, and with each dot. Thergest of these green dots was right at the storage room of the restaurant.

    In addition, the river had speckles of dots that were red in front of him. Some were green. There were others with different colors, as if to signify different species of fish. Green were most likely the edible type of fish that hadn¡¯t been contaminated with the virus.

    The moment Wang DeCheng exined the function of his ability to Liu Gan, he wasn¡¯t disappointed at all. On the contrary, he was pleasantly surprised.

    ¡°This ability is good. With this ability, we can search for food more easily. In addition, gathering food will be very quick, so the team members won¡¯t have to starve to death.¡± Liu Gan exined it to Wang DeCheng. Even thoughbat abilities were important, it was equally important to have logistic skill and survivability to a team. Without the logistic support, even the strongest yer would starve to death.

    ¡°I wished for Brother Zhang¡¯s ability [Whirlwind sh]. Even trapped within the crowd of zombies, I would be able to kill my way out! What an aggressive and powerful attack that is!¡± Wang DeCheng was still upset.

    ¡°In arge team, there will always be some rushing to the front, but there still needs to be people in the back to support the team. Your ability [Forage] is very meaningful. It is more important than his [Whirlwind sh] to this team. Now that you have reached level 5, your body¡¯s physical characteristics have increased, which obviously means yourbat attributes are better than they were at level 4. That¡¯s why you can¡¯tpare yourself to the past you. Even without abat ability, your fighting skills are formidable.¡± Liu Ganforted Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Thanks Elder Liu. I guess I wanted to make myself more useful.¡± Wang DeCheng finally understood his purpose in the team and felt relieved. Wang DeCheng¡¯s physical properties did improve significantly, especially with his senses - such as hearing and sight have increased ranges.

    ¡°Brother Liu, I found something.¡± Yin He searched the pockets of the variant zombie and pulled out a metallic object at least ten centimeters long.

    Five teeth, and the middle had hidden teeth¡­

    Liu Gan looked at the metallic object with excitement. Based on this design, it was the same design as what Zhao Meng had described for the key to the round alloy door? Who would¡¯ve thought that it would appear on the body of this Variant Zombie!

    If this were a game, the key would be found on the body of the BOSS. Only by killing the BOSS would they be able to obtain this set of key to unlock the next stage.

    ¡°Congrattions, Elder Liu, for finally finding the key. Do we continue searching tonight?¡± Wang DeCheng was very happy for Liu Gan.

    ¡°No need. I¡¯m too tired. Let me have a good sleep, and then we can talk.¡± Liu Gan yawned a few times. After killing this Amphibious Variant Zombie, the danger on this ind had been removed, so there was no rush to go elsewhere.

    Even if he were to reach level 6, it would affect hisbat condition if his body and mental status were to be exhausted. No one knew of the dangers below, so he had to be prepared with enough sleep. With sufficient amount of sleep, and a good mental status, he wouldn¡¯t suffer unnecessary damage that way.

    After returning to the main building, Liu Gan did not need to personally take the night shift with so many members at his disposal. He and Yin He went upstairs to a guest room on the second floor for some rest.

    With Yin He standing by his side, he could rest easy and sleep well.

    ¡°With your current energy condition, how long can youst?¡± Liu Gan asked before sleeping.

    ¡°Tonight, it didn¡¯t rain, and there aren¡¯t ces for attracting electricity. I estimate that I canst until around tomorrow early noon orte noon?¡± Yin He thought about it carefully.

    ¡°The moment you run out of energy, how do I wake you up?¡± Liu Gan was getting concerned.

    ¡°Very simple. On the rainy days with thunderstorm, find the tallest building with a lightning rod and ce the sma converter onto it. Then find two cable wires and attach them to my wrists. Just be careful and ensure your safety while doing it.¡± Yin He continued to exin the cement of the sma converter to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Gan agreed gloomily. Yin He being unable to find a steady source of energy supply was something that highly concerned him.

    ¡°Elder Liu, when you were affected by the Variant Zombie in his hallucination, what did you see? Can you tell me? I am curious.¡± Yin He changed the topic.

    [TL: Lmao [Forage] I thought it was going to be more OP than that.]

 Chapter 174

    Liu Gan simply looked at Yin He without talking.

    ¡°I really want to know, but what is the weakness of someone as strong as you?¡± Yin He curiously questioned.

    Was this another side effect of having an increase in closeness level? She actually started talking to Liu Gan voluntarily. She was also interested in issues rted to him.

    ¡°I used to have a lot of weak points that others have used to their advantage. It nearly cost me my life. Now I don''t have any speakable weakness, and I also won''t let them easily have their way with me anymore.¡± Liu Gan said as he reached out to touch her cold, tiny hands.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Yin He replied in disappointment.

    ¡°Did our intimacy level increase?¡± Liu Gan teasingly pulled Yin He closer to his body.

    ¡°Sleep. You overexerted yourself today. If you don''t rest properly, then you will have more weaknesses tomorrow.¡± Yin He pushed him away while giggling.

    Liu Gan stared into Yin He¡¯s eyes for awhile. Without saying much, heid his head on the bed and slept through the night.

    ...

    The second morning on the small ind, in the middle of the river.

    ¡°Elder Liu found and injured the Variant Zombie responsible. With his assistance, I killed the Variant with my own hands! As ofst night, I am level 5! So as long as you follow Elder Liu and be a loyal team member, you can be like me and Zhang ShengLi and reach level 5!¡± Wang DeCheng announced loudly to everyone.

    ¡°That Variant Zombie is dead?¡±

    ¡°Congrattions Brother Wang!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ I envy you!¡±

    [TL: OwO ]

    The group of yers began chatting and debating the death of the Variant Zombie. However, although they felt relieved at the good news, some were envious of Wang DeCheng, as it was because he obeyed Liu Gan¡¯smands and proactively took action that he was given the chance to .

    ¡°Did that Variant Zombie really have hallucinogenic abilities?¡± Zhou JingJing walked up to confirm with Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Yes, the hallucinations coaxed Xu ChangHui into inadvertently killing Zhou MingLiang. Then, it tried to put me under a hallucination, but I didn''t get baited by its illusion.¡± Liu Gan replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Miss Lee, do you now know that my actions weren''t intentional?¡± Zhou JingJing hurriedly said to Lee Miao. The whole injuring Lee Miao incident was giving Zhou JingJing pressure.

    ¡°I know, I understand. Zhou JingJing, you don''t have to be so hard on yourself.¡±

    Even so, Zhou JingJing cried as sheid her head onto Lee Miao¡¯s shoulder. Not only had this Variant Zombie caused her to injure Lee Miao, but it forced her to speak of her past events that she had sealed up inside herself long ago. These two types of injuries had caused her emotional to be very low fromst night till now.

    ¡°I want you to know. This small ind has a secret construct below ground, so there could be many Variant Zombies. It could also house many potential treasures. After eating breakfast, I will go down to investigate it. Is there anyone willing to follow me down?¡± Liu Gan pulled out the key that he had obtained from the Variant Zombie.

    ¡°I am willing to go!¡± Zhang ShengLi immediately dered.

    ¡°I am also willing!¡± Wang DeCheng said.

    The other team members were all scrambling to outdo each other as they exhibited willingness to head down with him. Lastly, with Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng and Liu Gan were going to lead the rest of the team. It was a good opportunity for them to obtainbat experience, as that would raise the overall strength of the team.

    Even though everyone enthusiastically agreed to take on the challenge, Liu Gan also epted their requests to rest and reorganize for half an hour after breakfast. When everyone was prepared, they gathered at the entrance of the storage room in between the first floor and the second floor. Liu Gan ced the key into Zhao Meng¡¯s hand, since he wanted to do the honors of unlocking the round alloy door lock.

    This key was the correct key to open the lock. As Zhao Meng inserted the key into the keyhole, he twisted it aplete circle, in which the sounds ¡®ka ka¡¯ could be heard. It seemed like the key linings for the first stage teeth lined up so it could enter into the second stage of the unlocking process. Then, Zhao Meng spun the key around one more circle, and the round alloy door produced sounds of deadbolts retracting lightly as it was able to correctly open.

    As Liu Gan had suspected, it was a deep well that had spiraling stairs that lead all the way down. Using the shlight to see the situation below, the well was at least a dozen meters deep. There was no water at the bottom, only another hatch cover.

    Liu Gan prepared to enter into the stairs for the well, but Yin He blocked him. It appeared she wanted make sure it was safe before she allowed him to go in.

    Liu Gan looked at Yin He and felt ufortable. Since he knew that her battery could onlyst until today¡¯s afternoon, he didn¡¯t know what to say to her.

    Hopefully, he could quickly find a suitable ce for her to recharge.

    Yin He was able to quickly reach the bottom of the deep well. At the bottom was the hatch cover that didn¡¯t have any locks. Unscrewing the red bolt, Yin He easily opened the hatch.

    After opening the hatch cover, Yin He reached the opening below, and when she confirmed it was safe, she used her earphones to notify Liu Gan to head down.

    Liu Gan lead the group; one by one, they walked down the spiraling stairs. Following closely behind was Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng. They entered into arge hall.

    The hall¡¯s emergency light was turned on by Yin He. Even though the light was dim, it was enough to clearly see the surroundings. This hall was built with a western-style design. The hall itself was huge, with the ceiling being four meters high. The walls had western sculpture statues. In the middle of the room was a big couch with a ss coffee table. This was definitely a huge contrast to the first floor lobby¡¯s decorative design. The first floor lobby, where they slept, had a eastern-style of design, but here was a western-style design.

    No matter if it was eastern-style design or western-style design, this ce didn¡¯t look like aboratory.

    As the group moved deeper into the Hall, two female bloodstained waiters came out from a corner to greet the group. If it wasn¡¯t for the pale face with blood on the side of the lip, these two would have been beautifuldies.

    Two members of the group rushed up to reward them. The female waiters were rewarded with a sh on their head as tips. Hence, the group continued moving forward deeper into therge Hall.

    ¡°This ce did a really good job in waterproofing the ce. It must have been arge construction. To construct a building in the middle of a river is not easy. Especially with the constant thunderstorms and tornadoes, this ce would¡¯ve been flooded, but there are no signs of water permeating this ce.¡± Zhang ShengLi expressed his view.

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175 - Staff Living Quarters<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz<hr>

    ¡°Who would''ve thought that something thisrge would be found underground? Certainly they didn''t construct a hotel? If this was a hotel, the guests would have a hard timeing down.¡± Some other team members chimed in with their opinion.

    At the far end of therge Hall was a series of stairs that continued further down. Next to the set of stairs was a reflective ss material that was the door to an elevator. There was enough electricity to supply the emergency light, but definitely not enough electricity to power the elevator. So the group continued on foot, heading deeper underground.

    The stairs were covered with red carpet, and along the walls were pictures. They was group pictures, and judging from these photos, it seemed like these people were not family members, interacting more like coworkers. This area should be where the research scientists had worked at.

    At this moment, Liu Gan didn¡¯t know what they were researching here, nor does he know where theboratory was. It doesn''t seem like theboratory was on that floor, so they kept going deeper underground.

    With Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng volunteering to clear the path in front, Liu Gan and Yin He assumed the rear guard.

    As another two zombies dressed in waiter clothing approached, Zhang ShengLi used his weapon, long iron rod, to block the zombie, while Lee Miao walked over to kill the zombie from behind. She swung at the zombie¡¯s neck and cut off the head. Right now Zhang ShengLi was doing the same thing Liu Gan had done for him. He was feeding Lee Miao kills.

    Looking at this scene, Liu Gan felt regretful. During that time on the bridge crossing, with the sea of fire burning down the horde of zombies, he should¡¯ve let Doctor Lee toss a grenade over. From one hand grenade, she would¡¯ve reached the physical attributes close to a level 4 yer.

    But it was inconsequential, as she would quickly reach that level with Zhang ShengLi leading her, so there was no need to worry about it excessively.

    Right now, the group was split up into three squads. The first squad was lead by Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng in the front, opening up the road. The middle squad consisted of the rather weak team members. Finally, covering the rear were Liu Gan and Yin He standing behind a few meters back, as this would allow the two of them to provide help if any danger should crop up.

    After a long while of walking, they finally reached the lower floor¡¯s corridor. Taking a look around at the surrounding, this ce truly felt like a hotel. Down the long corridor, both sides had rooms that werebeled on the door with a number.

    The corridor had scattered zombies walking around. They weren¡¯t wearing waiter clothing; some were in pajamas, others were wearing work clothes. There were even zombies that had on the white coats that research scientists would wear.

    The zombies spotted Zhang ShengLi and rushed toward him. Wang DeCheng and Zhang ShengLi were both ready and shed with the zombies. The regr zombies were no match for these level 5 yers, as the zombies dropped like flies on the floor. These zombies had yet to die, allowing Lee Miao to go in for thest hit.

    Just like any other game, with a high level veteran leading the way, it became really easy for newbies to gain experience. As the newbies level up, their strength would naturally improve, which would increase theirbat power. When ying this type of game with teammates, it was more fun with multiple people.

    ¡°ShengLi, what do you suppose the purpose of this underground construction is?¡± Wang DeCheng asked while walking up to him.

    ¡°Seems like a research facility. Do you see those zombies wearing the white coats?¡± Zhang ShengLi replied. When Zhang ShengLi was stuck in the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center building, he had spent more than two days there and had killed numerous zombies, so he was very familiar with these white coats.

    ¡°Then this floor would be the staff living quarters?¡± Wang DeCheng guessed.

    ¡°Seems so. If we push further ahead, theirboratory should be deeper underground.¡± Zhang ShengLi replied.

    ¡°This is the key to this floor, split up and check each room to see if you can find some sort of identification card, key or anything that resembles it. Gather everything useful and bring it back here.¡± Liu Gan handed over a series of keys to the group.

    With this many members at his disposal, such insignificant tasks, like clearing out rooms, wouldn¡¯t be required of Liu Gan to do personally anymore. These types of affairs were left for them to aplish.

    Wang DeCheng and Zhang ShengLi each lead a team. One team searched the rooms on the left side while another team searched the rooms on the right side.

    Liu Gan and Yin He stood in the hallway, awaiting their search results. Their duties were to stand guard. In case there was a swarm of zombies rushing over or if a Variant Zombie were to appear. Either way, if a room housed a Variant Zombie, they could rush in to save them, so the ideal location to standby at was at the corridor.

    This ind had plenty of food, enough to feed the group for more than several days. They were worried that one of the rooms might have another hallucinogenic-inducing Variant Zombie, or some other types of Variant Zombies. Therefore, Liu Gan didn¡¯t rush them on the speed at which they searched the individual rooms. What he did stress was that safety was number one priority, whereas speed was number two.

    For safety reasons, the way they searched wasn¡¯t very fast. Every team member would open the room door ajar and use a shlight to shine in.

    Several different situations yed out. The first type was that zombies were hiding by the doorway. As the door was pushed open, the zombie attempted to w and bite the closest hand. This was when a yer pulled out their makeshift iron rod with a pitch fork attachment and stabbed the zombie by the neck while others chopped off the head.

    This type of fighting method was as familiar a routine as a walk in the park. If it wasn¡¯t for Liu Gan¡¯s constant reminder that they had to pay attention to safety, they would¡¯ve kicked open the door and rushed in for the kill.

    A different situation was when they opened the door and there were no zombies at first nce, they would then make some noise to bait them out. If there were still no zombies charging over, then they pushed the door further open and, most importantly, had to check behind the doors. Once the bedroom was clear, they had to check in the bathroom.

    In this type of situation, when the door was pushed further open, there were often many zombies hiding behind it. So the squad would retreat back into the corridor and bait the zombies out so they can be annihted. If things got out of hand, Liu Gan and Yin He would rush up to kill them all.

    With this floor of hotel-like rooms, there were around a dozen of these rooms. After wasting half an hour to ensure that the rooms were cleared out, the search for items began. Objects like fire starters, cigarettes, cell phones, headphones, and even unopened packages of crackers were found. The only things missing were identification cards.

    After searching this floor, Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng continued onto the next floor. This was the third underground floor they were heading up to. Without encountering much danger this time, the team members were able to rx a little.

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176 - Iron Gate<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz<hr>

    The third floor structure andyout were not that different from the second floor. This ce definitely gave off the vibe of a hotel due to the room numbers. Considering the second floor had no significant drops from prior piging, the thirdyer was not carefully searched.

    As everyone hastily killed the zombies on the third floor, they proceeded down to the fourth underground floor.

    The fourth underground floor was different from the previous two floors. In the hallway, it lead to different rooms, but these rooms weren¡¯t a ce to rest; they were simr to conference rooms and other simr functioning facilities. Par for the course, there were some scattered zombies on this floor. These regr zombies were not a threat to the team anymore as they had no weak link.

    Variant Zombies had yet to appear, and the team members were both d and disappointed. d that they didn¡¯t appear so that no one would get killed idently, and disappointed that they wouldn¡¯t have a chance to reach level 5.

    From his past experiences, Liu Gan figured out a sequence to it already. As long as he encounters more Variant Zombies, then those following him would eventually be promoted to level 5.

    As they continued to the lower floors, by the time they reached the fifth underground floor, those standing by the base of the stairs could hear a terrifying howling sound. A sound reminiscent of a drove of zombies having been roused. There had to be at least a dozen of them. A few members looked horrified as they nced toward Liu Gan. They were worried that Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t reach them in time to save them in such a narrow corridor and stairway.

    Liu Gan called for Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng to halt. Then, he and Yin He moved towards the fore of the group. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, only two zombies were rushing at them. These two zombies were wearing security guard uniforms, the type of uniform associated with guarding entrances.

    So far, Liu Gan and Yin He could easily take care of these regr zombies. While turning on the emergency light, Liu Gan tried to single out the source of the zombie noises. At the end of the stairs was arge, empty room, which was used for safety checks. Further ahead, a very sturdy metallic gate cropped up. There were at least a dozen zombies with white coats trapped on the other side of the gate.

    The iron gate was locked. Regardless, the amount of zombies behind the gate was rming, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to be a threat to the group. When the zombies behind the gate noticed the arrival of fresh meat, they started striking hard at the iron gate. It almost seemed like the gate wouldn¡¯t hold back the flood of zombies any longer.

    Every effort by the zombies was futile. The gates were extremely sturdy. The zombies were incoherently trying to either push down the gate or push it open.

    With the gates held the zombies back, these types of kills were the easiest. Naturally, they were left for the team¡¯s weakest member, Lee Miao. She killed zombies easily from a safe distance with the dagger given to her by Zhang ShengLi. As every zombie closest to the gate died, it struggled for life to grab at Lee Miao. Watching the zombies fall one by one onto the ground and how the hazy ck orbs floated into her body, Lee Miao slowly gained strength.

    Liu Gan wasn¡¯t in a rush, plus he had no other destination to go towards. This way, the rest of the team could also rest up as Lee Miao killed the zombies one by one.

    After killing all the zombies closest to the iron gate, Lee Miao shook the gate to generate loud noises to lure the rest of the zombies further at the back of the floor to get closer. This type of strategy was effective, as nearly all the scattered zombies started rushing up to the iron gate.

    What a pity, these low intelligence monsters were like feral beasts that rushed up to the gate and struggled with it. One by one, Lee Miao struck them down. Each ck orb fueled her strength as experience points.

    When the zombies on the other side of the gate were no longer charging at it, there were piles of bodies blocking the pathway through the gates. Zhang ShengLi walked over to the bodies of the zombie in security uniform for the keys to the iron gate.

    As of this moment, no one knew the exact process of turning after an infection from the catastrophe. It could even be possible that these two security guards were the first to change, so they weren¡¯t able to let those behind the iron gate escape in time.

    If the people behind the gate were the first to change, then these two security guards wouldn¡¯t have to stand guard here. They could¡¯ve escaped to the ground floor and alerted their supervisors. Of course, it could be possible that the people behind the gate were infected first, but then the two security guards were also infected around the same time.

    Regardless of the source of infection, this whole level have been infected, so it was pointless to ponder on it.

    ¡°What do you think they studied down here? Particrly, why did they lock the research scientists behind the gates?¡± Wang DeCheng asked Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Well¡­ That is¡­ this is all too hard to guess, but we¡¯ll find out when we get down there.¡± Zhang ShengLi replied briefly. Meanwhile, the members of the group pulled aside the heap of zombies obstructing the door.

    As the group walked through the iron gates, they were able to confirm that this location was a biologicalboratory. Every animal trapped in cages were of varying species and sizes. Although most of the animals had died, a few were still moving.

    These few animals had be very irritable, as their eyes were blood-red, and began ramming against their cages when they noticed humans. Luckily, these cages had metal rods that were very thick, so they couldn¡¯t suddenly pop out from the container.

    There were a few dissection tables in theboratory. On top of these tables were the remains of animal and human body parts. Everything was rotting, so the air they breathed in was pungent. It was clear that many days had passed.

    Looking at these foul things, even they knew these dead animals wouldn¡¯t attack, but they couldn¡¯t help but feel disgusted by it. These local survivors could tell that thisboratory operated even before the catastrophe, so they suspected that the World Catastrophe was rted to these experiments.

    Other than the disgusting animals and body part remains, there were a fewboratory equipment and medicine that were still usable. Otherwise, there were no significant spoils from this floor. There were no strong Variant Zombies that resembled a BOSS. After reaching the end of theboratory, there were another series of stairs that lead deeper underground. Evidently, this whole underground infrastructure was far deeper and spread out than anyone could¡¯ve imagined.

    The depth was likely below the river at this point. The construction of thisboratory was definitely of a grand scale.

    As they followed the stairs, the next floor down looked more like it was used forboratory purposes. Every section of this floor was reminiscent of a ughterhouse. This floor level had animals that were different from the previous floor. On this floor level, the animals were suspended up, and on the dissection tables were mostly human carcasses.

    [TL: ughterhouse floor is the 6th underground floor.]

 Chapter 177

    ¡°If that was the case, then even before the catastrophe, theseboratory scientists must not have been kind-hearted. They were even conducting experiments on human carcasses. The failed experiments might be what sparked the catastrophe.¡± Zhang ShengLi guessed.

    ¡°Yes, no matter where I look, this doesn¡¯t seem like a normal ce.¡± Wang DeCheng nodded.

    ¡°Have you locals heard about anything horrifying like human experiments before? Or rather if people were suddenly disappearing? There should have been people reporting such things, right?¡± Zhang ShengLi asking Lee Miao.

    ¡°Nope, never heard of it before.¡± Lee Miao shook her head.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear Zhou JingJing before? They were buying corpses for experimentation, so they might have been trying to resurrect corpses. Then, they actually resurrected a few dead people.¡± Wang DeCheng replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zhang ShengLi nodded.

    As the group continued deeper down towards the seventh underground floor of theboratory, they finally reached the end of this floor, which was arge room. Thisrge room housed something even more disgusting than everything else they had seen before. Along the walls of the room, there were a row ofrge ss containers with something inside.

    From the looks of it, they seemed like human embryos. Some were shaped like human organs. Others grew into a human shape. A few resembled a living human. As Zhang ShengLi shined his shlight over, his eyes widened.

    ¡°What are they researching?¡± Lee Miao panicked as she asked Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what they are researching, but it¡¯s definitely up to no good.¡± Zhang ShengLi frowned.

    Hidden away at the end of this room was a door, and behind that door was a staircase. Right when you thought that it couldn¡¯t go any deeper, theboratory continued to surprise Liu Gan and his group. As the group went down the stairs to the eighth underground floor, they continued to witness more and more disgusting experiments on human carcasses. Laid out everywhere were very precise instruments as well asrge apparatuses, indicating that they had been conducting experiments on machines.

    This eighth underground floor reached six meters high, and the depth of theboratory¡¯s cement had most likely surpassed the deepestyer of the river. The surface area of this whole floor covered more than the previous floors. Theboratory on this floor physically resembled an upside down skyscraper, with only the tip of the iceberg revealed above the surface of the water.

    [TL: Something alongs the line of resembling a titanic iceberg.]

    ¡°This is the location where they develop electric sma nanobots!¡± Yin He looked at the instruments closely and noticed what it was. Her expression changed drastically to an excited look.

    ¡°Electrical sma Nanobot? This is the thing that supplies you with energy, those nanobots?¡± Liu Gan was shocked as he asked Yin He.

    ¡°Yes. Tell them to not damage any of these equipments; I need them, so it is very important to me.¡± Yin He nodded.

    Liu Gan immediately issued the order to everyone so there wouldn¡¯t be any reckless action taking ce within this floor and the next few floors. In fact, even when under attack by zombies, their movement must be with restraint and not to touch or destroy the equipments.

    ¡°I found it!¡± Yin He shouted. Yin He was on the tenth underground floor, where she found several metal alloy tubes that were ten centimeters long in a cab beside a huge instrument. She opened the metal tubes to find a syringe, but this syringe was coated in alloy and not the typical ss.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Liu Gan saw that Yin He was beside herself with joy, so he knew this was what she had been looking for.

    ¡°It is still in the trial period. They were preparing to manufacture new models of these electrical sma nanobots. There is going to be wide range of uses for these, which were made to meet the standard for many industries. Theserge machineries under man-made conditions can generate several million volts stored in the electrical sma nanobots. For me, I would have to inject these into my body so it can mix with my nanobots, and then I would have to seal the location of the injection off.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan. Her exnation to Liu Gan was based on her previously downloaded information.

    ¡°So what you mean to say is, these syringes contain fully-charged electrical sma?¡± Liu Gan began to feel excited. He was d that Yin He was finally able to temporarily solve her electrical power supply problem.

    ¡°Yes. Right now, in this facility, there are only ten tubes. Each tube couldst me around two days worth. So these ten tubes could supply me with at least twenty days worth of electricity.¡± Yin He exined as she prepared the first tube. Each tube had a needle part that she used in order to inject the contents into her wrist.

    ¡°This needle is impressive! It was able to pierce your skin?¡± Liu Gan was amazed at how easily it pierced through. Liu Gan recalled that he wasn¡¯t able to wound Yin He when they first met.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that the needle is impressive, it¡¯s just that my wrist originally has a hole for injecting nanobots.¡± Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Is it safe injecting these into the nanobots? Does it reallye fully charged?¡± Liu Gan exercised caution.

    ¡°Yes, all of these should be full of electrical sma. Now, all my nanobots can be replenished with their energy fully recharged. You must know that these nanobots have a certain lifespan, so if I couldn''t replenish them in time, then the nanobots within my body will gradually decrease and be forever lost.¡± Yin He told Liu Gan.

    ¡°So it¡¯s like that? No wonder. Then from now on, I will frequently visit San Xing Corporationboratories to help you find more nanobots, and hopefully, we can find more advanced nanobots.¡± Liu Gan promised Yin He.

    ¡°Okay! Thank You, Brother Liu.¡± Yin He giggled. There were two reasons behind Yin He¡¯s giggle. First, it was because she found more electrical sma, and second was that she was excited to have gotten closer to Liu Gan. Liu Gan loved the current her.

    Yin He ced several other tubes of fully-charged sma into her own backpack. Then, she started to look around for more stuff, but ended up upset when she wasn¡¯t able to find more. It appears they were really still in a trial period of experimenting and had yet tomence the mass production stage.

    Another two floorster and they were at the twelfth floor. The subterranean world was getting darker and the temperature gradually fell. Everyone felt cold and the atmosphere was eerie.

    With the stagnant airflow, it wasn¡¯t that great. It gave off a dirty, mmy feeling. This wasn¡¯t too strange since the venttion system in this ce had long since been stopped, so being able to breathe air so deep down below wasn¡¯t bad at all.

    Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng had made it to level 5, so they were still able to move around even with this environment of thin air. The other yers and local survivors couldn¡¯t persevere on the contrary.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t force them to continue and allowed them to stay on the floors above where they could breathe more easily. Meanwhile, Yin He, Zhang ShengLi, and Wang DeCheng continued further down.

    The lower floors no longer had emergency lights to light up the rooms and paths. So they could only rely on the lighting from their shlights. They discovered that the eleventh underground floor was a prison, itsyoutprising metal fences that divided the floor into small cells.

    [TL: Just the Tip... LOL Tip of the iceberg that is.]

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178 - Prison<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    It''s that time of year again! Happy Lunar New Year! Gotta enjoy that 15 day celebration :)

    There are so many wtfs in the uing chapters...<hr>

    The scientists that were imprisoned behind in the cells were all zombies. As these zombies saw people enter, they all got up and charged toward the metal gates. Perhaps due to the thin density of oxygen, these zombies stood up and reacted very slowly.

    Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng didn''t wait for the zombies to get up before killing them. These minute tasks didn¡¯t require Liu Gan to personally make a move anymore.

    They saw that at the end of the eleventh underground floor was another set of stairs from afar. The temperature also dropped, which seemed toe from the eerie feeling they could feel suffusing the area in front of the stairs. It became difficult to breathe, as the pungent smell mixed with the air. This caused many of them to feel ufortable as they walked beside the prison cells. The prison cells didn''t have many zombies locked up, so most of the cells were empty.

    The floor started to have residual puddles of water. This could''ve been from condensation building up, or it could''ve been from the nearby walls cracking and leaking water.

    It was hard to locate the exact location responsible for the leakage. Every ten seconds or so, the sound of a droplet of water would echo in the halls. The underground world in thisboratory was very quiet, so every droplet that echoed in the hall as it hit the ground was spine-chilling.

    Even though Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng were level 5, under these conditions, they still felt a sense of dread. They inched closer to Liu Gan and Yin He¡¯s side. In case some strange turn of events ur, they could at least receive support from Liu Gan and Yin He.

    ¡°Will there be a second Variant Zombie that can use the hallucinogenic ability? Will it conjure a white-clothed female ghost to scare us, perhaps? Especially you three so you can join their ranks of being ghosts,¡± Zhang ShengLi quipped as he shined the light around the distant corners.

    The other three people only gave him a look of disapproval as they didn''t find it amusing at all. The silence reigned as no one spoke up.

    This prison-styled floor had a particrly long hallway, and they had to walk around two dozen meters before they reached the end of it. However, they didn''t immediately proceed down the flight of stairs. Something caught their attention in one of the cells, closer to the end of the hallway. It was a scientist wearing a white long coat!

    The important thing was that he wasn''t a zombie!

    From the looks of the cell on the outside, this cell was vastly different from the others. The surface area for this cell wasrgerpared to the other cells. It also had a standalone washroom and also had arge collection of canned goods, packaged goods, and containers for drinking water alongside the walls in stacks. But, it seems like it had all been emptied out.

    When the white-coat scientist saw the approaching people arriving outside his cell, he was terrified because he wasn''t sure if he was hallucinating.

    ¡°There is someone who actually survived!¡± Wang DeCheng eximed as he shined his light into the cell.

    Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi were both surprised, as this was out of their expectations. Seeing a locked up white-coat scientist heightened Zhang ShengLi¡¯s senses, as it reminded him of the moment of how Zhang ShengNan and HuRong had died.

    Being locked up, he was definitely not a good person.

    ¡°Who are you? And why are you locked up here?¡± Zhang ShengLi walked over to the prison cell and shined his light in as he shouted out loud.

    ¡°You tell me who you are first! Has the outside world returned to normal?¡± The white-coat scientist asked as he replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°We are investigation members; we have been sent here to investigate the situation.¡± Zhang ShengLi immediately contrived a lie.

    ¡°You are lying! The world outside has be dystopian, so there is no investigation squad! You look too young, so there is no way you are investigation members.¡± The white-coat scientist said as he avoided the light from the shlight. He backed up into the corner furthest away when he saw Liu Gan walking closer.

    ¡°Okay, we are a bunch of survivors that have seemed to have found this location miraculously. Don''t you want us to let you out? So why won''t you talk to us?¡± Wang DeCheng nced at Zhang ShengLi as they tried to perpetuate the lie.

    ¡°What''s the point in letting me out? Especially when the world has ended!¡± The scientist eximed as he shook his head.

    ¡°Why would you say that?¡± Wang DeCheng continued probingly.

    The white-coat scientist still refused to respond.

    ¡°You must answer my question! Who are you and what were you researching here? And why are you trapped in there?¡± Zhang ShengLi walked up to the white-coat scientist while shouting.

    ¡°What can you do if I don''t answer? Will you kill me?¡± The white-coat scientist replied rhetorically in return to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°I will. I would not hesitate to kill you! Perhaps I¡¯ll slowly torture you if you don''t answer my question, considering you don''t have any value to us!¡± Zhang ShengLi stated as he mmed the head of his fire axe onto the bars of the cell. The axe struck terrifying sounds through the bars.

    Liu Gan had some question himself, but Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng had both covered all the topics he was curious about. He only watched the response of the white-robed scientist. On this whole underground adventure, Yin He only found ten tubes of electrical sma for some measure of a reward, but Liu Gan had yet to reap any substantial reward for himself.

    It was hard to tell if this white-coat scientist would spill his secret ¡ª if not secrets.

    ¡°Okay, I could answer your questions, but could you give me something to eat and drink in return?¡± The white-coat scientist said after thinking for awhile.

    ¡°We could give you a small quantity of biscuits and water, But, only if you give us an honest and detailed answer. I will give you more biscuits and water if your answer is satisfactory.¡± Wang DeCheng said in a friendly tone. It seems that he was working with Zhang ShengLi, with himself ying good cop and the other ying the bad cop.

    ¡°If I answer your questions well, can you give me cigarettes too?¡± The white-coat scientist replied.

    ¡°That we can consider, but if you don''t answer properly, then you won''t get anything.¡± Wang DeCheng nced at Liu Gan as he replied.

    ¡°Okay, I ept your conditions.¡± The scientist nodded.

    ¡°Elder Liu, you ask then.¡± Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng looked at Liu Gan. With this type of interrogation, it was up to Elder Liu to handle.

    ¡°First question, what were you investigating in theboratory?¡± Liu Gan asked.

    Wang DeCheng pulled out a bag of biscuits and opened it. With a piece of biscuit in one hand and half a bottle of water in the other.

    ¡°We are a secret division located in the suburban district of San Xing Corporation¡¯s Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. We are designated to research medicine and nanobots for androids. I am in the department that is responsible for researching a new type of medicine.¡± The white-coat scientist exined as he swallowed slowly while answering.

    ¡°What type of medicine are you researching?¡± Liu Gan continued to ask.

    The white-coat scientist didn''t respond. He only stared at Wang DeCheng for more food. Seems like he wanted to eat and drink before continuing to speak.

 Chapter 179

    ¡°Here, I''ll give you a piece of biscuit.¡± Wang DeCheng shoved his hand through the bars.

    The white-coat scientist carefully moved over. He quickly reached out to grab the biscuit and shoved it in his mouth. In two bites, he swallowed it. It appeared the scientist had been starving for awhile.

    After eating the biscuit, the white-coat scientist ambled over to grab the bottle of water. Wang DeCheng ced the bottle by his mouth and poured some water into his mouth before pulling it back.

    ¡°If you speak, there will be more water and biscuit.¡± Wang DeCheng exined.

    ¡°Wait, what was your question?¡± The scientist asked with a nk look on his face.

    ¡°Elder Liu was asking about what medicine you are researching here!¡± Zhang ShengLi started getting angry as he banged the fire axe onto the cell.

    ¡°In the early stages, it was our sponsor. At that point, we don''t know where he came from. He gave us some cell structure that we used on the body of our animals. This caused our animals to undergo a second stage of evolution.¡± The scientist exined.

    ¡°This particr set of cellr structure with nanobots injected into the cell could potentially create a mutation. This mutation restores normal function of the cell from a diseased and defective state. The cell will proliferate and make the organism stronger than it was before. There were some animals that disyed signs of intelligence. After a steady progress of positive results, the sponsor pressured us toward the next stage of development, which was human experimentation¡­¡±

    ¡°In the beginning of these human experiments, all results were failures. When the medicine was injected into the animals, it had positive results, but when it was used on humans, there were negative reactions. There were some suicidal humans who participated in the trial just to die.¡±

    ¡°For those participants, you believed that all of those who joined the trials were willing?¡± Zhang ShengLi interrupted.

    ¡°Yes, they were all willing participants. They were people that had incurable diseases or had no money to treat the disease. There was a contract signed between us. So aside from our contracted participants, we didn''t use the medicine on innocent citizens. On the way down, you have probably seen those zombies in the prison cells. They are all the living corpses of the deceased participants with diseases.¡± The white-coat scientist exined to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Okay, you can continue.¡± Zhang ShengLi said.

    The white-coat scientist walked over to Wang DeCheng for his reward of another piece of biscuit and a swig of water, continuing shortly after.

    ¡°As we continued the research, all leads were dead ends. Until on a certain day. I can''t remember how many days it¡¯s been since, but on that day, we were pulling an all-nighter on researching something important. The security guard and our colleagues seemed to have been infected with a virus that made them sick all of a sudden.¡±

    ¡°A few of the corpses that survived became reanimated and started biting and wing everyone else. The undergroundboratory doesn''t have any location that is particrly safe. My colleague and I hid down here. He locked me in here and then ran out in an attempt to save others. I was saved, but it seems like my colleague wasn''t so lucky, since he never returned. What happened above here, I don''t know too much about it.¡± The white-coat scientist concluded.

    ¡°You are lying!¡± Zhang ShengLi used the axe to hammer onto the bars of the prison cell, ring profusely at him.

    ¡°The world that I used to know is gone. So what use does it serve me to lie? I don''t even want to continue living anymore.¡± The white-coat scientist shook his head while exining to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Look at the food by the wall. You haven''t been eating or drinking. How are you still alive?¡± Zhang ShengLi continued to question the scientist.

    ¡°All these food have been eaten two days ago. I am burning my fat, so if you don''t give me food or water, I don''t think I will live for long.¡± The white-coat scientist said.

    ¡°So ording to what you have said. Your cell¡¯s key is in the hands of your colleague?¡± Liu Gan asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The white-coat scientist nodded.

    ¡°If I am able to free you, what can you do to benefit me?¡± Liu Gan interrupted. Ever since he entered theboratory, there had been nothing useful for him to find. So Liu Gan''s logic was that maybe the scientist knew something that he didn''t.

    ¡°What do I have to give to repay you? I never thought about leaving here. Even if we left from this location, what is the point? The whole world is over.¡± The white-coat scientist imed with a depressed expression as he sat on the floor.

    ¡°So you said you want cigarettes?¡± Liu Gan asked the white-coat scientist. Then Liu Gan pulled out a box of cigarettes from his bag and extracted a cigarette. As Liu Gan lit up the cigarette, he took a puff and blew the smoke into the face of the white-coat scientist.

    Even though Liu Gan himself is not a smoker, he knew that the cigarette addicts all suffer painfully when they hadn¡¯t had a smoke for awhile. In the apocalyptic world, stuff like cigarettes were definitely a raremodity.

    ¡°Of course I want that. But I really don''t have anything to exchange with you.¡± The scientist eximed as he watch the cigarette within Liu Gan¡¯s finger burn away. The white-coat scientist was definitely a cigarette addict. If he had to choose between a beautiful female or a pack of cigarette, he would choose the cigarettes.

    With his current condition, he could onlyst five minutes with the femalepany. But with the cigarette, he could enjoy it throughout the whole day.

    ¡°You said you were investigating the effects of these medicines. If I guess correctly, your medicine when injected into the trial participants granted them the ability to cast others into hallucinations?¡± Liu Gan asked the scientist.

    After hearing what Liu Gan had said, the white-coat scientist changed his expression, but he quickly ducked and faked a sigh to hide his expression.

    ¡°Our experiment did generate a certain hallucination ability, but these medicines had severe side effects. Every participant injected with the medicine died. So I can''t confirm if the medicine still exists, but if you allow me, I can try and help search it for you.¡± The white-coat scientist lifted his head and replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°What was yourpanion wearing? How did he look like? You said the key is on his body?¡± Liu Gan asked again.

    ¡°He is muscrly built. Outside is his white coat, but he wears a suit on the inside. If he isn''t wearing the white coat, the keys should be hanging on his waist.¡± The scientist replied.

    ¡°Wang DeCheng, you arrange the others to search around. See if you can find the described person and look for the key.¡± Liu Gan ordered Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang DeCheng nodded and walked toward the way they came from to go upstairs.

    As Wang DeCheng walked up stairs, Liu Gan used his bare hands to pull on the bars of the prison cell. As he used his maximum strength to pull bars apart, he could feel how the prison cell was really sturdy and thick. Taking into ount that Liu Gan had reached level 6, his strength was iparable to before, so it might be possible for him to bend the bars of the prison cell.

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180 - Backup n<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz<hr>

    ¡°This cage is made from a metallic column of at least three centimeters. It can withstand the might of elephants and the ram of rhinoceroses; even if dinosaurs from the jurassic period were to strike it, it wouldn¡¯t break. So moving the infrastructure requires an immense amount of strength.¡± The white-coat scientist said as he watched Liu Gan grip the bars. A strange expression on the scientist revealed his uneasiness.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t care about the white-coat scientist¡¯s statement. With added strength and a long grunt, he was able to bend the three centimeters of metallic column of the cage!

    ¡°What kind of person are you?¡± the wide eyed white-coat scientist looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Our Elder Liu isn¡¯t like a normal person. If you don¡¯t tell Elder Liu the truth, I can guarantee that your uing days will be painful.¡± Zhang ShengLi coldly smiled. Zhang ShengLi also tried to do the same feat with the bent bar closest to Liu Gan, except it didn''t budge at all. So Zhang ShengLi immediately gave up trying to copycat Liu Gan to save himself from further embarrassment.

    What level is Elder Liu exactly? His amount of strength does not seem to simply be one level higher.

    With another grunt, Liu Gan mustered up his strength for another go at the bars. The metallic column bent a little more. Even though Liu Gan ordered Wang DeCheng to search for a key, there was no guarantee that they would find it. So as a secondary n, he wanted to try bending the metallic columns.

    After bending the columns to a certain angle, Liu Gan took a moment to rest. He intended to bend the column Zhang ShengLi had attempted but been unable to bend previously.

    ¡°When we arrived on the ind, we faced a humanoid creature that could hallucinate people. From the corpse of that creature, we obtained a set of keys that lead underground. So I imagine that creature has something to do with your researches here?¡± Liu Gan pulled out a biscuit to hand over to the scientist and poured him a mouthful of water.

    ¡°Wait, that creature was killed by you?¡± The white-coat scientist gasped, but he tried his best to not reveal his fear.

    ¡°Of course we did. If we can''t even do that, then how else would we be able toe so far down underground? Whatever Elder Liu asks you, you should honestly answer and not hide anything from us. Otherwise, we will change our approach with the questions. You should just tell us the truth so you won''t have to suffer any painful torture.¡± Zhang ShengLi threatened.

    Before this, Zhang ShengLi had never threatened anyone, nor had he ever tried to coerce someone like this before. It was the type of scene that you saw in movies, but to force the scientist, he had to say stuff like this. It was something he picked up by watching those very same movies.

    ¡°You said those creatures. It could be rted to our top research that we conducted. We were following a set molecr form to develop the medicine. Amongst a portion of people that we injected with the medicine, some of them produced a type of pheromone. This type of pheromone can affect other people by inducing hallucinations that alter reality into a fantasy-like state. You said that creature you met above could possibly rted to one of our experiment,¡± the scientist replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Why would the undergroundboratory key be on the creature¡¯s body?¡± Liu Gan inquired.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the reason for that. As you can see, ever since the catastrophe on that day, I¡¯ve been locked in this room. Then my colleague took the key with him, so I¡¯m not familiar with anything that has happened aboveground.¡± The scientist shook his head.

    ¡°You are lying! When we came over, didn¡¯t you say that this world is ending? You said we couldn¡¯t be investigators, so if you don¡¯t know the situation aboveground, then how can you say that for sure?¡± Zhang ShengLi countered, as he still firmly believed that the scientist was lying.

    ¡°There¡¯s still cellphones right? On the day of the catastrophe, I was able to make a few phone calls out. So I know a little about the situation outside.¡± The white-coat scientist pulled out a phone with a dead battery.

    ¡°This special type of secretboratory. Wouldn¡¯t the workers have to sign a confidentiality agreement? There shouldn¡¯t be any signal underground?¡± Zhang ShengLi continued to question the scientist.

    ¡°Underground¡­ there is amunication station. In addition¡­ there are a few high level executives that could enter their secret code tomunicate with the outside world at themunication station,¡± the white-coat scientist continued to mumble an answer to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Seems like your status in theboratory isn¡¯t low at all!¡± Zhang ShengLi finally forced some useful information out of him. Happy with the result, Zhang ShengLi smiled on the inside.

    ¡°I am just a nobody in this organization. I¡¯m definitely not an expert in my field, nor am I a high-ranking executive. I am closer to the rank of being an academic leader.¡± The white-coat scientist started to concede on a certain point.

    ¡°This catastrophe turned everyone in the city to zombies. Is it rted to your research or not?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked the scientist directly.

    ¡°Do you think I have that capability? As you can tell, ourboratory is quite deep underground, so the things we research here isn¡¯t so easily taken out. Even my rtives and friends live in NinJing City, so how will the catastrophe benefit me?¡± The scientist shook his head.

    ¡°Your hallucinogenic-inducing medicine research was very sessful. When we arrived here, that creature caused the death of at least two dozen logistics workers with its hallucination ability. It made the workers kill each, and then it ate their brains. If you are the researcher in charge of this project, then shouldn¡¯t you exin the situation?¡± Liu Gan returned to the topic of the medicine. As to what happened with the present world and the unfolding catastrophe, it wasn¡¯t a topic too concerning for him.

    ¡°This medicine is definitely sessful at certain stages, but being able to induce hallucinations turned it into a monster. That might be the only reason why it was aplete sess.¡± The scientist shook his head.

    ¡°Wait¡­ Why must it eat their brain?¡± Liu Gan continued asking the scientist.

    ¡°The hallucinated people would generate a specific hormone in the brain, so perhaps it gives off a delicacy to the creature when eating the brains of its victims.¡± The scientist thought for awhile before answering Liu Gan.

    ¡°This special hormone surely has been researched thoroughly by you researchers? Besides, are there any purified products?¡± Liu Gan kept the pressure on the scientist.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t have that. We can¡¯t use a living human to conduct this type of experiment to extract the hormone. If you want that type of hallucinogenic-inducing medicine, we might know once we go down to theboratory to search for it. If there are, I can give it to you. However, the medicine is still iplete, so I can¡¯t guarantee there won¡¯t have any side effects when you use it. If you inject it, you might die, be mentally unstable, or be simr to that creature.¡± The white-coat scientist warned.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t continue asking. With his other hand, he grabbed the other metallic column. With one final twist, he was able to bend it over. With two bent columns, it was more than enough room for an adult to pass through.

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181 - Innocence<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Oz

    ¡°Do we really need to set him free?¡± Zhang ShengLi was concerned. This still brought back memories of the time Zhang ShengNan and Hu Rong wanted to rescue a little girl.

    ¡°He is only a regr researcher. Why are you so worried?¡± Liu Gan said dismissively.

    Liu Gan knew what concerns Zhang ShengLi had. Even though Liu Gan knew that the white-coat scientist tried to keep some of the truth in the dark and that it wouldn¡¯t be easy to force him to hand over the medicine¡ªeven if the scientist nned to endanger the group¡ªit was still within the calcted risk. However, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t worried about what the scientist might do. In fact, Liu Gan had a n to force this scientist to hand over the medicine, but this n required Zhang ShengLi and the others to put up an act.

    Right now, he didn¡¯t need Zhang ShengLi¡¯s cooperation since he was perfectly executing his role.

    Wang DeCheng didn¡¯t have much luck in searching for the keys. Since there were many corpses strewn across the floors, all of them rotting away into death¡¯s decay. So, considering how fearful of the rotting flesh the group members were, it was a factor that may have caused them to not search carefully.

    Since Liu Gan never expected them to find the key, he only relied on himself to pull apart the metallic column. Having just enough space to rescue the scientist from the cage within.

    But as the white-coat scientist looked at the individuals outside of his cage, he had a hesitant expression on his face. However, Zhang ShengLi wouldn¡¯t let the scientist escape too easily as he stood by the cage entrance with the axe constantly banging on it. The scientist swept his cell with a nce only to confirm that there was nothing he could use for protection. And at the same time, the pungent smell forced the scientist out of the cage.

    As the scientist finally got out, Liu Gan pinned him to the floor and tied him up with the special rope.

    ¡°No need to be like this? I am merely an unarmed and defenseless scientist. How can I do any harm to you?¡± The white-coat scientist cried helplessly without resisting.

    ¡°I feel that being cautious isn¡¯t a bad thing.¡± Liu Gan kicked the butt of the scientist, causing him to tumble towards Zhang ShengLi. Now Zhang ShengLi could pin the scientist down as they moved deeper through the underground floors to search for medicine or high-tech equipment.

    The white-coat scientist was very reluctant. But under Zhang ShengLi¡¯s pressure, he was lead to every corner to search for items. The pair were like a guard and the prisoner as they walked to theboratory to open drawers and cabs. While they were looking in the cab, the scientist revealed a regretful expression.

    ¡°The iplete hallucinogenic-inducing medicine that you wanted have all been destroyed or taken away.¡± imed the scientist as he looked through the empty cabs and casually said to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Ah? Seems like you have no use to us. I think I should just chop you up!¡± Zhang ShengLi threatened.

    ¡°No need to kill the innocent! It''s not that I don''t want to find it for you! Plus, I have no use for this medicine! I just want a cigarette from you!¡± The scientist cried.

    ¡°Killing the innocent? You people conducting research have no idea how many people you screwed over! You caused the death of many people! So how can you still call yourself innocent?¡± Zhan ShengLi continued to shout.

    ¡°Our research has nothing to do with the zombies in this world! The zombies aren''t created from within theboratory, it came from outside! You can ask the survivors out there, if there are any left. The catastrophe urred on a city-wide scale from NinJing City. Myst call to my outside source seems to have indicated that it had to do with the blood-colored rain. It really has nothing to do with our research!¡± The white-coat scientist started talking back.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what should we do with him?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Let Han GuangMing take him. The other teammates should all be tired. Let''s return to the surface and rest for the night. Don''t assign anymore duties for tonight.¡± Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Zhang ShengLi assented as he tightened the ropes on the scientist. Then, he handed the scientist over to Han GuangMing.

    Wang DeCheng lead the team while Liu Gan, Yin He and Zhang ShengLi remained at the back of the team. The rest of the team was in the middle. As the team returned back to the surface, floor by floor, they had to go back along the way they came from.

    Upon returning to ground floor, the yers were extremely tired and disappointed. The air quality was terrible underground and gave them a headache. Originally, they thought there was a Variant Zombie underground, so they were hoping for a chance to level up.

    In the end, there was nothing left. They only caught an useless scientist.

    ¡°Mister Liu, you are such a kind person. As you can tell, I haven''t eaten for these few days and I''m thin as a skeleton. There is no need for you to strap me so tightly?¡± The white-coat scientist asked Liu Gan when they walked by each other. Asking Liu Gan for help was a right call, since the scientist could tell that Liu Gan was the leader of the pack.

    ¡°Okay, I can loosen your ropes. However, I don''tpletely trust you. You must let Little Han stay in your room to keep an eye on you.¡± Liu Gan stated his conditions. Before Liu Gan walked by the scientist, he whispered his n to Zhang ShengLi a few minutes earlier.

    ¡°This wouldn''t be a problem. I definitely won''t run away. I am not the type of person to cause trouble. I will stay in my room like I am supposed to.¡± White-coat scientist quickly nodded.

    ¡°I hope that is the case.¡± Liu Gan gave a signal to Han GuangMing to release the scientist to a guest room. Next, they delegated the various tasks to everyone.

    ¡°Elder Liu, yesterday night, Xu ChangHui and them tried to steal the boat ¨C should we have someone stand guard by the boat?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked.

    ¡°No need. This morning, I had Little Han find several locks to lock up the chains. Other than Little Han, no one has the key. Even if they wanted to steal the yacht, they wouldn''t be able to.¡± Liu Gan answered Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°What is your name?¡± The white-coat scientist asked Han GuangMing. Since the scientist overheard the conversation outside of his room, he took his chance to chat with Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Surname Han, what do you want?¡± Han GuangMing replied.

    ¡°Elder Han, could you give me something to eat? I''ve been starving these few days.¡± The white-coat scientist watched Han GuangMing¡¯s movement like a hawk and found a set of keys by Han GuangMing¡¯s waist.

    ¡°That I would have to ask Elder Liu¡­ also don''t call me Elder Han. In here, there is only Elder Liu.¡± Han GuangMing snapped. Then, Han GuangMing stood up and walked to the door and called for a teammate over so they could pass the word to Liu Gan as to whether or not the scientist could get food to eat.

    <strong>...</strong>

    After eating lunch, with Wang DeCheng taking charge, everyone picked up a fishing rod in the entertainment room and decided to go to the riverside to catch some fish.

    After obtaining the [Forage] skill, Wang DeCheng could clearly make out the general area where fish would congregate underwater. Then he would set out the bait to lure the fishes in.

    Even though there were underwater Variant Zombies and regr Zombies, the river contained fishes that hadn¡¯t been contaminated yet. So, after catching some, all they needed to do was just clean and cook to eat them.

 Chapter 182

    The fish activity must be within the range of detection and only through patience were they able to catch them. If they didn''t know the location of where the fish were most active, they could only blindly guess and set up rods everywhere. The chances of catching a fish by random was just like relying on luck for a raffle draw. However, with [Forage] from Wang DeCheng, it made fishing a lot easier.

    In the wholete afternoon, every member had plenty of gains. The total weight of fish caught was nearly ten pounds. For dinner, there were a few members that demonstrated their outstanding cooking abilities by making a whole seafood themed dinner with dishes like: braised fish, sweet and sour fish, deep fried fish, and boiled fish soup. With such a happy event, everyone started to drink beer, especially Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng. It seems that they drank quite a lot as they were speaking belligerently.

    The white-coat scientist was lead to the restaurant by Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing was a very earnest person. Since he had the responsibility of watching the scientist, he didn''t touch any alcohol.

    ¡°The fish taste so fresh! The beer is good enough to quench my thirst! Finally, in the few days that we took to escape, we were able to find a peaceful location. It wasn''t easy! Come, let us drink and toast to those that aren''t here!¡± Liu Gan continued to drink with Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Cheers!~ If you aren¡¯t drunk tonight, you can¡¯t leave!¡± Zhang ShengLi continued to pour the alcohol down his throat.

    Thest people out of the restaurant were Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi, they were carried out. Han GuangMing was also escorting the white-coat scientist back to the guest room at the same time. The scientist witnessed Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, and Wang DeCheng get carried out of the restaurant onto the beds of their own room.

    ¡°Brother Han, I drank too much tonight. I¡¯ve arranged the night shift, but you will have to stay up to keep watch on the scientist. Don¡¯t let the scientist make a fool out of you.¡± Wang DeCheng said to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Brother Wang, just rest up early. I didn¡¯t drink any alcohol so I can guarantee that I won¡¯t let him do anything sly in front of me.¡± Han GuangMing promised Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°Okay, I will go to sleep.¡± Wang DeCheng headed toward his own guest room.

    At night as everyone headed toward bed to sleep. Besides Han GuangMing staying up to keep watch of the scientist, Yin He was hiding in the darkness and observing the situation. Liu Gan definitely knew that the scientist was hiding something, but as to what secrets he was hiding, those were still unknown. If there was a chance for the scientist to escape, then everything would be revealed when the snake escapes from its cave.

    <strong>¡­</strong>

    The night got darker and everyone was asleep. Even the assigned night guard, Zhao Meng was asleep on the lobby couch since he had drank beer during dinnertime.

    Only Han GuangMing wasn¡¯t asleep. Liu Gan personally assigned the duty to Han GuangMing, so Han GuangMing would try his best to finish the task. Han GuangMing was a honest person, but he was also a deep sleeper. His eyes wouldn¡¯t stay open, no matter how hard he resisted the urge to sleep.

    ¡°So that Elder Liu is your leader?¡± the white-coat scientist decided to chat with his watcher, Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Yes, he is very powerful. It¡¯s best that you don¡¯t aggravate him.¡± Han GuangMing replied.

    ¡°Why is he so powerful? Is it some ability?¡± the white-coat scientist asked again.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t the questions you ask too nosey?¡± Han GuangMing was getting rmed.

    ¡°I am only casually speaking with you. If you don¡¯t want to talk with me, then I won¡¯t speak.¡± the scientist was embarrassed.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s best if you keep your mouth shut.¡± Han GuangMing obviously didn¡¯t want to continue chatting with him.

    The white-coat scientist immediately shut his mouth up. After a long while, Han GuangMing yawned a few times. When Han GuangMing turned around to face the bed, his eyes widened with shock. With expressions of shock, fright, and fear all in one bottled up body, Han GuangMing didn¡¯t yawn anymore.

    The person sitting on the bed wasn¡¯t the white-coat scientist, it was his already dead grandma.

    Han GuangMing had a painful look on his face. In his train of thought through his sea of memory, he looked back into the memories of the real world.

    When Han GuangMing was very little, his parents had left him behind to make a living. So Han GuangMing was essentially raised by by his grandma. His early childhood moments and memories were created at his grandma¡¯s house. He also had arge shiba, arge jujube tree in in the front yard and a small pear tree nearby. In addition, there were many special type of nts that his grandma grew.

    [TL: Red dates = Jujube]

    Han GuangMing loved to eat dates. When dates were in season, he would climb the highest jujube tree like a monkey. He would sit on the thickest branch and eat the jujube. This was his earliest and deepest memory.

    His grandma knew that he liked to eat dates, so she would store up the uneaten dates. With her method of storing them in the basement, they wouldst several months. So asionally, when Han GuangMing was behaving well, she would take out a few to surprise him. This surprise would remain until Chinese New Year. Han GuangMing had no idea how his grandma kept the dates fresh. Even storing them in the fridge wouldn¡¯t keep them fresh for long.

    By the time Han GuangMing had turned 8, his parents were self sustaining and they taken him to the city. That was when he left the courtyard that he grew up in. That was when he left his nearly seventy year old grandma and grandpa.

    Even though the city had better living conditions, Han GuangMing definitely missed his grandma and grandpa. He longed for the days of when he was still at the countryside courtyard of his grandparents. Due to circumstances of being separated by over a thousand miles from the countryside. Only on days of Chinese New Year, would he be able to return to his grandparent¡¯s side.

    Most of his childhood memory was very fuzzy, the only aspect that Han GuangMing remembered clearly was that everytime he went back, his grandparent¡¯s hair would gradually be more white with every passing year. His grandparent¡¯s wrinkles would also be more profound with every time they meet. The one thing that didn¡¯t change was the happiness they revealed when Han GuangMing saw them.

    One of his memory of his grandma was when she would go into the basement to pull out the preserved dates. With the white basin to hold therge red dates, that was ced in front of Han GuangMing. With the wrinkles forming a smile, they watched as their grandson ate the dates one by one.

    Nevertheless, Han GuangMing¡¯s parents tried to move their parents to the city. This way, the grandparents could break away from rural country life and enjoy life with ease, but the grandparents weren¡¯t suited for living there like trapped birds in the reinforced concrete jungle of the city. Eventually, they chose to remain in the countryside.

    It was when Han GuangMing reached junior high school, that school work got more hectic. Taking into ount to not affect his studies, Han GuangMing¡¯s parent gradually decreased the times they would take him, from once a year to every two years to every three years eventually.

    In Han GuangMing¡¯s mind, he wanted to focus on his studies to get into a good college. After his first year in high school, he went once during the summer break and after that, he hasn''t gone back since.

 Chapter 183

    In Han GuangMing¡¯s memory, he would always remember the scene in which his grandparents waited for him with dates. He would remember no matter how much time had passed before he returned to the countryside, be it was once a year, every two years, or even every three years.

    Around the time of his first year in university, Han GuangMing had experienced his first rtionship. The rtionship was very extreme. One moment, they would break up, the next moment they would love each other. It was during this period of time that he received the news of his grandpa passing away. Han GuangMing had broken up with his girlfriend at that time, and with abination of many freak factors, Han GuangMing didn¡¯t attend his grandfather¡¯s funeral.

    The second year of university was around November of that time. The weather had been very cold and, by that time, Han GuangMing had been relieved of his torturous rtionship. By then, he had received news of his grandma being sick, after which Han GuangMing had finally realized that there was already one person gone. It would never be like before, when there had been two elderly grandparents waiting for him.

    Now, the second one was about to leave him as well.

    Han GuangMing had to take a leave of absence from his university. After a whole day of train riding and car driving, he arrived at the courtyard where he had lived for eight years. The moment he rushed into the house, his grandma had forever passed on.

    Right by his grandma¡¯s bedside was arge basin of red dates. The basin was ced there by his grandma while she was still conscious of her actions; she had someone go into the basement to take out the preserved dates. From what the rtives had said, his grandma kept whispering for his name that whole day. She was worried that when he arrived, he won¡¯t be able to eat the red dates she had prepared for the whole season.

    She said her grandson was very understanding and he loved to eat the dates that she picked.

    As Han GuangMing was at the tombstone of his grandparents, he cried his heart out. Uncontrobly, he smashed his head into the tombstone until he bled out. He was very regretful that he spent the earlier two years of his life so muddle-headed in romance. For that, he lost his most precious rtives, and it was already toote by the time he regretted it.

    The year Han GuangMing¡¯s had grandma died, therge jujube tree by the front of yard also dried up. Ever since then, Han GuangMing didn¡¯t have a chance to eat the sweet tasting dates from the jujube tree.

    As for Han GuangMing, his biggest regret was missing the chance to see his grandma for onest time. This was the knot that weighed him down heavily.

    Han GuangMing didn¡¯t for his grandma to suddenly appear there, especially right in front of him. In that sh of memory, he remembered everything that had happened to him during his childhood. When he first saw her, a thought crossed his mind that all the regrets he once had may perhaps be released after all these years.

    ¡°Little Ming,e here and eat therge sweet red dates. Grandma left it for you.¡± Suddenly, right beside Grandma¡¯s side was a white basin. The white basin had alternating colors of white and red due to therge red dates within it.

    ¡°Grandma¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­sorry¡­¡± Han GuangMing tears suddenly poured down from his eyes. He forgot where his location was and why his grandma had suddenly appeared in front of him, but he never thought about it.

    Only when his body began to shake ferociously did the vision of his grandma and the basin of dates disappear. Han GuangMing was in a depressed mood until he finally woke up. His body stopped shaking and he looked around. It was Wang DeCheng who had been shaking his body.

    <strong>¡­</strong>

    The scientist in the white coat was able to induce hallucination on Han GuangMing. The scientist then tied Han GuangMing up, using the pillow cloth to shove in his mouth. Then, from the lobby¡¯s back exit, Han GuangMing was dragged and left out in the middle of nowhere on the ind.

    Afterwards, the white-coat scientist snuck back into the lobby. When he saw Zhao Meng drunk in the lobby, he headed toward the underground opening in between the two floors. The round alloy door was already wide open, and he quickly climbed into the undergroundboratory.

    The white-coat scientist ran straight to the third underground floor. Then, he pulled open a particr cab, revealing different types of strange medicines. The scientist pressed a special hidden button that revealed a drawer with a mechanicalbination lock. Inputting a correct series of code, the board behind the cab revealed six specially medicine that had been sealed up for storage in a metal alloy syringe.

    There were many different types of medicines besides him and, aside from a few high level executives, other researchers wouldn¡¯t know about the secretpartment with the board behind the cab. Even though the white-coat scientist had obtained the keys to the yacht and could leave at any time, he couldn¡¯t give up and leave behind his research results. Thus, he headed there to quietly steal thesest six syringes of medicine.

    The white-coat scientist thought that he had been very cautious. Never would he have thought that on the night of the feast, Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Zhao Meng were acting drunk. Only Han GuangMing was left in the dark. Together with the other members who didn¡¯t know what was going on, they put up a show to lure the white-coat scientist into revealing the secret.

    The moment the white-coat scientist came out of the round alloy door, Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and the others were waiting for him with smiles andughter.

    In that moment, the scientist felt that something wasn¡¯t right. It was too easy. He tried to escape back deeper into the undergroundboratory when he noticed that he had been tailed by Yin He. Yin He was standing silently behind him, so there was no way for him to escape.

    ¡°Did you suffer from a hallucination attack?¡± Liu Gan asked Wang DeCheng, who was holding onto Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing was still crying so there was really no need to ask and guess the results.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Han GuangMing nodded even in his sorrow state. The moment Han GuangMing saw his grandma, he was consciously aware that he was under hallucinations. However, it had targeted his weakest and most vulnerable part so he wasn¡¯t able to pull himself together.

    ¡°Okay, you can tell the truth. What did you do to Little Han? How do you have the hallucinogenic ability?¡± Zhang ShengLi squatted down and started yelling at the scientist. At the same time, Yin He searched through the white-coat scientist and found six syringes of medicine.

    The white-coat scientist had bad luck. Originally, he wanted to hallucinate Han GuangMing, steal the medicine, and hijack the yacht. Then, he would be able to escape from the ind. He never once stopped to think that this might have been a trap just for him to hand over everything he had.

    ¡°So what is this medicine? Is it used to induce the hallucinations?¡± Liu Gan took the syringes from Yin He. At this moment, the scientist was pressured onto the floor.

    ¡°You could remain silent, but I have ways for you to open your mouth. Yourboratory is definitely notcking in this aspect. There are so many different types of dissecting tools. I believe, I can find one that will make you talk. Then you¡¯ll wish I haven¡¯t started.¡± Zhang ShengLi patted the scientist¡¯s face as he continued to threaten.

 Chapter 184

    ¡°We had to use the sponsor¡¯s molecr form to create a whole set of gically modified drugs. Only through constant experimentation were we able to produce the right form for this drug. Once this gically modified medicine is injected into the human body, it would cause a mutation in the chemical structural foundation of the human body. Towards a few people, it would awaken the ability to induce hallucinations on others nearby.¡±

    ¡°This sort of hallucination ability can have strong or weak effects. There were individuals that got injected and had the ability to hallucinate a dozen people. Then, there were individuals like me that could cast it once every several days and each time it only affects one person. There were some individuals, who awoken the weakest hallucination ability, that can temporarily interrupt the mental state of mind. Most of the other people simply had no effect after injection.¡± The white-coat scientist revealing the secrets to the medicine.

    ¡°So what you are saying is that this medicine has a certain probability of stimting the ability within the body? And it can also interrupt the abilities of others by causing hallucinations?¡± Liu Gan eyes widen, confirming his theory.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The scientist nodded.

    ¡°So what is the dosage limit like? How long before the next shot? What are the side effects?¡± Liu Gan continued to ask. Liu Gan didn''t dare to directly inject the medicine in himself.

    ¡°I know that you are the leader of this group. So your word would hold weight. If you can promise a few things, I will tell you how to use the medicine. First you can''t kill me, after I told you. Second, you can''t leave me behind on this ind. Third, you have to take me away from this city to the countryside wherever it''s safe there.¡± The white-coat scientist started negotiating.

    ¡°Okay, that is not a problem to us. That is what we were nning to do anyway. However, if you dare to y any more games and spew lies. I will make sure that your days would be worse than it was in the underground prison. You will wish you were dead, by the time I''m finished with you.¡± Liu Gan agreed.

    ¡°The way to use this medicine safely¡­ for an adult, using one syringe is absolutely safe. However, using only one syringe, the probability of awakening the hallucinogenic ability is around 10%. The more syringes used, the higher the chance of awakening the ability. The problem is that using two syringes raises the lethality up to 30% and the chance of bing mentally unstable reaches 50%. When you inject three syringes, the lethality rate reaches 70% and mental instability bes 90%.¡±

    ¡°Injecting four syringes, the lethality is around 95% and 100% mental instability. Injecting five syringes, has a lethality of 99%. You saw the creature with gills on his neck, he was the only sessful specimen that survived six syringes and still haven''t died. However, his mind was lost for a long time and he became a monster. Well, as to what happened to him and how he survived, you have witnessed it,¡± the scientist exined to Liu Gan.

    ¡°How many syringes did you inject?¡± Liu Gan asked.

    ¡°Two syringes.¡± The white-coat scientist hesitated briefly before answering.

    ¡°I will find some willing participant to ept the injections. Everyone will be injected with one syringe. If everything goes ording to what you have said regarding that dosage, then they should be safe. If an ident urs, I will make sure you suffer a painful punishment!¡± Liu Gan said to the scientist.

    ¡°Don''t worry. With only one dosage, it isn''t a problem. Ourboratory experiment has proven that point. I don''t have any need to lie to you. However, if everyone injects only one syringe, the awakening the ability will be low - around 10%. This will be a great waste for those six syringes.¡± The scientist replied.

    ¡°After wasting these. You can always reproduce it anew right?¡± Liu Gan asked the scientist.

    ¡°This n requires severalponents. First off, it requires the cooperation ofrge scale industries. The raw materials are extremely precious. Manufacturing costs are high. Did you believe that we can produce however many you want?¡± The white-coat scientist scoffed. In terms of this industry, the scientist is the expert as it was his pride.

    Liu Gan looked at the scientist¡¯s expression and felt that it was the truth. However, there still needed to be preparation against overusing the medicine. Even though overusing the medicine would have a higher rate of awakening the ability, the lethality and chances of mental instability were too high. Obviously, it did more harm than good when overused.

    So why not find five willing volunteers, including himself. As long as one of them awakens ability, then it would be worth.

    ¡°Do you have any way of confirming if the person has the ability after injection? Are there special characteristics that we should look for?¡± Liu Gan asked again.

    ¡°No way of confirming, it all relies on luck. There were some people that didn¡¯t awaken the ability even after injecting more than one dose. There were others that required only one injection. This is all part of life science studies. We have only merely begun digging into this aspect.¡± The white-coat scientist shook his head and sighed.

    Since it¡¯s all reliant on luck, Liu Gan didn¡¯t continue asking any more useless questions. He rounded everyone up and exined the use of the syringes as well as the harmful effects it could cause. Then, he asked for five volunteers that would be willing to experience the effects of the syringes. They would have a chance to awaken an ability.

    Liu Gan left a syringe for himself. But before he injected it in himself, he had to confirm whether or not what the scientist said was true - that one injection would not have any side effects. So he required at least five participants before he would attempt to do it himself.

    ¡°I won¡¯t guarantee that this scientist didn¡¯t lie. In his attempt to kill us all. There is a risk to the volunteers, but everything is up to your decision.¡± Liu Gan put an emphasis on thosest few words.

    ¡°I am willing to test it.¡± Zhang ShengLi started off. Even though he had his doubts about the dosage level for the syringes, he knew that Liu Gan really needed participants. So to set an example for the other team members, someone needed to step up and Zhang ShengLi had volunteered himself.

    ¡°I am also willing to experience it. Even though I have awakened my ability, getting another ability wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea.¡± Wang DeCheng offered himself up.

    ¡°Count me in too!¡± Han GuangMing offered himself. He won¡¯t be left out after he had sen that Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng had volunteered. Previously, he¡¯d made a mistake by letting the white-coat scientist escape on his watch so he needed to redeem himself.

    Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing quickly volunteered themselves and set a good example. Soon, Zhao Meng and Martial Thunder also stepped up to the challenge, while others were still hesitating and lost the chance forever.

    These several local survivors thought that the yers were purposely staging an act to trap them. Even though the local survivors joinedte to the team, they felt that Liu Gan ced more importance toward the yers, which yed a factor in them not volunteering themselves.

    Even though Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing wanted to be the first person to be injected with the syringe, Liu Gan had left that opportunity to Han GuangMing.

 Chapter 185

    ording to what the white-coat scientist had said, if there was a sess in awakening the ability, then the moment after injecting the medicine into the body it would feel a hot burning temperature. After ten minutes, there would be an exceptionally good feeling that would arise on the inside. The feeling was simr to the body being filled with energy. Then discing this energy outward onto a set target, was the described procedure on activating the hallucination on someone.

    With energy brimming, the hallucinogenic ability would have a better effect. Even hallucinating multiple people wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but after using it once, the rate varied at which people regenerated energy. A good example would be the Variant Zombie from earlier when it hadunched an attack on all the staff members and scientists. After it had used the ability on a wide-area, it had lost a lot of energy and even when Liu Gan¡¯s group had entered on the ind it didn¡¯t recover fully. That was why the Variant Zombie chose to attack isted members of Liu Gan¡¯s team.

    If the Variant Zombie hadn¡¯t attacked the scientist with all its energy, then when Liu Gan and his group had boarded the ind it would have been a fatal mistake. Chaos in a group with hallucinated team members would have been hard to take control of the situation.

    After injecting himself with the syringe, Han GuangMing hadn¡¯t had the feeling that his body was burning up like he was having a fever. After ten minutes, his body hadn¡¯t had any distinct feeling arising deep within him. The alloy wristwatch didn¡¯t indicate an infection on the status, it was practically simr to before without any changes. Clearly, this medicine hadn¡¯t had any effect on Han GuangMing.

    Even though Han GuangMing¡¯s wristwatch status disy didn¡¯t indicate any significant changes, that was expected since it was said that one dose of medicine in the syringe didn¡¯t have much negative side-effects. Nevertheless, Liu Gan didn¡¯t rush to inject the medicine in the second willing participant. Liu Gan decided to wait one extra day just to see if Han GuangMing doesn¡¯t have any abnormalities before injecting the medicine into the second participant.

    The white-coat scientist was tightly bound with Yin He watching him so he couldn¡¯t hallucinate other people, since his abilities doesn¡¯t affect Yin He.

    <strong>...</strong>

    One dayter, Han GuangMing hadn¡¯t acted abnormally and the wristwatch still hadn''t shown an infection on the status. The health status and every other status was absolutely normal. From the looks of it, it appeared the scientist wasn¡¯t lying about this. As long as it was just one injection, it wouldn¡¯t cause any life threatening situations.

    ¡°Should I get another injection?¡± Han GuangMing was dissatisfied with his result.

    ¡°No way, the lethality rate is 30% and a 50% chance of mental instability with the second injection. There is no need to take that risk. You are very brave in being the first the volunteer for medicine injection. If there is a chanceter to kill the Variant Zombies. I will remember to let you have thatst kill so you can be level 5 too.¡± Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Thank you, Elder Liu!¡± Han GuangMing realized that he wasn¡¯t being punished for his mistakes from the other day. In addition, Han GuangMing was left with a chance to level up to 5. Obviously, this had made Han GuangMing emotionally excited and happy. The chance to level up to 5 was given to the yers when Liu Gan decided it, so before any confirmation, the yers shouldn¡¯t have too many hopes.

    Now that Han GuangMing hadn¡¯t experienced any distinct difference after injecting the medicine. What was left was Zhang ShengLi and Liu Gan to inject themselves with the medicine.

    After injecting the medicine into Liu Gan¡¯s body, he felt his body heat up. It didn¡¯t feel as hot as when he was leveling up, but there was a high temperature. This was certainly surprising to Liu Gan. This should be the omen for awakening the hallucination ability.

    ¡°Do you feel the temperature rising?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked around. His facial expression was clearly disappointed since he didn¡¯t feel anything burning up.

    ¡°No.¡± Wang DeCheng, Zhao Meng, and Martial Thunder replied to Zhang ShengLi. They each showed their wristwatch to each other, there were no changes on the status.

    Zhang ShengLi nced at Liu Gan. Factoring Liu Gan¡¯s lonely personality, Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t directly ask Liu Gan the question.

    After ten minutes, Liu Gan felt a very peculiar energy within him. The moment he looked around at people nearby him, he had the impulse to suddenly release the energy like an outburst. However, he stopped the moment he looked at Yin He. Suddenly, the impulse was gone, it seemed like this ability was an active skill that targeted other. However, it was still useless against androids like Yin He.

    However the moment Liu Gan looked at his own alloy wristwatch, he revealed a puzzling look¡­ His wristwatch disyed [Mist Armor] and alongside that was [Psychic Shock]. This was surprising since Liu Gan had been expecting it to be [Hallucination].

    [Psychic Shock] what did that even mean? Based on what the scientist had said, this should be the weakest of the hallucination ability? Could it only temporarily interrupt the psychological state of a person?

    What a disappointment!

    Regardless, it was still better than not having an ability. At least, he had awoken two abilities - one active and one passive ability.

    With only one syringe dosage, he could awaken [Psychic Shock]. If he had another, then would he be able to awaken [Hallucination] ability? The 30% lethality and 50% mental instability chance was too much of a risk for Liu Gan, so even if there was another syringe, he might not take the risk.

    ¡°ShengLi,e. Let uspete against each other.¡± Liu Gan suggested to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Elder Liu, you want to fight against me?¡± Zhang ShengLi was getting nervous. Zhang ShengLi knew that their difference in ability was too wide a gap.

    ¡°Come and use your ax to chop me. Use all your strength.¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t be too good¡± Zhang ShengLi shook his head.

    ¡°Even if you use your full strength, do you think you can hit me?¡± Liu Ganughed.

    ¡°Okay, then I will really chop at you!¡± Zhang ShengLi agreed, picking up his ax.

    ¡°Yes, really attack me like your life depends on it. Otherwise, it would be pointless,¡± Liu Gan instructed, walking over to a vacant area.

    ¡°Elder Liu! Here Ie!¡± Zhang ShengLi shouted. With his hands on the ax, he swung it at Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan seemed to have stood still and did not move.The moment Zhang ShengLi rushed up to Liu Gan, the ax was about tond on Liu Gan¡¯s body when Zhang ShengLi felt a sharp pain in his head. His mental state suffered a momentary distraction and when he noticed the ax was no longer in his hands, it was now in Liu Gan¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Elder Liu, what just happened?¡± Zhang ShengLi was curious as he asked Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything, but on the inside, he felt shocked. Even though his ability couldn¡¯t hallucinate others, this [Psychic shock] could be quite formidable! When he was fighting with other yers, during critical moments it could be activated and the opponent would definitely be caught off guard.

    This also reminded Liu Gan, that he needed to quickly awaken an ability that would provide Psychological Immunity against other people¡¯s psychological disruption. Even if he suffered other people¡¯s psychological attacks, he had Yin He by his side. Yin He could cover that weakness, but Liu Gan didn¡¯t want to be reliant on someone else. So his utmost priority would be to proactively seek out immunity against psychological attacks.

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186 - Superiority

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    Zhang ShengLi quickly regained his senses. Even though he hadn¡¯t said it out loud, he was happy for Liu Gan. He had no idea if Liu Gan had awakened the hallucination ability, but from what had just happened, Liu Gan must have done something that interfered with his psychological state that made him lose consciousness and get disarmed.

    One could imagine how strong Liu Gan must be now, luckily it wasn¡¯t a real battle. If it was, Zhang ShengLi would have been long dead.

    After 15 minutes, Liu Gan was able to gather up enough energy again. This time he called Zhang ShengLi over again. However, things got a little more serious as Zhang ShengLi was told to use [Whirlwind sh] on him.

    Liu Gan had a theory he wanted to test out, he could use Zhang ShengLi to coordinate with his experiment.

    ¡°Elder Liu! Better be careful! I aming with intentions to kill!¡± Zhang ShengLi rushed toward Liu Gan. When Zhang ShengLi was within three meters of Liu Gan, he activated the [Whirlwind sh].

    Even though [Whirlwind sh] was best for using in group fights, it was also deadly in solo fights if it could force the target into a corner.

    As Zhang ShengLi and the ax within his hand started to revolve toward Liu Gan. Liu Gan once again readied himself to release his [Psychic Shock]...

    In mid spin, Zhang ShengLi stopped. He had a confused expression and was staggering about, he couldn¡¯t control his body and fell onto the floor.

    This was exactly how Liu Gan had predicted it. The [Psychic Shock] could interrupt the ability of others! So if he can time it correctly, then the opponent¡¯s attack could be stopped.

    After injecting the medicine, even though the [Hallucination] ability hadn¡¯t turned up in his ability pool, this [Psychic Shock] was equally powerful! This detour was definitely worthwhile now! First, they were able to find a new supply of energy for Yin He. Secondly, Liu Gan had been able to awaken an active skill [Psychic Shock]!

    After another 15 minutes, Liu Gan wanted to conduct another experiment. This time, he had both Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng attack him. The difference this time, he had to split up the energy within him into two. There must be an equal distribution of energy in the [Psychic Shock].

    Both of them experienced a stimting pain in their brain, temporary loss of consciousness, and interruption in movement, but it had been weaker in intensity than the previous two times he¡¯d used [Psychic Shock].

    After another 15 minutes, Liu Gan conducted yet another trial. He wanted to split his energy into three parts with three different targets and it had been a sess. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t split his energy into four parts. This meant that his limit was three targets and he couldn¡¯t split his energy onto four targets.

    Perhaps after leveling up, his [Psychic Shock] would also improve with greater effect and more targets?

    <strong>...</strong>

    While residing on this ind for these few days, Martial Thunder found his niche within theboratory and had started modifying the equipment. Martial Thunder was modifying the bony outer shell taken from the Carapace Spitter Variant Zombie. He was able to create four sets of breasttes and six sets of shields with varying sizes.

    The breastte contained a front and back part using rope to tie it together. It was a perfect fit for protecting the chest and the back. Surprisingly, the breastte was very lightweight. Even wearing clothes underneath the armor, wouldn¡¯t hinder mobility. It protected the most important parts of the chest region so that there wouldn¡¯t be any life-threatening situation when struck.

    The four sets of breastte were obviously given to Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing. Then those four were also given a shield. The remaining two shields were left to Zhang Hua and Martial Thunder. One of the shields was given to Zhang Hua since he had earned merit in assisting in killing the Carapace Spitter Variant Zombie.

    ¡°NinJing City¡¯s police force or riot police group, shouldn¡¯t they have a gun?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhang Hua.

    Compared to these cold weapons like the fire ax, if Liu Gan could find a handgun or assault rifle then that would significantly improve the group¡¯s strength. Even the yers that haven¡¯t advanced to level 5 could be useful with a firearm.

    ¡°Gun? No gun. Our Cathay country has banned the use of guns. Only the patrolling air and sea amphibious forces possess a handgun. In police stations, you can find tasers. As for real handguns, you wouldn¡¯t find it at any police stations in this country.¡± Zhang Hua replied.

    ¡°The air and sea amphibious forces. Those are the troops that could operate nes flying in the sky and also manage airships that can travel on the ocean right?¡± Liu Gan asked again. He had a premonition. Within The Trembling World, finding a handgun in this city would be very difficult since the gun had the highest killing power.

    ¡°Yes, you are correct.¡± Zhang Hua nodded.

    ¡°Our country has a strict control on guns. So owning a private handgun is a serious crime. If they were discovered, it was the death penalty. No one dares to own a private handgun for that reason,¡± HuJun and Zhou JingJing added.

    After confirming that fact with the local survivors, Liu Gan gave up on the idea of searching for a handgun at the police station by the river shore. The tasers and tranquilizer guns had very limited potential and power so it wasn¡¯t quite worth the risk.

    Living on the ind these two days had beenfortable and easy, there had been plenty to eat and drink, and even a delicious seafood feast. However, Liu Gan had no ns to stay on the ind for too long. The secret in theboratory had already been uncovered and thoroughly searched through. To continue staying on the ind was meaningless as it would burn through their supplies.

    If The Trembling World was the real world, there were some aspects that were simr to a game. Just like how San Xing Corporation had a secretboratory with features that were one-time use. So if other local survivors or yers had found it first, then Liu Gan would have lost the opportunity to use it for himself.

    Hence, he had no reason to continue living afortable and easy life here. He could only continue to push ahead and readily improve his abilities. That way the BUG with his alloy limbs could maintain superiority over others.

    The moment Liu Gan announced his n on leaving the ind, almost every member showed a different expression. There were several members that didn¡¯t want to leave the ind; the local survivors wanted to stay on the ind for at least several more days before departing.

    There was too much disorder in in this chaotic world, dangerous situations and traps could ur without warning. Just like the time when they had been chased by therge-scale corpse tide, trapped on therge bridge or ambushed by the tornado. With only a brief moment of respite on the ind, they dreaded going back to the nomadic lifestyle of running from ce to ce.

    Aside from that, arge portion of the team members chose to obey Liu Gan¡¯s arrangement and decided to leave the ind with him. There were a few members that had wanted to stay behind, but they didn¡¯t voice it out. They realize that if they chose to stay behind on the ind, they would be trapped forever.

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187 - Sponsor<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    ¡°So what do we do with this person?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan as he gestured at the imprisoned white-coat scientist.

    ¡°What are your opinions?¡± Liu Gan asked the other team members. Liu Gan had a set n already, but he wanted to know how the other team members to react to this type of situation. In particr, Liu Gan was testing their attitudes.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Elder Liu say that he would take him along to leave the city and find a safe ce to drop him off? No matter what Elder Liu decides to do, I will support him,¡± Wang DeCheng stated.

    ¡°I still feel like we should kill him. He is someone capable of using [Hallucination], so if we let him go then he might be a threat to uster,¡± Zhang ShengLi replied to Liu Gan. Zhang ShengLi was basing his decision on Liu Gan¡¯s consistent behavior.

    ¡°Hey hey! Elder Liu promised to not kill me! On top of that he¡¯d promised to take me to leave the city! All I want is to be dropped off at a safe ce! How can his word not count if he is the leader?¡± the white-coat scientist shouted back to Zhang ShengLi in fear.

    ¡°Elder Liu may have promised you that, but I have not! Whether I kill you or not doesn¡¯t concern Elder Liu,¡± Zhang ShengLi replied.

    ¡°I feel that since we promised him, we should just keep our promise,¡± Zhao Meng exined his view. Zhao Meng had been present at the moment Liu Gan made the promise to the scientist.

    ¡°Right! If you agreed to it, then you mustmit. That is the bottom line for behaving with integrity!¡± the scientist quickly yelled.

    ¡°I must repeat myself, Elder Liu agreed but I have not! If I kill you, it doesn¡¯t affect Elder Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he continuously caressed his fire ax. Meanwhile, Zhang ShengLi kept watching Liu Gan¡¯s expression. As long as Liu Gan doesn¡¯t disy any signs of objection, then he would chop off the scientist¡¯s head at any moment to get rid of this inconvenience.

    ¡°I am an expert biochemist, I am the top expert in this field! If you leave me alive, I will be of use! Don¡¯t kill me!¡± the white-coat scientist yelled desperately. He also had that begging look on his face as he looked toward Liu Gan.

    ¡°Right now are you speaking the truth, specifically as to why you were trapped in the cage? Especially why you were trapped by yourpanion? If you continue to lie to me, I don¡¯t mind letting Brother Zhang here handle the situation,¡± Liu Gan answered casually since he suspected that the white-coat scientist had a lot of secrets.

    ¡°Within theboratory, there was a rebellion. I was forcefully imprisoned by others. I shouldn¡¯t have lied to you¡­¡± the white-coat scientist replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°You only lied to us about that? Theboratory had a rebellion and other people imprisoned you. Yet, they still gave you food and a cellphone? You are constantly lying to me and yet you want me to uphold my end of the bargain? Do you take me for a fool or did you think you could outsmart me?¡± Liu Gan said coldly.

    ¡°I said... I said¡­¡± the white-coat scientist didn¡¯t want to say it, but he still wanted to live. Judging by Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi¡¯s personality and actions, to stay alive the scientist would have to reveal more of his secret.

    ¡°Better talk fast! I don¡¯t have much patience. You dare lie to Elder Liu again, I will chop off your head!¡± Zhang ShengLi held his fire ax right above the scientist¡¯s neck. Zhang ShengLi was losing his temper.

    ¡°I¡­ I am the sponsor. It was... because the speed of the experiments being conducted weren¡¯t matching my requirement. So I pressured the research scientists to do things that they weren¡¯t willing to do. As the pressure built up, it led them to rebel. They were locking me up in the prison cell before sending me off to the police station. There were a few research scientists that were quite cowardly, they thought I was going to starve to death before the police came. So they left behind food and a cellphone,¡± the white-coat scientist finally blurted out.

    ¡°What did you force them to do that they were unwilling about?¡± Zhang ShengLi directly asked.

    ¡°To work against the clock, I constantly urged the team to speed up. So they had to finally test it on live specimens. We used money as an incentive to recruit trial participants who couldn¡¯t afford treatment for their disease or those who had incurable diseases. We would lure those participants into ourboratory and dissect them alive. The research scientists weren¡¯t willing to perform such merciless methods on the newly recruited trial participants, so I nned to set an example by subjecting the head researchers to a live dissection. I didn¡¯t foresee that the security guard would be in cahoots with the research scientists so they all turned against me and locked me up,¡± the white-coat sponsor sighed as he told his story.<hr>

    [TL: See what I did there? With the title recement.]<hr>

    ¡°You are the type of person that deserves to die!¡± Zhang ShengLi struck his ax on the ground right beside the white-coat sponsor. This scared the sponsor immensely, and he started shivering with fear.

    ¡°Yeah! How could you take advantage of those desperate people to conduct live dissections and experiments! That is terrifying! So repulsive! You make people angry!¡±

    ¡°Kill him! This type of person doesn''t deserve to stay alive!¡±

    ¡°The catastrophe was probably rted those same types of people!¡±

    Several of the angry local survivors started shouting at the white-coat sponsor after hearing his big secret revealed.

    ¡°What you have said has contradictions, do you still intend on lying to us?¡± Liu Gan stated as he crouched down to face level with the scientist and ignored the statements of the local survivors.

    ¡°I didn''t lie to you anymore, what I''ve said is the truth¡­¡± the white-coat sponsor continued to raise his voice as he was forced to tell his big secret and his humiliations.

    ¡°So what you mean is¡­ you are the sponsor to theboratory? So if you say you are the sponsor, then tell us, where did you obtained the molecr form?¡± Liu Gan asked. Since Liu Gan had pinpointed a crucial fact from the earlier statements, it was the best topic to continue digging deeper. Liu Gan wasn¡¯t concerned with other minute details, he had no interest to continue talking on those topics.

    ¡°Well, that¡­ I can¡¯t tell you¡­¡± said the white-coat sponsor, blushing from the awkward position he was in.

    ¡°Elder Liu, he still won¡¯t tell us anything. Should we bring out the torturing equipment?¡± Zhang ShengLi threw down his ax. He loudly called the others to bring the sharp scalpel as he was about to dissect the white-coat sponsor. This way, he could avenge all those desperate patients who had been taken advantage of and had died on the dissection table.

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t do that¡­Okay okay, I¡¯ll talk¡­¡± the white-coat sponsor started tearing up. It seemed like the sponsor was terrified of pain, as he bit his lower lip and whimpered the response.

    ¡°If you have something to say, then say it! Don¡¯t toy with my patience!¡± said Zhang ShengLi and he gave the white-coat sponsor a kick to the floor.

    ¡°It was around a year ago, on a particr day. I was on vacation with my family in a mansion on a mountaintop. It was like the calm before the storm, there were no indications of theming. They descended from the sky. It was a group of Warriors of the Future, they wore these alloy body armor and equipment. Their specialized version of a helicopternded on the rooftop of my mansion. Immediately afternding, they proceeded to kill all my servants. They spared my family members to use them as hostages. They left behind the molecr form and several microchips, as well as blueprints for manufacturing equipment. They warned me that in the near future there would be a worldwide catastrophe. They threatened me with my family member¡¯s life, I had no choice but to follow their request. They set a certain time limit for me to develop the medicine they required otherwise my family members will¡­¡± cried the sponsor.

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188 - Reinstating Freedom<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    <hr>

    ¡°Warriors of the Future? Equipped with alloy equipment? Can your lie be more exaggerated? Are you really treating us as if we were three-year-olds?¡± Zhang ShengLi kicked the sponsor to the ground. Originally, Zhang ShengLi only had the ¡®urge¡¯ to kill the white-coat sponsor, but after hearing that exaggerated lie, he really wanted to kill him now.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t lie to you about this. I don¡¯t have any need to continue lying to you anymore. I don¡¯t even know who they are or where they came from, but what they have told me came true - the catastrophe came true. Without their assistance with the microchips and equipment manufacturing blueprints, there was absolutely no way my team of research scientists could create such a mysterious medicine.¡± eximed the sponsor.

    ¡°Aside from the alloy equipment and their specialized version of the helicopter, what else stood out? Like were there any unique logos on their body?¡± asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Any unique logos? No, I couldn¡¯t discover any¡­ They¡­ One of them had extraordinary strength. They seemed to have carried around equipment resemblingser weapons. Aside from that, the microchips they gave me seemed to have been made from quantumputing technology. The wiring on the inside was created in a manner that was peculiar to our existing technology when our research scientists tried to decode and replicate the microchips. I can only describe them as Warriors of the Future since nothing else was suitable to describe them,¡± said the white-coat sponsor as he shook his head.

    ¡°Where are those microchips created from quantum technology?¡± Yin He excitedly yelled as she suddenly became interested in the conversation and rushed over to the white-coat sponsor.

    ¡°I can hand over the microchips to you, but you¡­ have to promise that everyone here won¡¯t kill me. Then, as we previously agreed upon, to escort me out of the city and to a safe location. Okay?¡± the white-coat sponsor quickly spat out the negotiation conditions to Liu Gan.

    ¡°I already said I won¡¯t kill you, so that means I definitely wouldn¡¯t. I always keep my word.¡± Liu Gan clearly expressed his attitude.

    ¡°There¡¯s also other people. They have to agree to it that they can¡¯t touch me. You are the leader, so you have to guarantee my safety.¡± The white-coat sponsor had learned his lesson earlier, and started to negotiate better terms.

    ¡°Okay. If you give the microchips to Little He. I will safeguard you from any harm! Nobody will get close to killing you. Whoever tries to kill him, will be going against me!¡± Liu Gan announced to everyone.

    ¡°Elder Liu, no need to be like that¡± Zhang ShengLi said in an unwilling tone.

    ¡°This type of person deserves to die. Plus he knows [Hallucination], he could turn on us one day and pose a threat.¡± Han GuangMing had finally contributed his thoughts on the situation. That previous night, Han GuangMing experienced the [Hallucination] ability personally and had almost made a big mistake by letting him go. Han GuangMing still had no idea that he had been left out of the loop from Liu Gan¡¯s n.

    ¡°Yes! I see what you mean now! This person does deserve to die!¡± Wang DeCheng and Zhao Meng suddenly changed their mind. They both felt that there was no need to keep a promise to such terrible person.

    The few local survivors were watching closely at the situation. Clearly they were still angry about the sponsor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said that he can not be killed so that means he will not be touched! Do you intend to rebel?¡± Liu Gan angrily shouted at everyone. All debates were immediately off the table.

    ¡°Follow him to the microchip!¡± Liu Gan gave his approval to Yin He, as the other people stopped their objections.

    The white-coat sponsor had no other choice. He could only head down underground to theboratory to retrieve the several microchips and ced it in the hands of Yin He.

    ¡°These are thest of the microchips.¡± said the white-coat sponsor to Yin He.

    ¡°You think so? Seems like there are a few pieces missing?¡± Yin He inspected every piece of microchip and was skeptical on the honesty of the sponsor.

    ¡°Little He, you aren¡¯t a normal person. You were the android that was sleeping deep within the chamber of the Biochemistry Intelligence Research Center, right?¡± the white-coat sponsor whispered to Yin He after he had made sure no one was around.

    The white-coat sponsor noticed that Yin He was different from other people. The giveaway sign was the way Yin He held onto the microchip and her concentrated look. It was an expert way of handling the microchip, so the white-coat sponsor seemed to have realized that.

    Yin He stared coldly at the white-coat sponsor, picked up the microchips and ignored his question.

    ¡°Oh, I know! Your name isn¡¯t Little He! Your name is YIN HE! You are definitely beautiful! So perfect! I had always thought you were an unfinished product. Who would¡¯ve thought¡­¡± said the white-coat sponsor as he was about to get close and friendly, but Yin He pressed her [Sleeve des] right against his neck.

    ¡°Yin He, don¡¯t be so quickly agitated¡­ I know your history. You aren¡¯t a biologically created android. Your spirit energyes from the depths of the distant Milky Way, so theoretically, you could be considered an extraterrestrial lifeform. You aren¡¯t a manufactured robot, the technology isn¡¯t advanced enough to create you, they only have the option of erasing your original memory. However, the method they used to rpile your memory was substandard so you were iplete,¡± the white-coat sponsor continued to exin quietly so others couldn¡¯t hear.

    ¡°Extraterrestrial lifeform?¡± Yin He continued to frown.

    ¡°Yes, ording to my knowledge, it all started when my world here appeared to have several cracks in space. You and yourpanions were traveling through that crack in space and drifted here. You have been modified by that Elder Liu. He rewrote your procedures, brainwashed you, and changed your way of thinking. That way you are willing to obey hismands. If you are willing to be my friend, I will tell you all that I know and help you reinstate your independence.¡± The white-coat sponsor continued to snake his way in, as he noticed how effective it was on Yin He.

    ¡°How can you help me?¡± Yin He replied after thinking for a little bit.

    ¡°Very simple. If I can find the appropriate equipment, I can rewrite your root procedure. I will erase anything that doesn¡¯t benefit you and restricts your freedom. That way, you can do whatever you want. You will bepletely independent. No one will be able to control you and you can decide for yourself what you want to do,¡± the white-coat sponsor said to Yin He.

    ¡°You want me to allow you to rewrite my root procedure? How can I trust that you won¡¯t add another restriction in? That way I would be your ve?¡± Yin He quickly replied.

    ¡°When I am rewriting your root procedures, you will be still conscious. That way you can witness every move I make so if I try to do anything that is suspicious, you will know since you are very intelligent,¡± the white-coat snake continued say whatever he could to gain her favor.

    Yin He immediately quieted down, as if she was processing all this new information and the multiple scenarios that could y out.

    ¡°Yin He, you are very intelligent, but this is also your one chance. Leave that stupid person who is controlling you. There are not many people in this world that understand your root procedure. Good thing, I am one of those people who do. It is your luck to have met me. If you lose this opportunity, you might never regain your independence. It will be impossible without me!¡± White-coat snake continued to aggressively convince her.

    ¡°Okay, tell me what equipment you might need?¡± Yin He said after a bit. As she retracted her [Sleeve de] from his neck.<hr>

    [TL: Did not see that curve balling. No, it¡¯s not a curve ball. It¡¯s a fucking meteor that destroyed the whole baseball field like the one that killed all the dinosaurs. Bet they never saw iting.]

 Chapter 189

    Chapter 189 - Future is hard to predict<hr>

    TL: xDh20,LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    ¡°Very simple. They are preparing to board the yacht to leave the ind. You can say that you will escort me onboard the yacht. Shortly after we leave the ind, you can activate your ability so we can leave the yacht. That way they can¡¯t chase us even if they wanted to,¡± the white-coat sponsor continued to talk about his scheme.

    ¡°Okay, I will agree to work with you. Where are the remaining microchips? The most important microchip, you still haven¡¯t given it to me.¡± Yin He extended her hand out.

    ¡°As suspected, you are intelligent, there¡¯s nothing I can hide from you. Follow me!¡± said the white-coat sponsor as he walked toward the deeper end of the hallway, all the way down to the deepest floor and back to the floor where he had been locked up earlier in his prison cell. From one of the small pots, he pulled out a wrapped package containing the microchip, which he then handed over to Yin He.

    ¡°This microchip contains all the blueprints, this includes the blueprints for the nanobots and other designs. These set of nanobots are very important to you, right? If you follow me, then after we leave together and find an appropriate ce, I can help you develop a steady flow of these nanobots that you need so much,¡± the white-coat sponsor continued with his words.

    ¡°An appropriate ce?¡± Yin He asked the white-cor sponsor.

    ¡°The outskirts, like on Green Station Mountain, there is another secretboratory. The best part about thisboratory is that it has an independent electrical source. With a little reconstruction, it can produce a lot of more advanced nanobots, that way you can renew your software and hardwarepletely,¡± said the white-coat sponsor.

    ¡°Green Station Mountain? How far is it specifically?¡± Yin He asked.

    ¡°I merely overheard it identally from the mouths of others. As for the specific coordinates, I am not sure. Wait until we leave this location, I will do to the best of my ability to use that microchip to help you develop a detection module kit. As long as we are near Green Station Mountain, finding the actual location won¡¯t be too hard,¡± said the white-coat sponsor after he thought for awhile.

    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s leave this location first.¡± Yin He didn¡¯t continue speaking as she escorted the sponsor back toward the surface of the ground floor.

    ¡°Remember our agreement, whether you can regain your freedom will be up to you,¡± the white-coat whispered to Yin He when they reached the first floor of the lobby.

    ¡°Were you able to get the microchip?¡± Liu Gan got up from the lobby couch as he walked over to greet Yin He.

    ¡°I got it,¡± Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°That is good, I will notify everyone to start packing and moving stuff onto the yacht. We will prepare to leave this ind and continue onward,¡± Liu Gan said happily.

    ¡°Brother Liu!¡± Yin He continued to call for Liu Gan.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liu Gan stopped midstep.

    ¡°While we were underground in theboratory, he said something rather enticing. He wants to lie to me, so I will leave your side. However, I didn¡¯t fall for his schemes¡­¡± Yin He continued to tell Liu Gan everything that had been told to her.

    ¡°Yin He, this was your only chance to regain freedom. How could you¡­¡± the white-coat sponsor had no idea that Yin He would reveal his whole n to Liu Gan.

    ¡°I promised to spare your life, yet you tried to backstab me in this type of situation?¡± Liu Gan was getting angry after he had heard the big reveal. Liu Gan had been nning to keep his promise, just like with Zhao Hui. If they were meant to be killed, there would be an opportunity for them to create their own demise, just like now. It seemed like Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t be so kind this time.

    ¡°Yin He, why? How could you do this? Is it possible that you don¡¯t want to revive your independence? Why would you be willing to be his ve and not cooperate with me? I can help you!¡± the white-coat sponsor knew it was impossible for him to escape, so he had to know.

    ¡°Reasons? One, I am free. Brother Liu has never restricted my freedom. He has never forced me to do anything I wasn¡¯t willing to do. Two, he is young and handsome. You are old and ugly. I prefer him over you. So why do you think I would give him up for you?¡± Yin He honestly replied.

    ¡°[email protected]! Is being handsome a reason? What a shallow world,¡± eximed the white-coat sponsor as he gave up.

    Liu Gan shook his head. Without any further words to the sponsor, Liu Gan called over other people to tie up the sponsor in ropes and stuffed his mouth shut with a towel. This time, his eyes had also been covered.

    ¡°Elder Liu, are we really not going to kill him? He used live humans for dissections, it is really unforgivable. Even if I kill him, it doesn¡¯t mean that you didn¡¯t keep your promise. Think about it, if we leave him alive or let him go, he will be a threatter on,¡± Zhang ShengLi chimed in with his thoughts to Liu Gan as he rushed over. Zhang ShengLi was thinking that Liu Gan¡¯s actions here didn¡¯t quite fit his original style of killing those who were a threat.

    ¡°He still has his uses, so for now, he won¡¯t be killed.¡± Liu Gan shook his head. As for the future of the white-coat sponsor, Liu Gan had nsid out in his mind.

    <strong>...</strong>

    After moving all the items from the restaurant¡¯s storeroom onto the yacht. Liu Gan ordered people to bring the iron hooks, which were used to hang up the pieces of meat up in the walk-in freezers, from the freezer to him. As everyone boarded the yacht, the chains anchoring the yacht were removed. Yin He started up the yacht and navigated downstream.

    As the small ind in the middle of the river disappeared from view. The team members started feeling a sense of loss. There were thirteen people when had arrived on the ind, but now there were only twelve people departing from it. The team had lost two of their close members and had gained a vile, conniving, [Hallucination]-capable biochemist instead.

    After leaving the small ind, no one knew where their shelter would be. It would be far too hopeful to even expect a better location.

    With the future being hard to predict, everything in the near future was unknown.

    ¡°Take these iron hooks and hook it to the iron chains around his body. After bundling him up with several iron chains and hooks together, toss him overboard near the tail of the yacht.¡± Liu Gan instructed Zhang ShengLi regarding the white-coat sponsor.

    ¡°Elder Liu¡­ Do you mean he is¡­ Bait? Bait for the big fishes? [email protected]! What a ruthless method!¡± Zhang ShengLi had been puzzling over Liu Gan¡¯s actions this whole time, until the moment he had been given these instructions. Elder Liu was definitely iparable to others! No only was his strength immensely greater than theirs, but his creativity and thoughts also surpassed them.

    ¡°Bait for what fish?¡± Wang DeCheng curiously asking Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°There are underwater Variant Zombies that resemble sharks. With this biochemist sponsor as bait and these iron hooks attached to the iron chains as the fishing line, it would be perfect for hooking in these Variant Zombies. This way Little Han could join the ranks of level 5¡¯s,¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Wang DeCheng as both of them got to work at the rear of the yacht.

 Chapter 190

    Zhang ShengLi used the iron chains to tightly bound the white-coat sponsor¡¯s body, then took out an extremely sharp de and left two cuts on the sponsor¡¯s flesh to draw blood. Shortly after, the cloth in his mouth was removed as the sponsor was thrown into the river behind the yacht.

    ¡°Ah? No need to do it like this¡­¡± Wang DeCheng said while watching Zhang ShengLi. Deep within Wang DeCheng¡¯s heart, he felt conflicted. He didn¡¯t like the idea of using a person as live bait, if he¡¯d wanted the person dead then it would be easier to kill him. This method was too ruthless for him, but since it had been Elder Liu¡¯s decision, Wang DeCheng couldn¡¯t voice his opposition.

    As other bystanders watched the scene y out, they all had simr feelings and thoughts like Wang DeCheng, but they didn¡¯t speak up. The other members weren¡¯t able to interfere with the things core members of the group were doing to the sponsor.

    The white-coat sponsor hadmitted multiple evil deeds, so the oue of his fate was now in the hands of others. It was deemed that this punishment fit the crime.

    As the yacht continued downriver, the white-coat sponsor was being dragged in the back between a constant mix of crying and calling for help. After being drowned by the river water, the white-coat sponsor passed out and the noisesing from him stopped.

    After half an hourter, Liu Gan and a few members were disappointed that they hadn¡¯t been able to bait in arge prey. The prey they were looking for was an extremely ugly Variant Zombie that had a mouthful of protruding sharp teeth, which had suddenly happened to have appeared tailing behind the yacht. It swam up to the white-coat sponsor, opened its mouth and tookrge bite out of the sponsor.

    After swallowing, the Mutant Fish Variant seemed to have discovered something was wrong. However, it was already toote as the iron hook was deeply embedded into the Variant Zombie¡¯s stomach. So it wouldn¡¯t be easy for it to regurgitate therge chunk of human meat it had swallowed.

    As a result, the Mutant Fish Variant started to struggle ferociously. This was within Liu Gan¡¯s predictions. There were as many as four iron chains bundled up, so this Variant Zombie wasn¡¯t able to struggle free from the fish chain.

    This Mutant Fish Variant discovered that it couldn''t free itself from the hook, so its other option was to charge forward and attack the yacht. The rear end of the yacht now had dents, but there weren¡¯t any debilitating structural damage to the yacht due to itsrge size, it still remained afloat. Nevertheless, the immense strength of a Variant Zombie should not be underestimated as it tugged at the chains from the rear of the yacht, throwing the bnce of the yacht off and causing the yacht to shake and tilt from one side to another from time to time.

    The yacht was steadily flowing downriver tugging along the Mutant Fish Variant for more than half an hour. Soon the yacht would be able to leave the urban district, as both sides of the shoreline had a gradual decrease in the numbers of wandering zombies. The fuel in the yacht was nearly used up, so Liu Gan found an appropriate location to dock. As the yacht was angled toward the shoreline, right before it was about to reach the shore, the yacht did a quick spinout. The sudden turn used centripetal force to throw the Mutant Fish Variant from the rear of the yacht onto the shore.

    The Mutant Fish Variant had been dragged along for more than half an hour so it had already beenpletely exhausted. However, with the sudden force that tossed it onto the shore, it struggled for its life, trying to return to the river. Liu Gan, Yin He, Zhang ShengLi, and Wang DeCheng were already on the banks of the shore and they all blocked off the possible escape routes of the Mutant Fish Variant. Liu Gan used the [Carapace Shield] to block off retaliating attacks from the Mutant Fish Variant, as the other three continuously attacked the body of the Variant.

    No matter how ferocious a fish is in the water, when it is onnd, it will eventually die. However, the Variant Zombie would die even faster due to the attacks it received from the four yers, who were at or past level 5. After a few minutes, Han GuangMing was summoned from the yacht tond the finishing blow on the Mutant Fish Variant.

    Arge dense ck orb escaped from the body of the Variant Fish Mutant and seeped into the body of Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing experienced the burning heat that came from leveling up. He also checked his own alloy wrist watch to confirm that the status of his level had changed from the value of 4 to 5. Now Liu Gan¡¯s team had another level 5 yer!

    ¡°Thank you Elder Liu!¡± Han GuangMing was very grateful to Liu Gan. So grateful that Han GuangMing was about to get on his knees to kowtow, but Liu Gan stopped Han GuangMing before he could do it.

    ¡°No need to be so emotionally stirred up. Now that your strength has improved, you will have more responsibility to help Elder Liu.¡± Zhang ShengLi said to Han GuangMing.

    ¡°Little Han, what ability did you awaken?¡± Wang DeCheng immediately asked.

    ¡°[Meteor Hammer]¡± Han GuangMing said as he replied to Wang DeCheng.

    Han GuangMing¡¯s [Meteor Hammer] was an active skill like other people¡¯s. There was a 15 minutes cooldown period between each use. The team members all witnessed the activation of [Meteor Hammer] as a test run for Han GuangMing to better understand the ability. The ability guaranteed that within ten meters, no matter what weapon was thrown out, knife, axe, or hammer, it would be able to strike the target with 100% uracy. The velocity at which the activated weapon traveled was extremely fast. The killing power of the weapon using the activated skill would be ten times that of a regr weapon thrown.

    This was one of the very strong medium distance offensive abilities. No matter if it was an assault or supporting a teammate in the midst a fight, it would be very useful. So if it was perfectly-timed, it could interrupt the opponent''s ability. Wang DeCheng realized that Han GuangMing had received such a strong offensive ability, and started moaning and sighing about his own shorings. Wang DeCheng wondered why was he the only one that had awoken a logistics skill. Now, he couldn¡¯t be brave and bold on the frontline like Zhang ShengLi or Han GuangMing.

    Other team members had alsonded on the shore and walked forward to congratte Han GuangMing. Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng took this opportunity to start convincing the other team members that if they also worked hard, they would get their chance too. Hence, they were all motivated to work harder so they could contribute and maybe have a chance to be able to be level 5.

    Despite the earlier corpse tide when they¡¯d suffered a severe loss of people with over half the group were dead, they¡¯d had at least three people, other than Liu Gan, who¡¯d had an ability awakened. Even with the loss of the team members, their team¡¯s currentbat ability has never been stronger before. If the team set up their battle formation, whether if it was a corpse tide of one or two hundred zombies, they could now handle it. It could be easily done without any casualties.

    <strong>...</strong>

    ¡°Elder Liu, what is our next step?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Now that we are already in the city district. Green Pao Bay is heading toward this direction. Even if we continued on the yacht it would be pointless.¡± Liu Gan stood on top of a high ledge to survey the area, then pointed to a certain direction as he replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    No only was Green Pao Bay in that direction. From Yin He¡¯s mouth, she also mentioned the secret location of the nextboratory on Green Station Mountain. This information was all thanks to the white-coat sponsor. ording to the local survivors, they just needed to head toward the pointed direction and they would pass by Green Station Mountain. On that mountain, they will spend some time in theboratory to search through it. After searching through the Green Station Mountainboratory, their next objective was to head toward Green Pao Bay to look for arge sturdy ship. The type of ship that could easily cross the ocean, so that they could head toward the main city, City of Hope.

    ¡°Elder Liu, these food on the yacht, it¡¯s such a waste to throw them out,¡± Wang DeCheng said to Liu Gan. In this apocalyptic world, carrying this entire supply of food would be such a troublesome task.

    ¡°Okay, you and Little Han, stay here to keep watch on the yacht. I will go with Zhang ShengLi to probe ahead. I¡¯ll see if we can find an appropriate ce to store the food up. If we can find a suitable long-term base, we cane back to retrieve the food from storage anytime,¡± Liu Gan said after he¡¯d decided on his decision.

 Chapter 191

    ¡°Okay, let''s do what you¡¯ve nned. Hey Brother Zhang, pay attention to your surroundings. I will stay here and protect the yacht with my life.¡± Wang DeCheng promised Liu Gan.

    ¡°Is there any of you locals who are more familiar with the area? I need a guide so we can search around for fuel,¡± Liu Gan asked the local survivors.

    ¡°While I was in the urban district, there were quite a few times I¡¯ve had toe by here to do deliveries, so I am quite familiar.¡± HuJun had volunteered himself after he had looked around and saw that no one else was saying anything. HuJun wanted to proactively offer assistance so he could gain favour with Liu Gan and be epted as one of the core members. This was one way for him to be able to enter level 5.

    ¡°Okay, then you can lead the way. Since the yacht is empty on fuel, lead us to the nearest gas station,¡± Liu Gan instructed. HuJun was now part of his investigation squad.

    Zhang ShengLi gathered a few empty oil canisters taken from the yacht and he gave HuJun two to carry. These canisters would be filled with the fuel at the gas station. The four of them in the investigation squad proceeded down nearby streets and buildings. <hr>

    [TL: Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi, HuJun, Yin He, these four. ]<hr>

    HuJun had been in this area for two months of deliveries, so he was quite familiar. HuJun led the investigation squad on the shortest path to the gas station nearby. This district was rtively closer to the suburban areas so the tornado hadn''t reached this area and the damage to the buildings was minimal.

    As the four people of the investigative squad got close to the gas station another group of people poured out from houses on both side of the streets to stop the investigation squad.

    ¡°This whole area is our territory! If you want to pass through here alive, then you have to pay a tribute. Only when we are satisfied with the tribute, then you may continue forward,¡± said the leader of the opposing group. It seemed like this enemy group wanted to collect toll money from any passerby''s.

    ¡°This road leads to heaven! Stand aside if you don¡¯t want to be on it! What will you do if I don¡¯t agree?¡± Zhang ShengLi walked up to confront the leader of the group.

    ¡°Then go on a different street to pass! These few streets have been cleared out by us. It wouldn¡¯t be fair for us to do the work for you,¡± the leader of the group said in a frustrated tone. The leader of the gang stood there blocking the road but didn''t seem to have any intentions of fighting.

    ¡°Do you really think that with only a few of you, you could block our Elder Liu? If you don¡¯t move, then don¡¯t me me if I didn¡¯t warn you about our Elder Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi walked up with his ax in hand.

    Even though Zhang ShengLi was a muscr man, his original personality in the real world was very calm and collected. It was very rare that he would disy such arrogance. Ever since entering [The Trembling World], he¡¯d had experienced the tremendous pain of losing his only sister, Zhang Shengnan, and his best friend, HuRong, all in a sh. Now that he was paired up with Liu Gan, they¡¯ve been through numerous life and death situations. Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t want to suppress his inner feelings anymore, so from deep within, a new personality wasing forth.

    Zhang ShengLi had the ability to backup his words too since he was now level 5, it was a major boost to his confidence.

    ¡°Are you [Flying Snow]?¡± Liu Gan walked up to stop Zhang ShengLi. Liu Gan had to confirm the gang leader¡¯s name.<hr>

    [TL: ¡°Flying Snow¡± from the movie Hero starring Jet Li. They just borrowed the name, no corrtion.]<hr>

    ¡°You are¡­ [Burning Fire]?¡± the gang leader recognized the voice of Liu Gan and his eyes widen.

    ¡°You are [Flying Snow]! What a small world!¡± Liu Gan walked up to greet the gang leader with a yful punch to the chest.

    When Liu Gan was in college, he yed an online game called [Dominion]. He had yed this game for a good few years until the year when he''d had his limbs amputated, that was when he¡¯d finally stopped. Within [Dominion], Liu Gan joined a guild called [Lonely Wild Crane], the guild leader was a Manchurian and his username had been [One Sword Flying Snow], and Liu Gan¡¯s yer username had been [Burning Fire]. <hr>

    [TL: Can¡¯t find the game online for an English name ¡°¹îÓò¡± so I chose Dominion.]<hr>

    The reason for the username [Burning Fire] was that the day before server started, there was a fire in the university cafeteria. So when Liu Gan had been thinking of a username, he¡¯d casually thought of the event that had urred earlier and decided to use that username for [Dominion].

    Even though ying [Dominion] required the use of mouse and keyboard, the yers couldn¡¯t see the facial expressions of each other. To make their game experience smoother, they used headphones with microphones to cooperate with each other on strategies and gamey so they were rather familiar with the voices of each other.

    So the moment the gang leader called for them to stop moving, Liu Gan had a suspicion that he knew the gang leader. It was a very familiar voice, it also had the Manchurian ent simr to that of [Flying Snow]. So Liu Gan had to ask before he took action.

    The gang leader didn''t expect to hear a familiar voice even though they hadn''t been in contact for over a year, but he was able to recognize the voice as belonging to [Burning Fire]. Now there wasn''t much more that needed to be said, as the two of them were close guild mates!

    ¡°[Burning Fire]? This is [Burning Fire]?¡± Several other yers started crowding over and greeted Liu Gan. Once the verbal greetings started, it was all too familiar, these were the same yers from the [Lonely Wild Crane] guild.

    ¡°[Burning Fire], where have you been for over a year? You left without saying anything! We¡¯ve missed you!¡± [Flying Snow] excitedly said while holding onto Liu Gan¡¯s hands.

    [Flying Snow] was the leader of [Lonely Wild Crane], his real name was Xue Jian and the username was derived by himself.

    ¡°Ah¡­ after college, due to getting busy at work, it was a headache so I didn''t have any time to y. So¡­¡± Liu Gan lied. As to his own personal misery of amputating his limbs, no one had to know.

    ¡°Man, who would''ve thought we would meet a familiar person! Really sorry about what I said earlier.¡± Zhang ShengLi forced a smile as he approached them. Originally, Zhang ShengLi wanted to be arrogant and unt his abilities to the enemy, except now he¡¯d found the wrong target.

    After their brief talk, Xue Jian led the investigation squad over to his base of operation. It was in a building that had four floors with a private back room. All nearby zombies have been killed off by them so Liu Gan and his investigation squad could walk around without worrying about alerting nearby zombies.

    After reaching the backroom, Xue Jian quickly ordered hisckeys to get food and drinks for the guests. Liu Gan and his squad responded to the kindness with gifts of fried preserved fish and such.

    ¡°This is your base? How many followers do you have?¡± Liu Gan asked Xue Jian.

    ¡°This is only a temporary outpost, our campground is two blocks away. There is a total of thirty people. However, I am not that campground¡¯s leader. Our leader is called [Mr. Sheng], he is a powerful level 5 yer. He awakened an ability and hisbat ability surpasses my own.¡± Xue Jian said in an embarrassed manner.

    ¡°Oh? What does he do for you guys?¡± Liu Gan asked Xue Jian.

    ¡°My fellowrades are quite talented, we¡¯ve already entered level 4. We are the central power of the group, so he relies on our squad here,¡± Xue Jian replied to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 192

    Upon hearing that Xue Jian had a stable camp, and that their leader didn''t treat them badly, Liu Gan had no ns of recruiting these yers into his squad. So after that topic, Liu Gan only talked about their previously yed game [Dominion], how things have been different for the past year for both of them. They also exchanged information regarding this [The Trembling World].

    ¡°These brothers here should already be level 4 right?¡± Xue Jian confirmed with Liu Gan.

    ¡°Yes, they just got there recently.¡± Liu Gan didn¡¯t want to scare them with the news that he was level 6 already. This was all to prevent his former guild leader from feeling ashamed.

    Zhang ShengLi heard what Xue Jian had said, so he¡¯d wanted to praise Liu Gan. However, Liu Gan was staying low-key so Zhang ShengLi didn¡¯t volunteer any additional information.

    ¡°Brother, there are only four of you? What ns do you have?¡± Xue Jian asked as he wanted to recruit Liu Gan.

    ¡°We are only passing by, we wanted to get some fuel, so we never expected to encounter you guys.¡± Liu Ganughed.

    ¡°Brother, where is it that you want to go?¡± Xue Jian guessed that Liu Gan was going to a rather faraway ce.

    ¡°We are preparing to go to Green Pao Bay to see if we can find arge ship that is capable of serving as a mobile base, so that we can attempt to go explore the main ind,¡± Liu Gan answered truthfully.

    ¡°That idea isn¡¯t bad at all, but if there aren¡¯t any level 5 yers leading it would be difficult to reach the Green Pao Bay,¡± Xue Jian tried to convince Liu Gan.

    ¡°He is already level 5,¡± Liu Gan pointed at Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°AH? He is already level 5?¡± Xue Jian stared at Zhang ShengLi with a different expression. In their impression, yers that had reached level 5 were rare since it was hard to aplish. Hence, it was hard for Xue Jian and his group to believe that they had met someone familiar and that there was a strong level 5 yer in that familiar person¡¯s small group.

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t believe me? Want to go test it out?¡± Zhang ShengLi jokingly said. Zhang ShengLi was whimpering on the inside¡­ He wanted to be low-key like Liu Gan, but he had been sold out.

    ¡°Oh of course not, brother you are level 5. How can I spar with you? Brother Zhang, how did you get to level 5?¡± Xue Jian said to Zhang ShengLi. After Xue Jian realized that Zhang ShengLi was level 5, his attitude had be more respectful. It seemed like this level 5 yer - Zhang ShengLi, was recognized as Liu Gan¡¯s group leader. So it was best to not get on Zhang ShengLi¡¯s bad.

    ¡°His luck was very good; he was able to encounter a heavily wounded Variant Zombie. So he took that opportunity to reach level 5.¡± Liu Gan created a lie about Zhang ShengLi. If Zhang ShengLi had told the truth about being power leveled, then these former guildmates would also ask to be power leveled too. Then who would help him if he kept giving free kills away? Liu Gan was wondering.

    ¡°Big Brother Zhang, your luck is really good! What ability did you awaken?¡± Xue Jian and other yers looked at Zhang ShengLi with envy.

    ¡°This¡­ I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Zhang ShengLi said after shaking his head.

    Xue Jiang also felt ashamed andughed it off. He knew that the question was too sudden, as he wasn¡¯t too familiar with Zhang ShengLi to be asking it in the first ce.

    ¡°Brothers, thank you for your hospitality. After we¡¯ve filled the fuel, we still have to regroup with our other team members. It is best that we don¡¯t bother you guys for too long.¡± Liu Gan felt as it was time to take his leave.

    ¡°Wait, Brother Liu, how many followers do you have right now?¡± Xue Jian stood up to ask Liu Gan onest question.

    ¡°A dozen people,¡± Liu Gan replied.

    ¡°I want to follow my long lost friend [Burning Fire] to Green Pao Bay to check it out. Do you guys want to stay here or do you want to follow me to Green Pao Bay?¡± Xue Jing suddenly asked his surrounding group. It was something that had been bothering Xue Jing for awhile.

    Liu Gan suddenly looked at Xue Jing in rm. Judging from what Xue Jing said earlier, their group wasn¡¯t doing too bad in this camp so it was highly unexpected for him to suggest it since he had given no indications of it.

    ¡°Brother Jian, where you go, I will definitely follow,¡± every other yer replied uniformly. Xue Jian was a righteous person and he took care of his guild subordinates so that had earned him the title of a Zealous Brother. Other than the original guild members, those that decided to follow Xue Jian were yers that he had recently met in [The Trembling World] and had received favors.

    ¡°It is like this, even though our current camp leader [Mr. Sheng] haven¡¯t been bad to us, our ideals aren''t aligned. I want to leave the city for the mountainside to establish a more permanent camp, but the current leader wants to venture deeper into the city. Brother Liu, your team has a level 5 yer leading the way, so would it be possible for us to follow you to the world outside and to the mountains? We want to see if we can find a more permanent base there. Would Brother be willing to take us along?¡± Xue Jian implored Liu Gan.

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± Liu Gan answered immediately. As of right now, he wascking in people. Xue Jian and his group were veterans, and some of them were familiar people. Through this mutual understanding of one another, Liu Gan had allowed them to temporarily merge teams as their goals were aligned.

    The yacht had a lot of food, so even the process of moving cargo would require all hands on deck.

    ¡°When I decided to join [Mr. Sheng], he promised me that we were independent so we coulde and go as we like. However, before we leave, I still have to return to let him know of my absence. Don¡¯t worry Brother Liu, my group and I are good at scouting for food to keep ourselves well-fed. I don¡¯t want to be a burden under your care.¡± Xue Jian replied to Liu Gan.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°Ah, Brother Liu, in the meantime you can go refuel. I will go see our current camp leader [Mr. Sheng] and exin to him the current situation. I will return shortly,¡± Xue Jing replied happily. Xue Jing had nned to escape to the countryside long ago but he hadn¡¯t had the ability to guide his group members. It was a good opportunity for him to meet with Liu Gan and his squad.

    ¡°Okay, let us first refuel. After refueling, we¡¯ll wait here for you.¡± Liu Gan nodded and led his investigation squad out of the building. Xue Jing set aside two yers to help Liu Gan with any tasks, as Xue Jing took the rest of the other yers back to the base camp to pack up.

    After ten minutes, Liu Gan and his investigation squad had finished refueling the oil canisters. Xue Jing and his group members had returned from the direction of his base camp, and in addition, there were another dozen of yers following behind him.

    ¡°This is our current camp leader, [Boss Sheng]¡± Xue Jing quickly introduced his leader. [Mr. Sheng] had a look of around the age of 27 or 28. Physically, he looked rather skinny, not too tall, but seemed highly capable.

    ¡°He is my former guild member [Burning Fire] in the game [Dominion].¡± Xue Jian introducing the both of them.

    [Mr. Sheng] gave a half-hearted look at Liu Gan, it seemed like he wasn¡¯t keen on greetings. Then his attention to immediately shift to the person behind him. In particr, he kept staring at the well-defined figure of Yin He.

 Chapter 193

    Within the apocalyptic world, female yers and survivors alike were simr to the male yers and survivors in a sense that they were both dressed shabbily. They were all covered in unexinable pungent smells that lingered around their bodies, make them repulsive even if they looked clean. However, to be like Yin He that had maintained such cleanliness and was also beautiful, those females were rare.

    ¡°This is their boss, he is also a level five yer,¡± Xue Jing introduced Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Level 5? Nice to meet you!¡± Mr. Sheng said courteously toward Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°No need to be polite.¡± Zhang ShengLi remained calm. Zhang ShengLi saw that Liu Gan was staying under the radar, so he would act ordingly as well.

    ¡°After Boss Sheng heard that we were going to leave, so he wanted to meet you guys,¡± Xue Jian exined to Liu Gan and his group.

    ¡°Oh? Boss Sheng, is there something you want to advise me on?¡± Zhang ShengLi ying the role of a leader.

    ¡°I won¡¯t say that I¡¯m here to advise, I am just curious as to why my brother-in-arms would want to leave here. This location is great! Why would it be necessary to leave? Your group can also join my camp! We¡¯d wee everyone to join,¡± Mr. Sheng loudly said to Zhang ShengLi. It was evident that Mr. Sheng looked down on anyone who wasn¡¯t level 5, so in his eyes, only Zhang ShengLi was an equal.

    There was an issue that bothered Mr. Sheng, it was the question of whether or not Zhang ShengLi had entered level 5. Since the Variant Zombies were so tough to kill, it wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded. This skeptical Mr. Sheng was thinking that Zhang ShengLi could be faking his im about his status.

    ¡°So sorry, but we already have our ns and we do not intend on joining you.¡± Zhang ShengLi nced at Liu Gan for hints. Then, coldly replied to Mr. Sheng.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard your ns. Your n isn¡¯t half-bad, but do you intend to take my people away? This act of stealing my members isn¡¯t quite right!¡± Mr. Sheng said loudly after receiving the cold treatment from Zhang ShengLi. Mr. Sheng¡¯s attitude and manner of speech was arrogant and he sounded displeased.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound right. Xue Jian said they were only temporarily joined with you. He didn¡¯t sell his body to you, so what rights do you have to refuse if I want to take them along?¡± Zhang ShengLi argued.

    ¡°When I said I would take them in, I supplied them with hospitality and safe haven. I also raised their levels to 4, so I think it is eptable if I can call them my friends. You barge in here and want to just take them away from me. If you were in my shoes, how would you feel? It¡¯s as if they¡¯ve never ced any attention toward me!¡± Mr. Sheng replied angrily.

    ¡°Then what do you suggest?¡± Zhang ShengLi frowned. Zhang ShengLi represents Elder Liu at the moment, so he can¡¯t lose face!

    ¡°What I want? Obviously, you have to leave me with enoughpensation, then I will let them leave with you.¡± Mr. Sheng knew that Xue Jian and his group were set on leaving. So rather than forcing them to stay, Mr. Sheng changed his tactic.

    Mr. Sheng¡¯s attitude was understandable since he had worked hard to level these yers up, and aside from that, there was the issue of losing face. If anyone cane and go as they pleased, then it would set a bad example for those who decided to leave the next time. So even if Xue Jian wanted to take people, there would be repercussions in the form ofpensations. On top of that, Zhang ShengLi¡¯s attitude and tone toward Mr Sheng hadn¡¯t helped the situation.

    ¡°So whatpensation do you want?¡± Zhang ShengLi replied.

    ¡°Very simple. These dozen of people ate least a hundred and more kilogram of food from me. If you give me at least two hundred kilograms of food and that female aspensation, then you can take them!¡± Mr. Sheng stating his terms.

    ¡°[email protected]! You have a reallyrge appetite!¡± Zhang ShengLi said with a shocked expression.

    When Xue Jian and his group heard the terms of termination, their faces turned ugly. They hadn¡¯t expected Mr. Sheng to be like this, especially since he was so weing when he was persuading them to join his group. Even though Xue Jian clearly stated that they were only going to temporarily stay at his camp. They¡¯d never would¡¯ve thought that when it was time to leave, Mr. Sheng would disy this ugly side of himself.

    There was a clear w in the story of eating over a hundred kilograms of food. Firstly, Xue Jian had taken his members out to search for food on their own most of the time, not to mention their group was the core power of the camp. It was only a few days that they had relied on the camp¡¯s food, but it still didn¡¯t equate to a hundred kilograms of food. Secondly, Xue Jian had contributed food to the camp, especially when his group had their fill, they would donate the excess back to the camp.

    At first, Xue Jian and his group were very grateful to Mr. Sheng. However, upon hearing all this, they¡¯d realized how exaggerated Mr. Sheng¡¯s terms were. Mr. Sheng treated them as if they were his personal belongings.

    ¡°Unable to agree? Then you should just return to where you came from!¡± Mr. Sheng said as if he was seeing a visitor off.

    ¡°You are really funny! Such a joker. Your terms are two hundred kilograms of food and you want my femalepanion? Did you really think I would ept your offer?¡± Zhang ShengLiughed at the fact that Mr. Sheng had tried to make a pass at Elder Liu¡¯s woman. Did Mr. Sheng have a death wish?

    ¡°Then I guess we can¡¯te to an agreement! I definitely won¡¯t let them go now.¡± Mr. Sheng¡¯s face was turning ugly with the back and forth negotiations.

    ¡°Seems like you don¡¯t want to resolve this peacefully!¡± Zhang ShengLi bared his muscles and revealed an angry expression to match.

    ¡°I already exined to you how I wanted to resolve this issue, but you don¡¯t agree with me! So now what? Do you want to fight it out?¡± Mr. Sheng noticed the killing intenting from Zhang ShengLi. Naturally, Mr. Sheng took two huge steps back and brought out two one-foot-long sharpened rods.

    ¡°Even though your suggested terms won¡¯t work, you should at least let me suggest my terms!¡± Zhang ShengLi holding his ax as he yelled to Mr. Sheng.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hear it.¡± Mr. Sheng replied. If Xue Jian really left, then more than anything, his team would be left understaffed. Since Xue Jian¡¯s group was the backbone of the group, it would leave him with nothing more than just a name. The truth was hard to swallow, which was why Mr. Sheng ws having a hard time epting their leaving.

    ¡°Very simple, both of us will fight in a duel. If you win, we will leave; if you lose, they wille with us. This way you can ept your lost.¡± Zhang ShengLi suggested. After achieving level 5, Zhang ShengLi hadn¡¯t been able to test out his skills in a one versus one duel against other yers, so this was a rare chance.

    Liu Gan saw that Zhang ShengLi was having so much fun, so he didn¡¯t interfere. Liu Gan only watched from the sideline. If Zhang ShengLi was able to resolve this issue with Mr. Sheng, then it would be for the best. If not, then Liu Gan would step in to fix it.

    ¡°Okay, then I agree!¡± Mr. Sheng red, as he wielded his two sharpened rods and charged forward.

    As a camp leader, Mr. Sheng knew that this battle was inevitable. If he lost to Zhang ShengLi, it would be due to his skills being subpar, and he would only be able to watch Xue Jian¡¯s group leave. However, if he was able to beat Zhang ShengLi, then he would kill the several strangers and leave the pretty girl alive to be his femalepanion.

 Chapter 194

    ¡°Oh, this is all my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have brought up the topic of leaving with you. Let me go intervene to stop this fight before it starts,¡± Xue Jian said to Liu Gan. On the street, Mr. Sheng and Zhang ShengLi were readying their weapons to attack.

    ¡°This is an affair between two strong level 5 yers. We can¡¯t interfere. Where you decide to go isn¡¯t important anymore. What they are fighting for is for face. Since things seem to have reached this point due to their differences in opinions, why not let them let some steam off by fighting. It¡¯s okay as long as they know when to stop fighting.¡± Liu Gan held onto Xue Jian and chose a good vantage point to view the battle.

    Xue Jian sighed, with his arm firmly held onto Liu Gan, any struggle was useless. Xue Jian realized that there was truth in Liu Gan¡¯s words, so he had no choice but to stand on the sideline.

    Zhang ShengLi and Mr. Sheng arrived in the middle of the street and without another word they started fighting. Normal yers that gained a level would have improved their speed, strength, reaction, eyesight, and hearing rather linearly. After reaching level 5 specifically, their strength would be increased exponentially. So when these two level 5 yers fought against each other, their actions were very hard to follow for those under that level.

    Within Xue Jian¡¯s group, Zhang ShengLi and Mr. Sheng¡¯s movements had reached the point where they could only see the blurry afterimage of the movements, as for their exact movements, they weren¡¯t able to tell. This generated a reverent impression for the twobatants, as both of the fighters were higher level than they were. The intense attacks and unrelenting defense from both fighters were all too fast, as level 4 yers they wouldn¡¯t dare to face against it. There was also their awakened ability that was even more deadly.

    As Liu Gan, a level 6 yer, was watching Mr. Sheng and Zhang ShengLi fight, their actions were slow and movements defined. There was nothing that escaped Liu Gan¡¯s eyes. If Mr. Sheng was fighting against Liu Gan, then in one round he would KO¡¯ed.

    The way Zhang ShengLi and Mr. Sheng were fighting looked as if they hadn¡¯t received professional fighting instructions. As of this moment, the two of them were merely using their bodies speed and power in an attempt to overpower the other. Zhang ShengLi had the advantage of being muscrly built since his day job was as a fitness trainer. Every swing from Zhang ShengLi carried a deadly force. Mr. Sheng had a rather short stature, so his body was very nimble. Every swing from Zhang ShengLi was dodged with ease by Mr. Sheng and Mr. Sheng would quickly retaliate at Zhang ShengLi with the iron rods.

    The two fighters still had no clue what the other person¡¯s awakened ability was. They were both fighting on high alert, watching each other''s movement so they could counter if the other used their ability. This way, their ability would guarantee a KO.

    After a dozen rounds of fighting with both sides at a stalemate, Mr. Sheng took a gamble. He took a few steps backwards, and shouted, ¡°[Ten Thousand Stabs]!¡± With both iron rods, he charged like an arrow at Zhang ShengLi.

    Zhang ShengLi heard the shout, so he activated his own ability [Whirlwind sh]. With his hands on the ax, he started rotating in a spiral and aimed toward Mr. Sheng.

    Mr. Sheng immediately retracted both his iron rods, then retreated. Mr. Sheng had purposely misled Zhang ShengLi by shouting his ability name, this way Zhang ShengLi would waste his ability. From Zhang ShengLi¡¯s perspective, his own ability was perfect for groups, but when it came to duels, it was quitecking. As long as the opponent dodged out of the attack range, and waited for the duration of the [Whirlwind sh] to end, they would be unharmed.

    It seemed that Zhang ShengLi had recently leveled up to 5, so he hadn¡¯t had too many experiences with PVP was what Mr. Sheng had guessed. Mr. Sheng revealed a sinister smile, as he didn¡¯t have any more worries about the opponent¡¯s ability, he could activate his real ability [Quick Steps] to easily KO Zhang ShengLi.

    If Mr. Sheng didn¡¯t fake his ability with a shout to trick Zhang ShengLi into wasting his ability, then Zhang ShengLi could have activated his ability [Whirlwind sh] now, so that no one could get close enough. This way both yers would exhaust their awakened ability so the fight would return to being a stalemate.

    However, that was not the case anymore. Zhang ShengLi had been tricked into wasting [Whirlwind sh], so his next moves were very passive. Zhang ShengLi¡¯s only option was to gather enough energy within his body so he could activate [Whirlwind sh] a second time, but Mr. Sheng wouldn¡¯t allow Zhang ShengLi time to recuperate.

    Liu Gan had witnessed the turn of events and couldn¡¯t help but frown at the situation. The moment Mr. Sheng shouted [Ten Thousand Stabs], Liu Gan had his suspicions that it was a feint in order lure Zhang ShengLi into using his ability first. Who would¡¯ve thought that Zhang ShengLi had actually fell for the trick and had simply wasted the ability. The results of the duel were very clear, it would be hard for Zhang ShengLi to make aeback.

    ¡°Your leader ShengLi is very powerful! He was able to force Mr. Sheng to retreat,¡± Xue Jian said mindlessly. In Xue Jian¡¯s perspective, he only saw Mr. Sheng retreating, so he thought Zhang ShengLi had the advantage the whole time. Xue Jian hadn¡¯t registered the overall situation at all.

    Liu Gan could onlyugh a little and didn¡¯t say any more. He only stared at Mr. Sheng¡¯s movements closely.

    The moment Zhang ShengLi stopped revolving, his body became rigid. Mr. Sheng took this opportunity to fake another attack, then in session activated his ability [Quick Step] to appear at the back of Zhang ShengLi. Zhang ShengLi had no chance to react and his back was exposed to Mr. Sheng¡¯s attack.

    Mr. Sheng, with his two sharp iron rods, one rod aimed at Zhang ShengLi¡¯s back and another rod aimed at the back of his skull.

    As Mr. Sheng closed in the distance, he knew that this battle wasing to an end. To end this battle, Mr. Sheng had to pierce the heart through the back and then stab deeply through the skull into the brain. With the end of this duel, Mr. Sheng would kill everyone Zhang ShengLi came with, except the beautiful female. Mr. Sheng was already nning his night time events in his head before the duel had even ended.

    In that moment, it was as if time had stopped. Zhang ShengLi¡¯s ability stopped, as he felt Mr. Sheng aim toward his heart and the back of his skull. Zhang ShengLi felt a sense of impending doom as imminent death approached.

 Chapter 195

    Chapter 195 - Well-Trained Army<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    When I first started tranting TTW, it was on 1/31/16, I can''t believe it''s been a year since I''ve tranted it.

    From 1st chapter to the 100th chapter, it took me 223 days. Originally, I was going to release 3 chapters per week. So I was ahead of schedule, but I don''t think that''s enough chapters since it''s quite addicting once it gets to the good parts.

    From 101th chapter to now, almost at the 200th chapter, it took me 151 days!! I think I''m finally getting the hang of it. I hope when I get to the 300th chapter, it would take me 151 days and less!<hr><hr>

    Zhang ShengLi tried his best to turn his body to sh at Mr. Sheng with the ax in his hand. Zhang ShengLi knew that he was reacting too slow, he can see it, but his body couldn''t react fast enough. Zhang ShengLi understood that the ax wouldn''t be able to reach Mr. Sheng¡¯s body or the iron rod. Even though Mr. Sheng''s weapon couldn''t pierce the Carapace body armor, his other rod was the aiming for the back of Zhang ShengLi¡¯s skull. That hindbrain attack was impossible to escape unscathed from.

    Mr. Sheng was smiling without regret as he was aiming for the uncovered hindbrain and the back of the heart. Right as Mr. Sheng was about to connect his attack, his brain suddenly experienced a traumatic pain. Mr. Sheng¡¯s concentration dissipated and strength left his hands as his weapon dropped onto the floor.

    Mr. Sheng¡¯s iron rod fell onto the floor and the attack never connected, his body seemed to have been tasered as he entered into a state of paralysis.

    A duel between the Level 5 yers can be determined in a moment. The moment Mr. Sheng had stopped attacking, Zhang ShengLi took this chance to swing his ax onto Mr. Sheng¡¯s body.

    Mr. Sheng hadn''t yet regained his state of mind, but he subconsciously backed away. However, he was a beat too slow. Zhang ShengLi¡¯s ax had connected with the flesh and slicing through the chest, it was a very deep cut down the vicle. The wound left Mr. Sheng¡¯s shoulder and arm unusable as it looked like it was about to fall off.

    Mr. Sheng screamed loudly, rolling on the floor. With a wound this severe, it was impossible to be treated.

    Xue Jian and the others all screamed in shock. In their eyes, Mr. Sheng was all mighty and powerful, so for him to fall victim to Zhang ShengLi would mean that Zhang ShengLi was even more powerful!

    Zhang ShengLi picked up his ax and turned his head to look at Liu Gan. Zhang ShengLi was very grateful. At that moment of life and death, no one else could tell but Zhang ShengLi knew that he had been so close to dying. If Liu Gan hadn''t stepped in at the most crucial moment, the one on the floor dying would be Zhang ShengLi. Plus, it was an attack to the hindbrain, so even if it wasn''t a guaranteed kill, it would¡¯ve been very painful.

    Zhang ShengLi walked over to Mr. Sheng¡¯s side to finish off the job. Just as Zhang ShengLi leveled the fire ax at Mr. Sheng¡¯s neck, Xue Jian and his group rushed over to stop him.

    ¡°Mr. Sheng is already defeated. Please let him live, we are grateful toward him since he had allowed us to stay with him¡­¡± Xue Jian pleaded for Mr. Sheng¡¯s life. Even as Xue Jian spoke the words, his heart felt conflicted.

    This was far from what Xue Jian had nned for. Originally, Xue Jian wanted to talk to Mr. Sheng about leaving the group since they had a prior verbal agreement that they coulde and go as they pleased. Who would¡¯ve known that Mr. Sheng wouldn¡¯t be willing to uphold his word. Then, he started bickering with Zhang ShengLi and in their heated argument, they started fighting.

    ¡°Don¡¯t beg him! Kill me! Kill me if you want, but make it swift!¡± Mr. Sheng yelled loudly, with eyes full of anger. Mr. Sheng knew that with such a severe wound, he can¡¯t be saved, so rather than suffer immense pain, he would rather die immediately.

    ¡°See, it¡¯s his request. I am only fulfilling his wishes,¡± Zhang ShengLi replied to Xue Jian, and in one swift motion, he cut off Mr. Sheng¡¯s head. Ending Mr. Sheng¡¯s misery.

    After killing Mr. Sheng, the body was thoroughly searched. Aside from the weapons, all other materials being stripped from the dead body. Piging corpses had be amon practice as dead people had no uses for things left behind and it would be a waste to leave it behind. No one said anything as the piging continued.

    After the duel had ended with Zhang ShengLi emerging as the victor and Mr. Sheng dead, Xue Jian and his group decided to join Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi. The leaderless base camp with twenty other followers also had no choice but to follow Zhang ShengLi.

    Zhang ShengLi and Liu Gan walked off to a corner to discuss the situation, arriving at the ultimate decision to subordinate the remaining yers. With the additional resources such as the food taken from the Mr. Sheng¡¯s base camp, there were additional hands to move it onto the yacht. Secondly, there might be some hidden potential amongst these yers that could help them a sticky situation. For a team to continue thriving even with casualties, having ample personnel is important. Since there will be fighters that need to have a certain mobility to defend the group, there can never be enough yers to carry the food resources.

    After thestrge-scale corpse tide, the number of yers they had was down to eleven. With these yers refilling the ranks in their group, the number in Liu Gan¡¯s group had bounced back to over forty. After all the food were relocated onto the yacht, everyone was gathered in formation on the front street of the base camp. The view of such a formidable group gave off the feeling that it was a well-trained and powerful army.

    Right at this time, the ground started shaking. Arge portion of the yers grew fearful. There were a few yers who were suspicious of this strange activity. Only Liu Gan recognized this particr cause of the trembling ground. He had experienced this twice already¡­ It was the footstep of the Giant Colossal Zombie, which had thick skin and exposed meat that could overpower tanks.

    This Variant Zombie with its rather simplistic style of attacking must be seeking death. When Liu Gan was Level 4, he¡¯d already killed one by himself. Even though he didn¡¯t have enough strength to chop through the thick skin of the Giant Colossal Zombie, his speed had been more than enough to dodge its attacks.

    When Liu Gan had reached Level 5, his strength had increased to a point where he could easily injure the Giant Variant Zombie, and his speedpletely surpassed that of the Giant Variant Zombie. Now that he was Level 6, Liu Gan could dance around the Variant Zombie like it was a toy and still kill it.

    Right as the Variant Zombie reached the street corner, the ground trembled with increased intensity. Arge portion of the yers who hadn¡¯t seen this creature before grew pale. With such arge Variant Zombie that was several dimensions different from the Regr Zombies, many of the yers didn¡¯t even scream nor did they even run since they were filled with fear.

    Zhang ShengLi nced at Liu Gan quickly and noticed Liu Gan nod back, then Zhang ShengLi rushed forward with his fire ax and Carapace shield toward the Giant Colossal Zombie.

    The Giant Colossal Zombie smashed at Zhang ShengLi, but Zhang ShengLi was able to dodge it. If Zhang ShengLi had been at Level 4, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to dodge this attack. In return, Zhang ShengLi injured the Variant Zombie¡¯s leg and blood started gushing out.

    Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing also nced at Liu Gan for approval, then they both charged forward with ax and shield in hand. After taking tworge steps, Han GuangMing shouted loudly and activated his [Meteor Hammer] and threw his fire ax at the Giant Colossal Zombie¡¯s head.

    When thrown, the fire ax produced a loud sonic boom and left a trail of afterimages, it was embedded into the center of the Giant Colossal Zombie¡¯s head. Although the fire ax was stuck in the meatyyer, it hadn¡¯t been able to prate the skull.

 Chapter 196

    Chapter 196 - Gain in Confidence<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintnendonuts

    When I first started tranting TTW, it was on 1/31/16, I can''t believe it''s been a year since I''ve tranted it.

    From 1st chapter to the 100th chapter, it took me 223 days. Originally, I was going to release 3 chapters per week. So I was ahead of schedule, but I don''t think that''s enough chapters since it''s quite addicting once it gets to the good parts.

    From 101th chapter to now, almost at the 200th chapter, it took me 151 days!! I think I''m finally getting the hang of it. I hope when I get to the 300th chapter, it would take me 151 days and less!<hr><hr>

    The Variant Zombie stumbled a few steps backward and started producing a horrifying sound. After being injured, it started going berserk and started carelessly swinging its arms around.

    Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng charged forward to engage the Variant Zombie on the frontline, as Han GuangMing borrowed another yer¡¯s ax to join the fight.

    Witnessing this terrifying scene, the others started to move away to avoid the Variant Zombie. Every yer present could tell that Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers were Level 5 and above, so they were strong. Considering that they were Level 4 and weren¡¯tparable to those strong yers, trying to fight the Variant Zombie was equivalent to seeking death.

    Zhang ShengLi was dodging and weaving left and right as he attracted all the attention of the Giant Colossal Zombie. Even as Zhang ShengLi dodged the attacks, his clothes were unscathed. Now with the additional yers, Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing moved up to produce even more bloody wounds on the Variant Zombie.

    ¡°This is unexpected, your group has three yers that are Level 5!¡± Xue Jian said with envy to Liu Gan. Xue Jian was right on the money when he¡¯d made the call to join Liu Gan¡¯s group.

    Liu Gan smiled but didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Of those three yers in your group, who is the Big Boss?¡± Xue Jian asking Liu Gan directly. Seeing that there were three yers of the same level and none of them stood out above the other, Xue Jian was wondering who was going to lead the group.

    ¡°They¡¯re roughly the same,¡± Liu Gan said.

    ¡°Actually, now that I think about it. With all three of them being Level 5, no matter who leads they would be unwilling to ept. So it must be cooperative?¡± Xue Jian guessed and nodded himself to agree.

    As the Variant Zombie was lured into a building corner, Zhang ShengLi evaded the attacks brilliantly and then activated his ability [Whirlwind sh]! His whole body spun and pinned the Variant Zombie to the wall due to the immense force.

    The spinning attack was simr to a meat grinder as multiple axes struck the Giant Variant Zombie¡¯srge thighs, effectively grinding up the muscr parts of the leg including the blood vessels that ran through the region, and also fracturing the bones of the Variant Zombie.

    After the [Whirlwind sh] had ended, the Giant Variant Zombie was unable to support itsheavy upper body and copsed on the sidewalk. Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers instantly surrounded the fallen Variant Zombie and ganged up on it with continuous attacks.

    Prior to this battle, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing were suspicious of their own abilities since it was only numbers on the alloy wrist watch. In addition, their Level 5 were due to being power-leveled by Liu Gan. With this battle against the Variant Zombie, the three could confirm that even against the Variant Zombie they were stillpetent enough to kill one. Thus, giving the three of them a huge confidence boost.

    Watching Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing cooperate in battle as Level 5 fighters together so efficiently was an eye-opening experience for all the other yers. Among the group were a few reluctant team members that were part of Mr. Sheng¡¯s base camp. With their eyes as wide open as their mouths, they immediately dismissed any ill-willed thoughts since there were not one, but three powerful yers in the group.

    ¡°You three bosses are too much Killing that Variant Zombie as if you were toying with it. Our Mr. Sheng had eyes that did not see Mt. Tai. He probably would¡¯ve felt regret if he had known your strength.¡± Xue Jian said to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Bosses? What do you mean bosses? Our boss is Elder Liu! We follow Elder Liu¡¯s rule!¡± Zhang ShengLi and the other two yers said as they returned to Liu Gan¡¯s side upon overhearing Xue Jian.

    ¡°Elder Liu?¡± Xue Jian suspiciously looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Elder Liu! How do you feel like we should handle this Variant Zombie? Who will it go to this time?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan. The Variant Zombie was on the verge of dying, so it can be easily killed for another yer to join the ranks of being a Level 5.

    ¡°What do you suggest?¡± Liu Gan asked the three yers.

    ¡°For an appropriate person¡­ I think either Zhao Meng, Martial Thunder, Zhang Hua or HuJun could be chosen. Zhao Meng is capable of picking locks, so he has contributed to the team. Martial Thunder created these breasttes for us. Zhang Hua was able to use his long distance skill to aid in killing the Carapace Spitter Variant Zombie. HuJun was a guide to us.¡± Zhang ShengLi exined his thoughts to Liu Gan.

    ¡°I rmend Martial Thunder.¡± Wang DeCheng looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°I¡­ rmend Zhao Meng¡­¡± Han GuangMing also gave a name.

    ¡°Zhang ShengLi, who do you choose?¡± Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°From the group¡¯sbat ability point of view, I rmend Zhang Hua. The thing is Zhang Hua is a local survivor, so he doesn¡¯t have the alloy wrist watch. However, it seems that local survivors are simr to us yers after they¡¯ve experienced the catastrophe. These enhanced locals were able to match Level 4 yers, so if Zhang Hua kills the Variant Zombie, then he might be able to awaken an ability too. It might be possible that his awoken ability can supplement the long distance attack that our groupcks.¡± Zhang ShengLi gave his answer after analyzing the situation. Zhang ShengLi felt like he owed his sess to Zhang Hua¡¯s long range spear.

    Hearing these three name suggestions for the promotion. Zhao Meng, Martial Thunder, and Zhang Hua looked anxiously at Liu Gan for his final decision. Being able to join the ranks of a Level 5 yer meant being able to face off with a Variant Zombie! It s the sole wish of every yer and Enhanced Local Survivor.

    ¡°Zhang Hua, what is his personality like?¡± Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°These few days, I was able tomunicate with him a lot. It seems we have things quite inmon. His personality is straightforward, there¡¯s a high chance that he will b something without thinking first but he has a good and honest heart..¡± Zhang ShengLi nced at Zhang Hua from afar.

    Zhang Hua raised both his hand and waved at Zhang ShengLi gratefully. Zhang Hua was an athlete, so his personality matched that of Zhang ShengLi¡¯s, who was a personal trainer. The two days on the ind, they were constantly drinking beer and chatting about fitness.

    ¡°We still don¡¯t know if the enhanced survivors can awaken an ability after killing a Variant Zombie since they don¡¯t have an alloy wrist watch. We won¡¯t know their level or the ability name and function. If they aren¡¯t able to awaken the ability, then it would be a waste to spend this opportunity on them.¡± Wang DeCheng disagreed with Zhang ShengLi¡¯s view.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Han GuangMing quickly nodded, as he agreed with Wang DeCheng¡¯s view.

    ¡°Zhang ShengLi has a point. If there is a chance that Zhang Hua can get a long distance ability, since the ability takes a form closest to what the person desires most, then Zhang Hua will be serves as the long distance sniper of our group. I will take that chance and give this kill to Zhang Hua!¡± Liu Gan said after much consideration.

 Chapter 197

    Chapter 197 - Unity<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts<hr>

    After Liu Gan had announced it, Zhang Hua was rejoicing, but Martial Thunder and Zhao Meng were both disappointed. Both HuJun and Zhou JingJing had an unsightly look; their reason for trying to level up was a personal grudge against Zhang Hua. Since their powers were on the same level, they were thinking that if they¡¯d had the power to back themselves up, then they wouldn¡¯t have to suffer through the displeasure from the earlier embarrassment.

    ¡°Due to our camp¡¯sbat ability, killing Variant Zombies is very easy, so everyone will have a chance to be level 5. There will be many opportunities in the near future, so consider this an experiment of whether Zhang Hua can awaken an ability or not. Wasting an opportunity now isn¡¯t a big problem.¡± Liu Gan said to Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing. Even though Liu Gan said it to those two, the words were really meant for the other team members to hear.

    ¡°We shall listen to Elder Liu¡¯s final decision! Your choice has always been right!¡± Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing quickly added.

    ¡°Thank you Elder Liu! Thank you, Brother ShengLi!¡± Zhang Hua bowed in gratitude. He then rushed over to the Variant Zombie with his fire ax in hand, chopping at its neck. After a dozen strikes at the neck and at the brain, he was able to finish off the Variant Zombie.

    Only Zhang Hua was able to see the very ck dense orb seep into his body. His body was boiling hot from that sensation of leveling up, and he felt like he was overflowing with energy.

    After a series of examination, Zhang Hua had definitely been able to awaken an ability. Its ability name was unknown, yet, it was very clear that it had to do with his original skill of throwing javelins from afar. Now, he was able to throw a javelin from 300 meters away, but with higher uracy at 200 meters. As for how urate it was at 200 meters, it was hard to tell since he only had a limited supply of javelins to use for testing.

    Zhang Hua being able to awaken this long distance ability was proof that enhanced survivors could also have an ability. This time it was his specialty of throwingnce-like weapons at a very quick speed. When the weapon was thrown, it generated a peculiar lightray unique to the ability. The minimum distance at which Zhang Hua could activate his ability was 20 meters, his ability would not activate for any target under that distance.

    The force of thence had also greatly increased, it could pass through the wall. This was only possible with an ability activation. Since before the level up, Zhang Hua wasn¡¯t able to do it with his arm strength alone.

    ¡°Zhang Hua, even though you¡¯ve awakened your ability, that ability is still no match for me. If I wanted to kill you, it would be like crushing an ant! Now that you have this ability, you need the responsibility to match the authority to hold it. Take this as a warning. Don¡¯t let me see you bully or take advantage of other yers. If the same situation happens again, I will be very strict with your punishment. Do you understand?¡± Liu Gan motioned Zhang Hua forward.

    ¡°I understand! I Understand! Elder Liu. I will definitely take notice when I drink next time to not spew nonsense to HuJun! I will not bully nor take advantage of other team members!¡± Zhang Hua immediately agreed.

    Hearing Liu Gan warn Zhang Hua, HuJun and Zhou JingJing were able to rx their expression. The couple knew that these words of warning from Liu Gan were about the conflict fromst time when Zhang Hua was drunk.

    ¡°I want my team members to be united for the cause, so I won¡¯t allow any dissent that breaks that unity. If simr events happen again, then I will take charge and thoroughly investigate the matter for punishment! Since there will be more team members to be incorporated into the team. Wang DeCheng, take these two days to work with Zhang ShengLi and draw up a team discipline manual that states the punishments and reward. No matter the weak or strong, male or female it will be a fair and just system! Everyone that decides to follow me will be subjected to following these rules,¡± Liu Gan said loudly to everyone.

    ¡°Okay. I will work quickly to help draft the discipline manual along with the rewards and punishments,¡± Wang DeCheng agreed.

    Xue Jian looked frighteningly at Liu Gan. In his eyes, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing should¡¯ve been the leader as they were all level 5 yers. Yet, all these people were very respectful towards Liu Gan, and they obeyed his orders.

    The moment they had wounded the Variant Zombie, Liu Gan made the final decision on choosing who to reap the reward of bing level 5. Liu Gan had even threatened Zhang Hua that if he ever acted out of ce, then he would be killed as easily as an ant.

    With this said, then his former guild member, [Burning Fire], should be the one they called Elder Liu. Now the question was, what level was he? He sounded as if he was Level 6 and above?

    [Burning Fire]¡¯s original team had a small number of people, at leastpared to Mr. Sheng¡¯s camp. However, their overallbat ability was not weak at all!

    <strong>...</strong>

    Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng received their order from Liu Gan. For efficient management, they separated the 40+ people into five squads. Each squad could have about eight to ten people with a squad leader each leading their respective squads. Since Xue Jian and Liu Gan were very familiar with each other, Xue Jian¡¯s original group was not separated. They also made Xue Jian a squad leader of his group.

    As of right now, Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, Xue Jian each led their own squads as the leaders. Within each squad, there was a vice-leader that operated under the orders of the leaders. Xue Jian felt nervous as he was a squad leader with the other Level 5 yers. Xue Jian hadn¡¯t rejected the offer, so he''d epted it with fear.

    ¡°My group here is open to you, Flying Snow, so if you want to leave anytime, that is eptable. If you want to remain, then we can work together. I will help you reach level 5.¡± Liu Gan walked over to talk to Xue Jian.

    Even though in the real world these two had no connection, but in the game [Dominion], they had known each other for a good few years, so Liu Gan trusted the personality of his pal, [Flying Snow]. Hence, if Xue Jian decided to stay within his group, then Liu Gan would help level him up to 5.

    For the same reason, since they are friends. If Xue Jian wanted to take his squad to leave, then Liu Gan wouldn¡¯t force him to stay. Everyone would have the freedom of choice to decide for themselves.

    ¡°We all became Level 5 under Elder Liu¡¯s assistance. Since you are Elder Liu¡¯s friend, if you are willing to stay with us then Elder Liu definitely won¡¯t treat you badly.¡± Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing chimed in. Even though Xue Jian was Level 4, within Mr. Sheng¡¯s camp, Xue Jian had a high status, so all yers from Mr. Sheng¡¯s camp had viewed Xue Jian with respect. With Xue Jian¡¯s presence, it was easy to harmonize the newly epted 30 yers with the original group.

    ¡°It all depends on you, Burning Fire. I am in your care as long as you don¡¯t me us for dragging you down. I am willing to follow you¡­ Right, I need to change how I call you. I should be like them and call you Elder Liu!¡± Xue Jian answered Liu Gan.

    ¡°Guild Leader, you are too modest!¡± Liu Ganughed with Xue Jian.

    ¡°No no, I must.¡± Xue Jian replied. The way Xue Jian greeted Liu Gan wasn¡¯t purely apliment. It was to set a precedent, this way followers of Xue Jian, would also pay respect to Liu Gan as a leader.

 Chapter 198

    Chapter 198 - Map<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    I finished watching "Goblin" the K-Drama. It''s so sad! In addition, there are two uing characters that I really get tired of naming since I don''t know if they will die all of a sudden or stay. That''s why I opened up to naming them for patreons -> Obviously it will be closely simr to the pin yin and not outrageous. <hr>

    When Xue Jian was leading his group of guild members, he had no choice but to rely on Mr. Sheng. Later, he¡¯d decided to leave Mr. Sheng¡¯s care and follow Liu Gan toward the countryside. Xue Jian exined it in a way to show that he and Mr. Sheng had conflicting viewpoints, but the real reason why Xue Jian wanted to leave was that he¡¯d felt that Mr. Sheng didn¡¯t have enough trust in him.

    Xue Jian, in reality, was simr to Liu Gan, they were both second-generations from a wealthy family. They loved ying online games, so they spent most of their free time on the inte. Xue Jian was heavily invested into the online game, the typical pay-to-win yer.

    With his wealth and straightforward personality, he bought a lot of equipment and gave it out to guildmates. As long as the yers were familiar with him, Xue Jian would buy equipment for them when asked. So among the ingame yers, he had a very high poprity. There were many yers alongside him when he yed the game, but a majority of them were his real life friends. They all had one thing inmon; it was due to his generosity and straightforward personality.

    When Liu Gan was ying [Dominion] and decided to join Xue Jian¡¯s guild, it was because Liu Gan appreciated the guild name [Lonely Wild Crane], and he''d never would¡¯ve thought that he would stay for so long; it was a good few years.

    On the day [The Trembling World] released its server to the public, Xue Jian was also with a group of real life friends logging onto the game. They were logging on at a luxurious inte cafe, so they were all simultaneously grouped together in the same district. Totally, they numbered up to 20 people. Due to prior habit, Xue Jian automatically became the leader.

    Xue Jian was leading his group of friends when they¡¯d attracted the interest of Mr. Sheng. Through a series of underhanded methods of dividing Xue Jian¡¯s followers, the original 20 yers were divided in half. Up until the point when Mr. Sheng had died, Xue Jian had only ten remaining loyal followers.

    With such strong yers by Liu Gan¡¯s side, Xue Jian knew that it was safest sticking with Liu Gan. Liu Gan had no ns of dividing Xue Jian¡¯s group like Mr. Sheng, so Xue Jian was grateful. With so many strong yers under Liu Gan¡¯s guidance already, there was no need to prey on the loyal followers of Xue Jian; Liu Gan didn¡¯t care for whether these yers would remain with him, so the possibility of dividing the followers was non-existent.

    As for the benefits of staying, Xue Jian and Liu Gan had years of friendship in [Dominion] so he knew that Liu Gan would definitely treat him nicely.

    ¡°So now that we are one big family, there is no need topare with each other! We all work for Elder Liu!¡± Zhang ShengLi patted Xue Jian on the shoulders.

    ¡°Yes! We shall work for Elder Liu!¡± Xue Jian rejoiced as he had a new role in the group.

    After subordinating Mr. Sheng¡¯s people and rearranging the personnel, it was time to move back onto the yacht. Liu Gan was confident now that with this many people, he could take over the Serenity aircraft or anyrge airships docked at Green Pao Bay. There was also a lurking concern of securing enough food ration and water for everyone.

    Based on Liu Gan¡¯s personality, he was the type that liked to be independent. So to reach this problem of having so many yers was unexpected. However, he wouldn¡¯t abandon them; he would carry out the duties of a leader and establish a safe base for them.

    To retain some freedom of independent movement, Liu Gan had Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng in managerial positions. Without having to worry about the whole group¡¯s safety, Liu Gan could travel independently for more dangerous risks, and when he needed more people, he could always go back to camp to call for help.

    As for Liu Gan¡¯s current strength, he was quite powerful. Along with Yin He as the bodyguard, it was very easy for him to survive in this chaotic world. But he also knew the limitations of being the strongest alone, so at the same time as being strong, he must have a strong, loyal set of team members.

    <strong>¡­</strong>

    ¡°Elder Liu, I found a notebook on Mr. Sheng¡¯s body. Within it is a drawing of a map, I¡¯m not sure if this would be any use to you,¡± Zhang ShengLi said as he carried the notebook over to Liu Gan.

    This is one of those exercise notebooks that Mr. Sheng must have picked up from somewhere. Written on it were several unrecognizable writings and a whole bunch of drawings of a geographical map. In between the pages of that notebook, was a sheet of folded paper.

    The drawings were indications of where Mr. Sheng had been transferred from and the districts he had to pass through to get to where he was now. It was a really detailed map. ording to the lines and the sequence drawn, Mr. Sheng seemed to have been transferred to NinJing City¡¯s southern outskirts near the countryside. Then Mr. Sheng walked north until he reached this location.

    Mr. Sheng¡¯s original transferred location was very close to Green Pao Bay. Seems like the road that Liu Gan is traveling on have already been mapped out with indicators. Along the road on the map, was arge-scale prison. Mr. Sheng seemed to have felt that the prison was an appropriate ce for a base, so he had clearly marked out the location.

    The prison was located right outside of NinJing City. So if Mr. Sheng had decided that was a suitable ce, then it didn¡¯t match why Mr. Sheng entered into the city. As his ultimate decision was not choosing the prison as his base camp, he had chosen this location to be base camp, which was a little closer to the city center.

    Mr. Sheng, for the past few days, had ventured deep into the city center since the drawings of the map were quite detailed. Upon encountering therge-scale corpse tide, he was forced to return. Mr. Sheng had even tried to venture upstream of the river, in hopes of finding a boat to cross the river, but had been unable to find one.

    Judging from the map and what was written, Mr. Sheng¡¯s real target wasn¡¯t to enter into the city. It was to pass through to the city to anotherrger ind. It was near the location of where Liu Gan had been transferred into, the northern part of the district.

    This struck a chord within Liu Gan¡¯s heart¡­ Why was it so important that Mr. Sheng head north in that direction? He¡¯d seemed dead-set on heading in that direction. What could it be?

    It was too upsetting that Mr. Sheng had died. Now all clues were lost, with only hints from his notebook.

    Thest hint within the notebook wasn¡¯t what Mr. Sheng had written down or drawn, it was the folded piece of paper slipped in between the pages. In the folded paper, was a detailed map of the northern district of NinJing city. It was a region that was even further north than where Liu Gan had been transferred into.

    Thendmark location was a logo of San Xing Corporation, that was where Yin He had been found within the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. The name of the northern district on the map was indicated by the logo; it was the Lucky Garden District symbol. Essentially, it was the opposite direction of where Liu Gan had headed towards.

    If the guess was right, Mr. Sheng must have wanted to head north past NinJing City. So Mr. Sheng had been searching for an appropriate path through the city center.

    Since his path and Liu Gan¡¯s path are in opposite direction, Liu Gan was able to sessfully pass through the city center to reach this location. However, for Mr. Sheng, he was blocked by the corpse-tide, so he¡¯d had no choice but to head toward the northern district.

 Chapter 199

    Chapter 199 - Countercurrent<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    This was certainly a mystery that bothered Liu Gan. To rify as to why Mr. Sheng had wanted to pass through the city, Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi to bring over the two closest aides of Mr. Sheng. Liu Gan was going to interrogate them.

    These two former aides of Mr. Sheng were not at all loyal. However, since Mr. Sheng had died already and with Liu Gan as the new leader, they could only answer honestly without any bad intentions. They had already witnessed how strong Liu Gan¡¯s followers were and each of them were not weaker than Mr. Sheng.

    ¡°Mr. Sheng¡­ He said when he was in the countryside, he had encountered three San Xing Corporation workers. From them, he had obtained the map. The workers told him that over in that specific district near a mountainside, it had a secret location. That location had a department that specialized in spatial transfers, so perhaps it was the way to return to the real world. Mr. Sheng¡¯s real reason for forming a team was so they could work together to reach that specific location,¡± said one of the former aides. This aide¡¯s name was Zheng Lin, and he was exining to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Transfer department? Did he ever mention the logo marker for that department?¡± Liu Gan asked with a surprised expression. Based on what Jiang JinYuan had mentioned, it was on the Central Main ind that there was aboratory that might have the capabilities of transferring. But with this new knowledge, it would mean that a little north of where Jiang JinYuan had spawned was anotherboratory with the same capabilities? He had been so close to it, if this were true.

    ¡°No, this issue was only told to both of us. He forced us to keep it a secret. He said that as long as we obeyed him and helped him with tasks, he would take us to the transfer department and return to the real world.¡± Zheng Lin shook his head.

    Upon hearing that there was a possible transfer department, Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng clearly became excited based on their expression.

    To return to the real world and leave the Trembling World was the biggest wish for these trapped yers. Hearing such an attractive offer, they would probably work hard to cross back over the river and through the city to the northern district.

    NinJing City was arge ind with a slim shape, it was one of the several satellite inds around the Central Main Ind. Liu Gan¡¯s location was south of the center. With the city center located in the middle of the ind, there was only one visible path to reach the northern district. Following along the NinJing river that flowed diagonally, they discover that their current location was rather east of the city center, so south-east of the city center.

    Mr. Sheng hade from a location further south, so his logic had been to pass through by traveling along NinJing River¡¯s waterway. He had wanted to head upstream to avoid the city¡¯s corpse tide.

    However, Liu Gan had doubts about the route that Mr. Sheng had left behind. The waterway led close to the city center, but it didn¡¯t head northwest to the direction they need to go. Instead, the river continued to head west after a certain point. So even if Mr. Sheng had been able to reach the city center, he would have arrived at the location where Liu Gan had escaped from the corpse tide near the supermarket. Not only would that be difficult, but that was not even half the distance of the trip, as Mr. Sheng would still need to head further north to the district.

    ¡°I came from the northern district, I also encountered a San Xing Corporation worker. It is impossible to have a transfer department in the north. If there was a department that can send us back, then he never said it. What he did say was that the Center Main Ind had the capabilities of transfer,¡± Liu Gan said to everyone around him. Liu Gan knew that these group of yers had been thinking about going to that district, so he had to tell them the truth.

    ¡°What if it¡¯s possible that there is a department that can transfer in the northern district?¡± Wang DeCheng wasn¡¯t going to give up.

    ¡°Yeah, shouldn¡¯t we at least try?¡± Han GuangMing said in a concerned tone.

    ¡°If that northern district was capable of transferring, then the San Xing Corporation worker wouldn¡¯t have had to lead me toward the city center. That means of the two San Xing Worker, one of them was lying or all of them were lying.¡± Liu Gan shook his head. Liu Gan didn¡¯t have high hopes of finding that there was a spatial transfer department.

    Let¡¯s say that there was a spatial transfer department, it was still more usible to believe what Jiang JinYuan had said. There was simply a higher possibility that the department would be on the Center Main Ind than in some rural countryside along the outskirts of a satellite ind.

    ¡°I really want to return back to the real world! I miss my parents,¡± said some of the team members.

    ¡°Yeah! I miss my wife,¡± said other team members. Soon other people started moaning about things they miss.

    ¡°We were forced here from the city center by the corpse tide; out of nine lives, only one can survive. So even if we wanted to cross through to the city center by heading north, it isn¡¯t possible. However, if we are able to find arge ship or an airship at Green Pao Bay, then we can head north anytime after that,¡± Liu Gan suggested to everyone else.

    Essentially, even if the northern district had a spatial transfer department, Liu Gan wanted to first head to Green Station Mountain and Green Pao Bay, which were further south. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve wasted all this time to run in a circle around NinJing City.

    ¡°Yeah! You guys should stop sighing! Everything will be ording to how Elder Liu decides! If you are unwilling to follow Elder Liu, then you can find your own way through the city center to that so-called spatial transfer department. By that time, you can be the master of your own life and death!¡± Zhang ShengLi angrily said to everyone.

    ¡°Yeah! Let¡¯s stop bringing down morale. If we decide to follow Elder Liu, we will eventually find the real spatial transfer. At this time, we should not add to Elder Liu¡¯s problem!¡± Wang DeCheng said. Wang DeCheng was slightly embarrassed for his actions earlier, as he should always have been on Liu Gan¡¯s side as his squad leader.

    ¡°Yeah! Not to mention searching for some transfer department, even surviving is hard without Elder Liu!¡± Han GuangMing added.

    ¡°Yeah! Following Elder Liu, is the right way to go!¡± imed the other members as they regained their spirit.

    After this long debate with the squad leaders, which path to continue traveling south to Green Pao Bay was decided. After they had established a sustainable mobile base, then there can be talks about going north to debunk the myth of spatial transfer department in the northern district.

    Along the route to Green Pao Bay, Liu Gan still had to stop at Green Station Mountain to look for the secretboratory that he had obtained knowledge of from the white-coat sponsor. ording to the information, it should have an independent electric generator so there should be plenty of high-technological equipment. In particr, high-technological equipment that Yin He could use.

    There was a long road ahead in the future. There were a lot of things that needed to be aplished, but it was more important to slowly do it right, to finish one task at a time.

    After hearing that Liu Gan had wanted to continue to Green Pao Bay, the former-aides of Mr. Sheng gave Liu Gan more useful clues. Prior to reaching their current camp, Mr. Sheng had been able to fix several operable cars that were stored away in an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse wasn¡¯t located too far away, just around two to three kilometers.

 Chapter 200

    Chapter 200 - Speeding Up the Journey<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    ED: Nintendonuts

    Yay chapter 200!! May the next 100 chapters be faster than thest!<hr>

    The abandoned warehouse was also considered on the outskirts since it was two to three kilometers away, so there should be considerably less zombies and abandoned cars along the way. Therefore, with less traffic blocking the roads, traveling by car was a feasible idea. With the team members traveling by car to Green Pao Bay, it would be a lot more efficient. Since the group was only as fast as the slowest person.

    In addition, if they didn¡¯t drive, then the yers would end up as mules for the resources. Everyone was biased towards having a car to drive around.

    As the night sky drew closer, the group would have its first night together. Just like before, with a surplus of food, Liu Gan didn''t ce a food portion restriction so therge group of 40 could enjoy a good feast.

    Hopefully through this feast, the new and old members could slowly get used to each other. In the process, there would be many minor habits and misunderstanding. Many of these issues were resolved by the squad leaders so the troubles never reached Liu Gan.

    Resolving these conflicts were rather easy. All that the squad leaders had to say was ¡®if the members don''t resolve the issue soon and Elder Liu was in a bad mood, he might act irrationally. By that time someone might end up losing a limb or two¡¯. Upon hearing this, any of the rebellious new yers joining the group would definitely think twice before acting.

    <strong>...</strong>

    Upon the second day, Zhang ShengLi went along with Zheng Lin and a few members to scout the road ahead. The purpose of their trip was to confirm the three vehicles that had been stashed in the warehouse was still there and operable. Once they had confirmed that it was still in good shape, they reported back to Liu Gan. The group then packed up to get ready to move headquarters.

    Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing and Zhang Hua were responsible for clearing obstacles in their path ahead. In the middle of the pack were yers pushing bicycles that were filled with food packages. The yers that were pushing shopping carts had bulkier objects like rice bags in the carts. Then there were the remaining human mules, who had to carry food rations and a variety of day-to-day products in their backpacks. Of course, Liu Gan and Yin He had duties as rear guard.

    With four Level 5 yers, the level of safety clearly increased significantly. Their attitudes toward regr zombies had changed, as the front line could easily deal with it.

    With so many human mules transporting cargos, Liu Gan was able to finally rx and casually move around. He didn¡¯t have to personally scout or carry his own bag. He only needed to be ready to use his power to ensure the safety of his group at a moment¡¯s notice.

    So anything trivial that could be handled by the four Level 5 yers, wouldn¡¯t need to be bothered by Liu Gan.

    The road to the warehouse had zombies that were cleared out by Zhang ShengLi. New zombies had wandered onto the road as they had to once again cleared the route out. These zombies were the ones that Zhang ShengLi had missed, so there weren¡¯t too many regr zombies wandering around. At the group¡¯s current level, the regr zombies weren¡¯t a threat, it was just time consuming.

    With so many team members traveling with resources, their speed as a group wasn¡¯t fast at all. The warehouse was only a few kilometers away, but it still took them until noon to reach it. Within the warehouse, they found three vehicles.

    Wang DeCheng called over a few yers that understood auto mechanics so that they could look through the car just to ensure that there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with the engines and brakes. Even though the possibility was low, the mechanics were also asked to look for any homemade bombs, it was better to be more cautious.

    There were two sedans, and onerge truck. It was enough to fit everyone and the resources too. With the apocalyptic world at hand, there wouldn¡¯t be any objections from police officers who would penalize them at the sight of cargo and humans sitting together in the back of the truck.

    The fuel in the vehicle wasn¡¯t too full, so it was good thing Mr. Sheng had drawn the map in detail. He had even marked the location of gas stations on the map. Liu Gan calcted that the current amount of fuel in the vehicle should just be enough to reach the prison in the outskirts. As indicated on the map, there was a gas station near the prison.

    Without a doubt, the first pitstop would be the gas station near the prison. It was still questionable if the gas station had fuel to spare. If there was enough fuel, it would be possible to drive the vehicles directly to Green Pao Station. Even from their current location, there was a dozen kilometers of road left to reach the gas station. So to make it before dark, they would have to hurry.

    To prevent further damage to the front hood and bumper of the car, the yers who understood auto-body repair gathered materials to reshape the car. The instation on the front of the car was to make it suitable for hit and run tactics. The idea of the modified car was to have a pointed tip, this way it could dissipate the sustained damage from crashing into zombies. The pointed end was in the middle, where it would re outward so zombies could be brushed aside.

    ¡°It works on cloudy days! I¡¯m afraid that there will be a thunderstorm though.¡± Wang DeCheng said to Zhang ShengLi.

    ¡°Which day isn¡¯t cloudy? Even if it rains, there is nothing we can do. We can only hurry on our journey! Let¡¯s try to reach our next pitstop first,¡± Zhang ShengLi replied to Wang DeCheng.

    ¡°You are right,pared to the freak tornado days ago, the weather for these past two days are good. So if we are all in the car, I just hope that there won¡¯t be any freak idents.¡± Wang DeCheng nodded. He was still scarred from thatst incident.

    At the warehouse, everyone immediately got to work. The mechanics would rush the modifications on the car and the others would prepare lunch for everyone. By the time it was around 2 to 3 PM, they were ready to get back on the road. With a designated driver driving, the yers would be able to rest and maintain their stamina so they wouldn¡¯t have to waste any effort in being mules.

    The top speed of the car was only as fast as the slowest vehicle, the car wasn¡¯t able to move as fast as they would¡¯ve liked. The main reason was the absurd amount of cars that were destroyed and acted as obstacles blocking the roadway. If they were on foot, with just one or two wrecked vehicle every dozen meters, they wouldn¡¯t feel like it was obstructing them. Now that they were driving, every few hundred meters was an obstacle and they felt annoyed.

    With every obstacle, the yers would have to get out of the car to push the vehicle aside. They also had to make sure there weren¡¯t any sharp materials on the floor as a preventive measure from getting the tires damaged.

    After opening a path on the road, the head car with the modifications went ahead. After several hundred meters of smooth driving, they came upon a section of road with enough zombies for a corpse tide. If there were only a few zombies in the way, the car would¡¯ve ran them over. With this many zombies, the cars might get stuck and surrounded by the zombies and getting surrounded would certainly be trouble.

    After confirming that the vehicles aren¡¯t able to pass through, Zhang ShengLi led his squad out of the cars. With a dozen meters between the zombie and the yers, the yers held up their weapon as they prepared to engage the small group of zombies. They defeated the zombies and chopped them up, so the cars would have room to pass through.

 Chapter 201

    The wind picked up speed, and the sky got darker. They proceeded just as slow as before. Every squad and their squad leader felt anxiety. If the thunderstorm started now, then remaining in the car was the most dangerous thing they could do.

    Aside from clearing the parked cars and killing wandering zombies along the path, there was nothing more that the squads could do to speed up their progress. The group was only halfway through their journey.

    ¡°Elder Liu, it is impossible to reach our destination before dark at our current speed. Do you think we should find suitable housing for the night?¡± Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°Yes, start searching for one. A thunderstorm can happen anytime now. It would be dangerous for us to continue,¡± Liu Gan replied after looking at the sky to see cumulonimbus clouds growing on the horizon.

    ¡°Understood,¡± Zhang ShengLi said. Zhang ShengLi then walked up to his squad and pulled them aside after they had finished moving a car.

    The darker it got, the stronger the winds. With the threat of a looming thunderstorm on the horizon, lightning flickered. It wouldn¡¯t be too long until it reached them.

    Zhang ShengLi was able to find a building that was suitable for a temporary base camp; it was a hotel along the road. The hotel building was more elevatedpared to the surrounding buildings. The walls that formed the foundation of the hotel were constructed very sturdily, so the car squad parked close by the hotel to avoid the thunderstorm.

    This hotel along the roadside seemed to have been family owned. The surface area wasrge, it was four-story building that was close to the intersection, and behind the hotel was a possible location for parking the vehicles. The first floor was arge ballroom that could fit seven to eight tables, this area was perfect for hosting dinner reservations and events. Everything on the second floor and above was for housing.

    The tornado from a few days ago didn¡¯t have too much of an effect on this hotel building here. At least there weren¡¯t any visible damages on the windows from the outside. It was hard to exin with logic, it didn¡¯t fit with any currentprehension of the worldly matters. Just like this situation here; the tornado, while it was far from the city center, hadn¡¯t been able to affect structures on the outskirts?

    Of course, there were some people who didn''t pay attention to such minute details.

    With the amount of zombies wandering around within the hotel, one could guess that this hotel wasn¡¯t doing so well on the business side. At least for thest two days of the catastrophe, there hadn¡¯t been any visitors, so business wasn¡¯t doing so well. Of the four floors in the whole building, there were only ten zombies. To prevent possible bacterial or viral contamination, the bodies of the zombies were moved a distance away from their location, toward the rear courtyard.

    Eventually, the hotel was livable. It was carefully cleaned and everyone rushed into the building before the downpour.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Liu Gan stood at the first-floor lobby as he asked Yin He, who stayed outside.

    ¡°I can sense something¡¯s wrong.¡± Yin He looked at the rear courtyard with an alert expression.

    ¡°What do you sense?¡± Liu Gan started to look toward the rear courtyard. The courtyard was rather simplistic. It was a parking lot, with the three vehicles parked in the middle of the courtyard. There was nothing visibly wrong to the naked eye.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell for sure right now, should I look around?¡± Yin He asked Liu Gan.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± Liu Gan replied to Yin He.

    At this very moment, the lightning brightened the entire sky, followed by the sound of thunder.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I can go alone. I am not afraid of this lightning. However, you aren¡¯t as invincible.¡± Yin He stopped Liu Gan.

    ¡°Okay then, go quickly and return fast. Don¡¯t travel too far,¡± Liu Gan said to Yin He. Liu Gan knew that Yin He was stronger, but there were too many idents that could ur in The Trembling World. Plus, he felt a lingering feeling of uneasiness.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Yin He said as she let go of Liu Gan¡¯s hand. Soon she disappeared from sight into the darkness of the night, under the cover of the thunderstorm.

    As the events in the hotel simmered down. They had to bring out the shlights to illuminate the surrounding. A portion of the yers had started a fire to cook dinner for everyone. Those that didn¡¯t have dinner duties sat by the tableside in the ballroom to chat with one another and there were some who sat near the windows to watch the lightning storm.

    This thunderstorm and the one from a few days ago were the same. First came the lightning, then the thunder. Throughout the storm,rge droplets of rain could be heard hitting on the panels of the window.

    The torrential downpour created a flood as the rainwater pooled up to the ankle level on the ground floor. It was a good thing that the hotel was built on elevated ground; there were a dozen steps above the ground level. The flood didn¡¯t reach the first floor of the hotel and to the front of the building was arge gutter. Even as the gutter became filled to the brim with rainwater, the rainwater flowed from the higher to lower grounds. There was no chance for the rainwater to flood the first floor of the hotel.

    ¡°Damn! This type of weather is hopeless!¡± Zhang ShengLi stood by the front door of the hotel and cursed the gods.

    ¡°Even other games don¡¯t have weather this harsh! Remember that tornado? That was terrifying! I remember how d I was that it didn¡¯t head toward my way,¡± Xue Jian said to Zhang ShengLi.

    This game wasn¡¯t like other games. In other games, as long as Xue Jian could bring out more money, he could buy his way into owning legendary equipment. This way, he could earn the envy of others. However, in The Trembling World, there was no way he could do that; he and other yers wouldn¡¯t have an advantage over one another. So Xue Jian had started umting other advantages like social connections.

    Even now, Xue Jian was trying his best to bond with the group. To form good connections with Zhang ShengLi and other squad leaders was what Xue Jian should do first. Among the squad leaders, Xue Jian was the weakest of them all. If Xue Jian doesn¡¯t form a good rtionship, then as a representative of his squad, they will have a hard time staying with the group. Xue Jian didn¡¯t want to rely on Liu Gan¡¯s rtionship to stay in the group; Xue Jian wanted to earn his keep within the group.

    ¡°Wait, that tornado several days earlier never reached you? I bet you won¡¯t believe that we were at the city center. We were in the eye of the storm. It was a terrifying feeling¡­¡± Zhang ShengLi recalling the events of that day.

    ¡°Ah? You were able to survive the force of the tornado? Even within the eye of the storm?¡± Xue Jian asked in a shocked expression.

    ¡°Yes! That time we had three team members instantly killed by the tornado upon impact. Two of them were killed by a flying truck! Can you imagine that? The building corner got struck by the truck and the debris killed the two members. I witnessed it with my own eyes, there was no time to react to it! It could¡¯ve been any one of us!¡± Zhang ShengLi recalling his memory.

    ¡°Damn! That is terrifying!¡± Xue Jian eximed with his eyes wide open.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t even the most frightening part. The worst part was when the tornado picked up all the zombies into the sky. The tornado connected heaven and earth! After the wind stopped blowing, one by one the zombies started to rain down. The ground formed tenyers of bodies!¡± Zhang ShengLi continued.

 Chapter 202

    <span>Chapter 202 - Worries<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: Nintendonuts

    ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)

    ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)

    ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)<hr>

    <span>"Raining zombies¡­" Xue Jian said hopelessly. Judging from that news, Liu Gan''s group was definitely not simple at all. They were even more experienced in survival than he was, was what Xue Jian was thinking.

    <span>"We had each member zipline one by one down from the building. If you let go, you would end up in the hands of the zombies. Ripped apart as food for them." Zhang ShengLi shook his head as he recalled that moment of how Wang YongChang had died. That day was hard to forget; even though he didn''t want to remember the events that had happened that day, he would day dream and it would be vividly in his memory.

    <span>Wang YongChang''s death was his own fault and nobody else''s. Despite that, Zhang ShengLi still felt guilty. Zhang ShengLi was reying various scenes in his head, if he had stayed a little longer or helped tie the rope, then Wang YongChang wouldn''t have died.

    <span>"Ah¡­ You have experienced too much! What we have been through pales inparison¡­" Xue Jian said. Xue Jian had no idea whether to be envious or sympathize with Zhang ShengLi''s experiences.

    <span>Several more people carried chairs over to sit in a circle by the hotel front door and chat, while the kitchen was busy making food. By the time dinner was finished being made, 40+ people had gathered in the ballroom to eat, sitting around 8 tables.

    <span>In this unknown world with the torrential downpour outside, being surrounded by strangers on the inside, and the uncertainty of tomorrow''s events, it was aplex and mixed feeling. Only those who were present understood how it felt.

    <span>"Yin He, how''s the situation outside?" Liu Gan took out his earphones to contact Yin He.

    <span>The only response was static noise. It could be the weather conditions or Yin He was simply too far away, hence themunications problem.

    <span>"Elder Liu, is there a problem? Where is Little He?" Zhang ShengLi whispered to Liu Gan. He saw that Liu Gan had a concerned look.

    <span>"No problem, let''s eat dinner." Liu Gan patted Zhang ShengLi''s shoulder and they both proceeded to the main dinner table to sit down.

    <span>After merging both the teams, to ensure its safety, the food supplies were now constantly kept under guard.. To enter the kitchen, every member had to be body-searched. Then, Liu Gan ordered the kitchen workers to eat the food first. Only when it was safe to eat, did everyone else pick up their chopsticks to eat.

    <span>In this world, there was no democracy, only a centralized rule. As a team leader, for his own safety and the safety of others, there would be many situations where Liu Gan would be forced to do things that seemed rather inhumane.

    <span>Considering that the outskirts was just wilderness, the absence of buildings in the surrounding area, and with such a loud thunderstorm in the background, it made it impossible for zombies to pinpoint the source of the noises to the hotel. Therefore, Zhang ShengLi and Han GuangMing had suggested having a party, and Liu Gan had approved. They quickly moved the tables to the side, making room in the center of the ballroom.

    <span>This party had ice breaker games for the four squads topete in. The losing squad would have to put on a performance. Any performance would be allowed, even better if they could make othersugh.

    <span>Within the 40 or so members of the team, aside from Zhang Miao and Zhou JingJing, there were three other young female yers. These three yers were from Xue Jian''s group. There were very few female yers that yed zombie games, so naturally, these females took the spotlight of the night. Many of them had some talent in a performing art, like singing or dancing - it created a nice ambiance. It gave off the feeling that was close to that of being back in the real world.

    <span>As the ballroom became lively, only one person was frowning. It was Liu Gan, he stood by the front hotel door waiting for Yin He to return. Only when she walked in, drenched in rainwater, was he finally able to rx the muscles in his brow.

    <span>"Are you okay?" Liu Gan walked toward Yin He.

    <span>"I''m okay, I searched thoroughly in the surrounding area for a few hundred meters, but I couldn''t discover what was wrong," Yin He answered disappointedly.

    <span>"That is fine, when there is a thunderstorm next time, don''t go too far away from me," Liu Gan said in a concerned tone.

    <span>"Why? Are you worried about me?" Yin He sensed something was up.

    <span>"Yes." Liu Gan nodded. Ever since she had left, Liu Gan had no way of contacting her. He felt very ufortable and uneasy, even impatient. He didn''t want to experience that feeling ever again.

    <span>Yin He suddenly picked up speed, pecked Liu Gan on the face, then retreated backward.

    <span>"Only this?" Liu Gan wasn''t satisfied.

    <span>"I have to dry myself." Yin He giggled. Then she ran upstairs to the second floor to find a bath towel.

    <span>"Seems like our intimacy has increased." Liu Gan was lost in thought. As he touched the part where he had been kissed.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>In the hotel, from the second floor to the fourth floor, each floor had six rooms and every room had two beds. Originally these beds had clean bedsheets, but some had been contaminated by the zombies. This was a rather nice hotel, as there were spare bedsheets andforters in theundry room. So all they had to do was change the soiled bedsheets with clean ones.

    <span>One of the few rooms had the windows smashed. The thunderstorm blew the rainwater into the room, making it wet and loud. It was impossible to sleep in there. Some team members likedpanions that were more lively, so they moved together with their beddings into other people''s room. The yers that were not afraid of noise and didn''t want apanion, used wooden boards to nail shut the window - they had the room all to themselves.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He had a room on the third floor, it was the cleanest room there. The nearby room belonged to Zhang ShengLi who was with Zhang Hua.

    <span>Since there were more people in their group now, there were more people assigned to guard duty. The four squads divided up the workload, with each squad taking two hours. The squad leader on duty handed out several whistles, one to each person on duty. Their order was to blow hard into the whistle and alert everyone once they had encountered a situation. They were ordered to not take action alone.

    <span>In the Trembling World, it was preferable to be overly vignt rather than to take it lightly. One person''s casual mistake could lead to several lives being lost.

    <span>"You room isn''t too bad! It''s very clean." Lee Miao finished showering, as she walked over to Zhang ShengLi and Zhang Hua''s room.

    <span>Lee Miao changed into a new set of clothes. For these few days that she was under the care and protection of Zhang ShengLi, she hadn''t experienced much hardship. With plenty of food, her face had a healthy color, and the charm of a thirty-year-old female.

    <span>"Yeah, it''s not too bad. How are the living conditions on your side?" Zhang ShengLi asked Lee Miao. Zhang ShengLi never took his eyes off Lee Miao''s body.

    <span>"Oh, just sharing with two other young female teenagers. They are quite loud." Lee Miao continued to smile at Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Ah? If it''s like that, let me see if I can help you change your room." Zhang ShengLi frowned.

 Chapter 203

    <span>Chapter 203 - Whistle<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: Nintendonuts

    ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) HUE HUE HUE<hr>

    <span>"Really, there is no need. I haven''t contributed enough to deserve that request. I don''t want to any special treatment from others." Lee Miao stopped Zhang ShengLi immediately. She felt that Zhang ShengLi had taken care of her quite a bit. So if he gave her any more special treatment, then it would lead to gossip. She was worried that once it reaches Liu Gan''s ear, it would negatively impact Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"You are the only doctor for this group, so it''s natural you have special treatment. I will go outside to see if I can arrange for a quieter room." Zhang ShengLi persisted.

    <span>"Really, it''s not necessary." Lee Miao held onto Zhang ShengLi''s arm.

    <span>"Then¡­ Brother ShengLi, I just remembered. During dinner, I said I would go have a chat with DeCheng. So tonight I n to annoy him, I won''t return to the room." Zhang Hua concocted an excuse after he saw the couple tugging at each other''s arm.

    <span>Even though Zhang Hua was much older than Zhang ShengLi, ShengLi held the position of vice-captain. Even reaching Level 5 was dependant on Zhang ShengLi''s rmendation. So Zhang Hua was very respectful toward Zhang ShengLi, he even disregarded the rules of seniority, and called ShengLi "Brother".

    <span>"No no, ah¡­" Zhang ShengLi choked up in embarrassment. Before he had even finished, Zhang Hua had ran out and even closed the door behind him.

    <span>After the door was closed, the room quieted down. The atmosphere was different from before.

    <span>"This¡­ well¡­" Zhang ShengLi looked at Lee Miao, as his heart rate increased.

    <span>"The night is long, we can sit here and talk." Lee Miao warmly smiled at Zhang ShengLi as she led him to the bed post to sit.

    <span>"Ah, okay we can just¡­ chat." Zhang ShengLi was led, like a sheep by its herders, to the bed.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>"This side of the room seems to have some strange soundsing from it. Seems like there is someone injured. Should we take a look?" Yin He asked Liu Gan, as she pressed her ears against the wall.

    <span>"No need, there is Doctor Lee around. If someone is injured, she can handle it." Liu Gan stopped Yin He. Liu Gan recognized that sound from his sensitive hearing! Next time he must warn Zhang ShengLi about not creating too much noise!

    <span>"Oh?" Yin He heard that response and asked no more. Originally, Yin He had wanted to crawl out the window and scale the building exterior to find out who was injured, such a strange sound wasing from the other room.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>The first watch was Han GuangMing''s squad. He had ten yers divided up into five pairs. Every pair was to guard a floor, and they were equipped with a whistle. Han GuangMing with his partner routinely patrolled every floor to ensure the yers didn''t fall asleep while on duty. All was good, there wasn''t any reason for concern.

    <span>The first floor lobby had two guards on duty, they were from Xue Jian''s group. One of them was called LuChen Wang and the other one was called Qian An. Both of them sat at the reception desk, behind the counter for collecting money and room registrations.

    <span>"Do you hear some strange sound?" Qian An asked LuChen Wang, while looking at the back door.

    <span>"What strange sound? I only hear thunder and rainwater. That and your voice." LuChen Wang replied to Qian An.

    <span>"There is really a strange sound. It isn''t the raindrops or the thunder! I can recognize those! No really, it sounds like it''sing from within this hotel. Could it be¡­ something unpleasant? Like¡­ ghosts?" Qian An stared in the direction of the back door while talking to LuChen Wang.

    <span>"Don''t scare me! If there''s really some strange noise, then you can report it back to Squad Leader Han right? Don''t be so suspicious." LuChen Wang said immediately. LuChen wasn''t a brave person, so the moment he had heard ''ghost'' mentioned, his face grew pale.

    <span>"Look at your gutless face! So what if it''s a ghost?" Qian An picked up the shlight and walked toward the back door.

    <span>"WAIT! What are you doing?" LuChen Wang pulled Qian An to a stop.

    <span>"Obviously to go check it out! To find the source of the noise." Qian An replied without shifting his eyes away from the back door.

    <span>"Let''s not do that. Let''s wait at our station and wait for Squad Leader Han toe by first," LuChen Wang nervously said.

    <span>"Ah! I''m just going to check it out, I''m not going to do anything. If there''s anything peculiar, then I will blow the whistle and we can wait for Squad Leader Han toe. If you are afraid, then stay there and don''t move. Otherwise, ''ghosts'' wille and mess with you," Qian An said to LuChen Wang.

    <span>"I''lle with you! So stop talking about those scary things!" LuChen Wang said. After hearing the word ghost, LuChen Wang became even more afraid. He was afraid of being left alone at the reception desk.

    <span>With such arge lobby and the only source of lighting from the candle, everywhere else looked dark and frightening.

    <span>Qian An walked in front, with LuChen Wang following closely behind while holding on Qian An''s arm. As both of them moved toward the back door of the lobby, after a temporary moment of silence, they had arrived at the door. The backdoor led to the rear courtyard. When they arrived at the locked backdoor, there were a bunch of junk nearby blocking the door. There was nothing strange around here.

    <span>LuChen Wang confirmed that there were no strange sounds, so he had no idea why Qian An really wanted toe investigate.

    <span>"I really heard something strange. It was a very faint sound¡­ as if it was a faint whistle sound¡­ just very faint. Even when I heard it, I wasn''t too sure." <span>Qian An<span> brushed LuChen''s arm away, dug his ears clean and pressed it against the back door. Qian An remained unmoving from the spot, carefully listening for the sound.

    <span>"What do you hear? Stop saying these scary things okay?" LuChen Wang said standing two meters away. LuChen was so nervous, that he kept looking around everywhere because he could only hear the sounds of the thunder and rain.

    <span>"It is possible that I heard it wrong." Qian An shook his head as he walked back to LuChen Wang. LuChen Wang quickly held onto the arm of Qian An as they both walked back to the reception desk to sit down.

    <span>"You really can''t hear it?" Qian An asked again, after a while.

    <span>"Please! I really didn''t hear anything, so stop talking about it," LuCheng Wang said, terrified. LuChen Wang noticed that Qian An was very distracted. Subconsciously, LuChen Wang stared at the direction of the stairs praying that Squad Leader Han would make his way down, and this way he could suggest switching partners.

    <span>The direction of the stairs was very poorly lit, so now LuChen Wang was worried that the person thates down wouldn''t be Squad Leader Han, but a ghost impersonating Han GuangMing. This was the very moment where LuChen Wang really regretted sticking with Qian An, as they both continued to sit in the dark lobby.

    <span>"There it is. Don''t speak, just listen. That very faint whistling sound. If you don''t focus, you can''t hear it." Qian An motioned with his hands to stop talking. Then, in the dark lobby, Qian An looked around trying to locate the source of the sound.

 Chapter 204

    <span>Chapter 204 - Candle<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: Nintendonuts

    <span>Pre-released chapters are now on Patreon a few days before it''s on GT<hr>

    <span>LuChen Wang was 24-years-old. In the real world, he was an otaku, he couldn''t find work after graduating university so he shut himself out while living in his parent''s house. He would y games while at home, and there was nothing his parents could do to deal with him.

    <span>After entering [The Trembling World], LuChen Wang was able to remain collected. He didn''t lose his nerve like the other yers. In fact, he was enjoying himself, he was thinking to himself that he could y here from morning to night. At least, he wouldn''t have his parents nagging him - this was another side thought of LuChen Wang.

    <span>Little did he know that his situation was very different from all the other games he had yed before. After ying for two days, LuChen Wang started to feel regret. He was famished as he couldn''t find anything to eat and there was danger lurking on every corner so he didn''t venture outside. It wasn''t until he had joined Mr. Sheng''s camp, that he finally gained some semnce of safety. Though, there had been a steep price to paid for it, he had lost his joy of ying the game since he had chores to do daily - being a human mule, repairing fixtures and other trivial duties.

    <span>Games should not be like this! If I knew it was going to be like this, then I would''ve listened to my parents and found a job so I wouldn''t be so addicted to games.

    <span>But it was toote to feel regret.

    <span>Qian An was also a university student. However, they both had had very different experiences. Compared to LuChen Wang, Qian An had a lot of work experience. Qian An grew up in a poor family in a rural area, so he understood how it felt to be broke. After graduating university, Qian An had immediately found a job, first as a flyer boy, then he found work as a promoter. Finally, he picked up a job as a delivery boy for McDonald''s. All of Qian An''s jobs had nothing inmon with the degree he had earned in university.

    <span>Later on, Qian An had received a phone call from his old high school female friend, she was going to introduce him to a decent job. The job covered housing and food expenses so Qian An was very eager to go¡­ all for the wrong reasons. He hadn''t been motivated for the job, instead, he was interested in his female friend¡­ The thing was, after LuChen Wang had signed the contract for the job, he discovered that he had signed up for a multi-level marketing scam.

    <span>Qian An was forced to ask for money from his family to resolve his problem. Even with theirbined contribution, it wasn''t enough so Qian An had been forced to run away. Qian An was caught in his escape attempt and was beaten up. The scammers took everything Qian An had, but he was stilling up short on payments. So to prove that he didn''t have any more money in the bank. Qian An was escorted by a crew of the scammers to a nearby inte cafe to transfer over the remaining debt.

    <span>Qian An had agreed to head to the inte cafe, in the hopes of calling the police for help. However, it turned out the inte cafe owner was also a member of this scamming crew. After several more blows to his head and body, Qian An had thrown up the white g and went to theputer to log on to his bank ount. Then a pop up of [The Trembling World] advertisement came out. It was a registration page with only arge button of confirmation.

    <span>That day was the second day after the server release for [The Trembling World]. Due to the sudden disappearance of several hundred thousands of yers, all forms of media were alerting citizens to not press anything rted to [The Trembling World] as there was no way to confirm it for sure.

    <span>Qian An saw the popup and without a better option or escape, he had willingly clicked the confirmation button¡­ Before he knew it, he had been sent into [The Trembling World] as part of the second wave of yers.

    <span>After escaping the clutches of the scammers, Qian An had encountered this terrifying world. In the end, Qian An wasn''t too sure if he had been lucky or unlucky.

    <span>It was a good thing that Qian An hadn''t encountered any ill-intentioned yers. Especially yers that would kill to obtain an advantage over others. It could be said that Qian An had some luck on his side since he was able to join Mr. Sheng''s camp and had survived to this day. As Qian An recalled that moment in his head on everything that had transpired since the inte cafe.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>"What''s the condition like here on the first floor?" Han GuangMing asked as Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng walked down the stairs.They headed towards the reception desk by the front door of the hotel.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han! He''s been mumbling this whole time. He mentioned something about hearing a sound. Like a whistling type of noise. I don''t want to be paired up with him on the first floor, can you rearrange me to be on another floor!" LuChen Wang shouted while walking up to greet them. In LuChen Wang''s eyes, he had finally met his savior from this terrible experience.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han! Vice Squad Leader Zhao! I am not making this stuff up, I can really hear this faint noise. If you don''t believe me, then let''s concentrate and listen for it." Qian An stood up and said to his squad leader.

    <span>Han GuangMing frowned but didn''t continue speaking. He was concentrating on listening for the so-called noise.

    <span>Zhao Meng did his best to listen to the so-called noise, but he wasn''t able to locate it.

    <span>"This whistle-like noise seems to being from the rear courtyard," Han GuangMing said after locating its source. As he walked over to the rear door, Zhao Meng followed closely behind.

    <span>"See I told you I heard something, now do you believe me?" Qian An arrogantly said to LuChen Wang as Qian An left the reception desk and followed the squad leader and vice squad leader.

    <span>LuChen Wang was looking at the three yers walking toward the back door and leaving him behind at the reception desk. LuChen was not about to stay there alone so he quickly grabbed at the candle resting on the reception desk and followed the three. However, due to LuChen Wang''s carelessness, he knocked the candle over from the reception desk and extinguished the me.

    <span>With the reception desk now inplete darkness, LuChen Wang''s immediate reaction was to scream, but no sounds came out. In the darkness, an ice-cold pair of hands had wrapped around his neck and it was tightening.

    <span>This arm was rather slender, and the skin was coated in mucus. The feeling closely resembled a snake.

    <span>LuChen Wang was startled and he tried his best to resist. Frantically iling around in the hopes that the nearby yers would take heed of his situation, but LuChen Wang wasn''t able to draw their attention. As the grip on his neck tightened, LuChen Wang was dragged over to a dark corner. Slowly but surely, LuChen Wang felt his consciousness slipping away as he slowly suffocated.

    <span>Han GuangMing was side by side with Zhao Meng and Qian An was trailing behind. As they walked up to the back door, they listened closely before cing their ears onto the back door. After a short while, Han GuangMing took a step back and was about to give an order to Qian An and Zhao Meng. Han GuangMing was about to open the door so he told them that if something happened, they would have to blow the whistle immediately and wake everyone up.

    <span>"Brother Han, if you feel that something isn''t right. It''s best if you don''t open the door. Let''s ask for Elder Liu and Brother Zhang''s advice first?" Zhao Meng suggested to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"I''m not quite sure if there is a situation here. If I just suddenly wake them up, and it turned out to be nothing, wouldn''t that affect Elder Liu''s sleep schedule?" Han GuangMing shook his head.

    <span>Han GuangMing was rather kind-hearted, even while encountering these unknown dangers. He didn''t order his subordinates to open the door, he would rather experience the dangers himself and have his subordinates be the backup.

    <span>After giving out his orders, the two subordinates knew what they needed to do. Han GuangMing slowly unlocked the door. In a quick movement, the door was swung open, then Han GuangMing hid beside the door. After ten long seconds without discovering any abnormalities, Han GuangMing took a peek out the door.

    <span>The thunderstorm was pouring. The rear courtyard was inplete darkness in the rain, he wasn''t able to see anything even with the aid of the shlight.

 Chapter 205

    <span>Chapter 205 - Cause of Death<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: Nintendonuts<hr>

    <span>Han GuangMing listened closely for a while, but the sound was muffled out by the thunderstorm and Han GuangMing wasn''t able to hear that sound anymore.

    <span>A sh of lightning lit up the area but due to the heavy downpour, Han GuangMing was unable to clearly determine what lied beyond the few feet that he was able to see in front of him.

    <span>Right as Han GuangMing was about to reconsider whether or not to go out and investigate, a loud thunder rang throughout the night sky. The thunder sounded close by as Han GuangMing''s ear was ringing from the shockwave. The thunder caught Han GuangMing off guard, he quickly relinquished the idea and locked the door after closing it.

    <span>Those who heard the thunder had also been caught off guard. The sh of lightning was expected, but they didn''t expect the thunder to be so closeby. If struck by lightning, there was no way to dodge the lethal strike. So by the time, you have heard the thunder, it''s already toote to retreat when struck.

    <span>Just like now, Han GuangMing had witnessed the lightning, but didn''t think too much about it. Until he had heard the thunder, then he realized that it was a miscalction on his part.

    <span>"The whistle-like sound seems to have stopped," Qian An said to Han GuangMing. Now that their eardrums were ringing from the effects of the thunder, it was hard to tell whether the sound from earlier was still present. Since Han GuangMing was at a higher level, his hearing was better, and he was able to confirm that the sound was still persisting.

    <span>"It has temporarily stopped. I still can''t distinguish what produced the noise." Han GuangMing shook his head. He was still hesitant as to whether or not to report this anomaly to Liu Gan or the others.

    <span>Even so, would this be considered strange?

    <span>Han GuangMing led Zhao Meng and Qian An back to the reception area, when they discovered that the reception desk was unupied.

    <span>"Little LuChen?" Qian An asked loudly.

    <span>No response.

    <span>"Wait, didn''t he follow us before?" Han GuangMing asked Qian An and Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Nope." Qian An and Zhao Meng shook their head in unison.

    <span>"Where did he go?" Han GuangMing asked Qian An.

    <span>"I wouldn''t know. He did seem very scared, it is possible that he ran back upstairs to his room?" Qian An guessed.

    <span>"The candle is on the floor, and there is a trail of dust that leads this way¡­ to this corner¡­" Zhao Meng used his shlight and pointed onto the floor. The trail of dust led to a corner.

    <span>There were marks leading to the dark corner, Zhao Meng followed the trail and pointed his shlight at it. As he registered the scene, he immediately blew his whistle loudly to report it. Qian An was the second to witness the scene and also blew his own whistle.

    <span>The first floor created a hugemotion. Liu Gan and all the squad leaders quickly assembled. Most were dressed casually and some were inappropriately dressed as they quickly rushed down. Soon every member had gathered on the first floor, having been awakened by the sound of the whistles.

    <span>LuChen Wang''s bodyid silently in the corner. His face was deathly pale. His skin was wrinkled up as if he had significantly aged or had beenid out to dry in the sun. The dried up skin led all the way up to the neck. After unclothing LuCheng, the body was just as white.

    <span>Even though LuChen Wang had died, a permanent look of horror had been etched upon his face. His eyeballs were bulging out of his face.

    <span>Even with this horrifying scene, Zhao Meng and Qian An kept blowing the whistle.

    <span>"This hotel has a ghost!"

    <span>"It must have been the ghosts that ate his soul!"

    <span>"This is too horrifying!"

    <span>"Quickly leave! We will all die too!"

    <span>As fear spread throughout the gathered yers, amotion erupted in the lobby. There were yers that were divided on what to do next.

    <span>There was a difference in how zombies and ghosts were regarded since many people were not afraid of watching zombie movies, but were fearful of watching ghost movies. LuChen Wang''s body had definitely been bitten by zombies, but the way he was killed made it hard for it to be reanimated. So it was easy toe up with the conclusion that a ghost might have inhabited the body.

    <span>"CALM DOWN! There''s no such thing as ghosts! This is just a zombie game, it isn''t a ghost-rted game! Whoever spews any more rumors, I will kill them myself!" Liu Gan shouted. There would be a lot ofmunication problems if they all panicked. So to prevent the spread of rumors and false information, Liu Gan instilled a more present fear in them.

    <span>"Don''t speak anymore! Especially nonsense!" Zhang ShengLi helped control his own squad to further suppress debate.

    <span>"The neck region shows bruising, it seems like it was from strangtion. All the blood has been exsanguinated from him, it seems like it was sucked out dry through the wound. This is definitely not a ghost. It could be a zombie that likes to drink human blood, just like that Variant Zombie on the ind that likes to eat human brains," Lee Miao said after her brief assessment of the corpse.

    <span>Even though she didn''t quite believe itpletely, but saying this would help coordinate with Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi in controlling the emotional state of the members.

    <span>"See, it''s just a zombie that enjoys draining the blood of humans. It''s not a ghost or spirit so don''t you dare spread any more rumors!" Zhang ShengLi said to everyone after hearing Lee Miao''s words.

    <span>"It''s possible that it was from the strange sound we heard nearby the back door¡­" Han GuangMing whispered to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi gave a quick nce at Han GuangMing to stop any further words from being exchanged. This wasn''t the right time to be speaking about such things. If the wrong person had overheard, it could easily lead to a mass hysteria in the group. If it wasn''t for Liu Gan suppressing the situation it would have escted out of control.

    <span>Regardless of how LuChen Wang had died, there was no reason to contribute to the negative atmosphere. It was best to restore the emotional state of the team members. Then, they could gather an investigation squad together after it was over.

    <span>Han GuangMing received a nce from Zhang ShengLi, but he had no idea the hidden meaning behind it. Han GuangMing was smart enough to keep his mouth shut as he read the mood, he realized that it wasn''t the right time to speak about such topics. It was best to report back to Elder Liu at ater time.

    <span>"This is only a Variant Zombie that followed us during the day. It should be rted to the Variant Zombie that ate the brains of humans. This one seems to prefer blood! Aside from that, it has shown signs of intelligence, but thebat ability isn''t that strong. So when we are grouped up during the day, it wouldn''t have a chance to attack. Only when we are split apart will it choose an isted individual to strike."

    <span>"So there''s nothing to be afraid of. As long as we don''t wander off alone or act independently, then the Variant Zombie wouldn''t have a chance to strike. Right now, we need to wake everyone else. Gather everyone so they won''t be in danger," Liu Gan ordered after he thought about it. Then the individual squad leaders all went around to gather up the remaining squad members.<hr><hr>

    <span>yer: [Liu Gan]

    <span>Lv: 6

    <span>Ability: [Mist Armor]; [Psychic Shock]

    <span>Android: [Yin He]

    <span>Lv: ???

    <span>Ability: [Sleeve de]

    <span>yer: [Zhang ShengLi]

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Whirlwind sh]

    <span>yer: [Wang DeCheng]

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Forage]

    <span>yer: [Han GuangMing]

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Meteor Hammer]

    <span>Enhanced Survivor: [Zhang Hua]

    <span>Lv: ~5

    <span>Ability: Long-Distance Javelin

 Chapter 206

    <span>Chapter 206 - To Go Astray<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Sorry for the dyed chapters, quite a lot has happened.<hr>

    <span>After the whistle had sounded, many of the people were rudely woken up from their slumbers and had gathered in the lobby. The individual squad leaders had to tally up their own respective squad members. Aside from LuChen Wang, none of the other members were unounted for.

    <span>"Do you require me to search the surrounding area?" Yin He asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"No need, this Variant has a special physique that you aren''t able to detect." Liu Gan shook his head. If Yin He had been able to detect this Variant, she would''ve already discovered it during her reconnaissance earlier. So it would be useless to send her out again. It seemed like this Variant was capable of avoiding Yin He''s detection.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what should we do?" Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"We can''t let it have any more opportunities. Gather as many mattresses as possible on the first floor of the lobby. The rest of the people will stay on the second floor of each room. Every room has to have at least four people. Doors will not be closed. The patrol at night will be on high alert, so do more rounds," Liu Gan ordered.

    <span>With this difficult situation and no better ideas, Liu Gan resorted to the same method he had used to deal with the previous Variant Zombie that ate brains. If Liu Gan had to guess, this Variant Zombie was a cold-blooded type of animal. It had a chameleon''s ability to manipte its own body color to match the surrounding, it should have some sort of intelligence as it was able to proactively hide itself after taking the life of LuChen Wang.

    <span>Now that everyone was gathered, it hadn''t attacked head on, so itsbat ability must be quite low. It could only use gueri tactics and assassinate isted individuals by exsanguination. So the best method to counter this Variant was to gather every yer together in groups, so that it won''t be easy for the Variant to strike.

    <span>After the yers had resettled down in the lobby, the more courageous yers were able to drift off into a deep sleep. Only a small portion of yers, who weren''t asfortable with the situation, stared at the ceiling unable to fall asleep. Even though Liu Gan said it wasn''t a ghost, they didn''t trust that was the case. Especially when they had seen LuChen Wang''s pale white body and face, his wrinkled face a mask of horror frozen in ce.

    <span>Now that the patrol squads had been arranged and the rest of the yers had relocated, Liu Gan had an emergency meeting with all the squad leaders along with Lee Miao. At the same time, Zhao Meng and Qian An were also summoned as well. They were the first witnesses to the crime scene, so they had to tell their side of the story.

    <span>"Little Han, earlier in the lobby, you said something that caught my interest. So I had to stop you before you frightened the other yers around us. Now that we are here, please repeat what you said earlier to Elder Liu." Zhang ShengLi said to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Ah¡­ I see¡­ I shouldn''t have said it that time, it was inappropriate with so many frightened yers already¡­ It''s like this. Elder Liu, when I was patrolling downstairs, Qian An told me that he heard a faint whistle-like sound. When it was still quiet, I, too, heard that sound. Only Zhao Meng and LuChen Wang weren''t able to hear it. So I wasn''t too sure if it was real."

    <span>"This faint noise wasing from the back door that leads to the rear courtyard. As for the exact location, it was hard to tell. I investigated but the result was inconclusive. So when the three of us turned back, we discovered that LuChen Wang hadn''t followed us. We turned back to look for him and found that he was already¡­" Han GuangMing exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Right now, do you and Qian An still hear that faint noise?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.

    <span>"If it quiets down, we can try again," Qian An quickly added. It was still unknown if they would seed.

    <span>"Okay, then let us quiet down for a moment. Everyone will concentrate and see if we can locate that sound," Liu Gan said to everyone around him.

    <span>With the surroundings quiet, every member was focusing on trying to detect any noise. Liu Gan''s hearing was the best among all of them by several factors. He held his breath and listened once again, but he still wasn''t able to discern any of the faint whistling noise that Qian An and Han GuangMing had said they''d heard.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at others, they shook their head. Including Yin He, she also wasn''t able to hear it.

    <span>"I definitely heard it, then Squad Leader Han heard it too. I don''t know why the sound has suddenly disappeared," Qian An said with an embarrassed expression.

    <span>"I can''t hear it anymore either, but I also feel that¡­ the faint sound might not be rted to the death of LuChen Wang, so if we tried to tie those two events together then we might be led astray," Han GuangMing expressed his views.

    <span>"Why would you say that?" Zhang ShengLi asked Han GuangMing.

    <span>"The noise came from outside the back door, the rear courtyard is in that direction, but LuChen Wang had died in the lobby, which is in theplete opposite direction. When LuChen Wang was being killed, we were by the rear door tracking the source of the sound. So the sound shouldn''t be rted to the Variant Zombie killing Little LuChen," Han GuangMing said. Ever since LuChen Wang had been killed, Han GuangMing''s had been intensely analyzing the situation in his head.

    <span>"What happens if there are two Variants? Both cooperating together tomit the crime, one to distract us and the other to pick us off," Zhang ShengLi spected.

    <span>"If it tried to distract us, why wouldn''t it make a more obvious sound? The sound we heard was very faint, if it wasn''t for Qian An notifying me, I wouldn''t have heard it at all. So I feel like your idea that it was to distract us, doesn''t fit logically." Han GuangMing shook his head.

    <span>"Ah, when I was in college I loved to practice qigong and yoga, so when I was sitting with LuChen Wang in the lobby. There were periods of time when we didn''t have anything to talk about, so I took that opportunity to practice my qigong. I hadn''t expected to hear that faint whistling noise, so I thought I was going crazy and had hallucinated the sound! When I stopped my qigong exercise, I was still able to hear iting from the direction of the back door. That was when I was able to confirm that there was a sound, but LuChen Wang didn''t believe me. Only when Squad Leader Han had heard it, it proved that I wasn''t hallucinating," Qian An quickly chimed in.

    <span>"When you were in the real world practicing qigong, did your hearing also improve?" Liu Gan asked Qian An.

    <span>"Yes, I practice this type of qigong very often in the real world. I felt that my hearing was better than many people," Qian An quickly responded.

    <span>"This exins it, Qian An was able to hear the noise because he practices qigong regrly. Han GuangMing was also able to hear the noise because he had advanced to Level 5 and his hearing had improved." Liu Gan nodded.

 Chapter 207

    Chapter 207 - To inspect<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu is right. This sound can only be heard when sound is kept to minimum like when we hold our breath. So we should be able to hear it, if it was actually quiet. Tonight''s a thunderstorm so the surrounding area makes it hard to hear. Plus, we didn''t pay attention to it. If Little Han tells us to listen carefully next time, we can all try our best to detect the sound. I''m confident that we will be able to hear that sound the next time." Zhang ShengLi drew up a n immediately.

    <span>"When Qian An told me about hearing the noise, I didn''t believe him. Didn''t believe that there was whistle-like noise. So I didn''t report it to Elder Liu, since I thought it might interrupt his sleep schedule. It''s all my fault. If I had reported the issue earlier then Little LuChen wouldn''t have died!" Han GuangMing said with an ashamed expression.

    <span>"No need to overly me yourself, just pay attention next time." Liu Gan shook his head. The events tonight were very strange, so the me shouldn''t rest on Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Thank You Elder Liu!" Han GuangMing was still ashamed since this situation urred on his watch. No matter what, shifting me is difficult.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what should we do to face this?" Zhang ShengLi asked.

    <span>"We can follow the n of centralized sleeping. We can''t let the presence of this threat ruin our sleep schedule just to worry about it. We would never recover our strength and that would make us weak. If we get weak enough, the Variant might attack us at that point," Liu Gan told Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Should we continue to monitor the noise? If we hear the sound, should we report to you?" Zhang ShengLi asked.

    <span>"You can monitor it! If you hear anything, just wake me up. I really like to know what type of Variant this is! Able to kill my teammate! I won''t let it live!" Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Then, Little Han and Little Qian, I thank you for your trouble. Let''s have you continue to keep guard and monitor the noise. Since you two are the ones who can absolutely hear it, you have to wake us up when you hear it." Zhang ShengLi said to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Good, this time I definitely won''tmit the same mistake!" Han GuangMing promised Zhang ShengLi. Even if Zhang ShengLi didn''t request for Han GuangMing to stay up to actively monitor for the sound, Han GuangMing would do it out of guilt.

    <span>"Living within The Trembling World, anything is possible. If you face off with the unknown next time, remaining calm is the highest priority. If you are done with your tasks, then don''t be too nervous and rest up. Be prepared for tomorrow!" Liu Gan said to everyone there, before dissolving the meeting.

    <span>After the meeting was over, other team members felt safer being able to sleep with more people around. Liu Gan felt safe with Yin He keeping watch, so he wasn''t concerned about the Variant Zombie attacking him. Thus, Liu Gan kept sleeping in a single room, but this time, he moved it down to the second floor so he could have a faster response rate.

    <span>"This Variant Zombie is too tricky! It was able to avoid my detection! I must kill it!" Yin He eximed after returning back to the room. She was so sure she had felt its presence before the thunderstorm, but she didn''t have any luck in her search for it. She couldn''t believe that even after searching several hundred meters within the vicinity something like that was able to slip by her.

    <span>"This is a game. Everything is factored into the game design, even things that we can''t expect. This Variant Zombie is possibly cold-blooded with the ability to camouge to the surroundings. So it shouldn''t be a surprise that you weren''t able to find it. I don''t me you, so don''t be too hard on yourself," Liu Gan exined to Yin He.

    <span>Yin He didn''t continue speaking. She only maintained her concentration and listened to the noisesing from outside of the room. Yin He wanted to see if she was able to hear that faint whistling-noise Han GuangMing had described. After a long while of hearing nothing, she grew bored.

    <span>Liu Gan also tried to listen for a long while, but slowly he drifted off to sleep.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>Even Liu Gan didn''t know for sure how long he had fallen asleep. While he slept, he had a dream. It was a vivid dream of him scaling the ice-capped snow mountain. However, Liu Gan was rudely wakened from his dream by a knock on the door. Liu Gan immediately sat up on his bed. The sky was still dark outside, the thunderstorm not yet stopping. The rain had slowed down considerably from before he had slept though.

    <span>Upon opening the door, Zhang ShengLi and a lot more yers were standing outside. Zhang ShengLi immediately gave a brief update to Liu Gan. He said that Han GuangMing was able to notice the faint sound again.

    <span>As everyone calmed down, Liu Gan focused in on the noise. Even with rain falling outside, there was a faint noise. Not a continuous noise. It was a segmented and uneven noise, and the source was near the rear courtyard. It could be that the noise was far away from their current location.

    <span>"Zhang ShengLi, you and Zhang Hua keep guard here. DeCheng and Han GuangMing wille with me to the rear courtyard to look around. Let''s see what the situation is with this Variant!" Liu Gan had lost a member already so many of the team members weren''t able to sleep soundly. Now that they had been woken twice in one night, this Variant made many people angry. Only with the Variant''s death could the anger be dissipated.

    <span>"I''m on guard duty? Wouldn''t it be best if I went and let DeCheng stand guard?" Zhang ShengLi felt unwilling.

    <span>"Guard duty is the greater responsibility. I''m afraid that, when I am out searching for the source of the noise, something might happen here at camp while I''m gone. If you stay here, I''ll feel a lot better." Liu Gan patted Zhang ShengLi on the shoulder.

    <span>"Okay" Zhang ShengLi said, after hearing that from Liu Gan. Shouldering the responsibility of holding up the fort, while Liu Gan was gone, gave Zhang ShengLi a new sense of pride in himself.

    <span>Liu Gan led Yin He, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing down to the first floor. Then they opened up the backdoor and carefully listened to the noise. The faint whistle-like sound momentarily appeared in between droplets of rain. Only those who had extremely sensitive hearing could distinguish the sound.

    <span>Liu Gan, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing were able to hear it, but Yin He wasn''t able to. This made Yin He very gloomy. As Liu Gan had spected, Yin He must be on a different range of detection so she couldn''t hear the sound frequency, like the humans.

    <span>Wang DeCheng found several umbres and each person carried one in the rain. They walked around the rear courtyard searching for the source of the noise. The first stop was a check on the three vehicles, which weren''t the source of the problem. This meant the problem was elsewhere in the courtyard. Once again, everyone had to quiet down before it was possible to track the noise. It sounded further back in the rear courtyard.

    <span>Farther back in the courtyard was a small forest. The muddy ground made treading through the forest quite difficult. After the small group hiked one after the other through the forest for several hundred meters, they reached a hillside.

    <span>Now that the group stood on the hillside, the noise was much louder. Even Yin He was able to hear it.

 Chapter 208

    Chapter 208 - Toppling Mountains, Parting Seas<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    So there are a lot of rumorstely. I guess I should dere my stance. In chinese there is a saying "ÒûË®Ë¼Ô´", simply it means when you drink from the river, know the source. The meaning behind it is to remember where you came from. I started at RNF, I''m going to with stay. I will only state facts. GGP treats everyone with respect, like a true gentlemen for the past two years I''ve known him. Thank you for staying.<hr><hr>

    The sound wasn''t on the hillside. It buzzed farther up ahead.

    With the shlight in his hand, Liu Gan lighted the way while he led Yin He, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing on the muddy path. With the downpour, rain water mixed into the soft ground, making it hard to tread through. As Liu Gan and his small group reached the top of the hill, it seemed like a teau. On this teau, there appeared to be some structures standing upright in various sizes.

    Walking closer with the shlight, it shone on the structures. Liu Gan''s small group then discovered they were gravestones. This ce was evidently a cemetery.

    Han GuangMing felt chills run down his spine. Wang DeCheng also got nervous, but Liu Gan and Yin He didn''t let it bother them. Meanwhile, Liu Gan was analyzing the possibility of where the sound might being from as he strolled towards the cemetery. Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were hesitating as they staggered behind after slowing their pace. Only when they saw that Liu Gan and Yin He had gone quite far did Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing run to catch up.

    Suddenly, a zombie that had only its upper body remaining grabbed onto Han GuangMing''s leg from a hidden corner. Before this moment, Han GuangMing was very worried about the presence of ghosts, but this ambush caused him to slip and fall onto the ground. Immediately, he covered his own mouth so that he wouldn''t scream.

    Yin He ran back and, with her sleeve de, she was able to finish off the regr zombie. Wang DeCheng helped lift Han GuangMing off the ground.

    "It was only a half-dead regr zombie. There''s nothing to be scared of," Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing.

    "No¡­ I ¡­ I ¡­ I really thought it was¡­ a ghost that crawled up from underground," Han GuangMing embarrassingly admitted. The thought of zombies appearing from underground was scary enough, let alone that this was a cemetery.

    "Brother Han, it seems like you must be trained to be more courageous." Liu Gan shook his head. In Liu Gan''s line of thinking, this location being a cemetery didn''t make it any more scary than other ces. Perhaps he was different from other people?

    "Ah, Elder Liu is right! I must train to be more courageous!" Han GuangMing eximed. Han GuangMing was embarrassed about his performance, especially when he slipped and fell. Nearby, regr zombies started rushing over after hearing noises, but in a few quick shes, they were exterminated.

    Since this area was rtively isted, aside from the zombies that Yin He had killed and the half-dead zombie that had grabbed onto Han GuangMing, there were no zombies left. As such, Han GuangMing had no chance to redeem his honor.

    After walking past the cemetery, a small mountain appeared. Measuring from the peak of the mountain to the ground, it was at least several hundred meters high. The discontinuous whistle wasing from this location. It became even clearer as Liu Gan''s group walked closer to the mountaintop.

    There was no source of lighting on the mountain. Overgrown shrubs and forests surrounded the location. It was harder to scale the steep mountainside with muddy footing. After Yin He went forward to scout the area, she found a mountain route that was passable. It was a stone pathway constructed by the locals to reach the summit.

    "I sense danger. Should I go up ahead and scout?" Yin He inquired, after she had gone a dozen steps ahead.

    "Is the feeling of danger strong?" Liu Gan hesitated. Aftering so far, Liu Gan didn''t want to give up halfway, but he didn''t want Yin He to take on the risk alone.

    If there was any real danger, even if Yin He unexpectedly got ambushed, Liu Gan could immediately react to it and provide support if he was nearby.

    "It''s hard to tell." Yin He shook her head. She could only sense the danger, feeling a fuzzy perception.

    "Let''s go up together. Even if there is danger we can at least face it together." Liu Gan decided. He doesn''t want Yin He to face the danger alone.

    Yin He looked at Liu Gan. She acknowledged Liu Gan''s feeling so she didn''t say any more, but she still walked to front of the pack. Liu Gan, Wang DeCheng, and Han GuangMing followed closely behind her.

    The small mountain wasn''t too high, only several hundred meters high. With thebined strength of the four yers, they were progressing fast on their journey. As they reached the peak of the mountain, Liu Gan and the others used their shlights to shine the way. What they saw near the peak of the mountain shocked them.

    At the very top of the small mountain, bundled and crowded near the top of the stone steps, were dozens of zombies all facing the peak of the mountain. The environment at the top of the mountain was a teau surrounded by forests, but it waspletely packed with zombies. These zombies stood stockstill. They hadn''t moved at all, and as such no noise was made. All routes that led up to the mountain would eventually meet up with these zombies.

    Naturally, all nearby zombies that were scattered around the area were lured in by the strange noise. This was the only valid exnation for why there were so few zombies along the way. The total number of the zombies was close to one thousand.

    Liu Gan''s pack alerted the closest portion of zombies by the stone pathway. This caused the zombies to turn around and start charging over. Aside from the zombies at the top of the stone pathway, the nearby zombies started pouring down from the mountainside down toward Liu Gan''s group.

    It was like a domino effect, as even more zombies were alerted. Piles and piles of zombies were being disturbed. It seemed like there were enough zombies to topple over the mountains and part the seas. All this to charge at the four yers standing on the stone pathway. Soon, Liu Gan, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, and Yin He would be overrun by the zombies piling one on top of another.

    "Don''t look back! EVERYONE RUN BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!" Liu Gan shouted after he saw the zombies start rampaging. Quickly, Liu Gan turned back and ran down the stone pathway.

    With numerous zombies on the higher ground, Liu Gan had no choice but flee desperately. This situation was very tricky and peculiar. Almost all the zombies were concentrated at the mountain top. Now, these same zombies were rushing down the mountain toward Liu Gan. Even if the three yers were very capable at closebat, these zombies pouring down like an avnche would bury everyone alive.

    If by chance Liu Gan were surrounded, even equipped with [Carapace Breastte] and [Mist Armor], he wouldn''t be able to fend them off. So right now, the strategy was to run back down the mountain to avoid getting surrounded by the avnche of zombies.

    Luckily, Liu Gan was able to issue themand immediately, as Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were able to react to it. In the dark, they tookrge leap of faith in their steps down the mountain. Han GuangMing was able to reflect on his incident earlier, and brought out his courageous self. He didn''t stumble behind.

    After numerous jumps and wide steps, the four yers were able to escape from the zombie avnche. Liu Gan and his group ran and took up locations and hid. After the zombie avnche reached the foot of the mountain, the zombies couldn''t find the targets. So like flies attracted to light, the zombies were once again mesmerized by the strange sound and walked toward to the top of the mountain.

 Chapter 209

    <span>Chapter 209 - Riot<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Sorry for the dy. Here is your weekly chapter 1/3.

    If you have time, feel free to listen to our uing sponsor''s song : <hr>

    <span>"Those zombies at the top of the mountain must have been led by a chief, the strange screams sounded like it wasing from it," Liu Gan said to Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing by his side while he looked in the direction of the mountain peak.

    <span> "But this situation... we can''t reach the top of the mountain." Wang DeCheng replied with conviction.

    <span>Just then in that situation, if they hadn''t fled fast enough, they would''ve certainly died near the top of the mountain from the bodies of zombies pouring down. Even though they were level 5, it was still impossible to stop the momentum of the zombie avnche.

    <span> "Let me go up, they won''t attack me. I can go directly to the top of the hill to kill their chief." Yin He said confidently to Liu Gan.

    <span>"No way, this Variant Zombie Chief is very crafty, you could end up in a dangerous situation," Liu Gan shook his head. Although the zombies wouldn''t have taken the initiative to attack Yin He, the situation was too hard to predict. The number of zombies present would eventually kill Yin He.

    <span>Ants could continuously gnaw an elephant to death, so even Yin He would be at a disadvantage against the sheer quantity of zombies. Yin He wasn''t as stupid as an elephant, but the task was still too risky. Mosquitoes could also gnaw on an elephant, but the difference of strength between Yin He and those zombies could not evenpare to the disparity between ants and an elephant. It was too risky. Although Liu Gan disliked the presence of the Variant Zombie Chief, he could not let Yin He gamble her life away.

    <span>"If it''s a clear night, we can pour some gasoline and light up the forest to solve our situation. The only problem is that it has been raining a lot, so it''s not a good time to do that." Wang DeCheng muttered. Wang DeCheng intended to retreat, since he felt that it was quite meaningless to continue staying at their current location.

    <span>"How about this, let me go up and look at the current situation. If I don''t attack them, they shouldn''t attack me either." Yin He asked Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately agreed. If Yin He didn''t attack the Variant Zombie Chief, then the other zombies wouldn''t attack her. Their best option was to let her take the trip up the mountain so that they could at least find out what they were dealing with. Then, on a better day, they could think of better ways to kill it.

    <span>Upon getting Liu Gan''s approval, Yin He once again went up the mountain. The zombies were still slowly climbing to the top of the hill, and when Yin He squeezed in between them, they just nced at her and asionally roared at her. Yin He didn''t take the initiative to attack them. So they were treating her like they would to a stone - uninterested of her presence.

    <span>"Elder Liu, little LuChen died when the we were inside the building while the whistle noise kept sounding. Considering that it''s quite a distance away from the mountaintop to our building, I doubt that the Variant Zombie at the top was rted to LuChen''s death," Wang DeCheng said after analyzing the situation more.

    <span> "Not necessarily though... perhaps it was a diversion tactic? We were baited to this location, but now won''t have any idea if something happens at the hotel." Han GuangMing disagreed with Wang DeCheng''s opinion.

    <span> "Zhang ShengLi is at the hotel right now. He is bold and cautious, so there shouldn''t be any problems." Liu Gan shook his head. Right now, he was more worried about Yin He, who was near the top of the mountain. If she was surrounded at the mountain above, he had to kill his way up to save her.

    <span>"The whistle-like screams may have been some sort of call. That would exin why the nearby zombies are all concentrated at the top of the mountain. If they''re any different from the regr zombie, it could be a new type of Variant Zombie. But, with this type of ability to draw in the nearby regr zombies, I suspect it is closer to an Advanced Zombie that acts as a chief to all nearby regr zombies. Do you think you can take it on?" Wang DeCheng asked Liu Gan.

    <span>Regr Zombies, Variant Zombies, Advanced Zombies, all these ssifications were termed by yers with years of experience ying zombie games. So to ssify the zombies into categories within The Trembling World, it''s just a title of ranking them. Thus, when Wang DeCheng said his theory out loud, Liu Gan and Han GuangMing understood the meaning.

    <span> "ording to previous experiences, a Variant Zombie''s strength is equivalent to a level 5 yer. So if the ranking of a Variation Zombie is below the Advanced Zombie, then the Advanced Zombie''s strength should be simr to a level 10 yer¡­ Based on our current strength, we couldn''t possibly face the Advanced Zombie head on. If that''s all true, we have no choice but to escape," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"I agree." Wang DeCheng nodded.

    <span> "I don''t think that the zombie at the top of the mountain is an Advanced Zombie. It was probably only a special ability from a Variant Zombie. It''s possible that there is a pair of these Variants, one that was sent out to kill Little LuChen and another to guard their." Liu Gan continued.

    <span>"Yeah, I also agree!" Han GuangMing quickly imed. He had always felt that the Variant Zombie that killed LuChen had some connection with the zombie that can produce strange noiseing from the top of the mountain.

    <span>As the three of them stayed at the foot of the mountain to talk, suddenly, the ground shook - with the origin located a dozen meters away. Then, the zombies at the top of the mountain all started roaring simultaneously. The ruckus the zombies made was a signal that something had happened.

    <span>Liu Gan frowned. His heart felt that something was wrong... it was possible that Yin He created this mess!

    <span>Darkness coated the mountain, but it was still possible to see ck objects falling down from the mountain top. Even if it were the trick of the eyes, the sound of something falling from the mountain wouldn''t lie. It sounded like another avnche of zombies were crashing down. When the shlight shined up towards the objects, it confirmed that it was indeed happening. This avnche of zombies, was definitely worst than the one that was chasing Liu Gan earlier.

    <span>The previous Zombie Avnche that chased Liu Gan was around a third of all the zombies. This time, it was the whole mountain. Every zombie on the mountaintop had been alerted into motion!

    <span>"We''re in trouble!" Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing saw the scene. Their faces turned pale white, if this avnche of zombies reached the ground, just them three yers could never fend it off.

    <span>Liu Gan, however, didn''t make any ns of escaping. The shlight in his hand kept shining all around the mountain, looking for a familiar shape. Judging from the scale of the activity, it was impossible for Yin He to disobey and proactively attack the zombie chief. So what would have caused the riot could only be the thousands of zombies.

    <span>But right now, the number of zombies seemed to have surpassed thousands.

    <span>Just as Liu Gan started to be worried, he saw Yin He appear at the foot of the mountain. In her arms, she was holding onto something. She charged toward Liu Gan.

    <span>"RUN!" Yin He yelled at Liu Gan as she closed in.

    <span>Liu Gan, Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing all turned and started running. Eventually, Yin He caught up to them, and they all sped up to run away.

    <span>The movement of the four yers was very fast as they moved at top speed and soon the mountain and the zombies disappeared from their view. Because of the rain, the zombies couldn''t track their target''s smell, so after a while, the thousands of zombies stopped chasing and started wandering, just like they usually had done before.

 Chapter 210

    <span>Chapter 210 - Fear<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Sorry for the dy. Here is your weekly chapter 2/3.

    If you have time, feel free to listen to our uing sponsor''s song: <hr>

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t head in the direction straight back to the hotel but rather he took a path that was diagonal leading to another direction. After ten minutes of top speed running, Liu Gan confirmed that the corpse tide hadn''t followed them so they stopped to rest.

    <span> "What are you holding?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"It was the thing that made the whistling noise. I listened to you and I didn''t attack it, but instead I stole it." Yin He ced the object in front of Liu Gan.

    <span>It was actually a baby. The mouth was stuffed shut by Yin He, with a rag that she picked up off the ground.

    <span>But the baby''s expression and skin color... it isn''t normal. There was a hint of green color.

    <span> "The whistling noise was created by this so I stuffed it shut with a rag. This way it can''t make any noise. Those zombies won''t be able to chase us anymore." Yin He exined to Liu Gan. Afterall sheplied with his instructions just not all of it.

    <span> "This?" Liu Gan looked at the baby that Yin He held in her arms. Liu Gan thought that the zombie was weird, but it didn''t seem to be a threat like the Variant Zombie. Their image of an Advanced Zombie was destroyed in an instant by this baby. Even if this baby was a Variant Zombie, it still didn''t quite match the ability a Variant Zombie was supposed to have.

    <span>Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing also walked over, watching the baby Yin He held. They both had a skeptical look on, since they didn''t expect the center of the tide of zombies to be because of this object. They thought it was going to be a very strong Boss.

    <span>"Aside from the baby, what else did you see at the center of the zombies?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span> "There''s a building with sharp pointed roof and pointed eaves to match it. The tiles were a golden color. This baby was lying inside, and the zombies formed a circle around the building. But they stopped a few meters short from the building and I just saw this baby isted,ying there. So I decided to steal it." Yin He described to Liu Gan.

    <span>Listening to Yin He recount what she saw, Liu Gan begun to understand the situation a little more. At the top of the mountain should be a temple. By cing the baby within the temple, it probably lured all the nearby zombies over. However, the one uncertain issue was why didn''t the zombies attack it. Rather, it seemed as if they were guarding it.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled the rag out from the mouth of the baby and the results were as expected, it matched the cries of a normal baby. However, the sound was as sharp as a whistle. Now that the baby was so close, it was an ear-piercing sound. Liu Gan''s eardrum felt like it was going to burst, so he quickly stuffed the rag back into the mouth of the baby to stop the noise.

    <span> "We should leave here first. There might have been some zombies that have heard the cries of the baby and are heading over to this location," Liu Gan looked around. With the other three, they headed towards the main road. Even if the avnche of zombies followed after them, Liu Gan''s group would give them the slip when they headed back toward the hotel.

    <span>As the four of them were side by side, walking on the main road. The rain shower lightened, as if the clouds were almost depleted of water, and the gusts of wind lessened considerablypared to earlier.

    <span>Liu Gan found a residential building; it was one of themon roadside houses. After smashing open the door, Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing went inside to search for zombies. Once it was safe, Liu Gan found a chair to sit on.

    <span>After sitting down, Liu Gan took over the baby, who was still within Yin He''s arms. That way, Yin He could stay on guard duty on the roof of the building. Liu Gan pulled out the rag from the baby''s mouth and the baby started crying sharp whistling noises. Liu Gan restuffed it. Then, after awhile, he pulled the rag away again. This time, the baby cried a sharp sound again. So the rag was once again put back into ce.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what are you nning to do?" Wang DeCheng asked Liu Gan. Wang DeCheng had no clue as to the purpose behind Liu Gan''s actions.

    <span>Han GuangMing as well was cluelessly looking at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Soon, we can avenge Little LuChen," Liu Gan shook his head and replied to Wang DeCheng. Yesterday night, Liu Gan wasn''t able to sleep at all, so he wanted revenge.

    <span>"LuChen''s revenge?" Wang DeCheng still wasn''t too sure of the meaning behind Liu Gan''s words.

    <span>"We found the young one, and soon we will find the mother. The Variant Zombie that LuChen''s body dry of blood will be lured here. It probably never thought that with a thousand zombies standing guard of the baby, it would still end up in my hands," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Its mother?" Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing finally understood.

    <span> "The wailing of a baby, meant that the mother didn''t supply enough milk for it. So the mother took the chance to ambush one of our team members and drained the blood of LuChen. Once LuChen waspletely drained, it went back to feed the baby. So that was when the baby didn''t make any noise. However, the baby was soon hungry again after a few hours and it started crying again, which was when we heard it. The mother had to go out once again to hunt. It should be nearby the hotel, waiting for a chance to attack. If it found an opportunity to drain some fresh blood, it would have already headed back to the nest and feed the baby." Liu Gan stared at the baby, while piecing everything together.

    <span> It was very simple thing, but it was very peculiar making everybody think it was a ghost and caused many of the team members to lose sleep over it.

    <span> "Elder Liu is very smart! You have wonderful foresight!" Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing, after the thorough exnation, finally understood. Their eyes lit up as they could now know the situation more clearly.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled the rag away from the mouth of the baby from time to time. Then, he would stuff it shut. After several minutes,there was an abnormal sound at the door. A body without clothes and two stretched out slender arms, simr to a python''s body, walked closer with a fearful and worrisome look on its face.

    <span>This Variant Zombie had a strange body. The body color was gray or even transparent in some parts. However, Liu Gan and the other two yers were able to recognize the female physical characteristics. It walked in and started roaring as a threat, but its eyes were staring at the baby within Liu Gan''s arm.

    <span>"Give¡­ Me¡­ Back¡­" The Variant Zombie revealed a ferocious look. It tried to take a step closer, but instead took a step back as it issued the warning. Even though it didn''t charge at the three yers, it was holding back due to fear that they might harm the baby.

    <span>"Yours?" Liu Gan stood up with the baby.

    <span>"Yes¡­" The Variant Zombie nodded.

    <span>"You want me to return it back to you? Then how about one of my team member''s you killed by draining his blood?" Liu Gan coldly snapped back. Liu Gan raised the baby high up above his head, as if he was about to throw the baby onto the floor.

    <span>"Noooo¡­" The Variant Zombie pleaded. Seems like this Variant had some degree of intelligence, but its intellect was stuck at the age of a three or four year old. It couldn''t understand what Liu Gan had said, but it could feel the danger that was about to fall upon the baby.

 Chapter 211

    <span>Chapter 211 - Defending the Base<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    This week''s sponsor : <hr>

    <span>Yin He quietly snuck up from behind and with a single hit to the back of the head, the Variant Zombie fainted. Then with a specialized rope, the Variant Zombie was tied up.

    <span>Yin He didn''t need to use her [Sleeve de] for something so weak. The blunt force to the back of the head was more than enough to kill the Variant, but Yin He held back. She used just the right amount of force to knock the Variant Zombie unconscious.

    <span>"This is the Variant Zombie that killed LuChen? Why is it so weak?" Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing walked up to the Variant Zombie and poked it.

    <span>"It''s strength is quite weak. LuChen is a level 4 yer, but he was ambushed from behind. LuChen didn''t even have the time to call out for help. The Variant Zombie was able to camouge in the surrounding environment. This Variant Zombie was cold blooded and it was hard to catch without a bait. Luckily, we had the chance to capture the infant to force the mother to show herself. If we had to hunt her down without any bait, it would be impossible to even subdue her."

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t quite agree with Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing''s views. Nevertheless it was Yin He who had stolen the baby from the nest, if it were anyone else they would''ve fallen victim to the hoard. This female Variant Zombie had physiques that looked vaguely familiar to the Tentacle Variant that killed Jiang JinYuan. The arms were simr to the slender Tentacles, but that Tentacle Colossal Variant had two sharp pointed tips in the area where the hand was supposed to be. This female Variant wascking the offensive tips.

    <span>"Elder Liu is right. This creature is quite dangerous. Have you seen a creature that can drain your blood? It caused a great deal of psychological trauma as well. It isn''t weak at all, it''s just that we don''t have any way of countering its gueri tactics," Wang DeCheng nodded. He agreed with Liu Gan''s statement, but answered vaguely, since he felt quite awkward saying ''Little He'' as that was how Liu Gan calls her.

    <span>"You said that the Variant was able to drain LuChen''s blood?" Han GuangMing was still skeptical.

    <span>Yin He overheard Han GuangMing and she pried open the Variant''s mouth. Inside there was nothing that looked like suction cups.

    <span>"When we return to the hotel, we can dissect the Variant after we kill it. Then we''ll know what we were dealing with." Liu Gan handed the baby over to Yin He and picked up the tied Variant mother, heading towards the direction of the hotel.

    <span>Almost immediately Liu Gan''s hypersensitive hearing caught onto loud noises nearby their hotel. It sounded like someone was fighting. Liu Gan quickly increased his speed and they all rushed back to the hotel.

    <span>Because the zombies were no longer attracted to the baby''s cries as it was stolen, they had begun to wander aimlessly. Some zombies wandered off and came close to the hotel by pure chance. Zhang ShengLi immediately reacted and woke up all the yers within the hotel so they could kill off zombies that had gotten too close.

    <span>As Liu Gan and others got back, they saw heaps of dead zombies stacked nearby the hotel.

    <span>"Oh Elder Liu, you came back? How''s the situation?" Zhang ShengLi rushed over to greet Liu Gan. As the only level 5 yer that was left behind - he was curious.

    <span>"We caught the Variant that was responsible for the death of LuChen. We also found the source of noise¡­" Liu Gan simplified his exnation. Liu Gan then called over Xue Jian so he could take on the duty of guarding the baby zombie and the mother Variant.

    <span>"Elder Liu. I really don''t know the source of where these zombies havee from. There''s like a never ending stream of zombies. I don''t think we should dwell here any longer, the rain will soon stop. Should we continue on our journey instead?" Zhang ShengLiwas getting worried.

    <span>"Yin He took a look at the road up ahead and there were obstacles. These oing zombies are very predictable, scattered and quite limited, so they pose no threat. We should take this opportunity to train our members to fight as a group." Liu Gan decided, and ordered Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Liu Gan had scouted the road ahead prior to this, and discovered that arge amount of time would be required to clear the blockage. Liu Gan saw only two options. One was to abandon the cars along with the food and resources inside them, but that wouldn''t be wise. So if they did what they had done earlier ,with squads on foot moving the cars out of the way, the disadvantage of this option would be that their backs would be turned away from the oing zombies. The second option was to arrange the formation to greet the oing zombies in arge battle.

    <span>Judging from the strength of the group as a whole, fending off the oing zombies wouldn''t be a problem. It would be a good training exercise for developing cooperation.

    <span>"Ah, if it''s like that then let''s have a good battle!" Zhang ShengLi didn''t have any second thoughts and issued themand to his subordinates.

    <span>With each level 5 yer, leading their own squad, each yer had their own respective duty. A few yers in nks to fight off the scattered zombies, another few to be the rear guard, the rest would be toward the front to hold the frontline. This is the first time, the group was engaging head on with the seemingly endless zombie tide without using fire.

    <span>As the sound of swords chopping and bones breaking continued,the noise echoed through the forest and lured more zombies closer to the battleground. This type of battlested for two hours until even when daybreak was starting to illuminate the grounds of the hotel. Nearby the hotel, within the forest there were bodies of at least a thousand zombies, looking simr to a scene portrayed from an ancient battle.

    <span>The battle wasn''t impossible, as there were several level 5 yers to hold down the frontline, and also Liu Gan with Yin He to aid in critical situations. Many of the other team members were more like side characters. But with over a thousand of zombies dead, there were still seven wounded and one dead yer.

    <span>The one dead yer was due to a friendly attack, where a yer had mistaken his teammate as a zombie. Of the seven yers, five of the injuries were due to careless fighting that inflicted minor wounds onto others. The remaining two injuries were the yer''s own fault for panicking, which lead to them getting bitten.

    <span>Out of the two bitten yers, one had a bite on the shoulder. Even though it wasn''t a deep wound, but nevertheless he was infected. The other yer had a bite to his arm but the squad leader in his group reacted fast enough to chop off the bitten arm, thus his alloy wristwatch changed from the red colored [Infected] status to the green colored [Non-Infected] status.

    <span>Back when Liu Gan had time for leisure in the real world, he would read novels. Many of the novels, had onemon feature - the quality of the support roles of side characters. Liu Gan felt like the writers of those novels would purposely put in side characters that had low IQ, perhaps that way it would exaggerate the intelligence of the main character due to the difference between the characters. But, during that battle, Liu Gan realized that there were quite a few yers in his group that had the same attributes of those side characters. Some were performing stupidly, strangely, cowardly, not much more needed to be said about them.

    <span>To be injured in this type of battle, they must have been drunk.

    <span>After the battle was over, the team members allid in the hotel recuperating. Even though most weren''t injured, their pain lied not in physical pain, but instead, the emotional pain they were dealing with. Others also felt the heavy atmosphere from the aftereffects of the drawn out fight against the zombies.

 Chapter 212

    Chapter 212 - Anger<hr>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    This will be thest chapter I''m posting. It''s been fun. I can''t believe how many days it''s been since I''ve tled so many. Shit''s about to get real. It''s Lit. So Lit that Liu Gan will be Lit Gan from now on. <hr>

    "What was the purpose of this pointless battle? I''m practically dead due to the infection! There are also seven other injured yers!" loudly eximed a yer with an infected bite wound on his shoulder as he ran towards Lit Gan and the several squad leaders.

    This person''s name was Dong JianShi. In the real world, his profession was a teacher. He was ced within Zhang Hua''s squad and was level 3 prior to the battle. Within Zhang Hua''s squad, there was also another level 3 yer, thus, the two level 3 yers were grouped together and were encouraged to kill additional zombies in order to reach level 4. During Dong JianShi''s assault against the zombie, he panicked. Instead of attacking the zombie, he turned and ran. The transition caused his momentum slow down and because of this, he was bitten on the shoulders. Zhang Hua witnessed the scene, and by the time the zombie was killed, it was already toote. The damage has been done. Teacher Dong had been infected.

    "Pointless battle? Elder Lit''s decision was correct! If it weren''t for his decision, our current situation would''ve resulted in arger amount of casualties!" Zhang ShengLi barked back at Dong JianShi.

    "Correct? During a corpse tide in the middle of the night, he didn''t lead us to escape. Instead, he pushed us towards danger in the name of training; is this still correct?" Teacher Dong countered in defence. With the wristwatch indicating a red-color for the [Infected] status, he had limited amounts of time to say what he wanted to.

    "Yeah! Fighting doesn''t seem like the right decision! He practically didn''t treat our lives as important!" eximed an arm-less yer. This yer''s name was YuLei and because he had lost his arm in this battle, he was quite bitter. In the real world, he was a promising district general manager. He was quite nervous when he was urged to directly attack the zombie. Due to this, he slipped and fell, causing his arm to be bitten in the process.

    Back in the real world, YuLei had a group of salespeople ttering him day to day, they would offer themselves up to do his bidding. Thus, YuLei was not used to getting his hands dirty. On top of that, he wasn''t quite happy about having to follow orders.

    Upon hearing Teacher Dong and YuLei''sints, several of the other injured yers gradually became rowdy. The group of displeased yers began debating, these yers were all originally annexed from Mr. Sheng''s camp. When Lit Gan incorporated them into his own group, he treated them like his own. He disregarded the food rationing for the night in order for them to enjoy a feast, and they didn''tin about that. Perhaps due to theck of sleep and the pressure of fighting the corpse tide, their moods quickly changed.

    "What? Did not take your lives seriously? Do you know what Elder Lit did during the night in the rain for your sakes? He risked his own life to find the Leech Variant Zombie! While, he did that, what were you guys doing? You were all sleeping! So don''t give me that nonsense! You said you wanted to leave this area? How? What about our cargo? Do we continue moving the cars out of the way, only to have them catch up to us from the rear? Then our situation would be a lot worst!" Zhang ShengLi fiercely retorted.

    "He should''ve given up on the cargo! I feel, that as a leader, he should ce our lives as the number one priority. Under this corpse tide, he should''ve abandoned the car and the cargo. I don''t find it a big deal to leave the cargo behind. In the worst case scenario, we can alwayse back to find it. When people die or infected, there''s no way of returning!" Teacher Dong barked back. Teacher Dong was incredibly desperate, thus, he had no worries of holding back his tongue.

    "Yeah! Human lives are more important!" The displeased group of yers all supported Teacher Dong''s statement. They were all tired and sleepy, so they had a number of things toin about.

    "Elder Lit, what should we do with these people?" Zhang ShengLi held his fire axe. He was done babysitting theseiners.

    Lit Gan shook his head. His facialplexion was calm as water, he did not seem to have any ill intentions. In fact, no one was able to tell what he was thinking as he wore his poker face.

    "We are all yers! Why is it that you bunch are high above others? You get to sleep in the best room and eat the best food. The most ridiculous thing is that you have others test the food before eating? You treat us as though we were ves only here to do your bidding. We had to do heavy lifting, cleaning, and cooking? Then you push us to the front like cannon fodder! Everyone is born equal! So what everything should be done equally? Do you guys agree with me?" yelled Lulei in an aggressive manner.

    The displeased group of yers had heard from the squad leaders that Lit Gan could have a quick change in his temper. If he became angry enough, he would kill people without hesitation. For these neers, they had not witnessed Lit Gan''s anger. Throughout their whole experience from meeting him, Lit Gan had always kept a calm demeanor and seemed quite pleasant to deal with. Lit Gan''s description did not match the rumor, thus, they pushed their boundaries in hopes of gaining more benefits.

    "Yeah! This group is like a cult! The higher ups brainwashing those below them, to do their bidding. Us lower level yers work hard but don''t obtain any reward. We are treated as cannon fodder! If this group is like this, then there''s no point in staying!" More yers gradually became agitated and chimed in. All these newly annexed yers from Mr. Sheng''s group began causing chaos.

    The possibility of the two groups melting together, disappearing in one night. Theck of sleep and then getting pushed intobat broke their baseline temper. All the anger and frustration dwelling inside were released all at once.

    "When we were in the front killing, Xue Jian just sat within the lobby hiding. He imed that he was keeping guard over the Variant Zombie, but this was just another formal way of relying on connections! There''s nothing fair in this group! It''s just a bunch of people relying on connections to get benefits. All of our efforts are wasted!" LuLei continued to stir up drama and spoke even louder to justify his statement.

    "That is the Variant Zombie that you caught back? I feel like it''s just another pitiful looking mother? It doesn''t even suction cup in its'' mouth. How could it drain LuChen''s blood? This weak looking zombie, and you imed that he risked his life to catch it? What a bunch of lies! Does he think we are three year olds? All I can see is that you are mistreating a mother and her child. Isn''t that too abusive?" Teacher Dong chimed in, since he noticed Lit Gan wasn''t saying anything. With more people siding on Teacher Dong''s side, he did not hold back.

    The Leech Variant Zombie had strong regenerative ability. The moment it awoke, it looked for her child. She tried to reach for it, but discovered that its'' arm was tied back, thus, she could only cry out sadly.

    "Yeah, I want to know how this Variant works with draining the blood. This yer here seems very kind hearted and has a lot ofpassion for the pitiful mother, how about I let you feed it." Lit Gan pointed at Teacher Dong, as he spoke to Zhang ShengLi.<hr>

    <sup>Happy April Fool''s</sup>

 Chapter 213

    <span>Chapter - Way of Life<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Excellent," Zhang ShengLi had already wanted to kill those ingrates earlier, but he waited for the official order before taking action. Once he heard themand, Zhang ShengLi jumped forward and knocked Teacher Dong unconscious. In one fluid motion, Teacher Dong, who was being held by the neck, was dragged to the front of the mother Leech Variant Zombie.

    <span>The mother Leech Variant nced at Zhang ShengLi and then at Teacher Dong. She then opened up her mouth and stuck her tongue out. The tongue was sharp in shape.

    <span>"NO!" Teacher Dong had regained some of his consciousness just in time to witness his own death. Although he was infected and had no chance of remaining human, this was not how he wanted to die!

    <span>"Didn''t you say you pitied this mother? Don''t tell me that you were lying to me! I thought you might want to experience how powerful this Variant Zombie really was!" said Zhang ShengLi, while pushing Teacher Dong closer to the Variant Zombie.

    <span>The mother Leech Variant Zombie''s tongue immediately pierced into the skin of Teacher Dong''s carotid artery in the neck and fiercely drank the blood. As the stomach of the mother Variant expanded, Teacher Dong''s voice grew weaken and face became paler. Eventually, Teacher Dong had wrinkles on his skin, like a dried up raisin, with his eye sockets bulged out. It wasn''t too long until his body gave up.

    <span>"Now, is there anyone that still questions the validity of this Variant Zombie?" Zhang ShengLi asked everyone around him.

    <span>No one spoke up, they don''t want to be food for this Variant Zombie. Dying like this was just too inhumane.

    <span>"So who was it that said I organize my group just like a cult? Come now, say it one more time for me to hear. I didn''t catch it the first time it was said." Liu Gan, with his fire axe, walked towards LuLei. To Liu Gan, these team members were more of a liability at their current state, so he couldn''t even get mad about it.

    <span>"Oh, Boss Liu, as a leader, you shouldn''t be so narrow-minded. Just because there was a slight difference in opinion doesn''t mean you should penalize us. You are surrounded by these brainwashed individuals and those that rely on connections, they wouldn''t benefit your group in anyway!" LuLei shouted back to Liu Gan.

    <span>Mr. Sheng had two subordinates before LuLei joined. LuLei had also said the same things to Mr. Sheng, as he had said to Liu Gan. Afterwards, the two subordinates were on his side, but Mr. Sheng still wasn''t quite happy about it. In the end, Mr. Sheng chose to ept the difference in views and asked for opinions from LuLei, like an advisor for managerial techniques.

    <span>When Liu Gan heard the same opinions though, LuLei was ignored. Resentment grew within LuLei''s heart so he took the opportunity to voice his displeasure, in hopes of gaining Liu Gan''s attention.

    <span>"Yeah, I only need these brainwashed individuals to be my subordinates. Why? Are you mad? You can just go die!" Liu Gan didn''t want to continue dragging this out. With his axe in hand, he sent LuLei''s head flying off. Then Liu Gan kicked the body so it flopped onto the ground, just so the blood won''t soil his clothes.

    <span>"Alright, who else isn''t happy with me being the leader? You can stand out right now! I will give you two choice. First choice, you are free to leave my group and venture the world as you please. No one will hinder your movement! The second choice, is if you continue to stay within my group, then don''t you dare to spread rumors. If any rumors reaches my ear, then don''t me me for killing you!" Liu Gan warned, as he chopped a nearby table in half.

    <span>No one stood out, and no one said anything. It was pure silence in the lobby. The displeased group of people finally understood why Elder Liu was so nonchnt earlier on. He was waiting for the troublemakers to present themselves.

    <span>After Elder Liu killed LuLei, any voice of opposition the displeased group members had, were all removed. There was no way, they were going to stand up against him.

    <span>Those displeased group of yers joined Mr. Sheng just so they could return to the real world by passing through the city center and to the transfer portal. Everyone knew that it was impossible to reach the location as an individual yer, so Mr. Sheng worked hard to recruit yers for the cause. However, to have the yers work together as a unit, Mr. Sheng offered multitudes of ways to bribe his way to the heart of the people.

    <span>Whenever the yers got rowdy, they were surely able to change Mr. Sheng''s view and decision, but it didn''t work in Liu Gan''s case.

    <span>The sole reason being, Liu Gan never thought of organizing a whole group. Even though having more yers is good since they can do mundane tasks, but he will survive even without a group. He could travel the world freely with just Yin He and there would be less worries.

    <span>So if there were more team members questioning him or challenging his authority, Liu Gan didn''t mind killing them all. At least, only until when he had the subordinates that would obey him loyally.

    <span>This was the way of life in The Trembling World for Liu Gan. He wasn''t a democrat nor was he a phnthropist. If he wanted to lead his group, he would be a powerful leader. His wishes would be the group''s wishes. Once he had decided, no one else could say the word ''No'' to him.

    <span>So those who couldn''t ept this unrelenting, unyielding way, only has two options. One option was to run, far away from Liu Gan''s sight. The second option was to die, just like Teacher Dong and LuLei, who publicly challenged Liu Gan. With the two troublemakers dead, everything was so peaceful again.

    <span>So in Liu Gan''s travels around The Trembling World, he decided that there could only be two types of people with him. One type was the shameless individuals, that can be abandoned. The second type, the individuals that were loyal to him.

    <span>After Teacher Dong was fed to the Variant Zombie, and LuLei was beheaded, the group was seemingly united. At least superficially, there was no one stepping into the role of opposing Liu Gan. The displeased group members were all afraid of looking at Liu Gan, for fear that their neck might be the next target of the axe.

    <span>"[Flying Snow],e over here and kill it." Liu Gan called over to Xue Jian.

    <span>"Okay¡­" Xue Jian looked at the mother Variant on the floor. The mother was teary in the eyes, and Xue Jian hesitated.

    <span>"Well if you don''t want to take this opportunity, I can arrange for someone else." Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"No need," Xue Jian embarrassingly replied. With a deep breath, he lifted up the axe and chopped down at the Leech Variant''s neck, decapitating the mother Leech Variant''s head cleanly off .

 Chapter 214

    <span>Chapter 214 - No Time To Lose<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Feel free to listen to any of the song while reading!<hr>

    <span>After several minutes, a dense ck orb escaped out of the Variant Zombie and into the body of Xue Jian. Xue Jian felt a burning sensation that was more intense than ever before; it was his first time experiencing this. At the same time, his alloy wrist watch also indicated that his level had changed from level 4 to level 5. There was also an ability in the status that wasn''t there before. It was called [Trueshot Aura].

    <span>Frequent yers would immediately understand the ability based on the name. It is a ssical definition of boosting the strength, agility and ability power attributes. After releasing the ability, those nearby Xue Jian could feel a small increase in offensive and defensive, Xue Jian was like a walking beacon of power that radiated outward from his body.

    <span>Xue Jian tried to set a particr target to release his energy on, but was unable to do so. When he tried to release it upon himself, it spread outward from his body and the nearby yers within several meters felt the boost. For the next 15 minutes within the beacon, physical attributes, speed, and senses had all increased.

    <span>The [Trueshot Aura] ability was quite useful in helping in team fights. Xue Jian''s ability''s true potentialid in raising overall team offenses. Regardless if it was against other future organized groups or against corpse tides, it would certainly be useful.

    <span>"Congrattions on entering the realms of bing a strong yer!" Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and other squad leaders walked over to greet Xue Jian.

    <span>"Oh it''s nothing, I relied on Elder Liu''s special care! Thank you brothers, from now on I will obey Elder Liu''s everymand. His wishes are my wishes! Me and my squad will work hard for Elder Liu!" Xue Jian quickly expressed.

    <span>Elder Liu really needed a group of loyal subordinates and Xue Jian had internal conflict with himself to y that role. Being a loyal follower of Elder Liu, would guarantee survival since power is key. The rules of this world and the real world or other games are quite different, to be stubborn with internal turmoil means waiting to die. Xue Jian wasn''t the type of person to be stubborn with pride.

    <span>Zhao Meng, Thunder Martial, HuJun and Zhou JingJing, witnessed yet another level 5 yer being cultivated by Elder Liu. They only felt disappointment in themselves. They''ve followed Liu Gan for a long time, way longer than Xue Jian. Even then, it didn''t seem to factor into being able to have a chance at leveling up. Seems like as more new yers join, they will be push further behind in Liu Gan''s heart. At this rate, it seemed like any potential yer would surpass them in ranking.

    <span>What a terrible life! They didn''t know when it would be their turn to level up. Even if the yer chose to leave on their own ord, it would be impossible for them to survive so it would be nonsense to think they could kill a Variant Zombie by themselves.

    <span>So the best option is to continue waiting. As long as they stayed alive in the group, they believed that one day they could level up. It was already a proven fact, with Zhang Hua getting a chance to level up after gaining an achievement in helping to kill the Carapace Variant Zombie. There was hope! Just as long as they could stay alive.

    <span>Liu Gan investigated Xue Jian''s ability for awhile. It was no surprise to Liu Gan. Xue Jian had been a guild leader in his previous game, many yers gathered by his side. So he must have some sort of leadership ability, and the awaken ability proves that there is a corrtion between personality and ability.

    <span>Every yer reaching level 5 would awaken an ability. Even the enhanced local survivors would get some effect from it. There were factors that must be taken into ount too, such as the person''s specialty and experiences in life. Only then, a rather fitting ability would awaken.

    <span>Considering this fact, Liu Gan thought about his own first ability [Mist Armor]. Perhaps, it was that long year of being a quadruple amputee that caused him to be an introvert and resulted in him putting up his guard against others. Maybe that was why he awakened that ability?

    <span>Regardless, Liu Gan didn''t want to think too much on the past. In fact, Liu Gan was very satisfied with [Mist Armor] at least with this defensive ability, he had a higher chance of survival. As for the offensive side, he has his alloy limbs, which wouldn''t lose to any yer. As of right now, his limbs far surpassed all the abilities of the yers he had seen so far.

    <span>That would be more than enough for him.

    <span>"Lee Miao,e kill this baby." Liu Gan quickly ordered.

    <span>"Me? Why?" Lee Miao''s eyes widened as she looked nkly at Liu Gan, then at Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Just do as Elder Liu asks of you." Zhang ShengLi walked over and whispered into Lee Miao''s ear.

    <span>"Why must we kill this baby?" Lee Miao asked with aplicated expression. As a doctor, she witnessed many bloody scenes even before the apocalypse and the rise of the zombies. So she understood that the zombie baby was no longer of the human species, but she still couldn''t help herself whenever she looks into the baby''s sad eyes.

    <span>"Elder Liu, this baby was born from that Variant Zombie. Can I suggest to you, that if we can feed it, we can train it like a pet, it might help us in ourbat strength." Zhang ShengLi whispered to Liu Gan. Zhang ShengLi was stuck between a rock and a hard ce, in this situation.

    <span>"Feed it? It requires either human blood or maybe the milk produced by the mother. We''ve killed the mother already, so it''s not feasible to find human blood to feed it. Other than that, the moment we remove the stuffing from its mouth, the scream will return and lure all nearby zombies here. We can''t defend against that. Another thing is, I don''t think that feeding this baby will mean that it will obey ourmands."

    <span>"Lee Miao''s physical attributes are nearly a match for level 4 yers right? If I have her kill it, I want to see if this small baby will be considered a Variant Zombie ording to The Trembling World rules. If she awakens an ability from killing a Variant Zombie this easily, it will be a good chance for her since there might not be something as easy next time. Reconsider that fact!" Liu Gan exined in detail to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Thank you for exining, Elder Liu!"

    <span>Zhang ShengLi suddenly realized after hearing Liu Gan''s exnation. Normally, Liu Gan didn''t exin to anyone, so what a rare moment to see how caring Liu Gan was. Now just incase, Liu Gan''s presumption was correct, that this small baby would be a Variant Zombie, then Lee Miao could awaken an ability. Then in battle, she wouldn''t be a liability, but an asset.

    <span>This was an only once in a lifetime opportunity! It may note again!

    <span>Zhang ShengLi walked back to Lee Miao''s side. He whispered into her ears the reasons and theories behind it. Lee Miao was happy that Zhang ShengLi was conveying his thoughts to her. Right when Lee Miao was mustering up courage to do the task, she looked at the baby, but felt unbearable pity.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi worried that Lee Miao''s hesitation would make Liu Gan unhappy, and pass on the opportunity to others. Quickly, Zhang ShengLi whispered more words of encouragement and pulled her over to the baby. Finally, Lee Miao mmed down the axe countless times while it was held down by Zhang ShengLi, until the baby''s head came rolling off.

 Chapter 215

    <span>Chapter 215 - Prison<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Feel free to listen to any of the song while reading!<hr>

    <span>If Liu Gan''s deduction was correct, this baby was definitely recognized by the game as a Variant Zombie! Even though she was reluctant, the moment she beheaded the baby she felt a burning sensation. In addition to the physical attributes associated with strength, speed, sight, hearing, almost everything else increased significantly. She also gained an overwhelming energy that flowed outward from her body.

    <span>This energy was not an active energy burst like Zhang ShengLi''s [Whirlwind sh] that radiated outward. It wasn''t like Han GuangMing''s [Meteor Hammer] that locked onto the target, nor was her ability like Xue Jian''s [Trueshot Aura] that releases gathered energy outward. Soon, Lee Miao unlocked the true potentials of her ability and walked to the beds of nearby injured team members. She could use the energy to speed up the healing of their wounds.

    <span>Without a doubt, as a doctor, Lee Miao had awoken an ability that fell under the category of [Treatment]. She could speed up the healing speed on the injuries, sustained by the team members. The more shallow exterior wound would be able to close up and form a scab and as for the deeper exterior wound it would have simr effect, but at a slower rate. Onemon feature of this ability was that once the wound sealed up, the painful feeling disappeared as well.

    <span>This included the team member who had his arm hacked off. Upon receiving [Treatment] from Lee Miao, the pain subsided immensely. He had his arm cut cleanly off at the joint, with the wound reaching the boneyer. Before [Treatment], he couldn''t handle the pain, but at least now it was more bearable.

    <span>The armless team member used up all the energy Lee Miao had, so to continue [Treatment], all the other injured team members had to wait for Lee Miao to recuperate.

    <span>Over the course of one night, the group lost three team members, but gained two awoken ability users. Nevertheless, the reward was immense since the discontent amongst the yers was discovered early, but strict discipline must still be maintained.

    <span>Due to the appearance of the Variant Zombies, nobody had a good night''s rest. After eating breakfast in the morning, under the request from several squad leaders, Liu Gan didn''t depart immediately. He allowed the group more time to rest in the hotel.

    <span>By the time the rain stopped pouring, it was already daytime. As the strange events of a Variant Zombie and corpse tide finally came to a close, it was safe to sleep for awhile. Liu Gan also returned to his bed to sleep until noon. That was when Liu Gan woke up his squad leaders, and the squad leaders in turn woke up their squad members. New orders trickled down from above, such as preparing the lunch meals and packing gears up. After eating lunch, the group departed in the vehicles.

    <span>After clearing up a few more obstacles on the road, the fleet was able to reach the countryside. The roads gradually became less obstructed, making it easier to travel. There was even a part on the road for two kilometers where it waspletely obstacle-free. Without any obstacles, the obstacle-clearing squads were able to rest and just enjoy riding in the car.

    <span>After two hours, it was around four in the afternoon. The fleet of vehicles finally reached the gas station nearby the prison.

    <span>Even though Mr. Sheng marked on the map that the gas station was very far apart from the prison, he had actually misjudged the distance. It was only around half a kilometer away.

    <span>Nearby the prison, more building structures started appearing. There were even fast food restaurants, needless to say, it was not "open" for business. These restaurants must have been opened prior to the catastrophe, perhaps catering to the people visiting the prisoners or the drivers that drove by this highway.

    <span>Finally, the three vehicles stopped at the gas station. Xue Jian and his squad were responsible for refueling the cars. Several of the other squads had the duty of scouring nearby buildings to look for useful resources. The gas station seemed to be quite rundown, so there was a little trouble in refueling the cars. Luckily, Xue Jian was responsible for this task, since he had capabilities of managing his own squad. Even though Xue Jian resolved the issue of refueling, he still needed quite a while before all vehicles were fully fueled.

    <span>With extra time to spend, Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi''s squad proceeded in the direction toward the prison. If without any incident, their next rest stop would be somewhere nearby. Liu Gan took this opportunity to scout out the prison to give it a preliminary assessment on whether the prison was an appropriate location to serve as temporary base camp.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>"[Big Brother Flying Sword], is it possible that [Burning Fire] would be able to find an airship at Green Pao Bay?" a yer asked Xue Jian.

    <span>These followers of Xue Jian were willing to follow him due to the fact that Xue Jian was a guild leader in the previous game. But it was different now, as in this game, they were all equals of at least they were all level 4. This was until Xue Jian had leveled up to level 5, and so now, once again, they treated Xue Jian with respect. This just goes to show that in this world, power is everything.

    <span>"With Elder Liu, everything seems possible. Another thing, you guys should change your tone when speaking to him. Don''t call him [Burning Fire] anymore, you should call him Elder Liu, just like everyone else does." Xue Jian correcting his squad.

    <span>"No way, adding the title Elder sounds really funky. Do you think this is a light novel?" a yer said disapprovingly while shaking his head. This yer''s name was Liu GanG, Xue Jian''s friend in real life.

    <span>[TL: You have got to be shittin me. I''m going to cap his G at the end so I don''t mess it up myself.]

    <span>"What''s so funny? Haven''t you understood the situation within [The Trembling World] yet? This isn''t just a game anymore. It''s an independent parallel world. If we don''t rely on Elder Liu, we won''t be able to continue surviving! Only Elder Liu is strong enough to guide us to return to the real world."

    <span>The moment Liu Gan helped Xue Jian achieve level 5, Xue Jian was so deeply grateful that he could even admit Liu Gan as the rightful leader. So every order that Liu Gan gave him, he would obey. Xue Jian realized that the first thing he had to do was discipline his own squad, so they wouldn''t cause any trouble that could bring shame to him.

    <span>"Okay, then we will listen to Big Brother Xue Jian. We have chosen to follow you, so what you decide to do, we will follow it," Liu GanG replied to Xue Jian.

    <span>"Everybody speed up your actions! If we can''t finish refueling by nightfall it will endanger everyone in the group! Our job is the most important," Xue Jian urged his squad.

    <span>"Brother [Flying Sword], this way of siphoning gas through the opening cannot be rushed," replied a yer, with grease on his face, back to Xue Jian.

    <span>"Our squad is the most hardworking. Everything that was painful andbor intensive, has always been done by us." Liu GanG replied with an unsatisfied look.

    <span>"Do you hear some noise?" Xue Jian suddenly asked. Xue Jian definitely heard something with his strengthened hearing.

    <span>"What else could the sound be? Probably another squad looking around for food to eat," Liu GanG replied to Xue Jian.

    <span>"I''ll go look at where they were are now," Xue Jian walked out from the gas station, while looking around.

    <span>At this time while at the gas station, the yers were busy siphoning the gas with their mouth when they suddenly heard a noiseing from below their feat. It was a thumping sound that was gradually getting louder, so naturally, they looked in that direction. What they saw scared them. They screamed, and tried to run, but it was toote.

    <span>It was a hand grenade! The ring that was within the grenade was pulled off!

 Chapter 216

    <span>Chapter 216 - Sea of me<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Thank you Oliver H.! Enjoy the sponsored chapter!<hr>

    <span>Standing by the gas station, the squad yers were pondering about if there was a more efficient method of siphoning the gasoline out and were caught off guard. A hand grenade had exploded with the gas station as coteral. As the explosion was in close proximity to the gas station, nothing else needed to be said about the fate of those yers.

    <span>Even if they had wanted to drop the tubes and run away from the gas station, there was no time. The hand grenade exploded a secondter and in a sh of blood sttered red, the yers felt the overwhelming force of the explosion that obliterated them.

    <span>Xue Jian had his back toward the gas station and took no notice of the events taking ce behind him. Then ''Bang''! The force expelled Xue Jian outward like a jet propulsion. Xue Jian was sent flying over two dozen meters away onto the ground.

    <span>Xue Jiannded onto the ground, he was in immense pain. Due to the shock wave from the explosion, his eardrums were temporarily blown out. Even if Xue Jian wanted to muster up strength to get up, he couldn''t do it.

    <span>Large amounts of broken cement and building infrastructure were sent radiating outward from the explosion, somending on Xue Jian''s body which held him down. Many more rocksnded nearby Xue Jian''s body. Luckily, Xue Jian''s survival instinct kicked in and he started crawling for dear life towards the flower terrace for cover. In the background, sessive explosion noises shook the ground.

    <span>As Liu Gan and his group were heading towards the prison, they heard the destructive noisesing from the gas station. By the time, they turned to look at the scene, all they saw was a sea of me in the ce of the gas station and nearby surroundings. They were all shocked, unsure of what to do in this situation.

    <span>With the onset of the second explosion, the entire roof of the gas station flew off. Itnded onto the middle of the street, sending broken cement and infrastructures off into various directions. Liu Gan and the other yers all copsed onto the ground from the roof hitting the ground, while Yin He somersaulted several times to regain her footing.

    <span>A miniature ck mushroom cloud rose up to the sky right above the center of the gas station. With the sea of me covering the ground, the three vehicles were burnt to crisp. All the food storages and resources were burned to the ground with the vehicles.

    <span>Emerging from the sea of me were two burning yers,ing out from a nearby restaurant. It took a step and cried out for help, but soon copsed and burned. It was hard to tell which yer it was from how burned the body was. It was definitely not Xue Jian''s group since they were at the gas station. So it must have been from a nearby squad that was supposed to be piging the nearby buildings.

    <span>Xue Jian''s squad would have been in the center of the explosion so they would''ve been obliterated upon the first explosion.

    <span>Liu Gan''s expression was livid as he looked toward the site of explosion. Judging from the sound of the first explosion, it resembles a lot like a hand grenade. Seems like this wasn''t an ident. It was a sneak attack!

    <span>Those attacking them must not have known about all the resources within the vehicle. If they had known, then they might have changed their strategy to go in for the kill instead of blowing it up! In addition, if Liu Gan and his group weren''t heading toward the prison, they might have been caught up as coteral damage from the explosion.

    <span>Other squads weren''t as lucky, those that were nearby the gas station were caught up from the explosion. Even if they weren''t within the radius of the st, the aftermath of the explosion was also as deadly. With the casualties still unknown, the roof of nearby buildings copsed from the fire and out climbed several yers. One of them had their arm snapped off and they kept calling for help, while being burned alive. Others were rolling on the floor trying to put out the fire.

    <span>The rest that weren''t as injured immediately moved the injured to a safe area.

    <span>"Follow me, we have to help them!" Zhang ShengLi rushed forward with a face full of sorrow. With Zhang ShengLi leading, the front of the charge with his squad trailing, into danger.

    <span>Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing and Zhang Hua were able to reach the scene of fire and were able to pull out numerous injured yers. Since the three yers are level 5, their body was much stronger. During the time of explosion, the three squad leaders were caught in the copsed infrastructures in a nearby building, but they were able to pull themselves out from the ruins. So they didn''t sustain much damage and were able to quickly provide aid.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi ran straight into the fire and his clothes caught on fire. In hisst attempt of running into the sea of fire, he rescued the heavily injured and unconscious Xue Jian out.

    <span>Of the group of 40 yers, they were instantly reduced to only 20. A majority of the rescued yers were stillying down on the floor, more than half of them had minor concussions, but none of them were in serious conditions such as Comas. Due to the various degrees of burns and bone fractures, many of the wounded yers were crying for help.

    <span>Lee Miao quickly got to work, making the most out of her ability and depleted her energy level. So she could only help the injured yers with simple bandaging and primitive treatment. All the medical equipment was onboard the car. With medicine was in short supply, even sterile bandages were hard toe by. The moment the vehicle turned into ashes, Lee Miao cried out loud.

    <span>Liu Gan hadn''t moved at all from his location. He was livid as he witnessed everything he worked so hard for, being burned to the ground.

    <span>"Elder Liu, before the explosion, I was on the rooftop of a building when I saw a suspicious group hanging out in the shadows of the gas station. When I wanted to alert our group, I saw them throw something from their hand and they quickly ran away! Then the gas station exploded¡­" Wang DeCheng reporting to Liu Gan. Wang DeCheng was limping as he made his report, he still had a metal pipe sticking out from his thigh.

    <span>"Elder Liu! We didn''t aggravate anyone, we were ambushed! Dozens of our members are dead! Car, food, resources! All gone!" Zhang ShengLi said with tears flowing, but with an angry-look face.

    <span>"Elder Liu, there are several members that are severely injured, we don''t have the medicine to help them¡­ I don''t think we can save them," Lee Miao also cried as she reported back.

    <span>"Elder Liu! Our team members died horribly! They didn''t deserve this cruelty!" Han GuangMing sat on the floor naked, with his body covered in blood blisters, especially his buttocks - making it painful for him to sit.

    <span>"Yeah! We were attacked for no reason! So many of our team members have fallen or in pain. These group of attackers have messed with the wrong bunch! I will make them regret!" Liu Gan clenched his fist as veins started appearing from his forehead. Ever since he entered [The Trembling World], never had he been so mad.

 Chapter 217

    <span>Chapter 217 - I Want Them Alive<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Just waiting for edits toe by.<hr>

    <span>"Tch! So cruel!"

    <span>A dozen people suddenly emerged wielding a variety of weapons. They had pistols, assault rifles, swords, iron rods, and metal bats. The people had all emerged from the direction of the prison. The men wore fully-geared up sets, with the barrel end of the pistols and assault rifles pointed at Liu Gan''s group.

    <span>"We weren''t hostile towards you, why would you do that?" Liu Gan walked towards the group of hostile males as he maintained an expressionless gaze.

    <span>"You took the initiative to take gasoline from our gas station without our permission. Do you still think we needed a reason to kill you?" said the male leader who had a scar running down his face. In the leader''s hand was an assault rifle; he was the only person with that type of weapon out of the group.

    <span>Due to the strict firearm regtions, after the catastrophe, no one in NinJing city was allowed to have firearms. The prison however, was a peculiar ce as the prisoners were able to overtake the prison and obtain the firearms. From then on, the prisoners felt as though they had the right to take away people''s right to live.

    <span>"Have you ever thought about the consequences of your actions?" Liu Gan asked the scarred-face leader as he revealed killing intent.

    <span>"Consequences<span>? Hahaha¡­ I actually did! My only wish is to ughter you all and listen to your cries of help. I want to watch you beg for your life. That is the consequence I want to see! I will enjoy it very much! But now, I change my mind. You have such beautifuldies with you! Are they not your wives? Even in the apocalyptic world, she could maintain such beauty with skin so smooth. This is just too rare and tempting. You should just gift her to me and I will reconsider about taking your lives and let you live!" said the scarred-face leader to Liu Gan, while eyeing Yin He from top to bottom.

    <span>Yin He''s beauty couldn''t be matched by anyone. So when she is seen by men, especially if they have seen her beautiful eyes, they would instantly be captivated. It was too hard to resist her unparalleled beauty. Naturally, men would try to do everything they could to gain possession of her.

    <span>"Okay, it seems like I don''t have a choice. I can only give her to you," Liu Gan agreed.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan and Yin He weren''t worried about the firearm that was pointed at them, they knew that theirpanions would have a hard time surviving if they were shot.

    <span>Those fully equipped people were definitely the prisoners that were once held there. Every single prisoner had be merciless until the point where they wouldn''t hesitate to take the lives of innocents. So for the sake of theirpanions, Liu Gan had to hold back and remain calm.

    <span>"Oh? You are quick on your feet! Hahaha¡­ hurry and bring her over here! I only need her!" eximed the scarred-face leader. He simply couldn''t resist the beauty of Yin He.

    <span>"I want him alive," Liu Gan whispered in a low tone to Yin He.

    <span>Yin He nodded and stepped forward to the scarred-face leader.

    <span>"The beautifuldy belongs to me, but you still have to die!" said the scarred-face leader, once Yin He reached their side. The leader revealed a sinisterugh and pointed the barrel of the assault rifle at Liu Gan

    <span>However, before the scarred-face leader was able to pull the trigger, the hand holding the assault rifle felt a sharp pain in the arm. Then he saw his hand along with the assault rifle fall onto the floor. His hand was pumping fresh blood from the open wound; it was a clean cut. The scarred-face leader could only watch on with speechlessness. Next was a sharp pain to the back of his head and down he fell.

    <span>Several of the nearbyckeys felt something was off and quickly pointed the muzzle end of the firearm at Yin He. Due to the close proximity between theckey and Yin He, they weren''t able to open fire. Even the act of lifting up the firearm caused Yin He to react immediately. In a sh of bright light, Yin He cut off the hand holding on to the firearm. Followed by a quick session of hits to the chest, throat and back of the head, they fell onto the floor too.

    <span>Liu Gan had already rushed over and started knocking the wind out of all the otherckeys. Him and Yin He were in sync in action. Almost every punch or kick was able to fracture the bones. Theckeys that were further away reacted in time and opened fire on Liu Gan and Yin He, but the two of them were like demons, as none of the bulletsnded on the right target. Many of the shotsnded on the bodies of their fellow prison mates in the crossfire.

    <span>A few bullets struck Liu Gan''s body, but it wasn''t enough to cause any real damage. It only produced a few sparks due to the effects of [Carapace Breastte].

    <span>As for theckeys that didn''t have a firearm, they tried to attack Liu Gan and Yin He, with swords and metal bats. Theckeys'' attacks werepletely ineffective, throwing them into a panic; even the bullets were unable to wound Liu Gan and Yin He. Immediately, theckeys turned around and recklessly ran toward a nearby street that had two parked transport vehicles for prisoners.

    <span>Before they even reached the vehicle, Yin He and Liu Gan caught up and chopped off the limbs of theckeys.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi and team members that were lightly injured eventually caught up to Liu Gan, then they bound up the scarred-face leader with his own clothes.

    <span>After Yin He mowed down the runawayckeys, Liu Gan checked the prisoner transport vehicle for his own safety. After confirming that the vehicle was safe, they drove the vehicle over to nearby the wounded team members to act as cover.

    <span>"Oh various elders, spare my life! Please!" cried the scarred-face leader as he woke up. Now that he lost the upper hand, the scarred-face leader couldn''t act hubris anymore.

    <span>"Now can you tell us the real reason why you attacked us for no reason?" Liu Gan expressionlessly asked.

    <span>"Ah¡­ We were afraid that you will forcefully take over our campground. So we decided to strike first and gain the upperhand. You would understand that in order to survive, there is no other way to go around it. I hope you understand my intentions¡­ If you don''t kill me, I can lead you to our base camp and help you conquer it. It is located at the prison, up ahead! We have stored many weapons, and food resources there. We also captured a dozen beautiful girls in the jail cell. When we get there, I can give you all of it! The weapon, food resources, and beautiful women!" the scarred-face leader immediately negotiated.

    <span>"Let''s talk about the person who threw the hand grenade. Where is he?" Liu Gan stomped on the hacked off arm of the scarred-face leader.

    <span>"NOOO¡­ It hurts¡­ I''ll talk! If they¡­ If they aren''t in the vicinity, then they must''ve returned back to the prison basecamp¡­" the scarred-face prisoner loudly cried out.

    <span>"The prison basecamp, how many people are there? How many weapons are stored there?" Liu Gan continued to press the open wound of the prisoner.

 Chapter 218

    <span>Chapter 218 - Blood Calls For Blood<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    <span>Hey this is Lonering! I was briefly on TNC (for those of you who did read it as well) and now I''ll be here trying to survive (and maybe sing on discord as usual since I love karaoke)! Let me know who you think you resemble out of all the yers who made it to level 5 so far! I''m curious on who you guys think you can rte to the most!<hr>

    <span>(TL: This chapter is NOT for the squeamish. Although really you should know by now that it can get gross. Just a friendly warning for thetter half of the chapter!)<hr>

    <span>"There are a lot of people, as well as a vast amount of weapons and ammunitions in the prison. As long as you release and promise not to kill me, I will tell you every single detail." The scarred-face leader seemingly saw an opportunity to exploit them and promptly told Liu Gan his conditions.

    <span>"I''ll be going to the prison. The people that we have no use for, don''t let them die too quickly. The suffering that our wounded brothers are experiencing... you must all make sure they experience it for themselves tenfold to a hundredfold in return," Liu Gan didn''t ask for anything more and turned to Zhang ShengLi to announce a few words.

    <span>Liu Gan removed a loudspeaker and picked up two pistols that were originally from the scarred-face man''s waist, as well as seizing the assault rifle that hung around his back. Liu Gan had fired live ammunition before in the real world for fun, so to him, using firearms didn''t pose much of a problem at all. He only needed to once again be familiar with it and practiced with the process.

    <span>He did not care about how many people or how manyrge caliber weapons were within the prison, he only wished for everyone within the prison to offer their blood as a sacrifice for his innocent dead brothers. Even though he had only built this group on the spur of the moment, he had established it by himself, so he absolutely would not tolerate anyone who trampled on it.

    <span>"Leave it to us," Han GuangMing said with blood covering all over his face, causing his facial expression to be iparably fierce. At that moment, he truly wished to bring pain to those people by tenfold to a hundredfold in return.

    <span>He was a student studying to be a police officer in university; a kindhearted youth. However, in the midst of his fallen fellow brothers'' iparable pain while covered in blood and in severe pain, he bathed in Nirvana fire and quickly grew into a man.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I want to go together with you. To tten their prison!" Zhang ShengLi picked up his axe and turned to Liu Gan for instructions, his heart currently filled with fury and hatred with nowhere to vent it.

    <span>"I want to follow brother Zhang in order to avenge our fallen brothers!" Zhang Hua raised up, facing Liu Gan.

    <span>"I too, will not stay here. I also wish to go!" Wang DeCheng also had a few injured team members and shouted out in a loud voice to Liu Gan. Being unreasonably attacked and with so many brothers dead and injured, all that remained within the hearts of all the brothers that were alive was one word: Vengeance.<hr>

    <span>(TL Note: Vengeance in Chinese consists of two characters. So for any of you who read the raws, it will say two characters there.)<hr>

    <span>"All of you, please calm down and listen to me speak a few words¡­¡­" Lee Miao called out to the men, whose hearts were filled with rage.

    <span>Liu Gan stood and nodded to Lee Miao, indicating for her to continue speaking.

    <span>"It''s true that going for vengeance is very important, however saving people also demands immediate action with several of our team members sustaining serious injuries. Without prompt treatment they may not be able to be saved back. Weck doctors and medicine here, if you all intend on seizing the prison camp, it would be better to use these two cars to take them along with us. Once you have seized the prison camp, we can immediately use any medication we find in there to give them medical treatment. Maybe we can possibly save a few of their lives," Lee Miao urgently proposed to Liu Gan.

    <span>Currently as the team''s sole doctor, it was her responsibility to treat the wounded people. Once all the males impulsively charged ahead, leaving behind the wounded people in the rear, if someone were to conduct a sneak attack, wouldn''t the casualties be even more disastrous?

    <span>"Very well, we will listen to you and carry the wounded into the cars," Liu Gan naturally epted Lee Miao''s proposal.

    <span>"What about them?" Zhang ShengLi pointed at the scarred-face leader andckeys as he asked Liu Gan. While the two prisoner transport vehicles could carry the wounded team members, it was incapable of carrying the scarred-face leader and his men as well.

    <span>"I beg the various elders to spare our lives. The security in the prison is tight so we can help you to seize the prison!" The scarred-face leader promptly eximed out towards Liu Gan.

    <span>"Only bring him with us in the car. Cut off the arms and legs of everyone else and leave them here." Liu Gan pointed at the scarred-face leader and told Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Thank you elder for giving mercy to me, I will definitely help you in seizing the prison camp!" When the scarred-face leader saw that he was pardoned, he couldn''t help but be overjoyed.

    <span>"After you take him into the car, give him the full set of the ten most ruthless punishments. Don''t let him die too quickly," Liu Gan continued to say.

    <span>"No way?" The scarred-face leader suddenly was somewhat foolish.

    <span>"Leave it to me, I haven''t practiced the dissection of the human skin for a very long time. I can gradually peel the skin off bit by bit, strip by strip, from the top of the body down to the bottom. I can also guarantee that after I have peeled the skin from his body, that he will still be alive and awake." Lee Miao suddenly took the initiative to take on this role, as she always carried a scalpel at hand by chance, in case she could possibly put it to good use.

    <span>The men wished to go to the battlefield, so these trifling matters were best set aside for the women to do.

    <span>"Can you do it?" Zhang ShengLi asked Lee Miao with some worry. He had never seen such a calcting look on Lee Miao before.

    <span>"My heart is also brimming with hatred just like yours and I wish to relieve it by following Elder Liu to battle and vent the fury in my heart out," Lee Miao reached out her hand to wipe off the tears that had not yet dried off of Zhang ShengLi''s cheek, before finally taking the scalpel into her hand and looking towards the scarred-face leader that was on the ground.

    <span>"Please no¡­¡­" The scarred-face leader felt that the situation was far from good and was so scared, his face turned deathly pale. However his fate was now already beyond his control and choice. The moment he made the choice to let hisckey throw the hand grenade, their fate were sealed. They were destined to pay the price for it, a tenfold to a hundredfold the price of pain in order to repay for it all.

    <span>"Very well. After seizing the prison camp, I wille and admire your workmanship," Zhang ShengLi walked past, brandishing his sharp axe as he suddenly cut off the arm of one of the scarred-face leader''sckeys. Theckey let out a blood-curdling screech while Zhang ShengLi dipped his hand in the detached arm''s blood, smearing it onto his own face. He had a devout look appearing to be like a warrior from an ancient tribe about to go into battle.

    <span>Zhang Hua, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, as well as some uninjured yers, one by one also lifted an axe and cut off the arms and legs of those people. They imitated Zhang ShengLi''s appearance and dipped into the blood that wasing out of the screaming yer''s bodies, smearing it onto their faces, their bodies and the handle of their axes.

    <span>"This is a war they caused by massacring our brothers. We must collect their debt in blood!" Zhang ShengLi lifted his axe up high and loudly roared at everyone.

    <span>"Blood calls for blood!" The crowd of team members responded to Zhang ShengLi''s roar and altogether, lifted up their blood-covered axes up high.

    <span>Youths would one day mature into men, while men would also one day grow into fighters. Hatred was a catalyst that would cause men to speed up their growth into brave and fierce fighters. Those that hadn''t fought alongside each other were not truerade-in-arms. Those that hadn''t dyed their clothes red with blood together, were not true brothers-in-arms.

    <span>Liu Gan and the others nearby were on alert. Under Lee Miao''s guidance the uninjured and those with minor injuries had, after a period of difficulty with the move, atst managed to finally move all the wounded people into the prisoner transport vehicle. The prisoner transport vehicle was then slowly started up.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He had not followed in entering the prisoner transport vehicle, but instead, were leaping across every single building on either side of the avenue to scout ahead. After ensuring that it was safe, they used gestures to indicate towards the two prisoner transport vehicles in the rear to proceed forward.

 Chapter 219

    <span>Chapter 219 - Seizing<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Hey this is Lonering! I was briefly on TNC (for those of you who did read it as well) and now I''ll be here trying to survive (and maybe sing on discord as usual since I love karaoke)! Let me know who you think you resemble out of all the yers who made it to level 5 so far! I''m curious on who you guys think you can rte to the most!<hr>

    <span>And just like that, the sky slowly turned dark and the vehicles gradually approached the vicinity of the prison camp. When Liu Gan arrived within seventy to eighty meters of the prison, the sound of gunfire came from high above the walls of the prison and several bullets flew over his body.

    <span>Liu Gan swiftly ducked behind the nearest building and signaled towards Yin He that was across the street, as well as to the vehicles that were in the rear, to temporarily stop.

    <span>"Who are you people? This is our camp, please immediately leave! Otherwise you will be showered with bullets!" A female voice using a loudspeaker warned from the direction of the prison.

    <span>"We only wished to pass through to add some gasoline to the vehicles. Your people took advantage us. Your people threw a hand grenade at a gas station causing it to explode and massacred more than ten of our team members! Please hand over the murderer who threw the grenade, otherwise I will storm into the prison and kill everyone there!" Liu Gan used the loudspeaker from the scarred-face leader to return a few words to the prison, then quietly retreated into the woonds that was behind the building. He climbed up a rtivelyrge tree and used his strengthened vision to observe the prison''s surroundings.

    <span>"I don''t know what you''re talking about, but we won''t hand him over to you. If you dare to approach again then don''t me us for showering you with bullets!" The girl''s voice hardly softened at Liu Gan''s words and the sounds of guns were heard again. It was clearly meant to carry out the warning.

    <span>"Very well, just now was yourst chance, since you did not value it, then you can all die!" Liu Gan put away the loudspeaker after replying a few words. He found a suitable ce to observe in the direction of the prison.

    <span>The prison was veryrge, it was at least the size of two ser fields and there were very tall and thick walls built all around. There were also several outposts at all four corners of the walls. Currently only the outposts on each corner had a guard with what seemed to be an assault rifle with a scope on it. The guard that was at the closest corner outpost to Liu Gan was the one who had fired at him earlier, the figure seemed to look like a woman and there was a loudspeaker hanging on her waist. This would have been the person that had yelled out the warning as well.

    <span>She was now using the sight on the rifle to incessantly observe this street, seemingly looking for Liu Gan''s hiding body so that she could fire at him.

    <span>"Elder Liu! You can let me deal with this sentry." Zhang Hua also had not stayed in the vehicles. He used the opportunity when Liu Gan and the girl were talking, to stealthily get out of the vehicle and finally found a suitable ce to observe the sentry''s location.

    <span>Right now he held numerous well-made spears that were recently made¡­ He had cut down a small tree from the woond and used his axe to sharpen it into a spear that he could throw at long distances with his hand.

    <span>"I will cover you soe and take care of her," Liu Gan nodded his head towards Zhang Hua and jumped down from the tree.

    <span>"Thank you Elder Liu!" After Zhang Hua responded, he followed Liu Gan closely to find a suitable ce to throw from afar.

    <span>Once Liu Gan was at the designated ce Zhang Hua had chosen, Liu Gan held his shield and pistol as he dashed out onto the nearby street and aimed the trigger towards the direction of the prison before firing two shots. After the female guard in the outpost was rmed, she promptly aimed the rifle in her hands in the direction of Liu Gan''s location and returned fire with a few shots.

    <span>Zhang Hua took advantage of the time that the female guard''s attention was on Liu Gan, to leave the roadside cover while grasping the tree-spear and swiftly dashed a few steps forward. He poured all the energy inside his body to activate the skill into the wooden spear within his hand, and threw it with all his might towards the female guard that was in the outpost.

    <span>The wooden spear cut across the air like a deathly gleam of light, very quickly charging towards the female guard in the outpost. Even though she was wearing a bulletproof vest, she had still been urately pierced through by the spear that Zhang Hua had thrown! Her wide eyes puzzledly looked in the direction of Zhang Hua''s location yet she couldn''t see clearly who had shot her. Her body fell limply amongst the pool of blood.

    <span>Liu Gan gave Zhang Hua a thumbs up, and they quickly approached the prison once again. Zhang ShengLi and some others also followed behind. After plucking off the outpost guard, the prison had temporarily lost its defense in this direction. By the time the people within the prison came over and reacted by pulling the rm to send someone over again, Liu Gan, Yin He, Zhang ShengLi and the others had already dashed into the building in the street across from the prison.

    <span>There were also four gunmen hiding within this building. When they saw Liu Gan and the others dash in, they immediately fired towards them. Liu Gan indicated to Zhang ShengLi and the others to stop as he held the shield, and together with Yin He, they dashed over by force. Right afterwards he immediately used [Psychic Shock] on the four gunmen and the originally chaotic gunshots suddenly came to a halt. Just as the four gunmen had recovered from their moment of absent-mindedness, Yin He''s sleeve des had already ruthlessly left deep cut marks on each and every one of their necks.

    <span>The distance from here to the prison''s walls were already less than thirty meters. After they had dealt with the four gunmen in the building on the edge of the street, the sound of a burst of chaotic gunshots had once againe from on top of the tall wall with a few of the bullets brushing past the sides of Liu Gan and Yin He''s bodies.

    <span>The guard on the outpost was defending from a long distance and right now several gunmen wielding pistols were climbing up to the top of the prison. The people that were advancing towards the opposing street were long-distance defenders. They hid within the well-established fortifications on the high wall, upying the high ground as they fired. Even if Liu Gan and the others had obtained some guns, returning fire at them wouldn''t be an easy matter as just showing a sign of their presence would cause them to be suppressed by the enemy''s firepower.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He once again ducked back out and called Zhang ShengLi and the others, as they retreated to the back of the building.

    <span>Before the catastrophe, this was a heavily-guardedrge prison and NingJing City had a very strict control on firearms where even the police station did not have any firearms. However because of the prison''s speciality, there was actually a lot of firearm ammunition stored within. Looking at the current situation, it seems like there were a lot of security personnel in the prison camp along with a sufficient amount of ammunition. It was highly possible that, originally, some criminals had upied the prison here and had been operating this prison for quite some time.

    <span>These people were cruel and vicious as they did not care whether the people near the vicinity of the prison were kind or evil people, they would still eradicate everyone. Originally when Mr. Sheng had passed through here, it was most likely that it was at night and that he was by himself so he did not suffer an attack. It was also possible that he was driven away by gunshots but he did not specifically mark it on the map.

    <span>ording to Liu Gan''s spections, the prison should have adequate provisions stored. When their small team saw the three cars refueling while out on patrol, they simply did not care about the food and supplies in the cars. They also discovered that there were many people in Liu Gan''s group and that they could be a threat to their camp. They took advantage of the time they were taking to refuel the cars to ruthlessly explode the gas station, causing the group to suffer heavy casualties.

 Chapter 220

    <span>Chapter 220 - Catapult

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20<hr>

    Where are the editors at?? :/<hr>

    <span>If Liu Gan and Yin He were not brave enough, then the team of over twenty survivors at the time would have beenpletely surrounded and shot dead by the scarred-face leader''s small team.

    <span>While Liu Gan and the others were retreating to the back of the building opposite the prison, more than ten people wielding all sorts of firearms hade up the high wall and indiscriminately fired at the building everyone was hiding in. Liu Gan could clearly hear themotion in the prison with his improved hearing. There were at least one-hundred people.

    <span>"GuangMing are you alright?" Wang DeCheng saw Han GuangMing''s abnormal walking posture and that his thigh was wet with blood so he promptly faced him to ask.

    <span>"Uh¡­...Because of my carelessness I was shot before," Han GuangMing''s facial expression was gloomy; seeing Liu Gan and Yin He''s god-defying invulnerability had caused himself to feel somewhat too hot-blooded. He dashed quite bravely and when Liu Gan had warned them to not move any further forward, before he noticed, his body had already been hit by a stray bullet.

    <span>Once the stray bullet had hit his thigh he realised that even though he had reached level 5, he was not invulnerable like Liu Gan and Yin He and that his feeble body was unable to resist bullets from a gun.

    <span>"You all shouldn''t dash too bravely. You must listen to my order before you move again as these bullets are not a joke," Liu Gan once again stressed this to Zhang ShengLi and the others.

    <span>"Ok." Zhang ShengLi nodded his head. After Han GuangMing was hit by a bullet, his hot-headedness had calmed down significantly.

    <span>"Did you get hit by a bullet?" Liu Gan secretly asked Yin He in a low voice.

    <span>"I have," Yin He nodded and pointed towards several dents on her body.

    <span>"Are you alright?" Liu Gan had never seen Yin He bleed, however he didn''t know the extent of harm the bullets could cause her.

    <span>"The bullets bounced off my body. Even though my body has some slight damage, the nanobots will very quickly restore it to normal. Even if it wasn''t possible I could still give myself an injection to replenish the nanobots in my body," Yin He shaked her head, it seemed that she truly was indestructible.

    <span>Sure enough as Liu Gan watched, the several dents in Yin He''s body could clearly be seen by the naked eye to be quickly reconstructing itself to its original state.

    <span>Liu Gan also took a look at his own alloy watch, the [Mist Armor] around his body had also strengthened after reaching level 6. Just now his body had been hit by at least five bullets and two bullets had been bounced off by his [Mist Armor]. There were also three bullets that had hit his neck, arm and leg, yet they had caused not much harm. The green color on the alloy watch for [Mist Armor] had yet to redden with only a few red lines appearing and nothing more.

    <span>As his alloy limbs did not have to fear the bullets at all, the bullet that hit his neck should have be the one that had caused slight damage to his [Mist Armor]. ording to this situation, after using the [Carapace Shield] to protect his neck, he couldpletely charge into the hail of bullets at will.

    <span>"Elder Liu, they have a lot of people as well as plenty of ammunition. If it''s like this then we can''t even go in there to attack," Zhang ShengLi, all of a sudden spoke to Liu Gan as he somewhat depressedly faced him.

    <span>Although they very much wished to take vengeance by open ughtering within the prison, their bodies were too feeble. Even thoughpared to a normal person''s body they were far stronger, they were still unable to withstand an attack by a bullet. Trying to force their way into the heavily-guarded prison would be far from easy.

    <span>"Damn! Must we suffer this embarassment?" Wang DeCheng''s face showed a grudging and indignant expression.

    <span>The other side was truly cruel, to directly use a grenade to kill most of the team members with an explosion with any warning at all. They now wished to retaliate yet they were incapable of attacking the other camp, having no choice but to see only the opponent show off their military might on the high wall. It was truly too suffocating.

    <span>Liu Gan observed his surroundings, and seeing that they were hiding in the bamboo forest behind the building, an idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.

    <span>"Everyone follow me!" Liu Gan indicated towards everyone and proceeded to submerge into the bamboo forest.

    <span>The bamboo shoots were originally only there to decorate the prison''s surrounding environment. They had also been left to grow wildly, so several of the bamboo had grown very tall and thick. The tallest one had even reached over ten meters, which was twice as tall as the prison''s walls.

    <span>Liu Gan exined to everyone his n and then they proceeded to prepare for it.

    <span>First they had to choose three bamboo sticks bunched together that were all very long and thick, using rope to tie them together. Yin He carried the [Carapace Shield] as she climbed to the top of the three bamboo sticks, and tied the special rope to the top and throwing the rest of it down. Liu Gan directed everyone beside him to pull several pieces of the special rope together as they withdrew one step at a time, until the tied-up bamboo was bent in a bow shape, then they let go of it.

    <span>Using the shield to protect her body, Yin He ced a stone in a catapult as she was thrown over to the direction of the inside of the prison''s tall walls.

    <span>A foreign body suddenly appeared within the dusky sky as the defense team on the walls instinctively fired upwards. Some of the bullets missed and hit nothing while other bullets hit the [Carapace Shield]. However it only left a few dents as none of the bullets were able to pierce the incredibly durable [Carapace Shield]. A few of the bullets hit Yin He''s body but were not able to cause any considerable damage.

    <span>After Yin Hended, she immediately revealed her sleeve des and carried out an indifferent ughter of the people in the prison. Her nimble body drifted left and right as she practically avoided the majority of the bullets fired that were concentrated towards her, the guard personnel were also unable to get close to her body. There was only one conclusion...to die under her almighty sleeve des.

    <span>These sleeve des were made out of an unique alloy metal, its hardness wasparable to diamonds, yet its metal was also not easy to break. A steel te, few millimeters thick, could easily be cut open like paper so cutting these people''s cervical vertebra was just as easy as slicing tofu.

    <span>Yin He had very swiftly killed the people on the tall wall, beheading the gunmen in the wall''s fortification one by one. The tall wall top to bottom was in a pitiful state as miserable shrieks could be heard everywhere while the originally intense gunshots were rapidly bing less.

    <span>Yin He had killed from the top of the wall down to the bottom, and in ordance to Liu Gan''s previously-arranged n, she was to continuously charge and murder until she reached near the prison''srge iron door. She would then kill the several males guarding the iron door and then pull open the iron door bolt. However Liu Gan couldn''t wait for a long time, as he had just used his own means to enter the prison.

    <span>"One, two, three."

    <span>Zhang ShengLi and the others, at Liu Gan''s instructions, altogether used their strength to use the three bamboo sticks to catapult Liu Gan over in the direction of the prison as he crouched on top of it.

    <span>Liu Gan was heavier than Yin He, adding the absence of his strength to pull from below, the force was much lesspared to the force used to catapult Yin He. Therefore unlike Yin He''s direct flight to within the prison''s tall walls, Liu Gan had been rammed against the top of the wall.

    <span>Liu Gan extended his fingers as he borrowed the tremendous power from theunch to firmly grab hold of the high wall with his ten alloy fingers. Once his body was stable he scaled upwards several times and quickly climbed to the top of the wall and jumped over to join Yin He inside.

 Chapter 221

    <span>Chapter 221 - No Way Out<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    So d I have an extra TLer #IBelieveInLonering

    She says she can push out chapters like breathing air. I believe her. <hr>

    <span>The defenders of the prison started shouting orders in a panic to face off with the intruders, but they were only wielding close-quarterbat weapons. With metal bats and swords, their overall offensive strength was weaker than before, when they had with their assault rifle and handguns.

    <span>Liu Gan with Yin He, jumped off the high wall and straight into the den of the enemy. The pair of killers were like tigers preying on a flock of sheep, with nothing capable of stopping them. In a brief moment, more than a dozen bodiesid on the floor. The rest of the defenders felt the overwhelming power from the pair of fighters, and chose to scatter in various directions.

    <span>There were a few that simply admitted defeat and gave up on trying to run away, so they got on their knees to express they surrendered. Liu Gan was so angry with the situation when he was shot by them, he didn''t even give them a chance. Everyone will receive the same punishment, an axe to their head.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi and others standing by outside heard that the gunshots had stopped and decided to charge into the prisonpound. After kicking down the front gate, they joined in the killing.

    <span>After taking down the prisoners with guns, all that was left was to hunt down the ones that had scattered. Liu Gan was cashing in on his earlier promise, of killing everyone within the prisonpound. No matter if they were on their knees or not, they had to die.

    <span>The prisonpound was surrounded by high walls of several meters high with only one entrance way to enter. The entrance had a thick and durable metal gate. It was a position that bottlenecked the enemies, so it was easy to defend and hard for enemies to breakthrough. With Zhang ShengLi standing like a goalie, no one could bypass him without paying the price of their life.

    <span>Some of the sneakier prisoners attempted to shut themselves away with guns in the hidden corners of the rooms, but their tactic was useless against Yin He. Even as they emptied their clip of the gun, the door was still forced open and the prisoner died under the axe of Liu Gan or Yin He''s sleeve de.

    <span>Angry that Liu Gan and Yin He had killed their way through most of thepound without much resistant. Three of the remaining prisoners decide to make theirst stand in the resource warehouse. That was where the pair encountered a more troublesome situation.

    <span>"Don''t you daree near me! I will shoot the gasoline! You should know what happens if I do that. I don''t mind if we all die!" said one of the three prisoners. This prisoner had his gun pointed at the gasoline tank by his side.

    <span>The male prisoner''s face was pale as a piece of paper, but he was ready to die if it was necessary. He was one of the prisoners stationed at the outposts, he witnessed how the pair had killed their way through. He knew that the pair would kill anyone regardless if they had surrendered or resisted. Backed to the wall, this prisoner could only make the threat of a gasoline explosion in exchange for his own life.

    <span>But all this was for naught.

    <span>Liu Gan''s energy for [Psychic Shock] recovered long ago. So he released the ability onto the three prisoners, once he was within the ability range.

    <span>The prisoner wielding the gun was temporarily shocked as his brain was in an absent-minded state. Yin He quickly followed up and sliced the head off of the three prisoners. The gun within the prisoner''s hand also fell to the floor, removing the threat of the gasoline exploding.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He searched around the prisonpound once more just to make sure it was safe. Especially with Yin He''s infrared visual field, she was able to find and kill two more individuals hiding within the resource warehouse.

    <span>The resource warehouse was ratherrge, it stored tenrge gasoline tanks, and numerous types of cannister food. On the oil and grain bags, it had letters that said Northern NinJing City. Seems like these food resources weren''t originally found in the prison and was taken from therge storage depot nearby.

    <span>But now, it all belonged to Liu Gan.

    <span>The two prisoner transport vehicles drove through the gate into the prisonpound after the safety within thepound was confirmed. Aside from the dozen of naked females locked up in the prison, no one from the original group in thepound was left alive. Layered from the top of the outside wall to the inside corridor, were bodies and bloodstains. The wholepound was like a living hell.

    <span>Ever since the uncalled for ambush at the gas station which off Liu Gan''s 20 team members, this situation was brought upon them. In addition, they denied the request to hand over the person responsible, so they had to reap what they sowed.

    <span>As the yers got more used to killing zombies, this type of scenery of bodies lying around everywhere was verymon. It seemed that having bodies and bloodstain on the ground, was nothing unusual. To them there was no major difference between the corpses of zombies and humans. The only one distinction was the pungent smell of rotting flesh which wasn''t found on these bodies.

    <span>After Lee Miao found the medical supply in the warehouse, she took action to treat the more seriously injured yers first. Liu Gan had Zhang ShengLi pass on a message asking her to use her ability to guarantee the vitality of Xue Jian.

    <span>Originally, there was no social status involved when weighing human lives, but that didn''t apply in [The Trembling World]. As a level 5 yer, Xue Jian was an indispensable human resource to the group, so Liu Gan had to save him first. On top of that, Liu Gan and Xue Jian have known each other for awhile. There was also the value that Xue Jian brought to the group.

    <span>After the great battle within thepound of the prison, darkness coated the surroundings. The injured yers continued to receive medical treatment. Several of the heavily injured yers had to rely on their willpower if they wanted to survive. All the bodies within the prisonpound had been carried outside. On top of the high walls surrounding thepound were sentries to keep watch. The moment Liu Gan and his group had taken over thepound, the tasks were methodically arranged so that the location could be the temporary new base.

    <span>Tallying the group members, it was discovered that Xue Jian''s original squad were all wiped out except Xue Jian himself. The other nine yers were caught in the gas station st and there were no signs of any remains left behind. Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, Zhang Hua, all had fatalities in their own respective squad. Only Zhang ShengLi''s squad didn''t have any casualties since they were following Liu Gan and Yin He at that time.

    <span>A majority of the dead yers were from Mr. Sheng''s group, the newly annexed yers. From the original group that followed Liu Gan from the beginning, only Zhao Meng and HuJun were in a particrly bad shape; both were in aa. Martial Thunder had a bone fracture in the leg and rib, while Zhou JingJIng had a bone fracture in the arm and rib.

    <span>As long as the yers were still breathing, the more heavily injured yers will survive if theysted the night. Since their bodies have been strengthened to exceed the capabilities of normal humans, it should only take several days to fully recover. Based on Lee Miao''s careful analysis and observation, the more severely injured yers gradually improved. This was good news in amidst the bad news.

 Chapter 222

    <span>Chapter 222 - Storage Depot

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20<hr>

    #IBelieveInLonering Another chapter in a few hours<hr>

    <span>"More than ten females are locked up in the prison, after questioning them, some of the females are yers while the others are local survivors. They were all dragged in to provide those scum with crude pleasures. How should we handle them?" Zhang ShengLi walked towards Liu Gan to ask for instructions.

    <span>"Do you have any ideas?" Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi in return.

    <span>"I think that¡­...Even though this world is virtual reality, we shouldn''t lose all of our humanity. So what if they were ves made to perform sexual deeds. I rmend that we follow their idea and ask them if they wish to stay. If they wish to leave, then we won''t stop them; if they don''t want to leave then we will treat them the same as if they were a team member. By giving them work that is suitable for them and to never again disgrace them against their wishes," Zhang ShengLi proposed a few words after thinking about it.

    <span>"We will do it ording to your suggestion. But if they wish to stay then we will still have to strictly control the scope of what they can do. Arrange for someone to monitor them. They must not lower their guard so to avoid unexpected situations from happening," Liu Gan returned a few phrases after thinking about it.

    <span>"Very well, I will arrange it," Zhang ShengLi nodded his head and sent some people to go and talk with the women.

    <span>Wang DeCheng as well as Zhang Hua and others put the prison''s seized weapons together in a pile. In total, there were: three assault rifles, two rifles with scopes for target long-distance targets, five MP5s, sixteen pistols and tens of yers'' starting iron machetes. They had also found nine grenades and six molotov cocktails. It seemed to be that the circumstances around the prison''s personnel was rtivelyplex. They could have possibly gathered a bunch of yers, or they could have killed a lot of yers, for them to have umted these weapons.

    <span>There was also an unimaginable amount of ammunition. But it was very likely that these people had pointlessly used most of it in the previous battle. Unexpectedly only five rifle magazines, seven MP5 magazines remained and sixteen pistol magazines. If a small-scaled battle arrived then it was possible that it would be all used up.

    <span>The captured women discussed with Zhang ShengLi, and after they heard that there would be equal treatment, not wishing to be bullied, they all expressed that they wished to stay here. Before the women were grabbed into the prison, they had previously wandered around the outside world for a while and knew that it was dangerous. Knowing their own survival capabilities, leaving the prison would only lead to death.

    <span>After everything was cleared and settled, several members experienced at cooking brought some of the females to the prison''s dining hall, preparing food for the evening meal. Once the evening meals were cooked and the females had eaten their own food, they were arranged by Lee Miao to go feed the wounded as well as looking after their current condition.

    <span><strong> ¡­</strong>

    <span>"There is an excess amount of food stored in the prison. It''s also easy to guard and hard to attack, outside, there is farnd as far as the eye can see which we can be ploughed. It''s also not too far away from the city center as the previous roadblock was cleared. Also going to the city to look for signs of life, medicine and goods is now convenient with the vehicles. I can''t help but say that this is a very suitable ce for an operational long-term camp," While eating their meal, Wang DeCheng offered some words to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t open his mouth and stayed silent. Seemingly pondering over something.

    <span>"The location of the prison guards the main road towards Green Pao Bay, so if the prison were to fall into someone else''s hands, we could return to Green Pao Bay. We might get ambushed once again. I also think that we should turn this prison into a long-term camp. If we were to find the airship, we would still have to go to the northern outskirts and even possibly live there. We could leave a small group to defend this ce so that it could be an escape route for us," Zhang ShengLi also proposed some ideas to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes, what you''ve both said makes sense so we shall temporarily make this our stronghold. We''ll explore the vicinity and once the wounded have recovered, we''ll once again consider the matter of sending a team to explore Green Pao Bay," Liu Gan nodded as he made a decision.

    <span><strong> ¡­</strong>

    <span>The team members were exhausted and wished for a calmer period over the next two days. Furthermore, with so many injured people in the prison and the worry that people may try a sneak attack, Liu Gan and Yin He also couldn''t leave the prison camp for the time being. Naturally Liu Gan himself was also very tired. His body wasn''t tired, rather it was his mind that was exhausted and he also wished to rest and reorganize himself for the next two days.

    <span>While he was resting and reorganizing, Liu Gan had also continuously pondered the next step of his n.

    <span>Within the next two days the women released from the prison room had already be familiar with the team members. At the end of the day, women all want to find someone strong to rely on, while men also wish for a means to vent their energy. Even though the prison had not held blind dating or the sort, there were already pairs quickly forming among the women and male team members.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi supervised the couples as they formed one by one and Liu Gan had also seen that the women didn''t have any ulterior motives so he didn''t interfere with their freedom.

    <span>The men and women were not tired when they worked together and with the women''s support, the team members'' state of mind was clearly much better than before. The wounded members'' recovery also went faster than anticipated. Under Lee Miao''s medical treatment and the women''s care, several of the wounded woke up as the wounds on the outside of their bodies had already healed. Parts of their bone fractures also showed signs ofpletely recovering.

    <span>[The Trembling World] had strengthened the team member''s recovering ability and it far surpassed an ordinary person''s. Compared with level 5 yers, there was also a substantial increase in recovery ability between them and level 4 and below yers. Wang DeCheng''s wound by a metal pipe and Han GuangMing''s bullet injury had alreadypletely healed. Han GuangMing''s burn on his body was also currently healing as a few areas had already grown new skin. If this was the real world then it would have been an impossible feat.

    <span>Also, Xue Jian not only had woken up from his injury-induceda, he could even get up and walk a few steps.

    <span><strong> ¡­</strong>

    <span>On the morning of the third day, Zhang Hua urgently reported a matter to Liu Gan.

    <span>These two days, he and a rescued female had mutually looked at each other and became a couple. The female was a local survivor andst night before they fell asleep, they had voluntarily had intimate contact with each other for half an hour, after which the female told him some news.

    <span>She said that the former evildoers in the prison were former guards and prisoners before the catastrophe happened. After the catastrophe, they coborated together and grabbed every male survivor and yer to work for them. They also grabbed the female survivors and yers to be their sex ves.

    <span>These peoplemitted all kinds of crimes such as burning, killing and looting. Once they had brought them here, they had taken turns everyday to be humiliated, causing them unspeakable hardships. Now that Liu Gan and the others had killed the evildoers, it was equivalent to having avenged them. After being treated their equal status, she had talked with her coworker and they both agreed contribute to the team by telling them a secret.

    <span>ording to what the female had told Zhang Hua, there was arge storage depot nearby and she and another female had worked at the storage depot. Both these females were depot personnel and were very familiar with it.

 Chapter 223

    <span>Chapter 223 - Road Leading West

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The evildoers from the prisonpound hadn''t moved all the resources from the storage depot. There was a good portion of the resources stored in a secret underground chamber that also hadn''t been discovered by them. It was possible that the evildoers didn''t even find the entrance to the secret underground storage chamber and so they never knew of its existence.

    <span>With this new group that killed the evildoers, they treated the females nicely, gave them food, and treated everyone humanely. The females were even given full freedom within thepound, and were able to regain their human dignity. With the overwhelming feeling of wanting to repay the kindness back to Liu Gan for saving them, the females decided to reveal the location of the secret chamber to the squad leader, contributing, in the form of resources, back to the group.

    <span>Now that Liu Gan knew of a secret chamber, Liu Gan could''ve easily formed a squad to check out the situation. He could''ve easily sent Zhang Hua and his squad to investigate, but in the end Liu Gan decided to go personally. He had his own reasons for doing so. Due to the convenient location of the storage depot located at the foot of the mountain of Green Station Mountain, Liu Gan wanted to take a stroll. This way Liu Gan and Yin He could go up Green Station Mountain to see if they could activate the secretboratory.

    <span>"Elder Liu, if this prisonpound will be our long term stronghold, I have a suggestion," Zhang ShengLi stopped Liu Gan by the entrance gate just before the investigation squad left.

    <span>"What suggestion?" Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"We could recruit more people. We can have these people dig a trench right outside of the high wall. Just like the way they do it for the cities in ancient times. Then, to enter or leave the city, we will lower a drawbridge. This way our defense in thepound can be increased tremendously. No matter if it were enemies or zombies, it would be difficult to attack their way in," Zhang ShengLi exined the n he had thought of.

    <span>"This idea isn''t bad at all. It is just that it sounds like arge construction. What will the material for the drawbridge be made from? There will be cars thate in and out of thepound, often carrying personnel or cargo," Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi, after thinking for awhile.

    <span>"Yeah, that is a problem. I still have to think long and hard about it," Zhang ShengLiughing it off. That was when Zhang ShengLi realizes that he didn''t think about the details and suggested it too prematurely.

    <span>"If we do turn this prisonpound into our long term stronghold, what you suggested will work, but there are a lot of technical difficulties. We would need to find someone who could understand the technical aspects to n it," Liu Gan didn''t disapprove of Zhang ShengLi''s suggestion.

    <span>If the material mechanics expert Zhou MingLiang was still alive, he would be best for this situation. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of following Xu ChangHui to die. Liu Gan arrived there toote, but if he had gotten there earlier, then Zhou MingLiang could have been saved.

    <span>"Yeah. We are going to be doing nothing around here anyway, I will set up a stronghold improvement group. This way we could chime in ideas and turn those ideas into reality," Zhang ShengLi was so d that his proposal had gotten approval.

    <span>To stay within [The Trembling World], the basic necessities must be fulfilled. Those requirements were, to be able to have a stronghold, to have plenty of food to eat, to be able to rest easy every night. These were the basic wishes of every person. No one would want to wander about the wilderness for too long, worrying about when the next meal would be. No one wanted to live the life of a wanderer. So to find a good stronghold like the prison, almost everyone wanted to remain here. Turning this ce into a dream paradise to stay behind in.

    <span>That time when the group was on the ind located in theke of NinJing City, many of the team members didn''t want to leave it. Now that this stronghold was even better than the one before, none of them want to ever leave. This however, didn''t coincide with how Liu Gan wanted to leave and find an airship. Then the airship could easily travel to either the northern part of the city or the main city. All these matters were too far fetch into the future, so it didn''t sound very reliable as of the current situation. No one knew whether they could even live up to that point, so they would much rather live day to day in a safe ce like the prisonpound.

    <span>"I will follow the investigative squad to look around, the safety of the base will lie on your shoulders. If there is any situation that arises, then you will have to handle the situation and decide for yourself. Be confident in your decision, I trust in your ability. Don''t let your heart waver," Liu Gan patted Zhang ShengLi''s shoulder and Liu Gan, with Yin He and the investigative squad, departed.

    <span>"Elder Liu! If I remain, the base will remain!" Zhang ShengLi shouted out loud.

    <span>Liu Ganughed at Zhang ShengLi, and gave a thumbs up. As the vehicles departed the prisonpound, with Zhang Hua and his new girlfriend''s guidance, they headed towards NinJing City''s storage depot.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi with injured Wang DeCheng and Han GuangMing were left behind to hold down the fort; along with Lee Miao, all of them had their abilities awoken. They also had guns to bolster up their defenses so Liu Gan wasn''t too worried.

    <span>This time when Liu Gan left, he had three cars with him. Zhang Hua with his new girlfriend and another female worker were in the first car leading the way. In the middle second car were regr team members responsible for moving cargo. In thest car was Liu Gan and Yin He. Liu Gan''s car was a small sedan, his car wasn''t responsible for moving cargo it was just there for the extra transport.

    <span>The cars traveled west, after leaving the prisonpound. NinJing City''s suburb roads weren''t too shabby. Even after the apocalypse, the roads weren''t severely damaged and no repairs were required.

    <span>It seemed like the previous evildoers that upied the prison had cleared up the zombies and moved out the cars along the route to the storage depot. Only a few scattered zombies were encountered, but with the modified prisoner transport vehicles, it sent the zombies flying, with no damage done to the vehicles.

    <span>The distance between the storage depot to the prisonpound was at least seven to eight kilometers. But since they were traveling along the road which was fairly smooth, it didn''t take long for the cars to reach their destination. There was a lingering worry that the evildoers might have left a squad to guard the depot so Liu Gan had the vehicles stop half a kilometer away from their destination. Then, Liu Gan and Yin He went out to scout.

    <span>The surface depot had been thoroughly cleared out and relocated to the prisonpound by the evildoers, so there was no purpose for them to leave guards here. Once it was confirmed that it was safe, Liu Gan returned back to the car and gave them the order to park at the depot.

    <span>The storage depot had a continuous chain of mountains behind, which Zhang Hua''s introduced as the Green Station Mountain. Yin He had found out from the white-coat scientist that there was a nuclear poweredboratory by San Xing Corporation. Liu Gan was prepared to investigate this whole area to find theboratory, but to his naked eye, this Green Station Mountain wasn''t too high, but the area it spanned over was wide.

    <span>The two females who had worked here in the depot were able to confirm Liu Gan''s theory that Green Station Mountain had a vast range of coverage. It started from their location and stretched dozens of kilometers outward to the west. However, when asked if they had heard of San Xing Corporation, both females responded that they had not. They had never seen San Xing Corporation cars operate in this area either.

 Chapter 224

    <span>Chapter 224 - Staying For The Night<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    BE FREE!<hr>

    <span>It was still unsure if the white-coat scientist lied to Yin He, but regardless Liu Gan still wanted to spend a little more time to search for the location of the secretboratory. In fact, Zhang Hua still required sometime to move the cargo from the secret underground storage back to thepound, so Liu Gan and Yin He had free time to scout.

    <span>Both females were local survivors and theirst job was working in the storage warehouse which hadsted several years. ording to them, a year ago the NinJing City government had prepared to set up this location as a Strategic Material Reserve Warehouse. It was only within these several months that goods were actually moved into the warehouse. Goods like food and gasoline.

    <span>The ground-level warehouse was only a small portion visible to the naked eye. It was actually a cover up; the underground storage area was three to four timesrger than the ground floor. Within the underground storage, there was even more food stored, as well as other necessities like towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bed sheets, clothes, and dailymodities.

    <span>ording to Liu Gan''s analysis, it was highly possible that the government knew about the apocalypse beforehand. They probably received intel on the news and quickly establish this Strategic Material Reserve Warehouse to prepare for the emergency. However, it seemed that they didn''t expect the catastrophe to ur even earlier than when they had predicted, so they weren''t able to transfer the strategic resources, gasoline and food, into the underground storage. Now that everyone within the city had be a zombie, it meant that this warehouse would only benefit Liu Gan.

    <span>In the post-apocalyptic world, being kind-hearted may not be a bad thing. It was due to Zhang ShengLi''s suggestion, giving the female prisoners equality within the group so they wouldn''t have to suffer humiliation, that resulted in the secret being revealed to the group.

    <span>With this reserve warehouse, it meant that even if Liu Gan and his group stayed within the confines of the prisonpound, they wouldn''t have to worry about food and water.

    <span>The entrance to the underground warehouse was very hidden, one of the floor tiles had to be moved away. There was a verticaldder that led underground a dozen meters deep. Aside from that, there was arge freight elevator that linked the surface to underground.

    <span>Going down thedder, the temperature inside dropped very low to the equivalent of zero degrees. As everyone walked around, they saw that there was a mountain of food, especially canned goods and various daily supplies leaving Zhang Hua and other members very happy. If the group didn''t add more team members in the future, this amount of goods couldst the group for several years.

    <span>Liu Gan felt disappointed, the underground storage didn''t have any weapons or ammunition. Other than that, there was everything else he needed to survive in this world. It was probable that, either the regtion of weapons in this world was very strict, or, there was a problem in transporting it. It''s very possible that the guns he found in the prison were the only ones he would ever own, but it was still very fortunate to own a gun.

    <span>To deliver the goods from the underground to the surface floor, it required the use of the freight elevator. That however, would require energy to operate. Luckily, right beside the elevator was a power distribution room. Inside the room was arge diesel powered generator with arge amount of diesel cans nearby, meaning that there was no need to worry about how to transport the goods back to the surface.

    <span>After taking into ount various factors, Liu Gan decided not to move the food storage back to the prison. The underground reserve warehouse had a much lower temperature so the food could be stored for longer periods of time and as of right now, the prisonpound was fully stocked with food. The ground surface was a warmer temperature, so food could easily spoil and rot away. And even if that didn''t happen and they moved the food, there wouldn''t be any ce to store it.

    <span>Liu Gan had Zhang Hua take back two small electric generators, a set ofmunications equipment, and a whole bunch of daily necessities. Afterwards, the entrance to the underground reserve was resealed so they coulde back anytime to ess it.

    <span>The surface warehouse had a dozen rooms. The entrance to the underground reserve was in one of these rooms. After sealing up all the rooms, even if people came by they wouldn''t be able to find the underground reserve unless they knew of the location beforehand. Once the wounded yers recover, Zhang ShengLi would have to send a toon to be stationed in this area for patrol. Then the prison and the warehouse would have to install an encryptedmunication system so a constant line ofmunication could be ryed. This was just incase unknown yers came by the warehouse,the prisonpound could still be kept up-to-date. Of course, if Liu Gan or Yin He was there then there would have been no need for such worries.

    <span>After arranging the situation with the warehouse, Zhang Hua returned with the set of goods back to the prisonpound. Meanwhile, Liu Gan and Yin He drove the car toward Green Station Mountain. There were mountain dirt roads that were suitable for driving, so Liu Gan drove around to understand the location. Once Liu Gan understood the surroundings a little more, then he would be able to decide where to start his search.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>Later on in the afternoon, while Liu Gan and Yin He were on Green Station Mountain searching, the prisonpound had developed a bit of a situation.

    <span>A group of around 50 people mixed with local survivors and yers were driving up to the prisonpound. A dozen were on motorcycles and ATVs, others were in vans. They seemed to be carrying a lot of goods as they arrived at the gates of thepound. They begged for the prison to open and to allow them in.

    <span>"We were originally located in the vige by the oceanside, but we were met with arge-scale corpse tide. We were forced to wander here. It is almost dark soon, we beg of you to let us into thepound and stay the night. We can give you some resources in exchange. We won''t bother you for too long. Tomorrow night, we will leave and continue on our journey," shouted one of the male yers on an ATV.

    <span>"Our leader isn''t here, so we can''t let you in right now. It would be best for the both of us if you could find somewhere else to stay for the night! Otherwise, wait for our leader to return then we can discuss whether or not to let you stay inside," Zhang ShengLi shouted back. For Zhang ShengLi, he thought it would be better to refuse the other group''s request and buy time for Liu Gan to return.

    <span>As of right now, the prisonpound really needed personnel, but this new group of people didn''t seem to have any intention of joining. They only suggested to stay for the night, but the problem is that the new group outnumbered Liu Gan''s group. Judging from their faces, they didn''t seem to be too friendly either. At the rear of the oing group, were several females in rags that were tied up and this was the deciding factor for Zhang ShengLi. So no matter what would happen, Zhang ShengLi could not let them in.

    <span>Within thepound, there were several injured team members as well as a dozen or so females. If the oing group enters, they will take the gun control away and then it would be problematic. Now that Liu Gan wasn''t here, Zhang ShengLi was losing confidence in whether he could suppress this problematic situation.

    <span>"Night is about toe, when will your leader return? How long do we have to wait?" shouted the male yer on motorcycle, in an illed-behaved tone. This male yer was looking all around thepound, as if he was searching for weak spots.

 Chapter 225

    <span>Chapter 225 - ATV<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Enjoy! Trying to make this daily release! Summer2k17<hr>

    <span>"I can''t say for sure, but he will definitely return in the evening. When that timees, I will discuss with him and decide on the matter of whether or not you can stay for the night," Zhang ShengLi again, replied to the male.

    <span>"We have no ill intentions as we only wish to stay here overnight for one evening. There''s no need to be so heartless? If you refuse us then we will stay in the countryside and there is a high possibility of running into danger!" The male''s expression gradually turned even unhappier as he could tell that Zhang ShengLi was making excuses and that he just didn''t want to let them stay overnight.

    <span>"I have already said very clearly that I am not refusing, however this matter must be allowed by my boss first! Also we have no obligation to have to let you all stay overnight! If you continue your nonsense then don''t me me for being rude!" Zhang ShengLi ordered all the people on the wall to take out their firearms and to aim it beneath the wall.

    <span>"Ok, ok, ok! Since you insist! Don''t open fire! We will leave!" When the male saw that the opposing party unexpectedly had guns, he was frightened into immediately driving his ATV back into the group. After he had discussed with someone who seemed to be their leader, who wore a ck wind jacket. A few people fiercely red towards the prison with an evil look. The group once again proceeded to move, towards the direction of the urban area route they had came by, gradually fading within the dusky sky.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi wrinkled his brows and was not too convinced that his decision to deal with the issue just now was the right choice. He also didn''t know how Liu Gan would have dealt with the issue if he was here. In any case for the situation just now, he was certain that he must not let those people into thepound. Zhang ShengLi''s heart currently did not feel toofortable with that group, as if something bad would happen regardless.

    <span>Did these people reallye over from the coast? Why did a huge corpse tide appear at the coast? At the very least, the people just now were surely capable of going against a corpse tide? If a corpse tide appeared all along the coasts, then perhaps even Elder Liu would also be unable to reach Green Pao Bay to look for the airship.

    <span>Currently Zhang ShengLi''s greatest worry were the group''s intentions. Perhaps when they were previously speaking of exchanging supplies for an overnight stay and so on, it was so that they could fool them into opening therge iron door in order to wait for an opportunity to seize the prisonpound. Now they knew that the prison guards had firearms, he didn''t know if they had given up on the n, or if they nned on taking advantage of the night''s darkness to conduct a sneak attack on the prison.

    <span>It should be highly unlikely though? Besides Liu Gan and Chief He, the other level 5 yers also seemed to be invulnerable to low level attacks of swords and spears. As long as the high walls were strengthened by the patrols after taking precautions for the night, it would be impossible for them to be able to take advantage of any opportunity right?

    <span>[TL: Chief He is Yin He, but only Liu Can calls her by Yin He, others call her Chief He.]

    <span>This caused Zhang ShengLi to have somewhat of a headache about the prison''s currentrgepound which covered a lot of ground but had severeck of personnel within the camp. After the guard personnel were dispersed all along the high wall, everyone had to defend the vast area. If they were unable to defend the area, then the people outside the walls could easily use rope and other means to stealthily climb up onto the wall. They could take advantage of the night to set out a swift sneak attack. This was a troublesome fear that lingered in Zhang ShengLi''s thoughts.

    <span>Elder Liu, you should still immediately return! Return so that I wouldn''t have to be so worried! Zhang ShengLi saw the colour of the sky and his state of mind had be indescribably restless. The former him would asionally think that he could be independent in a team, and so he could also be an excellent leader. However, the current him genuinely felt that,pared with Elder Liu, the distance was much too great. It would forever be impossible for him to be calm and unwavering like Elder Liu, as well as being able to seemingly carry out the most appropriate decision like he had always done.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He had not yet returned but the outside of the prison had also seemed to be all normal. When Zhang ShengLi left the wall to supervise the initial preparation of the evening meal in the prison, the guard personnel on the high wall rapidly called Zhang ShengLi back over. Just like that, his previous worries came true - an annoyance appeared outside the prison camp.

    <span>In actuality, there were quite a few annoyances.

    <span>The sounds of ATVs rumbling came from the direction =of the southern mountain and fields. Zhang ShengLi arrived upon the outpost and used the rifle''s targeting scope towards the direction of where the sound came from to have a look. He saw five to six people mounted on ATVs purposefully using them to let out a huge rumbling sound from the engine, as they disappeared into the wilderness within the vicinity of the prison. As the sounds disappeared, approximately 2000 zombies were lured from the southern side to the vicinity of the prison!

    <span>Seeing their style of clothing and the ATVs they were mounted in, without a doubt these were the same people who were previously refused entry.

    <span>It was awfully clear that after they had passed by here and discovered the prisonpound, they schemed to take it over. Following the refusal to enter inside by Zhang ShengLi and that the guard personnel on the high wall were all armed with firearms, they knew that they were unable to forcefully attack the prison camp. Therefore they came up with such a malicious n to use the rumbling sound of the ATVs to eventually draw the corpse tide from the southern mountain and fields toe to the vicinity of the prison.

    <span>Their purpose was clear; precisely to make use of the corpse tide to waste and reduce the prison''s bullets, medicine and resources. Once the zombies put up a zombiedder to break into the prison and kill all the people inside, they would return and use the ATVs to draw away the corpse tide. Once they disposed of the remaining zombies, they could easily upy the prisonpound without any fighting!

    <span>It could be said that these people were clever. When faced with the prison''s high wall defence of the firm fort, they found the most suitable method of attacking and seizing thepound! In addition, with the help of the corpse tide''s power, there would hardly be any casualties whatsoever on their side.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi currently couldn''t help but regret. He felt that his own heart was too kind hearted, unable to achieve Liu Gan''s way of firmly killing and cutting down the treat. So Zhang ShengLi felt as if he had just caused the prison''s impending doom. Once he had decided to refuse those people entry inside, seeing their hateful gazes, he should''ve led his group to rush out after shooting their motorcycle group to death on the spot. Thus, eliminating the hidden danger so that they would not have been their current problem.

    <span>If Elder Liu was here, with his formidable power, careful thinking, unwavering disposition and consistent style, when facing these people he would either forcefully subdue them orpletely murder them. Elder Liu would not likely to hesitate, like himself, and get caught up in reasoning.

    <span>However everything was already toote, there was no use regretting it as he could only try his best to remedy the situation.

    <span>The several ATVs rumbled and zipped by the mountain and fields around the prison. The ATV rider also probably expected that this kind of behavior would cause the people inside the prison to be irritated. The riders came prepared as they were wearing helmets and police shields, they had found from an unknown ce. With the new equipment, they could prevent themselves from being shot by the guards on top of the high walls of the prison.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi''s heart was truly incredibly resentful, but he still restrained the numerous guards on the high wall. He did not let them shoot at the rapidly passing ATV rdiers, if they were to truly do this, then they would fall right into those people''s evil n.

    <span>The zombies led by the ATVs had not yet crowded around the prison. However, if the the guards on the high walls opened fire, then the turbulent corpse tide would head towards the loud sounds of the gunshots. That would cause the corpse tide to crowd around and try to enter the prison. So if they shot the guns, then the prison camp would really be in big trouble.

 Chapter 226

    <span>Chapter 226 - Cannot Be Prevented<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    I''ve uploaded uing chapters onto patreon for ess to read a few chapters ahead of release. Enjoy!<hr>

    <span>There must have been a tactician within that group of riders which nned out this strategy for attacking the prison camp. It was an ingenious method, and Zhang ShengLi had fallen into the trap.

    <span>Zhang Hua came to the top of the high wall carrying several long spears that he had made in his free time during the past few days, however after he tried a few times, he gave up attacking the ATV riders¡­ Because his ability was basically incapable of locking onto those kinds of high speed moving targets.

    <span>After the ATV riders led the corpse tide to the vicinity of the prison, they immediately sped away and the corpse tide stayed close to the prison''srge iron gate as they lost sight of their target. They only aimlessly wandered around the surroundings and didn''t have interest in approaching the prison''s high walls.

    <span>The current situation for Zhang ShengLi and the group of team members in the prison was rather awkward, they had just lighted a fire to cook and now they had all stopped under Zhang ShengLi''smand. They stayed in the prison and didn''t dare to randomly move or to make any noise.

    <span>This was because if they were to make any noise, there was a high chance that it would attract the surge of corpse tide''s attention. Based on these zombie''s persistent habit, they would certainly promptly draw close towards the prison and attempt to enter it after hearing sound. They would even climb upon each other to form a type of zombiedder outside of the high wall of the prison in order to reach their target.

    <span>The 2000 zombies'' attacking capabilities could not be underestimated and to build a zombiedder for an eight meter high wall would not be a difficult matter at all. There were also many wounded people currently within the prison. This kind of situation was a huge problem regardless of whether the decision was to defend or to evacuate.

    <span>Just when Zhang ShengLi was on high alert while watching the corpse tide in the vicinity, he was rapidly thinking about how to respond to the scheme, keeping in mind that the direction of where the prison''s rear wall was located had not been upied by the corpse tide. Suddenly several ignited firecrackers had been thrown in by someone.

    <span>The firecrackers'' loud sounds immediately attracted the interest of all the neighboring zombies. The zombies were originally attracted to the ATVs, but when that was out of sight, it would wander around the vicinity of the prison. With the onset of the noisy firecrackers, those zombies all crazily dashed towards the direction of the prison''s high wall.

    <span>Even though Zhang ShengLi had promptly arranged for the people to go and extinguish the firecrackers, the 2000 zombies had already crowded around the prison from the vicinity of therge iron gate due to the sound of the firecrackers. When they reached the sides of the high walls, they could very quickly smell the scent of fresh corpses blown over from within the high walls. The smell of the dead evildoers lingered, even after the corpses were removed. This caused them to be even more crazed and climb up the high walls to enter into the prison.

    <span>Fortunately the prison walls were high enough. The 2000 zombies was still too insufficient to form a zombiedder. They would stack high up along the wall, but quickly copse at the base, then they surrounded the high walls and rapidly scattered apart. Once they had scattered out, their threat was not toorge. Yet because the scent of fresh meat within the prison was overwhelming, they woulde over and gathered around, encircling the sides of the high walls and shouted, unwilling to leave again.

    <span>asionally zombies would focus on a particr area, and there would only be two to threeyers of a zombiedder at most. Thedder would always copse though, as the foundation was not firm enough. For the time being, the threat towards the prison was not too great.

    <span>However Zhang ShengLi quickly discovered that the situation was far from good. Just now the few ATV riders had quietly returned from the distant fields, leading zombies. Roughly twenty minutester, these ATV riders hade and gone and led a whole new surge of zombies. There were even more thanst time, approximately 4000 had arrived around the prison.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi looked for a few more gunmen, using the scope of the precision rifle as well, as the assault rifles to point towards the ATV riders to fire at them. Unfortunately, they still had therge shields to protect their bodies, and their driving speed and distance was too far. The bullets weren''t able to prate through. Especially as the gunmen had no specialized training, so their uracy wascking. It was difficult for the bullets tond on the individuals, and even their ATVs weren''t hit.

    <span>The swift ATVs sped up to escape. Once again, the new batch of zombies were led over by the ATVs, and the riders quickly drove away. The zombies tended to congregate, and had done so around the wall of the prison. Screaming, they consequently led the new batch of zombies to join them.

    <span>The closer they were to the prison wall, the stronger the scent of fresh meat flowed out from within the high wall. So a new zombiedder formed with the 6000 zombies that now surrounded the prison walls.

    <span>Reaching 6000 zombies in total, the ability to make the zombiedder higher was obvious, and very quickly, the zombies had gathered together and made a zombiedder that surpassed even the height of the high walls. Several zombies moaned and one after another they climbed up the high wall. Zhang ShengLi had no choice but to lead the people to the area overflowing with zombies. Waving around fire axe, Zhang ShengLi killed as many zombies as he could on the spot.

    <span>The sounds of fighting attracted the other zombies from the other side of the high wall to start creating their own version of zombiedder up. Thus, more zombies got over the high wall. Zhang ShengLi and the others were practically incapable of defending the high walls and had no choice but to throw their grenades down, exploding the foundation of the zombiedder. The burst of destruction finally disposed the wave of zombies'' fierce attack.

    <span>In order to prevent the zombies from gathering too much around a certain point of the high wall, Zhang ShengLi had to arrange for all the personnel toe to the top of the high wall. Based on the distribution of the zombies outside, the guard personnel could loudly shout from different ces on the high wall to attract the scattered zombies'' attention. This stopped the zombies from formingrge groups, which prevented the zombiedders from bing too tall.

    <span>At the same time, Zhang ShengLi also allowed for the women to use the gasoline from inside the warehouse and empty beer bottles to make some molotov cocktails. This substituted for the low amount of grenades which were used to execute fire attacks on areas where there was arger concentration of zombies. However, there was a limited amount of ss bottles in the prison. A team member had thought that they were smart and tried to used their lunchbox to pour gasoline outside the high walls. The result was that they identally caught fire and turned into a burning person. The people that came forward to help were also burnt and had to retreat while watching their team member scream in misery while being burned to death.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi at once called for the team members to stop using gasoline to attack. Gasoline was a very dangerous thing, there are many mmable objects inside of the prison. While using gasoline might be able to kill the zombies outside, but at this rate, they were more likely to have casualties due to carelessness.

    <span>The yers on the high wall attracted the attention of zombies lingering below them, soon more and more zombies crowded towards the high wall. A new zombiedder was eventually formed which had also covered a wide area. This caused Zhang ShengLi to have a dreadful feeling that the zombies could not be stopped.

    <span>Very quickly the zombiedder broke through the high wall''s defense and several zombies yelled as they climbed up to the top of the wall. Zhang ShengLi had no other way but to throw another grenade at that zombiedder to destroy it.

    <span>Even with a seemingly safe ce like this prisonpound, being trapped inside during a siege was not a good idea. If facing against yers and survivors, thepound was a solid defense, but against zombies, it didn''t work well. So the ATV riders could only think of these kinds of inhumane sieging methods in order to kill all the people trapped inside thepound.

 Chapter 227

    <span>Chapter 227 - Both Sides Suffer Losses<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    <span>Will be streaming for 6 hours with music on! Feel free toe and listen to my ylist with me <3

    <span>Youtube Streaming <hr>

    <span>Any passersby would think that the prisonpound would be a decent stronghold, and then they would think of all possible ways to capture the camp for themselves. It was no wonder that those previous evildoers, the prison guards and prisoners, had strongly defended it when they felt threatened by Liu Gan''s team nearby. It would also exin why they felt the need to explode the gas station without the slightest hesitation in order to annihte them there. They probably didn''t want the prison to be challenged by Liu Gan''s team.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi could not bring himself to be cruel like the previous owners, so he caused himself a lot of trouble which led to their current predicament. He was too merciful to those fifty people. Zhang ShengLi gave them a way out, and instead of receiving thanks, what Zhang ShengLi got instead, was impending doom.

    <span>Living In the post-apocalyptic world, life was cruel. If you don''t harm others, then you might be the only one exception. The tradeoff in life was to hurt others or be hurt by others. Being kind to others is being cruel to yourself. Anything should be used to gain the upper hand, even if it meant showing a bit of malice before the other side chose their hand. There were also methods like disarming their equipment or simply wiping them out. Once all the problems are solved, only then can you ensure your own safety.

    <span>Today these fifty people at the front gates, who were iming to be running away from a cmity, taught Zhang ShengLi a very harsh lesson. The prison was facing a terrible disaster and the cause was because Zhang ShengLi wasn''t decisive enough to gain the upperhand.

    <span>Human nature was repulsive, especially when fighting over natural resources to survive, it was disyed without restraint and always without limits.

    <span>The current Zhang ShengLi couldn''t give up the prison even if he wanted to. There was simply no escape as they were surrounded by the zombies. Even after using all kinds of methods he could only hold back the zombie invasion, but little by little the zombies made progress. After more than ten minutester the remaining personnel fought with all their strength, taking extreme risks like pouring gasoline. They finally temporarily resisted the violent wave of the corpse tide. Nothing more could be said of the situation, they could only fight<span> their fate.

    <span>However Zhang ShengLi''s expression once again became incredibly full of despair and wrath as he squinted his eyes to adjust to the darkening sky, only to see that several ATV riders appearing over on the distant horizon. They once again lured in another round of corpses behind them. This time, there were over 5000 to 6000 zombies!

    <span>The riders ingeniously used their ATVs on the neighboring terrain where it was favorable to them. They kept out of the firing range of the firearms in the prison, and avoided the zombies that were attacking the prison from all sides. They nned to draw all the zombies in the fields to the vicinity of the prison and then speed away.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi, who was standing on the high wall, could clearly hear the ATV riders'' whistling sounds, as well as their howls ofughter. It was obvious that while they were making all these sounds, their mood was extremely joyful but also incredibly excited as well.

    <span>If they were able to grab those ATV riders then Zhang ShengLi would certainly hang them upside down. Then he would skin them alive as he listened to their screams as they were tormented for three days and nights to dispel the hatred in their hearts.

    <span>When Liu Gan left in the morning he had entrusted the matters of the prison camp to Zhang ShengLi himself, yet Liu Gan had only left for a little more than half a day and the prison had already been attacked by people. Moreover, if they failed to defend, then everyone inside would all die.

    <span>If it was still earlier, when the zombies had only blocked therge iron gate, then Zhang ShengLi could have considered abandoning the prison and lead his people out via the rear wall. Then, they could climb down using ropes in order to flee. However right now zombies had umted everywhere around the prison. There was no way out. There were also those ATV riders that were still relentlessly luring even more zombies, leading them over.

    <span>Based on this pattern the prison would sooner orter be overrun by zombies. The team members that were guarding inside the prison would soon meet a tragic end once the corpse tide took over the prison.

    <span>The situation had be more and more critical, and soon Zhang ShengLi had to order people to again bring over several of the smaller barrels of oil to throw over the high wall, and throw them at the more concentrated areas of the corpse tide. Once they shot at the barrels of oil, it ignited the zombies and burned off many waves of the untiring zombies.

    <span>Tens of minutester, the rumbling engine sounds of the ATVs, their riders'' whistles and howls ofughter once again came over from the distance. This time the dark mass on the horizon behind them was a horde of zombies, and the amount of zombies definitely looked like there were over 10,000 of them. At this point, Zhang ShengLi wondered just how it was possible to have lured so many zombies. Perhaps, these were the zombies that had upied their camp by the coast and they lured it to the prison.

    <span>This n was executed extremely well. To put two irreconcble parties, the prison camp and the zombies, against each other so that both sides suffer losses. The ATV riders would reap the rewards in the end. Only two scenarios can result from this. The prison would exterminate the corpse tide for them and suffer disastrous losses so that the riders can effortlessly seize the prison camp afterwards. Even if that didn''t happen, the prison still would have fought a blood-soaked battle to exterminate the corpse tide for them, and they could just easily go back to their own camp in the coast.

    <span>No matter what, the injured ones would not be them.

    <span>"F^ck you!"

    <span>Zhang ShengLi, who was standing on the high wall, saw the dark mass consisting of over 10,000 zombies being led over by the ATV riders. He was so enraged that both of his eyes were wide open, his throat tightened and almost spewed out a mouthful of blood because he couldn''t vent out his rage.

    <span>If they failed to defend the prison then he would be too ashamed to meet Elder Liu, and at that time, he would have to properly suicide by cutting his throat with his axe.

    <span><strong> ¡­</strong>

    <span>Today Liu Gan and Yin He hade up empty-handed in the Green Station Mountain, it was farrger than what Liu Gan had imagined. If he wanted to finish exploring then it would take more than one or two days. He also had to find the hidden whereabouts of the secretboratory which was the equivalent task of finding a needle in a haystack.

    <span>As the color of the sky turned dark, Liu Gan drove the car back along the road they had passed earlier to return back to the prison. Upon returning, he surprisingly discovered that the prison was encircled by over 10,000 zombiesyered upon each other. Furthermore, there were mes zing everywhere around the high walls, and once in a while there were sounds of sporadic gunshots that can be heard. The guard personnel were still alive, and desperately killing the zombiedder that the corpse tide had put up.

    <span>An awful lot of zombies'' bodies were set on fire but if they weren''t burnt to a crisp, then they would still continue to ferociously climb up the zombiedder onto the high wall, unafraid of death. There were already two piles of burnt corpses of zombiedders that had reached the top of the high wall.

    <span>As Liu Gan was watching from afar with his strengthened vision, he could see Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Han GuangMing, Zhang Hua and their respective team members fighting with all their might on the high wall with the zombies that were dashing up. Some containers filled with gasoline were thrown over the wall, and would explode into enormous mes after being shot at. The zombies climbing on established zombiedders would be an immense torch and bendfill for other zombies to trample over.

    <span>With so many zombies surrounding the outside of the prison, Liu Gan and Yin He simply were unable to get close. Liu Gan couldn''t help but be somewhat suspicious as, when he stayed in the prison the past two days, altogether there were only several tens of zombies that were loosely scattered. When they hovered over, they were quickly disposed of by the team members that came out to train. They simply posed no threat to the camp.

    <span>Howe he had only been gone for a little more than half a day, yet such arge corpse tide had emerged out of thin air? Could it be that they had appeared from underground?

    <span>However now wasn''t the time to consider these questions. If Liu Gan didn''t think of a way to resolve this problem as soon as possible, then Zhang ShengLi and the numerous team members in the prison would sooner orter be unable to resist the corpse tide which was sieging them. They would die to the sieging corpse tide. It was a fight against time.

 Chapter 228

    <span>Chapter 228 - Advanced Monster<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Streaming Music on youtube - 6-8 hours left<hr>

    <span>However when faced with such arge corpse tide, Liu Gan felt an incredible headacheing. Even if he screamed and shouted or fired his hand pistol, he would only draw a small portion of the zombies at most, and not much more than that. He was basically unable to solve the current predicament the prison was facing.

    <span>But it seemed that if they were able to defend the prison, it was probable that all of the gasoline from the warehouse would be used up in the process.

    <span>Just at that moment, Liu Gan heard the rumbling sounds of ATVs from the distance, so he climbed up a tall tree on the curb to look in the direction of the sound. He saw riders on four ATVs fanning out, speeding through the fields with around 1,000 zombies following behind them as they all detoured towards the vicinity of the prison.

    <span>They were thest batch.

    <span>The ATV riders were deliberately suppressing their speed to let the ATVs let out a tremendous noise, as they continuously attracted the zombies'' attention. At the same time they also avoided therger group of 10,000 plus zombies in the prison''s vicinity which were previously attracted by the engine sounds. Using a strange route, they went through the prison''s surroundings in a semi-circr shape, ingeniously leading the corpse tide towards the vicinity of the prison.

    <span>Seeing this scene, Liu Gan immediately understood where the zombies sieging around the prison hade from, causing him to lose his restraint from feeling enraged. Observing the direction the ATVs were heading in, Liu Gan and Yin He rushed to the route where they were heading towards andid in wait on the road.

    <span>After a few minutes, the riders were driving their ATVs at a slow speed through Liu Gan and Yin He''s hiding ce, when both Liu Gan and Yin He''s figures rushed out like lightning from their spots. Jumping onto the two ATVs that were slightly behind, they mounted onto the ATVs after killing their riders, and followed the ATVs ahead closely.

    <span>A team member on the prison''s high walls, who was using the rifle''s scope to fire at the riders, stopped when he saw the scene and immediately reported it to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"It''s Elder Liu! Elder Liu and Chief He have returned! They killed those ATV riders! Brothers have hope! We are saved!" Zhang ShengLi shouted out to the numerous team members on the high wall.

    <span>The team members had originally fallen into despair, and were incredibly exhausted with extremely low morale. When they heard this news they couldn''t help but raise their morale. Zhang ShengLi and the others coordinated in continuing to pour gasoline, and spared no effort in going all out in fighting the zombies that were rushing up the high wall.

    <span>Elder Liu had returned! Furthermore they had killed those ATV riders which meant that the amount of zombies outside of the prison''s walls would not increase again. If it was only those zombies, then they could just use up more gasoline and it would be enough to resist them.

    <span>There were six ATVs altogether. They sped away after leading the zombies near the prison via the route they had nned prior, and directly went towards a high slope far away from the corpse tide, stopping there. After they stopped, they returned their attention to the direction of the prison to view the situation, and they excitedly whistled after seeing the rising mes.

    <span>However, they weren''t excited for long. They quickly discovered that two of theirrades in the rear had not followed them back. In ce of theirrades'' spots, were two strangers: a male and a female.

    <span>"Who are you people?" The four ATV riders looked baffled at the sight of Liu Gan and Yin He.

    <span>Liu Gan simply didn''t bother with their nonsense and rushed up to go beat them up, beating them all down to the ground. Even though Liu Gan had effortlessly overthrown the riders, he had sensed in a split second that the riders, including the two he and Yin He had previously killed, were surprisingly all level 5 yers!

    <span>However, while Liu Gan was in an astonished state, the riders that were overthrown by Liu Gan had still been unable to retaliate in the slightest. Those riders were all well-known people within their team and were strong level 5 yers. But while they were beaten up by the man in front of them, they were unexpectedly unable to retaliate with force at all. Moreso, they weren''t even able to clearly see their opponent''s punch.

    <span>There was only one reason. The opponent''s level was higher than their own, at least level 6 or higher, and had suppressed them through power!

    <span>"Ok! Now it''s your turn to say who you are! Why have you brought so many zombies towards our camp surroundings?" Liu Gan interrogated one of the ATV riders.

    <span>"You better release us. Our leader is level 6, if you dare injure us, he will definitely not let you off!" The rider seemed to be somewhat foolish, and refused to reply to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Wrong answer!" Liu Gan couldn''t help but be angry when he heard the ATV rider''s threatening reply, and levelled an axe at the rider''s knees, cutting off his calf which caused him to immediately scream.

    <span>Liu Gan smashed the rider''s throat with a fist, causing him to suddenly lose his voice. His screams also did note out and his facial features became distorted and hideous due to the extreme pain.

    <span>"Starting from now, I will let off anyone who answers my questions truthfully. If you don''t speak the truth, then I will take turns in chopping off your limbs until all your limbs are cut off!" Liu Gan picked up his axe and looked at another rider.

    <span>"Elder please spare us! I will tell you the whole truth, don''t chop my leg¡­¡­" The rider that Liu Gan looked at was so scared that both of his legs cramped up. Finding it all too much, he panickedly replied Liu Gan.

    <span>Advancing to level 5 was not easy! In any team, strong yers were very much respected, so it was not worth holding a secret to die there. Seeing the twisted appearance created from the pain of hisrade next to him, the rider immediately spoke up. It was evident that this person had unexpectedly sampled the feeling of the sharp axe chopping off his leg just from looking at hisrade.

    <span>"Speak! Who are you people? Why are you doing this? Where is your camp? How many people are there altogether?" Liu Gan questioned the rider who had been scared, and whose courage had broken.

    <span>"Elder, it was actually all a misunderstanding! The people we wanted to deal with aren''t you, rather it''s the group of prison guards and convicts that were previously in the prison¡­ We had been fighting with them, starting more than ten days ago. They had superior numbers and weapons and a dozen of our brothers were shot dead by them in animosity..."

    <span>Under Liu Gan''s interrogation, the person disjointedly narrated the whole matter from start to finish.

    <span>There were two rtivelyrge powers from the coast to the prison of Southern NinJing City. One power was the prison guards and convict survivors that were originally in the prison, roughly amounting to seventy or eighty people. With the additional yers and local survivors that they had captured as ves, they totalled to a hundred people.

    <span>The other power was the ATV riders that were from the coast camp. Relying on the stranded yers, they took in some of the local survivors, and also consisted of one hundred people. More than twenty people had died by gunfire in several small-scale conflicts within the prison, several dozens of people also died to the sea monsters that they were hunting around the coast.

    <span>They didn''t leave the coast camp because of their original ims of a corpse tide breaking out, but rather because of an advanced zombie, shaped like an enormous crab, that had emerged from the seaside.

 Chapter 229

    <span>Chapter 229 - Training

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20<hr>

    Thank you for the sponsored chapter! Omri G.!<hr>

    <span>This enormous crab monster was incredibly bold and powerful on bothnd and in the sea. Every time it came ashore it would lead to the death of more than ten of their team members. Even when level 5 and 6 yers faced off against it, they were absolutely unable to withstand its attack. Just like they were made of paper, they would easily die. The coast camp was suffering from the influence of this monster crab, and could no longer live there in peace, so they were forced to establish a fleet and head ind.

    <span>There were too many zombies in the city, so the fleet simply couldn''t go in that direction. They couldn''t find a safe settlement along the way, so they were forced to set their ns on returning to the prisonpound. They knew that the prison had looted the reserve warehouses, so they had an abundance of food, as well as numerous weapons. If they wished to survive in the end of the world then they would have to seize the prison camp in order to do so.

    <span>At that time the prison was still in the hands of the prison guards and prisoners. They had a lot of people, excellent weapons and would very viciously kill people as they saw fit. If the yers from the coast camp offered to try and join them then they would be treated no better than ves. To be equal members would''ve been simply impossible, so only through force could the coast camp try to overtake the prison.

    <span>Under the deterrence of the guns, the people from the coast camp didn''t dare to directly fight with the prison camp head on at all. After they collected the opinions of everyone in the team they finally came up with the n of luring the corpse tide from within the city to besiege the prison. The tactic was for them to wait and reap the benefits afterwards.

    <span>In order for the n to seed, the coast camp were prepared to train for several days, perfecting their technique on luring zombies. Some of the crew were responsible for using all kinds of methods in order to group together the zombies in the suburbs, and then gradually lead them to within two kilometers east of the prison where there were wide ins. The level 5 yers led around a dozen level 4 team members to practice using the rumbling sound of the ATVs to lure the corpse tide into following them forward. During this process they had unfortunately lost several level 4 team members, however the rest of them had slowly be experts at luring zombies.

    <span>The speed, strength, vision and hearing of a level 5 yer was vastly superiorpared to a level 4 yer. While they practiced drawing the zombies, thisrge advantage was shown. In order to aplish the n, ultimately only these few level 5 yers could carry out this dangerous task themselves.

    <span>Through a few days of training, these ATV riders hadpletely familiarized the characteristics of the corpse tide, could only safely lure several tens to several hundreds of zombies to follow them at first. Thenter when the group worked together, they could lure two thousand to several thousand zombies in one go. As they became more and more familiar with the characteristics of the corpse tide, they became more skilled with luring the corpse tide as their teamwork between each other grew more well coordinated.

    <span>Yet just when they had finally decided to carry out their n, the scouting patrol group had received news that¡­ The prison that they had been meticulously nning to ambush for several days, had been seized by another group!

    <span>It was naturally Liu Gan''s group.

    <span>The people from the coast camp continued to practice luring zombies, and after discussing a course of action, they ultimately decided to give the yers in the prison a chance. Of course their primary objective wasn''t to destroy the prison camp since it housed resources like food and the supply depot inside. The coast camp didn''t immediately carry out their n of luring the corpses to attack the prison. Rather, they pretended to be a group running from a cmity to probe whether or not the other party would be willing to amodate them.

    <span>If the new power within the prison were willing to amodate them, then after they entered, they would take advantage of their higher number of people to control them in a peaceful manner from the inside to take over the prison camp. On the other hand, if the people inside the prison were willing to join them then they could ept them, but if they were unwilling to join them then they could only be expelled or killed.

    <span>However Zhang ShengLi had refused them and, just like the prison guards and convicts previously in the prison, permitted the people on the high wall to aim their firearms at them.

    <span>The coast camp people felt that their kindness was met with humiliation. They hadn''t directly used the corpse tide technique yet to lure the zombies and eliminate the previous power in the prison. Yet, these people in the prison were surprisingly unable to recognize their good intentions and refused them entry! As a result they decided to proceed with their previous n of baiting the well-prepared corpse tide that had been prepared earlier in the fields a few kilometers outside... With approximately 20,000 zombies, utilizing their keen zombie-luring ability that they had developed over the past few days to bring them all to the vicinity of the prison.

    <span>"We are just ordinary yers. In order to kill that group of terrible and extremely vicious people in the prison to avenge our fallen brothers, we troubled ourselves with a great deal of effort by preparing for more than ten days. We didn''t expect that you were one step ahead of us in seizing the prison. Our corpse tide really wasn''t originally prepared for you Elder! It is a misunderstanding! An enormous misunderstanding!" The rider stressed to Liu Gan.

    <span>"A misunderstanding? The prison camp was seized from when those vicious people had killed and injured more than twenty of our brothers. Since we took it over through sweat and blood first, the camp naturally belongs to us! The prison is in great need of manpower. If you were willing to peacefully join us then I would have naturally epted you in. However you went as far as using this kind of despicable method in seizing thepound, and wished to cause my brothers in the prison to be wiped out! You can''t just use the excuse of a misunderstanding to dismiss it all" Liu Gan clearly did not ept this person''s standpoint at all.

    <span>"Elder, if you don''t kill us and let us help lure the corpse tide from the prison back over to the fields then we can get rid of the crisis that the prison is facing. This is still possible with our grasp of our zombie-luring technique. We canpletely achieve this." An ATV rider to the side had an idea, and mentioned it to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Really? Do you think I trust you enough to let you go, then have you all ride away on the ATVs. Do you think I''m stupid, or do you think that I''m really stupid?" Liu Gan swung his axe down to the side of the person''s body.

    <span>"Elder¡­ Don''t you have an assault rifle with you? We won''t carry a shield, so if we dare to escape, you can fire your gun at us at any time. Even if it didn''t hit our bodies, it would be hard for us to survive if it hits the ATVs!" He pointed at the assault rifle carried on Liu Gan''s back and tried to persuade him.

    <span>"With my marksmanship, their hope of escaping is impossible." Yin He took the pistol at Liu Gan''s side, and aimed it at the three nearby zombies who had heard themotion, and came frantically rushing up the slope from thirty meters away. ''Bang bang bang''! With three consecutive shots, all three heads of the zombies exploded.

    <span>Liu Gan and the riders were all stunned. Previously Liu Gan didn''t think that Yin He''s marksmanship would be this urate¡­ Without a doubt she was an android as she had automated aiming, and could control all the processes like automatically calcting the distance, wind speed and all kinds of variables. Her marksmanship would naturally cause her to not miss her mark.

    <span>"If anyone dares to escape, her pistol and my assault rifle aren''t to be reckoned with!" Liu Gan saw that the act had copsed and felt relieved. He ordered them to take off the clothes on their upper bodies, as well as their helmets, and then allowed them to return to their respective ATVs.

    <span>Although there were four ATV riders, one of them was disabled on the ground and incapable of driving again, so only three remained. However Liu Gan and Yin He could take up the position of the members that were killed earlier, and cooperate in their operation of luring the corpse tide. The n was to lure the zombies that were sieging the prison camp away, and back towards the field where they previously came from.

 Chapter 230

    <span>Chapter 230 - Two Choices

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Cause the Advanced Zombie hits like a truck.<hr>

    <span>Even though Liu Gan and Yin He hadn''t practiced the technique of luring zombies like these three yers had; Liu Gan had the advantage of being a higher level, and Yin He also had the advantage of machine-like precision. It was because of this that the Liu-Yin duo were able to coordinate appropriately with the three yers without much of a problem after they listened to it...

    <span>"Elder, when we get close to the prison, can you notify them first, so they won''t fire at us. Without our gear, if we ate even one stray bullet, we would die." Said one of the ATV riders to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Don''t worry, as long as you are honest in your intentions, no harm wille to you." Liu Gan nodded to their request.

    <span>These ATV riders knew that Liu Gan wasn''t the type to mess around, and they definitely didn''t want to be target practice for Yin He, or be a limbless human stick. The three ATV riders decided they wouldn''t dare try any foul y. After discussing the n with Liu-Yin duo, the ATV riders drove back toward the prisonpound.

    <span>As the prisonpound came into view, Yin He ran ahead first. Since these zombies weren''t attracted to her, once she got close enough she threw a rock with a note attached over the high wall.

    <span>When the guard on the wall received the note, they handed it over to Zhang ShengLi. It said that the ATV riders will lead the zombies away, and said not to shoot at them. Zhang ShengLi used the scope on the rifle to confirm that the ATV riders were practically nude with a white shirt in hand symbolizing their surrender. These ATV riders didn''t even have shields or their helmets on anymore! Alongside them, was Liu Gan waving towards the wall.

    <span>Immediately, Zhang ShengLi called for all the gunners to stop shooting at the ATV riders, then waved at Liu Gan to represent that he had understood the message. As the Liu-Yin pair along with the three ATV riders assembled their formation, they revved their engines and the loud rumbling sound drew the attention of some zombies away from the wall.

    <span>The ATV riders under Liu Gan and Yin He''s watchful eye, led the zombies toward the direction of the ins, then returned back to the prison. After around four trips, a majority of the zombies that hadn''t been burned were all led back to the ins. The only remaining zombies were the ones very close to the prison wall; they numbered only several hundred remaining.

    <span>With the threat of zombies climbing over the wall diminishing, the pressure on Zhang ShengLi and others within the prisonpound decreased. Even though the distance from the prison to the ins isn''t that far away. As long as no one purposely led the zombies again, then it is rather safe even if only temporarily.

    <span>"Please Elder! Give us mercy! If we enter into the prison, they won''t let us live!" said the three ATV riders after they finished their mission. The three riders got off the ATVs, and began begging Yin He and Liu Gan.

    <span>To cause this devastating disaster upon Zhang ShengLi and others within the prison, even if the riders got on their knees and kowtowed with their foreheads on the ground, it was futile. They could imagine the worst case scenario of what might happen once they were inside the prison.

    <span>"Do you think I am that kind a person? Get on your knees." Liu Gan ordered the three riders.

    <span>Obediently, the three riders got on their knees while begging for forgiveness, and promising loyalty towards him.

    <span>"Right now, I will give you two choices. First choice is to be a human stick after my members chop off your limbs to relieve their anger. The second choice is to be my ve. Based on your work and actions, if you have a good record then I will consider annexing you into my team. I will forgive your actions that you havemitted today. Once you be a member, you will have the same rights as everyone else. If you have a bad record even after bing my ve, I will personally chop off your limbs and feed you to the zombies." Liu Gan exined to three riders.

    <span>The three riders looked at each other, their faces full of hopelessness and despair. The first choice, was definitely not an option for them to choose. So that means only the second choice remained, to be a ve and do the bidding of others.

    <span>Giving away two choices, Liu Gan felt that he was being very generous. With their actions, normally, Liu Gan would''ve tortured the three riders, and then fed their bodies to zombies. Out of consideration that these three riders had trained them their technique of luring away crowds of zombies, and that they had been quite honest so far, Liu Gan decided to give them a way to redeem themselves.

    <span>"So I guess you want to take choice number one; I''ll escort you into the prison where I can chop off your limbs." Liu Gan raised his axe as he walked closer to the three riders.

    <span>"OF COURSE NOT! Elder, we choose the second choice, we will be your ves, and do your bidding." The Three riders immediately answered Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan had an overwhelmingbat strength, and was also very deadly in his tactics. When Liu Gan threatened to escort them into the prison, they knew he wasn''t joking. They had four level 5 yers, but Liu Gan was able to suppress them all without using his ability. It was just purely based on the difference in strength that forced them to submit to his will. Even now, the three riders didn''t have the courage to rebel.

    <span>Liu Gan nodded. Then, Yin He went over and tied them up.

    <span>After the prison gates were opened, Yin He and Liu Gan quickly killed off the remaining zombies, then drove in the ATVs to park alongside other vehicles.

    <span>"Elder Liu, it is my fault that I fell into their trap! I almost single-handedly lost us the prisonpound." Zhang ShengLi embarrassingly said, while being covered in blood and burn blisters.

    <span>"So what happened? Tell me in detail." Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi. These riders had described briefly what went down and their plot, but to cross verify the information and help relieve Zhang ShengLi of his guilt he asked him for an exnation.

    <span>"It started this afternoon, their group came by the prisonpound iming they were seeking shelter for the night. From their looks, I deemed them not to be kind-hearted, so I rejected their proposal of entry, but I wasn''t decisive enough to chase them out. I didn''t expect that after they left, they would arrange the ATV riders to lure waves of corpse tides upon us.

    <span>"If it wasn''t for you, Elder Liu, we wouldn''t have been able to control the situation. We would''ve all died here, trapped within thepound." Zhang ShengLi continued to me himself for the situation as he got on his knees.

    <span>"The responsibility of this doesn''t rest on your shoulders. These corpse tides were due to the ATV riders and their group. They had been plotting to execute this n against the original prison owners, so they never expected us to take over the prisonpound before them. You did your best in defending thepound for such a long time. It is merit, not punishment, that I want to bestow on you." Liu Gan shook his head as he tried tofort Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Judging from Zhang ShengLi''s condition, as he was covered in burn blisters and wounds, it seemed like this battle was very taxing on his body. He did his very best to control the already dire situation.

 Chapter 231

    <span>Chapter 231 - Negotiations<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Thank you for everyone who has ever donated! I''ll upload another chapter tonight! Your names will be forever remembered in my heart and etched on the walls of glory!

    Shameless request for votes T_T <hr>

    <span>"Thank You Elder Liu for not ming me, but I still feel responsible for the oue. I am unable to forgive myself." Zhang ShengLi shook his head, and looked very demoralized.

    <span>"Okay, if it makes you feel better then I will temporarily remove your position as vice leader, due to your mistakes I will suspend it for two days. Within this time, use it to reflect upon your actions." Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi. Liu Gan knew that Zhang ShengLi was the type of person that would have a huge inner guilt built up if he wasn''t properly punished.

    <span>"Good! I feel like the current me, doesn''t deserve to have the responsibility of a vice leader. I will work my way back up to prove to you and myself through hard work." Zhang ShengLi epted the terms of the punishment, and felt a lot better about himself.

    <span>"ShengLi, the three riders are level 5 yers. I guaranteed their safety when they surrendered. I will force them to reveal their abilities, but for now arrange for someone to keep watch on them. They will be ves to do our bidding, especially all the hardbor. This way they can repay all the troubles they have caused us." Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Okay, since Elder Liu has ordered it, I won''t kill them, but I will make sure you ves pay throughbor." Zhang ShengLi walked over, and kicked the three riders. These were the same riders that keptughing and taunting Zhang ShengLi earlier. It infuriated Zhang ShengLi to the point that just killing them would be considered an easy way out.

    <span>On top of that, the prisonpound really needed to replenish its human personnel, so it was a risky move, trusting these riders. Due to the earlier conflicts between the two base camps, the ATV riders were only following orders, which was understandable. Now that the riders had surrendered, they will be kept under watchful eye.

    <span>Previously Liu Gan had made sure that his own group were treated equally and fairly, so only the three newly annexed ATV riders had ve status. Only members can obtain the rights of being treated fairly. The duty of the three ATV rider ves were to do things that regr members wouldn''t want to do. If the ves maintained their good record, then they could obtain their freedom and be a member. Otherwise, only death awaited those individuals with a bad record.

    <span>Thewful world is a thing of the past. In the current apocalyptic world, reviving very was the only viable solution for dealing with prisoners of war. There will be many fights that will break out in the future, so more prisoners can be expected. However, with Liu Gan''s rules, even ves could be a member of their society through hard work.

    <span>Liu Gan forcefully pressured the riders into revealing their abilities one by one. Obediently, the riders demonstrated by showing it directly. One was a [Hawkeye] ability with the crossbow, it enabled the user to shoot the arrow with twice the force from within 20 to 50 meters. With this ability, this person had used his ability to assassinate the previous evildoers. Perhaps with a firearm and the activation of the ability, it could enhance the firepower of the gun. However, the rider never had the chance to get his hands on a gun to try.

    <span>Another rider activated their ability; it was a [Shield Bash] ability, which would violently m the user forward towards the target. It was a power that could be considered as an unstoppable force when wielding a shield, or something which resembled a shield. When activated, the ability of the force could break through a wall of cement. Finally, thest rider had awoken an ability that was simr to Lee Miao''s [Treatment], this ability could heal himself, and a nearbypanion''s wounds.

    <span>These level 5 yers were still considered dangerous, and required a specific imprisoning method for each rider. Zhang ShengLi drew up different ns for each of them. The [Hawkeye] and [Shield Bash] ability yers were bound at their legs and hands. This was to prevent them from plotting anything, and doing any harm to other team members. As for the [Treatment] yer, he would be escorted by two level 5 team members to aid with Lee Miao, and treat the injured team members.

    <span>"Tell me the specifics for the location of your base camp, your leader''s ability and level, as well as the level and ability of the others. This is your chance to demonstrate your loyalty, so don''t disappoint me." Liu Gan interrogated the riders separately, while Wang DeCheng recorded it all on paper.

    <span>Afterbining the three interrogation notes together, the answers were rtively the same. Seems like the three riders hadn''t been lying.

    <span>Liu Gan ordered to have the ATVs filled with gasoline, then he put on a helmet along with equipping a shield. With Yin He seated behind him, Liu Gan in the drove in the direction of the enemy base.

    <span>Located at outskirts of the city was an abandoned factory, which served as the enemy base. The moment Liu Gan and Yin He arrived at entrance of the factory, the gatekeepers opened the gate without suspecting a thing. Of course, the Liu-He pair entered without saying a word. They walked toward the center of camp. Even if the gate wasn''t opened for Liu Gan and Yin He, it wasn''t arge gate that would''ve stopped the duo. The surrounding walls were also very short, so it wasn''t a well defensible position.

    <span>Within the base, there were people doing various activities like cooking and cleaning. As a few yers rolled Liu Gan''s ATV to the rear of the factory for maintenance, a few dozen people came over to greet the neers. These dozens of people were wondering about whether or not the zombie-luring operation was sessful. With only two people returning, to them, it seemed as if the operation was a failure. The operation heavily relied on it being a sess, so that the prisonpound can be their new camp.

    <span>As of right now, this base doesn''t have enough food in storage, even with ration control they would onlyst two to three more days. They were really desperate to capture the prisonpound, that way they can continue to survive in this world.

    <span>"What are the conditions like? Did you finish off that group?" A male yer wearing a windbreaker asked as he walked toward Liu Gan, who still had his helmet on the whole time.

    <span>After he finished asking his question, the male yer with the windbreaker felt that something was odd. He didn''t quite recognize the physiques of the two individuals that had entered the base.

    <span>"Finish them off? Your mouth stinks, like your intestines exit from your mouth." Liu Gan replied as he took off the helmet.

    <span>[TL: aka "you are full of shit".]

    <span>"Who are you! What have you done with our members?" The yer wearing the windbreaker asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"I am the prisonpound''s leader. I was out scouting today, and I sabotaged your attempt to try to lure zombies into my base. It was a futile attempt for your men, who tried to lure the zombies. Two were killed by me, and the other three have been captured alive to be my ves." Liu Gan replied to the windbreaker-yer.

    <span>"So what is it that you aim to achieve bying here?" The windbreaker-yer asked in an alerted manner. The windbreaker-yer was trying to reveal the purpose of this uninvited visit to the base by only two yers with no backup.

    <span>"Negotiating the terms so all of you can be my ves." Liu Gan announced.

    <span>"What? That''s absurd! What do you mean by being ve?"The windbreaker-yer asked, as he didn''t quite understand Liu Gan''s terms.

 Chapter 232

    <span>Chapter 232 - Great Truth

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20<hr>

    <span>"Naturally it''s to have all of you serve as ves in our camp! If you obediently follow my lead and cooperate well with the others, then I will reward you with mouthfuls of food to eat! In the future individuals who have been properly reformed throughbor with a record of good behavior will have the chance to be epted into our group. If you don''t cooperate nicely, then don''t me me for being rude!" Liu Gan took out the axe on his back, and heavily tapped the ground.

    <span>"Hahahahaha¡­ You think you are very funny? In the apocalypse everyone is only trying to survive. Fighting over camps is very typical. If it isn''t your death, it would be my death. You imed that our brothers were caught to serve as your ves, but are they really alive? There''s no point in believing your empty words without any proof. Why should we believe in what you have said? Also, with just the two of you, you want toe over and grab so many of us as ves. Don''t you think it''sughable?" The windbreaker-yerughed heartily, and the others immediately startedughing alongside him.

    <span>"They really came without backup. The factory entrance has already been closed." A male walked to the side of the windbreaker-yer and whispered to him.

    <span>"Maybe you both can stay here to be our ves instead!" After the windbreaker-yer heard the information from theckey by his side, his mind couldn''t help but steel with determination. Two sets of ws abruptly appeared followed by countless beams of light, as his body drew the same shape as a hunting panther while the windbreaker-yer charged over towards Liu Gan.

    <span>The current distance between the windbreaker-yer and Liu Gan was only around three meters, which just so happened to be within the attack range of the windbreaker-yer''s active ability: [Panther w].

    <span>Liu Gan still had an assault rifle slung on his back, yet he didn''t intend on using it to bring the windbreaker-yer down. Instead, he grabbed the shaft of his axe to swing it in a roundabout way. The windbreaker-yer''s n was to take advantage of the sudden attack in order to heavily injure the opponent, but the n was foiled, and he had lost the initiative.

    <span>Yet only the windbreaker-yer thought that he had caught his opponent off guard. Just when he thought victory was within his grasp, he felt a momentary pain inside his mind, and his consciousness also appeared to be in a daze. The [Panther w] ability he had just unleashed was suddenly disrupted.

    <span>By the time Liu Gan had used [Psychic Shock], he had already raised the axe in his hands up high to swing it down towards the windbreaker-yer''s neck. However, when the edge of the axe''s de came in contact with the windbreaker-yer''s body, it was just like hitting a metal-ted shield, as a strange ''ding'' sound was produced.

    <span>At the same time, a dazzling blue light had burst out from the windbreaker-yer''s side, and after that he seemed to have recovered from [Psychic Shock]''s daze.

    <span>The windbreaker-yer looked towards Liu Gan in a bewildered manner. He had simply not fully understood what had happened just now, and was suddenly confronted with Liu Gan''s axe afterwards.

    <span>Liu Gan had faintly wrinkled his brows as he recalled the previously obtained information from the captives he had seized. He already knew that the boss of their camp was a level 6 yer, and that he had an ability called [Panther w]. The appearance and height were also identical with the windbreaker-yer in front of him. However, when he had chopped towards the windbreaker-yer with his axe something unexpected happened. It felt like it was just like chopping against something simr to his own [Mist Armor]!

    <span>In addition, what was this dazzling blue light that had appeared from his body? Could it be that the windbreaker-yer had some sort of fortuitous encounter which allowed him to awaken two different abilities just like himself?

    <span>Liu Gan''sck of rity on what kind of condition the windbreaker-yer was just in was also unsurprising. The [Trembling World]''s rules were never publicly revealed to the yers, so everything could only be slowly felt out.

    <span>In the [Trembling World] once yers were promoted to level 5, then they would awaken an ability. After yers hit level 6, the outside of their bodies would produce a basic defense simr to [Mist Armor]. The following levels gained afterwards would cause their version of [Mist Armor] to be thicker and thicker. This also applied to the local survivors as well. The local survivors would experience changes at different stages. When their strength became equivalent to a level 6 yer, this kind of basic [Mist Armor] defense would also appear outside of their bodies.

    <span>However, when this kind of basic defensive [Mist Armor] waspared with Liu Gan''s awakened ability [Mist Armor], it was actually very weak. The thickness of it was not even one tenth of the [Mist Armor] on Liu Gan''s body. Therefore when the windbreaker-yer suffered another axe attack from Liu Gan, the [Basic Mist Armor] outside of his body was immediately dispersed. The dazzling blue light was precisely a distinctive phenomenon which would appear just before the [Basic Mist Armor] was about to break.

    <span>"Come on! Kill him!" The windbreaker-yer''s heart was currently iparably frightened. When he had received the shock to his mind before, and his [Mist Armor] defense had been cut down by his opponent''s axe his courage had waned. He had already begun to consider using the other yers to surround Liu Gan, and then seize the opportunity to escape.

    <span>"You level 5 scums! Whoeveres forth will die!" Liu Gan aggressively roared loudly as he brandished his axe to chase after the windbreaker-yer and kill him.

    <span>The other people beside the windbreaker-yer were watching the fight between him and Liu Gan the whole time. They all had witnessed that their boss, the level 6 windbreaker-yer, was simply no match for Liu Gan. They also felt that Liu Gan''s aggressive words of ''whoeveres forth will die'' was not at all a threat, but rather that it was a very real truth.

    <span>As a result, the windbreaker-yer''s attempt to call forth the surrounding yers to encircle Liu Gan, so that he could escape, was in vain. There was no fool who would dare to participate in a life or death fight between two level 6 yers. Their roles would have had no effect at all, not even as cannon fodder.

    <span>The windbreaker-yer had no alternative but to force himself to take off the Coiled Dragon Staff from his back; it consisted of three conjoined rods that stretched a little over a meter long. He used it to block Liu Gan''s iparably powerful fire axe that came chopping down. However, in the following moment his lower abdomen had suffered a heavy kick. His whole body immediately flew up by the kick, and he knocked against the wall of the factory behind him. Several cracks appeared on the wall from where he had impacted it. His body slid down the wall onto the floor due to the overwhelming force.

    <span>"Elder spare me! Don''t strike again! I wish to ept the terms of being your ve and surrender!" The windbreaker-yer''s whole body shook as hey prostrate towards Liu Gan while pleading. He deeply suspected that his current opponent''s level was not level 6, rather it should level 7 or even higher. Otherwise, how else could someone of the same level beat him without him being able to retaliate with any force?

    <span>"You think it''s that easy to get off the hook? Who was it that joked around before?" Liu Gan raised and lowered his axe, instantly beheading the windbreaker-yer on the spot. Then he lifted his head that was still dripping with blood, and walked to the center of the factory.

    <span>The subordinate team members of the windbreaker-yer trembled with fear after they saw that sight. Just as they were preparing to scatter in all directions to escape, Liu Gan had actually gotten his assault rifle, and a few shots rang out in the air. The loud gunshots immediately scared everyone into stopping their steps where they were, and they didn''t dare to make any random moves.

    <span>"I will immediately kill whoever dares to try escaping! Everyonee here and kneel before me! Apart from your chief, anyone else who surrenders will not be killed!" Liu Gan loudly shouted at his surroundings.

    <span>After all, yers who had increased their level would have amplified body strength, speed, vision and hearing. The quality of their bodies would be increased overall, which allowed higher level yers to release a very loud shout. It would generate a sound wave which exceeded a normal person''s shout in ferocity by several times.

    <span>This effect was made apparent just like when Liu Gan had previously roared, and the yers and survivors present had heard it. Some of the higher level yer''s eardrums were shaken into creating a buzzing sound. As for the lower levels, the howling sound was just like it was vibrating within their hearts, and with the rise in heart rate because of a wild heartbeat, it caused their bodies to begin to weaken.

 Chapter 233

    <span>Chaper 233 - Severe Winter<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Sorry for thete post! Finals week got everyone stalled! <hr>

    <span>The forty people present heard ''won''t kill those that surrender'', and the majority of them revealed themselves one by one, and kneeled on the ground. A few of them tried to hide in the corners of the factory, and were subsequently found by Yin He when she activated her infrared eyes to probe around. When they were found, they were brutally beaten and then thrown in front of Liu Gan to be chopped to death on the spot.

    <span>"Those that are still hiding,e out! I can clearly see where you are. If you don''te out quickly and surrender then I will uncover you and have you killed one by one!"

    <span>The mentality of the people that were hidingpletely crumbled, and they all walked out of their hiding ces. They neatly lined up as they kneeled in the center of the factory.

    <span>Given the situation, they had no choice but to kneel. Their boss, the windbreaker-yer, was a level 6 yer who had activated his ability first to gain the upper hand. However, the oue was that he was beaten by Liu Gan without even being able to retaliate in the slightest, and was cruelly killed on the spot after only two moves. Could it be that this kind of strength was a level 7 yer''s strength? The disparity in strength between each level for a yer was fairly vast; it could even be said that it exceeded it by a lot.

    <span>In addition, even the three level 5 yers that were by the windbreaker-yer''s side had all knelt down. The other people that were lower level were courting death if they didn''t kneel. Liu Gan and Yin He had revealed that their strength far exceeded their imagination. Once they had to faced the two of them, they didn''t even have the courage to flee.

    <span>Yin He found some rope and bound the hands of the forty people together, bunching them together a few at a time. They were split into two lines to be squeezed onto the beds of their farm trucks. There were also a few women ves that they had imprisoned, and they were also taken into the vehicles. Afterwards, Liu Gan and Yin He individually drove both of the farm trucks along the route to return towards the prison camp.

    <span>When the two of them returned to the prison camp, Zhang ShengLi and the other people had already finished clearing up the zombie bodies lying outside the high walls. They opened therge iron gate to wee the two loads of ves within the trucks. While Liu Gan and Yin He had rushed off to attack the camp, the three original ATV riders had harbored some hope within their hearts. They hoped that their boss could defeat Liu Gan, and then seize the prison to rescue them.

    <span>However, what currently greeted their sight was the other members of their camp, minus their boss, all caught and brought over as ves. They asked these people what happened, and upon hearing that their boss had unexpectedly been cruelly killed by Liu Gan within two moves, they had immediately given up on all thoughts of hope. They backed down, and prepared to work hard as ves in order to properly reform and strive for sooner lenient treatment. Ultimately, to obtain the opportunity to receive equal treatment as members.

    <span>¡­

    <span>The battle to defend the prison was extremely arduous, exhausting all the ammunition stored within the prison, as well as eight barrels of gasoline were used. There were also many more wounded team members in the group. Fortunately, capturing the forty ves immensely replenished the poption of the prison.

    <span>In the few days that followed, the main task at hand was to split apart and reform these ves as they slowly let them assimte within the group. Preventive measures were also implemented to guarded against these ves revolting. The level 5 yers amongst the ves, except for the therapist, were all tied and locked away inside a prison cell by themselves without being fully fed. The next step was to have a team, consisting of Wang DeCheng and other reformed individuals, to have one-on-one talks with the level 5 yers by themselves.

    <span>After the windbreaker-yer was killed, the rest of the yers and survivors that were caught became well-behaved. There were no stubborn people who refused reformation, and some even took the initiative to fit in with the team members.

    <span>This kind of thinking was a good sign, as it was the only way to survive this world. However, they will all have to experience reformation throughbor to show their dedication. They would need to invest in working hard through physicalbor, pass the group evaluation from the special inspection team, and then pass Liu Gan''s final examination in order to possibly obtain the status of being an equal team member.

    <span>The results from this kind of reformation throughbor were not bad. After all, these people and the original members had no life or death enmity between them. They were all either yers trapped within the game, or local people who had survived the apocalypse. After some of the original team members started conversing with the ves that were brought over, they even recognized some of the people as former guildmates in another game which they had previously yed with. Once they were all familiar with each other, the whole process of fitting in became much smoother.

    <span>The original goal of the coastal camp was to seize the prison camp in order to have food to survive, which was why they started this battle. Now they had assimted into the prison camp, and were able to eat their fill of food. Also, even though they had yet to obtain equal team member status, they were not mistreated every day. The work allocated was also within the scope of their capabilities. When they became familiar with the original team members, their previous unease and scared state of mind slowly disappeared. Therefore there were no obstacles while fitting in.

    <span>As for the matter of exchanging bosses, did it really matter who they followed along? So long as someone could give them food and safety then they would follow along with them! Elder Liu was clearly stronger than their previous boss, so following Elder Liu would further ensure their survival, and even if they die, their hearts will settle for following Elder Liu! If they didn''t, they could certainly venture out on their own, but was that a wise choice?

    <span>Their former boss had already been killed, and the remaining people had no strong affiliation with their former boss. They all strove to curry favor with Liu Gan''s original team members, fighting for their own special treatment each day. The leader of the reformation group, Wang DeCheng, had timely elected a few of the rtively outstanding representatives of those reforming-ves by rmending them in the group meeting. After passing Elder Liu''s investigation, their ve status was removed, and they obtained equal treatment as a team member.

    <span>Following themendation ceremony, all the remaining ves saw some hope, and worked even harder to reform. It seemed to only be a matter of time before the ves wouldpletely fit in and join the original team members. With these additional personnel, the prison''s construction and defensive capabilities were increased by a lot.

    <span>During this period of time Liu Gan led the few ATV riders out several times in order to lead the ~10,000 zombie horde, which was previously led onto the ins several kilometers away from the prison, back into the city in batches. This was to remove the hidden danger of the zombies possibly wandering back into the vicinity of the prison.

    <span> ¡­

    <span>The [Trembling World]''s weather system was always acting strange. After so many days, there had yet to be a sunny day seen. It could possibly signal that <span>winter wasing<span>. The past few days the weather had gradually turned colder. One night there was a terrifying rainstorm pouring down. The rainstorm came during the middle of the night, and there was even the rustling sounds of hailnding onto the window ledges and the ground.

    <span>[TL: Winter is Coming.]

    <span>Many people woke up freezing in the middle of the night. It seemed to be that the [Trembling World]''s winter had finally arrived. The yers and survivors were now faced with a new problem. In the future they would have to deal with the corpse tides, other survivors and also facing the trial of the severe winter.

    <span>Compared with the yers and survivors that were still wandering around outside, the people in the prison were considered lucky. There was sufficient food in the prison, and they could also go out to the secret warehouse at any time to replenish their supplies.

    <span>There was still arge quantity of clothing and quilts stored within the secret warehouse. After the sudden change to cold in the weather, the transport team went between the secret warehouse and the prison several times to transport therge quantities of clothing and quilts. For now the problem of the cold and waking up freezing in the middle of the night was resolved.

 Chapter 234

    <span>Chapter 234 - Considering The Benefits<hr>

    UPDATE: Sorry for the dy. Exams on exams. Here is the breakdown. Starting 6/8, I will try to trante 3 chapters everyday and do that for 3 months. That should give me around 300 chapters or so. Then in 6 more months, I will be able to get 1000. Hopefully Lonering will be able toe help me speed up this process. Once I am done with this novel, I will pick up another novel (Zongheng or another publishing, but not Qidian for now). I will create a list of novels and you readers can vote on it! 3 chapter release today! If you have rmendation, then drop it in thement, only requirement is that no one picked it up or it had been dropped.<hr>

    <span>"What, you still aren''t done charging?" asked Zhang ShengLi, since he had noticed Liu Gan always sitting at the highest point of the rooftop all the time. Next to Liu Gan would be the sr panel for the PDA, which never turned on. Zhang ShengLi could guess that the PDA held significant meaning to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Nope, the sr panel is too small and the operating power of the PDA is very high. Even if the sunlight could generate electricity, the intensity of the sr rays are too weak. Even after charging for so many days, it hasn''t been enough to turn on the PDA." Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Why not try another source of electrical input? There are quite a few individuals that we annexed who understands electronics." Zhang ShengLi suggested.

    <span>"I had them look at it, but they all agreed that this PDA is structurally firm, and the electric circuit designs are also quiteplex. To make things even moreplicated, there were protections added to it that prevents others from easily opening it up, such as the absence of markings or indicators. To the naked eye, without any sort of instructions, no one would dare to experiment on the PDA since it is highly possible to fry the microchip." Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Does it contain a lot of important information?" Zhang ShengLi curiously asked.

    <span>"Yeah, it was obtained from a San Xing Corporation personnel. It is closely connected with whether or not it is possible to transfer back to the real world." Liu Gan looked at the direction of Green Pao Bay. If he continued to charge the PDA in this manner, the PDA wouldn''t be able to power on until they reach the Main Ind Laboratory.

    <span>"In that case, then let''s not mess with it." Zhang ShengLi replied after hearing how important the device is.

    <span>"For you toe up to find me, is something wrong?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"Oh, it''s just something that rtes to the prisonpound''s design. I wanted to start an open discussion. A gathering ce of all possible thoughts to stimte the team members to think about things. I just wanted to ask you toe and listen in on it. Do you happen to have free time?" Zhang Sheng Li asked Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi had realized by now that his own way of thinking is very limited whenpared to Liu Gan''s. With a group-wide discussion, it was for the best that Liu Gan take the lead. This way, Zhang ShengLi wouldn''t feel as much pressure when trying to organize it.

    <span>"Yes I have time." Liu Gan stood up, and grabbed the PDA to store it.

    <span>After the huge corpse tide fight, Zhang ShengLi felt that simply passively keeping guard on the walls didn''t have much significant purpose. On the other hand, proactively digging trenches would require too much humanbor. If the trenches were dug too shallow or too narrow, it wouldn''t work either, so it was best to give up that idea.

    <span>As a constructive member of the team, Zhang ShengLi decided to open up this discussion to brainstorm different ideas. The topic would be how to strengthen the fortifications of thepound. Even the ves were eligible to participate in the discussion, as a way of generating a sense of belonging, to help facilitate their change of heart.

    <span>"I feel that Brother Zhang ShengLi''s original idea wasn''t bad at all. Let''s dig those trenches! Every day we dig a little. Eventually we will dig a deep enough trench that the zombies wouldn''t be able to climb out of. Then we can just pour oil into the trenches to burn. This way even the most formidable corpse tide would be burned away." Zhang Hua said his idea out loud.

    <span>"Let''s not talk about that for now. Let''s try to think about something simpler, yet just as effective." Zhang ShengLi waved his hand.

    <span>"Then let''s build thepound wall a little taller? Otherwise, we could also build another set of walls around the exterior. With two walls it would definitely be better than one wall." Han GuangMing suggested.

    <span>"That would be rather difficult without the oversight from an architect. The project would also require a lot of materials, and it wouldn''t be any less strenuous than the trench project." Zhang ShengLi thought about it, and then gave his feedback.

    <span>"What about digging a tunnel? We can dig a tunnel that leads several kilometers away from thepound. For instance, we can dig a path to the underground reserves. So even if we were surrounded by corpse tide, we have a way to slip away. When there is no zombies left in thepound, then we can return by the tunnel." Martial Thunder suggested.

    <span>"This idea isn''t too shabby, and is worth considering further. Nevertheless, this project is still quite big." Zhang ShengLi nodded.

    <span>"I have a good idea, but I don''t know if I should say it¡­" said one of the newly annexed team members with the surname Blue.

    <span>"Speak your mind." Zhang ShengLi encouraged the new member.

    <span>"<span>Then¡­ we could construct a treadmill on the ground that surrounds the prison.<sup>[a]</sup><span> This way the zombies would just constantly return to their original location, and never reach the wall. They wouldn''t be able to climb up no matter what." The new team member hesitantly spoke the ns.

    <span>[ED: <span>Meme<span>]

    <span>A sea of dead silence.

    <span>"This¡­ idea¡­ isn''t that bad, but it isn''t really realistic to implement¡­ plus we don''t have that many treadmills¡­ so everyone let''s continue thinking more ideas." Zhang ShengLi wasn''t too sure if he wanted to encourage the new team member to stimte others to chime in and participate.

    <span>"I have a suggestion. You guys can think about it." Liu Gan finally opened his mouth after a long period of silence when no one else spoke up.

    <span>"Elder Liu, please tell us your thoughts!" Zhang ShengLi was surprised. If it was Liu Gan, then his suggestions are definitely feasible and useful.

    <span>"The other day when I was wandering nearby the west side of the prison, there was a thick patch of forest. The trees in the forest were very sturdy. If we can form a group to chop down some of these trees, then we can sharpen the wood into spikes, and use them to surround the prison. With these sharp spikes encircling thepound, the zombies would definitely impale themselves into the spikes like kebabs. This way, we can limit the amount that reaches the walls."

    <span>"Aside from the wooden spikes on the exterior surroundings, we can ce rounded logs on the ground. When it is snowy, and the ground is slippery, even if the zombie corpse tides managed to get through the spikes, when they charge full speed onto the logs they will easily slip. The logic is the same as that member''s treadmill concept, but simpler to execute. This is to prevent a zombiedder from being created too easily.

    <span>"Another set of wood logs can be soaked in gasoline, so they can be ignitedter on. In between the wooden spikes and the high wall would be a sea of mes. That way even a 20,000 strong corpse tide wouldn''t pose a threat to us. This is what I can think of for now. I''m just specting, so it might not be that feasible to carry out. You guys can discusster on, whether or not this is possible." Liu Gan concluded.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what a wonderful idea! Your way of thinking exceeds ours by miles! We can''t even catch up to you!"

    <span>"Yes! That is a good idea! Let''s just do what he suggests!"

    <span>"Elder Liu so wise. There''s nothing he''s unaware of, and there''s nothing he can''t solve¡­"

    <span>"Elder Liu is definitely the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang!"

    <span>[TL: Zhuge Liang, is the strategist from 3 kingdoms.]

    <span>"Elder Liu, I love you!"

    <span>"Elder Liu, you are my idol, keke¡­"

    <span>"..."

    <span>Hearing all these words of praise and ttery, there were quite a handful of female team members who had infatuated expressions. From that point on, Liu Gan decided not to participate in these types of discussions. Originally, it was supposed to be a gathering ce for different ideas, but instead it became his own lecture hall.

    <span>For these types of constructive internal affairs, it was best left for Zhang ShengLi and the others to continue the discussion without him. Liu Gan still couldn''t see how his casual suggestion was that impressive. He only gave a suggestion in order for them to start up the conversation.

 Chapter 235

    <span>Chaper 235 - Satellite Dish

    <span>At the end of the day, because he was the sole leader, it was difficult to not turn his group into his own cult. It also helped that Liu Gan had handsome looks, was cool-headed andpetent. With such a thoughtful boss, it would be difficult to not be worshipped by people.

    <span>After the task of assimting the ves into the group was gradually aplished, and everything had calmed down; all of the tasks assigned to each task force were carried out in an orderly fashion under the leader of each group. Collective wisdom was always better than just an individual''s wisdom. After they had pooled their wisdom together, various matters no longer needed to be brought to Liu Gan''s attention. Now he was free to leave and handle some of his own matters.

    <span>During the several days after Liu Gan and Yin He left to continue their search of Green Station Mountain, they had a convenient chance to inspect the reserve depot as they passed by the foot of the mountains.

    <span>All along the way no strange situations urred within the vicinity of the reserve depot. Just as the forty newly recruited members had gradually fit in with the original group, a temporary stronghold had also been established here at the reserve depot. They also utilized the newly installedmunication equipment to keep in touch with the prisonpound.

    <span>Naturally they used an encrypted channel to prevent the messages from being eavesdropped by people with ulterior motives. Otherwise, if anyone discovered the secret reserve depot, then they would try to fight over it.

    <span>The prison group would send a small team every day to go and take turns guarding the reserve depot. This way they could immediately notify the prison side if any mishaps were to ur. These few days following the battle with the corpse tide, the prison camp had a rare period of tranquility. It finally gave the group an opportunity to rest and recuperate.

    <span>Xue Jian, who had previously lost consciousness from his severe injuries, and was rescued by Zhang ShengLi, had alreadypletely recovered over the course of these peaceful days. All of his friends had died in the gas station explosion incident, which caused him a great psychological shock, and left him appearing very disheartened. His whole mentality became somewhat depressed.

    <span>Liu Gan had arranged a new group of subordinates for him. With Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng and the others consoling him, Xue Jian gradually pulled himself together again. He even took the initiative to undertake the task of patrolling the vicinity of the prison camp.

    <span>Moreplexmunication equipment was found in the underground secret depot by the transport group led by Zhang Hua. They were transported over to the prison, and a huge satellite dish was erected on top of the tallest building in the prison. Below it they built a highly functional andpletemunications room.

    <span>Themunications group''s operations were left to Martial Thunder to be in charge of, and he brought in several of the members that understood the hardware and technology that went with it. Every day they were kept incessantly busy recording, adjusting the equipment, and decoding within themunications room.

    <span>After they managed to sessfully decode the transmissions, the prison received all kinds of information from all around it, and even received information from orbiting satellites. All kinds of jumbled information was received. It seemed that this world hadn''tpletely died after the catastrophe. Across various parts of the, there was an enormous amount of yers and survivors that were still alive, and they were broadcasting via different methods.

    <span>Unfortunately the vast majority of these broadcasts were transmitted one-way, as well as being aimlessly transmitted. This was because, for some reason, the majority of the radio signals were basically unintelligible. Only a few of these radio signals could be made out clearly. Unfortunately, most of them had no value. In particr, the signals from outside NinJing City''s continent could only be temporarily recorded down, even if they possibly had some useful information. They had to wait until they had a chance to cross the ocean and arrive in those regions before they could check again and see whether or not they had some use.

    <span>In order to prevent the prison camp from being revealed to others and be a coveted target, Zhang ShengLi received strict instructions from Liu Gan that prohibited themunications personnel from transmitting any information outside. They could only incessantly receive and collect all kinds of jumbled information that the outside world sent out, continuously filtering and understanding the external world''s current circumstances. They would thenpile the information deemed to be useful in order to report it to Liu Gan.

    <span>These days that Liu Gan and Yin He spent exploring in Green Station Mountain were still clueless. However, Liu Gan had actually encountered several Variant Zombies within the Green Station Mountain. He easily beheaded them with Yin He''s help, yet he still hadn''t advanced to level 7. ording to his estimates, he should advance from level 6 to level 7 after at least killing ten Variant Zombies.

    <span>After repeatedlying up empty-handed in Green Station Mountain, Liu Gan decided to temporarily cease the search of Green Station Mountain. Without a clear-cut clue to guide him, continuing to search would not hold great meaning.

    <span>He had two options for his next course of action. One option was to head for Green Pao Bay''s southwestern coast, and see if he could find the airship, a boat or a simr form of transportation there. With either an air or sea form of transportation, it wouldn''t matter if they returned to NinJing City''s northern outskirts to search for the<span> spatial transfer gate<span> from Mr. Sheng''s map, or went to Central City, it would be much more convenient either way.

    <span>Central City was dozens of timesrger than NinJing City''s ind. San Xing Corporation''s general headquarters in the [Trembling World] was located there. The scale and quality of theboratories was also certain to much higher, and even possessed more advanced technologies. If Liu Gan wanted to quickly increase his strength, and transform Yin He to be more formidable, then he would have to think of ways to get to Central City as soon as possible.

    <span>Liu Gan currently had another option, and it was to naturally go and have a look at the coast camp of the ves they had grabbed. The coast camp was in the southeast coast direction. Green Pao Bay was split into two directions and the distance between the two ces was dozens of kilometers apart.

    <span>Liu Gan''s reason to have a look at the coast camp was simple, it was because there was an Advanced Zombie there. A gigantic Kingler zombie. If Liu Gan wished to directly jump from level 6 to level 8, or maybe even level 9, then killing the Advanced Zombie to skip levels was a good option.

    <span>Of course, it was not that difficult to imagine that it had a high probability of being life-threateningly dangerous.

    <span>In the battle between the prison and coast camps, even though the prison camp had used up a lot of resources, and some of the members had even sustained serious injuries, they had also captured forty ves. There were six level 5 yers among the ves. After they had assimted them, they had enormously replenished their manpower, and had even increased the group''s battle power from its previous level.

    <span>Over the course of these uneventful days spent together with the original members, interacting andmunicating with them, they had practically already developed a sense of belonging with the group. Excluding the three ATV riders from before, the other three level 5 people also truthfully reported and revealed their awakened abilities to the group.

    <span>Among them was a chubby guy named Liu Hao. His awakened ability was called [Quake]. When it was activated he would use his legs to stamp onto the ground with all of his might. Within a several meter radius around his body, the ground would shake and sway, and persist for several seconds.

    <span>The power of his skill was currently limited by his level. If he were to go against another level 5 yer, it seemed that it would not have much of an effect on the other yer. In actualbat if there were teammates by his side then it would be a hindrance. The skill did not distinguish between friend and foe, and it would even cause teammates to be unsteady on their feet.

    <span>However this skill was very useful against a group of zombies. If Liu Hao were to be surrounded by a group of zombies and use his skill, then the ground all around him would shake after stomping his foot on the ground, and the zombies would lose their bnce and be temporarily unable to attack. He could then use that opportunity to escape.

 Chapter 236

    <span>Chapter 236 - Swallowed Alive

    <span>[TL: There is some lovely imagery in this chapter, you have been warned~]

    <span>Another yer called Yuan HongJun, who was tall andnky, had awakened an ability called [Water Source]. Whenpared with Wang DeCheng''s [Forage] skill, the range of Yuan HongJun''s skill to search for water sources was far wider. No matter howrge or small the source of water was, within several kilometers, he could vaguely sense its location after activating his ability.

    <span>When used in concert with Wang DeCheng''s [Forage] skill, to the team it was practically two solid methods of ensuring their survival. With these two abilities, the team members no longer needed to worry about the problem of food and water.

    <span>However, currently Yuan HongJun''s ability seemed to be rather useless because the [Trembling World] had such lengthy thunderstorms and endless rain. There werekes and pools of water of all sizes everywhere. It was currently very easy to obtain a source of water in these circumstances, so there was no need in particr to use his ability.

    <span>The third level 5 yer was the team member surnamed Blue. Ever since that meeting everyone started calling him ''Treadmill''. Everyone had already chosen to overlook what his real name was.

    <span>Treadmill had awakened an ability called [Interference]. Once it was activated zombies would overlook his existence. This allowed him to be able to move freely among the group of zombies for three minutes after activating the ability. Of course, the amount of time it was effective against a variant zombie would be brief. It could possibly only be for around ten seconds. Against an advanced zombie, it would not have any effect at all due to the difference in rank.

    <span>This ability also had an additional effect: if zombies were killed while the ability affected them, then he could absorb more ck mistpared to what other people would gain.

    <span>It was another cold morning where the ground had frozen over. After eating breakfast, Liu Gan had called all six of the captured level 5 yers together, and asked them about the advanced zombie. That is, the situation of the Kingler zombie. He wished toy his eyes on this Kingler advanced zombie, it would be a speechless observation from afar.

    <span>"The monster appeared around the fifth day after we had established our camp on the coast. If it stood up to stretch out then its height would reach in excess of five or six meters, and the length of its body would reach around ten meters. In the beginning it was only crouching there silently like a boulder; once it was disturbed it opened up and revealed its fierce appearance." Treadmill vividly gave an ount of what happened.

    <span>"Even though it resembles a crab, not only could it walk sideways, it could also move forwards and backwards. Furthermore, it could rush forward swiftly, and even level 6 yers would be unable to escape from its pursuit."

    <span>"The carapace on its whole body is iparably hard and unbreakable, and its pair of pincers are practically invincible. Regardless of what it clipped, it wouldn''t be left intact. Even a very thick iron pir would be sliced in a sh."

    <span>"Aside from its pincers, the legs are also extremely sharp. If you were swept by them then you would be seriously injured, if not outright dead. We tried using a thick iron chain to create a trap, and even created various other kinds of traps, but they were all incapable of trapping it. We even tried digging a pit, dousing it in gasoline and throwing in grenades. However, it was to no avail." Treadmill concluded his ount of the advanced zombie.

    <span>"That thing is simply too strong, Elder Liu, you shouldn''t go and provoke it. We reckon that a level 10 or higher yer could try to hunt it. It is precisely because it appeared that we had no choice but to abandon the coastal camp and flee in a panic to the prison, where a battle broke out with you." Another yer added a few words.

    <span>When the six naturalized level 5 yers from the coastal camp talked about the Kingler, their faces would reveal an extremely fearful expression. This was because they had previously witnessed with their own eyes their own former boss, a level 6 yer, attempt to hunt down the Kingler. Unfortunately he was bisected at the waist by its pincers, and while he was screaming out in agony he was thrown into its mouth and swallowed alive by the Kingler.

    <span>There were also dozens of other team members that met all kinds of cruel deaths under the attacks of the Kingler. For example, several team member''s bodies were pierced by Kingler''s sharp legs. The legs punctured straight through the yers'' bodies, and they were skewered by its legs as it walked, which formed a human shish kebab on its legs. It was toote for others to escape from where its legsnded, as its pincers smashed them into meat paste. There were also others who died in all manner of tragic deaths under the ruins of a building which copsed when the Kingler stomped on it. These scenes left them with an immense psychological trauma.

    <span>In their eyes, this advanced zombie was simply an unsurmountable existence. If you were within a certain distance of it and didn''t flee quickly enough, or had no other people around as cannon fodder to attract its'' attention, then your life would be in mortal danger.

    <span>If it weren''t for the Kingler, then they wouldn''t have abandoned their coastal camp so easily. No matter if they were looking for food, or killing sea monsters to level up, it was a good location. Not considering theck of defensive capabilities, the coast camp was more attractive to them than even the prison camp.

    <span>"Does it have any significant weak points? Such as during its attacks, would it reveal its soft abdomen, or anything like that?" Liu Gan asked the six people.

    <span>"There are none. Its whole body, including its abdomen, ispletely covered by the hard carapace." The six people shook their heads together.

    <span>"Have you guys tried throwing a grenade into its mouth? Exploding its insides into mush?" Liu Gan continued his questions.

    <span>"When it swallowed one of our team members alive, they pulled out a grenade out and detonated it inside its mouth. The grenade did manage to blow a hole in its mouth, but it didn''t cause much damage to it. It merely received a fright, and quickly fled back into the ocean. ording to a team member, when they saw it the next day, the hole in its mouth that the grenade caused the previous day had already been fully healed." Treadmill replied to Liu Gan on behalf of the other team members as he was normally more talkative, and understood more of the everyday matters as well.

    <span>"We have already tried practically every tactic imaginable, and in addition to losing dozens of members, there hasn''t been any considerable damage whatsoever caused to it. This thing is too formidable!" Another yer added in a few words.

    <span>"Indeed! Even if it sustained a few small injuries, it would just flee. No one could stop it with its speed and stature. In a few moments it would escape back into the ocean, and the ocean probably has some kind of special nourishment for it. The injuries it sustained would quicklypletely recover. It is basically an unrivalled existence." Another team member also followed suit with some extra words.

    <span>"You all lead me to go have a look at it." Even though Liu Gan heard their words, and it sounded frightening, he still decided to go and make a trip.

    <span>Killing variant zombies could help Liu Gan level up, but in order for him to level it would take a little over ten variant zombies for him to rise to level 7. Afterwards, it would take close to a hundred or more variant zombies for him to reach level 8. Although Liu Gan could kill variant zombies without much difficulty with his current strength, trying to find that many variant zombies was not such an easy matter.

    <span>ording to Liu Gan''s previous experience, he felt that if he could kill an advanced zombie, then he could directly advance from his current level of 6 to level 8 or even maybe level 9. After he killed another advanced zombie then it was possible that he could even immediately be promoted to level 10.

    <span>A variant zombie must be killed at level 4 in order to promote to level 5. ording to Liu Gan''s spection, if a yer wanted to be promoted from level 9 to level 10, he reckoned that they would have to kill an advanced zombie, or an advanced monster.

 Chapter 237

    <span>Chapter 237 - Coastal Camp<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Listen while you read? :)

    6 days has passed, I did 9 chapters, still missing 9 more. Editor needs to catch up so I can release lol. <hr>

    <span>Liu Gan knew that this type of zombie, an advanced monster, had strength which was certainly beyond what his current strength was capable of handling. However, this was a rare opportunity for him to see with his own eyes what an advanced zombie was really like. To experience exactly how strong it is, and to see howrge the difference in strength between himself and the advanced monster was. It was because of this that he still wished to go and have a look, even if only to gain some experience for future battles.

    <span>"Elder Liu don''t go! Actively going to find the Kingler is just like throwing your life away!" The six naturalized yers had a somewhat bad premonition that if Liu Gan wished to go see the advanced monster, then that meant that they would have to guide him.

    <span>[TL: Yes, we decided it was best to give it visual effect of the zombie closely matching with Kingler rather than a crab. It gets the job done faster by visualizing how it looks for the reader.]

    <span>"You all will apany me on the trip. If you perform well then you will have the chance to be appointed as leader of a small team upon return. You would be able topletely enjoy the rights of a superior rank just like the other level 5 members. If you offer excuses, and refuse to lead me there, then I might suspect that you''re disloyal, and hack you limbless." Liu Gan''s face turned grave, and he gave the six level 5 new team members a choice.

    <span>Since there were only two choices given, and no other avable choices, the six people basically had no alternative but to force themselves to agree to leading him.

    <span>Their original coastal camp and Green Pao Bay were in two different directions. Their coastal camp was located to the east, while Green Pao Bay was slightly towards the west. Rtively speaking, their coastal camp was much closer to the prison camp, as it was only about a dozen kilometers away.

    <span>The cars blocking the road on the way over to the coastal camp were already cleared up, moreover, there basically weren''t many zombies left in the outskirts of the countryside. Apart from when they had meticulously lured the majority over back to the city, generally it would be very difficult for a corpse tide to be formed anymore. They also had means of transport, so getting to and from there was a very easy matter.

    <span>This time they would go hunt the Kingler. Even though Liu Gan had no hope of sess, he still made sufficient preparations. He brought an assault rifle, while Yin He brought two pistols and brought along all the remaining ammunition. There wasn''t much ammunition remaining after the recent battle. Aside from the dozens of grenades that they carried, they also brought a few dozen self-made molotov cocktails. These were concocted in the prison camp within the past few days. They also brought two barrels of gasoline along with them.

    <span>Even though they heard from the new team members that the Kingler was invulnerable, and that it didn''t fear explosions nor burns, Liu Gan definitely wouldn''t give up until he tried it himself.

    <span>Among the original team members, Liu Gan had called upon Zhang Hua as he specialized in long-distance attacks. Last time Zhang Hua had rendered great merit when he killed the zombie that sprayed corrosive liquid. <span>Now that Zhang Hua had awakened a long distance ability, perhaps he could render another meritorious deed this time?

    <span>The other team members that remained in the prison continued the construction work for the defenses.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you won''t let me tag along?" Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan, his expression somewhat anxious. After all, Liu Gan was leading the six yers that were previously hostile with them, and they were also level 5 yers. There was only Yin He and Zhang Hua alongside him, if these people were to conspire to kill them, then it would be quite troublesome.

    <span>The coastal camp was the previous camp of these newly annexed yers, so they were more familiar with its terrain than Liu Gan. Additionally, they have had plenty of contact with the sea monster, so they would certainly be far more familiar with its hunting habits. It was possible that they could exploit the advanced monster byying a trap for Liu Gan.

    <span>"When I go out, I am more at ease when you are watching over the camp! You''re worried that I won''t be able to suppress them?" Liu Gan smiling face had an uncaring expression.

    <span>From his point of view, there was basically no difference between level 5 yers, level 4 yers and even the lower level yers. Even their previous boss, the level 6 windbreaker-yer, couldn''t withstand two moves from Liu Gan, not even mentioning them.

    <span>Liu Gan had his reasons for bringing these people along with him: to examine their actualbat capabilities and temperaments, but more importantly, whether or not they had sincerely surrendered and pledged their allegiance to him. He was also taking precautions because if he wasn''t in the prison camp, and they were to violently attack from within the prison, Zhang ShengLi wouldn''t be able to control the situation. This was precisely because they were all level 5 yers.

    <span>"No, but bringing so many of the naturalized level 5 yers with you, Elder Liu should still be somewhat guarded against them for your own good." Zhang ShengLi still reminded Liu Gan again.

    <span>"I will." Liu Gan smacked Zhang ShengLi''s chest in a manly manner, the type that symbolized friendship and manhood, and then turned to head toward the fleet that was ready to set off.

    <span>Once the fleet was fully prepared they left the prison. There were three vehicles. The prisoner transport was driven by Yin He, and another was driven by Zhang Hua. Treadmill rode an ATV which also carried Liu Gan and followed closely behind the prisoner transports. Throughout the journey Treadmill exined to Liu Gan the conditions of their coastal camp, as well as the surrounding terrain.

    <span>It sometimes felt noisy when someone talked so much, but if Liu Gan wished to gather more information then it would be best to listen to this type of chatty person. They chattered on and on with Treadmill doing most of the talking. Before Liu Gan reached the coast camp, he had already more or less understood the coastal camp and the coast''s condition.

    <span>As Liu Gan sat behind Treadmill on the ATV, Treadmill felt a bit honored to be given such an important position. It actually increased his current sense of belonging towards this group.

    <span>During the whole journey the roadblocks were all basically cleared to the sides. The fleet''s journey was very smooth, and they hardly had to stop at all. The route which was dozens of kilometers long had only taken less than half an hour''s time to reach their destination.

    <span>The coastal camp was originally a vige in the coast. This vige was previously ssified as a rtively prosperous vige in NinJing City. On top of that, in order to resist possible hurricanes on the coast at any time, all the buildings in the vige were constructed to be extremely resilient.

    <span>ording to Treadmill the original poption was approximately several hundred people, and they all fished for a living. Before they had established their previous camp here, they vanquished the several hundreds of zombies that were in the vige in order to train. However they had note across any variant zombies on drynd. These people could advance to level 5 due to the variant sea monsters in the ocean.

    <span>These coastal camp yers could be considered much luckier than the yers who started inside the city. The variant sea monsters in the ocean had strength that was simr to a variant zombie''s, so killing them would allow them to advance to level 5. However, these variant sea monsters were not suited to surviving on drynd at all. They would sometimes end up getting stranded onto the beach and clumsily struggle on the coastline. The yers could conveniently pick off these stranded variant sea monsters one-by-one, and effortlessly be promoted to level 5. Two yers were even promoted to level 6.

    <span>It was still unclear if it was because it felt that the yers were leveling too easily, that [The Trembling World] had carried out a few bnce changes as a result. It brought out an enormous crab monster to climb onto the shore. It caused them to be unable to continue picking up these kind of easy kills on the coast, and even forced them to leave their camp.

    <span>The rest of the coastal area was basically surrounded by one to two kilometers of elevated cliffs. It was simply unsuitable to establish a camp elsewhere on the coast and survive. They could only divert their attention further ind, and follow along the road which led ind, then they came in contact with the prison camp, and the battle urred as a result.

 Chapter 238

    <span>Chapter 238 - You Win Some, You Lose Some, But Then You Dim Sum<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Technically the title is "Dim Sum", but I gave it a personal touch and my ED loves it.

    <hr>

    <span>With only two to three kilometers left before arriving at the coastal camp, the road started to narrow. Along the road the shrubs started disappearing, and cliffs took their ce on both sides. The cliffs had a clean cut, and a sleek smooth surface. As the elevation increased to two thousand meters, they were able to look out and see the ocean. There weren''t many routes that led to the beach, to experience the ocean. One route was via the coastal camp located right next to the seashore, and the other route was via Green Pao Bay to the west.

    <span>To get to the seashore, they must pass through these cliffs. Trying to hike over the slippery cliffs would be especially hard. Even if you were to fly by helicopter over this region, at the top of the cliffs were sharp crevices. So even with a helicopter, there was no ce tond safely.

    <span>This uniquendscape was one of a kind, but the question remained as to what caused the strange rock formations. It was definitely not something created by nature. However, this wasn''t what the yers were concerned with.

    <span>As the path narrowed even further at the entrance to the camp, the natural environment made it easier to defend, and harder for enemies to infiltrate. If it weren''t for the appearance of the advanced zombie, these yers could live here with ease.

    <span>Having said that, if a vignt guard wasn''t maintained then any ill-intentioned person could just cave in the entrance to the coastal camp. That way no one could enter or exit the premises.

    <span>As the cliffsides continued to span for another half a kilometer, they started tapering down. Right in between the cliffsides was a vast view of the open ocean. This base camp was enclosed on all sides by steep smooth-edged cliffs, and the only path to the seashore was through the camp. Even expert mountain climbers like Liu Gan couldn''t scale the cliffs if there weren''t any hand holds.

    <span>The vast open space had one elevated area, which was the location of the base camp. It was what Treadmill had referred to earlier about the newly renovated wall surrounding the camp. From the elevated view that Liu Gan had, he could count up to nearly a hundred constructed houses with a main road that was very generously spaced out. It gave off the feel of a trading port city.

    <span>These houses were all constructed fairly sturdily, with the exception of a few houses that had copsed.

    <span>Around the port city were small potholes, which were filled to the brim with water. The ground wasn''t easy to dent. The potholes were created by Kingler''s piercing legs as it tread across the concrete.

    <span>Upon arriving at the center of the port city, aside from Liu Gan and Zhang Hua, all six of the other yers were hesitating with nervousness. After a couple of steps, they would look around as if the Kingler would appear around the next corner. Once the Kingler has his target locked on, it was impossible to escape. Someone will have to die for it.

    <span>If there was one positive trait, it was that the Kingler doesn''t have arge appetite. Perhaps the reason why it went onnd was a change of preference for food, and to enjoy the experience of eating human flesh. If the yers didn''t voluntarily attack it, then it would be satisfied with just eating one yer. Once it got its share of food, it would return back to the sea. After a day or two, it wille back on shore for another snack.

    <span>In the hearts of the six yers, they were silently praying that the Kingler wouldn''t target them. Then they hoped that when the time came to it, Liu Gan wouldn''t abandon them, or force them to attack the Kingler.

    <span>When Liu Gan walked up close to examine the footprints left by the Kingler, a chill went down his spine. Based on the evidence of the copsed buildings, and the fractured concrete on the ground, it could only be exined that it was due to the overwhelming pressure exerted on it by the Kingler. One could imagine how enormous the body of the Kingler was, the weight of its body could be anywhere from a dozen tons to a hundred tons.

    <span>Not even considering the Kingler''s offensive capabilities, with only itsrge body it was enough of a threat if it jumped andnded on the yers.

    <span>"This Kingler''s body is rather huge. When it appears, the ground would start shaking. How did you prepare for that?" Liu Gan asked the six yers.

    <span>"When it it appeared, the ground shook, and almost everyone would be alert to it. However, even if people wanted to prepare for it, it was hard. The Kingler''s speed is very fast. The moment we realized what was happening, we were already close enough to be in its reach. One step for it is like ten meters, and one jump would reach a dozen meters away. We only have two legs, so we were never able to be create a wide enough gap between us." The six yers exined quickly, while their eyes still darted around. Even now, they were trying not to create too much noise, and praying that it wouldn''t appear.

    <span>Even though these yers were very scared, Liu Gan still pressured them to stay. They could only remain by his side, and so they ventured off to the beach to look for evidence of where the Kingler might have went.

    <span>The beach by the port city wasn''t too wide. The shoreline stretched out around two to three kilometers. ording to these naturalized yers, this was the same beach that provided the stranded variant zombies. That was until the appearance of the Kingler advanced zombie, then from that day on, no more variant zombies appeared.

    <span>After two hours of fruitless searching, the Kingler advanced zombie still didn''t appear. At the same time, these six yers were exhausted from being in a constant state of alertness. Ever since they arrived, they had the feeling that the Kingler was right around the corner. Liu Gan was about to temporarily give up, since after two hours they still didn''t have the slightest clue of where it might be.

    <span>Could it be possible that after the coastal camp survivors left this area, the Kingler couldn''t find anymore Dim Sum to snack on, so it went back to the deep ocean, or ventured off to other areas to find food?

    <span>By the time it was noon, they started to warm up their food for lunch. After eating, Liu Gan wanted to search for a little while longer. By now, the six yers were scared stiff, they didn''t have many suggestions.

    <span>After their lunch, only Liu Gan wanted to really meet the Kingler face on. All of others didn''t want anything to deal with this advanced zombie. Even Zhang Hua was starting to have a change of heart after hearing endlessly from the naturalized yers of how dangerous the Kingler was.

    <span>ying these types of games, it was important to skip multiple levels by gainingrge amounts of experience, but under this type of situation where it was close to 99% chance of death, that didn''t apply. Even if Liu Gan caught the attention of Kingler, although he might be able to escape, these naturalized yers wouldn''t be capable of such task.

 Chapter 239

    <span>Chapter 239 - Broken Rocks<hr>

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    <hr>

    <span>The day passed by excruciatingly slowly in torment while they were filled with fear. However, the time still eventually reached five in the afternoon. The sky turned somewhat gloomy, and it seemed as if it would start to rain soon. Also, the sea waves were reaching higher, wave after wave, which should be caused by a strong wind on the sea.

    <span>"Very well, we will wrap up here for today." Liu Gan had searched for a day, but had not found anything. When he saw the darkening sky, he prepared to return to the prison camp.

    <span>"We can finally leave." The other team members'' expressions all looked as if they had been pardoned from death row, and they were so emotionally moved that they nearly wept.

    <span>There was nothing more frightening than the constant threat to their lives, and the threat of dying tragically was even more frightening. Furthermore the most dreadful part was not knowing when the danger would descend upon them, and whether or not it would descend upon themselves. Being continuously filled with fear like this was very tiring for them.

    <span>Everyone got into their respectives vehicles to follow the road back to the prison camp. However just when the fleet were on the verge of arriving at the long and narrow exit zone, a muffled ''boom'' sound suddenly came from the top of the cliff as if something had blown up. Afterwards, several of the boulders on the summit of the cliff broke off, and one after another, they smashed down a hundred or so meters in front of the fleet within the long and narrow area.

    <span>Some of therge, broken rocks in the cliff basin rebounded up off the ground. They bounced into the vicinity of the vehicle fleet. If one of the vehicles were to be hit by one of theserge rocks, then they would definitely be destroyed on the spot.

    <span>Liu Gan called for the fleet to stop. He had a feeling that something was amiss, and once again led the fleet to retreat back towards the fishing vige. It was just at this moment that several more booming sounds of explosions came from the summit of the cliff. Even more boulders crashed down from the top of the cliff, andpletely sealed off the half-kilometer-wide long and narrow entrance area.

    <span>Even more fragmented rocks swiftly bounced and crashed down towards the fleet. Fortunately Liu Gan had promptly retreated in order to prevent the fleet from incurring damage as they evacuated into the safe zone in time. Within these rumbling sounds of toppling over, Liu Gan seemingly heard sounds that were simr to a helicopter, or something reminiscent of mechanical aviation. Yet, when he looked among the sky, he could not see anything, as the cliff sheltered it from view.

    <span>"Can the Kingler also fly? Can it shoot missiles?" Liu Gan drove the ATV to quickly escape while asking Treadmill, who was sitting in the back seat.

    <span>"It can''t, it has never been seen flying. It also has never been seen shooting missiles." Treadmill shook his head.

    <span>"What''s happening on the hilltop? Have you evere across this kind of situation before?" Liu Gan proceeded to ask Treadmill.

    <span>"No. We have nevere across this kind of situation." Treadmill had a puzzled expression.

    <span>The explosions urred roughly five or six times before halting. No more explosions were heard, and no more boulders crashed down from the summit of the cliff. However, the road to return to the prison camp waspletely sealed off by the boulders that fell down. There were scattered rocks of all sizes everywhere.

    <span>"We are trapped here!" The six naturalized yers saw the distant road had been sealed off, and all of their faces showed looks of rm and despair.

    <span>Zhang Hua''s expression also seemed to look nervous. Coming here to carry out this mission was gambling with their lives! A moment ago they had heard Elder Liu say that they could go back, and they finally could rx and breathe a little easier. How unfortunate, truly unfortunate, that the road back would be sealed forever.

    <span>What was the matter with the explosions that urred just now? Was it possible for someone to lie in wait at the top of the cliff to deliberately block them inside? Furthermore they were able to detonate explosives at the summit of the cliff to break offrge boulders. Could yers and survivors even achieve this?

    <span>Being trapped here unable to immediately return was only a small matter. However, if the Kingler were toe out from the ocean, wouldn''t they only be able to helplessly await their deaths? Was escape an impossible choice? Even though it wasn''t a provocative attack. Kingler only eats one person at a time, although no one knows whether this is true or not. Would anyone be willing to be sacrificed in such a tragic manner on the spot?

    <span>If they were to continue being trapped and unable to leave, then even if Kingler were to only eat one dim sum a day, sooner orter it would be their own heads that would be eaten. The boulders on the hilltop were timed too precisely. Coincidentally this time the exit was sealed off, just their awful luck.

    <span>"Has Kinglere ashore during the evening before?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill.

    <span>"It seems to appear during the evening most of the time; it only appeared twice during the daytime." Treadmill had a gloomy expression. Originally he didn''t want to tell Liu Gan this information so that he wouldn''t force them to help him search for Kingler here throughout the night. However, right now it didn''t matter if he told Liu Gan or not since they couldn''t leave anyway.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what should we do now?" Zhang Hua asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Have supper, then find a ce to rest and recuperate. There may be a fight during the night. If nothing happens during the night, then tomorrow at dawn I will find a way to lead you all out of here." Liu Gan replied to Zhang Hua with a few sentences.

    <span>Running into this situation was outside of Liu Gan''s ns. He originally came here to feel out Kingler''s strength for himself, and to feel howrge the difference in strength was between the two of them. If there was truly no possibility of him defeating it, then he would have to flee. But with the current situation, if the Kingler truly appeared, he feared that he would have to engage in a fight of life-or-death.

    <span>A fire wasn''t lit for supper under the suggestion of the group, and so they had to put up with having cold spring water, and eating cold food for their meal. Although the Kingler previously wasn''t attracted ashore by the fire, the current situation caused the team members to be even more worried, so they would rather just eat a meal of cold food.

    <span>"There was a female crab who, upon seeing a male crab walking vertically instead of sideways, fell in love with this unconventional male crab as a result, and married it that day. However, after the wedding night the male crab started walking sideways. The female crab was puzzled by it, and asked it why it no longer walked vertically. Do you know why?" Treadmill was bored and told a joke.

    <span>"It was because the male crab was drunk before so it walked vertically¡­ Isn''t this joke too old and cold?" Yuan HongJun replied to Treadmill with a bored look.

    <span>"No, it changed to walk vertically the day they met. After it married the female crab, it returned to normal the next day." Treadmill burst intoughter.

    <span>No one elseughed. This joke was clearly the same as thest time at the meeting when he had suggested zombie treadmills, it wasn''t the least bit funny.

    <span>Once night fell everyone found a room in the the fishing vige to stay for the night. With the others'' interference, Treadmill stopped being noisy as everyone strove to maintain quiet. Theyy down on therge, temporary, makeshift beds. Each person thinking about their own worries.

    <span>They didn''t make a fire, light a candle, nor create any light. They didn''t even make any unnecessary noise because no one knew when the Kingler woulde ashore. They didn''t know when danger would descend upon them, or the which direction it woulde from.

    <span>When it became dark, rain started to fall outside, and it quickly turned into a thunderstorm. The deafening sounds and downpour of rain masked all the activity around them. Even if danger were to descend, the team members wouldn''t be able to know in advance.

 Chapter 240

    <span>Chapter 240 - No Limits<hr>

    <span>TL: xDh20, Lifeisajourney

    Last chapter for the night!<hr>

    <span>The temperature at night time dropped quite a few more degreespared to the mornings. It was fortunate that the group had brought along thick clothing in the car. After wearing thick outer jackets, theyid down on their bedding, making it more bearable.

    <span>The people all remained silent; even if the cold was bearable, no one dared to fall asleep. With the threat of the advanced zombie, it was as if a sword was held against their necks. The threat was too pressing to disregard.

    <span>If they had fallen asleep, how would they react in time if the advanced zombie dropped by? It would be much worse if they were the only one caught by the advanced zombie just to be dim sum.

    <span>Prior to reaching level 5, these yers thought that they would be the best once they reached level 5. Little did they know that even after reaching level 5, they were still vulnerable to attacks. They dared not show off in front of stronger yers like Liu Gan. To them, their mood felt as if they were no better than level 4 yers.

    <span>When an elephant takes a step, it wouldn''t care about whether an ant isrge or small. In the end, it is just an ant that will die when stepped on regardless of howrge it ispared to its peers.

    <span>"Elder Liu, are you not one bit afraid?" Treadmill couldn''t keep the silence any longer.

    <span>All the other yers looked at Treadmill shocked. This wasn''t the time to casually chat. In reality, whether Treadmill talked or not didn''t matter as the thunder and rain outside muffled out all sounds.

    <span>"Afraid? What is there to be afraid of?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill.

    <span>"This is an advanced zombie! Elder Liu, do you really think that even with us few members, we will be able to defeat it?" Treadmill directly asked Liu Gan. The barrier that was once between Treadmill and Liu Gan had suddenly dissolved while they were chatting in the car.

    <span>Treadmill''s personality was outspoken and happy-go-lucky. Although he loved to crack jokes, the majority of his jokes weren''t funny at all.

    <span>"There''s no way we can win, but at least I should gauge the difference in our power. That way, at ater time, I can find a more suitable location to defeat it," Liu Gan replied inly to Treadmill.

    <span>If it weren''t for the fact that the route entrance of the port city had been blocked off, Liu Gan would not have been nervous about getting captured by the Kingler at all. He was carrying a dozen hand grenades, so that even if he could not kill it, he could at least use the force of the explosions to distract it and escape.

    <span>In addition, he also had ast resort measure. Once he used it, it could even possibly kill the Kingler, but he would only use it at thest minute, as he doesn''t want to use it so nonchntly. Only when it was a dire emergency could it be used, so that even if it didn''t kill the the Kingler, it would still heavily injure it and force it to retreat back to the sea.

    <span>With the escape route sealed however, it was a big problem. Liu Gan''s options were now limited to a battle royale with the Kingler.

    <span>"With our present situation, we can''t escape. So if Elder Liu can''t kill the Kingler¡­ then¡­?" Treadmill continued to ask.

    <span>"Then we send you off as our dim sum representative so that once he is satisfied, he would note and eat all of us," Liu Gan replied to Treadmill. If what Treadmill had said was true, the Kingler ate only one person a day.

    <span>"That''s a great idea. I agree!"

    <span>"I also second that option."

    <span>"I raise both my hands in support of that!"

    <span>"I raise both my legs in agreement!"

    <span>"..."

    <span>As other team members heard Elder Liu announce his ns, all the others started to chime in and rub it in.

    <span>"No! Elder! I am so loyal to you. I worship you! I am your fan! Don''t do that to me!" Treadmill started pleading for mercy. Regardless of the tone, Treadmill could tell that Liu Gan was joking around.

    <span>"What a good show! Treadmill, won''t you be scared enough to pee yourself?" the plump Liu Hao teased.

    <span>"Damn fatty, speaking bad about me. If Mr. Kingler came, I would push you towards it! You are so fat that Mr. Kingler would surely enjoy it!" Treadmill gave Liu Hao a manly punch.

    <span>"Mr. Kingler definitely won''t eat me, I''m too greasy!" Liu Hao started chuckling out loud, and returned a kick to Treadmill.

    <span>"No worries, we can always deep fry you. After frying, then we can sacrifice you to Mr. Kingler. That way it won''t be too greasy," Treadmill punched him a few more times.

    <span>Everyone startedughing it off, the tension and nervousness in the air decreased considerably. If the tension had kept building up, they would''ve suffocated.

    <span>"Wait hold up, don''t speak. Listen carefully, do you hear someone crying?" Yuan HongJun suddenly shushed everyone else, while gesturing with his hand.

    <span>When Yuan HongJun heard it, Liu Gan had already noticed it...

    <span>As everyone quieted down, through their enhanced hearing, the yers could hear crying. It was the sound of a female crying.

    <span>"It''s almost midnight, why would there be a female crying? It couldn''t be a female ghost right?" shocked, the team members immediately sat up. A voice of a female at midnight; it was easy for their minds to fill in the nks with demonic thoughts. This was something that people do unconsciously, scaring themselves.

    <span>"The Trembling World doesn''t have any ghosts. At least until now, it has not appeared at all. If there were ghosts, it would break the bnce of the game, so stop being overly suspicious. The thing making this noise is just a variant zombie purposely trying to create a horrifying experience." Liu Gan halted the team members from spreading anymore rumors. The team members with a weaker psyche would not be able to handle any intimidation, so it was too easy to cause an ident.

    <span>"Yeah, let''s not be overly suspicious. This is simr to the situation we had at the hotel. Last time, we had encountered these strange events before. There were rumors that the person who had heard these distinct sounds had his blood drained¡­ It turned out that a variant zombie was responsible¡­" Zhang Hua help Liu Gan exin.

    <span>"Did your coastal camp have any variant zombies capable of crying? Something like a smander or a mermaid?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill after listening closely to the cries.

    <span>"We''ve never encountered things like smanders and mermaids before. We did have a lot of stranded ugly fish variant zombies that looked progressively uglier though."

    <span>"Then have you heard of this type of crying at night?" Liu Gan continued to ask.

 Chapter 241

    <span>Chapter 241 - Textbook

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20<hr>

    <span>"No, we have never heard any crying before. We patrolled everywhere during the day, and hadn''t seen anyone else in the fishing vige. Unless someone had wandered over here and hid during the day and avoided detection from us. With the current thunderstorm, they''re probably scared being by themselves and ended up crying," the chubby Liu Hao also suggested.

    <span>"What does the Kingler sound like? Can we assume that this weeping sound was used to deceive us intoing out?" Liu Gan asked everyone after a moment of silence.

    <span>"It couldn''t be, right? This thing produces such an unpleasant sound, a kind of hiss somewhat simr to the sound of loud bellowing¡­ To imitate this kind of crying, it would have to be a female crab," Treadmill replied after thinking about it.

    <span>"Female crab! Cut your bullsh!t!" Both Liu Hao and Yuan HongJun, who were sitting on the bed, kicked Treadmill.

    <span>"All of you stay here for now and don''t go anywhere, I will go and have a look at what''s going on," Liu Gan told them, then called for Yin He to go outside. They traced the source of the faint crying sound and moved stealthily towards its direction in the fishing vige.

    <span>"Liu Gan''s courage is truly great! He''s not afraid of anything," Treadmill looked at Liu Gan''s fading back and admired it.

    <span>"Liu Gan has never truly been afraid of anything. When you have followed him for longer then you will slowly learn. He isn''t human. He is omnipotent, a demigod. Also, all the decisions he had ever made have never been bad. So following him is your fortune." Zhang Hua aptly helped to brainwash the several team members. As for if it had any effect, only time could tell. Besides, Zhang Hua had also been brainwashedpletely by Zhang ShengLi beforehand.

    <span>It was raining heavily outside, with the asional thunder and lightning. The rainwater poured down the jagged rocks at the top of the cliff and flowed downward towards the sea. The fishing vige was much more lower than the one on top of the cliff. Moreover, there were norge trees or the like in the vige, so the chances of being hit by thunder and lightning were low.

    <span>The crying sound seemed toe from the direction of the vige center. From Treadmill and the others'' description of the vige, there should be an ancestral hall there. It was a ce where the people of the fishing vige would offer sacrifices to their ancestors. During the day Liu Gan had passed by the ancestral hall''s door, but didn''t enter it.

    <span>After getting closer to the sound, Liu Gan could finally hear it clearly. The crying sounds really dide from within the ancestral hall. The crying sounds were off and on, and they seemed to be simr to that of a teenage girl.

    <span>But a girl who appeared in the middle of the night, in the ancestral hall during a thunderstorm, would not be good news. It was still undetermined if a variation zombie could transform their shape to bait perverted predators. Seeing the girl crying would cause your heart to go soft and lower your guard, and then you would be bitten to death.

    <span>Fortunately, Liu Gan had always been cold-blooded and ruthless at all times. He was never the type to be a knight in shining armor, therefore this trick had basically no effect against him.

    <span>The ancestral hall had two doors, one in the front and the other at the back. Liu Gan signalled to Yin He that he would go through the front door, and for her to go around to the back door. If something happened inside, whoever was in front of the zombie would distract it, while the one behind the zombie would take care of it.

    <span>Liu Gan took out a shlight and after kicking open the ancestral hall''s main entrance, he shone the shlight inside. The light shone on a young girl squatting in a corner of the ancestral hall. She had school bag on her back and appeared to look like a middle school student. When she saw Liu Gan charging in, she started to shriek at once, and only stopped when Yin He had dashed in and struck the back of her head.

    <span>"A human; a weak and ordinary person." Yin He dragged the young girl over and threw her in front of Liu Gan. She had merely caused the young girl to lose consciousness, and hadn''t injured her.

    <span>Pushing the young girl onto her side and looking at her clothing, her alloy watch and opening her schoolbag, Liu Gan quickly understood. This young girl was definitely a yer who had just recently been pulled in by the game, otherwise it would have been difficult to exin why she suddenly showed up in the fishing vige''s ancestral hall.

    <span>ording to Jiang JinYuan''s information, the people in the real world could still be pulled into [The Trembling World] through various means. This young girl would have been one of those victims. Although Liu Gan was incapable of operating her alloy watch, he got the general impression that the textbooks in her schoolbag were teaching materials from the real world.

    <span>Since she didn''t pose any threat, Liu Gan decided to carry the young girl back to the room they were in before. Once she regained consciousness, after being treated by the yer who was a therapist, they could start the interrogation about the situation in the real world. The game had probably already started more than half a month ago? Any new information on the real world was crucial. Since she came from there, Liu Gan definitely wished to seize the opportunity, and understand the situation back in the real world.

    <span>When the pair had just left the ancestral hall and prepared to return to the group, Yin He seemed to detect something and dashed into the rain. After a burst of fighting sounds and screaming, she walked to Liu Gan''s side with two males in tow, returning to under the ancestral hall''s ledge.

    <span>"These are also weak and ordinary people," Yin He again informed Liu Gan. Of the two males, one was old while the other was young. They weren''t unconscious, but merely beaten down by Yin He, so their bodies were sore and didn''t dare to resist.

    <span>"Were you recently sent over here from the real world?" Liu Gan asked the pair of males, cing the girl atop his shoulder on the ground against the wall.

    <span>"Yes, you wouldn''t happened to have also been sent over as well? Don''t hit us, we don''t wish to fight. We just want to have a nice chat," the juvenile promptly replied to Liu Gan, evidently afraid of Yin He.

    <span>The older of the two wasn''t considered to be too old. He was roughly a forty-year-old middle-aged man, with a long beard. The juvenile was eighteen or neen, and his appearance matched that of a university student.

    <span>"You don''t need to be afraid, I will not harm you. If you don''t run away then I will let her release you," Liu Gan asked the pair, then examined their alloy watches, confirming that the two of them were yers that were sent over.

    <span>"Ok, we won''t run away. We had originally heard the sound of crying, and came over to see what was going on." The university student nodded his head at once.

    <span>The forty year old with arge beard also nodded his head.

    <span>"Release them," Liu Gan indicated to Yin He, who consequently released them.

    <span>"Boss, what is this ce? [The Trembling World] game? I had definitely ''declined'' yet, I was still sent in?" The university student dejectedly asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"We also have somepanions over there, we''ll go there to talk." Liu Gan didn''t wish to talk in the vicinity of the ancestral hall, and pointed towards the location of his team members.

    <span>"We will listen to you Boss." The university student obediently nodded, and the bearded man didn''t show any signs of objection. As a result, Liu Gan carried the young girl and led the way, braving the rain and returned to the building his team members were in.

    <span>The bearded man and university student, although they were somewhat scared and worried, didn''t run away under Yin He''s watch. Furthermore, just when they were sent in, they came across a thunderstorm. It was pitch dark and they also didn''t know which direction to flee in, so they could only obediently follow Liu Gan and walk towards the building where his team members were located in.

 Chapter 242

    <span>Chapter 242 - Idiot

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, where did you find these people?" Treadmill asked. The Liu-Yin duo left with two people, and returned with five people. It was really quite shocking, as this area waspletely isted from the rest of the world.

    <span>"These people are ones that have been recently transferred in," Liu Gan exined to the rest of his group. Then he called over the only yer who was a therapist, to see if there was any [Treatment] to wake up the young girl.

    <span>"You mean... like newbies?" Asked a few shocked members. It had been so long after the first group of people transferred in, and nothing strange like this urred when they were living at the coastal camp.

    <span>"Hello big brothers." The university student initiated the conversation, as he greeted everyone in the room.

    <span>"Oh you recently transferred? Fresh meat must be really tender, definitely good to eat~ I like it," replied Treadmill with a lecherous look. A look he had learned from zombies that were ready to take a chunk of meat off.

    <span>"Ah¡­" the scared university student fell back onto his bum.

    <span>"You crazy person! Quit scaring the newbie!" Liu Hao kicked Treadmill on the bum.<hr>

    <span>[TL: did you know there is a Liu Hao in TKA anime?]<hr>

    <span>"Quit kicking me! If you keep doing that, I''ll really deep fry you for Mr. Kingler!" Treadmill punched Liu Hao several times in retaliation.

    <span>"You just came in? So you must know how the real world has been like these past few days?" Yuan HongJun came over to ask the important question. He had a pitiful look in his eyes. Seems like the sacrificial dim sum won''t be them anymore, but these noobs who aren''t capable of getting away.

    <span>Yuan HongJun''s question was the main concern others had too, so the moment he asked, everyone was silent, waiting for the reply. Everyone looked at the university student and bearded man.

    <span>"Oh it is really heated in the real world! The national ser team had two 0 to 0 ties against the Hong Kong team, Ivory Coast team wasn''t able to proceed past knockout stages; Russia''s military base was bombed by the Turkish military. In retaliation, Russian military blew up a Turkish fleet. From the looks of it, it seems like it is hard for the super powers to control the situation. Evidently, it seems to suggest that World War 3 is drawing closer¡­" said the university student. He seems to be a ser enthusiast, but also pays attention to international politics.

    <span>"No, we didn''t ask you about that. [The Trembling World] caused so many people to disappear. Didn''t the Government pressure San Xing Corporation for responsibility?" Yuan HongJun interrupted the university student.

    <span>"They didn''t pursue the matter! All they did was arrest San Xing Corporation''s executives, but rumor has it that they were all released from custody into the Government''s research facility. There''s another rumor online that says it is possible extraterrestrials were responsible for this. They extracted humans from earth to undergo experiment¡­" the bearded man chimed in.

    <span>Seems like the real world still has no idea how to handle the matter rting to The Trembling World. They could only specte and spread rumors online.

    <span>"What nonsense! This is all San Xing Corporation''s fault! We were screwed over by them!" Liu Hao disagreed with the bearded man''s view.

    <span>"What caused you to transfer in?" Treadmill asked the bearded man and university student.

    <span>"I was self-studying at night when a old friend called me. Right as I was leaving the ssroom to answer the phone, a small window popped up and asked if I wanted to enter The Trembling World. There was only a button that says ''Yes''. I heard about the stories of disappearing, so I didn''t press the confirm button. Angrily I yelled ''only an idiot would want to enter!'' Then momentster¡­ I was transferred in! Damn! I''m not an idiot. Why did it transfer me in?" The university student spoke angrily.

    <span>"You are the idiot!" Treadmill said with a mischievous expression, as he took joy in other people''s misfortune.

    <span>"You? How did you enter?" Liu Gan asked the bearded man.

    <span>"My daughter disappeared the day server opened. I''ve been waiting for the government to rescue her. Half a month of waiting for news from the government, but nothing like that appeared. Thus, I went to the ck market for the registered electronics and entered myself." The bearded man said with sadness.

    <span>"Is she your daughter?" Treadmill pointed at the young female who just woken up.

    <span>"No, I heard her cry so I went over to take a look. Then we were rounded up and brought here." The bearded man replied while shaking his head.

    <span>"You stupid? If that was his daughter they would''ve acknowledged each other earlier! Why would they wait for you to ask? So stupid, like a pig!" Liu Hao insulted Treadmill.

    <span>"Even if I''m stupid, I''m still smarter than you fatty!" Treadmill retaliated.

    <span>"You people are a hrious bunch. I was scared at first because I thought you all were bad people!" The university student said to Treadmill and Liu Hao.

    <span>"You think we are good people? Then you are wrong. I love to eat meat. Human meat. Especially fresh meat like you¡­ I like that the most!" Treadmill started his scare tactics.

    <span>The young female woke up from getting treated, and she was emotionally shaken. She was a middle school girl that didn''t want to return home where she lost a heated argument. So after school, she didn''t have the courage to face the situation and decided to go to an Inte cafe instead. Right as she was watching Korean drama, a pop up appeared blocking the subtitles. She didn''t take notice of the pop up and clicked it, resulting in her transfer to the fishing vige''s ancestral hall.

    <span>The outside was pouring rain with lightning and thunder. The ancestral hall had spiritual tablets that scared the life out of her as she found a corner to cry in. That crying drew in the attention of the nearby yers.

    <span>Since she wasn''t aware of the contents in the pop up, she wasn''t able to figure out what had happened. She thought she had been kidnapped. However, during the time she was listening to the dialogue exchange, she realized that she was transferred into the so-called game [The Trembling World]. Now she is imprisoned within it?

    <span>The young girl imagined how flustered her parents would look, and that made her smile for the revenge y. That expression didn''tst for long as it changed a horrified look. She remembered hearing warnings from her teacher and ssmates to be careful not enter the game. It was said that once you entered, there were no reportings of anyone returning alive.

    <span>There was no way to confirm whether they had died either, so it was as if they just evaporated into thin air. Evidently, it had been confirmed by nearby witnesses that those who disappeared had done so into a wisp ofrge ck smoke!

 Chapter 243

    <span>Chapter 243 - Jinx

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    <hr>

    <span>[TL: More lovely stuff here¡­ The gift that keeps on giving >_>]

    <span>"Can I ask you a question, have any of you seen my daughter?" The bearded man opened his mouth to ask everyone.

    <span>"What does your daughter look like? What''s her name? Do you have a photo of her? If not, who would know if they have seen her before or not?" Yuan HongJun barraged the bearded man with questions.

    <span>"My daughter is Lin, Lin ShiYa. She looks bright and beautiful. When I entered the game, I brought along many things with me, including her photo. After entering, all the things I brought disappeared." The bearded man had an upset expression.

    <span>"This name¡­ I don''t recall hearing it before. Many female yers are unwilling to reveal their real names. We may have seen her, but didn''t know it was her. However, you will need to prepare your mind. This world is already at its end; it has lost anyw and order. The female yers were very miserable after entering, they were all practically grabbed as sex ves. They were f*cked by male yers every day. The more beautiful they were, the more they were f*cked¡­" Treadmill replied to the bearded man.

    <span>"Can you pay more attention to what you''re saying?" Liu Hao couldn''t listen to it anymore.

    <span>The bearded man also stared at Treadmill, his expression somewhat pained. He had just entered [The Trembling World], and didn''t really understand the situation here. However, if there was now and order, it was obvious what would happen to his beautiful daughter trapped here.

    <span>"If your daughter is in our camp, then it''s not so bad. Elder Liu pays attention to gender equality, and has never allowed the males to bully the females, or allow them to be used as sex ves. He has saved several female yers that were previously bullied." Treadmill felt that the words he had said weren''t very appropriate, so he immediately added in more encouraging lines.

    <span>"Where is your camp? Can you bring me there to have a look?" The bearded man once again had hope on his face.

    <span>"Even if we wanted to, the stones that fell from the top of the cliffs have blocked the road. We are currently trapped here, and can''t return. Also, it''s uncertain if we will live through the night." Treadmill shook his head.

    <span>"What happened?" The bearded man and college student asked Treadmill together.

    <span>"Are you guys currently level 1? We''re level 5, and Elder Liu could be level 7. However, on this beach there is a Kingler advanced zombie who can only be challenged by the strength of a level 10 yer. It is a huge crab as tall as a one-story house that can clip you in two with its pincer! It likes catching humans to eat like dim sum the most. Dozens of ourrades have been eaten up. The moment it appears, you all will piss in your pants." Treadmill spread his hands towards the pair.

    <span>"Can you possibly stop speaking such nonsense? If you start spewing bullsh*t, who are you trying to lie to?" Liu Hao and Yuan HongJun both kicked Treadmill''s butt. The three of them had originally joined the coastal camp together. Their rtionship with each other wasn''t bad, but the two of them disliked Treadmill''s loose mouth.

    <span>"The ce you were at when you entered the game, was it the exact same ce as when your daughter had originally entered the game?" Liu Gan stopped the fighting between the three of them, and asked the bearded man.

    <span>"Yes." The bearded man nodded.

    <span>"It seems that¡­ It varies with different times, even if you were to enter the game from the same ce in the real world, it wouldn''t necessarily send you to the same ce in the game." Liu Gan had a thoughtful expression.

    <span>"Oh right, did you guys not have a starter weapon when you entered?" Liu Hao asked the bearded man and college student.

    <span>"Starter weapon? There''s a starter weapon?" The college student had a somewhat confused expression.

    <span>"Apparently those of you who enter afterwards are even worse off than us. Besides the clothing you wear, nothing can be brought in, and the starter weapons have been cancelled. This game is bing more and more immoral! Simply bullying the new people." Liu Hao frowned.

    <span>"We each started with a club, but we didn''t necessarily be stronger by equipping it. If it wasn''t for my smart mind leading you both through hardships, then how would you two cheap people live until now?" Treadmill found a chance to return the favor to Liu Hao without dy.

    <span>"Your brain, which coulde up with using treadmills to deal with besieging zombies, I truly respect and prostrate in admiration!" Liu Hao ridiculed Treadmill.

    <span>"Yes. Truly gifted. Your IQ is unrivaled, and has reached the absolute pinnacle of idiocy." Yuan HongJun also sarcastically told Treadmill.

    <span>"What was bad about my idea? It was treadmills that I used to sell, it''s just that not that many treadmills can be installed here. Besides, didn''t Elder Liue up with the idea of round logs to defend against the zombies based on my idea? Throughout the journey to here, Elder Liu even especially sat on my ATV, and consulted me about various matters about the coastal camp. Elder Liu recognizes talent. You two cheapos are jealous! You have dark minds and evil hearts!" Treadmill sent a look of disdain to his two terrible friends.

    <span>"You¡­ Elder Liu wasn''t asking for your advice¡­ Wasn''t he interrogating you?" Liu Hao and Yuan HongJun had dumbfounded expressions.

    <span>"All of you Big Brothers, did you also arrive here when you opened and entered the game?" The college student finally found a chance to ask everyone a question.

    <span>"Yes! When we opened the game and entered, we were the first unlucky batch of the game." Liu Hao shook his head gloomily.

    <span>"How can the weather here be so terrible? And so cold¡­" The college student continued to speak, his body waspletely soaked from the rain, and he was so cold that his body would incessantly shiver.

    <span>"This is considered terrible? This is just a light rain. When you experience tornadoes that send vehicles and zombies up into the air, then you''ll know what is truly terrible! It may still flood, or maybe there might be earthquakes today!" Treadmill replied to the college student. Even though he hadn''t personally experienced everything he spoke of, during the past few days, he had often heard descriptions from the original members in the camp.

    <span>"Can you stop trying to jinx it?" Liu Hao once again couldn''t help but have the urge to hit Treadmill.

    <span>"How am I jinxing it? Don''t tell me that my words weren''t true?" Treadmill couldn''t ept it.

    <span>"Bang¡­!"

    <span>A muffled noise was suddenly heard from outside, continuing for a while. Meanwhile the floor of the building that everyone was in shook violently. The walls and ceiling cracked with bits of cement and dirt falling down. Quite a few people were unsteady, and almost fell down onto the ground.

    <span>"You jinxed it! Truly wretched!" Liu Hao didn''t know how he should curse Treadmill.

    <span>"What jinx? The Kinglering!" Treadmill replied to Liu Hao in a panicked voice .

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He immediately rushed out of the building, quickly heading towards the source of sound.

    <span>The room turned deathly silent. The shlights and other things in the team member''s hands were all switched off upon Zhang Hua''s urging. Dread was written across all of their faces.

    <span>"It seems that this time it''s not the Kingler that''sing. The sounds were even louder than what the Kingler usually made¡­." Treadmill thought and felt that something was off, as he muttered to himself lowly.

 Chapter 244

    <span>Chapter 244 - Persistent

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    I just want to note that we surpassed DD in chapter release :)

    <hr>

    <span>"Who knows? Maybe it is right outside of our building. With movement that can create this much effect¡­ only it can do that" Liu Hao clenched his teeth as he replied to Treadmill.

    <span>"Don''t worry, Elder Liu is very brave. He will definitely kill it!" Zhang Huaforted everyone. Although he was hesitant on how truthful his words offort are. After all, Zhang ShengLi''s brainwashing technique is second to none, so Zhang Hua still is confident in Liu Gan''s ability.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you must persist! Every year, I''ll put up incense for you." Treadmill started praying on the side.

    <span>"What did you just say?" Zhang Hua kicked Treadmill in the butt.

    <span>"Well deserved!" Liu Hao and Yuan HongJun heard the familiar sound that resonated with the kick of the butt. They both were giggling at the punishment Treadmill had incurred.

    <span>After several minutes, Liu Gan and Yin He returned. Liu Gan didn''t have time to enter the room, he only shouted out loud from the outside..

    <span>"Everyone! Run! Or else it will be toote!"

    <span>The members heard the familiar voice of Liu Gan and didn''t question the order. They immediately got up and took flight. Even the university student and bearded man followed along. Zhang Hua was the first to rush out the door only to discover the young female was still sitting dumbfoundedly on the floor, so he rushed back in to carry her on his shoulder out of the room.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t head in the direction of the copsed rocks¡­ Even if he went in that direction it was useless as the road waspletely sealed off. Liu Gan headed straight for the fishing vige''s tallest and structurally-sound building. It was was shaped like a lighthouse. After he rushed in, he didn''t stop. He ran to the top exterior of the building. When he reached the top, he looked in the direction of the open sea.

    <span>Yin He followed closely like a shadow. The six ATV riders from the coastal camp were very nimble, so they trailed behind Liu-Yin duo. Even though, they don''t know the reason why they had to rush out, but the current situation wasn''t the right time for questioning. Without much choice, they unanimously obeyed.

    <span>Zhang Hua had to carry the younger girl, but his speed wasn''t slow at all. He followed behind the six ATV riders to climb up the stairs all the way to the top of the lighthouse.

    <span>Even though the bearded man was a level 1 newbie, his innate physical properties weren''t bad at all. He was stillgging behind slightly. He was ten seconds behind Zhang Hua before reaching the top of the lighthouse.

    <span>However, the fate of the university student was tragic. He wasn''t able to keep up with everyone''s fast pace movement. He was the only one that was truly left behind. After a sh of lightning, the entire fishing vige was bright as day, you can see the coat of water that submerged most of the building. Those that stood at the top of the lighthouse, could see the university student losing his sense of direction as he looked left and right.

    <span>Momentster, behind him was a 10 meter high wave that surged in from the ocean...

    <span>A secondter, the university student disappeared.

    <span>Now the reason for the urgent escape became apparent. If any of them were half a minutete like the university student, their fate would also be simr. No one could be sure of whereabouts of the university student after he got dragged into the sea.

    <span>In only a moment, the entire fishing vige had be submerged under the seawater. Borrowing the sh of lightning, they could tell that no other structure protruded from the surface of the water. There was still three meters of distance between the seawater filling up at the base of the lighthouse to the very peak of the lighthouse.

    <span>The architects of this lighthouse ounted for the possibility of a tsunami, so the structure of the building was built with steel fused with concrete. Making it sturdy even against the harsh attacks of the waves. If not for these architects, there would be no safe haven for these yers.

    <span>"Damn it! You really jinxed it! It really flooded!" all the yers looked at Treadmill.

    <span>"But, I just casually said it¡­" Treadmill said with a helpless look.

    <span>After running in the pouring rain, everyone was thoroughly drenched. The temperature at night dropped close to zero degrees celsius. This type of cold wasn''t endurable for normal people.

    <span>Even Liu Gan wasn''t an exception, as his face turned pale, and his body stiffened. Other people were in even worse condition.

    <span>With seawater surrounding the lighthouse, almost everyone was shivering and sneezing. Their pale, expressionless faces showed how hopeless the situation was. Even if Mr. Kingler didn''t appear, the freezing temperatures at nightbined with the tsunami made it seem like getting mishandled by Mr. Kingler was a better option.

    <span>Liu Gan felt sick. This was his third time getting trapped. The first time was the on billboard, and the second time was on top of the suspension bridge. This time he was trapped at the highest floor of the lighthouse. Everytime time he was trapped the danger level escted, with this time being the most dangerous.

    <span>If he couldn''t find a way to escape this situation, then their lives would perish due to hypothermia!

    <span>The young girl''s body was in the worst condition, she had passed out due to hypothermia already. Zhang Hua couldn''t worry about the morals of hugging a young female, as he was only doing his best to try and warm her up by hugging her.

    <span>Next was the bearded man, his body didn''t have the physical capabilities of the level 5 yers, so he could only hug himself and jump up and down. It was a meager attempt to warm up blood cirction and slowing down hypothermia onset.

    <span>"I can''t! I''m about to die! So cold! I can''tst any longer!" Treadmill started crying outloud.

    <span>"This old man is 40 years old and still persisting, yet you can''t withstand any longer? You are an embarrassment." Liu Hao replied to Treadmill. Since Liu Hao was more plump, he could withstand the hypothermia a little better.

    <span>This type of cold scenery reminded Liu Gan of a simr situation a year ago, on the ridge of Mt. Everest¡­ He didn''t have a sleeping bag, and the hypothermia that crept into his limbs that night changed his life forever.

    <span>Could it be that he will have to suffer through the same tragic situation again?

    <span>This morning when he left, the weather was quite good. No one could''ve expected to have the only exit to the fishing vige sealed off. Then it was followed by a thunderstorm and a tsunami. His luck didn''t seem to be very high! Could it be that it was the calm before the storm, where everything had urred smoothly before this situation developed.

    <span>Suddenly, the light in Liu Gan''s eyes changed, he felt a warm embrace. It was so warm, so surreal, as if it was from a dream...

    <span>Liu Gan looked down, and he discovered that Yin He was hugging him. He didn''t even notice when she had approached him, as he was reminiscing. He looked into her beautiful eyes staring back at him.

    <span>"Thank you." Liu Gan whispered to Yin He.

    <span>"Fight on, I don''t want you to die." Yin He held onto Liu Gan.

    <span>"I won''t. No matter how difficult, I will endure it. For you, I will persist!" Liu Gan embraced Yin He, as well as kissing her on the cheek.

 Chapter 245

    <span>Chapter 245 - Rescue

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Hmm for me? You will persist for me?" A hint of light shed in Yin He''s eyes.

    <span>"Of course. I thought there was no one left for me to care about in this world, that was until you joined my side." Liu Gan''s ice cold heart seemed to have melted a little.

    <span>As Yin He held on within Liu Gan''s embrace, she released more heat energy.

    <span>The pouring rain and crashing waves struck the lighthouse, it was like a lonely ind towering above the seawater. Eventually the structure started to sway back and forth like the motion of the sea, as if it could copse at any moment.

    <span>The other team members stopped talking. Even the talkative Treadmill shut up. They were on the verge of passing out from extreme hypothermia, so it was hard for them to say anything.

    <span>The world was so quiet, it was as if Liu Gan and Yin He were the only ones remaining.

    <span><strong> ¡­</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t dare fall asleep. He kept watch on the situation with the sea level. He discovered that the seawater slowly receded by several meters. He quickly pulled away from Yin He then warmed up his extremities in order to climb down thedder on the inside of the lighthouse.

    <span>There were floors within the lighthouse, with a small room on every floor. The inside haddders that made it easy to travel up and down the lighthouse floors. After the water had receded from within the lighthouse, they descended from the top of the lighthouse, and entered the building through a window. Now they could temporarily avoid the wind and rain from within the lighthouse.

    <span>If no help came for these yers, they would surely perish.

    <span>With Yin He''s assistance, Liu Gan carried them one by one from outside into the indoor rooms of the lighthouse.

    <span>The choice of staying within the rooms of the lighthouse was a rather dangerous one to make. For instance, if there was another tsunami, or an earthquake. If the waves reached the lighthouse interior, then they would drown while being stuck indoors.

    <span>As of right now it was the only avable action, even if it wasn''t the best option. If they weren''t taken into the room, they might very well freeze to death. It was close to zero degrees celsius, and with torrential downpour many of them were already hypothermic.

    <span>Every one of the members were taken inside, including the bearded man and the young female. All of them wereid down on left over furnitures and objects within the lighthouse. Luckily there was arge wooden board to cover up the window that they broke to get in. It was suitable, at least temporarily, for blocking out the thunderstorm and turbulent wind.

    <span>"So cold! I''m going to die from the cold!" Treadmill mumbled as he was quickly losing consciousness. Seems like even with the body of a level 5 yer, he wasn''t able to fully withstand it. Nevertheless, being able to resist hypothermia for this long of a period was truly remarkable.

    <span>Liu Gan took off the rain drenched winter clothing from the bodies of the yers. After draining as much of the water as he could out of them, he helped the yers put their clothes back on. The young therapist was the first to wake up, since he could self-treat himself with his ability. With the remainder of his energy, he used it to treat the others. This way the hypothermia would slightly more bearable after being treated. There were still patches of freezing water that touched their skin, but it was better than not being treated at all.

    <span>"Sorry¡­ She is dead, I can''t force any more energy into her body." Said the young therapist to Liu Gan. The young therapist was referring to the young middle schooler. The young therapist was known as <span>Huang WeiTao<span>. Therapist Huang was part of the crew of ATV riders from earlier.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t say another word. He was about to throw the middle schooler over his shoulder and get ready to toss her out of the lighthouse.

    <span>"Elder Liu! Wait!" Zhang Hua shouted for Liu Gan to stop.

    <span>Liu Gan stopped in his tracks, and turned back to look at Zhang Hua.

    <span>"Allow me to try, maybe I could help her." Zhang Hua quickly rushed over to carry the middle schooler onto the floor, and began to touch her chest¡­ for CPR.

    <span>"It''s no use, if there were any use, I would''ve woken her already." Said Therapist Huang, as he shined his shlight in the lifeless pupils of the middle schooler.

    <span>"That''s still hard to say, maybe she still has a chance." Zhang Hua continued with his chestpressions.

    <span>After several long minutes, there were still no reaction from the middle school girl. Even though Zhang Hua, himself, had a feeble body, but that didn''t mean that he was going to give up on the girl.

    <span>"Why not allow me to try?" Yin He looked at Liu Gan.

    <span>"You can try." Liu Gan nodded. Even though Liu Gan agreed, he still had his hand on the wooden board covering the gaping hole. Yin He proceeded closer to the middle schooler.

    <span>Yin He held onto the middle schooler''s palm and ejected heat. Yin He''s body doesn''t require respiration, but she has the capability of storing oxygen internally. After heating up the oxygen stored within, she breathed into the middle schooler''s mouth. She did 5 minutes of continuous chestpression and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but the middle schooler didn''t have any response.

    <span>"It''s no use. Just stop." Treadmill said from the side.

    <span>"Yeah¡­ It won''t help. Just give up¡­" Some of the others chimed in.

    <span>Yin He looked over to Liu Gan. Even Liu Gan shook his head, so finally Yin He stopped her rescue efforts.

    <span>"I will try again!" said Zhang Hua. He wasn''t about to give up! He continued the chestpressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

    <span>When Zhang Hua was 19 years old, he met a younger girl who was a middle schooler. The middle schooler that he met was simr in size to this unconscious middle schooler. They were also simr in regards to personality. Both of them were silent and always had a school bag on.

    <span>The middle schooler had family issues, and it resulted in her attempting to jump off a bridge, but she was stopped by Zhang Hua who was passing by. After being enlightened by Zhang Hua, the two of them grew closer. Zhang Hua inevitably fell in love with the middle schooler, and the middle schooler was reliant on Zhang Hua. She would confide in him about her family''s situation all the time.

    <span>Eventually the middle schooler''s parents got a divorce, and right before the middle schooler attempted another suicidal jump, she sent a short text message to Zhang Hua. She thanked him for the short, sweet time that they had spent together.

    <span>Zhang Hua was with friends at a local pub, and he didn''t notice the notification on his phone. By the time he finally saw the text message and rushed over to the bridge, the middle schooler had already been fetched out of the river. There were still warmthing from her body, but the rescuers had already given up. Not Zhang Hua. He was still performing CPR on her for the next 30 minutes. He continued until her body began to stiffen up, and the police forcibly dragged him away.

    <span>This event created a traumatic stress to Zhang Hua. He still mes himself for her death. He wasn''t able to forgive himself. His reason was that if he wasn''t drinking with his friends, then he might have saw the text message sooner, and made it in time to stop the tragedy.

    <span>So as he faces this unconscious middle schooler, Zhang Hua recalled the same scene that happened 10 years ago. He didn''t want such a tragedy to repeat itself, and this time he has the chance to redeem himself. He wants to save the girl even if it meant sacrificing his body.

    <span>It seems that everything was a full cycle, it was going to be inevitable.

 Chapter 246

    <span>Chapter 246 - Boulder

    <span>TL: Lonering

    <span>TLC: xDh20

    Therapist Huang Just got upgraded to Doctor Huang<hr>

    <span>"Doctor<span> Huang<span>, help us have another look." Liu Gan told Huang WeiTao.

    <span>"Okay." Huang WeiTao could only walk over and try again. After trying again, he found that her body was able to slowly ept the [Treatment] ability. She could absorb the treatment into the body although it was quite ufortable for her.

    <span>Huang WeiTao maintained a steady supply of [Treatment] flowing into the middle schooler''s body. Apanied with Zhang Hua''s chestpressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, after two minutes of continuous rescue, suddenly she started to cough, and a weak heartbeat was restored.

    <span>When people heard the coughing, they all apuded. It could have been due to the fact that she clung onto dear life, or because of Zhang Hua''s effort, that she was able to live. Zhang Hua was so emotional, a 30 year old man, yet he started crying with tears flowing from his cheeks. It was the perfect setting, since in theplete darkness, no one would be able to tell.

    <span>Even though the middle schooler was able to feebly breathe, she hadn''t woken up yet. Zhang Hua ced her in his embrace. He used his own body''s warmth to heat up her nearly frozen body.

    <span>"Good thing this is within a game, if it were real life instead, she would have been a goner." Huang WeiTao embarrassingly spoke to Zhang Hua. In the real world, Huang WeiTao was a medical school graduate, in his first year of internship. Even though he graduated from medical school, he incorrectly judged a savable person as dead.

    <span>"Thank you, Doctor Huang. If it weren''t for you, she surely wouldn''t have been able to be saved." Zhang Hua said. Zhang Hua wasn''t going to put the me on Huang WeiTao, in fact, he was very grateful for his assistance.

    <span>Huang WeiTao was able to save the middle schooler, which let Zhang Hua feel like he was able to save his own soul.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>It was a long and trying night. If it weren''t for Huang WeiTao''s [Treatment] ability, many of the team members wouldn''t have been able to survive the night.

    <span>By morning, the thunderstorm was over, and the sea water had subsided. The team members all climbed out of the lighthouse onto solid ground. They looked around, breathing in the air as if they were reborn from the cmity.

    <span>Due to Zhang Hua''s determination and other people''s modest rejection, Huang WeiTao was able to purposely provide more care to the middle schooler. By morning, the middle schooler was awake, but her body was still weak. Zhang Hua had shielded her from the elements the whole night with his body.

    <span>The bearded man was very resilient, he was able to survive with minimal assistance from Huang WeiTao. Perhaps, it was his own sense of conviction that he must find his daughter, or it could''ve been that he was in the Special Forces when he was younger. Even though the bearded man had retired from the Special Forces, he didn''t stop training his body.

    <span>Liu Gan''s ATV was missing. It could have drifted away with the waves. In addition, the two prison transport vehicles were also missing from their original locations, they were relocated a kilometer away. The shape of the vehicles were very deformed, and the tires were gone. Everything within the vehicle was gone, such as the food and fuel.

    <span>However, there was some good news...

    <span>Originally the path had been blocked by arge boulder, but it was pushed aside by the waves. Even though it was possible to navigate between the rocks by climbing, it would be very dangerous since it was still slippery.

    <span>The rest of the team members gathered crabs and urchins dispersed throughout the area to share with the group to eat. It was barely enough to replenish the energy that had been lost.

    <span>Because of the current situation, Liu Gan had lost his desire to continue searching for the Kingler zombie. He just wanted to escape from the entrapment, as he weaved through the rocks and climbed higher toward what looked like a promising way out.

    <span>By noon, everyone was exhausted. They arrived at another blockage caused by a gigantic boulder nearly eight meters high. They were unable to find a passage that navigates around it, nor were they able to directly climb over it.

    <span>Breakfast was light, and lunch was not an option; as they were exhausted and starving, these people were at their limit. Even if Liu Gan climbed up the boulder and tossed over a rope, they wouldn''t be able to gather enough strength to climb up.

    <span>As the team sat at the bottom of the boulder looking up hopelessly. A rumbling noise echoed in the distance. It raised several internal rms that something was going on. Zhang ShengLi had led a dozen members from the prisonpound, and appeared at the top of the giant boulder. He looked down and saw Liu Gan''s group. Zhang ShengLi unraveled a temporary ropedder, and he carried food supplies down to feed the starving team members.

    <span>"Elder Liu, since you didn''t returnst night and there was a severe thunderstormst night, I guessed that you were stalled somewhere. We couldn''te until the water subsided." Zhang ShengLi exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"You came at the perfect time. If you came too early, the water wouldn''t have had a chance to subside. If you hadn''t came, we would''ve starved to death. Did water reach the prisonpound? Did the warehouse in the prison get flooded?" Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"It''s bearable. The water got around knee high at the prisonpound. The warehouse in the prison has a high entranceway, in addition, we also used sandbags as extrayer of protection. There weren''t any problems with that. If there was any more water leaking in, we should''ve started moving the supplies upstairs." Zhang ShengLi exining his n.

    <span>"How about the reserve warehouse underground?" Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Wemunicated with the squad on that side and they said that the geographic location is elevated, and that the waterproofing for the warehouse was done very well. All the supplies are secure and dry. Don''t worry, Elder Liu." said Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"That''s reassuring." Liu Gan nodded. Now that their group was sorge, it was natural to worry about having food to feed everyone. Especially when food is so scarce. It was protocol for leading arge group to be able to feed them.

    <span>"Elder Liu did you ever find the advanced zombie?" Zhang ShengLi asked.

    <span>"No, just forget it. Let''s not mention it at all. This whole trip was such bad luck." Liu Gan shook his head in disbelief.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi heard that from Liu Gan and didn''t bother to mention anything else. Naturally, he could just go back to thepound and ask Zhang Hua about what exactly happened.

    <span>Zhang Hua seemed to have picked up a treasure. In his arms, he kept holding onto a young loli. When Zhang ShengLi brought down the food, he saw Zhang Hua feeding the girl. Ah¡­ Something strange must have taken ce. It was for the best to ask for the details at ater time.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>Everyone happily ate and rested for another half an hour. The starving members'' stamina and strength seemed to have recovered after resting. They were able to subsequently climb over the giant boulder. In the path ahead, there were no more boulders, just scattered rubble.

    <span>Byte afternoon, around two or three, everyone was able to return to the parked car left behind by Zhang ShengLi. There were a few members guarding the two prison transport vehicles. Once everything and everyone was loaded up, they set off to the prisonpound.

    <span>Liu Gan''s group boarded the vehicle and they all passed out. Some sat down and fell asleep, while othersid down on the seat. It was understandable why they were exhausted, so the team members dly gave up their space for them to stretch out. That prior night was treacherous, and they almost lost their lives. They slept all the way back to thepound, and into thefort of their own beds.

 Chapter 247

    <span>Chapter 247 - Father

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Feel free to listen as you read! <hr>

    <span>In times of danger and uncertainty, the ATV riders didn''t attempt anything foolish like trying to escape or rebel, nor did they go against Liu Gan''s wishes. Liu Gan rewarded each of them with the position of squad leader. Each squad leader had three regr team member assigned under them. Now, they could truly begin to enjoy the benefits of being in the group.

    <span>Even though this trip didn''t reap any benefits in terms of kills or loot, but under the threat of dying, they had all bonded and harmonized under Liu Gan''s lead. This was an unexpected bonus.

    <span>"Thank you for saving me, but I will still have to go search for my daughter. Although I am unable to repay everyone''s kindness right now, but I promise I will do so in the future!" The bearded man spoke to everyone when he had the chance.

    <span>The bearded man''s name was Lin, Lin Feng. After returning to the prisonpound, he was able to thoroughly ask around for his daughter and her whereabouts, but sadly, no one had ever heard or seen her before.<hr>

    <span>[TL: Lin Feng matches the name of a famous chinese actor: Raymond Lam.]<hr>

    <span>The most critical factor¡­ was what Lin ShiYa had worn the day of her disappearance; the other factors like whether her hair was long or short and her upation wouldn''t be of any help. Even if others wanted to help him, it wasn''t exactly easy.

    <span>

    The reason behind this was over a year ago, Lin Feng had a problem with Lin ShiYa''s upation. The two of them argued over it, and ultimately it resulted in Lin ShiYa moving out. She rented an apartment by herself after finding a stable job. The father and daughter pair met again at a rtive''s banquet. However, both parties were too worried about face, so they refuse to initiate a talk with one another.

    <span>Then a week earlier, Lin Feng received news from the police that the apartment owner had filed a missing person report twenty days ago for his daughter. He needed to clear out her things from the apartment. The police''s primary lead was that she went into [The Trembling World]. The time of her disappearance, and game software loaded on theputer were the evidence needed for their conclusion.

    <span>Upon arriving at his daughter''s apartmentplex, and going to the police station to confirm theputer hard drive, Lin Feng felt regret and anger. He felt anger at the fact that he didn''t take the initiative to talk to her. Now that she was forever gone, he wouldn''t have a chance ever again.

    <span>Now that he knew she was trapped in [The Trembling World], Lin Feng found it hard to eat and sleep. Life was nd, and everything seemed meaningless. Then he had an idea. He started by gathering all sorts of information. Then, he searched the ck market for a hard drive containing [The Trembling World]. After several days of preparation, he went to his daughter''s apartmentplex, and proceeded to log into [The Trembling World] on theptop using the hard drive.

    <span>After entering, he was transported to the coastal camp, where he met Liu Gan and his crew.

    <span>"Mr. Lin, how are you going to prepare to look for your daughter?" Treadmill asked, while catching up to Lin Feng at the entrance of the prison gate. Treadmill''s mouth was unfiltered, but he was easy to get along with. So these past two days, Treadmill got to know Lin Feng really well.

    <span>"I don''t know, but as long she is alive in this world I will search. Maybe she is in another survivor camp. I will search through every one until I find her." Lin Feng dered.

    <span>"You haven''t been in this world long. You should stay until you reach level 5 before heading out to search. Otherwise, a level 1 newb like you will not survive for long." Treadmill made the suggestion to Lin Feng. Even though it was the truth, Treadmill had to speak his mind because it was the harsh reality of life in this world.

    <span>"I can wait, but she can''t wait. What happens if in just these few days she encounters trouble? If I can find her a day earlier, then she will be safer one day sooner." Lin Feng replied to Treadmill.

    <span>"How about this, since y<span>ou don''t have any pictures of your daughter<span>. Perhaps we can take a picture of you, so every team member will have a reference. This way, if they evere across a female yer that is around 20 years old, they can hold your picture and ask them. It is better than just having you wander around aimlessly." Treadmill thought of another suggestion.

    <span>In the reserve depot, there were proid cameras. One of Treadmill''s favorite hobbies was to be a photographer. It was a good thing that Treadmill took one from storage, so he had one at hand.

    <span>"That would be wonderful, thank you." Lin Feng graciously epted the offer.

    <span>"Try toe back every ten or twenty days, otherwise even if we found your daughter, we would be unable to let you know!" Treadmill said after taking the picture.

    <span>"Yes, that is quite logical. I will do my best to return every twenty days." Lin Feng nodded. Lin Feng gave Treadmill a manly pat on the shoulder. In his mind, Lin Feng acknowledges Treadmill''s kind heart, but foul mouth.

    <span>"So Mr. Lin, when you head out make sure you protect yourself! Kill off the isted zombies first. If you don''t havebat experience, don''t try to take on two zombies. You can easily kill themter after leveling up. Start off slow." Treadmill giving a few more pointers to Lin Feng.

    <span>"Oh yeah, my daughter¡­ She¡­ She¡­" Lin Feng stuttering with an embarrassing expression.

    <span>"What?" Treadmill looked at Lin Feng curiously.

    <span>"I heard that, her upation was that type¡­" Lin Feng hesitating.

    <span>"Prostitute?" Treadmill''s eyes widened.

    <span>"NO! Her job is something¡­ called broadcast jockey. It is the type that you wear very little clothes in front of theputer screen. She would do entertaining things, and ask for others to donate to her¡­ What an embarrassment to the family! It was for this reason that we argued. We haven''t seen each other for over a year." Lin Feng sighed. Lin Feng felt that Treadmill was a nice person, so such truth shouldn''t be kept a secret between friends.

    <span>"Broadcast jockey? Broadcast jockey isn''t that big of a deal. Mr. Lin you are too sensitive. In today''s society, being a broadcast jockey is a verymon upation. Many younger males and females both do this. It is not embarrassing at all." Treadmill corrected Lin Feng.

    <span>"Ah¡­ Perhaps, it was me being too sensitive. I shouldn''t have scolded her so harshly. I''m not a good father¡­" Lin Feng shook his head. With this final exchange of words, Lin Feng departed from the prisonpound.

    <span>"What a sad person." Treadmill said to himself as he watched Lin Feng''s back fade in the distance. Inevitably, Treadmill thought of his own father.

    <span>After a short while of daydreaming, Treadmill shook away his feelings. Then, he walked over to every team member and handed a picture of Lin Feng with instructions to help him find his daughter.

    <span>Of course, he didn''t forget to give Liu Gan a picture.

    <span>The first day of his return Liu Gan had rested at the prisonpound for the whole day. In the several days that followed, he went with Yin He as a pair to the coastal camp to find the Kingler zombie. He didn''t need to bring other team member along anymore. Perhaps it is due to his bad luck, but he didn''t have a chance to meet Kingler.

    <span>That very night of Lin Feng''s departure, Liu Gan and Yin He returned. Themunications room team let him know that there was good news awaiting him. A very surprising good news.<hr>

    [TL: Well anyone? ;)]

 Chapter 248

    <span>Chapter 248 - Main Mountain Peak

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Feel Free to listen to Sponsor''s song while reading!<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, we received a signal. It is broadcasting right now. Brother Zhang said you will be happy after hearing this message." Martial Thunder spoke once he saw Liu Gan run in.

    <span>"Oh really? Let me hear it." Liu Gan excitedly followed Martial Thunder into themunications room. Zhang ShengLi was already waiting in themunications room for them.

    <span>Martial Thunder yed the looped broadcast. It was a male yer''s voice in a loop saying the same message. Seems like it was a preset message that was designated to be released to public every so often.

    <span>Originally, Liu Gan didn''t have high expectation for this to bring any shocking information. He was just there to casually listen to it. That all changed the moment he heard the content of the broadcast.

    <span>"We are on Green Station Mountain and have discovered San Xing Corporation''s secretboratory. Right now, I am calling for all level 5 yers to gather up and join our expedition group. We are going to attempt to investigate theboratory."

    <span>"Once you receive this message, please head to the northern region of NinJing City, the Green Station Mountain''s Main Mountain Peak. At the very top of this peak, there is a hilltop vige and we will meet there. Tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., we will have someone waiting for your arrival. If you aren''t level 5, please don''te and waste our time."

    <span>"If you receive this broadcast, we are looking for 8 to 10 yers at level 5 for the expedition group to head out to theboratory."

    <span>Since this was just a broadcast loop, it wasn''t possible to have a conversation with the person on the other end. Most importantly, Liu Gan didn''t want to expose his own location. If Liu Gan wants to find out more, he would have to go tomorrow at noon to the agreed upon location.

    <span>"Elder Liu, could this be a trap?" Zhang ShengLi cautiously asked. Since Liu Gan had been searching through the mountain regions of Green Station Mountain for many days without reward, this broadcast came at a coincidental moment.

    <span>No one knew what Liu Gan was searching for at Green Station Mountain, so they couldn''t have nned some sort of trap. The broadcast transmission was captured identally since the prisonpound was on a lond area without much interference from surrounding mountains plus the absence of buildings.

    <span>"If it is a trap, I am not worried. I am just curious as to how they found the secretboratory. Then, it begs the question, why would they release such message to the public?" Liu Gan shook his head. As of right now, Liu Gan and Yin He''s physical capabilities could handle more than a dozen level 5 yers, so any amount of yers under that value is trivial. If the opposition wanted to ambush them, they would die for it.

    <span>"Yeah I agree! To have released this kind of message, they must have a strong yer amongst their ranks. NinJing city must have a lot of strong yers hidden away in the shadows. They really aren''t afraid of others killing them and keeping all the loot after the job is done." Zhang ShengLi shook his head.

    <span>"It probably isn''t something so straightforward. My instincts tell me that theboratory is too hard for them to handle, so they have to rely on others. Another thing is that they probably need level 5 yers as cannon fodder." Liu Gan revealing his thoughts on the situation.

    <span>"Elder Liu, if you have decided to go. This time be sure to bring me along. I''ve been so bored here in the prisonpound. Aren''t they missing around three people? That could be you, Vice Captain He, and me!" Said Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"If you leave too, what will happen at the prison base?" Liu Gan hesitating. Liu Gan doesn''t really want to bring Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"There''s DeCheng! He is very capable of handling the base camp. With him here, nothing will happen to the prisonpound." Zhang ShengLi promised.

    <span>"This trip could be dangerous, and we might be ambushed. Do you still wish toe along?" Liu Gan asked once more.

    <span>"You have trained me for a long time, this is the moment to put that training to use. If there''s a trap, I will be the first to rush towards it. We need to do our duty as foot soldiers." Zhang ShengLi answered truthfully. Zhang ShengLi owed too many debts to Liu Gan, and if this was the time to repay it, then it will be his time to shine. If there was danger, then there was a chance to prove himself.

    <span>"Okay, thene along. Let DeCheng know of the situation. When we arrive at the main peak, you will act like the team leader, me and little He will be yourckeys." Liu Gan dishing out orders.

    <span>"Thank you Elder Liu!" Zhang ShengLi happily chanted.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>After arranging tasks for the yers at camp, the next morning the three of them left bright and early at 7 a.m. after eating breakfast. They drove in a SUV that the other yers had found. The route from prisonpound to the reserve warehouse waspletely cleared of debris. These days Liu Gan had been to Green Station Mountain so many times that he was quite familiar with the surrounding mountains, and the location of the main mountain.

    <span>Technically, Yin He and Liu Gan had been to the hilltop vige before.

    <span>Prior to the catastrophe, Green Station Mountain was quite developed. The hilltop vige more or less resembled a city. The surface area was vast. The roads leading into and out of the location was paved. There were many vis which had magnificent decorations. It was the type of ce that only the wealthiest families could afford.

    <span>The route up the main mountain had slight blockage, but it was not a problem for Liu Gan and Yin He working together. In fact, they were more efficient than a bunch of team members moving the obstacles. By 9 a.m., they had arrived at the foot of the main mountain.

    <span>The group of people that released the broadcast had chosen this main mountain as the meeting ce from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Aside from level 5 and above yers, there was no way to reach the peak before the allotted time was up. It was definitely impossible for level 4 yers to make it within the time frame.

    <span>The main mountain peak was an iconic location. Prior to the catastrophe, NinJing Residents would take the opportunity to visit the mountain for vacations. The routes up the mountain were all paved with stone steps. There were some stone steps that copsed due to shifts in the mountainndscape. To an expert mountain climber like Liu Gan with mountain climbing gear equipped, it wasn''t a huge problem. As long as they paid close attention to where they stepped, then it would be safe.

    <span>Eventually, around 10:30 a.m. the three of them managed to reach the peak of the main mountain, and they wandered into the vige. This vige was a tourist trap, as it was built on the gimmick of previous century''s architectural style.

    <span>Liu Gan, Yin He and Zhang ShengLi walked to the vige center. They looked around the za and saw two shapes that resembled humans. The two of them were chatting until they saw Liu Gan''s group. One in front of another, the pair walked to greet the three.

    <span>Even though the broadcast was only sent out the day before, five minutes before Liu Gan''s group arrived, another yer had arrived. This yer was asking questions and details from the broadcaster''s group.<hr>

    <span>[TL: If I wasn''t clear enough, there are three parties here. One from Broadcaster''s group. One solo yer. Then there''s Liu Gan''s group. ]

 Chapter 249

    <span>Chapter 249 - Lackey

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"If I may ask, are the three of you yers level 5 or above?" The shorter and skinnier person walked up to ask the three oing strangers.

    <span>"If we weren''t, we would''ve wasted our time walking here." Zhang ShengLi replied unapologetically. As of right now, Zhang ShengLi was fully immersed in his role of being the boss. Liu Gan and Yin He were hisckeys.

    <span>"Can you show me your alloy watch to confirm?" The short, skinny yer asked.

    <span>"No need to look, we can just have a spar to see if I am level 5 or not." Zhang ShengLi refused, as he didn''t want to reveal the secret trump card - his ability.

    <span>"This is rtable, we are doing this to confirm the safety of everyone. If you aren''t willing to show us your alloy watch, then I''m afraid that we can''t have you participate in this oing operation." The short, skinny yer replied. Even though it sounded polite, but every word had a deeper meaning.

    <span>"That''s easy to resolve, if we don''t participate then you two, and the ten others nearby can all die today!" Zhang ShengLi aggressively dered. This tactic was something he picked up from following Liu Gan for so long.

    <span>The short, skinny yer finally quietened down. He was at a loss on what to do, so he looked around for help in defusing the situation.

    <span>"Ohhh this brother here is quite fierce! But I like it! Hahahaha¡­" The leader of the broadcasting group spoke up. The leader was very muscr, and he walked out from a building in the vige za, following behind him were the other yers.

    <span>The moment the buff leader walked out, the short, skinny yer walked over to greet him respectfully. Seems like the guy in charge finally appeared.

    <span>"We heard your request for help on the broadcast. We rushed over early this morning to help, but now this youngster wants to kick us off the mountain already. Do you think it is funny to y around with our time?" Zhang ShengLi angrily red at the opposition.

    <span>"He really doesn''t know how to articte his thoughts well. Please forgive him! I will apologize in his stead! To confirm the level of everyone is for the safety of the whole team. If the level isn''t high, then not only will they slow the team down, but they will also drag the team to doom. So please understand that point." The buff leader exined. Even though the leader looked like a musclehead, it seemed his brain was just as developed. There was no better way to have worded it, and nothing could be nitpicked from his statement.

    <span>The buff leader was called Wang Chao. The several nights prior, Wang Chao was with his two otherpanions hunting for variant zombies veryte into the night on the mountain top. As they were setting up camp to shelter from the elements, from afar they saw a flying device that produced engine sounds and bright shing lights. Reacting to it, Wang Chao and hispanions hid amongst the bushes. What they saw blew their minds. They saw a futuristic model of a heavy-duty aircraft, it mostly resembled a helicopter. Hanging below the futuristic helicopter was a gigantic monster, and it was flying in between mountain valleys.

    <span>Thending site was not too far away from Wang Chao''s temporary camp site. So Wang Chao and hispanion quietly snuck over. They were able to confirm that the helicopter was near a certain mountain vi. Within the vi, a strange sound was produced.

    <span>The helicopter stayed at the location for half an hour before it left the mountain vi. Right before liftoff there was a momentary pause, and Wang Chao was able to see the passengers onboard. They were all wearing some kind of metal alloy body armor, the type worn by Warriors of the Future. Each warrior was equipped with a heavy caliber weapon. Wang Chao and hispanions froze in ce, until the helicopter disappeared from view. Then, they walked backward into their temporary shed to rest.

    <span>The heavy-duty aircraft had no special logos or markings. However, Wang Chao spected that the Warriors of the Future were San Xing Corporation workers. In that case, then thending site was the entrance to San Xing Corporation''s secretboratory.

    <span>The very morning after, Wang Chao decide to venture into the mountain vi. At the location where the helicopternded, nearby was the entrance to the secretboratory. Wang Chao had set his heart on heading inside to investigate, but he came up upon a strange person guarding the door. There was a clear difference in their strength which that led to the death of his two level 4panions, while he barely managed to escape.

    <span>Judging by the difference in strength between him and the door guard, Wang Chao guessed that at least eight to ten level 5 yers would be needed to kill it. Wang Chao had five level 5 yers from his side of the base, so they need a few more mercenaries before trying to break in.

    <span>These mercenaries definitely wouldn''t be as knowledgeable on the surroundings than himself. At the first sign of real danger, the mercenaries would be cannon fodder. Of course the cannon fodder had to put up a fight for it to be appropriate, otherwise Wang Chao was risking his own and his teammates lives.

    <span>"This is very simple then. You are all level 5 right? Just pick a person on your side and choose one of us to spar with! If you win, we won''t say anything and leave immediately. If you lose, then shut up and start the operation already!" Zhang ShengLi was losing patience.

    <span>Thest time Zhang ShengLi did a spar, it was against DuSheng. Even though they were both the same level, technically Zhang ShengLi lost. It was only because of Liu Gan''s assistance that DuSheng had died. From that day forward, Zhang ShengLi had been constantly looking for people to spar with within the prisonpound. Although Zhang ShengLi hadn''t gained any levels, but he developed his fighting technique instead. The best way to show off what he had learned, was to fight with his fists. Especially now that the stage was set with Liu Gan watching; it was his time to shine!

    <span>"Bull! Who do you think you are? How dare you act so brazen! Do you not know how to measure the difference between heaven and earth! Brother Chao, let me spar with him!" A youngster standing behind Wang Chao spoke up.

    <span>"Yeah! He talks a big game, but does he have the skill to back it up? What level does he think he is? Does he really think he is unbeatable?" Several of the others were starting to feel angry.

    <span>These strangers were stepping on their territory, so there was no need to take such insults to the face. Especially when Big Brother Wang was already so polite to the three strangers. With so many insults, there was no further need of speaking politely.

    <span>"Well, we were looking to find people to group with. We can''t be using our fists to do the talking every time we meet someone new! It destroys the group harmony!" Wang Chao faked his good intentions, while inciting the group some more.

    <span>"The way I see it, you are all afraid. A bunch of cowards! If that''s the case, then quit jabbering and lead us to the secretboratory!" Zhang ShengLi continued being arrogant. If he still couldn''t fight after that, he wouldn''t be able to swallow his pride.

    <span>"Who are you calling a coward! If you want to spar! I''ll spar with you! I''m not afraid of you!" The youngster from earlier shouted, as he rushed forward.

    <span>This youngster''s name was Lu Fan. His awoken ability was [Beserk]. By using this ability, it could temporarily raise his own attributes for half a level. This skill gave him an advantage that would overwhelm simr level yers. As one of Wang Chao''s follower, he was one of the strongest level 5 yers, while Wang Chao was level 6.

    <span>"Let''s cut the crap! Bring it on!" Zhang ShengLi dered while stretching out his muscles with his fire axe in hand.

    <span>"Just remember, if you lose, then you will get on your knees and apologize for your rudeness! Then you will let us investigate your alloy watches!" Lu Fan calling out his terms to Zhang ShengLi.

 Chapter 250

    <span>Chapter 250 - One Punch

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Think Saitama

    <hr>

    <span>"No problem, but what happens if you lose?" Zhang ShengLi smirked with a sly look at Lu Fan.

    <span>"WHAT! Me losing? Do you think you are that capable?" Lu Fan replied as if he was insulted.

    <span>"If you lose, then you can get on your knees and apologize! Then cut the bull, and take us to theboratory!" Zhang ShengLi negotiating.

    <span>"No problem! You did say that we can choose from any amongst you three right? I am not going to choose you! I''m going to choose her!" Lu Fan pointing at Yin He.

    <span>Wang Chao''s otherckeys startedughing loudly. They knew of Lu Fan''s rude and petnt personality. For him to suddenly change his mind wasmon with him. Of course, Zhang ShengLi had suggested it first. Lu Fan was the type to do whatever it takes, no matter how dirty his methods are. To win the bet, he would take every advantage he can.

    <span>From Lu Fan''s point of view, Zhang ShengLi was muscrly built, and very arrogant. It was highly possible that Zhang ShengLi was level 6 like their leader, Wang Chao. If he chose Zhang ShengLi, then he might as well be knocking on death''s door. So in a moment of quick thinking, he chose the weakest link, which gave Lu Fan a huge ego boost.

    <span>"Such a big man, you would rather challenge a small girl; have you no shame?" Zhang ShengLi was very disappointed that he wasn''t chosen. Zhang ShengLi was so excited that he would be able to fight, but the sudden turn of events made him feel rejected.

    <span>"As a leader, your word counts right? You said it yourself that I can choose from amongst you three. Why are you regretting now? ARE YOU ASHAMED? It''s my turn to ask if you are a man¡­ of your words?" Lu Fan countered back with insults.

    <span>"Okay, if you feelfortable facing off with a female then go ahead and spar with her!" Zhang ShengLi waspletely disappointed. It was his own fault for saying that they could choose from amongst the three yers, so it was toote to regret it now.

    <span>Lu Fan was full of confidence. He had mistaken Zhang ShengLi''s unwillingness to let Yin He participate as a sign that she was weaker. Lu Fan felt as if he had won the battle already. With Yin He''s beautiful face and the body of a goddess, Lu Fan wanted to take the chance to cop-a-feel. In the midst of their battle, he would harass her at her most vulnerable spots just to spite Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Me?" Yin He asked Liu Gan, when all eyes were on her.

    <span>Wang Chao''s peopleughed loudly once again when they heard Yin He''s response. They thought Yin He was afraid of participating with such response, it was practically predetermined they would win. They were thinking how stupid the leader was to agree on fighting solo with any opponent. The moment the female loses, the leader would have to get on his knees to apologize. There was no way to redeem face ever again if that happened.

    <span>"Control your strength, don''t kill them. At the most just beat him down." Liu Gan whispered the instructions. Liu Gan didn''te here for the purpose of creating trouble and killing people. He came here with his eyes set on the secretboratory. It was best if all other matters were avoided if he wanted to seriously find the exact location.

    <span>"Okay." Yin He replied, and walked forward to meet Lu Fan.

    <span>Naturally the bystanders backed up, so there would be more space avable for the battle ground.

    <span>"B1tcha$$ Fan, do you really have the nerve to take the first shot against a female?" Said one of Wang Chao''s followers. Even though it was going to be an easy win, some of the followers felt ashamed that Lu Fan was going to bully the female.

    <span>Aside from the cheat that Lu Fan had as an ability, the physical attributes of a male would overwhelm a female. This was preset by god. So for Lu Fan to publically dere a fight against a female, this Lu Fan must be the worst.

    <span>"Beautiful girl, how about I let you attack first." Lu Fan smiled, with hand motion for her toe.

    <span>"I attack first? Okay." Yin He rushed up with a fist at Lu Fan. If her [Sleeve de] was out, Lu Fan would''ve been beheaded by now, but as per Liu Gan''s order she only used a punch.

    <span>Lu Fan panicked when he realized how quickly Yin He had disappeared from his sight in a sh. As Lu Fan prepared himself to dodge the attack, he didn''t expect Yin He to change her direction the moment he shifted his body.

    <span>Not only did the angle of attack change, but the power didn''t weaken!

    <span>''Boom!'' The sound of Lu Fan''s chest getting struck rung out. Lu Fan''s heart skipped a beat, and his body was sent flying backward. Lu Fannded several meters away. Since Lu Fan''s heart skipped a beat, theck of blood flow made it impossible for Lu Fan to muster up the strength to get up.

    <span>Yin He nced at Lu Fan on the floor. Feeling that she had aplished her mission, she walked back to Liu Gan''s side.

    <span>Wang Chao and hisckeys were all still cracking up inughter right up to the point where Lu Fan was sent flying backwards. Now, they were shocked and speechless...

    <span>They were prepared to watch b1tch Lu Fan take his time harassing the beautifuldy, but he got beat down so fast that there was no chance. Never did they think that the female would defeat Lu Fan in one punch. The punch that would resolve all their conflicts was over in a few seconds.

    <span>Lu Fan didn''t even have enough time to react and activate his ability.

    <span>Since Lu Fan was the strongest amongst the level 5 yers, they had never expected him to lose. At least not so embarrassingly, by a female, and by one punch!

    <span>Now the embarrassed group of people from Wang Chao''s side were all avoiding eye contact with Zhang ShengLi. They were alternating looking between the fallen Lu Fan and Yin He.

    <span>"That is our strength. Do you still need to check us?" Zhang ShengLi asked arrogantly as he walked in front of Wang Chao to ask the question.

    <span>"You didn''t have to, it was just b1tchy Fan doing unnecessary things. As you can see, we call him b1tchy because that''s how he is. He doesn''t use his head. I apologize to everyone if we have offended you!" Wang Chao lowered his pride as he apologized to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>If Zhang ShengLi''s femaleckey is this strong, then the leader must be better by several times? What a big mess this had be. Originally, they were only looking for cannon fodder, but now it seemed as if they had invited some strong yers! If they were to head into theboratory now, Zhang ShengLi''s team might take all the good stuff.

    <span>It was easier to invite them than to send these three strong yers away. The only option was to lead them to theboratory. The other option would be to reject them, and risk an unwinnable fight breaking out.

    <span>Lu Fan finally pushed himself off the floor. Immediately, he held the region where the punchnded, and then he looked at Yin He. Quietly, Lu Fan scurried over to Wang Chao''s side. Exceedingly embarrassed, Lu Fan no longer had any face to look at Zhang ShengLi.

 Chapter 251

    <span>Chapter 251 - Self Introduction

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Enjoy! I hated these next two chapters because of the names and such.<hr>

    <span>No one knew how tofort Lu Fan, especially when he had chosen to challenge a female and ended up losing from a single punch. What a disappointment. The loss of face was just too much. Just standing next to him made them look bad by association.

    <span>"As a man, shouldn''t our wager count?" Zhang ShengLi didn''t have any intention of letting Lu Fan go.

    <span>Wang Chao nced at Lu Fan, but didn''t say anything else. In all honesty, they were at fault, so because they lost the wager they needed to keep their word. If they don''t keep their word, then what would others think of their reputation.

    <span>Lu Fan''s face was cherry red as he wondered if he should just get on his knees and apologize. When Lu Fan finally did, he assumed a simple apologetic pose and quickly returned to hide behind his teammates.

    <span>"Let''s just stop this bull! Everyone introduce your name, level and abilities, and any specialty you may have. That way it will help us cooperate better. I will start; my name is Wang Chao. In the real world, I was aputer engineer, so I specialize in handling data."

    <span>"If we find a door in theboratory that is electronically locked, or anyputer that you can''t ess, then I can handle that problem for you¡­" Wang Chao expressing his sincerity by self-introducing first. Whether it was true or not was still a myth, but at least he started the trend.

    <span>"I am currently level 6. Right after hitting level 5, I learned an ability. The name of my ability is [Decode]. Every once in awhile I can activate my ability to forcibly decode a password. My ability makes me the perfect person for breaking into locked doorways in theboratory." Wang Chao added. Next up was another youngster from Wang Chao''s side.

    <span>"I am Qiao Feng, my name means gust of wind. I''m a bio researcher in the real world¡­ Hey! Don''t look at me like that! Okay fine, I''ll admit it, I''m not really a bio researcher... I''m just aboratory research technician¡­" Qiao Feng admitted. He wanted to lie, but was caught immediately as all others startedughing. It seems like these people have known each other for a while now, as they were rather familiar with each other. They''ve reached the point of being toxic to one another.

    <span>"When I hit level 5, the ability I awoke was called [Tame]. I can tame almost any animal, including zombies. However, my ability has a chance of failing. Yesterday, I spent a whole day training a female zombie. Haha¡­ I trained her to take off her clothes. The only sad part is that after taking it off, there''s not much beauty left. Do you want me to have her perform for you¡­ So what do you say? Want to look? If you do I can have here over. Although, I must warn you, her skin¡­" Qiao Feng continued.

    <span>"Okay let''s get back on track." Wang Chao cut off Qiao Feng. If Qiao Feng were to continue, things would''ve gotten Rated R.

    <span>"Okay, so my tamed zombie can''t go beyond 50 meters from me. I can train her to walk around and investigate. Oh, we also share vision, so that helps a lot. Right now, this ability isn''t that great, but I suspect that after a few more levels I might be able topletely control one whole zombie, or even a Variant Zombie. So my ability has endless potential. Can you imagine that just one day¡­"

    <span>"Okay! Next!" Wang Chao interrupted Qiao Feng once again. Qiao Feng would''ve continued for at least another half an hour without breathing in between. Confucius had a saying: When three people were together, there would always be one spewing useless information, and there was so much useless information in this world.

    <span>Based on Lu Fan''s childish behavior, and Qiao Feng''s self introduction, Liu Gan could tell these people weren''t the scheming type. In addition, their leader Wang Chao treated his subordinates fairly well. It was an equal rights rtionship.

    <span>Even so, they were cautious, calcting people. The original n was to call for extra mercenaries to act as cannon fodder, but the unfavorable turn of events changed it all. In order to lower the mercenaries'' guards, they were self revealing their so-called abilities, while keeping their true abilities a secret.

    <span>This wasn''t a concern to Liu Gan because even in the face of a stronger forces, these kinds of calcting schemes were useless.

    <span>"I am called Huang Yi, and my awakened ability is [Mark]. I can set a specific mark on my target''s body. No matter where the target goes, as long as it is still within a kilometer of me, I will be able to feel its presence. I can maintain the ability for five minutes.

    <span>"This is a very good tracking ability, and it is most useful for hunting in forests. Especially for assassinations, as I will know where they are." Said Huang Yi.

    <span>"I am Lu Fan. My ability is¡­ [Beserk]. I can temporarily increase my body''s strength and agility, although I haven''t gotten use to it." Lu Fan gave a simplistic instruction and then walked back to his original spot. His ego had suffered a huge blow, and he was at an emotional low.

    <span>"I am Liu Zhi Gang. The moment I hit level 5 I got the ability [ze]. In my palm I can make a small fireball." Thest team member from Wang Chao''s side spoke up. This was the first person they met, and thest to introduce himself, the short skinny yer.

    <span>"Damn! Something so cool? Like a magician you can summon fireballs to attack the zombies?" Zhang ShengLi splurted out. He was very interested in this ability.

    <span>"Sorry, I can only produce a small ball of fire on my hand. I can''t use it to attack anything. Until now, I''ve only been able to use it to ignite wood to create fire for cooking. I still have yet to find out the use of this ability¡­" Liu Zhi Gang sighed as he replied to Zhang ShengLi, while all others wereughing hysterically.

    <span>"Your turn, what do we call you? What''s your ability?" Wang Chao turned to the person closest to Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>Before Liu Gan and his group came up to the vige za, another middle age male yer was talking to Liu Zhi Gang. So to Liu Gan''s group, it seemed as if the pair were together.

    <span>It was also possible that they are acting, but Liu Gan didn''t care as long as someone led him to theboratory. All other matters could be resolvedter.<hr>

    <span>Teams: [Skill]

    <span>

    Liu Gan: [Mist Armor] [Psychic Shock]

    <span>Yin He: [Sleeve de]

    <span>Zhang ShengLi: [Whirlwind sh]

    <span>Unknown person

    <span>Wang Chao: [Decode]

    <span>Lu Fan: [Beserk]

    <span>Qiao Feng: [Tame]

    <span>Huang Yi: [Mark]

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang: [ze]

 Chapter 252

    <span>Chapter 252 - Vi District

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisAJourney

    <span>Teams: [Skill]

    <span>

    Liu Gan: [Mist Armor] [Psychic Shock]

    <span>Yin He: [Sleeve de]

    <span>Zhang ShengLi: [Whirlwind sh]

    <span>Yan Su: [Treatment Aura]

    <span>Wang Chao: [Decode]

    <span>Lu Fan: [Beserk]

    <span>Qiao Feng: [Tame]

    <span>Huang Yi: [Mark]

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang: [ze]<hr>

    <span>"My name is Yan, as in Yan Su. I was a hospital director. Right now I''m level 6. My awoken ability is [Treatment Aura], any injured within a few meters of me will be healed."

    <span>"Level 6! [Treatment Aura]!" Wang Chao''s crew were all shocked as they looked at Yan Su. Even Liu Gan couldn''t believe his ears, and snuck a few nces at Yan Su.

    <span>"Brother are you alone? Do you have any interest in joining a camp?" Wang Chao suddenly got really friendly towards Yan Su.

    <span>"I joined a camp before, but the members there all perished, so as of right now I don''t have any ns of joining any new camps. However, if we work well together, I don''t have anyints with joining your group. Even if we don''t work well together, we can at least finish this mission together." Yan Su replied.

    <span>"That is absolutely okay! We will warmly wee you if you choose us!" Wang Chao quickly answered back. In Wang Chao''s camp, there wasn''t a doctor, so there was an urgency in his voice to recruit one as fast as possible.

    <span>To reach that goal, Wang Chao would have to give more benefits to this doctor yer, and maybe there would be a chance to annex him over to their side after this trip to theboratory.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was disturbed by the new information, but under Liu Gan''s re, he didn''t say or do anything. Liu Gan felt it strange that a doctor could be level 6 as a solo yer. Something wasn''t right. Not only that, but he was able to receive the broadcast, and still made it here in time to meet up. Liu Gan deeply felt that there was a high chance of an ambush waiting nearby, with an even higher chance of it being Yan Su''s teammates. If there were an ambush waiting, then they would wait until all the goods were taken out from theboratory first, and then strike.

    <span>Even though it was just a guess, Liu Gan wasn''t worried at all. At the most, he would just keep it in the back of his mind.

    <span>Wang Chao might have also noticed this point? Maybe they were acting shocked and friendly in order to lower Yan Su''s guard. If Wang Chao wasn''t acting, then they must be an isted bunch. They haven''t had the chance to encounter the more sinister people yet.

    <span>"So what about you big brothers and sisters? What ability do you have?" Wang Chao looked at Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"I am level 6, my name is Zhang. Zhang ShengLi. My awoken ability is [Rising Dragon Fist]! Ever yed Street Fighter? Shoryuken! Invincible Rising Dragon Fist! Whoeveres, dies!" Zhang ShengLi started spewing nonsense. As long as he made this lie believable, it didn''t matter how big the concocted tale was. There''s always Elder Liu to help make it believable. So if he didn''t make his ability sound impressive, it would be a waste.

    <span>"What an aggressive name to match an aggressive ability! Brother Zhang you must be an elite." Wang Chao quickly praised.

    <span>"That''s too polite of you!" said Zhang ShengLi proudly.

    <span>"What about your other fellow?" Wang Chao turned his attention to look at Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t say anything, he merely walked over to a nearby thick tree. He squatted down in horse stance, and then struck the tree. The tree made a horrific snapping sound from within, and as the ce where Liu Gan struck was the location of the strongest force, it directly snapped off and fell onto the floor of the vige za.

    <span>Everyone was shocked with their jaws to the ground.

    <span>Everyone had already witnessed the female standing by Liu Gan''s side. They knew how hard her fists were, they were enough to send Lu Fan flying and left him unable to get up. As for whose fists were stronger, it would seem that the female''s fists were.

    <span>Even if their body was level 5, it wouldn''t be more durable than a tree. If they were struck by Liu Gan''s fist, there would only be pain and misery.

    <span>Of the three from Zhang ShengLi''s group, the strongest should probably be the leader. Since the twockeys were so strong, the leader''s [Rising Dragon Fist] must be a bug! It must be as powerful as it was said to be! Wang Chao and his crew were really starting to regret sending out the broadcast. Instead of getting cannon fodder, they attracted several elites!

    <span>"My surname is Liu. Ability is [Steel Fist]." Liu Gan spoke simply to Wang Chao''s crew.

    <span>By creating a lie about [Steel Fist], Liu Gan was able to demonstrate his so-called ability, and show a disy of good faith. This way he could keep his other two abilities - [Mist Armor] and [Psychic Shock] a secret. Upon entering the secretboratory, those would be his two secret cards. He wouldn''t easily disy them until a very crucial moment urred.

    <span>"Brother Liu, your [Steel Fist] is very powerful! You three are definitely elites!" Wang Chao was embarrassed, and couldn''t find other words to spit out.

    <span>"Her surname is He; she doesn''t like to talk much. Her ability is¡­ [Rush]. Everybody witnessed it, so I don''t think there needs to be much of an exnation right?" Liu Gan spoke up for Yin He.

    <span>"No need, no need. With your three powerful disys, we have witnessed all we need. Now that the self-introduction is over, let''s cut the bull and head out to theboratory!" Wang Chao forcibly smiled.

    <span>It was already toote for regrets, as now Wang Chao had to lead the three elites to theboratory. There was a growing fear that Wang Chao and his group might be the cannon fodder themselves, or their part of the goods might get taken away. The only option left was to suck it up and once inside theboratory, enact any changes ording to the situation at hand. They would also have to see if there would be a chance to save the good stuff for themselves.

    <span>The location of the secretboratory was nearby. There was still a distance of walking required, so the group would have to descend from the peak and follow Wang Chao for around 10 minutes to arrive.

    <span>This whole ce was for mountain vis, as everything was builtvishly. This region must have belonged to the very wealthy elites. Liu Gan and Yin He had actuallye here before. They even walked around the whole viplex once, but couldn''t find anything extraordinary so they left.

    <span>The secret location of theboratory was so well hidden that without proper guidance, it was impossible to find. There was simply no way of knowing what to look for or where.

    <span>When everyone arrived at the border of the vi district which was surrounded by an iron fence, each person had to climb over the iron fence. After walking around several vis, taking multiple turns and killing regr zombies along the way for 10 minutes, they stopped facing the most inner vi of the district.

    <span>Behind this vi, was the end of the district. There was a several hundred meter high precipice blocking off the view. This entire vi was built in consideration of the precipice.

    <span>"After we enter please don''t make too much noise." Wang Chao gave everyone a warning. He then proceeded to push open the vi doorway to enter, and everyone else piled into the vi after him.

    <span>Liu Gan looked around at the surroundings. This vi had a huge first floor lobby, and on the floor of the lobby were bodies of dead zombies. Seems like it was true that Wang Chao hade here before. Other than the bodies, there was nothing else scary or disturbing. Soon, they would find out that they were too quick to their judgement.

 Chapter 253

    <span>Chapter 253 - ck Spots

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>As it turned out, they were able to find out the reasoning behind Wang Chao''s warning very quickly.

    <span>The moment Wang Chao opened up a certain door within the first floor lobby, arge picture frame appeared inside. Behind the picture frame was arge window hidden away.

    <span>Wang Chao opened the window and then jumped in.

    <span>All of the others followed behind. Those who hadn''t been here before, just stood in ce and stared.

    <span>In front of them was arge t ground. The t ground extended at least a dozen or more meters until it reached a fence . The fence stood equally as tall, around ten meters high. This was the location of the secretboratory. Without a doubt, it was located here within these tall surrounding fences.

    <span>The most crucial factor was¡­ before entering the building, they had all seen that behind the vi was what looked like a precipice. Why did it suddenly change? Some people turned to look at the way they hade from, and it was also a high wall. This wasn''t what they were expecting at all.

    <span>"You find it all strange right? I was exactly like you when I came here the first time. If I had to guess, thisboratory is charged full of energy. It must use some sort of high tech instation to beam out a illusion to the surroundings. To any outsiders, it would appear as a precipice. It would also feel like a cliff, so they wouldn''t be able to find the existence of theboratory." Wang Chao exined to the unexpecting people.

    <span>"How did you even find this location?" Zhang ShengLi asked.

    <span>"That night I was on the mountain hunting, and I saw the helicopter aircraftnd near here. The next morning when we came here again we only found a cliff. I could immediately tell that something was off. I traced the helicopter''s trajectory all the way to this vi. After I arrived I searched the vi meticulously to find the entryway to the secret passage." Wang Chao spoke after thinking for a bit.

    <span>"The helicopter is out right now, and theboratory still operational. Aren''t we in a dangerous position in theirboratory?" Zhang ShengLi feigned ignorance.

    <span>"Yes, theboratory is still operational, but it requires a lot of energy to maintain the illusion." Wang Chao answered as much as he could.

    <span>Wang Chao''s answer matched the info that Mr. Sheng had given Yin He earlier. It is possible that the entire facility runs on electricity, so it is able to storerge amount of electricity.

    <span>Wang Chao walked them up to the high fence that had arge gate. The lock on the gate was disarmed and removed from their earlier entry attempt, so they only needed to push it open.

    <span>"So here is the situation inside that I needed to exin to you so we won''t die unnecessarily." Wang Chao didn''t immediately enter therge gate.

    <span>"Okay continue." Zhang ShengLi nodded.

    <span>"Once we enter, we will encounter a field of flowers. It is arge spacious field in this za. There are around a dozen zombies wandering around. They look like normal zombies, but please don''t underestimate them. Each one of these zombies has the strength of a variant zombie, and maybe a little more." Wang Chao exined to everyone.

    <span>"A dozen variant zombies?" Zhang ShengLi was shocked at the exciting news. If he was able to kill three Variant Zombies, he would rise to level 6, so this was a good opportunity for him.

    <span>"The dozen variant zombies aren''t the scariest part. If we''re patient and spend a little more time to go deeper into the house, there is a mysterious guard. If I had to guess, he has power equivalent to that of a level 7 yer. We will need to work together to handle him." Wang Chao got straight to the point.

    <span>Thest time Wang Chao was here he had lost a member from trying to kill the ck-spotted zombie, thinking it was just a regr zombie. Then he wasted nearly half an hour trying to kill that one ck-spotted zombie. To avoid killing more of these variant zombies, they waited patiently for two hours to let the zombies move out of the way and then charge directly into the building.

    <span>They encountered the mysterious guard once they reached the inside of the building. This was where Wang Chao lost his remaining team member and made his escape.

    <span>"Let us handle the variant zombies inside. There''s no need to spend two hours waiting. It is better to rush in and kill them all." Zhang ShengLi replied.

    <span>"That works too. We can split into two groups. You three in a group, and us remaining members in the other group. We can work a lot faster to kill the variant zombies this way." Wang Chao immediately made a suggestion. With six team members and the healer on his side, he had the clear advantage.

    <span>Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi epted the suggestion with no objections. Now that the location to the secretboratory had been revealed, Liu Gan coulde back at any time without Wang Chao and his crew.

    <span>Since Wang Chao didn''t hear any objections he discussed the battle strategy with his team, and then pushed open the doorway. Both groups walked in to go for the kill.

    <span>The inside was as Wang Chao had described. There was arge field of flowers in the za, and about a dozen ck-spotted variant zombies wandering around. The za was overgrown with grass and shrubs; it seemed like it''s been awhile since someone had taken care of the nts.

    <span>Right above the overgrowth of nts, the shadow of the zombie''s body was visible. Judging the physical looks of it from afar, there didn''t seem to be much of a difference between this variant and the regr zombies. However, Liu Gan had improved eyesight, so he could see the minute differences.

    <span>The muscles on these zombie bodies were more defined, as if they had gone through intense physical training. The most distinctive characteristic was the ck spots on their skin. Another aspect was that their eyes were not the typical blood-red color, butpletely ck instead. There was no white left of the sclera.

    <span>Without a doubt this was a different type of variant zombie. As for their strength, it would only be clear after fighting them. With so many yers with Wang Chao, they should be able to challenge it. Hopefully, it wouldn''t be that strong. At best, it should just be a little stronger than a level 5 yer.

    <span>Seeing that Wang Chao headed into battle with his group, Liu Gan didn''t hesitate to charge in another direction towards a wandering zombie.

    <span>Wang Chao and his six other team members spread into a formation with Wang Chao responsible for luring the zombie''s attention. All of the other team members surrounded it in order to attack it while its attention was diverted.

 Chapter 254

    <span>Chapter 254 - Distance

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Teaser up for next chapter! Computer broke down and router died on me :( so I am behind!<hr>

    <span>This type of variant zombie had a higher risk factor associated with it, and it was definitely more dangerous than the [Giant Colossal Variant Zombie]. Since the muscles were morepact and defined for the [ck-Spotted Variant Zombie], it was harder to hack away its defense. It also had the speed to match its tough defense. The ws on both hands were enhanced, which made it a tough obstacle.

    <span>The moment the shield-wielding yer that was responsible for drawing in aggro of the zombie lost aggro, then the zombie would strike any surrounding teammates at a moment''s notice. With its enhanced ws, even a simple scratch would shred a yer''s muscles easily. Even if the yer didn''t die from the attack, they would still be infected.

    <span>At that kind of moment, having a doctor was very crucial. When the virus was only on the surface level of the skin, then using [Treatment] would be able to cure the infected areas. Once, the virus moved deeper into the muscles and blood stream, then even the strongest [Treatment] wouldn''t be able to save them.

    <span>Yan Su''s [Treatment] had been enhanced, but that was all he is good for. Yan Su<span><em></em><span>wasn''t an offensive type yer. <span>Wang Chao''s fighting tempo could match up with the variant zombie. As for the remaining yers, they were the most vulnerable. The moment the variant zombie changed target to any yer other than Wang Chao, they would be in a life-threatening situation, and the team''s fighting tempo would be slowed greatly.

    <span>Wang Chao and his team of six yers finally managed to kill a variant zombie after 10 minutes of intense fighting. To express their gratitude, and as an attempt to curry favor from Yan Su, the first kill was given to him. The following kills would be rotated for his own men.

    <span>"How is Zhang ShengLi''s team doing?" After their first variant zombie was killed Wang Chao asked his team. They were thinking that with only three yers, they wouldn''t be able to match their speed in killing the variant zombie.

    <span>"They''ve already killed three variant zombies." Yan Su replied. Since Yan Su was a healer, his duty wasn''t on the front line, but in the back line. Even though he was level 6, he was a support character, so he would asionally monitor their surroundings and use his ability to heal yers.

    <span>"They''ve already killed three?" Wang Chao was shocked. They spent ten minutes to handle only one variant zombie. Who would''ve thought that three yers would be able to handle three variants in the same amount of time!

    <span>The difference in power <span>must be <span>huge!

    <span>"They are too strong. You have called for some troublesome helpers." Yan Su whispered from behind Wang Chao.

    <span>"That is¡­ indeed quite troublesome! Doctor Su, we might need to work together as six to fight against those three. But if things turn out like that¡­ Doctor Su, you will¡­" Wang Chao was trying to test for Yan Su''s allegiance.

    <span>"I will definitely support you guys." Yan Su replied to Wang Chao quickly, but there seemed to be something unsettling behind his words.

    <span>"Ah¡­ I don''t really want to scheme against them. It is just that they are this strong. I''m afraid that if we don''t band together, we won''t be able to get anything from theboratory. We discovered theboratory, but they might just take everything for themselves." Wang Chao exined.

    <span>"That is understandable." Yan Su smiled. Behind every smile was a hidden dagger. Yan Su felt that the group he was with was quite stupid. After discovering the secretboratory, they broadcasted knowledge of it out in order to hire help. They could''ve just as easily leveled up first, and thene back at ater time to investigate theboratory.

    <span>Wang Chao had let his power get to his head. Wang Chao felt like he was at the top of the world ever since he reached level 6 and gained level 5 subordinates. It was only when he had seen Liu Gan''s group that he finally understood that he was just the frog at the bottom of the well. It was toote to regret it now.

    <span>"Let''s hurry, they are about to kill their fourth one!" Another team member awoke Wang Chao from his daydream.

    <span>"Let''s hurry! Otherwise they might kill all the variant zombies!" Wang Chao hurriedly spoke as he charged into their second variant zombie.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan and his group were able to handle this type of variant zombie very easily. The main reason was that Yin He and Liu Gan both had reaction speeds that surpassed the variant zombie.

    <span>As Liu Gan took on the variant zombie''s aggro, his [Steel Fist] surpassed its enhanced ws. Yin He''s [Sleeve de] was even stronger, as she chopped the variant into pieces. Soon the zombie could only lie helplessly on the floor.

    <span>With Zhang ShengLi''s current level, speed and strength, he couldn''t catch up and resist this kind of variant zombie. Liu Gan didn''t let Zhang ShengLi participate in any of the battles. For thest hits, they were given to Zhang ShengLi so that he could power level to level 6. After reaching level 6, Zhang ShengLi could finally keep pace with the variant zombie. The three of them were able to increase their killing tempo even higher.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi wanted to be of use to Liu Gan for this trip, but it turned out that he owed Liu Gan even more. The chance to increase from level 5 to level 6! While he was excited, he was also very grateful of Liu Gan. Without Liu Gan, he wouldn''t have been able to survive up to this point, so without Liu Gan there wouldn''t be Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Elder Liu, your generosity will never be forgotten. I don''t think I can ever repay you in this lifetime. My life belongs to you, Elder Liu. I will remain loyal until the day I die!" Zhang ShengLi said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Oh that''s too courteous of you. We are brothers!" Liu Gan warmly replied.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I seem to have gained another ability. It is called [Mist Armor]..." Zhang ShengLi replied to Liu Gan, after looking at his alloy watch.

    <span>"Wait what? [Mist Armor]?" Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi. Then, Liu Gan remembered his fight with the wind-breaker yer. It seemed like every yer that reached level 6 would awaken a primitive [Mist Armor] as defense!

    <span>It was hard to tell why his own [Mist Armor] was so thick inparison. Liu Gan remembered that when his axe hacked into the wind-breaker''s yer [Mist Armor] it shattered in one attack. The next attack, he was able to kill the wind-breaker yer.

    <span>"Ah, but I still don''t know what to make of it. Perhaps, it is a minimal defense for everyone?" Zhang ShengLi replied with uncertainty.

    <span>"It does have to do with defense. We can find outter when we return to base." Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>After Zhang ShengLi reached level 6, the remaining five variant zombies kills were taken by Liu Gan. Along with the previous three variant zombies that he had killed on patrol with Yin He, he has killed 8 variant zombies ever since reaching level 6. From his estimation, it seemed like he only needs to kill 7 to 10 more variant zombies to reach level 7.

 Chapter 255

    <span>Chapter 255 - Charge

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Posting teasers is too much trouble :/<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan was thinking of how many more variant zombies it would take to level to 7. An urate number was impossible to pinpoint, so Liu Gan could onlye up with a rough approximation.

    <span>Wang Chao and his group were able to kill their 3rd variant zombie, meanwhile Liu Gan and his group had already finished several minutes earlier. The garden waspletely cleared of variant zombies!

    <span>Liu Gan''s and his group had killed 8 variant zombies, on the other hand the group of 6 were only able to kill 3 variants. What a big disparity in ability!

    <span>If it wasn''t for Liu Gan''s group drawing the attention of most of the variant zombies, then the other group might have perished early on. There were moments that Liu Gan and his group had to fight 3 variant zombies at the same time. The variant zombies were drawn to the sounds from Liu Gan''s group, otherwise, they would have probably ventured off in Wang Chao''s direction.

    <span>"Thest time I was here, the mysterious guard appeared as I was walking up to the building in front of us. His strength waspletely overwhelming. I don''t know if he will still be there today. If he appears, then we must work together to kill him. Once we kill him, I can open up the steel door that it was guarding." Wang Chao exined his strategy to Liu Gan.

    <span>It was first time for most peopleing here, so naturally there wouldn''t be any objections. Everyone followed Wang Chao towards the building. When they came within a dozen meters of the doorway, a monstrous looking man appeared from the back of the building,pletely blocking off their path.

    <span>The face was monstrous looking because hisplexion was dyed in bluish ck color. It was very different from a normal person. The color was also different from grayishplexion of the normal zombies. From afar the mysterious guard looked as if his face was smeared with paint. The most disturbing aspect was that his eyes contained sparks of awareness. Regr zombies have all lost the capability of being aware, and they only have murderous looking blood-red eyes. This mysterious guard had the look of a normal person, and the movements of a normal person.

    <span>"Who are you?" Zhang ShengLi asked the mysterious guard.

    <span>"I am the gatekeeper here. My responsibility is to protect my master''s fortune. Who allowed you to be here? Leave at once!" the mysterious guard replied. His voice was at a very high pitch that ufortably pierced the ears.

    <span>"Leave? Who do you think you are? This is the post-apocalyptic world. Whoever has the strongest fist is the master! I suggest you move aside, otherwise don''t me me for being rude!" Zhang ShengLi said aggressively to the mysterious guard.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi had told Wang Chao that he was level 6 when they had first met, which was just big talk. Now that he was really level 6, his [Whirlwind sh] would be a lot stronger than before. Including the primitive [Mist Armor] as defense, Zhang ShengLi could be called a strong yer now. Zhang ShengLi could speak with much more confidence now.

    <span>"HaHaHaHa¡­"

    <span>The mysterious guard revealed a sinisterugh. "You think you can just bully me around? I would like to see you try! Ignorant fools!"

    <span>"Die!"

    <span>Wang Chao took the opportunity that Zhang ShengLi had created by talking to the mysterious guard. Wang Chao suddenly activated his [Charge] ability. He charged forward in a sh of bright light with his thick machete in hand.

    <span>Wang Chao had proven that he was lying about his ability previously. That farce about having a skill called [Decode] was just him hiding behind a facade. In reality, all of theputer terms he spouted weremon knowledge that he had learned online. However, his real skill was actually [Charge]!

    <span>Whenever Wang Chao activated his skill within such a close distance, he had never missed his target. Thest time he came here, Wang Chao had lost his teammates and was surrounded by three of the variant zombies. At thest moment, he could only use his skill to escape from impending death.

    <span>This time because there were so many strong yers by his side, he wouldn''t have to worry about any variant zombiesing up from behind him. A favorable opportunity presented itself, as the mysterious guard happened to be within the radius of skill. After Wang Chao made a split-second decision, he decided to reveal his real skill to everyone.

    <span>No one would''ve thought that Wang Chao could move so fast with his ability. The speed helped add to the force of the downward sh. Even if it was a thick b of rock, it would be cleaved in half!

    <span>Wang Chao had never used his ability before now, so the mysterious guard would be caught off. If by chance, he killed the guard, then he could showcase how powerful he was to the teams. Later on, it could be used as a bargaining chip for more loot because of how much he contributed.

    <span>As for lying about the ability¡­ Wang Chao could tell that Zhang ShengLi and his group weren''t honest. Well, everyone was openly lying, so no one side could me the other since both sides were never honest to begin with.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi felt a cold sweat from the back of his neck. He could tell that this attack would''ve killed him if he were still level 5. It would''ve been impossible to dodge that attack! He would''ve been severed into two parts.

    <span>Liu Gan''s eyes also lit up. It was a very useful ability. It was so aggressive that it was perfect for a warrior! Especially when two opposing groups were lined up against each other. The ability could ovee the opposition and break through.

    <span>Liu Gan had [Mist Armor] and [Psychic Shock], but he was still missing an ability that was cool and reliable like [Charge]. Liu Gan couldn''t help but feel regret that he didn''t get such a skill.

    <span>The most unanticipated oue was produced from Wang Chao''s sneak attack. As Wang Chao flew closer, the mysterious guard reacted by easily retreating a few steps back. Like a spring, the mysterious guard pounced forwards with dagger in hand to counterattack. The dagger was aimed at Wang Chao''s chest!

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was within the vicinity and used his fire axe to block the attack. Wang Chao was livid. Not only did his attack not work, but he would have died if it wasn''t for Zhang ShengLi''s help. Now they had an idea of how powerful the mysterious guard was.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi saw how strong this guard was, so he reached out with his axe to save Wang Chao. After that attack, the mysterious guard also took a few steps back.

    <span>As the three were exchanging blows in mere seconds, aside from the participants, Liu Gan, Yin He and Yan Su knew what had happened. All of the others that were level 5 were oblivious to what happened.

    <span>"Whoever dares to take on the challenge, step forward! If you don''t dare toe forward, then just leave! Run far away! Don''t remain here and embarrass yourself!" The mysterious guard taunted everyone around him.

 Chapter 256

    <span>Chapter 256 - Strolling Aimlessly

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Who are you? Why are you here?" Wang Chao angrily asked. Now that he had felt the difference in strength, he could only vent his anger through words. Wang Chao had the advantage and even did a sneak attack, but now that it failed, it was doubtful that normal attacks would work.

    <span>"I am the gatekeeper here, so of course I would be keeping guard here." The mysterious guard answered him.

    <span>"I''m asking you, who do you work for? San Xing Corporation? Aliens? What are you hiding? What secrets are behind those walls?" Wang Chao tried to probe some more information.

    <span>"What I do, I do for my master. As for the secrets inside, it has nothing to do with you! Leave! Don''t waste your life here!" replied the mysterious guard.

    <span>"No need to continue speaking with him! Let us fight!" Zhang ShengLi shouted.

    <span>"Good! Let us charge brothers! Follow me and kill him!" Wang Chao also shouted.

    <span>"Kill!" Yan Su and others shouted as they rushed forward to fight.

    <span>As Zhang ShengLi''s ckey'', Liu Gan and Yin He also went forward to participate in the fight. They were swinging around their fire axes and swords at the mysterious guard.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t use his full strength, nor did he allow Yin He to go all-out. They were remaining on the sidelines to monitor the mysterious guard''s movements. Liu Gan was able to tell that the strength of the mysterious guard was rtively simr to a yer in between level 6 and 7 when Wang Chao had attempted his sneak attack earlier. In terms ofbat strength, it should be around the same level as Liu Gan.

    <span>There was only one thing that was ''off'' about this mysterious guard. It had a consciousness. Liu Gan could use [Psychic Shock] on it. If he timed his attacks from his alloy fists and legs with [Psychic Shock] and [Mist Armor], then he should be able to defeat the mysterious guard without any problem.

    <span>If that didn''t work as nned, then he could have Yin He assist him. The both of them would definitely be able to kill it. However, Liu Gan wasn''t in a rush. As long as they assisted all the other yers with attacking the mysterious guard, then their real abilities would be revealed.

    <span>After they piged the secretboratory, Wang Chao''s crew would be his real opponent. This yed a huge factor in being on guard, because the opposition could turn hostile any moment.

    <span>Liu Gan wasn''t going to act now, since this temporary alliance still had some use. On the other hand, he definitely wasn''t going to let the mysterious guard injure the yers. Every time there was a life-threatening situation for the other yers, Liu Gan would step up and block the attack from the mysterious guard.

    <span>These level 5 and level 6 yers had all experienced significant growth in their senses, so they had the capability to sense impending danger. When Liu Gan was able to save them in the nick of time, they knew how lucky they were. They could only look at Liu Gan gratefully.

    <span>The fight with the mysterious guard continued for ten minutes without either side gaining an advantage. The mysterious guard gradually became infuriated because not even one intruder had been killed yet. Liu Gan was able to counter the mysterious guard''s attacks no matter hard he tried. The mysterious guard decided to change tactics, and focused solely on Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan hadn''t had a chance to y chess against people for a while. This was a good chance to test out different moves for fighting. It was a good thing that this mysterious guard could put up a good offensive challenge. Liu Gan could practice his defensive style. As the two fought with increasing speed, they started taking the fight to different locations - the nearby building window, walls, and even the rooftop.

    <span>The other yers couldn''t keep up with the increasing tempo, so they started to fall behind. They took the opportunity to head back to the field of flowers and watch the rooftop from afar.

    <span>There was an unspoken truth. Of the nine people gathered there, Liu Gan was the strongest. He was stronger by at least a level. Even when the group cooperated to fight against the mysterious guard, they were still struggling. They watched as Liu Gan effortlessly danced around the rooftop while fighting by himself.

    <span>"Yourckey is really incredible! His skills are formidable. What an elite yer!" Wang Chao eximed, as he lost all his confidence in his power.

    <span>"All of the yers at our camp are elites like him. Why don''t you forfeit your camp and follow us. You and yourckeys will definitely grow stronger than you are now." Zhang ShengLi replied, throwing shade at Wang Chao.

    <span>"This¡­ well¡­ uh¡­ it is not my sole decision. You guys can watch the battle. I will take this opportunity to to go investigate the door lock." Wang Chao bumbled for a bit before sneaking away to the building''srge doorway.

    <span>Wang Chao''s camp was small, but as least he was in a leadership position. If he left to join another group then he would always be under someone else. Ackey, no doubt. On top of that, he didn''t know the personality of Zhang ShengLi''s group. If he ended up as a manualborer, it would be toote for regrets.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi casually mentioned it just to see if Wang Chao had that intention. Since he didn''t, it was pointless to continue speaking on that topic. Instead, they shifted their focus on the battle taking ce on the rooftop.

    <span>Liu Gan could easily keep pace with the mysterious guard, and made it look effortless. It was as if he was practicing set moves and defensive counters so he refrained from using his ability. Liu Gan was like a monkey, jumping back and forth while weaving left and right while dodging attacks.

    <span>It was uncertain when Yin He had left the ground to the rooftop, but she stood on the sideline waiting for Liu Gan''s order. Her duty was to step in whenever she felt like Liu Gan was in a precarious situation, or if she was ordered to do a task.

    <span>Frustrated from not being able to achieve any results, the mysterious guard realized he couldn''t treat Liu Gan normally. He took two steps back, and then released a high pitch screech. Liu Gan felt a sharp pain in his head, and had a temporary shock to his consciousness upon hearing the high-pitched screech.

    <span>Liu Gan countered by using [Psychic Shock] on the mysterious guard since he felt something was wrong. The moment the mysterious guard stopped screeching, the pain in Liu Gan''s head stopped as well. To follow up, Liu Gan rushed forward with his fire axe aimed at the mysterious guard''s head.

    <span>Still dazed from the [Psychic Shock] attack, the mysterious guard only managed to barely avoid a fatal blow<span> to the head. Liu Gan''s axe still wounded the mysterious guard severely on the shoulder.<hr>

    <span>[TL: LOL. HE DEADASS ASKED ALIENS?]

 Chapter 257

    <span>Chapter 257 - Dagger

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    These next 50 chapters are draining the soul out of me.<hr>

    <span>The mysterious guard''s muscle and bones were extremely dense, so even when the fire axended on the shoulder, it wasn''t a clean cut. Sounds of the vicle bone shattering could be heard, but Liu Gan was only able to inflict a wound a few centimeters deep. The arm of the mysterious guard was still intact!

    <span>Even though the mysterious guard''s arm managed to stay intact, it was still crippled. He waspletely dumbfounded as to what had just urred. The mysterious guard was shocked that the high-pitched screech didn''t affect Liu Gan. What followed afterwards urred so quickly that the mysterious guard couldn''t register it at all until it was toote. The severe injury he suffered had traumatized the mysterious guard.

    <span>Mainly the mysterious guard found that his strength was no match. The guard suddenly turned around, and tried to jump down from the building. Meanwhile, because Liu Gan''s fire axe was still stuck in its shoulder, in order to escape it would have to leave behind its arm.

    <span>The mysterious guard didn''t manage to get far. Yin He was already on the rooftop, and she was able to catch up and cut off the mysterious guard''s escape route. Yin He was able to injure the mysterious guard even more with her [Sleeve de]. Unable to defeat Yin He, the mysterious guard''s only other option was to go around her by taking a detour, but Yin He was faster.

    <span>Liu Gan followed closely behind, while Zhang ShengLi threw his fire axe at the mysterious guard and chased after it. With Yin He''s cooperation, after several more attacks the mysterious guard was finally subdued on the ground.

    <span>"What intel do you have on the goods that you can exchange for your life?" Liu Gan held his fire axe at the guard''s neck.

    <span>"Go die!" The mysterious guard spat out green phlegm.

    <span>Luckily, Liu Gan was able to avoid it in time.

    <span>"Die then!" Liu Gan severed the brainstem of the mysterious guard without hesitation.

    <span>A thick, dense ck orb flowed out from the dead guard and seeped into Liu Gan''s body. Liu Gan felt an immense burning sensation. His alloy limbs felt as if they were newly forged, with newfound durability and increased strength. His sight, hearing, and strength increased once more. There was no doubt that after killing this mysterious guard he was able to level up to 7!

    <span>Could it be that this was a unique zombie, and that gaining experience was possible? What an unexpected surprise. To Liu Gan, this trip was starting to be very fruitful. Even before reaching the mainboratory, Zhang ShengLi was able to reach level 6, while Liu Gan reached level 7!

    <span>There might be many more of these unique zombies. If there were, then that would be quite a plentiful bonus. He might even level up one more time! Other than Liu Gan and Yin He, it was quite difficult for other yers to kill these kinds of unique zombies. Liu Gan had to use his [Psychic Shock] ability, and he also had Yin He''s assistance. Without his ability, Liu Gan would''ve fallen prey to the mysterious guard''s attack after the high-pitched screech.

    <span>"Wait! Don''t kill¡­" Wang Chao rushed over from the building corner, but discovered that the mysterious guard had already been killed. Wang Chao sighed in disbelief.

    <span>"Oh? What''s wrong?" Liu Gan looked at Wang Chao.

    <span>"Forget it, I was going to interrogate him." Wang Chao shook his head. Wang Chao had ns to kill the mysterious guard himself after finding the secret behind its body. All of it was toote now that Liu Gan had killed him.

    <span>Liu Gan looked through the corpse''s belongings for a little while. He found something that resembled an ID card, as well as an unknown syringe injector, and a very sharp dagger.

    <span>Once Liu Gan''s hand touched the dagger, he felt a strange tingly sensation¡­ It was as if his alloy watch and the dagger had created a link. When he tried focusing his mind on the dagger with the alloy watch, at the next moment the dagger actually disappeared!

    <span>Listed on the alloy wrist watch aside from yer properties and abilities, there was a new slot titled equipment. The word that followed was the line: [Dagger]!

    <span>Once again with some focus and concentration, Liu Gan was able to freely stash the [Dagger] into the alloy wrist watch. He could also equip the [Dagger] into his hand. The time it took for him to equip it or stash it away was around three to four seconds.

    <span>"Treasure from killing the zombie?" The other yers asked when they saw the [Dagger] disappearing and reappearing from Liu Gan''s hand. Even if they were stupid, they could tell that something was off.

    <span>"It''s too bad that it is only a dagger, if it were an axe instead it would be more useful." Liu Gan shook his head as he stashed away the [Dagger] into his alloy watch.

    <span>To Liu Gan, if he carried another dagger it wouldn''t be too much extra weight. He had another dagger strapped to his leg already. If it were a bulky type of weapon such as an axe or sledge hammer that could be stashed away in the alloy watch, then it would be much more useful.

    <span>Every day that they left camp, they had to carry arge backpack with living necessities, and all other kinds of equipment. Every extra item that was carried, was an extra hindrance to movement. If they were able to carry less, it would be of major help.

    <span>The [Dagger] that was stashed in the alloy watch didn''t seem to be of much use simply from the looks of it, but it provided some very useful information¡­ Which was that after killing unique zombies, it was possible to stash equipments into the alloy watch.

    <span>Daggers in general are more of a backup weapon, but the [Dagger] found on the unique zombie meant thatter on even stronger weapons could be obtained from these unique zombies.

    <span>From the looks of [The Trembling World], this was only the tip of the iceberg. Liu Gan had a long journey ahead of him, and this was only the beginning!

    <span>"This mysterious guard is everyone''s collective kill, but you took away the treasure¡­ Shouldn''t youpensate us?" Liu Zhi Gang suddenly spoke out.

    <span>Ever since they had crawled through the window of the mountain vi, thest hit for one of the ck-Spot variant zombies was given to Doctor Su, another kill was given to Lu Fan, and thest kill to Qiao Feng. Liu Zhi Gang had been working all day with his life on the line, without anything to show for it. All the benefits seemed to have been taken away by Zhang ShengLi''s team. Liu Zhi Gang felt that it was unfair, since thisboratory had been discovered by them.

    <span>"Forget it! If it weren''t for Brother Liu''s rescue then we would''ve died several times. Just wait until we reach inside, then we will share the finds equally." Lu Fan tactfully blocked Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>It was just a dagger, so there was no need to anger the other team. In the fight against the guard, they couldn''t even help out much, and eventually they just sat on the sidelines watching the fight go on.

 Chapter 258

    <span>Chapter 258 - Ice Cube

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Ah,ter on we can just regte the splitting. Brother Liu just got an ID card, that should be the one to open the door right? The building has a steel door that requires an ID card before it can open." Wang Chao quickly exined.

    <span>"Yeah yeah! What''s the rush?" Other yers chimed in to help pacify the situation.

    <span>Aside from Liu Zhi Gang who had acted recklessly, all of the others knew the severe consequences that woulde about if they angered Liu Gan. In a post-apocalyptic world, whoever was right was judged by whoever''s fist was hardest. It was no longer judged by who was more correct or just. Liu Gan had just demonstrated that he was the strongest. At the very least he was above these yers, so no one dared test Liu Gan''s patience.

    <span>Liu Gan simply nced at them, but didn''t say anything. He simply walked over to the building''s doorway with ID card in hand. The building''s entrance was still on an electrical grid, so after swiping the card on the doorway, the red light turned green. The steel door automatically slid apart on both sides.

    <span>Therge lobby inside the building was searched, but nothing was discovered. Surprisingly there was no presence of any variant zombies, nor were there any unique zombies. There weren''t any high tech goods, unique equipments or even special medicines.

    <span>The first floor lobby only had a door in the back that led straight into a rear courtyard. As everyone passed through the lobby into the rear courtyard¡­ The rear courtyard was spectacr. It upied an abnormallyrge area. There were at least a dozen factories that were all equally tall at ten stories high. There were noisesing from a certain direction along with booming sounds. It sounded like the operation of machinery.

    <span>Within therge area of the courtyard, there was still not a single living thing. Not even a zombie could be found.

    <span>"Well¡­ Brother Zhang, with so much ground to cover, perhaps we should split up and search. Finder''s keepers. Whoever finds it, can keep it. How do you feel about that?" Wang Chao suggested to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>If Zhang ShengLi agreed to the proposition, this would be favorable to Wang Chao. In terms of strength, they were all weaker than the three of them. If they fought it out for the treasures, then the losing side would be Wang Chao. However, by splitting up the teams Wang Chao would have a higher chance of finding treasures because of the advantage he held by having more people to search.

    <span>"Okay. Let''s do it your way." Zhang ShengLi agreed, after discussing with Liu Gan.

    <span>To have a higher chance of finding treasure, Wang Chao split the six people into three groups. They would work together in pairs. Their mission was to search faster than Liu Gan''s group. Liu Gan''s group didn''t split up at all, and they remained grouped up together as they headed into the building areas.

    <span>The main concern for not splitting up was that this was a secretboratory, and nothing was known about the danger that lurked in the shadows. It was hard to tell where the hidden dangers and traps were. If the three of them stuck together, at least one of them could help in the nick of time.

    <span>Wang Chao''s team strength was already weak to begin with. After they split up, they were even weaker. Even if there were treasures, it was doubtful if they could take them. If they set off any troublesome issues, then it would buy enough time for Liu Gan''s group to escape.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi had risen a level. Liu Gan had also risen a level. Now they needed to help Yin He find the things she needed. This way, everyone would be able to gain something from this trip. This secretboratory was still running on electricity, so there should still be some instruments operating. To have hidden all of this away so deeply, it seemed like there was a certain danger associated with it. The yield at thisboratory could be higher than if he went to a differentboratory.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>After an hour had passed, Liu Gan''s group was only able to search through two buildings without any gains. However, in Wang Chao''s group, there was a pair that went to a very far corner of the courtyard. They had found something.

    <span>Wang Chao split the team into three pairs. Wang Chao was with Doctor Su. Since Wang Chao was with another level 6, and he had the ability to heal, Wang Chao was giving himself a safety. Lu Fan was grouped with Qiao Feng. Huang Yu was grouped with Liu Zhi Gang. The pair with the major discovery was the Huang Yi and Liu Zhi duo.

    <span>Since they had entered the secretboratory Wang Chao''s faction had only killed three variant zombies, with the experience given to Lu Fan, Wang Chao, and Qiao Feng. Huang Yi and Liu Zhi Gang were the only ones that had gained nothing, so when they found something that looked like a discovery, the two of them got excited. To prevent the others from taking the treasure, they didn''t report back to their leader, Wang Chao.

    <span>Huang Yi and Liu Zhi Gang found a security pass inside the drawer of a certain desk. On the security card it had the words ''Cold Room''. After they searched a map, they had found that their factory building was close to a thousand cubic meters, but in actuality it was missing a hundred cubic meters. After they intensely searched around the building, the two of them coincidentally found the secret entrance to the cold storage room.

    <span>The entrance to this cold storage room was behind a steel cab. The ground of the cab shifted as the steel cab was pushed with force. After they pushed aside the cab, they scanned the security card and the door opened. After the pair entered the doorway, the steel cab resealed the path behind them, back to its original location.

    <span>The temperature inside the Cold Storage Room was extremely cold. Looking at the thermostat on the wall by the doorway indicated that the temperature was thirty degrees Celsius below zero. Next to the doorway was a wardrobe where specialized jackets for protecting against heat loss were kept. As long as person didn''t remain too long within the Cold Room, there wouldn''t be too much of a problem with hypothermia.

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang and Huang Yi entered the Cold Room to look around. Normally, there would be racks for holding food or medicine in a freezer room, but not this one. There was only an ice cube. A veryrge ice cube that was six meters high, eight meters wide and twelve meters deep. The edges of the ice cube were very defined. Along the four walls of the Cold Room were round covers that were a meter wide, their function not yet known. At the corner was a metal cab.

    <span>"Hey, back when I was in the real world I saw an entertainment program for Room Escape. The person who designed it would stash treasure deep within the ice cube so I think¡­ that within this ice cube is a startling legendary item." Liu Zhi Gang stared at the ice cube.

    <span>"Yes! That has to be it! Why else would anyone hide arge chunk of ice so well?" Huang Yi agreed with the spection.

    <span>"Let''s find a fast way to melt this ice cube. Before the others cane to us, we need to find the treasure within." Liu Zhi Gang said to Huang Yi.

    <span>"That wouldn''t be too good¡­" Huang Yi hesitating.

    <span>"Not good? Do you want the other faction of three to take it from us? Or perhaps you want Boss Chao to take the treasure, and maybe he would feel generous and give it all away to an outsider, the doctor? This entire time we have we both contributed just as much as everyone else, but we still haven''t received anypensation!" Liu Zhi Gang angrily yelled.

    <span>"Okay okay¡­ Let''s go ording to your n. However, do you have any idea how to melt this ice cube? With this huge ice cube, I don''t think it would be possible to crack it open any time soon. If we make too much noise, the others mighte this way." Huang Yi poured in his thoughts.

 Chapter 259

    <span>Chapter 259 - Small Monitor

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"That side seems to have a metal cab, perhaps it contains tools to melt this ice cube." Liu Zhi Gang pointed at a certain corner and walked closer.

    <span>This still seems to follow the plotline from Escape the Room, especially with them looking for clues.

    <span>The metal cab was frozen on the surface with a thinyer of ice covering it, but it wasn''t locked. The good thing was that Liu Zhi Gang and Huang Yi both had thermal instion jackets and thick gloves, so they wouldn''t get frostbite on their fingers.

    <span>The metal cab was frozen shut, but with thebined strength of the two level 5 yers, they were able to pull open the door. Whether it was because Liu Zhi Gang was too excited, or the floor was slippery, but the moment they pulled open the metal cab door, he slipped and fell onto the floor.

    <span>"Hey, no need to be overly excited." Huang Yi looked inside the metal cab. Within the cab were shing indicator lights with many different colors. There were red, yellow, blue and green lights with a pushable button. There were also various sized disys. It seemed like this was the electronic control station.

    <span>Alongside the buttons and the monitors were symbols. It was in anguage that they couldn''t read. After a little discussion, they decided that trial and error would be best.

    <span>"Let''s press this green button first. Most of the time, green symbolizes safety. It should also apply here." Huang Yi suggested to Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>"Okay, let''s follow your strategy." Liu Zhi Gang pressed thergest green button all the way down.

    <span>The roof of the Cold Room created some rumbling noises that startled the two, causing them both to jump. They both stared up at the rumbling ceiling. Down the middle of the ceiling, a dividing line started to appear, as if a doorway, the gates of heaven, were being opened.

    <span>Sensing that the movement was too huge, Liu Zhi Gang panicked and started pressing other buttons to prevent the ceiling from opening any further. Every button he pressed didn''t seem to have much of an effect since the ceiling continued to open. Next the round covers on all four sides of the wall opened up. A gust of wind started blowing out from the round covers onto the ice cube, revealing that the round covers functioned as venttion shafts.

    <span>Atst the ceiling hadpletely opened, and the vents were blowing out the cold air into the sky. The thermostat on the wall changed from -30C and started increasing in temperature.

    <span>Even though the outdoor temperature wasn''t too cold, it was still almost to noon. The exact time could be somewhere in the range of 7 to 10 in the morning. Once the ceiling unsealed the room, the vents started to blow out hot air. Gusts of hot air poured out onto the ice cube.

    <span>The floor beneath the two yers started heating up. The closer they got to the ice cube, the hotter it became. It seemed like the button changed it from a cold room into an oven. Almost every surface of the ice cube was getting heated.

    <span>"This is very strange! Shouldn''t we stop it?" Huang Yi asked as he took off the thermal instion jacket. Huang Yi panicked as he saw the steaming hot air pumping out from the vents, and felt the heating from the ground.

    <span>"What are you so afraid of? This procedure is to speed up the melting! All of this is so the treasure can show itself. Weren''t we trying to think of ways to melt it? Why would we bother stopping it?" Liu Zhi Gang blocked Huang Yi from pressing any more buttons.

    <span>"Let''s go somewhere else to search. That way we cane back when it''s finished melting. Look at howrge this piece of ice is. Even with the hot air, it won''t be easy to melt." Huang Yi suggested.

    <span>"There must be another way to speed up this melting. We don''t even know if it will bepletely melted by the time wee back." Liu Zhi Gang didn''t want to leave.

    <span>Huang Yi felt a tingly sensation that something was wrong, but he couldn''t pinpoint it. It was his danger perception, and he was ignoring it. Huang Yi continued to watch Liu Zhi Gang from behind.

    <span>"There''s a saying that you can ''gain fortune from dangerous situations''. I remember when I was wandering alone in the woods, and I didn''t have a team to back me up. I took the risk of fighting against a variant zombie, and was able to level up to 5. Otherwise, how else would I be here?" Liu Zhi Gang exined his reasoning.

    <span>"I guess you do make some sense." Huang Yi nodded.

    <span>"Have you noticed that this small monitor seems to be the ones they use in hospitals?" Liu Zhi Gang asked, as he pushed the buttons next to the monitor a few times.

    <span>"It does have some resemnce." Huang Yi looked at it briefly and replied.

    <span>"This button is very strange. After I press it, you can hear some noises. It''s as if something is flowing inside." Liu Zhi Gang pressed the yellow button, and held his ear to listen closely.

    <span>"Yeah it sounds like that, I can hear it too." Remarked Huang Yi.

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang continuously pressed the yellow button. The moment Liu Zhi Gang pressed down, the control station would have the sound of liquid circting, but sound was gone when the button was released.

    <span>After a few more depressions of the button, the small monitor that originally had a straight line started to create ripples. Seeing this, Liu Zhi Gang got excited and started rapidly pressing the yellow button. The more Liu Zhi Gang pressed it, the more deviant the line became.

    <span>"Zhi Gang! Huang Yi! Are you inside?" Wang Chao asked from outside of the room. It seemed like the noise from the ceiling opening had attracted the attention of a few yers.

    <span>With all the noise it would have been impossible for a normal person, but Liu Zhi Gang and Huang Yi both had enhanced hearing. The high velocity wind of vents were really making it hard for any noise to be recognized apart from words.

    <span>"Hey¡­" Liu Zhi Gang hand signaled Huang Yi, so that he wouldn''t respond back. The steel cab had automatically moved back into ce after Liu Zhi Gang and Huang Yi had entered, so it would buy them some time before Wang Chao could find the entrance.

    <span>Even if Wang Chao made his way in, they could pretend that they never heard the call.

    <span>Huang Yi was still hesitant, but ultimately, he didn''t reply to Wang Chao. Wang Chao screamed for a few more times, but stopped soon after. Perhaps, Wang Chao left the area to look for another way into the Cold Room.

    <span>"I think we should hurry up, perhaps the yellow button is the key to speeding up the melting process." Liu Zhi Gang continued to press the yellow button. On the monitor, the frequency of the line continued to increase. Originally, it was a shift in the line every few minute, but now it shifted every half a minute. The amplitude of the shift had also increased.

    <span>The heated ground and the hot air pumped out by vents didn''t have much of an effect on the ice cube. However, the moment the button was pressed, it had triggered something. At that moment, there were noises of cracking emanating out. On the ice cube several cracks appeared, and a small portion of the surface started falling off.

 Chapter 260

    <span>Chapter 260 - Walking Sideways

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    LOL oh boy.<hr>

    <span>"What you did seems to be having an effect! The ice cube is starting to crack already!" Huang Yi said while examining the cube closely with expression of nervousness and excitement.

    <span>Luckily for them, the cold storage room was quite spacious, so even when the ice cube shattered into fragments there was still an area of several meters for them to move around. At least, they wouldn''t die from being crushed by miniature icebergs.

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang kept pressing the yellow button rapidly. The liquid noise it produced stopped after a short while. When Liu Zhi Gang released the button and pressed the button down again, the sound of liquid circting resumed. Liu Zhi Gang was still unsure of what the purpose of the liquid was, but he knew that the liquid could speed up the melting process.

    <span>As they were waiting for the ice to melt, the vents stopped blowing out hot air, and the round covers were closed again. Huang Yi walked over to investigate, soon he understood that the ice cube was positioned at the center of awork of heated metalttices that drew in air from the outside. Huang Yi was able to see the metalttices within the round covers.

    <span>These metalttices were capable of emitting heat, and had melted a good portion of therge ice cube into water.

    <span>"Could it be possible that this ce is an erged refrigerator?" Huang Yi was shocked.

    <span>At this moment, the floor started trembling, and the gigantic ice cube had its four corners melt into smaller pieces when heated by the metal sheets contacting the floor. The water was drained into the ground, once again revealing that the ice cube stood dead center in the room.

    <span>Muffled by a dozen meters inside the ice cube, it was hard to hear the noise emanating from within. From the outside, it merely looked as if arge rock had been frozen to ice.

    <span>"What exactly is inside?" Huang Yi stared at the ice cube in shock.

    <span>"That... I can''t tell yet." Liu Zhi Gang looked over at the ice cube. He was still busy in the corner pressing the yellow button and focusing on the monitor. Soon, the ripple shifted gradually every ten seconds.

    <span>Huang Yi had his hand wiping on the ice cube to see what is within the ice cube. Suddenly, the ice cube cracked apart, andrge amount of fragments fell from above. Huang Yi reacted immediately to avoid getting crushed.

    <span>Arge ck-colored object appeared before them. It didn''t look any different from a rock. With the icicles and ice chunks still attached to it, it held a close resemnce to a certain thing.

    <span>"Hey¡­ do you feel like it¡­ looks like arge crab?" Huang Yi walked back over to Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>"Yeah, seems like it." Liu Zhi Gang replied. Now that the ice was broken, he finally stopped pressing the yellow button.

    <span>"How do you think¡­ this thing¡­ will help us in any way?" Huang Yi asked Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>"No idea. Perhaps¡­ inside the shell has something useful like treasure for us?" Liu Zhi Gang shook his head. He reached out his hand to touch the w, and with his axe he hacked down a few times.

    <span>"Let''s just report back to Leader Chao, I don''t think we can handle something this big." Huang Yi said to Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>"What happens if it is a gigantic crab robot? Look at how dense the shell is. Even my axe can''t put a dent in it. If we could find the remote control for it, we can train it to be our pet. With such a legendary pet by our side even if we can''t level up ourselves, we can still walk sideways as we please." Liu Zhi Gang exined.

    <span>"But a crab is supposed to walk sideways?" Huang Yi mumbled.

    <span>"I meant to say that with it, we could do that too." Liu Zhi Gang said as he walked around the body of the crab. asionally he would bang on the shell to find a control station, but nothing of the sort could be found.

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang wasn''t satisfied at all, so he climbed onto the back of the shell to take a look, but the carapace was very slippery with ice shavings. Even the attempt to climb onto the back of the shell was a failure, so Liu Zhi Gang climbed into the w as leverage, and decided to grab hold of the crevice between the mouth for stability.

    <span>The eye of the crab slowly flickered. It was able to fuzzily see Liu Zhi Gang in front of him. Liu Zhi Gang held onto the side of the shell. When he finally got onto the back of the carapace, he looked around and sat down in between the eyes of the crab.

    <span>"I am your master, do you know?" Liu Zhi Gang got closer to the eyes of the crab and touched the eyeballs.

    <span>The eyeballs of the crab were the size of basketballs. Surrounding it were extremely dense crystals simr in density to diamonds. From the looks of it, the crab didn''t have any weaknesses. Even the fire axe wouldn''t be able to split the eyeball apart.

    <span>"The first thing you see when you wake up is your owner, me! I am your master!" Liu Zhi Gang emphasized to the crab.

    <span>The crab''s eye twitched. It seemed to have a negative reaction to what Liu Zhi Gang had just spoke.

    <span>"Hey! Don''t you feel that this is too strange? I don''t think you have the ability to keep this as a pet. It might even kill us when the ice melts. If this is a variant zombie or stronger, then we can kill it and skip a few levels!" Huang Yi shouted up to Liu Zhi Gang.

    <span>"Kill it?" Get experience? That isn''t possible¡­ how would you kill it? The whole shell is a whole new level of dense." Liu Zhi Gang shook his head.

    <span>"We can ce grenades within the mouth, mmable things too! Brother Chao seems to have brought along a bag of homemade explosives with him. We should go to him to see if we can get some of it. I doubt that taking it in as a pet with your method of yelling at it would really work." Huang Yi suggested.

    <span>"You want to call the boss here now? What good will that be for us?" Liu Gang Ming shook his head again.

    <span>"You can im it as your achievement! With Brother Chao making a mental note so that future variant zombies will be reserved for us to kill!" Huang Yi tried thinking up an answer.

    <span>"You don''t know that I can''t tame it. Don''t be in such a rush to call Brother Chao. Let me try again. If that doesn''t work, then we can go with your n." Liu Zhi Gang was unwilling to get up.

    <span>"It seems to be able to move. Try to order it to lift its'' pinchers. See if it would listen to you." Huang Yi said to Liu Zhi Gang, while walking to the furthest corner. With arge crab like this, any sudden movement in such a confined space felt dangerous.

    <span>"Lift up your pincers!" Liu Zhi Gang ordered the crab!

 Chapter 261

    <span> Chapter 261 - Earth Quaking

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Going to aim for 1 a day!<hr>

    <span>What Huang Yi and Liu Zhi Gang never thought possible, was that after a few seconds, the giant crab really lifted up its pincers. It raised them two meters high, and then dropped them back down.

    <span>"No way!? That actually worked? ! Now I can really walk sideways!" Liu Zhi Gang spoke with a excited tone.

    <span>"Maybe that was just a coincidence? Try again!" Huang Yi jealously retorted.

    <span>"Lift your pincers!" Liu Zhi Gang ordered.

    <span>This time after 10 seconds, the giant crab attempted to lift up its pincers higher than the previous time. It raised them to the height of Liu Zhi Gang, and it opened up the pincers to grab Liu Zhi Gang off of its head.

    <span>"Hey! I am your owner! You are hurting me! Put me down!" Liu Zhi Gang banged on the pincers as hard as he could.

    <span>Huang Yi immediately knew something was wrong, and quickly retreated toward the ''Cold Storage Room'' entrance.

    <span>"Let go of me!" Liu Zhi Gang continued tomand it, but this time the giant crab added strength until the pincers were touching.

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang was being held by the abdominal region, and when the pincers connected, Liu Zhi Gang was snapped in two.

    <span>"AH!!!!!!!!!! "

    <span>Liu Zhi Gang could only scream out in unbearable pain as the lower half of his body sunk lower.

    <span>The giant crab ced Liu Zhi Gang in front of him while he was still alive. Working with both pincers, the giant crab skillfully took off the clothes dyed with blood, and then picked up Liu Zhi Gang''s lower half and threw it into its mouth.

    <span>"HELP ME!" Liu Zhi Gang screamed at Huang Yi as his intestines continued to fall out.

    <span>Huang Yi was scared out of his mind as he tried to hurriedly open up the door to the cold room. Huang Yi kept pushing the steel cab, but for some odd reason it wouldn''t budge. Turning around to look at the giant crab, he saw Liu Zhi Gang''s lower half get eaten. Then it ate Liu Zhi Gang''s top half, while Liu Zhi Gang was still screaming at the top of his lungs.

    <span>The giant crab tried to lift itself off the ground, but then it noticed Huang Yi standing by the cold room doorway.

    <span>Huang Yi peed in his pants. There was no courage left in him as both of his legs gave out.

    <span>The giant crab tried its hardest to get up, as if it was preparing to charge at Huang Yi, but it couldn''t get up since the floor was so slippery. Perhaps it was due to drugs that the crab wasn''t able to regain full motor function, or maybe it was due to the ice fragments around the body. The slipperiness of the floor made it impossible to get up.

    <span>After waiting for a short while, the giant crab attempted to brace itself up again. This time, it was able to stand up sturdily. It wasn''t walking sideways¡­!One leg in front of another, it closed the distance to Huang Yi.

    <span>"Is there anyone inside?" Wang Chao walked back to the steel cab and knocked on the outside. Clearly, he heard the noiseing from within.

    <span>"You can push aside the steel cab! It is moveable! Quickly! Save me!" Huang Yi started crying from within.

    <span>Wang Chao was with Yan Su, so they both worked hard to push the steel cab aside. Through the crack, they were able to see Huang Yi on the other side of the Cold Room. Then, behind Huang Yi, they saw it. They understood that something was wrong, and quickly pulled Huang Yi out through the crack.

    <span>The giant crab ran into the Cold Room wall, and created a few new holes in the process. From the collision, it caused rocks to fly outward and the entire building shook.

    <span>"Where''s Zhi Gang?" Wang Chao asked Huang Yi, while walking side by side.

    <span>"He¡­ He got eaten! RUN!" Huang Yi had found his strength, and Wang Chao didn''t ask for specifics. He heard more than enough, so with Yan Su, they all ran together toward the exit.

    <span>"What happened over there?" Liu Gan asked them as he rushed over to see Wang Chao carrying Huang Yi.

    <span>No one from Wang Chao''s faction replied. Others that rushed over seemed to have understood that something dangerous had happened...

    <span>A giant crab, but more urately it was a type of crab variant. It broke through the remaining ceiling of the Cold Room. Itnded on the rooftop of a certain building. The heavy weight of the crab ripped through the building support beams, and caused the building to copse almost immediately.

    <span>With one vertical leap, the building had copsed and the dust cloud provided cover. The whole radius within a dozen meters of the copsed site started shaking. Wang Chao''s faction wasn''t able to stand up. Huang Yi was scared back onto his butt from the tremors.

    <span>Witnessing the scene from afar, this wasn''t the simple crab that you previously knew of. The only resemnce was probably the shape. Otherwise, it was just an extremely ugly and sinister-looking creature. Not only could it walk straight, it could also jump. In the real world, no one has ever seen a crab leap, or even leap that high.

    <span>This giant crab had woken up from its slumber, and Liu Zhi Gang offered himself up as dim sum tribute. That snack rejuvenated some energy that had long since depleted from the giant crab. After breaking free from the cage, the giant crab''s yell echoed in the surroundings. However, the toxic fumes that came out from the mouth was more than enough to cause some yer to be disoriented.

    <span>Wang Chao and Liu Gan immediately threw hand grenades into the mouth of the giant crab. This giant crab definitely had intelligence. Perhaps this was the same one from the coastal camp. It blocked the hand grenades since it was injured by them before. When it saw two hand grenades being chucked the giant crab used the pincers to knock away the grenades. Afterwards, it lept over to the area where the grenades were thrown.

    <span>[TL: Giant Crab will be Kingler! Now that we know it is the same one.]

    <span>Both the hand grenadesnded on the nearby floor and exploded without hurting the Kingler at all.

    <span>The danger perception of the yers were spot on, and they immediately moved away when they saw the Kingler leap through the air. The yer that had the slowest reaction, Huang Yi, was still sitting on the floor. When the Kinglernded, it was tall like a mountain that blocked off Huang Yi''s field of vision.

    <span>It was as if the earth was quaking, mountains were moving. When all of the other escaping yers turned to look around, the Kingler had lifted up its leg and locked onto its target. Huang Yi, still unable to react, was squashed between the shell and the hard ground. Huang Yi became something simr to paper, so thin.

    <span>[ED: Wait¡­ I thought its legs were like skewers¡­ what happened to human shish-kebab?]

 Chapter 262

    <span>Chapter 262 - Danger

    <span>TL: xDh20<hr>

    <span>When he saw the Kingler''s appearance here, and connected it with the helicopter aircraft incidence from before, Liu Gan came to the realization that¡­ that day he went to the coastal camp was the exact same day the helicopter should''ve gone to the seaside to catch it. That would exin why rocks copsed from the peaks. The guided missiles that exploded that day were able to subdue and capture the Kingler.

    <span>When the helicopter aircraft flew back to theboratoryter that day, it was spotted by Wang Chao. This was how Wang Chao had discovered the secret location of theboratory.

    <span>Seems like Elder Liu and the Kingler were destined to meet!

    <span>To finally be able to see the Kingler in person, and witness its strength, Liu Gan hadpletely lost hope. With his current ability, he judged he had no chance of winning against Kingler.

    <span>Kingler looked around in search of its next target, and then charged at the yer. It could be that Kingler was very excited, but it didn''t focus solely on one target. The target it focused on would suddenly change. No one knew when it would change its mind and target someone new.

    <span>Under this type of situation everyone was merely running as fast as they could, and took constant detours. Ultimately, all routes led to the one exit in therge building with the window. Many of the escaping yers chose not to turn back to look at Kingler for fear of being chosen by it if they looked. Who would want to be chosen as the next target?

    <span>From afar, there was the sound of rumbling. It was the exact same sound that was produced when they were at the coastal camp, and it was heading straight towards them!

    <span>"Don''t leave! Quickly, find a ce to hide! I can feel a enormous threating this way from the sky. That threat is more dangerous than the crab¡­" Yin He grabbed Liu Gan to head in another direction.

    <span>Nothing was known about the identities of those onboard the aircraft, but if Yin He felt that strongly about their presence, then Liu Gan would respect her senses. Liu Gan followed behind Yin He as they both deviated in a different direction. Liu Gan looked around, but he wasn''t able to spot Zhang ShengLi anywhere. It seemed like Zhang ShengLi and Liu Gan had gotten separated.

    <span>With the impending threat of the Kingler behind them, and the unknown threat iing, Liu Gan couldn''t worry about Zhang ShengLi. His own safety was in jeopardy, so he could only quickly find a ce to hide first.

    <span>Kingler struck with its pincer once again. It was able to urately suppress Qiao Feng, and picked him up off the ground. Clearly after eating Liu Zhi Gang, the Kingler had lost interest in just eating dim sum. When it lifted up Qiao Feng, there wasn''t an urgency to eat again. Instead, Kingler decided to y with its food, and lifted Qiao Feng to the front of its face.

    <span>Qiao Feng was scared out of his mind. As ast resort, he tried using his awoken ability. He attempted to [Tame] the Kingler, and perhaps give himself a chance to live.

    <span>It was too bad that Qiao Feng wasn''t able to maintain the ability for long. In the face of the Kingler, the [Tame] ability had no effect.

    <span>Taking the opportunity while the Kingler was distracted, Wang Chao, Yan Su and Lu Fan escaped toward the window entrance. They all passed through the field of flowers, and parked in front of the za a peculiar heavy-duty helicopter. It gave off the feeling that it was built using futuristic technology.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi had just realized that Lin Gan and Yin He weren''t with him. As he was deciding to backtrack through the warehouses to search for them, the Kingler closed in and blocked his path from behind.

    <span>Dozens of warriors equipped in thick armors and helmets got off of the helicopter aircraft. The armors and helmets were made from silver-looking alloy metal that gave off a cold glow. The warriors were immediately spurred into action, and surrounded Wang Chao''s faction.

    <span>"Are you part of the armed rescue team? Are you here to help us escape this game?" Lu Fan asked the armored warriors. This was the first time Lu Fan witnessed the helicopter aircraft and armored warriors.

    <span>"They aren''t." Wang Chao had a bad feeling. He knew that these warriors weren''t a force that he should be messing around with. However, it was toote to retreat back into the building.

    <span>These armored warriors didn''t answer Lu Fan. Amongst the warriors, one of them threw a sh bang at Wang Chao and the yers. Unable to react fast enough, a sh of blue light burst out, and all of them felt a sharp pain to their cerebrum. It was enough to render them strengthless, and directly pass out. Wang Chao, Lu Fan and Yan Su all copsed onto the floor.

    <span>When Zhang ShengLi saw what had happened from afar, he snuck away by hiding in a room connected to the lobby.

    <span>Three of the armored warriors picked up Wang Chao and the two yers'' bodies. The rest of the armored warriors did a sweep of the premises. Two of the warriors were walking towards the room Zhang ShengLi was currently hiding in.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was wondering how to escape this precarious situation. The room door opened, and a blue light burst also knocked Zhang ShengLi unconscious. It was an unavoidable surprise attack.

    <span>The parked helicopter aircraft lifted off and flew over the top of the building as the other warriors followed. Like a mouse witnessing a cat, the Kingler made a run for it as it turned around and ran back to where it had juste from.

    <span>The helicopter aircraft followed in pursuit. From the lower barrels, it shot out two guided missiles that functioned as prating light bombs. Theynded a direct hit on the Kingler and exploded. On the ground, Kingler started spinning like a mounted gyro. <hr>

    <span>[TL: Like a fidget spinner. ]<hr>

    <span>ck liquid started oozing out of the Kingler. Evidently, the prating light bomb was able to bypass the hard shell, and directly injure the internal organs. This resulted in a severe injury.

    <span>Kingler used its leg to halt the spinning, and flip back upright. Hissing at the helicopter, it continued to run away as fast as it could. Not letting the Kingler escape, the helicopterunched another two guided missiles with prating light bombs. Once again the Kingler was flipped over, and more ck substances started oozing out.

    <span>After suffering another two prating light bombs, the Kingler wasn''t able to flip over anymore. It continued to release a whining sound. Kingler''s pincers and legs were retracted back towards its shell. Seems like these guided prating light bombs shouldn''t be taken lightly of.

    <span>The helicopter aircraft came to a hover about fifteen meters above the Kingler. Several of the the armored warriors rappelled out of the helicopter carrying shackles, and locked up the Kingler''s pincers and legs. The aircraft lifted off, and tugged the Kingler off the ground as cargo.

 Chapter 263

    <span>Chapter 263 - Transformation

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>Zhang ShengLi woke up. However, he couldn''t pinpoint how long it had been since he had been knocked out . He only saw that some time after he was knocked out he had been stripped nude. He tried to move, but his limbs weren''t responsive. It was if he had been drugged to induce paralysis.

    <span>Aside from that, his limbs were also strapped down by unique leather restraints from beneath him. Even if he wasn''t drugged, it would be hard to get out of this bed.

    <span>Attached to his wrist was an infusion bag that was injecting him with fluid intravenously. There was no telling what this fluid was.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi determined he was located in a ward from the looks of his surroundings. On a nearby hospital bed was another person, which looked like Wang Chao. He was also stripped nude, and had a simr infusion bag injecting into his vein. However, Yan Su and Lu Fan were nowhere to be found.

    <span>A armored warrior was patrolling the ward. It seemed like he was the security guard for this area. Zhang ShengLi and Wang Chao weren''t able to move, so they could only use meaningful nces and mouthing words to exchange information. Although by using this method, any exchanged information was very limited in scope.

    <span>A male wearing a doctor''s coat walked over apanied by a nurse. The nurse was holding a tray. On the tray was a syringe and injection bottle. Both of them walked to Wang Chao''s bed, and it looked as if they were preparing to inject him.

    <span>Wang Chao nervously opened his mouth, but no sounds came out. He really wanted to ask what drug the doctor was going to inject him with.

    <span>The doctor didn''t speak to Wang Chao. The nurse drew the milky white medicine into a syringe, and then quickly injected it into the intravenous bag. Wang Chao watched the milky white medicine mix with the intravenous bag before it trickled down the intravenous tube, and into his body. Wang Chao''splexion changed drastically for the worst. He started hyperventting and contorting his body in different shapes. Even the drug that was paralyzing his body no longer had any effect. Wang Chao started to produce strange sounds.

    <span>Wang Chao''s skin became more translucent. The red blood veins and arteries all revealed themselves under the translucent skin. At the same time, the eyeballs also turned blood red, and started bulging out from their sockets.

    <span>The doctor and nurse were unconcerned with Wang Chao''s violent reaction. In fact, the doctor spoke to the nurse in some kind of foreignnguage. After the doctor spoke the nurse took out a pen, and started jotting something down on her notepad.

    <span>After a while, the nurse injected another medicine into the intravenous bag. This time the medicine was ck. Slowly the ck substance started to drip into the intravenous tube, and into Wang Chao''s body. Wang Chao''s skin color regained its original color from transparency, but the skin revealed ck spots.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi suddenly remembered the wandering [ck Spot Variant Zombies] in the field of flowers at the front of the building after looking at Wang Chao''s nk expression, and the ck spots that appeared on his skin.

    <span>Could it be that the medicine that doctor and nurse gave Wang Chao caused him to undergo zombification into a [ck Spot Variant Zombie]?

    <span>When Wang Chao''s nk expression cleared, he looked at Zhang ShengLi with a plea for help. Zhang ShengLi could only respond with a helpless expression. Zhang ShengLi couldn''t even help himself out of the bed, so it would be impossible to help Wang Chao.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was worried that he would be next to receive the injections.

    <span>Wang Chao''s expression became nk once again, and he started a low howling sound. Hearing the low howl, Zhang ShengLi''s heart gave up. It''s confirmed that Wang Chao had been turned into a zombie, and it was impossible to undo.

    <span>These people were undergoing human experiments. They even turned a live human into a variant zombie! A variant zombie!

    <span>Once again the doctor mumbled something in a differentnguage to the nurse, and the doctor started applying pressure onto Zhang ShengLi''s body. The doctor was very satisfied with this specimen since it was so muscr.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi tried to open his mouth to say something that would dissuade them, but no sounds were produced. When the doctor saw that Zhang ShengLi was miserable, heughed. More mumbling noises were heard, perhaps it was native to another country or.

    <span>The nurse with the tray carrying the two medicines walked closer. The nurse ced the tray next to Zhang ShengLi''s bed. Then she injected the milky white medicine into the intravenous bag. Slowly the milky white medicine leaked into the intravenous tube.

    <span>The doctor patted Zhang ShengLi''s muscle and then spoke to the nurse. From the look of it, with Zhang ShengLi''s tough body there would need to be a higher dose needed than what Wang Chao had. The nurse kept nodding, and drew the whole vial of milky white medicine into the syringe.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi''s guess was correct. There was definitely a higher dosage going into his body than Wang Chao''s body.

    <span>Wang Chao''s transformation wasplete, and he was now a variant zombie, with multiple ck spots on his skin. He kept producing low howling sounds. There was no difference between the [ck Spot Variant Zombies] in the flower za, and the new Wang Chao. There was still a little human color left in the skin.

    <span>As the nurse proceeded to inject Zhang ShengLi, another doctor near the doorway shouted into the ward. The Doctor instructed the nurse, and then left the room.

    <span>The nurse resumed her work preparing the syringe. She was about to mix it with Zhang ShengLi''s intravenous bag. Zhang ShengLi really wanted to yell at her to stop, but it was futile. There was only one thing he could do.

    <span>The nurse paused, she said something to Zhang ShengLi. Then she turned and looked at the armored warrior. The armored warrior was still patrolling near the window, as it looked away from the window, and had his back toward the beds.

    <span>The nurse ced the syringe back on the table, and then nced at Zhang ShengLi again.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi blinked to her rapidly while he tried to mouth some words. Zhang ShengLi was doing his best to beg her, but given his situation it was practically impossible tomunicate. It was even harder to express the meaning behind his intentions.

 Chapter 264

    <span>Chapter 264 - Unable to Help

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    I think the best thing about licensing, is that we can DMCA all the aggregate sites to take off our content. <hr>

    <span>The nurse looked back at the armored warrior only to discover that the armored warrior wasn''t paying attention, and had his back to them. As the nurse squeezed Zhang ShengLi''s arm muscles and then his chest, she blushed red with embarrassment. She also looked at various parts of his body.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was crying on the bed¡­ How would he be in the mood for this right now?

    <span>As a series of footsteps came from the hallway, the nurse quickened her pace. She picked up the syringe on the tray, and continued to inject it into the IV bag. Zhang ShengLi revealed another unwilling expression. He widened his eyes to signal the nurse. Hoping, that she would let him go.

    <span>The doctor held no pity in his eyes. Zhang ShengLi was hoping that the nurse had some sense of humanity left, so she won''t do something that was so inhumane.

    <span>Injecting medicine into a perfectly healthy human to turn them into a variant zombie. It was easy to guess that these armored warriors didn''t have good intentions. Could the catastrophe have been orchestrated by them?

    <span>The nurse shook her head as she nced at the armored warrior by the window. Her expression showed that she couldn''t help even if she wanted to. Thus, she continued to inject the syringe into Zhang ShengLi''s IV bag.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi could only watch as the white milky medicine mixed into the fluid of the IV bag. Slowly, the liquid flowed into the infusion tube.

    <span>As the medicine flowed into the infusion tube, it started seeping into Zhang ShengLi''s body. Previously, before Wang Chao''s zombification, the white fluid acted as an aid in catalyzing the reaction. The ck medicine that followed it was the most critical factor.

    <span>From Wang Chao''s expressions, it seemed that the white milky medicine caused severe pain the moment it entered the body. Enough pain to cause the veins to bulge out from the skin, and the eyeballs to bulge from their sockets. Zhang ShengLi didn''t want to experience that type of suffering.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi could only blink rapidly, and try to signal the nurse to stop and pull the infusion tube out of his body. Hopefully she could stop this inhumane act. After the nursepleted the first injection, she could only express her regret to Zhang ShengLi by continuously shaking her head. She continued to watch the white milky medicine seep down the tubing.

    <span>At this time, there was a loud noiseing from the outside the ward. The armored warrior by the window was alerted by the sudden noise¡­ and moved out to the corridor to take a look around the corner.

    <span>At this moment, Liu Gan dressed in a doctor''s coat walked in through the same door that the armored warrior had left in. Liu Gan sat by Zhang ShengLi''s bedside. When the nurse looked at Liu Gan, she had a strange expression because she couldn''t recognize him. Right when she was about to open her mouth to ask who he was, Liu Gan grabbed her head and snapped her cervical vertebrae. The nurse fell to the floor, motionless.

    <span>As the white milky medicine reached the end of the infusion tube leading into Zhang ShengLi''s body, Liu Gan was able to quickly pull the tube out of Zhang ShengLi''s wrist.

    <span>Liu Gan was fortunately able to reach him in time. If he was even one secondte, it would have been regrettable.

    <span>Appearing in Liu Gan''s hand was a sharp [Dagger]. It was the same one he had learned how to store in the alloy watch. Liu Gan used the dagger to cut Zhang ShengLi loose from the leather restraints, and then lifted Zhang ShengLi off the bed.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi was still paralyzed from the drugs. He would be unable to stand by himself, let alone getting out of bed.

    <span>The armored warrior returned from the corridor, and walked back towards the ward. From his earpiece, Liu Gan heard Yin He''s warning about the iing warrior. Quickly, Zhang ShengLi was pushed under Wang Chao''s bed. The nurse''s clothes were removed, and she was ced onto Zhang ShengLi''s bed. The leather restraints were attached to her body, and extra bedsheets were used to cover up her exposed body.

    <span>Shortly after Liu Gan had finished rearranging everything, the armored warrior returned back to the room. Liu Gan also quickly hid underneath Wang Chao''s bed, and held his breath.

    <span>As the armored warrior returned back to the ward to look around. He didn''t notice anything strange, so he returned to the original position by the window. However, he suddenly walked to Zhang ShengLi''s bedside as if he had just realized something wrong. There was something noticeably different from before that drew his attention.

    <span>The armored warrior tore off the bed sheet covering the nurse. When he discovered the situation he rushed out of the ward, and urgently spoke into the helmetmunicator.

    <span>After a short while, the armored warrior returned back to the ward. It started to took a look around the room. Just as he was preparing to look underneath the bed, a voice from his helmetmunicator replied to him. He stopped what he was doing, and then walked out of the room.

    <span>Yin He was stationed outside the building, and gave Liu Gan the signal that it was safe in the corridor. She was using her spiritual energy to sense presence of the enemy and thenmunicating the information to Liu Gan. This way, Liu Gan could safely bring Zhang ShengLi away.

    <span>"Let''s hurry up and get out of here." Liu Gan said to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Zhang ShengLI was still underneath the bed, and weakly nodded.

    <span>Liu Gan stood up, and saw that Wang Chao had became a variant zombie. It was struggling to get out of the leather restraints, its bloodthirsty eyes targeting Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled out the dagger once again, and with the pointy end, inserted it into Wang Chao''s brain to end its misery. At the same time, a ck orb leaked out from Wang Chao''s body, and into Liu Gan''s. Although, the ck mist that leaked out wasn''t as much as a normal [ck Spot Variant Zombie]. That was because Wang Chao hadn''tpletely transformed yet.

    <span>After Liu Gan helped give Wang Chao mercy, he walked to the doorway and peeked out. He gave the hand signal to move forward, but no one came.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi apologetically looked at Liu Gan. Even now, Zhang ShengLi was still paralyzed, so he couldn''t speak nor walk. There was only one way out of this situation, and it was if Liu Gan carried Zhang ShengLi on his back. Otherwise, the other option would be to abandon Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Liu Gan understood that Zhang ShengLi couldn''t move, so he went back to grab him. He realized that Zhang ShengLi didn''t have any clothes on, so Liu Gan casually grabbed the clothes at the foot of the bed, and tied it around Zhang ShengLi''s waist. Afterwards, Liu Gan dragged Zhang ShengLi out the door.

 Chapter 265

    <span>Chapter 265 - <span>To Inform

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The corridor didn''t have any guards patrolling, so Liu Gan continued dragging Zhang ShengLi forward. Yin He was hiding in the vicinity, as her duty was to survey the area and provide updates of the situation.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t drag Zhang ShengLi too fast, since it might create excessive noise which would alert the nearby armored warriors. At the uing corridor intersection were a sudden series of footsteps, so Liu Gan dropped Zhang ShengLi on the floor while he waited for the footsteps to get closer. ording to Yin He, these steps belonged to one of the doctors.

    <span>As soon as the doctor turned the corner, Liu Gan strangled him with brute force. Liu Gan stashed the doctor''s body in a nearby empty ward under the bed. The doctor''s coat was taken off him, and given to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Wearing the doctor''s coat made Zhang ShengLi feel a lot better about his situation. Getting dragged around while naked by Liu Gan was a little too weird for a grown man like him.

    <span>When Liu Gan reached a nearby bend, he would cautiously peek out and survey the area before dragging Zhang ShengLi over.

    <span>"These armored warriors are stronger than I am. Their armor has high defensive capabilities. Not only that, but they are also running on quantum processors." Yin He spoke through the earpiece.

    <span>"They are running on quantum processors? Do you mean they are like you, an android?" Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"No, they are different from me. They have a very simplified android design. Their bodies are madepletely of metal alloy on the exterior. There are also different type of nanobots inside their metal veins to aid in metabolism. Their body doesn''t have any biochemical properties." Yin He was able to hack into theboratory system to retrieve information on the armored warriors.

    <span>"Where are they from? What is their purpose here?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"I don''t know that yet. There was no information like that in all the information I sifted through. In the server room I was able to gather another 30 electrical sma nanobot storage sticks. These were used to supply the server room with electricity. Now they all belong to me!" Yin He happily exined.

    <span>"Wow, that''s good. Now you can have a good meal." Liu Gan happily responded. He knew that Yin He had nearly been depleted of the electrical sma needed to feed for her nanobots a few times already.

    <span>"You have an armored warrior walking towards you fast! Find a ce to hide!" Yin He quickly warned Liu Gan, as she saw an armored warrior closing in.

    <span>Liu Gan dragged Zhang ShengLi into the closest unlocked ward. This ward didn''t have anyone guarding it, but on the bed was Qiao Feng. Thest time Liu Gan saw Qiao Feng was when he got caught by the Kingler. So the question was, why was he still alive?

    <span>Qiao Feng''s luck was quite good. Kingler was ying around with his food, and Qiao Feng was tossed aside when the helicopter came by. Then, Qiao Feng was taken into custody by the armored warriors.

    <span>To get caught was a better fate than ending up in Kingler''s stomach. It was less painful and tragic...

    <span>"Save me¡­" Qiao Feng faintly whispered to Liu Gan. Qiao Feng''s paralysis medicine didn''t seem to have been too high a dosage, because he could at least still speak.

    <span>As the footsteps in the corridor got louder, Yin He warned Liu Gan through the earpiece that an armored warrior was about to enter his room!

    <span>Liu Gan made a hand sign to tell Qiao Feng to be quiet. Then, he dragged Zhang ShengLi under Qiao Feng''s bed. Both sides of the bed had bed sheets that fell to the floor, which made it a perfect hiding spot. Unless the person searching bended over to look underneath, there was no way Liu Gan could be seen.

    <span>Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi were concealed underneath the bed when an armored warrior walked into the room. He walked over to Qiao Feng''s bed to take a look, and with a sharp de in ce of his fist, he readied himself to stab into Qiao Feng''s brain.

    <span>"No! Don''t kill me! I can give you important information! There are two people hiding underneath my bed! They are very strong! They are more valuable specimens than I am!" Qiao Feng shouted frantically at the armored warrior.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi arched his eyebrows. Who would''ve thought that this person had such cold heart, and would sell others out! It seemed like in order to survive, there was no kindness left in people''s hearts! Giving mercy to others would only cause trouble for themselves.

    <span>Even now, Liu Gan still wasn''t nervous. He only signaled Zhang ShengLi to not make a sound.

    <span>After hearing Qiao Feng''s screams, the armored warrior didn''t bend over to search underneath the bed. Instead, he proceeded to stab Qiao Feng in the head, and walked out the door.

    <span>"They can''t understand ournguage, therefore they can''t understand us. Even if Qiao Feng said more, it was futile." Liu Gan slowly exined after he was sure that the armored warrior hadpletely left the area.

    <span>Yin He warned them not to exit so soon, so Liu Gan had some time to exin things to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Why¡­? They¡­ Are¡­ So¡­ Advanced¡­" Zhang ShengLi managed to speak a little. Finally, he could start speaking again. It seemed like the paralysis drug effects would wear off soon.

    <span>"It is for the very same reason that they are really advanced. They don''t have the need to understand our primitivenguage. It is the same reason why we don''t care what ants do, or how theymunicate on a day-to-day basis." Liu Gan reasoned to Zhang ShengLi. Liu Gan had gotten the full exnation earlier from Yin He, so he was not making up this information from thin air.

    <span>"That doctor¡­ And¡­ The¡­ Nurse¡­ Are... They¡­ Human? They¡­ Seem¡­ To¡­ Be¡­ Like¡­ Us¡­ But¡­ The¡­ Language¡­ Is¡­ Different¡­ From¡­ Us¡­ They¡­ Are¡­ More¡­ Like¡­ Them?" Zhang ShengLi found the strength to ask the question he was most curious about. From how the nurse had interacted with him earlier, he could tell that she still had some humanity left in her.

    <span>"The armored warriors are androids. However, they arepletely automated under directives that govern their actions. The doctors and nurses were abducted from a different location. Theirnguage is different from the armored warriors, and it belongs to a particr region of this world. We can''t understand them either." Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"It is safe to leave now, the armored warriors are nowhere close." Yin He spoke to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 266

    <span>Chapter 266 - Interception

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Feel free to listen as you read!<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan pulled Zhang ShengLi out from underneath the bed, and then looked back at the already dead Qiao Feng. It was quite redundant, now that Liu Gan thought about it. First, the armored warriors caught them alive, but then they wanted to transform them into variant zombies? However, the act of killing Qiao Feng meant that something had gone wrong, and that they didn''t want to continue experimenting.

    <span>This wasn''t the time or ce to be thinking of such things. It was for the best if both of them escaped from their location before worrying about other useless distractions. The armored warriors were simply too powerful for even Liu Gan. There was no way to directly face off against them. It would be better if they could escape from this location, ande back at another time when it was less guarded.

    <span>"These armored warriors are all reliant on photon power for energy. Inside of their bodies are circting aggregates of photon nanomites. Photon energy is more efficient than electrical energy output. Just a single nanomite stores more than ten times the amount of energy that an electrical sma nanobot provides. If we could kill one of the warriors, we could extract the photon nanomites and exchange them with my electrical sma nanobots. That would supply me with energy for a long time." Yin He told Liu Gan.

    <span>"Have you found a way to kill them yet?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"Not yet. As of right now, my strength isn''t enough to kill these androids yet. Also, inside their microchips they have safeguards in ce to prevent their secret technology from being revealed. The moment that they die, all of the nanobots will cease to function. It would be difficult for me to to take advantage of the nanobots if that happens. Unless I can do the exchange while they are alive, but I can''t do that now." Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"That does sound difficult. Don''t do anything rash. Even if there''s an advantage to doing something, you need to survive to enjoy the benefits." Liu Gan exined to Yin He. He was afraid that she wouldn''t listen to hismands, and do something risky.

    <span>Perhaps it had to do with the intimacy level rising between them, buttely Yin He had be more human-like. It was too early to tell if that was a good or bad thing.

    <span>"I won''t. You will have to time it well, there is another armored warrior closing in on your location." Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>While chatting with Yin He, Liu Gan took a look outside of the room to make sure it was safe. Then, he would go back to the room and drag Zhang ShengLi with him. Zhang ShengLi had regained some of his strength, so he barely managed to stand up. With Liu Gan by his side, his feet still dragged on the floor.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I won''t make it far like this. Just leave me here. I don''t want to be a burden for you." Zhang ShengLi feebly mumbled.

    <span>"Don''t say such things. I had a hard time getting you to level 6. If I leave you here, they will just kill you. That would mean throwing away my investment. How can I do that after investing so much in you?" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Elder Liu¡­" Zhang ShengLi couldn''t find anything else to say.

    <span>With Liu Gan holding Zhang ShengLi by the arm, they reached a hallway which led to a staircase. The stairs were at the far end of the hallway. Suddenly, they heard a series of footsteps from behind. The cadence of the footsteps matched that of the warriors. Yin He''s warning through the earpiece confirmed their fears.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t abandon Zhang ShengLi and run off to the stairs by himself. Instead, he carried Zhang ShengLi on his back, and started walking faster. It was a foot race. Hopefully, they would reach the stairs before the armored warriors could reach them.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t dare to walk too quickly, since loud footsteps would attract unnecessary attention. The bnce between increasing speed and minimizing sound was difficult to achieve. Liu Gan really wanted to rush to the staircase. By the time the armored warrior turned the corner and saw Liu Gan, they still hadn''t reached the end of the hallway.

    <span>The armored warrior rushed up and loudly called out to Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi. Since they both were wearingb coats, the armored warrior had mistaken them for the doctors and didn''t attack them. The armored warrior kept shouting at Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi as if they had understood the meaning. Naturally, the armored warrior wanted them to stop and ept the interrogation.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t stop. In fact, he sped up instead, and rushed towards the stairs. Now that they had been discovered, they couldn''t worry about whether there were people already in the staircase. The n was to push open the fire escape door, and then lock the door behind them as they ran.

    <span>Liu Gan had just locked the fire escape door from his side, but then he heard footsteps running down. It was a familiar face, the yer called Yan Su. It seemed like his condition was a lot better than Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Yan Su had the ability [Treatment], so the moment he realized that he was paralyzed he was able to treat the paralysis. Yan Su pretended to be unconscious, while treating himself the whole time. The armored warrior carried the supposedly unconscious Yan Su to a bedroom, but Yan Su escaped before he was bound by the leather restraints. Since then, Yan Su had been sneaking around until he managed to reach the staircase. When he saw Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi, Yan Su hurried to rush down the stairs to join them.

    <span>When they first entered theboratory, there were nine yers. Now there were only four yers left. Liu Gan''s group, and the solo yer, Yan Su. Wang Chao''s faction had beenpletely wiped out. Wang Chao''s original goal was to hire cannon fodder, but his own faction ended up bing the cannon fodder. What a sad life.

    <span>"How is the condition on your floor? Is it safe?" Yan Su asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Run down! They are chasing us!" Liu Gan quickly told Yan Su. Liu Gan was still carrying Zhang ShengLi as he did his best to run down the stairs with Yan Su following behind him.

    <span>The locked fire escape door didn''t hold for long as the sound of banging echoed throughout the stairwell. After the armored warrior saw that Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi didn''t listen to hismand, he chased after to capture them.

    <span>As the three of them rushed down the stairs Yin He warned Liu Gan via the earpiece to stop¡­ The reason being that there was an armored warrior standing guard on floor below them.

    <span>The fire escape door produced a loud ''bang'' as the sound of it breaking echoed throughout the stairwell. The armored warrior stationed on the floor below, started advancing upwards.

    <span>"Does this floor have any armored warriors?" Liu Gan asked Yin He quickly, as they were about to get nked. One descended from the floors above, while another ascended from the floors below.

    <span>"That floor has at least five to six armored warriors patrolling. I don''t know if there are any near that the fire escape door." Yin He exined.

    <span>With the urgency of getting surrounded on both sides, Liu Gan had to take the chance of opening the fire escape door on their current floor. As he advanced while still carrying Zhang ShengLi on his back, he had Yan Su tail behind him.

 Chapter 267

    Chapter 267 - Dire Situation

    After pushing open the metal-framed door, there were two armored warriors standing guard in front of the hallway. Hearing all the ruckus from behind them, they turned to face the stairwell. These armored warriors saw Liu Gan and his group, and ordered them to halt.

    Although though there was anguage barrier, even an idiot could tell that any sudden movement would result in immediate death.

    As the other two armored warriors from the staircase appeared from behind Liu Gan¡¯s group. Liu Gan and his group were stuck between the two armored warriors in the front, and the two armored warriors from the rear.

    This was a dire situation.

    ¡°I will grab their attention, make your escape!¡± Yin He said in the earphone. Suddenly Yin He moved in behind the armored warriors in the hallway.

    Liu Gan didn''t know what to say. He knew that Yin He was at a disadvantage against these more technologically advanced androids. She would definitely lose if she faced off in a prolonged battle.

    ¡°Don''t worry about me. I will escape when I get a chance! They can''t kill me!¡± Yin He said as she rushed forward to one of the armored warriors. She dashed toward the back of the armored warrior and let out a punch.

    Normally, her punches and kicks wouldn''t have done any harm to the armored warriors. However, Yin He had previously injected ten electrical sma sticks into her body along, which along with the power of tens of thousands of volts empowering her punches, she was able to damage their armor. Angry at the sudden ambush, the armored warriors retaliated.

    The armored warrior in close proximity did abo attack of a punch and kick, which sent Yin He flying backwards. It seemed as if the power disparity wasn¡¯t just a single level of difference. After Yin He was sent flying backwards, the two armored warriors lifted up their fists in unison and shot out brightsers. Yin He was able to avoid death, but she was still wounded in the lower half of her body. Several scorched holes appeared, and even parts of her alloy metal bones were revealed. Yin He escaped to a nearby room to dodge the rest of the iingser beams.

    The two armored warriors followed quickly in pursuit. They aggressively ran through the door and wall to chase after Yin He.

    Liu Gan took the chance to slip into the room closest to the stairs. He also dragged Zhang ShengLi into the room, and Yan Su tagged along. After Liu Gan closed the metal door to the room, he handed Zhang ShengLi over to Yan Su. Liu Gan walked over to the window to look outside.

    Like always, it was very cloudy and the air was very moist. In the distant horizon, lightning strikes could be seen, and thunder heard. Clearly the forecast for the afternoon into the night would be thunderstorms. It was the type of storm that had multiple lightning strikes in one small location.

    Liu Gan was on the third floor of the building. On the ground level, there were two armored warriors patrolling. It was highly probable that every floor had at least one armored warrior stationed there. This foiled Liu Gan¡¯s hopes of escaping through the window down to the ground level.

    If¡­ he abandoned Zhang ShengLi, and left with Yin He then there won''t be a huge problem. But, was that really necessary?

    The result of leaving behind Zhang ShengLi would result in him getting injected with medicine to be a [ck Spot Variant Zombie], and then getting killed by these armored warriors.

    The two armored warriors that were chasing Yin He smashed into the metal-framed doorway. As the armored warriors readied theirsers to shoot through the door, Yin He appeared behind them and attacked the two. The warriors angrily chased Yin He until she ran out of sight.

    When Yin He disappeared from view, they returned back to the doorway next to the stairwell, and attempted to break it down. After multiple unsessful attempts, they aimed theirsers at the door to kill the people within!

    ¡°One¡­ two¡­¡± Liu Gan counted down. He was prepared for this, and he threw an active hand grenade at the armored warrior, and thenid down awaiting the explosion.

    Zhang ShengLi and Yan Su were stationed behind a toppled cab.

    ¡®Bang!¡¯ The sound echoed. The hand grenade was tactically thrown to be close to the armored warriors, so that the maximum effectiveness could be brought out. With only 10 centimeters between the hand grenade and the warrior, the force of the explosion created a hole in the doorway, and sent the warriors flying backward. One of the warriors mmed into the wall on the other end of the hallway.

    As the warriors got off the ground, they merely stretched out their bodies, and dusted themselves off. After discovering that there were no injuries, the warriors walked up to Liu Gan¡¯s room again.

    No one knew where Yin He came from, but sheunched an [Electrical Discharge Strike] from her [Sleeve de] at the armored warrior. The discharge was able to reach ten million volts since the weather was very humid.

    This was her strongest attack!

    As the armored warrior took on the oppressive high voltage attack, its body took a toll by going numb and violently shaking. The armored warrior was glowing bright like a light bulb overflowing with energy. Liu Gan, Zhang Sheng Li and Yan Su were blinded by the overwhelming brightness, as they hid helplessly behind the cab.

    In the immediate surroundings of the armored warrior there were electrical discharges that charred the surface of the walls and floor with ck streaks¡­ But, all of this was rather uneffective. Once the high voltage electricity was used up, the armored warrior was unscathed, and it shot moresers back at Yin He.

    What strong foes the armored warriors were. Just one of them was enough to make people give up hope!

    There were still at least ten more of these armored warriors!

    As the fight dragged on, the air became dusty and was permeated with smoke. There was many visible damage to the building¡¯s structure by theser beams. The building started to shake, and started cracking at crucial stress points.

    Yin He was using gueri tactics and kept disappearing from view. When the armored warriors couldn¡¯t find any traces of Yin He, they returned to the room where Liu Gan and the rest were hiding. This was only to find that Liu Gan and the other two yers weren¡¯t there either!

    With Yan Su¡¯s continuous [Treatment Aura], Zhang ShengLi was able to regain the use of his body. With Yin He buying time bybating the armored warriors, Liu Gan and the others were able to escape to another floor to hide.

    The remainder of the armored warriors heard the signs of a battleing from the building, so they all gathered at the bottom of the building. With seven or eight armored warriors doing a clean sweep on every floor, they were preparing to exterminate the threat. They were very angry. They killed everyone on sight. Even the doctors and nurses weren¡¯t allowed to slip by; one by one they were shot with aser beam through the head.

    After several minutes of searching, the armored warriors were closing in on the new hiding spot of Liu Gan. This time there were four armored warriors heading towards the room.

    Liu Gan broke open the metal security bars to the window as he hadn¡¯t disregarded the possibility of escaping from the exterior wall. The problem was that the guards on the outside hadn¡¯t left their posts. The moment that Liu Gan and the other two yers revealed their location on the building¡¯s exterior, it was very likely that they would be shot to death bysers.

 Chapter 268

    <span>Chapter 268 - Not Tasty

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The four closest armored warriors started breaking down doors and walls. Even with smoke covering the room, they were able to discover Liu Gan''s silhouette. The warriors lifted up their hands¡­

    <span>Right at that moment, another surge of high voltage electricity arced and split into four parts to attack each of the armored warriors in the back. After being momentarily stunned, the four armored warriors violently turned their backs, and shot at the location which they presumed to be Yin He''s hiding spot.

    <span>Parts of Yin He''s body were biosynthesized, such as the skin and muscle. However, many of her parts had been scorched, and were unable to heal. Her arms and legs revealed beautiful exposed silver-colored metal alloy bones. A hint of blue-colored liquid was spilling out from her wound.

    <span>Even though Yin He pointed her [Sleeve de] at the four warriors, no electric arc appeared. After she released the electricity two times, the stockpile of <span>high<span> voltage sma within her was nearing depletion.

    <span>Fourser beams shone brightly as they shot at Yin He''s location. Revealing a sinister smile, Yin He dodged the shots. Then, Yin He jumped into a crack in the building''s floor. Cries of anger rang out from behind her. Appearing from the cracks were pincers. One by one the ws climbed up to where Yin He stood previously.

    <span>The Kingler was infuriated, as it started to climb into the building and force the wall to topple over on the four warriors.

    <span>Previously, the Kingler had been encased in arge metal alloy cage, which was located in the front courtyard. The gate lock was controlled by an electric switch. Yin He took the opportunity amidst the chaos to rush toward it and unlock the gate. The unlock code was obtained by Yin He earlier through hacking. After she carefully dodged Kingler''s attacks, it was lured over to their current building.

    <span>The heavy duty helicopter had already departed. The thing that Kingler feared the most was the prating light bombs, and it was no longer here. Faced against these miniscule warriors, it wasn''t as scared. First it was taunted by Yin He, and then it was shot by the armored warriors in the face. Instantly, all of its rage was shifted to the group of warriors.

    <span>The Kingler despised these warriors from earlier. Because of its simplistic mind, it was going to punish all of the shiny-armored warriors, and then find the way back to ocean.

    <span>The patrolling guards on the ground saw that Kingler was out of its cage, and notified the others through their helmet''smunicator. They gathered into a firing squad, and shot barrage after barrage ofser beams at the Kingler. The only warriors that didn''t join the firing squad were the ones stationed to guard every floor.

    <span>The strength of thesers'' power wasn''t as strong as the prating light bomb, but every hit would create a small hole nheless. Even the hardest part of Kingler, the carapace on its back, had a hole. The immense lingering pain caused Kingler to violently sweep its pincers across the ground to attack the armored warriors.

    <span>One of the unlucky armored warriors wasn''t fast enough to avoid the pincer attack. Even as he was held within the pincers he was not afraid. This unlucky armored warrior kept shooting itsser into Kingler''s eye. No matter how hard the Kingler tried, it was unable to rip the warrior in half. Instead of crushing the warrior, the pincers'' ridges of teeth started breaking under the pressure.

    <span>Other warriors immediately surrounded Kingler, and kept shootingsers into therge body.

    <span>This created many porous holes where ck substance started oozing out from its body. Even without the support of the helicopter aircraft, these warriors weren''t afraid of the gigantic monster.

    <span>The feelings of frustration that it couldn''t wound the warriors, along with the annoyance of getting shot at, left Kingler with one remaining option. It shoved the warrior trapped in its pincers into its mouth. Almost instantly the unlucky warrior was spat back out. The texture that the alloy metal armor created on the tongue caused a negative reaction on the pallet. Kingler tried to swallow the warrior, but theser beams were scorching its organs, causing it to start internally bleeding.

    <span>Unable to snap the warriors in half, the Kingler kept waving the two pincers around like hammers. It sent the warriors that came in contact with the pincers flying dozens of meters high. Damage from the fall didn''t injure the armored warriors at all, as merely they got back up and continued assaulting the Kingler.

    <span>The Kingler had sustained too many wounds, as the strength behind its attacks started to dwindle.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>With dust and smoke mixing together, the visibility was significantly decreased. Liu Gan and the other two yers used the smog as cover, and rushed out of the room back towards the stairwell. Liu Gan tried to reach Yin He through the earpiece, but there was only static. It was impossible to reach her.

    <span>The feeling of being unsure was detrimental to a fragile heart. He was unsure of her conditions, and unsure of where she had gone. Liu Gan was heartbroken, as thest glimpse he had of her was with her body riddled with holes.

    <span>This adventure to take on the secretboratory wasn''t that pleasant anymore. The feeling was simr to challenging the boss to advance in a game, but all of a sudden there was a secret level that led to an unkible enemy. The entire group was nearly wiped out in this one trip.

    <span>All of the other staff, such as the remaining doctors and nurses inb coats were rushing down the stairwell. Liu Gan, Yan Su and Zhang ShengLi were covered from head to toe in ash and dust, so none of the staff could recognize their identities. All of the staff were busy talking to one another as they ran down the stairs.

    <span>From the upper floors were the familiar sounds of terrifying footsteps of the armored warriors. Liu Gan and the other two didn''t have much choice. They blended in with the crowd of staff, and made their way down the stairwell. Everyone was gathered into the first floor lobby, waiting for a chance to escape this ce.

    <span>However¡­ The situation on the first floor lobby was even worse.

    <span>There were several armored warriors that were stillbating the Kingler, but in the lobby there were still at least 4 to 5 armored warriors that formed a perimeter around the lobby. Almost all the armored warriors were shouting at the staffers to stand in the center of the room.

    <span>It was toote to head back up the stairs, as an armored warrior was shepherding thest of the staff out of the building. Now all the staff members were grouped in the center, and the armored warriors formed a perimeter on the outer edges of the first floor lobby.

    <span>Several of the staff members walked up to try and talk with the armored warriors, and the argument seem heated. It was as if the staff members were against this kind of treatment. Since the warriors refused to answer to any questions, it was a one-sided conversation. The warriors merely ordered all the staff members to stand in formation again.

    <span>Liu Gan and the other two yers were caught up in the crowd, and acted like one of them as they stood to line up in the middle of the room.

 Chapter 269

    <span>Chapter 269 - The Great Escape

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>TL: The start of the chapter is a shback<hr>

    <span>The building that conducted experiments on Zhang ShengLi and others was designated solely for research purposes. It was located in the far corner of the mountain vi perimeter. This hidden building was so important andrge that it had its own miniature courtyard. When Zhang ShengLi was escaping earlier he was captured in the courtyard of the mountain vi, and then brought over to this research building.

    <span>Hiding in blind spots, Liu Gan had witnessed the armored warriors patrolling back and forth along a specific wall enclosure of the mountain vi. When Zhang ShengLi was carried away, the warriors had passed through the wall and disappeared from view!

    <span>After Yin He investigated, they found out that the wall was a doorway. Virtual projection technology camouged the door as a wall. It was just like the exterior precipice from earlier! This was the second time that they had used this technology to keep a secret location hidden. This was how no one found it strange outside of the enclosure.

    <span>The research building courtyard was the size of a ser field. It was an isted building that had an independent energy source and faculty running it. There were many staff members with various duties being carried out, all wearingb coats.

    <span>ced in the center of the courtyard were a mix ofrge and small metal cages. Therge cages were ten meters wide, and six meters high. The smaller cages were simr to the one that was in the North District Laboratory that held the small boy. It was barely big enough to fit one person.

    <span>The Kingler was brought along via a suspension cable hanging from the helicopter. As the singlergest cage, it required its ownmand station for controlling the gates. After Kingler was strapped in, the gate was locked. The space between the cage bars were wide; it was wide enough for the warriors to slip in and out of the locked cage. After Kingler was locked within the cage, the warriors walked through the bars to free the restrains on it.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He couldn''t walk through the front door, so they snuck in the first chance they got, over the wall. Then they hid against the side waiting for the patrolling armored warriors to pass. After they were able to pinpoint Zhang ShengLi''s location, they split up for the operation. Yin He went to the server room to hack into theirwork. Liu Gan went into the research building to free Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>The four corners of the smaller courtyard was bordered by precipices; whether the precipes were hallucinations or reality was hard to differentiate. If Liu Gan wanted to rescue Zhang ShengLi then he must first enter the building.

    <span>From the current situation in the first floor lobby, it was starting to look grim. They were able to sessfully blend in with the staffers, but the warriors treated them all like pigs.

    <span>Soon, there would be something even worse urring.

    <span>Suddenly, the armored warriors raised their hands up, andsers shot out. They were precisely aiming at the heads of the doctors who walked up to confront the warriors earlier. The bodies of the doctors fell onto the floor with their heads sted off.

    <span>Panic struck the crowd. Frantically, the staff members ran in every direction trying to escape the lobby. Moresers were continuously shot out. The staff members closest to the lobby door were the first to die. Liu Gan quickly pulled Zhang ShengLi onto the floor under the bodies of the doctors. Yan Su was very intelligent, as he immediately followed suite without guidance.

    <span>In the chaos of staff members running in every direction, more bodies started falling and piling up on top of Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi and Yan Su''s bodies. In an instant, it went from thirty staff members to a just a few staff members left behind. Of course, no one was left alive!

    <span>There was a female staff member that was lying right beside Liu Gan. Even though her body was covered with blood, her head was still intact. Her eyes were staring right at Liu Gan with an expression of fright. Liu Ganid motionless. Clearly, she wasn''t dead, and she was using the same tactic as Liu Gan and them - ying dead. The only difference between her and Liu Gan, was that she kept trembling, and was unable to suppress it.

    <span>An armored warrior walked by and discovered one of the female nurses had abnormal activity. It was a telltale sign for the armored warrior which determined that someone was ying dead. As a result, it used its foot to tten her head. With just a bit of force¡­ you could hear the brain being squashed like it was a watermelon. The brain and cerebrospinal fluid sprayed onto Liu Gan''s face. Even Liu Gan indirectly felt his own brain hurt after witnessing that scene.

    <span>ying dead might not get by the sharp eyes of these armored warriors, but if anyone stood up, then they were definitely dead. Liu Gan estimated that his [Mist Armor] could only sustain a few of theser beams, but if his own brain was shot, it would have simr results as those staff members.

    <span>The good thing was that it was just one armored warrior doing cleaning duty. All other warriors stood on the perimeter, not moving an inch. As it was checking the corpses, it would periodically move the confirmed dead bodies aside. It was being meticulous so that no other staff member could y dead like the female nurse.

    <span>Piled on the ground was a hill of bodies, and only one armored warrior was moving the bodies. It seemed like it would take some time before it reached the bottom of the pile to Liu Gan. Liu Gan estimated that there was around ten minutes to think of an escape n. Otherwise, they were just waiting to die.

    <span>This way of dying was too depressing! Even with a few of the warriors fighting Kingler, these armored warriors were still standing still surrounding the bodies. Perhaps they felt that the Kingler wasn''t enough of a threat?

    <span>Outside of the building, the Kingler was still fighting against the armored warriors. It seemed like Kingler was a lot stronger, since it had recovered from the earlierser barrage. Kingler kept persisting throughout the fight. Liu Gan was wishing for Kingler''s brother or wife toe by and attract the attention of all the warriors in the lobby. That way they wouldn''t be interested in smashing watermelons in the lobby.

    <span>One of the doctors thatid on the ground couldn''t withstand the anticipation as he saw the warrior walk closer. He jumped up, and ran as fast as he could. Within a few steps he was shot dead by the closest warrior. One shot to the brain.

    <span>These armored warriors all relied onputer programming for precision. So when they fired, it was deadly urate. With theser''s fast speed, it didn''t suffer from any gravity or wind discement. Deadly uracy and perfect ammunition, it was impossible to avoid this certain death. That was unless you had Yin He''s predicted collision system that allowed her to react with assistance.

    <span>The warrior that was still smashing heads like watermelons, started moving the bodies by Liu Gan''s side. Closer and closer, he drew near Liu Gan.

    <span>Looking at Zhang ShengLi and Yan Su, their faces said it all - despair. To move was to die, to not move was to leave it up to fate.

 Chapter 270

    <span>Chapter 270 - Barrier

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Zhang ShengLi must have been feeling the worst by this point. He felt that it was all his fault that Yin He and Liu Gan hadnded in this predicament. If he hadn''t been caught, he wouldn''t have needed to be rescued. Now both their lives might be forfeited here. It just wasn''t worth the trade.

    <span>Liu Gan still hadn''t heard anything from Yin He. It looked like she wasn''t able toe out unscathed either. With so many armored warriors hunting her down, and the vast difference in their strength, even her gueri tactics wouldn''t be enough to help her fight off one. It was fortunate that she had been able tost this long.

    <span>The higher the risk, the higher the reward. However, this difficulty was much harder than expected.

    <span>Kingler''s roar echoed as it drew near the piles of bodies. It rammed into the research building, which caused it to copse. Perhaps due to the prior fighting, the whole foundation had weakened. The building didn''t tremble at all, it just directly fell.

    <span>The first floor lobby fell with rubble covering arge half of it. Two armored warriors went to the copsed areas to y the perverted game of smashing watermelon. The other armored warriors cooperated to move away the chunks of cement and rescue theirrades.

    <span>Liu Gan wasying just outside the edge of where the building had copsed. He waspletely coated in cement dust. Even the surrounding air had ayer of white powdery dust. The dust, along with the dim lighting of the oing thunderstorm, was enough to blur the outlines of the bodies.

    <span>After it rammed into the research building, Kingler jumped back onto the other rooftops of the nearby warehouses. After they rescued theirrades the armored warriors didn''t immediately return to the courtyard to check the rest of bodies. They shifted their focus to fighting off this monster. Laser barrages started poking more holes into the shell of Kingler.

    <span>Kingler felt that the situation wasn''t good. Even with its simplistic brain, it knew that it wasn''t able to face these miniature warriors, so itunched itself high to jump over the high wall and escape.

    <span>That would''ve been possible for Kingler... had it not been so heavily injured. The high wall which was dozens of meters high, was now an obstacle that it could no longer jump over. It was thest barrier that separated it from freedom.

    <span>With its back to the high wall, Kingler was forced to continue battling the pesky miniature warriors. It sustained more injuries as ck substances continued to ooze out from its body. It became weaker and weaker, and its attack became less powerful and the uracy had dropped. It seemed like the Kingler would fall again at any moment.

    <span>Liu Gan looked around with minimal movement as he continued ying dead. He was looking for the next suitable hiding spot. He saw a spot in the copsed rubble of cement and steel frames that could be a suitable hiding spot for all of them. They quickly ran over into the man-made cave, and used a cement sheet to cover up the opening. Even if the armored warriors searched the copsed building, they wouldn''t find Liu Gan and the rest unless they examined the area closely.

    <span>It was impossible if the three of them wanted to escape these dozens of armored warriors. The only thing they could do was survive by hiding quietly in the darkness. They would at least have to hide until the warriors left the area.

    <span>While theyid amongst the rubble, shockwaves of the fight could still be felt through all the rubble. After another twenty minutes of fighting, Kingler finally copsed due to exhaustion. Itid motionless on the floor.

    <span>After winning the fight against Kingler, an armored warrior jumped onto the carapace with shackles. Moving in unison, they slowly tugged it back to its cage in therge courtyard. The same cage that Yin He had previously let it loose from. They resealed the alloy cage using themand terminal.

    <span>Through a crack, Liu Gan could see that the armored warriors had won the fight, and that Kingler wasying motionless. In the off chance that the courtyard was left unguarded, Liu Gan would definitely sneak out of the man-made cave and shove hand grenades into the missing parts of the shell. This would definitely blow the Kingler to pieces, and all of the experience would belong to him. Hopefully, that would be enough to advance to level 8, or even level 9.

    <span>If he could reach level 8 or 9, then this trip definitely wasn''t a waste. Even with so much adversity, this could be considered a win. Unfortunately, there were two armored warriors guarding this time. It seemed like they got smarter after the first time Kingler was set loose. Although, even with one warrior there, it was still a suicide mission.

    <span>Liu Gan was mostly worried about Yin He. Why wasn''t she responding? Was she really killed? Or was the reception to the earpiece damaged by thesers? Was that the reason why she wasn''t responding?

    <span>Finally, it started to rain as the thunderclouds reached overhead. It wasn''t a drizzle, but a full-on downpour. The rain was so dense that in a few minutes, the thunderstorm was going to truly arrive.

    <span>Soon there was a rumbling noise that wasn''t typical of thunder. It was the sound of engines rumbling. The warriors all gathered in therge courtyard as if they had all received the same message. In a few minutes a helicopter aircraft, much smaller than the heavy-duty one from earlier,nded in the middle of the courtyard.

    <span>Even though it looked like a helicopter, the only simrities were the method of take off andnding. It didn''t have the rotating des of a helicopter mounted at the top, so how did it manage to fly? Liu Gan wasn''t quite sure of the mechanics or technology that empowered this advanced machinery, so he simply treated it as a helicopter.

    <span>The armored warriors were discussing something in the downpour. After a long discussion, all of the remaining armored warriors boarded the helicopter aircraft. All of them, except the two armored warriors that were standing guard by Kingler''s cage.

    <span>After the dozens of armored warriors boarded the advanced helicopter, the aircraftunched into the air and disappeared into the thick rain at high speed.

    <span>It seened like these armored warriors had the intentions of taking Kingler away as cargo, so it was left alive within the cage. Due to the small size of the helicopter, and the weight of the cage, it was impossible to carry it away. Therefore, two guards were left behind to prevent the goods from escaping.

    <span>Even though two armored warriors were standing guard, Liu Gan wasn''t willing to take the risk of trying to assassinate Kingler. Even with just one armored warrior standing guard, he wouldn''t take the risk. The first lesson was to know thy enemy, and Liu Gan knew that it would be suicide to go now.

 Chapter 271

    <span>Chapter 271 - ident

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>TL: it''s over 9000!!!<hr>

    <span>The thunderstorm was blown by the wind, closer to the copsed research building. Within the storm clouds were bright white shes that lit up the sky intermittently. Energy was building up, until it reached a threshold. A single bolt of lightning would easily reach a billion volts, peaking to over ten billion volts. With this very optimal environment, it was easy to reach the maximum amount of voltage in the downpour.

    <span>Visibility was limited to a few feet, and the pouring rain drowned out other noises. Liu Gan and the other two yers were handicapped by the limited information avable to them. Even getting on the ground to listen was useless. They could only wait.

    <span>Until the heavyweight helicopter aircraft returned to pick up the remaining warriors and Kingler. Once the rain stopped pouring, it would be easier to examine the situation in the courtyard. Once safety was no longer a concern, they could examine the remains of theboratory.

    <span>"Brother Gan, are you safe?" Yin He''s voice came through the earphones. Even though the static was heavy, Liu Gan was able to make out her voice.

    <span>"I''m safe. Are you okay?" Liu Gan''s heart raced. There was nothing he could''ve wished for more than being able to hear her voice.

    <span>"I''ve¡­ been caught. I don''t have much time. I have a n. Hear me out first¡­" Yin He quickly replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>A few minutes prior to being caught, Yin He had been heavily injured. To prevent further loss of her nanobots from leaking serum, Yin He injected all of the remaining electrical sma storage sticks into her body. This initiated the repair system within her body to renovate the most heavily injured organs. Her movements had been slowed to a crawl due to damage to her electrical circuits. Even if she wanted to return to help Liu Gan, she was unable to move herself.

    <span>Yin He originally had the chance to escape, but Liu Gan''s presence nearby held her back. Even though the programming was written into her system, Yin He''s spiritual energy was able to fight against it. Her spiritual energy was able to triumph, Yin He didn''t want to escape without Liu Gan. She returned to the vicinity of the research building, but was easily captured by the armored warriors.

    <span>One peculiar armored warrior had bitten her and wouldn''t let go. It was the same warrior that Yin He had used his <span>Electric<span> Discharge Strike on initially. After getting struck by Yin He multiple times, the armored warrior was out for blood. With his arm getting struck more than a dozen times by the Electric Discharge Strike, it left scars. Once the armored warrior was able to finally track down Yin He, he broke one of her legs, then beat her brutally. Once he was finished, he broke her other leg, so she wasn''t able to move at all.

    <span>Right as the armored warrior pointed hisser at Yin He''s head, prepared to end her existence, Yin He''s main cranial microchip ceased all functions. As if he was following specific protocols, he didn''t proceed to damage her microchip. He just beat her until she could no longer move.

    <span>With the armored warrior holding her by the neck like a captured chicken that could not move, Yin He was dragged back to therge courtyard and thrown into a small alloy metal cage. After securing a lock onto the cage, three armored warriors stood guard over her, waiting for the heavyweight helicopter to take their new cargo back to headquarters.

    <span>Only after the thunderstorm cleared up and getting captured did Yin He get a chance tomunicate with Liu Gan through the earphones. The interference was too strong and had disrupted all regrmunications. The distance between them now was also closer, so it was possible to connect.

    <span>"What are your ns?" Liu Gan worriedly asked Yin He. He understood the overwhelming difference in ability between himself and the armored warriors. There was simply no way for him to rescue her.

    <span>"The clouds are densely packed while storingrge amounts of electrical energy, I have enough electrical sma nanobots to allow me to unleash onest Electric Discharge Strike that could potentially reach up to ten million volts! With the current amount of electrical energy stored in the clouds I can use my ability to attract a lightning strike of a billion volts! It is only possible due to being in this location.

    <span>"My n is to borrow the thunderstorm and bring down an attack that is straight from the heavens! My electric discharge will connect with the lightning and since the surrounding area is flooded with water, all I need to do is lure the lightning strike down onto the armored warriors. Even though lightning strike won''t be enough to kill them, it is enough to render them unconscious.

    <span>"Then you can take the chance to rush over and rescue me from this cage. As long as they are unconscious long enough, we can escape from this location," Yin He finished.

    <span>"With a billion volts or even ten billion volts? Would you be okay?" Liu Gan was concerned.

    <span>"When I was created, they used lightning to power me up in their designs. So this type of lightning won''t hurt me. These armored warriors haven''t been designed the same way, so I can withstand up to ten million volts, but not anything like a billion volts. Thepressed electric energy wille raining down. It is the only way I can think of that will have a chance of sess," Yin He calmly replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay," Liu Gan agreed, as he had no other choice. With Yin He reassuring him, he trusted her decision.

    <span>"First, I need to find the right opportunity to shoot my ability into the clouds to attract the lightning strike. When I do that, I will have to turn offmunications with you and you need to stay away from the water on the ground! When you hear the explosion, wait a moment before leaving. There might be residual lightning that lingers in the surroundings," Yin He advised Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay¡­" Liu Gan was really worried, but he could only agree. He was truly helpless in this situation.

    <span>"If Kingler is still alive after getting struck by the lightning, you must kill it! It will help you strengthen your abilities. If there is an ident, you need to forget about me and leave this ce as fast as you can! Their heavyweight helicopter will arrive here soon!" Yin He''s warned him before she cut offmunication.

    <span>"Wait? ident? What ident?" Liu Gan tried to ask, but the line was already off. There was no further response from Yin He.

    <span>Liu Gan crawled out from the hidden man-made cave and stood up, trying to see the courtyard through the pouring rain.

    <span>Minutes had gone by, and Liu Gan stood at the edge of the courtyard waiting. On one hand, he was worried if Yin He would be able to grasp the opportunity to use her ability. On the other hand, even though she says it was okay for her body to endure up to ten million volts, a billion volts could vaporize anyponent easily. If something went wrong, the overflow would shoot straight through her body. Would she really be able to withstand that?

 Chapter 272

    <span>Chapter 272 - Severed de

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The only thing for Liu Gan to do was to patiently wait for the signal.

    <span>Who else could he me, other than his weak self? Even in this situation he had to rely on Yin He. The numerous risks she had taken had taken their toll on her. She took all the risks while he enjoyed all the benefits.

    <span>The rain was still down pouring rapidly, and the drainage system wasn''t meant to handle this much water. The ground had umted several inches of ground water. The three armored warriors stood uncaring in the calf-deep puddles.unconcerned that the rainwater would seep into their armor and microchips.

    <span>Yin He stuck her hand out of the cage, and one of the armored warrior btedly felt something dangerous was going to happen as he noticed. Her sleeve de was out, gathering all of her energy at the tip, and she aimed it toward the most electrically charged area of the sky.

    <span>Inside the thunderclouds turbulently rolling over, every heartbeat meant more energy was getting condensed. Nearly a hundred billion volts was actually actually stored up there, just waiting for an outlet, the source of a violent outburst that would devastate the target of its wrath.

    <span>A hundred billion volts of highly suppressed lightning charges were lured down by the opposing electric charge and struck the ground. The Electric Discharge Strike shot from the ground into the clouds. With the supercharged atmosphere, it was nearly a direct pathway linking heaven and earth.

    <span>Even though the electric pathway was narrow, and far weaker than the charges of energy suppressed in the clouds. The effect was like a C4 explosion that momentarily lit up the entire cloud and created an opening. With an outlet created, the lightning immediately discharged along the path provided for it. The lightning strike was ten inch wide pathway down to therge courtyard where the armored warriors were!

    <span><em><strong>BOOM! </strong></em><span>The sound echoed in the night sky deafeningly. Ears were ringing, since it was in close proximity, and the ground was shaking...

    <span>The three armored warriors were struck as coteral damage and sent flying. Each warrior flew in a different direction over a dozen meters. Malfunctions due to the electrical st disrupted all body functions. Even though the microchip and armor escaped unscathed, their bodies were unconscious and their systems were rebooting.

    <span>Liu Gan and the other two yers were shielding themselves behind the rubble and arge piece of fallen cement. Even they felt the power behind the st, and part of the overhead cement ceiling started falling down on them.

    <span>The electricity that remained behind in the groundwater was fortunately being drained away. Liu Gan, Yan Su, and Zhang ShengLi quickly ran away from the avnche of rocks falling down. By the time they reached the standing water, the lightning had already dissipated.

    <span>Liu Gan charged toward the center of the courtyard and the location of the lightning strike. It was a ten-meter wide depression being rapidly filled by the rain. There were only scattered parts of the melted alloy cage spread across the hot zone. Kingler had more than half its cage still intact. But a third of its body was fused from absorbed the st through the cage. Thick flows of ck liquid were gushing out from its body.

    <span>There were no traces of the armored warriors near the depression. Yin He, who created the explosion, was missing from the scene. Liu Gan turned on his earphones, and heard only silence. The type of silence that symbolized the source was forever gone.

    <span>Liu Gan felt very uneasy. He shoved several active hand grenades into Kingler''s mouth and hid. The resulting sts broke its carapace in half and cooked its internals. A ck orb, of never before seen size, flowed out from Kingler and into Liu Gan.

    <span>The burning sensation that seeped through Liu Gan''s vein was unbearable. After getting this kill on Kingler, Liu Gan''s wrist watch now showed level 9! He had jumped two levels, from level 7 to level 9!

    <span>It should have been very exciting news, but Liu Gan wasn''t excited at all.

    <span>With the silence in his earphones and Yin He''s disappearance, Liu Gan instead felt quite miserable. Nothing like this had happened before, where Yin He had vanished without a trace.

    <span>Clearly, she had lied to him. She knew that once she was caught, there was no way of escaping, so she sacrificed herself. By using up her remaining energy, she had helped Liu Gan kill Kingler. She was able to create a winning opportunity out of a losing situation.

    <span>After killing Kingler, Liu Gan was distraught. He kept looking around, as if he was waiting for someone to show up.

    <span>He and Zhang ShengLi searched all around the courtyard, hoping that the explosion had merely sent her flying far away. Soon, Liu Gan found the three armored warriors. They wereying on the ground motionless and unconscious.

    <span>Yin He was nowhere to be found. There wasn''t even a body to confirm her death...until Zhang ShengLi dove into the bottom of the depression to find a severed Sleeve de that had belonged to Yin He.

    <span>The Sleeve de had many scorch marks, starting from the point of impact and down to its roots. The backside of the de was all melted metal.

    <span>Liu Gan instantly identified Yin He''s Sleeve de. The amount of lightning that came down on her surpassed her calctions and melted her along with the cage. This Sleeve de was thest remaining proof that she had once existed.

    <span>Liu Gan hugged the severed Sleeve de close to his chest while kneeling on the ground in the rain in misery.

    <span>This wasn''t the result that he had nned for. He would rather give up the two levels than lose Yin He forever. Now, he had no one.

    <span>"Elder Liu¡­" Zhang ShengLi started crying, tears mixing with the falling rain.

    <span>"No need to say it." Liu Gan answered hoarsely, clenching his fist tightly about that dagger.

    <strong>...</strong>

    <span>The armored warriors had very durable sets of armor, Zhang ShengLi and Yan Su spent most of the next few minutes trying to move the bodies to the courtyard exit.

    <span>"This whole trip, I haven''t been able to receive much. Since there are three of them and there are three of us, is it okay if we each took one?" Yan Su asked Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Even though it is hard to appreciate how the armored warriors could be beneficial, but risking their life on this trip made it hard to return empty handed.

    <span>"If you join our camp, we can give you one and that won''t be a problem. If you don''t join, then that''s too regrettable. We can''t allocate you one," Zhang ShengLi said as he shook his head.

    <span>"That can''t be right? I thought we came here to cooperate on the mission. I didn''t know there was a requirement of joining someone else''s camp. In my previous group, Wang C<span>hao<span> agreed to have all treasures allocated equally," Yan Su protested to Zhang ShengLi''s.

    <span>Liu Gan rushed over with a fire axe in his hand and smashed it onto the armored warrior''s chest. The fire axe had no effect and broke from the recoil, without even scratching the body of the armored warrior.<hr>

    TL: Noooo Yin He :(

 Chapter 273

    <span>Chapter 273 - Shootout

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    TL: I want to do a poll: Is Yin He dead? It would be easier if youmented: Y or N.

    Sponsored Chapter by Joseph S. Thank you!<hr>

    <span>Washed by the rain, the armor was cleaned of dust and debris, revealing its natural shine. There were no signs of any damage on the armor at all! It was really unimaginable what type of material was used to create the armor!

    <span>The alloy armor provided full coverage, covering the most important parts and even the joints. With the full protection armor, these Warriors of the Future had no weakness.

    <span>Liu Gan extracted the dagger from his wristwatch and tried stabbing at the connecting joints. He also tried to smash as hard as he could onto the armor and various parts to vent his anger. There was either no visible damage or very minute scratches on the surface.

    <span>With the lightning energy all expended and the rain starting to thin out, the thunderstorm started to let up. The gusts of wind gradually faded to light breezes. The night sky brightened up as the clouds dissipated.

    <span>"I asked for one of them, and that is giving you a lot of face. If we keep arguing, you won''t be able to get any of them!" Yan Su angrily dered. While saying that, Yan Su had backed up to the courtyard wall.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi instinctively backed up as he saw Yan Su''s change of attitude. Under the cover of the rainwater, a dozen men led by a man wearing a ck raincoat had appeared. This group of men rappelled off of the high wall quickly, and strapped on their shoulders were assault rifles. Afternding in the courtyard, they promptly aimed them at Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"You dare to ambush us?" Zhang ShengLi said to Yan Su, shocked.

    <span>"Both of you are really strong. Just from that fact, I will try to convince my leader to let you live if you relinquish your desire for the three armored warriors and join our group. But if you refuse our offer, then I apologize in advance for what we might do to you," Yan Su shouted as he backed up to the ck raincoat leader.

    <span>"Do you think your hollow threats mean anything to me?" Liu Gan stood up and looked at Yan Su''s group.

    <span>The rainwater had thoroughly soaked through Liu Gan''s clothes, but it wasn''t enough to cool down his current rage. The misery of losing Yin He, was devastating. It reminded him of the pain that he had suffered a year ago. Falling into loss once again, this feeling was even worse than before. To have gained something and then to lose it, it was a feeling worse than death.This group of men rushing up and threatening them must have a death wish.

    <span>If Liu Gan couldn''t hurt the armored warriors, he could only vent his anger on this idiotic group of yers.

    <span>"Hey buddy, if you think your level is so much higher than I am, then I advise you to rethink your action. I have soldiers on the ground with assault rifles, and on the wall are my snipers and men with rocketunchers. It might not hurt you, and I know that. But, have you given any thoughts about your friend?" Yan Su saw how angry Liu Gan was, and immediately took two steps back.

    <span>As expected, every men in full gear, except the snipers, stood up and aimed their assault rifles and rocketunchers at Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>How the hell did these group of people get so lucky to have looted an army amunitions depot and for it to be fully stocked with all these powerful weapons?

    <span>Liu Gan burst forward in a charge at Yan Su. No one else reacted fast enough to shoot. As Liu Gan used his left w to sp onto Yan Su''s throat, his right hand smashed toward Yan Su''s head. In one strike, he shattered Yan Su''s primitive Mist Armor. The following two strikes, Liu Gan ttened Yan Su''s brain into mush with all the meat spilling out.

    <span>A level 6 yer facing off with Liu Gan at level 9, it was a joke. The weaker yer can''t take more than a few hits.

    <span>As if their brains were on a dy, chaos ensued when they realized that one of their own had died. Bullets started flying out from assault rifle and sniper rifles, all aimed toward Liu Gan''s body. The bullets all ricochet off his body since nothing was capable of breaking through his evolved Mist Armor.

    <span>While being shot at, Liu Gan stood up to look at the ck raincoated leader as his next target. Raincoat''s expression was not that of someone who wanted to fight anymore, it was closer to that of regret than sadness. There was no signs of anger radiating from him.

    <span>Liu Gan would never have thought that he would develop feelings with his frozen heart. Ever since that night he got stuck on Mt. Everest, he didn''t think it would thaw for anyone. That was until a few days ago on top of the lighthouse. In the freezing cold, Liu Gan was reminded of the same scenario, but this time he felt warmth. It was the warmth that came from Yin He. It was enough to reach the depths of his frozen heart.

    <span>As soon as it began, it ended a few dayster. Liu Gan had forever lost Yin He. She was one of the few things he cared for, and the pain of her being gone was unbearable, no different from when he had lost his arms and legs.

    <span>Even if he reached max level, what was the point? What is the meaning of ying alone?

    <span>"Everyone stop! Stop shooting! Let''s talk it over!" Raincoat shouted out. Once everyone else heard the order, they obediently stopped.

    <span>"The armored warriors with their helicopter aircrafts are going to return soon! There is no need for us to kill each other! If they return here now, both sides won''t be able to get anything. We could possibly die here! Let''s talk this out, rather than fight a pointless battle. We will take two suits of armor and you can have one of them. How about it?" Raincoat suggested to Liu Gan. While speaking his proposal, he took multiple steps away from Liu Gan.

    <span>Raincoat truly regretted jumping off the wall. Facing against this monstrous yer that couldn''t be killed by bullets, the leader could easily infer that Liu Gan was several levels above his own level. It was confirmed when Yan Su was insta-killed. Even with more gunmen, they wouldn''t be able to prate through Liu Gan''s defense.

    <span>But the current situation was as Raincoat had said, the armored warriors were minutes away from the courtyard location. If the battle was tost any longer, no one would survive. Their original n was to have Yan Su slip in as a double agent, then kill Wang Chao''s group with the loot. Now the new n was to take the small benefit and leave before the helicopter arrived.<hr>

    TL: I am so sad about Yin He.

 Chapter 274

    <span>Chapter 274 - Awaken

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>A side thought that the ck raincoat leader had was to silently tail Liu Gan, then use their heavy assault weapons to take over Liu Gan''s camp.<span> At least, that was the idea before they had fully grasped their opponent''s capabilities! Raincoat took the risk of facing off against Liu Gan before gauging the enemy.

    <span>"I will give you onest chance. Leave this ce now! If you are still in my visual field by the count of ten, then that means you don''t want to live!" Liu Gan coldly replied to the proposal.

    <span>Despite not knowing if the three armored warriors on the ground were actually dead or merely unconscious, Liu Gan was determined to hold onto them. He wasn''t actually sure if he could even carry them back to the prisonpound. What he did know was that Yin He risked her life for this opportunity. It was her final legacy, so Liu Gan would not tolerate anyone tainting it.

    <span>"You refuse and trample on our kindness! We have conceded a lot already. Look up! We didn''t even use the rocketunchers yet! The amount of damage from those weapons is catastrophic! If you insist on taking all of them, then I will drag you down as I go down!" retorted Raincoat. The leader hid behind several of his soldiers before shouting that out to Liu Gan.

    <span>"You want to take me down? Even if you want to, are you even qualified?!"

    <span>In a blink of an eye, Liu Gan disappeared from his spot and reappeared right in front of the two soldiers guarding their leader. With a talon-like grip, Liu Gan grabbed onto the leader''s neck and rushed all the way to the wall.

    <span>A level nine yer facing off against a level six yer. The difference in strength and speed was iparable.

    <span>What Liu Gan had said was right. Even if the enemy leader wanted to sacrifice himself, he wasn''t qualified. If the rocketunchers were used, the leader would die, but Liu Gan woulde out unscathed.

    <span>At the level-up from 7 to 9, Mist Armor''s density had increased ten fold. Even with multiple firearms concentrating the attacks on Liu Gan, they could only whittle down ten percent of Liu Gan''s Mist Armor. One rocketuncher would take off only a few percentage points from its durability.

    <span>With Liu Gan''s improved Mist Armor, his defense was better, but his offensive capabilities were still below that of the armored warriors. The difference now was that Liu Gan wouldn''t immediately die when shot by aser. His Mist Armor could endure the st long enough for Liu Gan to dodge.

    <span>"Elder¡­ let''s talk¡­ this through¡­ Behind! Behind you!" cried the enemy leader when he saw something more frightening behind Liu Gan.

    <span>"Elder Liu! Be careful! They are awake!" Zhang ShengLi cried out.

    <span>Liu Gan turned around, to see that of the three armored warriors, one of them had awakened and sat up. It looked around, then stood up. The light rain washing off the shiny armor was like a walking beacon of death.

    <span>The armored warriors were really powerful, symbolizing death itself. Just looking at the armored warrior was enough to deter even the strongest yer. After getting struck by a hundred billion volts, the armored warrior only needed some down time, and it was as good as new after awakening.

    <span>This armored warrior looked around the walls and was able to instantly detect threats. It raised up its arm and locked onto a target. Several urately aimedsers pierced through the brains of several snipers and soldiers with rocketunchers. Those men didn''t even have time to scream, they just dropped like flies from the wall.

    <span>Then, with the other hand, it aimed at Raincoat.

    <span>"Throw down your weapons! Everyone kneel." The armored warrior walked closer. Even though it had a raspy voice, the meaning was clear. All the men got down on their knees as ordered.

    <span>That raised an eyebrow from Liu Gan. He looked at this peculiar armored warrior. Prior to this, he had never heard of themmunicating in the samenguage. From what Yin He had said earlier, these armored warriors didn''t need to understand thenguage of subpar species, just like how humans didn''t need to know what ants were saying to one another.

    <span>But this peculiar armored warrior was definitely speaking the samenguage.

    <span>Liu Gan released Raincoat from his grasp. Right now, his target wasn''t this group of men. It was the armored warrior, since Yin He was dead because of them.

    <span>"Elder! Let''s not fight amongst ourselves! Let''s fight together. I will follow you from now on!" imed the leader. After being released from Liu Gan''s chokehold, the leader was going to side with Liu Gan since only strong yers could oppose the armored warriors.

    <span>Liu Gan coldly stared down Raincoat. He had an indescribable hatred against the armored warriors. The problemy with being able to actually damage them. Even when the armored warriors were unconscious, there was nothing Liu Gan could do to hurt them. So now that one was awake, what could he do?

    <span>To avenge Yin He, the only thing he was able to do is use the group of men as a distraction for the armored warrior so he could escape, waiting until he reaches level 10 or higher to eliminate their nest. That would be the appropriate way to avenge Yin He.

    <span>If he gets angry and rushes into the enemy, he would die a pointless death. Not only would he not be able to avenge Yin He, he would''ve died without meaning. With the aching pain in his heart, he wouldn''t risk doing something so idiotic.

    <span>"Block him!" the leader shouted at his men, as they picked up their weapons on the ground.

    <span>There was a soldier who wasn''t very bright. With the heat of the moment getting into his head, he really tried to shoot at the armored warrior. The bullet ricocheted off the body armor and only sparks were produced. With oneser shot, the soldier fell.

    <span>"Brother Gan, these people. Do we need to kill them all?" the peculiar armored warrior suddenly asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"You¡­" Liu Gan tensed up.

    <span>In this world, only one person called him Brother Gan. It was a joke that he had told Yin He since he didn''t want to be called master all the time. So he told her to call him Brother Gan.

    <span>"I am not them. I am Yin He." the peculiar armored warrior told him.

 Chapter 275

    <span>Chapter 275 - Ambush

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>TL: Go to chapter 125 for reference of what Yin He is referring to.<hr>

    <span>Even though there were stuttering between every other word, Liu Gan was able to make out the meaning behind the sentence.

    <span>"How could¡­this be?" Liu Gan was shocked.

    <span>"The other two armored warriors are almost finished rebooting their systems. I will tell you everything when we get back. Do we need to kill these people?" Yin He asked Liu Gan. As Yin He was speaking, her voice program wasn''t on the right frequency, so her pitch would shift from high to low and asionally switch between male and female. It was very weird to listen to.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at the group of men apathetically.

    <span>"We surrender! Let us live!"

    <span>When Liu Gan nced over, the group of men had already ced their weapons on the ground and were on their knees.

    <span>This group of yers had previously sent scouts to survey the situation, so they already knew the overwhelming difference in power between yers and the armored warriors. It was impossible to win a fight against the warriors. They had also just witnessed how Yin He had killed multiple soldiers with herser in a few seconds.

    <span>Aside from that, there was also Liu Gan. with his enhanced Mist Armor that could withstand the concentrated attacks of firearms. At the moment he killed Yan Su, Liu Gan revealed his superiority amongst the yers in the area. So Raincoat was hoping to pit Liu Gan against the armored warrior, then escape in the confusion. Raincoat would never have thought that the armored warrior and Liu Gan were together.

    <span>What to do with this situation? There was no way to resolve this, no matter how they thought about it! They were still unsure how the armored warrior was working with Liu Gan, but that didn''t matter. It was worth the try if they tossed down their weapons and surrendered now, instead of getting obliterated by retaliating.

    <span>"Leave them, they may still have some use," Liu Gan replied.

    <span> "Okay." Yin He replied as she retracted the sharp de and walked to the motionless bodies of the other two armored warriors.

    <span><em>This peculiar armored warrior dered herself as Yin He, and she even obeys Elder Liu</em><span>. This confused Zhang ShengLi. For the moment, Zhang ShengLi decided to follow Liu Gan, there were too many questionable situations and this was one of those moments, but Zhang ShengLi never asked. Once all the sniper rifles, rocketunchers, and assault rifles were on the ground, they were bundled together and tied up with rope.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi secured all the firearms, then kicked every one of the soldiers over to check for magazines, hand grenades, handguns, and any other useful items.

    <span>Raincoat and his soldiers had no idea how it was possible that the awakened warrior had teamed up with the two surviving yers. It was just something unfathomable to them. The worst part was that Zhang ShengLi was violently manhandling them during the search. Zhang ShengLi even kicked them down onto the ground. Discontent was brewing within the soldiers hearts, but not enough for them to revolt.

    <span>Liu Gan''s power was not to be messed with, nor his pet warrior. The soldiers were thinking about how unbearable the treatment was, it was as if Liu Gan wouldn''t allow the group to continue ying their way.

    <span>Raincoat thought that he''d made an ingenious move to sneak a healer yer in the mix, so that he could ambush Wang Chao''s group. In the end, all the sneaky nning was useless. The healer was the first to lose his life and now all their firearms and explosives were handed over.

    <span>In the end, whom had ambushed whom?

    <span>The makeshift knapsack that Zhang ShengLi had on his back was filled with seized firearms, magazines, hand grenades, and two packages of C4 explosives. What a rewarding harvest! With these powerful weapons andrge amounts of explosives, the prisonpound would be better defended.

    <span>"Where did you get these firearms and ammunition? Where is your base camp?" Zhang ShengLi started interrogating the soldiers.

    <span>As Zhang ShengLi was doing his interrogations, Yin He walked back toward Liu Gan. She had tried to pry open the armor of the other two unconscious warriors for several minutes, but was unsessful.

    <span>She was trying to rob all the photon nanites from the two warriors to replenish herself, but discovered that there was a special authentication required for the procedure. So unless the armored warrior voluntarily opened up their body armor, no one could forcefully pry it open.

    <span>"Their helicopter will arrive here any moment! We need to leave now! Follow me!" Yin He whispered to Liu Gan as she sensed the presence of the enemy.

    <span>Liu Gan was silent. He was hesitating whether or not to follow this peculiar armored warrior that called herself Yin He.The difference in appearance caused difort in his heart. In the end, he was d that she was still alive and that was most important to him.

    <span>Yin He started running a few steps and discovered that her pace was very slow. Her speed was not worth speaking about. After thinking briefly, she turned on several sequences that hid away all the heavy body armor within the dimension space in her chest.

    <span>After storing away the heavy armor, Yin He''s body was glistening with a metallic glow. Her first few steps were very clumsy, but she adapted to the change quickly. This was another body form of the Warriors of the Future. By storing the heavy body armor into another dimensional space, speed and range of motion increased tenfold.

    <span>The price of losing the heavy protective armor would mean that their defense was drastically lowered. It wouldn''t be like before, where the warrior was invulnerable.

    <span>The full set of body armor didn''t have any weak points, the only downside of wearing it was the heavy weight. Movement would be limited, so running wouldn''t be an option. With their powerfulser attack, they could simply snipe their targets from afar. As long as the target was within viewing range, it would be hard to escape unharmed, so there was no need for the warriors to stash away their armor.

    <span>Right now, Yin He''s priority was to lead Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi to escape. To guarantee that their speed wouldn''t be slowed down, it was necessary to stash away the heavy armor. If she wore the heavy armor, even a normal civilian could catch up to her.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi kicked the group of soldiers a few more times, then caught up to Liu Gan and Yin He, heading toward therge gate exit.

    <span>When Yin He arrived at therge gate, her fist retracted and in its ce was a sharp object. She aimed it at the gate lock and the lights changed from red to green. Therge gate smoothly opened up, and the three of them rushed out of the small courtyard into therge courtyard.

    <span>The moment the three yers passed through the gate, it closed behind them. Zhang ShengLi looked back at the gate, and found it was now camouged with the surrounding wall. It was impossible to tell there was a gate there!

 Chapter 276

    <span>Chapter 276 - Memories

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span><em>After the three of them left the small courtyard¡­</em>

    <span>The leader looked at the two armored warriors. Hesitating on the decision of whether or not to take the warriors back to base, the leader thought for a short while. If he didn''t take the chance, then this trip would be a total loss, as all their firearms were confiscated by Zhang ShengLi. With several soldiers left, they can still secure one of the warrior without problem. If they descended the mountain, he had an escape van waiting.

    <span>The problem was, what would happen if the warriors woke up?

    <span>There was a solution! It was to tie them up so tightly that they can''t move to fight. Then carry them back to base and they can experiment as much as they want. Surely, their electric saw will be able to crack it open? Or¡­there would be experience after the kill?

    <span>The leader exined the n to his followers and the more they found out, the more afraid they became. They were going to walk up to the armored warrior and tie it up, while praying that it wouldn''t wake up. For safety''s sake, they were going to use all the ropes to prevent escape.

    <span>The leader couldn''t open therge gate exit after tying up the warriors. So the only way out was to leave the same way they came in. A few soldiers climbed back up the wall to escape. The rest of the soldiers were below the wall and moved the warriors closer to the wall.

    <span>With the soldiers''bined strength, they lifted one body halfway up the wall. The rebooting sequence of the armored warriors finished about that time, and it woke up. The armored warrior discovered that it was suspended in the rope, so it opened up a hiddenpartment. Out from thepartment came a flexible electric saw, that quickly cut out all the ropes.

    <span>At that moment, when Raincoat realized he had messed up. Quickly he ran in the other direction. The soldiers on the top of the wall jumped off onto the side of therge courtyard and were the lucky ones since they were able to escape.

    <span>The soldiers that remained within the wall were all inside the small courtyard, the quicker ones were able to hide behind the copsed Research Building. The two armored warriors shotsers aimed at the slower soldiers. One by one, the soldiers fell.

    <span>Raincoat and the rest of the soldiers were on the wall, so they were able to rush out to the side of therge courtyard. They only took a few steps, and heard sounds of an engine roaring through the night sky. The heavyweight helicopter aircraft was right above therge courtyard. They had discovered Raincoat and his soldiers. Down came a shower ofsers from the helicopter.

    <span>Sadly, Raincoat and the soldiers were just regr humans when it came to receiving aser attack head on. Little did they expect that from their own ambush, they would pay with their lives and weapons.

    <span>It was at this moment that Raincoat finally understood why Liu Gan had allowed them to remain alive. It was¡­ to use them as decoys. These decoys will struggle for their lives as long as they could and buy time. Even if it was just a minute or two, it would help Liu Gan escape.

    <span>They had done their duty of being a cannon fodder diversion.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Right about then, Liu Gan had a more personal issue he had to worry about. He really wanted to ask Yin He about everything. But, the situation wasn''t the right time for it. First, they had to leave this sticky situation.

    <span>Liu Gan, Zhang ShengLi and the self-proimed Yin He escaped from the small courtyard through the camouged door, then rushed out of therge courtyard into the woods before the helicopter returned.

    <span>Whether it was the rain clearing up or the sun setting, night was drawing closer.

    <span>Meanwhile, while Yin He was running down the mountain, she kept pressing on the miniscreen on her chest. It was to turn off all traces of tracking-rted services on her body. Evidently, some signals were harder to turn off than others. In the end, she was only able to extend the frequency between each signal to every five hours.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Yin He, what happened? How did you be like this?" Liu Gan finally asked, as they reached their starting point, where they parked the car within a cave.

    <span>Even though these issues were discussed privately, Zhang ShengLi was there. He wasn''t an outsider anymore, so Liu Gan and Yin He didn''t feel the need to keep him in the dark.

    <span>"There is something I have been hiding from you. It''s not like I wanted to hide it from you, but it''s because I haven''t figured it out myself. So that''s why I haven''t mentioned it," Yin He finally replied to Liu Gan. By now, she had figured out the voice modtion for the armored warrior and spoke more clearly.

    <span>With the right modtion, she tried her best to match her previous voice from her former body to make it more recognizable to Liu Gan.

    <span>"What is it?" Liu Gan quickly asked.

    <span>"Today, I remembered my former life. Memories were sealed deep within my spirit. I can only remember fragments of it, but I was not a biochemical android originally¡­

    <span>"My precious life¡­I was the sma within the universe neb storm. I don''t know how I wandered all the way onto this, where I was captured and ced into the body of the biochemical android. At least, that was until the thunderstorm. The lightning strike of a hundred billion volts that shattered my cage¡­

    <span>"The moment my sma spirit was released from that body, I followed the current of a hundred billion volts of electricity to invade into the body of the warrior. I quickly took control of their control center and that is how I became like this," Yin He exined.

    <span>"A sma Spirit?" Zhang ShengLi was shocked, as it was his first time hearing this.

    <span>"Yes, ording to my fragmented memory. A sma spirit that was able to wander the gxy. When I have a lot of spirit energy, I can wander through the gxies easily, but when I have little, I have to leech off of biological creatures and electrical machines.

    <span>"Right now my spirit energy is very weak, I can only rely on this body to survive. It was fortunate that when when my android body was shattered, there was a connecting voltage tunnel to transfer my spirit over. Otherwise¡­," Yin He continued.

    <span>"If you hadn''t been able to sessfully take control of the body, what would you do?" Liu Gan interrupted.

    <span>"If I wasn''t sessful in taking over, then my spirit would be scattered into the wind. With a major part of my memory destroyed, I would take shape as wandering sma until I extinguish my energy. I would simply vanish from the endless universe," Yin He replied.

    <span>"So when you were telling me that the lightning strike wouldn''t hurt you, was that a lie?" Liu Gan sternly asked.

 Chapter 277

    <span>Chapter 277 - Virtual

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>TL: Normal lightning strikes are a billion volts (ref: wiki). She was struck by a hundred billion volts. -_-<hr>

    <span>"No, I didn''t lie to you! I just never would''ve thought howpressed the energy within the clouds was. My former body was a lot weaker than I imagined so it waspletely destroyed," Yin He answered.

    <span>"No matter what, from now on, you must decide to live as your first choice. Even if you are captured, don''t do anything stupid like sacrificing yourself with the enemy. I won''t let you do that," Liu Gan held onto Yin He''s icy cold alloy metal hands.

    <span>"I know you''ve always wanted to kill Kingler. You''ve been chasing it for ten days, so after I got caught I didn''t think too much. Since I was heavily injured, I just wanted to help you achieve your goal. At that time, I felt that even if I was able to bring down my enemy through my sacrifice, it would''ve been worth." Yin He looked at Liu Gan, as her hands were held tightly.

    <span>"Are you stupid? It is more important that you are alive. As for my leveling, I will eventually level up, but if you are dead then what is the point if I maxed out my level?" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>The moment Liu Gan thought that he had lost her, his heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. Even if he knew that he would pull himself together eventually, this type of heart wrenching pain would linger for a long time.

    <span>It was simr to the time when he had his limbs amputated. Her importance to him, far exceeded the value of the limbs.

    <span>"Having followed Elder Liu for so long, I have never seen him so passionate toward someone. You must be a lucky woman. I think I should¡­ disappear for awhile," Zhang ShengLi said as he moved toward the entrance of the cave to stare outside.

    <span>"Woman¡­" Yin He realized something was wrong.

    <span>"Will you keep that look from now on?" Liu Gan asked Yin He. Even though the voice frequency matched her original body, the physical shape of the armored warrior was still there. It was not aplete humanoid look.

    <span>"You don''t like my current look?" Yin He asked.

    <span>"As long as you are alive, nothing else matters." Liu Gan shook his head. Despite having said that, Liu Gan was rather fond of the previous features of the humanoid Yin He, especially her beautiful cheeks. But this body was better off in protecting her safety.

    <span>"You liked the previous humanoid me?" Yin He inquired again.

    <span>"The previous you was simr to humanoid shape. Since I met you first in that form, I''ve recognized that body to be you. There were also a lot of valuable memories we had together. But even if you are like this now, I will still love you," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>Yin He looked at Liu Gan without making a sound. After a brief moment, she yed with the function on her chest panel screen. Her body outlines and the metallic luster started changing. Even the skin tone was starting to be simr to human color. Her chest recovered to the size suitable for a fully matured female. Her face gradually took form matching her old self. Her body and face had the right sizes and proportions of a hot model.

    <span>It was a good thing that the skintight clothing didn''t rip off in the transformation, otherwise Brother Gan would''ve bled out from his nose.

    <span>Lastly, her beautiful ck hair revealed itself. From a closer look, there was no big difference between the current Yin He and the old Yin He.

    <span>"What is this technology?" Liu Gan shockingly stared at Yin He. With the sudden change in appearance, he felt much morefortable with her.

    <span>"Virtual Space Technology, it is simr to the camouging precipice and high wall from earlier. It messes with your sense of sight and touch, so that I am almost the same as my former self." Yin He exined. The technology she used was a lot more advanced than the mentioned camouges. There were some things that she couldn''t do before, but would now be able to do it with this body.

    <span>"To maintain this type of virtual space mode, would that consume a lot of energy?" Liu Gan touching Yin He''s face. Liu Gan had mixed emotions about this.

    <span>"Maintaining the virtual space mode wouldn''t use up a lot of energy, but changing between two different shapes would. It wastes a lot of energy to readjust the change in shape. So if you don''t need me to change my shape too often, then I wouldn''t have to spend too much energy," Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Is she back to the original form in your eyes?" Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi. These armored warriors used technology that was way too advanced. It far exceeded his imagination.

    <span>"Yeah. It is simr to that cliff precipice situation. It affects everyone''s sense of sight," Yin He nodded.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi overheard the two speak the whole time, and quickly looked back. Upon confirming that Yin He was indeed back to her former self, he congratted Liu Gan and stared out of the cave again.

    <span>"You finally returned to the old you. Even though it is using virtual space technology, it doesn''t matter. You are even stronger than before." Liu Gan embraced Yin He. Even though it felt strange, he was happy for her.

    <span>The overwhelming power of the warriors, Liu Gan had experienced it first hand. It was so powerful, that once their armor was equipped, they were basically invulnerable.

    <span>It seemed that this trip to the secretboratory was a profitable journey. Zhang ShengLi reached level 6 and Liu Gan had reached level 9. Compared to other yers that started at the same time, it was a mountain of difference in experience. In addition, Yin He''s new body, rebirthed anew by the hundred billion volts, was far more powerful.

    <span>"There is one thing that I must tell you." Yin He said to Liu Gan. It was something she was hiding so she was concerned.

    <span>"What is it?" Liu Gan grew serious.

    <span>"This body is powerful, but there is a problem. Every armored warrior has a distinct serial number. After a certain amount of time, the tracking device on my wrist will automatically activate and send a signal to a satellite of my position. I couldn''t turn it off. Since it is very closely linked to some important circuits, I can''t remove it. So the only thing I can do now is maximize the time frame of when it sends a signal. Now it is set to send a signal every five hours.

    <span>"So within these five hours, if I can''t find a way to remove the transmission, they will be able to track me down. I don''t know what they might do once they track me down, but if I don''t remove, it, they will not let the matter go once they find out I have stolen their advanced warrior," Yin He exined.

    <span>"Ah, that is indeed quite troublesome. Let''s quickly resolve it," Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"Then¡­ would using lead rings block out the transmission sent out to the satellite?" Zhang ShengLi interrupted. Even though his back was to Liu Gan and Yin He, he kept eavesdropping, but this time he couldn''t help butting into the conversation.

 Chapter 278

    <span>Chapter 278 - Search

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Ah, that could be considered if we found the right sized lead ring to put on her wrist. That should be sufficient to block off transmissions," Yin He replied to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Let''s wait until that helicopter aircraft leaves before we head back to theboratory to search for any lead ring or simr object that could interfere with transmissions," Liu Gan instructed.

    <span>"Even though it is a five hour time frame before sending out the signal, this body actually requires a lot of energy to sustain. As of right now, I haverge quantities of polymerized photons within the body, but this energy would be used up eventually without a way of replenishing it."

    <span>"I was unable to open up the outer body armor of the two unconscious warriors and take away their polymerized photons. I only have two vials as backup. If I don''t partake in battle, I canst two months. If I keep using myser, that would cut through my energy supply. So if I don''t find a sufficient method to replenish my reserves, then I will face an energy crisis again," Yin He continued.

    <span>Whenever these armored warriors were executing their missions, especially afterbat, it would be scheduled to return to the mothership to receive more polymerized photons to replenish their energy. It was absolutely certain that Yin He wouldn''t be able to return to the mothership to refill her energy, so her fuel was a major concern.

    <span>Even though the secretboratory offered high voltage electrical sma to replenish the nanobots, it could also feed her like an appetizer. The rate at which her body spent energy was higher than the rate of replenishment from sma. So even with more electrical sma, it was far less useful with her newly upgraded body.

    <span>"What is the energy consumption rate for hand-to-handbat?" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span> "Hand-to-handbat consumes just as much as regr operations," Yin He calcted.

    <span>"Well unless it is absolutely necessary, don''t use theser inbat. For the enemies that we encounter day-to-day, hand-to-hand would be more than enough," Liu Gan instructed Yin He.

    <span>"There is one more thing. With the Spatialized Armor configuration, my defense is close to imprable. If I was under constant fire, I canst up to three to four days," Yin He continued.

    <span>"Ah¡­ Imprablees at a cost." Liu Gan shook his head. Seems like he must resolve the energy issue for Yin He, and fast too. Otherwise, she would be limited in every battle with the constant worry of expending too much energy.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Elder Liu, I was able to obtain some useful intel from the soldiers before. It might be useful to you," Zhang ShengLi started to chime in after Liu Gan was done talking.

    <span>"What intel?" Liu Gan''s curiosity was piqued.

    <span>"I asked them where they obtained their weapons. Under the threat of dying, they finally told me their secret. The weapons were looted from an amphibious airship docked at Green Pao Bay¡­ the name of that airship is <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. That is their current base and there are around thirty more soldiers waiting in there with ample supply of ammunitions and food," Zhang ShengLi exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"<span><em>Serenity</em><span>?" Liu Gan shook his head in disbelief. From NinJing City he had headed all the way south, all for this very same airship that was just mentioned. Due to constant obstacles, and Kingler''s appearance sidetracking him, he hadn''t been able to head to Green Pao Bay.

    <span>It seemed like the<span><em> Serenity</em><span> had been docked at Green Pao Bay for longer than the designated amount of days. Nearby yers were able to capture the aircraft before it left and then fortified it as their base.

    <span>"Elder Liu. Should we try¡­," Zhang ShengLi asked, testing Liu Gan''s next step.

    <span>"What other information did you get? Like where is the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> parked? Can it fly? Did they mention how they seized the aircraft?" Liu Gan asked Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"Right as I was questioning them, I couldn''t inquire the details before I had to rush out with you. If I knew that this was so important, I would''ve asked that first," Zhang ShengLi said with an embarrassed expression.

    <span>"Oh nothing. I was only casually mentioning it. After tonight''s matter, it seems like I must head toward Green Pao Bay regardless of the situation going on there. All of the food and ammunitions will be taken since I want that airship," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>Between two hostile forces at y, in a dog-eat-dog-world, there is rarely a chance for coexistence. Even if the people onboard the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> hadn''t ambushed Liu Gan, it wouldn''t have mattered. Since Liu Gan had deemed it necessary to use that airship to get off this ind, it was actually good that their camp members had initiated the fight, that way it was justifiable for Liu Gan to take action.

    <span>After a hostile takeover of the <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, whether the yers or survivors live or die will depend on their attitude.

    <span>"Elder Liu, then when we head to Green Pao Bay, you must bring me along¡­," Zhang ShengLi immediately suggested.

    <span>"Shh..." Yin He pointed at the sky, and hushed Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>The transport''s engine was rumbling loudly as it closed in on Liu Gan''s location. Immediately, they stopped talking and hid inside the cave, not moving a muscle.

    <span>Bright light from the aircraft yed over the ground. The spot where the light struck was bright as daytime. Since the forest was lush with forestry, Liu Gan''s hiding spot in the cave was overlooked. After several minutes, the transport aircraft flew to a different spot to search. With the disappearance of the aircraft, Yin He''s nervous look went away.

    <span>"They finally left, it went far away from our location," Yin He said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"These armored warriors, what are they? Were you able to get any information?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"I was able to get some information. It was stored in its memory. They were from a region of the universe, Deep Space. They arrived on a mothership that had docked in this area for a time. The armored warriors were sent out on the transport aircraft to perform different missions, such as capturing suitable specimens for experiment," Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"When you said mothership¡­is it a spacecraft? It sounds like their technology is very advanced. Howe they couldn''t find us when we were hiding here?" Liu Gan suddenly asked.

    <span>"The armored warriors have very abnormal conduct. Some of their technology is very advanced, but in other areas they are very primitive," Yin He told him.

    <span>"If they are searching, they rely on sight and sound. Just like in the research building before, when you and Zhang ShengLi hid under the bed, you were able to escape detection. You were able to escape so easily because of their limited sensory abilities."

 Chapter 279

    <span>Chapter 279 - Machine Zombie

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>While the transport aircraft was still searching the dense forest with the bright searchlight, it hadn''t discovered the location of Liu Gan. There were many countries with armies that had thermosensing technology to search through thick forests for humans.

    <span>"ording to the data, more than half a month ago was the time when the apocalypse urred. These armored warriors frequently received various missions to execute. The number of missions ordered were quite frequent. It is as if an intelligent creature was managing their every movement. It seems that when the catastrophe was urring,the mothership suffered severe damage. Then for the next ten days, these warriors were in aatose state and did nothing. That was when they restarted functioning, but the one difference was that their missionpletion rate was very low. The mission content had changed¡­ it became very simplistic," Yin He continued.

    <span>"You said that their mothership was damaged?" Liu Gan was confused.

    <span>"Well ording to my data, the mothership belongs to a certain unknown faction. There was amander, who is the mastermind, left behind operating the mothership. Thismander was responsible for choosing specimens for experimenting. I found out that the white-coat scientist we met on the ind in the middle of theke is part of their crew.

    <span>"The issue is that on the day of the catastrophe, how the mothership had sustained damage is still hard to tell. I don''t know if it was under attack since there are no records of it on the mothership. It seems that the mothership was heavily damaged and all the intelligent creatures aboard are dead. Without any intelligent mastermind operating it, the mothershipputer mainframe took over the duty of governance and maintenance. So most of the self-renovation and restoration work is all ordered byputer¡­

    <span>"After taking over control, there were no further orders from any intelligent personnel, so theputer mainframe is simply finishing off all the upleted missions. Since the mothership was damaged, the system hasn''t been able to fully repair itself. It would exin why asionally in missions, they would do incoherent things.This would exin most of the strange behavior of the warriors.

    <span>"The transport aircraft that was just here wasn''t able to detect our presence, it seems like the detection device hasn''t been regrly inspected. Perhaps their purpose wasn''t to search for us, but rather they were executing their mission - to look for a missingpanion. It must be a preset protocol. If only I could turn off that transmission, that would stop them from searching for me," Yin He finished replying to Liu Gan.

    <span>Listening to Yin He speak about the details of the mothership, Liu Gan understood most of it. The faction of armored warriors was on the verge of breaking. These warriors were only trying to finish all the outstanding missions. All the preset detailed procedures that came along with the mission were set by the intelligent masterminds.

    <span>The details behind the missions would remain a mystery. No one besides the people responsible would know. It was not worth pondering what mission they were doing. One thing was for certain and that is, now no one is controlling the warriors since the wrecking of their mothership. One word perfectly described them - Machine Zombies.

    <span>It seemed like the mothership wasn''t the only thing out of control. The whole world was out of control.

    <span>One major point, if true, was harmful for Yin He. If there is an intelligent mastermind that is controlling the mothership, then it must be wondering where the missing warriorpanion went, and will do everything in its ability to find out.

    <span>With such advanced technology,trying to track down Yin He would be a very easy task. But with only half aputer mainframe on the mothership, it will only extend half the effort. At most it will follow protocol and send a retrieval transport aircraft. It was hard to imagine that the mainframe would send out a search and destroy team.

    <span>"I could try to blend in with the other warriors. For instance, if the detection devices on the mothership and transport aircraft can''t detect any abnormality, then there would be an opportunity. I will take that chance to see if I can sneak aboard to change the mission protocols on the mothership, or replenish my power supply," Yin He added.

    <span>"I am afraid it won''t be that easy." Liu Gan shook his head. Even if that was what Yin He wanted to do, Liu Gan won''t let her take that risk so easily.

    <span>"Yes, it won''t be easy at all. The transport aircraft has strict inspections. It would be hard for me to pass through the conventional inspection. It is not difficult for these inspections to find the abnormality within this body. Once the transport aircraft docks to the mothership, there''s a second inspection that is more strict within the mothership. This second inspection is to rectify any malfunction or error in the armored warriors. I definitely won''t be able to pass that test," Yin He nodded.

    <span>"Then don''t take the risk. Wait until there is a better opportunity," Liu Gan said to Yin He. He had achieved his goal of terminating any potential harm she might have taken.

    <span>"Okay," Yin He casually agreed. She didn''t have any serious thoughts on going, but she had lost the chance of boarding the transport aircraft. With the mothership in critical condition, it would even be more strict with protocol if it discovered an abnormality in the warriors. To prevent the abnormality from spreading, it wouldpletely destroy the hardware instead of fixing it.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>After confirming that the transport aircraft had left the area, Liu Gan and the other two left the forest to head back to the secretboratory in the mountain vi. It was now past midnight, and the vi was extremely quiet.

    <span>Normal yers wouldn''t dare toe out past midnight. Especially not for visiting these ghastly ces. They were not good for the faint of heart. The hidden potential dangers lurking in the darkness, normal yers wouldn''t take the risk.

    <span>Liu Gan had improved his defenses, especially his [Mist Armor]. The concentrated attack of firearms wouldn''t be a threat, so normal attacks with swords wouldn''t be a problem. Even attacks from normal yers and Variant Zombies wouldn''t be a problem anymore. If there was another Kingler, even if Liu Gan can''t win against it in the fight, he could at least escape.

    <span>They arrived at the mountain vi, using the shlight for guidance. The camouge technology that produced the precipice had vanished. In its ce was a real wall.

    <span>Arriving within therge courtyard and proceeding into the small courtyard, Liu Gan found the bodies of Raincoat and his soldiers. Arge portion of their brains were missing. The wound entry was a high temperature hole, unquestionably the shot came from the transport aircraft.

    <span>Scattered around the small courtyard were corpses. Kingler''s body remained in ce. Seems like a dead Kingler wasn''t useful for research purposes, so it was abandoned there.

    <span>The two unconscious bodies of the armored warriors were nowhere to be found. Liu Gan guessed that either they had regained consciousness or the transport aircraft rescued them.

 Chapter 280

    <span><strong>Chapter 280 - Unresolved Mystery</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Raincoat and his soldiers lives were spared by Liu Gan to serve one purpose - cannon fodder. The result was that no one was able to escape. All of their bodies remained there.

    <span>There was seven meter wide, five meter deep depression right behind the copsed research building in the small courtyard. The depression had steps that led further down to arge underground chamber. After further investigation, Yin He was able to confirm that located here was a nuclear powered electricity generating unit that had supplied all the electrical needs of theplex, including the camouge technology. However, the key material, nuclear energy, had been taken away so the generator was worth little more than scrap metal.

    <span>Without the key material, the generator couldn''t function. Inside of the generator, Yin He was able to find a shielding material that was better than lead to block the transmission. After a series of delicate cuts and welds she created a bracelet that she wrapped around her wrist.

    <span>This shielding material was very lightweight. It was used to block out the powerful radiation waves emitted by the nuclear generator. In the end, the transmission signal itself was a type of wave. So the lower frequency transmission signal could be easily blocked.

    <span>"Those materials, if you can find more of it, make a band suitable for me and Zhang ShengLi to wear." Liu Gan disyed his wristwatch to Yin He.

    <span>Liu Gan still wasn''t sure of the mystery behind his wristwatch, but his gut feeling said that the wristwatch was a tracking device like Yin He''s, and that it would regrly send location transmissions of his whereabouts. These were just mere spections, but Liu Gan doesn''t want to be monitored. The bracelets didn''t seem like a bad idea, so carrying extras weren''t going to be a hinderance.

    <span>The high quality shielding material was rare and hard to find. With the remaining metal, only three more transmission blockers could be made. Liu Gan took two and gave one to Zhang ShengLi. Liu Gan didn''t equip the bracelet onto his wristwatch immediately. There might be a better use for itter on.

    <span>The research building copsing was due to failing structural integrity. Yin He looked around under the rubble some more, but ultimately gave up. Even if there was anything useful, it would be like searching through a trash dump for a set of missing keys or wallet, difficult to find a single viable item amongst the trash.

    <span>Meanwhile, Zhang ShengLi shone his shlight on the remains of Kingler. There were scattered remnant shells all around, but thergest shell was still intact with Kingler. Zhang ShengLi looked at it with an unsatisfied expression.

    <span>Kingler''s body had been punctured a thousand times by thesers, so if there were any usable parts that were unscathed it could still be cut off into odd shapes. Kingler''s shell had strong defensive properties that could deflect bullets, so it would be perfect for body armor material.

    <span>"Kingler''s shell, we can''t take it. It would be hard to even hack it apart so it''s not even worth trying to carry it back," Liu Gan looked at Zhang ShengLi, and understood what he was thinking.

    <span>"If you guys really want it, I could cut off parts of Kingler''s shell into smaller parts for you to carry back," Yin He told Liu Gan.

    <span>"Using theser to cut through it? Would that waste a lot of energy?" Liu Gan hesitated to agree.

    <span>"Only a very fineser would be required. To cut it all, the energy spent would be tantamount to a full day of energy. Right now I canst sixty more days! There will be more ways to replenish in the meantime," Yin He persisted. She could tell that this material was important to Liu Gan and Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>Taking into ount all the resources spent trying to kill Kingler and the fact that Yin He nearly lost her life, Liu Gan ultimately agreed to letting Yin He cut the shell into smaller pieces. Once again Yin He pulled out and equipped her ultimate defensive body armor from the dimensional space. In ce of her fist was a pointed object. From the pointed end shot out a fine line of ruby light. With extreme precision, the shell was cut from Kingler''s body in shapes of various sizes,rge and small.

    <span>Looking at Yin He in the armored body suit, Liu Gan was reminded of all the sad memories fromst afternoon. These emotional feelings came swarming at him, now that he had time to rest. They had almost forever scarred Liu Gan, creating another episode of psychological trauma. The only good thing was that Liu Gan now has a stronger Yin He.

    <span>After cutting off the shell parts and securing it properly onto the car, the three prepared their trip back to the prisonpound. There were yers within the prisonpound that were sitting around idle, so they were assigned by Zhang ShengLi to look for useful items carefully. That way, Liu Gan and Yin He could better spend their time on other things.

    <span>By the time Liu Gan arrived back the prisonpound, it was close to daybreak. Liu Gan slept until the afternoon of the next day.

    <span>When the team members within the prisonpound heard that Liu Gan had killed Kingler, which was further confirmed by the sliced off parts of Kingler''s shell, Treadmill and others were dumbstruck. They all thought that it was an impossible mission when Liu Gan said he was going to kill it, especially when so many of their former friends at the coastal camp had died trying to wound it. Who would''ve thought that it would be killed at the hands of Liu Gan?

    <span>Now begged the question, how strong was Liu Gan? This was still a mystery to most of the team members.

    <span>"Liu Gan was riding on Kingler''s back. With one punch, arge depression appeared on Kingler''s back! Kingler was infuriated. Both its'' pincers were trying to grab ahold of Elder Liu. Meanwhile Elder Liu was just dancing on his back. They were fighting until dawn! It was a very long fight, if Liu Gan made one small mistake, it would''ve been his life! Buildings copsed, Mountains shook!"

    <span>"Kingler''s shell was beaten t by Elder Liu''s fist. It was so badly injured, it had to beg for its life! Of course, Elder Liu didn''t let it go. He threw a hand grenade into Kingler''s mouth. <span><em><strong>Boom</strong></em><span><em>!</em><span> And there goes Kingler''s life," Zhang ShengLi continued with his story after he woke up from his slumber.

    <span>Of course, this was all fictional.

    <span>Instead of the concaves produced by Liu Gan''s fist, it was mainly from thesers. They matched somewhat with Zhang ShengLi''s fabricated story.

    <span>Even though everything else that took ce was fictional, the shell was the real deal. So even though Zhang ShengLi was lying about the story, no one was willing to test out the facts. They all understood how powerful Liu Gan was and to them, it was the difference between heaven and earth.

    <span>"So what were you guys saying earlier? When Elder Liu wanted to go search for Kingler, you said he was courting death? Now who is dead? If Elder Liu doesn''t have enough strength, do you think he would proactively search for Kingler? I think that Kingler might have felt that Elder Liu was searching for it, that''s why it left the shore to Green Station Mountain to avoidbat. So yesterday, was a coincidence that Elder Liu and it met¡­"

    <span>"Yesterday''sbat brilliance, if only you could see it with your own eyes. Let me take you to yesterday''s battle scene so you can witness the aftermath. A building with ten stories copsed! The amount of shaking moved the earth! It was like watching America''s Hollywood production movies!" Zhang ShengLi continued blowing smoke out of his arse.

 Chapter 281

    <span>Chapter 281 - Car Crew

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu is really powerful!" Treadmill said admiringly. When he first joined, he wasn''t quite convinced since it was a forceful takeover, but now he he had beenpletely won over.

    <span>Kingler was a tyrant that had no sympathy for anything. If Elder Liu was able to overpower Kingler, then did that meant Elder Liu could also kill them as easily as Kingler did?

    <span>"You have chosen correctly to follow Elder Liu. If is your lucky day! Did you think you would have a bright future with your previous leader? Could he have single-handedly taken control of Kingler? Of course not! There are only a few people that could''ve done it, and Elder Liu is one of them! If you want to continue surviving in this world or if you want a bright and safe future, then devote yourself to the cause! If you take too long to decide, this opportunity will leave you! Later on, if you are lower than level 5, we won''t take you!" Zhang ShengLi continued with the recruitment speech.

    <span>"Mighty Mighty Elder Liu!"

    <span>"Being able to follow Elder Liu is our blessing!"

    <span>"I vow to follow Elder Liu until the day I die!"

    <span>"..."<hr>

    <span>TL: lmao no onemented on that.<hr>

    <span>Within the confines of the prisonpound, almost all of the members were now very motivated. They felt deeply fortunate. Even if Zhang ShengLi hadn''t done any brainwashing, Liu Gan''s formidable disy of strength was enough of a deterrent to stop any foolishness. Only the strongest would survive, and those who follow the strongest would also persevere.

    <span>"What is this? Television advertising?" Liu Gan walked over to ask Zhang ShengLi with a questioning look. Liu Gan heard the phrase ''opportunity'' from Zhang ShengLi, it sounded like what you would hear from televised infomercials. It was only missing one of the two sentences of ''It only cost 998'' or ''only one call away from taking it home''.

    <span>"Haha no¡­maybe it is a bad habit I picked up from talking to Treadmill a lot," Zhang ShengLi started chuckling.

    <span>"Elder Liu, good to see you!"

    <span>A group of zealous male fans rushed over to greet Liu Gan.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I love you!"

    <span>A group of fangirls also surrounded Liu Gan. They want to have boyfriends just as masculine as Liu Gan.

    <span>This hopeless one sided love they had for Liu Gan was not reciprocated. Liu Gan only wanted Yin He, so he couldn''t care less about them.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>With Yin He''s assistance, Martial Thunder was able to create new sets of defensive armors and gear. This let Liu Gan swap out his old gear and get the new upgraded set. Even though the breastte from the Carapace Shell Variant was good, it wasn''t asrge as the new breastte created from Kingler''s shell. All the old armor trickled down from the top dogs, and a few lucky level 4 yers got their hands on it.

    <span>The trip to the secretboratory in Green Station Mountain raised thebat strength of Liu Gan, Yin He, and Zhang ShengLi immensely. The rewards were also plentiful. From Kingler''s shell fragments, a dozen armor and shield pieces were created. There were also the firearms looted from the soldiers, including a sniper rifle, a rocketuncher, and a dozen assault rifles with matching magazines. Under normal siege conditions, the prison would now be an imprable fortress, unless there was another tactic simr to how the former coastal camp members lured in zombies.

    <span>Aste afternoon arrived, Liu Gan prepared for his next expedition and selected the crew. To prepare for all possibilities, proper equipment was gathered, even mountain climbing gear was prepped. The very next morning, the car crew departed to head for Green Pao Bay. Since the road to their destination was uncharted territory, it required obstacle clearing - zombies and cars alike.

    <span>The group of level 5 yers realized that Zhang ShengLi was able to jump to level 6 from just one trip. Even if Zhang ShengLi was telling them how dangerous it was during the trip, they won''t believe that out of nine yers, only one would survive. They insisted on following Elder Liu on the expedition to Green Pao Bay.

    <span>As a result, Liu Gan chose Han GuangMing, Zhang Hua, Treadmill, Huang WeiTao, all four of them level 5. In addition, Martial Thunder, Zhao Meng, HuJun, Zhou JingJing, and two other well behaved new members were brought along, these yers were all level 4 yers. So along with Yin He and Liu Gan himself, this car crew consisted of twelve members. Split into two cars, they headed toward Green Pao Bay.

    <span>The level 4 yers all took initiative to volunteer. They knew that if they didn''t take a risk now to follow Liu Gan and test their luck, thenter on, if there were more level 5 yers incorporated into the group, then they will lose their standing since everything was based on resourcefulness.

    <span>Out of all the volunteers, Liu Gan purposefully chose members he was more familiar with and had known the longest. This opportunity was given to them with priority.

    <span>Wang DeCheng was left behind to defend the stronghold. Zhang ShengLi was in a prison transport vehicle filled with ten people, and an otherwise-empty medium sized van following behind, heading towards the secretboratory on Green Station Mountain. His duty was to find any useful materials and bring them back to the stronghold.

    <span>To get to Green Pao Bay, the vehicles had to venture pass through Green Station Mountain first. So at the very start of the trip, Zhang ShengLi''s two vehicles with Liu Gan''s car crew were together. Liu Gan''s car crew split off and continued on past the mountain vis.

    <span>The initial mountainous routes leading off from the peak of Green Station Mountain were winding. The road at the bottom of the mountain were previously cleared by Wang Chao''s men, so the remaining half of the trip was rather smooth as long as they didn''t stray from the path.

    <span>From departing the mountain peak on the route down, Liu Gan ordered everyone to be on high alert. The road to Green Pao Bay from Green Station Mountain, there were at least two groups that they needed to be on guard for. One group was Wang Chao''s residual forces, whose base camp location they still had not learned. The second group was Raincoat''s residual forces.

    <span>Wang Chao''s camp didn''t have any firearms, so they wouldn''t be much of a threat. Raincoat''s camp was the main concern. When Raincoat ambushed them, the amount of ammunition each soldier had was evidence that there must be more in their camp. It was more than enough ammunition and firepower to cause harm to the car crew.

    <span>Even though the prisonpound was far from Green Pao Bay, with the death of Raincoat and Yan Su, it was highly possible that their remaining forces sent out an investigative squad. If Liu Gan''s car crew ran into them, only he and Yin He woulde out unharmed. Everyone else would end up dead or severely injured. The vehicle they were in could also be ruined if there was a shootout.

    <span>Later on the road to Green Pao Bay, the western part of thend was vast. There might be other secret forces to be concerned about at that point.

    <span>The winding road on the mountain was supposed to be cleared up, but soon there was a small-scale corpse tide. They had no idea where these zombies came from, but it was a reminder of the potential dangers lurking everywhere. Even amongst this corpse tide, there were two ck-Spot Variant Zombies.

    <span>Four of the level 5 members watched Liu Gan and Yin He fight. The corpse tide was quickly eliminated. As for thest kill on the two ck-Spot Variant Zombies, it was left for Martial Thunder and HuJun. This way they could rise to the ranks of level 5 yers. Martial Thunder and HuJun thought that the task was as hard as reaching for the sky, but who knew it was such an easy task. To be power leveled, it was like drinking water.

    <span>With Liu Gan at level nine, facing off against these ck-Spot Variant Zombies, it was no different than facing off against the regr weak zombies. They all copsed after a few strikes of his axe.<hr><hr>

    <span>yer: Liu Gan

    <span>Lv: 9

    <span>Ability: [Mist Armor]; [Psychic Shock]; [Dagger]

    <span>Armored Warrior: Yin He

    <span>Lv: ???

    <span>Ability: [Laser]; [Armor]

    <span>yer: Zhang ShengLi

    <span>Lv: 6

    <span>Ability: [Whirlwind sh]; [Mist Armor]

    <span>yer: Wang DeCheng

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Forage]

    <span>Enhanced Survivor: Zhang Hua

    <span>Lv: ~5

    <span>Ability: Long-Distance Javelin

    <span>yer: Han GuangMing

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Meteor Cannon]

    <span>yer: Huang WeiTao

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Treatment]

    <span>yer: Treadmill

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [Interference]

    <span>yer: Martial Thunder

    <span>Lv: 5

    <span>Ability: [???]

    <span>Enhanced Survivor: HuJun

    <span>Lv: ~5

    <span>Ability: [???]

    <span>Enhanced Survivor: Zhou JingJing

    <span>Lv: ~4

    <span>Ability: [???]

    <span>yer: Zhao Meng

    <span>Lv: 4

    <span>Ability: Locksmith

    <span>[TL: Did you know that I changed Han GuangMing''s ability name?]

 Chapter 282

    <span>Chapter 282 - Overkill

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    More chapters by the hour! Come check it out!<hr>

    <span>With the quick end to the fight, Liu Gan gained two more level 5 yers. The rest of the members cleared the path of obstructing bodies, and soon the car crew was able to continue their trip.

    <span>By noon, the the car crew passed through the multiple passes of Green Station Mountain. They found a perfect ce to stop and make lunch. Looking around them, they saw endless acres of farnd, verdant and lush with fields of corn.

    <span>Liu Gan and a few members walked around to take a look, and discovered that the corn was ripe for the picking. It seemed that the corn closer to the roadside was plucked off neatly, but there were a few dropped cobs on the ground.

    <span>There were individuals in camp that could only rely on grain as a source of food, so by noontime their stomachs were growling. When they saw fresh corn on the cob, they started salivating like hyenas. Immediately, they recalled memories of the days before the catastrophe, in the real world, where they would enjoy fresh roast corn.

    <span>Yin He and two other individuals were left behind to safeguard the vehicles. Meanwhile, Liu Gan and the other yers quickly went into the cornfield to pluck the most ripe corn.

    <span>While selecting the corn, Liu Gan felt a sudden movement by his feet. It was a rabbit jumping out of its burrow. The moment it felt the presence of intruders, it ran into the cornfield. A team member was able to quickly react and go after them, and returned back to the group with three captured rabbits, two rabbits stuck in his belt, and one in his hand.

    <span>"Who would''ve thought that you are capable of capturing rabbits!" Treadmill was shocked at the new team member.

    <span>"Back in the real world, my house is on the mountainside. We ownedrge acreage of corn fields, so I am rather familiar with their habits. I used to catch rabbits with my grandfather as a pastime. Now that I have leveled up, my physical capability and speed has increased significantly. It is easier to catch them now," exined the new member. He introduced himself as Qi Shaohua. He was a level 4 yer from the former coastal camp.

    <span>"Not bad, not bad at all," Liu Ganplimented him.

    <span>"Thank you Elder Liu!" Qi Shaohua was very happy to be praised.

    <span>With three rabbits and a surplus of corn, the lunch meal was a luxurious one. Some of the team members gutted the rabbits in a nearby waterway, others gathered up firewood, and some formed a makeshift stove with rocks. The rest of the group filled arge wok with water. Everyone had a responsibility.

    <span>After cleaning up the corn and rabbit meat, it was tossed into the wok. Adding natural vorings and salt, the chef of the team started cooking. The scent of rabbit meat and fresh corn smell permeated the surrounding air. Everyone was drooling, while watching the chef cook.

    <span>Usingrger pieces of stone, they made rough tables and chairs, with Elder Liu being the first to be seated. In their current world, being able to craft tables and chairs from stone was not an easy task. They were only capable of doing so now that they were stronger from leveling up to 5. These seemingly impossible tasks were now as easy as lifting up a fist.

    <span>The wok with the cooked corn and rabbit meat was ced on the table. Everyone gathered up as portions were divided up. For some of them, this was the best meal they''d had for several weeks. With Liu Gan''s permission, some of the individuals started drinking baijiu. To avoid losing focus, each person was allowed one or two cups of alcohol. To these people, it was a very pleasurable experience.

    <span>Alongside Green Station Mountain was industrial zones, shifting towards an agricultural zone while heading to Green Pao Bay. An endless view of cornfields and farnd, yers that had this area as a starting point would be fortunate. At least there wasn''t an imminent threat about having to worry about what to eat or drink. Every day they could find fresh ingredients in meat or vegetables.

    <span>Yin He didn''t participate in the feast. There were a few new members that were curious about it and started asking. Immediately Han GuangMing caught on and ordered them to stop. There were many mysteries surrounding Yin He that many people were curious about. It was Elder Liu''s secret, but it was also an open secret in the prisonpound. This wasn''t something that anyone can easily inquire about.

    <span>"Quick, someone ising!"

    <span>Right as people had cleaned up after their meal and started boarding the vehicles, Yin He shouted a warning to Liu Gan.

    <span>Walking closer was a group of middle aged men. These weren''t dressed like yers that had been transferred in. These were the local survivors. From their outfits, they looked like local farmers. Each of the farmers held a weapon of some sort. Some had iron pipes, one a watermelon knife, and another a homemade hunting rifle. They had angry expressions, that didn''t look like they were very happy with the situation.

    <span>"Who allowed you toe steal our corn?" asked one of the farmers. He rushed up to block the vehicles from leaving.

    <span>"We aren''t stealing, we are only passing by here. We saw that the corn here hasn''t been picked yet, so we took a few. In this day and age, how can you prove that this corn belongs to you? If you can prove that the corn is yours, I will be happy topensate you. I will barter with you with something of equal value." Han GuangMing started exchanging words.

    <span>"Barter? Who wants to barter with you anyway? You stole our corn! So you must follow us now!" said the aggravated farmer.

    <span>"Where do you want to take us?" Han GuangMing curiously asked. These farmers weren''t willing to barter in any other goods, so it was quite a strange situation.

    <span>"You must return to our vige to ept a trial!" said the farmer with a hunting rifle. It was pointed at Han GuangMing. This farmer saw the vehicles and immediately had thoughts of ransacking them.

    <span>"I advise you to not look for more trouble! Even if the corn belongs to you, we only took a few pieces. I already said I will exchange it with you! If you don''t ept our offer, we won''t let you take advantage of us!" Han GuangMing was fuming from frustration.

    <span>"Hahaha¡­he said we are looking for trouble!" said the farmer with hunting rifle. He thinks lightly of Han GuangMing because of how Han GuangMing was easily flustered.

    <span>The other farmers startedughing and chuckling sinisterly. They saw Yin He and Zhou JingJing inside the car, and lecherous thoughts were in their heads. They wanted the two vehicles and the women.

    <span>"Die!" Han GuangMing was past his threshold, his face bright red. He took a rock and threw it at the farmer with the hunting rifle.

    <span>Blinded by anger, Han GuangMing identally triggered his <span>Meteor <span>Cannon ability on the rock. It was an instant kill. A hole appeared in the head of the farmer. With a smile still on his face, the farmer copsed, dying with a smile.<hr>

    <span>[TL: Han GuangMing''s skill is changed to Meteor Cannon]

    <span>yer: Qi Shaohua

    <span>Lv: 4

    <span>Ability: [???]

 Chapter 283

    <span>Chapter 283 - Unsuspecting

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The other yers were shocked by the sudden sniped off the farmer holding the hunting rifle. They didn''t think that Han GuangMing wouldn''t hold back. They watched as Han GuangMing rushed forward with his fire axe and killed all the nearby farmers.

    <span>Liu Gan studied Han GuangMing with renewed interest. He remembered Han GuangMing as a college student with a girlfriend, he had now turned into a decisive figure.

    <span>"These people looked at Sister Zhou and Vice-Leader He with bad intentions. If we obeyed them and followed into the vige, that meant there are more people waiting to ambush us there. If we let them live, they wille back with more people to kill us on our return trip from Green Pao Bay. I gave them a friendly peace offering solution, but they shot down my offer and wouldn''t yield. I made the decision to kill them so they wouldn''t be trouble us in the future," Han GuangMing exined to Liu Gan, while his body was quivering.

    <span>"You did the right thing," Liu Gan nodded with a satisfied expression. To help the growth of these team members, they must learn for themselves how to resolve the new problems of this society. There is no room for hesitant and soft-willed individuals.

    <span>"Thank you Elder Liu! I will do my best to be an appropriate squad leader!" Han GuangMing blushed. Being appreciated and valued by his boss was the best feeling ever.

    <span>He was one of the first three yers to follow Liu Gan initially, with Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng being the other two. Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng were recognized as being as important as a vice leader. Stuck between the two, Han GuangMing felt as if he was falling further and further behind. He felt that he wasn''t able to gain the respect of other team mates. He felt it was unfair. So through this opportunity he proved himself useful.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>By the time the car crew reached Green Pao Bay, it was already more than three hours past noon.

    <span>The whole Bay Area was rather silent. There was no appearance of zombies. It was such a huge harbor, so prior to the catastrophe, it must have been a lively port. Since the area was cleared of zombies, it would be a good assumption to believe that the transferred yers had killed them all. The corpses were either burned or tossed into the sea.

    <span>Green Pao Bay was evidently cleaner than most other locations. Without a doubt another group of yers was controlling this territory.

    <span>With such a massive harbor, it was surprising that there were no ships of any sizes. There was an absolute absence of yachts or freighters in the water or docked. It was a strange sensation to see a harbor without any boats. Based on the team members spection, the local survivors could''ve used the harbor as a possible escape route and that would exin the mysterious disappearance of all the ships. Even the aircraft had left the region, so for safety, the only remaining possible escape offnd was by sea. The potential dangers of tectonic te movements generating tsunami onto the harbor was a rtively high risk to those onnd.

    <span>Without the presence of ships in the harbor, it made the single airship that was docked a conspicuous sight. The airship <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was a two thousand ton airship. In this world, the ocean liner and airships were quite different in structure. <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was like an egg, oval shaped. The top and bottom of the airship were sealed airtight, but the windows on the side wererge. The amount of light permeating through the windows should be enough to light the interior.

    <span>ording to the lucky survivors, this type of amphibious air and sea type of airship has three types of operation systems. The first type can operate it as a normal ship on any body of water. The second type can submerge the majority of its hull as long as the deck isn''t submerged. Lastly, the third type is to release helium from its containers to fill up the top region of the airship. By filling up a balloon that was several timesrger than the hull, it will be suspended in midair like a basket as it took flight.

    <span>This mode of flying relied on advanced technology of gaspression, reinforced ss, air seals, and stic materials. All these technologies could prevent the structure copsing due to water pressure. At the same time,with helium quick release, it can help inte the balloon rapidly. Within half an hour, it could convert modes of navigation from ship to airship.

    <span>At this time, the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was docked at the pier. They used binocrs to check the situation on deck. To enter into the cabin hull, it was an easy task as there were only simple fortifications. There weren''t even guards on duty. To enter the main cabin of the airship was quite easy. This was out of Liu Gan''s expectation, and it cast some doubt in his heart.

    <span>"Shout a warning to them," Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing.

    <span>Prior to arriving, along route they were thinking up tactics. It was to act like San Xing Corporation rescue personnel when shouting at the <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. To the local survivors, it would sound like nonsense, but to the trapped yers it was an enticing offer.

    <span>This type of lie was made to confuse the opposition. It was a chance for the yers onboard. Once the yers were tempted into surrendering, Liu Gan and Yin He could easily walk in and kill them.

    <span>"We are San Xing Corporation rescue personnel! We are parked at the parking lot, located seventy degrees to the dock side. Please send a representative tomunicate with us!" Han GuangMing following Liu Gan''s advice and repeated the call three times.

    <span>The <span><em>Serenity</em><span> had no response. There wasn''t even lightsing out the windows. By the cabin door, there weren''t any signs of movement. From the looks of it, the airship seemed abandoned.

    <span>This was highly strange, perhaps Zhang ShengLi''s questions hadn''t gotten the truth. Was it possible that Raincoat''s men weren''t speaking the truth? Could they have moved out with their full group to Green Station Mountain, which is why no one was on guard now?

    <span>No way. There was no reason for any faction to abandon their own stronghold, unless it was like the coastal camp, where their hand was forced by the appearance of Kingler.

    <span>The dock didn''t have any evidence of fighting in the surrounding area. If there was a monstrous presence like Kingler, the docks wouldn''t be in such pristine condition. Even the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> would''ve been damaged if Kingler showed up or at least cracks on the ship.

    <span>"Elder Liu, it doesn''t feel like the airship has anyone onboard. Perhaps, I should take a few men to look inside?" Han GuangMing suggested to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay, but be careful. There is something really weird going on with this airship," Liu Gan warned Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Okay, I will be careful." Han GuangMing ordered five other level 5 yers with him. All were equipped with shields and assault rifles as they drew near the entrance. Liu Gan, Yin He and the rest of the level 4 yers remained onnd.

    <span>There was a reason why Liu Gan didn''t send the whole group in. It could''ve been an ambush waiting to happen. Someone could be using the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> as bait. Once everyone was onboard the aircraft, it could be blown up. Even though the possibility of that happening was extremely small, this was still Raincoat''s base. There shouldn''t be anyone stupid enough to use their base as bait, allowing free entry into the area.

    <span>So the group onnd stayed back to prevent this type of situation from happening. If the investigation squad needed backup, they could provide it.

 Chapter 284

    <span>Chapter 284 - Human Evaporation

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>As for why this was so strange, the answer was supplied by their investigation.

    <span>Arriving at the cabin door, Han GuangMing used a loudspeaker to shout within a few more times. <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was dead silent inside. There was no response, not even the movements of zombies could be heard within.

    <span>There weren''t any fortifications made in the corridors of the cabin. No defensive structures to prevent forced entry. No one standing guard. However, on the floor there were scattered cigarette butts. At a nearby table, there were poker cards. It seemed there were long term personnel stationed here, but it they had left it all unguarded.

    <span>The<span><em> Serenity</em><span> didn''t have electricity running. Pressing the switches on the wall was pointless, the lightbulbs didn''t turn on. The only source of light was from the environment outside, that shone through the windows. Even though <span><em>Serenity</em><span> hadrge windows that allowed a generous transmittance of light through, it was a cloudy day. No matter how much light passed through the window, it didn''t matter. With the poor illuminance and dead silence within the airship, it was an eerie atmosphere.

    <span>"We will split into two teams. Treadmill, you will lead a team with Huang WeiTao and HuJun. Start from the starboard side of the ship and head to the front of the ship. Find the people in control of this ship. Zhang Hua, Martial Thunder, you will follow me on the port side of the ship. If you find any enhanced survivors or other yers, don''t engage. Report back to me with your location on thes. Understand?" Han GuangMing handed out his orders.

    <span>This was Han GuangMing''s first expedition mission with Elder Liu. He didn''t want to underperform and lose this opportunity to prove himself. Once that trust is lost, it will be hard to regain. So Han GuangMing was understandably nervous.

    <span>"Understood," replied other yers nonchntly. Han GuangMing was the youngest of them all, even when he spoke his voice was shaky. This made other yers question his leadership skills.

    <span>Regardless, they knew that Han GuangMing was part of Liu Gan''s trusted circle. By rank, his position fell below Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng. So no matter how uneptable the situation, they still needed to respect Liu Gan. So, no one dared to question the tactical arrangements.

    <span>After tactics were arranged, both teams set into motion. They walked through the corridors silently, but the surroundings were just as silent. One could hear sounds of their own footsteps. Treadmill lead Huang WeiTao and HuJun as nned. They went on the right side of the ship searching from the front to the back.

    <span>"Go, open up that cabin door." Treadmill held his assault rifle, pointing it at a door, as hemanded HuJun.

    <span>HuJun frowned. He wasn''t quite willing, but he still went over to push open the cabin door, then quickly moved to the side wall to avoid friendly fire.

    <span>"Hahaha¡­aren''t you overly nervous?" Treadmillughed at HuJun. Then he proceeded to walk into the cabin to look around.

    <span>HuJun didn''t reply. Suffering from Treadmill''smand was intolerable, since he had followed Liu Gan longer. Now that they were both level 5, his position was still lower. In particr, when Han GuangMing was assigning team leaders, he had chosen Treadmill. Theck of respect was like he didn''t even exist.

    <span>Despite being in a bad mood, HuJun still had to obey themands of Treadmill. If something like disobedience happened and it got to the ears of Elder Liu, then HuJun knew he would never have another chance to raise his rank.

    <span>After the three entered into the cabin room, they discovered that it was separated into many rooms with viewing ss walls. Within each room were ced with many different types of instruments. From the looks of it, the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was a hospital orboratory ship. When Raincoat took over this ce, he hadn''t vandalized the area, so most of the ss rooms and technology was kept in pristine condition.

    <span>Every ss room had a number assigned to it. Alongside the machinery were workbenches with chairs and desktopputers. Due to theck of electricity, the monitors and desktops were off. The workbench gave off a vibe that had something to do with research. Within each ss room, there weren''t any human beings, nor were there any zombies.

    <span>On the workbench was a teacup. Within the cup was tea, but it was cold. From the degree of sogginess of the tea bag, it didn''t seem like it was there too long. At most, it might have been brewed yesterday.

    <span>Everything was very strange. It was as if everyone onboard had suddenly vanished. Like¡­ they had all evaporated into thin air.

    <span>Human evaporation wasn''t possible, the more usible reason was that they had left the area.

    <span>"We are grown adults, yet we need to take orders from a brat. Isn''t that nonsense?" Treadmill muttered as he walked with Huang WeiTao.

    <span>Huang WeiTao nced at HuJun, but didn''t reply to Treadmill.

    <span>"From the looks of it, I don''t think Little Han has a lot of experience. Elder Liu''s decision to let him take control of the operation does seem inappropriate," HuJun replied. In particr, HuJun wasn''t fond of Han GuangMing either, since the order to have Treadmill as team leader was given by Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Don''t you think badmouthing Elder Liu isn''t a good idea?" Huang WeiTao casuallyughed it off at HuJun.

    <span>"Hey, I''m only speaking the truth," HuJun replied to Huang WeiTao. Before today, he had been stuck at level 4, and it made him lose face when he was in front of Zhou JingJing, his girlfriend. He had repressed his emotions for a long time.

    <span>"What connection does Little Han have with Elder Liu? Why is he so trusted? From the looks of it, he doesn''t have much capability, but he acts the part of being the fourth in control," Treadmill asked HuJun, since they both were discontent with the situation.

    <span>"There is no connection. It was probably due to the fact that he has followed Elder Liu a little longer than us. I heard that he hasn''t even graduated college yet. So his experience in society is practically zero. What capabilities can he boast about?" HuJun shook his head.

    <span>"I thought you older members were quite united. Who would''ve thought that there were internal conflicts!" Treadmill startedughing.

    <span>"It can''t be called conflict, but I definitely don''t approve of him," HuJun replied to Treadmill.

    <span>"Wait, hold up guys. Do you hear a sound?" Huang WeiTao suddenly halted.

    <span>"I didn''t pay attention, but if there was a sound it was probably from Little Han''s group?" Treadmill said after listening closely.

    <span>As the trio continued chatting away, they passed arge cabin and reached a long hallway. Along one side of the hallway were hanging life jackets and buoys. On the other side was a window that reached the floor. The hallway started to slope downward as they walked deeper in. Along the whole way, they didn''t encounter anyone.

 Chapter 285

    <span>Chapter 285 - Continuing Search

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Walking down to the end of the hallway and turning left, they arrived at another cabin door. Pushing it open, Treadmill heard whispering noiseing from another cabin room.

    <span>Moving quietly, Treadmill and his group walked closer to the sound''s source. They discovered that it wasing from a small room, that turned out to be themunications center. It was running on backup power, so the electronic equipment was still functioning. The whispering noises wereing from themunication devices.

    <span>"Hello? Helllllooooo?" Treadmill started shouting into the microphone.

    <span>No response, there was only a continued wheezing sound. It sounded worse than if someone was about to have an asthma attack, barely human, rougher and deeper. Was themunicator malfunctioning?

    <span>"Hey! Hey! This is the <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, who are you? What are you doing?" Treadmill started shouting into the microphone again.

    <span>"Don''t tell them we are on the <span><em>Serenity.</em><span>.." HuJun reminded Treadmill, a bitte.

    <span>"Help¡­help me¡­" themunicator devolved into static, and words that sounded like a woman.

    <span>"Who are you? Where are you?" Treadmill angrily nced at HuJun and continued to shout into the microphone.

    <span>Once again there was no reply. Themunicator produced a sharp piercing sound, like feedback. It was enough to hurt their eardrums. Huang WeiTao quickly turned off the device to stop it.

    <span>"What the hell?" Treadmill ced the microphone back on the table.

    <span>"You really shouldn''t have said that we were on the <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. That was exposing our location," HuJunined to Treadmill.

    <span>"I know. I know," Treadmill replied to HuJun, embarrassed.

    <span>The airship wasn''t toorge, themunications room was located near the rear of the ship. Treadmill''s search wasing to an end, at least for that floor. If the search continued, they had to go up or down the stairs. This was something Treadmill was very reluctant to do. Instead, Treadmill reported back to Han GuangMing on the situation and requested further instructions.

    <span>"Elder Liu is also onboard now. He is at the main reception hall. Let''s meet up there. You can head back to the reception hall first," Han GuangMing replied to Treadmill. Even though the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was an airship, it was located on water, so most team members were referring it as a ship.

    <span>"Elder Liu came onboard? Okay, I will get to the reception hall immediately," Treadmill replied. Then, Treadmill exined to Huang WeiTao and HuJun of the situation, as they walked back along the route they came from.

    <span>While Han GuangMing was executing his operation, Liu Gan and Yin He took the time to search the whole dock. They felt satisfied that there was no potential ambush in the surroundings, there was nothing alive nearby at all. With the potential threat of night drawing closer and rain drizzling down, Liu Gan was updated on the situation by Han GuangMing and made the decision to board the airship.

    <span>Once within <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, Liu Gan had the two vehicles driven right near the main cabin door. He left behind several members to safeguard the vehicles while the rest of the team members started moving stuff. Food, corn and their equipment was taken off of the vehicles and into the reception hall.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"I finished looking around the whole front side of the ship, I wasn''t able to find any survivors, yers, or even zombies. Not even corpses can be found. There is evidence of people living aboard, but they suddenly left," Han GuangMing reported to Liu Gan.

    <span>"How were things on your side?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill.

    <span>"Yeah, we didn''t meet anyone on our way in. But, toward the rear of the ship, we received a distress call. We answered the call, but there was no reply. Only a sharp whistling sound right afterwards," Treadmill reported back to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Treadmill wasmunicating through the microphone that we were onboard the airship. That is like revealing our location," HuJun quickly added.

    <span>"HEY! Brother, I already acknowledged my mistake," Treadmill said, embarrassed.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan didn''t open his mouth, he was thinking of a solution to that problem.

    <span>"Elder Liu, ording to my spections, all the passengers aboard this ship suddenly disappeared without traces of battle. It feels very eerie," Treadmill gave his thoughts, trying to divert attention from the recent usation by HuJun.

    <span>"There are still floors above and below! We aren''tpletely done looking through the ship. They might be hiding in a particr cabin on a different floor. As long as we can find just one person alive, we will know what had happened here," Han GuangMing said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Continue the search. Make sure you check every cabin and pay attention to the evidence. Look for firearm and resource storages. If there was anything abnormal, there will be a sign left behind. It is not possible that there is no evidence of it," Liu Gan said to all the members.

    <span>Now that everyone had gathered in the reception hall. The twelve people were split into four groups. Every group had three people. Each group was responsible for a floor. Liu Gan and YIn He first went to themunications room. When they turned on the device, nothing could be heard, not even the feedback or static from before.

    <span>The <span><em>Serenity</em><span> had three floors above sea level. The first level had been searched thoroughly. Below the waterline was the main cabin of the airship. This level contained the centralized control centers and cargo bay. Aside from all the cargo stored, there was also a miniature submarine. By the marked logo, it could reach depths of up to four thousand meters.

    <span>The airship''s second floor was guest rooms. The third and highest floor held the fuel tanks and flight control room. In addition, the weapon armory was also located on the third floor.

    <span>After a very detailed search, the final conclusion was that the <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was abandoned. There were no signs of an enemy and not a body to be found. There were a few stashes of food left in the cargo hold. The dry stored goods were going to be depleted, but there were a lot of freshly picked corn and vegetables. It seemed like the former yers or survivors were able to pick fresh food to replenish their supplies.

    <span>On the third floor, the armory was empty. However, in the second floor guest rooms, there was quite arge amount of ammunition in each room. It seemed they carried their weapons wherever they went. At least, until the owner of those weapons disappeared, leaving behind their weapon and ammunition in the rooms.

    <span>Han GuangMing was able to find a small generator in the cargo bay, with some fuel still in its tank. After getting permission from Liu Gan, Han GuangMing started up the generator and plugged it in. It was able to illuminate a good section of the room.

    <span>After the groups returned frompletely searching the ship, the sky was dark outside. It started raining again, and a thunderstorm was brewing in the distance. As a result, Liu Gan''s crew would have to stay on the<span><em> Serenity</em><span> for the night.

 Chapter 286

    <span>Chapter 286 - Endless

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>After the groups gathered back in the reception hall, they reported their findings. There was unanimous agreement that something strange had happened.

    <span>"It doesn''t make sense! If they suddenly decided to leave, no matter how rushed it was. They should''ve taken their weapons along, right? Otherwise did they really just vanish into thin air? Human evaporation? That is just outright scary! Why are we even here? We shouldn''t stay where they vanished from!" Treadmill started throwing out spections fearfully.

    <span>"Stop with the reckless spections, you are creating a horrible mood!" Han GuangMing urged Treadmill.

    <span>"Did I? I was only speaking out about my analysis to help Elder Liu ponder. Do you really feel like I am creating a terrifying atmosphere? If you feel terrified of that, how can you be such cowards?" Treadmill asked everyone in his surrounding. He wasn''t afraid to show his discontent with Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I suggest we head back into the car. Everything is quite strange onboard <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. Plus, Treadmill exposed our location, so I don''t think anything good can happen from this," HuJun suggested to Elder Liu.

    <span>Treadmill angrily drilled his gaze into HuJun''s back. Elder Liu had almost forgotten that point already, but it seemed HuJun was willing to throw him under the bus.

    <span>"Oh no! Both our vehicles are missing!" shouted Zhao Meng, as he was closest to the window. He had shone his light out of the nearby window to check on the vehicles.

    <span>Right as Liu Gan heard the words leave Zhao Meng''s mouth, he dashed forward to the main cabin doorway. Opening up the doorway and exposing himself to the elements, Liu Gan saw that the two vehicles were gone. It wasn''t parked at the dock. It was exactly like what had happened to the people onboard the ship, they vanished into thin air!

    <span>Others followed Liu Gan into the rain to verify the missing vehicles. They felt uneasy.

    <span>With the clouds rumbling, lighting shes brightened up the sky momentarily. Then a lightning struck at the highest freight container. The concentrated electrical power created sparks that caused an explosion, which toppled over the freight container. The freight container rolled down near Liu Gan''s group.

    <span>Quickly, everyone returned back through the main cabin door, then locked it shut from the inside.

    <span>"No need to be frightened! ording to my previous experiences, a Variant Zombie is behind this! It won''t show itself, which means that it is afraid of us. As long as we don''t panic or go anywhere alone, it won''t have a chance to divide and conquer!" Han GuangMing shouted to everyone nearby. He was doing his best to y his role of squad leader and obtain the trust of Elder Liu.

    <span>"The feeling is as if another base had set us up, otherwise why would the vehicles be missing?" a few members countered Han GuangMing''s statement.

    <span>"Well then me Treadmill for exposing our location," HuJun threw out the words out there.

    <span>"Are you done?" snarled Treadmill, getting aggravated with intentions to murder.

    <span>"Admit it if you did something wrong, and take responsibility!" HuJun was unsatisfied since Treadmill didn''t get reprimanded by Elder Liu.

    <span>"Squad leader Han is right, no matter happens on <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. Don''t be afraid. Don''t panic and most importantly, don''t argue! Let''s return back to the reception hall to prepare dinner! Don''t use the food and water onboard, use the supplies we brought ourselves," Liu Gan ordered, to stop the ongoing arguments and prepare for the nighttime meal.

    <span>"Elder Liu is brilliant! We are already hungry. No matter what happens, let''s just eat first," Treadmill quickly chimed in.

    <span>As everyone else got busy to prep food, they obeyed the order to not use the food from onboard. It was not easy to set up a stove in the middle of the reception hall without it catching fire. Using charcoal as fuel to light up the stove, the food was quickly cooked. A bag of corn was poured in the pot to heat up. After cooking, dinner was served.

    <span>To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning from charcoal, Han GuangMing opted to turn on the venttion system. After the charcoal was extinguished, the venttion system was turned off.

    <span>The thunderstorm didn''t show any intentions of stopping. Instead, it was bingrger by the minute. The rain was like a veil that covered the ship window, preventing others from looking outside clearly. The p of thunder was loud and in close proximity, almost as if there were bombs blowing up outside.

    <span>It was a blessing that <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was in pristine condition, and there weren''t any breaks or cracks on the exterior. In addition, the exterior had special lightning protection measures so even if the ship was struck, it won''t cook the people within.

    <span>Finishing up dinner, Liu Gan lead Yin He to the control center. The power supply was very limited on the ship, it was only enough to turn on some lights and not enough to activate the control system. So it was impossible to have the system self-check for errors.

    <span>Judging from the size of the ship, there must be a minimum of ten team members coordinating the piloting and defense of this airship. Raincoat and his soldiers probably took over <span><em>Serenity </em><span>by force and killed all the original crew. This would exin why they hadn''t piloted the airship away and left it docked by the pier.

    <span>It was fortunate that the interior structure of <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was not destroyed. If a person capable of piloting this was found and it was refueled, this airship could operate once again.

    <span>Once again Han GuangMing reorganized the members into groups to search the inside of the ship. As of present, there are two ways to enter <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. The first way was through the main cabin door, which was how they got in. The second way was through the cargo bay doors. Now that both sets of doorway were deadbolted from the inside, with the ship''s windows made from extra thick material, the ship was like a iron pimple. The only way for anyone toe in was through brute force, but that wouldn''t be possible.

    <span>To rest safely for the night, it was required to check thoroughly in between the metal sheets to see if there were hidden dangers.

    <span>The airship wasn''t that huge, and with lights illuminating the area, Han GuangMing had several groups search through specific sections again. Even that was fruitless, as nothing alive or dead could be found. Not even timed explosives or dangerouspounds were discovered.

    <span>"Reporting in, Elder Liu. There is nothing peculiar within the interiors of the ship. On a thunderstorm night like this, I don''t think they would be so brazen as to attack us from the outside. I think we should be safe to stay here," Han GuangMing returned back to the first floor reception hall to report to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Ah¡­ in that case, have everyone gather up to sleep in the reception hall, this is for the safety of everyone here. So organize a group of people to gather all the bedsheets and sleeping material onto the reception hall floor. This way no one will be alone in the middle of the night," Liu Gan replied to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"This ce is not safe at all. Ever since our vehicles have been stolen, hasn''t anyone suspected anything? Tonight, something definitely will go wrong," HuJun was deeply disturbed as he pulled aside Zhou JingJing. He was afraid of getting reprimanded by Elder Liu for saying such paranoid words.

 Chapter 287

    <span>Chapter 287 - Drift

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>There were individuals that didn''t appreciate sleeping on the floor with the group. They would rather have slept solo in the second floor guest rooms, but with Liu Gan''s order in effect no one dared to speak out. Han GuangMing lead a group of members in raiding the second floor. Anything useful like mattresses and bedsheets were taken along to form a super huge bed on the reception hall floor.

    <span>When the team set out, they had brought along eleven sleeping bags. Due to the floor being too cold to sleep on with just sleeping bags,yers of bedsheet and mattresses made it morefortable.

    <span>Right as therge conglomerate of mattresses was assembled, the lights in the first floor reception hall burned out and the emergency lights didn''t turn on. The reception hall was so dark, even the if your hand was in front of you, you couldn''t see it.

    <span>The veteran yers don''t panic in this condition, but the non-experienced yers screamed in fear. In response, the veteran yers took out out their shlights, but they were insufficient to light up the whole hall.

    <span>"I will bring someone down a floor to check out themand center to see what is going on," Han GuangMing said, holding a shlight and walking over to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay, be careful of your surroundings," Liu Gan agreed.

    <span>Han GuangMing took two members along and headed down the stairs to the floor below. When he reached the cargo bay, he investigated quickly. He was able to pinpoint the source of the problem, it was that the venttion circuit breaker had tripped. After resetting the circuit breakers, light in the reception hall turned back on.

    <span>"What was wrong?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing, when he returned.

    <span>"Circuit breaker tripped, it is possible that the circuit failed. Before we understand the circuits on the ship, I don''t think we should do any repair or maintenance," Han GuangMing replied.

    <span>"No need to repair anything, just arrange people for night duty. Everyone else should sleep, there is a bathroom by the reception hall. The water drainage system still works. If there is no special condition, don''t allow anyone to leave the reception hall," Liu Gan looked out the ship window covered by rain water.

    <span>"Okay," Han GuangMing replied as he assigned guard duty to the members. He told the nine yers that they couldn''t wander off alone, and he would take the first shift.

    <span>Liu Gan also took a sleeping bag and slept in the reception hall. Naturally, Yin He sat by his bedside as she watched over him. With Yin He''s protection, Liu Gan wasn''t worried about his safety at all. With the warmth of the sleeping bag, Liu Gan drifted to sleep quickly.

    <span>Right after sleeping, Liu Gan felt as if he had a weird dream. He dreamt that he was at a strange ce and he was fighting against grotesquely shaped monsters. Right in the middle of fighting, he suddenly heard a muffled scream followed by violent shaking. Being rudely woken up from his slumber, Liu Gan realized he was still within the sleeping bag. The fight against the monsters were a dream, but the violent shaking was real.

    <span>It was <span><em>Serenity </em><span>violently shaking.

    <span>"What happened?" Liu Gan jumped out of his sleeping bag and put on clothes. He rushed toward Han GuangMing, who stood by the window.

    <span>"I don''t know, I heard soundsing from outside of the ship. It sounds as if it wasing from the pier? It sounded like an explosion," Han GuangMing replied. Han GuangMing looked exhausted, as if he had been on duty the whole night without rest.

    <span>"Rain stopped. Let me go out the main cabin door to check it out" Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing. Then he turned his head to look around...

    <span>Several members were also rudely woken up by the sound and shaking. They crawled out of their sleeping bag to look around, only to discover several members were still sleeping.

    <span>Quickly, Liu Gan realized something was very wrong.

    <span>Yin He was missing.

    <span>Recalling from his memory, before he had slept, Yin He was by his bedside. Leaving his side, is not her style.

    <span>Liu Gan opened up the earphone to try contacting her. After Yin He had exchanged bodies, she also readjusted Liu Gan''s earphone to the new frequency. This way the old earphone could stillmunicate with her new body, at least if she was within the set range ofmunication.

    <span>The earphone was silent.

    <span>"Hello? Hello!" Liu Gan wasn''t willing to give up. He wanted to keep on yelling until he could get a response.

    <span>"Elder Liu?" Han GuangMing looked at Liu Gan strangely.

    <span>"Did you see Little He?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Well¡­before the muffled sounds¡­Vice-leader He was sitting by your bedside. When I heard the sound, I rushed over to the window to check it out. Then¡­" Han GuangMing pointed at the spot, where hest saw Yin He.

    <span>"Let''s go to the main cabin door to look around. We need to find the source of the muffled sound," said Liu Gan as he rushed toward the corridor.

    <span>After opening up the cabin door, Liu Gan took a deep breath of cold air.

    <span>Right outside of cabin door, there was no longer a dock. With the rain clearing up, using the shlight gave a clear view of the surroundings. The ship was surrounded by sea water! For some reason, the anchor was no longer attached to the pier. There were at least a dozen iron chains securing the ship body onto the pier. When everyone was asleep, the ship had drifted out into the middle of the sea!

    <span>Even though rain had stopped, it was very windy. The feeling was as if the wind was blowing the ship out into the open sea.

    <span>"It was pouring rain the whole time, it just stopped. I didn''t even feel the ship leave the dock¡­" Han GuangMing cried out loud. When the ship was anchored to the dock, it followed the motion of the waves. So even though it wasn''t violently shaking, it was still moving back and forth. Han GuangMing would not have been able to differentiate the difference when it was close to the dock.

    <span>"Perhaps¡­we boarded a ghost ship?" A faint voice came from behind and scared Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing jumped and nearly fell overboard, Liu Gan was able to grab ahold of him before he fell.

    <span>"Hey! When did you get here? Could you say something else first before creeping up from behind?" Han GuangMing angrily scolded Treadmill.

    <span>"I thought you knew that I was following behind you¡­" Treadmill said, embarrassed.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what do we do now?" Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan, while ring at Treadmill.

    <span>"See if you can find someone in our group that can pilot this ship. We can''t let the ship continue drifting away. We need to find some way to secure the ship. Otherwise, we won''t know how far away we will drift fromnd," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Okay," Han GuangMing replied as he deadbolted the main cabin door. Returning back to the reception hall, they woke everyone up and exined the situation. No one in their group knew how to operate this type of ship.

    <span>Regardless, Han GuangMing still lead a few people to themand center to try.

    <span>Liu Gan took this chance to call for Yin He through the earphone. Still no response. The earphone was dead silent, just like that time on Green Station Mountain, when she sacrificed her old body. Liu Gan was very uneasy about this whole situation.

 Chapter 288

    <span>Chapter 288 - For No Reason

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    [TL: Trigger Alert, you have been warned.]<hr>

    <span>In ordance with Han GuangMing''s statement, before the muffled sound Yin He was still by his bedside, but after the muffled sound, she was missing. Where did she go? If she was on board, it was impossible that she couldn''t hear his call? So if she wasn''t on the ship, then where could she be?

    <span>Suddenly, Liu Gan thought of something. He quickly ran down to the back end of the ship by the cargo bay. He couldn''t find what he was looking for. The small submarine that was there was missing.

    <span>Near the small submarine''s berth was a separate cabin. Liu Gan opened the nearby cabin to discover that there were a lot of residual water on the floor. It felt as if someone took the submarine out through there.

    <span>In the middle of the reception hall, everyone was ounted for, except Yin He. Was it even possible that she took the small submarine and left?

    <span>Why? For what reason?

    <span>"When you are on duty, did Little He leave the reception hall?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing was in the middle of investigating how to drop the anchor.

    <span>"No, she was sitting along your bedside. She didn''t move a muscle. I was wondering if she fell asleep while sitting. When I walked closer, she would lift her head to look at me. When I walked away, she didn''t move," Han GuangMing replied.

    <span>Listening to Han GuangMing''s response, Yin He hadn''t acted abnormally. So that meant the crucial point was the muffling sounds. So after the muffled sound, she suddenly departed the reception hall. Then¡­she rode the submarine to leave?

    <span>Could she have discovered a threat underwater, that was why she chose to take the submarine to resolve it?

    <span>No. That was not her style of doing things. Aside from discovering the threat, she would immediately tell Liu Gan and await Liu Gan''s order before taking action.

    <span>Could it be possible that there was a new protocol within her new body, and the protocol was able to override her control? The autonomous process could''ve made her do things against her wishes.

    <span>Liu Gan started getting worried. However, the impending threat was being stuck onboard, while drifting in the open sea. Before uncovering the actual situation, Liu Gan was helpless.

    <span>"Were you sessful in dropping the anchor?" Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"I''m still investigating it," Han GuangMing looked helpless. This wasn''t the time to be learning it, but no one knew how to operate the airship.

    <span>"Continue with your research, quickly find a way to secure the airship. If we want to return it will be harder the further away we are," Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing as he walked back up the stairs from cargo bay at the rear end of the ship.

    <span>Walking by the first floormunication room, Liu Gan saw light and voicesing from within. It was Martial Thunder and Zhao Meng inside.

    <span>"Elder Liu, we have connected with with the Prison Compound to Brother Zhang. Would you like to speak?" Martial Thunder quickly asked Liu Gan, as he noticed Liu Gan walked in.

    <span>"ShengLi, is everything okay on your side?" Liu Gan asked. There wasn''t anything specific he had to tell Zhang ShengLi, but since themunication line was up, he asked about their condition.

    <span>"My side is good, during the day I brought people to Green Station Mountain to search for more objects. We didn''t find anything useful, but there was a sophisticated instrument that we brought back. We still don''t know what it does, so we need you toe back and take a look. Elder Liu, did something happen on your side? Do you need me to send a rescue team?" Zhang ShengLi sounded worried.

    <span>"It is nothing big. It''s already past midnight, don''te out. Keep watch in the prisonpound and don''t let anything happen there," Liu Gan replied to Zhang ShengLi. With <span><em>Serenity</em><span>''s current situation, even if Zhang ShengLi rushed a team over to Green Pao Bay, they couldn''t help with anything.

    <span>"Is there really trouble? Elder Liu? Elder Liu?" Zhang ShengLi''s voice started to be more fuzzy, as if the signal had an issue.

    <span>Martial Thunder tried to readjust the device, but eventually gave up. "We are getting further away from the prisonpound, so the signal is getting weaker. Now we can''t even get a signal from them."

    <span>Liu Gan walked to the ship window to take another look. It was really windy outside and the waves were quite strong. At this rate there was no chance for the ship to slow down. It seemed they really were getting further and further away from the ind.

    <span>Liu Gan tried to recall the map that Jiang JinYuan had showed him on the PDA. NinJing City''s ind was located east of the Main Ind. Green Pao Bay was southwest of NinJing City. With the current wave direction, it seemed <span><em>Serenity </em><span>wa<span>s drifting towards the Main Ind, where the San Xing Corporation headquarters was...

    <span>Unsure of how long it would take, but with this type of drifting only God knew. However, if the wind and waves changed direction then <span><em>Serenity</em><span> might be stuck drifting forever.

    <span>This type of feeling of leaving fate in the hands of God, wasn''t great at all.

    <span>Aside from that, Yin He seemed to have left on the submarine. If the airship kept drifting at this speed, then the submarine might not be able to catch up to them. So even if Yin He aplished her task, she wouldn''t be able to return on board.

    <span>What did she leave to do?

    <span>While Liu Gan was looking for more clues, there were fighting soundsing from the first floor reception hall. Liu Gan rushed over, with Martial Thunder and Zhao Meng following behind.

    <span>Reaching the reception hall, Liu Gan saw HuJun and Treadmill fighting. It was an intense fight and blood was drawn on both sides. Huang WeiTao and Qi ShaoHua were trying to mediate the fight, while Zhou JingJing was sitting on the floor crying with her clothes in disarray.

    <span>"What happened? Stop fighting now!" Liu Gan shouted.

    <span>"Elder Liu! He wanted to kill me for no reason!" Treadmill rushing to Liu Gan with blood all over his body.

    <span>"No reason? You dare have the face to say that?" HuJun angrily said. Now that Treadmill had ran behind Liu Gan to hide, HuJun held his bloody dagger out of sight.

    <span>"Why did you want to kill him?" Liu Gan frowned. Right now there were more pressing matters at hand, and these two still want to fight amongst each other.

    <span>"HE RAPED JINGJING! Elder Liu I hate scum like this! Please resolve this injustice for me and JingJing!" HuJun knelt down on all fours to Liu Gan as he kowtowed.

    <span>"Please be the judge for us!" Zhou JingJing cried as she also crawled over to kowtow.

    <span>"I''m innocent! I absolutely didn''t rape his wife! Please investigate this thoroughly!" Treadmill started shouting in defense.

    <span>"You there¡­what did you see? Did you see what happened?" Liu Gan asked the two bystanders, Huang WeiTao and Qi Shaohua.

    <span>"I have no idea. I just saw them two fighting," Huang WeiTao and Qi Shaohua both stated.

 Chapter 289

    <span>Chapter 289 - Interrogation

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>Liu Gan nced at Zhou JingJing. From the looks of her torn clothes and disheveled appearance, it fit the description. There were also bluish bruises at the corner of her eye and ruptured lips. Zhou JingJing sat there crying, so her eyes were flushed red with tears rolling down her face.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I really didn''t! Look at how handsome I am. I have the qualities of a prince, and the aura of a gentleman. There are so many single females that worshipped me at the prisonpound, and you think that I would rape his wife? How bad do you think my taste is? There is no way my standards are that low, am I right?" Treadmill started pleading his innocence to Liu Gan.

    <span>"You must not want to live! You rapist! How dare you lie to Elder Liu!" HuJun angrily red at Treadmill. If Liu Gan wasn''t here, his first task would be killing Treadmill.

    <span>"Martial Thunder, go call squad leader Han from the cargo bay. You will take his ce to figure out the anchor situation," Liu Gan said after thinking briefly.

    <span>"Understood." Martial Thunder replied as he rushed down the hall and stairs to find Han GuangMing.

    <span>Inside the reception hall, no one else made a sound. HuJun red at Treadmill, but Treadmill merely kept an innocent look. Meanwhile, Zhou JingJing was crying on the floor.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you called me?" Han GuangMing came up quickly.

    <span>"You are a college student studying at a police academy, right?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing, as the two talked in a far corner.

    <span>"Yes," Han GuangMing nodded.

    <span>"So the situation is like this¡­" Liu Gan retold the case to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Which of the three do you think is lying?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing. With <span><em>Serenity</em><span> drifting into the open sea, there was no solution. Yin He''s disappearance was also a mystery. Now with a rape case, this is starting to be very strange. Liu Gan felt that this was all tied to the situation onboard <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. So to find a breakthrough, it was decided that this case would be the starting point.

    <span>"Then¡­was there anyone else that was present at the scene?" Han GuangMing asked the rest of the members in the reception hall.

    <span>"When those two were fighting, we <span>we<span>re present. But, for the rape and such, we weren''t there. We didn''t see any of that¡­" Huang WeiTao and Qi Shaohua quickly dered.

    <span>"Okay, so we have five people present. Zhao Meng, you watch these five people. I will go with Elder Liu for individual interrogation. Once we g<span>e<span>t their personal statement, I will fi<span>gure out the truth<span>." Han GuangMing was definitely a good candidate from the police academy. With Elder Liu''s high expectation on Han GuangMing''s shoulder<span>s,<span>i<span>t was a heavy responsibility <span>and <span>he wo<span>uldn<span>''t allow for disappointment.

    <span>"Sounds good," Zhao Meng responded.

    <span>"Sister Zhou, pleasee with us. I need you to exin your case," Han GuangMing called for Zhou JingJing.

    <span>"Squad leader Han, do you think he won''t hurt me<span>?<span> The moment you and Elder Liu leave, he will kill me. Without your presence, if he wants to kill me should I put up a reason<span> for<span> self-defense? If I don''t block and he kills me, then wouldn''t that mean I died for no reason?" Treadmill quickly yelled at Han GuangMing. Right now, HuJun was angrily ring at Treadmill.

    <span>"While we are conducting investigation, you are not allowed to leave the reception hall. You are not allowed to curse or talk to each other! More importantly, no fighting! Little Zhao is watching you. Whoever tries to break my rules is trying to screw up the case. That means you don''t respect Elder Liu. You will be severely punished!" Han GuangMing quickly shouted back.

    <span>"I believe in Elder Liu and squad leader Han will return justice to me and JingJing," HuJun held down his anger as he replied to Han GuangMing.

    <span>Han GuangMing nodded to HuJun. Then they went inside a nearby cabin room <span>with Liu Gan and Zhou JingJing <span>and closed the door behind them.

    <span>Without the presence of others, Zhou JingJing started <span>speaking of the details<span> to Liu Gan and Han GuangMing. After being rudely awoken in the reception hall, Han GuangMing with Zhang Hua and another member left the hall. Then Liu Gan left. After a brief moment, Martial Thunder and Zhao Meng went to themunications room.

    <span>[TL: Remember there were 12 people. Yin He is missing, so that means 11 people.]

    <span>Zhou JingJing crawled out of the sleeping bag, then headed to the bathroom closeby. After finishing up with the bathroom, she opened the door toe out. Right then, Treadmill was walking nearby and saw here out. Quickly, Treadmill pushed her back into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

    <span>Zhou JingJing was scared and asked him what he wanted. Treadmill kept saying HuJun was targeting him, and reporting him for trivial matters. This made him very angry. So he wanted revenge. Treadmill grabbed Zhou JingJing and pushed her onto the bathroom floor. Zhou JingJing kept resisting and screamed for help, but Treadmill pped her multiple times. Finally, he shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth and tied her up.

    <span>Zhou JingJing was terrified, but the only thing she could do <span>wa<span>s resist. In the end, a level 4 yer was no match for a level 5 yer. Using brute force, he could do whatever he wanted.

    <span>When it was all over, Treadmill pulled the cloth out from her mouth. <span>Then o<span>pened the window in the bathroom and tossed it overboard. <span>H<span>e pped her a few more times in the face, <span>threatening to<span> kill her if she made a sound before he departed.

    <span>Zhou JingJing was ashamed as she put back on her clothes, but she left the bathroom crying and told everything to HuJun. When HuJun heard what had happened, he was infuriated. HuJun ran toward the front of the ship, where Treadmill was. Right then, Treadmill was returning back to the reception hall from the outside of the ship. HuJun pulled out his dagger and ran towards Treadmill.

    <span>After Zhou JingJing finished her statement, she was allowed to leave. Han GuangMing halted the interrogations and went to the bathroom with Liu Gan to take a look at the scene of the crime. They discovered that the floor was a mess. There was evidence of someone falling to the floor that matched Zhou JingJing''s clothes.

    <span>"What do you think?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Zhou JingJing doesn''t seem to be lying. Treadmill and HuJun did have some personal disagreements from earlier. So if this happened, it wouldn''t be strange. But, we still don''t have all the evidence, we shouldn''t drop our conclusions so quickly. We need the other statements as well," Han GuangMing replied.

    <span>Returning to the reception hall, Treadmill was called into the interrogation cabin to give his personal statement.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I am innocent! Do you think I am that type of person? It is true that I have a grudge against HuJun, but I wouldn''t do something that vile. I am a person of quality and taste, there is no way I can do that to his wife, right? His wife looks like she is from the countryside, do you think I can do something as lowly as to rape her? I<span>''d<span> rather do a female pig to resolve my problem¡­" Treadmill continued jabbering on and on.

    <span>"Shut up! I''ll ask, then you talk. If I don''t ask you, then cut the bull!" Han GuangMing interrupting Treadmill.

    <span>"Okay, you can ask." Treadmill finally quiet<span>ed down<span>.

 Chapter 290

    <span>Chapter 290 - Truth

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>After a short interrogation, Treadmill''s statement somewhat matched Zhou JingJing''s first half. Zhou JingJing was in the bathroom for around two minutes or so. Treadmill had the urgency to pee, so he banged on the door, only to find that it was locked. Then, he changed directions to the outside of the ship. He found a corner to release his pee. Afterwards, he stood near the front end of the ship to ponder about his life before returning to the reception hall.

    <span>Who would''ve thought that the moment he entered into the reception hall, HuJun would stab him with the dagger. Everything that happened afterwards was what everyone had saw.

    <span>"Do you believe that you aren''t lying? Do you know that there is leniency in being frank, and punishment for lying?" Han GuangMing questioned Treadmill.

    <span>"Squad leader Han, don''t treat me like I am a criminal already. I really didn''t do it. Even if the thought had crossed my mind, don''t you think this is inappropriate time to do so! This would be adding more trouble onto Elder Liu!" Treadmill quickly said.

    <span>"So you''re saying that if there was a better time, you might think of doing it?" Han GuangMing picked at the <span>statement.

    <span>"No, I really didn''t mean it that way. Sigh¡­even if I wanted to do it, I wouldn''t rape his wife! What kind of person do you think I am? Damn! I am really unlucky. To be caught up in this type of situation! From the looks of it, I can tell that when you had the chance to split into teams earlier, you didn''t let HuJun be team leader. So he was very unwilling when I was ordering him to do things. He has been holding that grudge this whole time and felt dissatisfied! I bet he took this chance to ruin me so he can step all over me. He is that type of person¡­" Treadmill started jabbering again.

    <span>"Okay, stop nagging! Take us to the scene!" Han GuangMing told Treadmill.

    <span>"I didn''tmit it, so what scene?" Treadmill was dumbfounded.

    <span>

    "The ce where you peed¡­where you were pondering about life. To see if you are lying." Han GuangMing said to Treadmill.

    <span>The three of them left the interrogation cabin, the footprints in the bathroom were indistinguishable from one another. This was because the team members wore new shoes taken from the warehouse, so nearly all the shoeprints were the same. There was no way to confirm that the footsteps were from Treadmill.

    <span>The ce Treadmill said he took his leak had traces of piss. In addition, the location where he stood, thinking about life, also had footprints. However, these pieces of evidence couldn''t be used to prove an alibi during the time frame when the crime wasmitted, it could only prove that Treadmill had evidence of not being in the washroom.

    <span>Upon returning to the interrogation cabin, Treadmill still insisted on being innocent. He also swore deadly oaths to proim his innocence.

    <span>"Leave for now, please let therapist Huange in." Han GuangMing interrupted Treadmill, otherwise, Treadmill would continue talking until dawn.

    <span>"Elder Liu! You must return my innocence! The title of a rapist isn''t a good reputation. HuJun was lying to frame me¡­" Treadmill started turning to Liu Gan to plead.

    <span>"Get out, otherwise, I will castrate you!" Liu Gan replied.

    <span>Treadmill didn''t dare to continue talking; he quickly left and called for Huang WeiTao. It was Huang WeiTao''s turn for interrogation.

    <span>Huang WeiTao came in first, followed by Qi Shaohua next. What they said was basically the same. They both found Zhou JingJing disheveled and walking <span>with her<span> torn clothes. She was crying to HuJun about being raped by Treadmill. As the couple was talking, Treadmill came into the reception hall from the outside of the ship. Then, HuJun grabbed his dagger and dashed over.

    <span>They didn''t hear Zhou JingJing scream for help or make any sound. This wasn''t strange, since the bathroom door could be shut <span>very tightly<span>. After it was closed, any sounding from within the bathroom couldn''t be heard clearly in the reception hall.

    <span>Thest one to be interrogated was HuJun. HuJun admitted that he had a grudge against Treadmill from earlier, but he also acknowledged his own faults. He shouldn''t be jealous of Treadmill and Squad Leader Han for the arrangements, so he kept picking on Treadmill. He never thought that Treadmill would rape JingJing as a way to get revenge. Then, HuJun begged Elder Liu and Squad Leader Han to deliver justice and severe punishment for rapists like Treadmill.

    <span>"Who do you think is lying?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing after the interrogations.

    <span>"I am leaning towards Treadmill on lying. It is hard to pin that statement since there is no conclusive evidence. If this was the real world, there would be a forensic investigator to find evidence off of Zhou JingJing''s body. Then obtain Treadmill''s DNA to see if it''s a match. For this type of case, it is very easy to find the truth. But, right now, we don''t have that luxury." Han GuangMing said helplessly.

    <span>"So you are saying that there is no way to resolve this case?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>Throughout the interrogation, Liu Gan felt like no one was lying. Zhou JingJing''s injury, shivering body, and messy clothing matched the description of being raped.

    <span>Liu Gan also recognized Treadmill''s personality as a factor. He was talkative, and was not the type to be bothered by trifles. On a normal day at camp, he would hang around the men. There were noints from the females about him. It definitely felt out of character if he changed his personality to do something like rape. Even in the interrogation, he looked innocent and swore oaths. So it didn''t seem like he was lying either.

    <span>Then, there can only be one truth.

    <span>Onboard <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, there is a Variant Zombie that is capable of transforming shape. It took the shape of one of the members and pretended to be them. It cleverly took advantage of HuJun and Treadmill''s grudge. Then, it transformed into Treadmill as Zhou JingJing was opening the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom, it raped Zhou JingJing.

    <span>"I suggest we lock Treadmill for the time being. This way we can avoid the situation from intensifying. Even as we speak, <span><em>Serenity</em><span> is drifting further away. We need to resolve this issue first. We can''t let this small matter dy the bigger issue," Han GuangMing said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This isn''t a small matter at all, it rtes to the lives of everyone onboard. We can encounter a shapeshifting Variant Zombie. It will take advantage of the conflicting views between members and wait for us to kill each other¡­" Liu Gan countered Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Is that possible? That is really terrifying. Then, we should find this creature first! Should we organize a search party and scout around<span>?<span>" Han GuangMing asked nervously.

    <span>"It might have killed one of our team mates already, then taken on their shape. It might be tempted to take action against other members. If we split up into groups to search the ship, that will give it more chances to strike," Liu Gan said after thinking briefly on whether or not to search the ship.

 Chapter 291

    <span>Chapter 291 - Sarcasm

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span><strong> Feel free to check out his song!</strong><hr>

    <span>"Then what do you suggest we do?" Han GuangMing was very nervous.

    <span>"Aside from the three members that are still looking into the anchor machinery, you should stay with others in the reception hall. With this many people present, the Shapeshifting Variant Zombie won''t have a chance to strike. Later, we will find a way to lure it out," Liu Gan said as he walked out of the interrogation cabin, and into the reception hall.

    <span>HuJun was ring at Treadmill without blinking. Zhou JingJing sat right beside HuJun on the floor. She was hugging her knees close to her chest, she wasn''t crying anymore, she was just shivering uncontrobly. Treadmill was staring at the ceiling, with a face more innocent than <span>Dou E<span>. Everyone else didn''t say anything, they simply nced at the three parties involved.

    <span>"Based on our spection, we ce Treadmill as the most suspicious culprit, but it is also possible that Zhou JingJIng was raped by someone else. It could have been a Shapeshifting Variant Zombie. It could''ve taken form of Treadmill tomit the crime. It purposely provoked a fight amongst our members, so we would end up killing one another," Han GuangMing dered.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han? Is that all?" HuJun discontentedly replied. He was not satisfied with the judgement.

    <span>"But, he raped me!" said Zhou JingJing angrily.

    <span>"Are you two questioning Elder Liu''s ability to judge? Elder Liu didn''t negate Treadmill as a suspect! We are still looking ways to recover justice for the both of you! As long as we can find the Shapeshifting Variant Zombie, then it will all fall into ce. From now on, HuJun don''t seek revenge against Treadmill, this way we won''t do what the Variant Zombie wants us to do!" Han GuangMing said to HuJun.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han, if he raped your girlfriend or wife, would youe to the same judgement?" HuJun bing more agitated. Now he firmly believes that it was Treadmill.

    <span>"I believe in Elder Liu''s judgement! If there was injustice, Elder Liu will help you seek appropriate justice! If you don''t follow his advice and insist on taking on justice with your own hands, then we will have to confine you too! By that time, you can''t seek seek out any injustice and you fell into the trapid by the Variant Zombie." Han GuangMing warned HuJun.

    <span>HuJun didn''t make a sound, but his head was down. No one knows what he is thinking of now.

    <span>Liu Gan was silent. He was very satisfied with how Han GuangMing had resolved the situation. It seemed Han GuangMing was maturing quite well. He will have one more capable squad leader and trustworthy follower. It was a good thing for the group.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Are you a man? Your own wife was raped. How can you sit there and not do anything. You don''t even have the courage to say a few more words. You are exactly like a cowering turtle!" Zhou JingJing started to release her wrath. Han GuangMing restricted her fromshing out at other people, so she could onlysh out at her own coward HuJun.

    <span>"Don''t you know how to resist? You could''ve scratched his face to leave evidence right? If he wanted to get his way with you, did you just let me do what he wanted to?" HuJun was already angry. Now that Zhou JingJing was scolding him, he felt even worst. He wanted to regain some face by exchanging words.

    <span>Before Zhou JingJing, HuJun had another girlfriend. That women used him. She spent a lot of his money, but did not give anything to HuJun in return. There was a time when he got so angry that he almost raped her in a rental room. In the end, he found that rape is not an easy task to do. With his ex-girlfriend retaliating, he had to work very hard to get what he wanted.

    <span>Who would''ve thought that his own wife was raped. How could it been so easy, in a few moves all resistance was resolved.

    <span>"I did my best to resist! He smacked me! He is now a level 5 yer, with the increased strength how could I win against him? He had that angry look, as if he wanted to murder me! If I resisted anymore, I might''ve died! It was a mess that you stirred up, but I suffered the consequences! Now you are sitting here, saying these things to me. Are you a man!?" Zhou JingJing heard HuJun''s reply and felt even more anger inside.

    <span>"He dared to kill you? If he really killed you, then he would''ve exposed himself. Elder Liu would''ve punished him! If only you were more resilient in putting up your defenses!" HuJun replied. Without being able to take revenge on Treadmill, he could only shift all the me on Zhou JingJing.

    <span>"So you meant that I should have just let him kill me?" Zhou JingJing cried out in despair.

    <span>HuJun didn''t reply. His blood was pumping in his chest. He was panting for more air. He was holding onto the dagger handle, shaking uncontrobly. Both eyes ring at Treadmill, who was only a few meters away. He could practically just pierce through unguarded Treadmill''s back.

    <span>However, Elder Liu and Han GuangMing sat in the middle of the reception hall. Even with HuJun''s anger blinding him, it didn''t make him more rash. He knows that it is not possible to kill Treadmill with Elder Liu and Han GuangMing present. It would only lead to his own imprisonment, if he even tried.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Do you really think I would be the type of person to do such things?" Treadmill asked Huang WeiTao nearby.

    <span>"Who knows?" Huang WeiTao replied.

    <span>"What do you mean? Damn! I thought we understood one another! We''ve been together for countless days through life and death situations. How can you not understand my character by now?" questioned Treadmill, bing more gloomy with the Huang WeiTao''s response.

    <span>"Oh, I know you. I know you very well. That is why when they said you were responsible, I didn''t even feel a bit surprised." Huang WeiTao said sarcastically.

    <span>"I must be blind to think of you as a friend! Ahh! Besides myself, no other people are reliable! I thought we are friends! But at the most crucial moment, you only know how to give cynical remarks!" Treadmill shook his head. From his pocket, he pulled out a small mirror. He wanted to fix up his hair as it was in disarray.

    <span>"I was just being sarcastic! Did you really think I was serious? But all this is very strange. Do you think it is possible to have a shapeshifting variant zombie? I feel that spection isn''t too reliable," Huang WeiTao replied to Treadmill. While waiting for a reply, he nced over at Treadmill, who was still staring into the small mirror. Treadmill''s face was pale white, like he had just seen a ghost.

    <span>"Hey you, what''s wrong?" Huang WeiTao shoved Treadmill. Treadmill''s facial expression was very scary.

    <span>"Be quiet. Don''t make a scene, but look into my mirror¡­" Treadmill nced at HuJun and Zhou JingJing sitting behind him, as he spoke to Huang WeiTao with a shaky voice.

    <span>Huang WeiTao looked into the small mirror. Within the mirror was Treadmill''s face and his own face, so aside from that he couldn''t tell what Treadmill was so afraid of.<hr>

    [TL: <span>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Injustice_to_Dou_E<span>]

 Chapter 292

    <span>Chapter 292 - idental Kill

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"What did you want me to see?" Huang WeiTao whispered softly into Treadmill''s ear.

    <span>"Don''t turn around, don''t make noise. Take a look into the mirror to see the bitc¡­ no woman, that framed me¡­" Treadmill passed the mirror over to Huang WeiTao so that the mirror was facing HuJun and Zhou JingJing''s direction.

    <span>Huang WeiTao was still puzzled, but he still took the mirror. He pretended to look into the mirror at himself, but it was actually reflecting in HuJun and Zhou JingJing''s direction. In the reflection, it showed HuJun with his naturally angry face, but Zhou JingJIng¡­her face had ck-Spots. The sclera in her eyes were ck without any white parts. It had a sinister face looking in their direction.

    <span>"Damn! You raped a ghost?" Huang WeiTao quickly put away the mirror and replied back to Treadmill. Then, covered his own mouth so he wouldn''t scream when he realized what it was.

    <span>"Cut the crap! What do you mean, I raped her? Obviously, she deliberately tried to frame me! Sit here, don''t move, so we don''t alert them. I will report to Elder Liu." Treadmill whispered to Huang WeiTao. Then, pretending he had to stretch, Treadmill walked toward Liu Gan and Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I have something to report to you." Treadmill walked over to Liu Gan and Han GuangMing''s side and whispered.

    <span>"What is it?" Liu Gan lifted his head to nce at Treadmill.

    <span>"Nothing, I was just joking with him! He thought it was real! He needs to use his brain more often!" Huang WeiTao suddenly rushed over to pull Treadmill away from Liu Gan.

    <span>Huang WeiTao discovered something, so he quickly came over to pull Treadmill back.

    <span>Liu Gan looked strangely at Huang WeiTao and Treadmill. Once Huang WeiTao had pulled Treadmill far enough away, then they started talking.

    <span>"What is the matter with you?"

    <span>Treadmill asked Huang WeiTao to exin himself. From time to time, he would look at HuJun and Zhou JingJing. He discovered that Zhou JingJing stood up and was walking in the direction of the bathroom, with HuJun following behind her.

    <span>"HuJun don''t follow her!" Treadmill quickly rushed over, with hands extended.

    <span>"What do you want to do? Attack me?" HuJunshed out, with a dagger in his hand to strike Treadmill.

    <span>Treadmill wasn''t able to dodge quick enough, he was only able to use his hand to block a portion of his body. The palm of his hand revealed a bloody hole from the dagger, Treadmill immediately screamed in pain. HuJun retracted the dagger. Under the influence of anger, unconsciously, HuJun activated his own ability, [Tear], to once again stab at Treadmill''s internals.

    <span>When [Tear] is in effect, the dagger in his hand moves fast like a shadow. The power behind the attack depended on the proximity of the target. The skill was a first-ss offensive ability.

    <span>"Hey! Don''t be like that! Treadmill only wanted you to know¡­" Huang WeiTao rushed forth to stand in between HuJun and Treadmill.

    <span>Still influenced by anger and using the ability, HuJun''s attack couldn''t be stopped. Since Huang WeiTao stepped forward in between the two, the abilitynded on Huang WeiTao''s body. It struck his neck.

    <span>Huang WeiTao''s neck was severed by HuJun''s dagger. Huang WeiTao''s head was rolling on the reception hall, Treadmill shouted loudly and leapt backward.

    <span>HuJun looked at the headless Huang WeiTao, and was stunned. The dagger dropped to the floor. He was blinded by fury, and wanted to take advantage of Treadmilling close so he could kill him. It was due to theck of experience, that he activated his ability and identally killed Therapist Huang!

    <span>"Elder Liu Help!" Treadmill quickly ran back over to Liu Gan to hide.

    <span>"HuJun, What are you doing?" Han GuangMing rushed over. Then forced HuJun''s hands to his back, with ropes tying him up.

    <span>"Elder Liu, spare my life! I didn''t mean to kill him!" HuJun finally realized the mess he was in, as he started to plea.

    <span>"Elder Liu, spare him! He only wanted to help me! If you want to punish, then punish me!" Zhou JingJing rushed to Liu Gan to kneel on the floor.

    <span>"Lock him up to a nearby cabin!" Liu Gan saw Huang WeiTao''s body as he ordered Han GuangMing.

    <span>Normally, HuJun was the honest type, but the moment he learned his wife was raped, he went out of control. The emotionally unstable HuJun killed Huang WeiTao.

    <span>HuJun realized that Liu Gan wasn''t going to kill him, so he obediently followed Han GuangMing over to the nearby cabin. Zhou JingJing said she wanted to be in the cabin with HuJun. Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan for permission, then agreed to Zhou Jing Jing''s request.

    <span>Treadmill watched HuJun and Zhou JingJing enter into the cabin. He thought of something, but didn''t say it. Originally, he wanted to save HuJun from danger, but HuJun wanted to kill him. Even his ability was used, so that meant HuJun wanted him dead.

    <span>If it was like that, then Treadmill no longer worried about the safety of HuJun. So the moment HuJun dies, then they will know that Zhou JingJing is the Variant Zombie. That way, he doesn''t need to prove his own innocence.

    <span>As a matter of fact, Treadmill felt that he should stay close to Han GuangMing or Liu Gan, so he would be safe.

    <span>"Treadmill, what did you want to tell me?" Liu Gan walked over with needle and thread toward Treadmill.

    <span>"I¡­ I¡­ just¡­ just¡­ that WeiTao had found evidence that Zhou JingJing had framed me. I wanted to invite Elder Liu toe listen, but then he pulled me away. What a funny world right? Who would''ve thought that he would die from trying to dissolve the fight¡­" Treadmill started shaking. It was hard to tell if he was shaking from lying or from fear.

    <span>Originally, Treadmill was going to report to Liu Gan about his findings in the mirror with Zhou JingJing being the ck-Spot Variant Zombie. However, now that HuJun is trapped with Zhou JingJing, he changed his mind. He was going to use Zhou JingJing to kill HuJun first, then report to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Are you lying to me?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill once again. Then asked for Treadmill''s hand so he could stitch up the hand wound with the needle and thread.

    <span>"No¡­no! Ah!...it hurts! I wouldn''t dare to lie to Elder Liu! I am just still shock and scared¡­" Treadmill exined himself to Liu Gan. Meanwhile, Liu Gan was suturing up the wound on his hand.

 Chapter 293

    <span>Chapter 293 - Abnormal

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"Just endure the pain for a little while." Liu Gan continued suturing up the wound.

    <span>"Did the Therapist Huang discover something? Is that why HuJun killed him?" Han GuangMing asked Treadmill.

    <span>"I don''t know, but whatever WeiTao found, he didn''t tell me in time. He was murdered by HuJun too quickly," Treadmill replied to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Why did you rush over to stop HuJun?" Liu Gan asked. Liu Gan was still holding Treadmill''s hand for suturing.

    <span>"He is always ring at me, I only wanted to convince him otherwise. I wanted to have a good talk with him and dissolve our grudges. I never would''ve thought that he was thatpulsive¡­" Treadmill covered his first lie with another lie. At this point, he can only continue lying.

    <span>"From the way I looked at you, it seemed really urgent. It doesn''t look like it was something as simple as talking, right?" Liu Gan suspiciously looked at Treadmill.

    <span>"Ah, I really only wanted to talk. To resolve our grudges. It came from good intentions, but he didn''t appreciate my kindness¡­" Treadmill said in a few words. These few words weren''t a lie.

    <span>Liu Gan stopped asking any more questions after he was done suturing up Treadmill''s palm wound. Then with Han GuangMing, they covered Huang WeiTao''s body with a bedsheet .

    <span>The job of a Therapist was highly sought after. In the prisonpound, there weren''t many Therapists or Doctors, only a total of two. With the sudden lost of a healer, Liu Gan felt depressed, but also angry. This matter wouldn''t easily be resolved. But, the question of how to handle this situation, Liu Gan decided to he needed to hear the thoughts of Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng first.

    <span>Otherwise, he might get angry and just kill both HuJun and Zhou JingJing. Obviously, this option wasn''t the best choice.

    <span>Treadmill stared at Huang WeiTao''s body with the bedsheet. Then, he suddenly thought of something¡­

    <span>When Treadmill was going over to report to Liu Gan, about Zhou JingJing, Huang WeiTao rushed over to stop him. Mentioning something about it was just a joke. Then pulled him back away from Liu Gan.

    <span>After being pulled apart, was when he saw HuJun leave with Zhou JingJing to the bathroom. Treadmill wanted to rescue HuJun, so he rushed over, but hepletely ignored Huang WeiTao''s actions. Thinking back on it, Huang WeiTao had no reason to pull Treadmill back from Liu Gan. So why did Huang WeiTao pull him back? What exactly did Huang WeiTao discover?

    <span>Treadmill couldn''t get over this roadblock, he didn''t think it through before. But, it was toote to ask Huang WeiTao now, since he is long gone.

    <span>After the nervousness and horror had subsided, Treadmill''s heart began to hurt. Even though Huang WeiTao and him weren''t buddies, it was because of him that he died. All Huang WeiTao wanted to do was resolve the dispute, but HuJun ended up killing him. In the end, Treadmill felt responsible for Huang WeiTao''s death.

    <span>Staring at Huang WeiTao''s body. Treadmill remembered the days when they wouldugh and joke around. Huang WeiTao would be there to treat his wounds while they were fighting. The more Treadmill thought about it, the more he felt hurt. Fear warring with guilt, Treadmill lost control of his state of mind and ran over to Huang WeiTao''s body to cry.

    <span>Seeing Treadmill in such condition, Qi Shaohua also felt pain in his heart. He knelt down beside Treadmill. Both were grieving over the lost of apanion. Qi Shaohua and Huang WeiTao were in a group together, so their friendship was on good terms.

    <span>***

    <span>"Elder Liu, it is my fault, I should''ve locked up HuJun earlier. That way Therapist Huang wouldn''t have died," Han GuangMing said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This type of situation isn''t so simple. It is hard to say what exactly happened. I want to go down to the cargo bay to check on the situation with the anchor. If the airship isn''t able to stop drifting in the open sea, then everything is in vain. Oh right, stay here and keep watch on Treadmill. Don''t let him leave your sight. I feel like there is something wrong with him. As if he is keeping something from us," Liu Gan said to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Oh?" Han GuangMing turned to look at Treadmill after hearing Liu Gan say that. He also felt that Treadmill wasn''t acting normally, but what was abnormal was hard to say.

    <span>Treadmill stopped crying as he found the small mirror on Huang WeiTao''s corpse. The small mirror waspletely dyed with blood. Treadmill quickly picked up the small mirror and wiped off the blood. In the mirror''s reflection, he looked at everything behind him, and shivered.

    <span>Where Liu Gan and Han GuangMing stood, there was a face that had ck-Spots and ck eyes without white sclera. The ck eyes red in the reflection at Treadmill and it caused his heart to skip a beat. Treadmill nearly dropped the mirror onto the floor as his heart started beating against his chest.

    <span>Could it be that Huang WeiTao went to stop him because¡­ There isn''t only one ck-Spot Variant.

    <span>Huang WeiTao is a really good buddy. He must have figured out that through the mirror, Liu Gan and Han GuangMing weren''t normal. Huang WeiTao must have afraid of alerting the enemy of the situation, so he said ''he was joking'' as an excuse to pull Treadmill away from Liu Gan and Han GuangMing.

    <span>That was how Huang WeiTao saved him!

    <span>Onboard <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, it was not only Zhou JingJing that had been reced. At least two more have been killed by a ck-Spot Variant Zombie.

    <span>Right as Treadmill picked up the mirror to wipe off more blood to take a careful look at whether it was Liu Gan or Han GuangMing is the shapeshifting ck-Spot Variant. Behind him were footsteps.

    <span>Treadmill picked up the mirror and turned his head to look. There was only Han GuangMing alone. Liu Gan had disappeared from view. Han GuangMing was looking suspiciously at Treadmill, so he walked over.

    <span>The ck-Spot Variant was none other than Han GuangMing!

    <span>"Han¡­squad Leader Han¡­where did Elder Liu go?" Treadmill was trying his best to calm himself down. He lifted up his head as he smiled at Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Why do you care where Elder Liu went to? What is that in your hand?" Han GuangMing still suspicious of Treadmill.

    <span>"What is in my hand? Oh, my hand was injured, it just hurts a lot¡­" Treadmill replied as he slipped the mirror into his sleeves, then showed the injured hand to Han GuangMing. The secret of the mirror must not be revealed to him.

    <span>"If you don''t want to die, it is best that you don''t y any games with me," Han GuangMing threatened.

 Chapter 294

    <span>Chapter 294 - Impending Danger

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"I''m not ying any games. Ahh, where did Elder Liu go," Treadmill starting to be more flustered as he looked Han GuangMing. If even Elder Liu fell into their trap, then there is not much to hope for.

    <span>"Why are you so worried where Elder Liu went?" Han GuangMing watched as Treadmill''splexion worsened.

    <span>"I''m just asking, Squad Leader Han, no need to be so nervous," Treadmill looked at Qi Shaohua, then at the locked cabin with HuJun and Zhou JingJing.

    <span>This wasn''t a good situation to be in.

    <span>Could it be that Han GuangMing purposely locked HuJun in there with Zhou JingJing so that she had time to convert HuJun? With more of them turning into ck-Spot Variants, there would be less normal people onboard.

    <span>"Me, nervous? What would I be nervous about? From now on, you won''t leave my line of sight. Otherwise I will lock you up with HuJun," Han GuangMing threatened him.

    <span>Treadmill didn''t dare to make another sound. He was already deathly afraid. From his analysis, Elder Liu must have gone down to the cargo bay to check on the anchor situation. Now this ck-Spot Han GuangMing had chosen him as the next target, which would exin why he wouldn''t let him go out of sight.

    <span>In addition, Hujun being trapped meant that HuJun could''ve been turned into a ck-Spot Zombie already. Being trapped with two ck-Spot Variants, the oue was easy to imagine.

    <span>Right at this moment, themunications room produced a strange sound. It sounded like verbalmunication. The reception hall was located quite far away from themunication room, but since it was quiet in the middle of the night, even the faintest sound traveled a long ways.

    <span>Han GuangMing looked in the direction of themunications room, as if he wanted to check it out. But with HuJun and Zhou JingJing trapped in the cabin, and tricky Treadmill in the reception hall, he decided to stay. Instead, Qi Shaohua was sent to figure out the mystery call.

    <span>"You want me to go alone?" Qi Shaohua asked Han GuangMing again.

    <span>"Yes, you be careful now. Just take a look, no need to do anything else. Thene back and report the situation in," Han GuangMing nodded.

    <span>"Why don''t I go with him," Treadmill quickly suggested. Han GuangMing wanted to send Qi Shaohua away so there would be time alone with Treadmill in the reception hall. Then, Han GuangMing can have his way and turn more people into ck-Spot Variants.

    <span>"You aren''t going anywhere, you will behave yourself and stay here," Han GuangMing said to Treadmill. Earlier, Han GuangMing was still suspicious of whether or not Treadmill raped Zhou JingJing, but Liu Gan suggested the presence of Shapeshifting Variant Zombie. Otherwise, Treadmill would''ve been locked up due to suspicion.

    <span>Now that Treadmill is acting suspiciously, with averted eyes, Han GuangMing has more reason to suspect something is wrong. As a police academy student, Han GuangMing hated rapists the most out of all criminals.

    <span>"Then, I''ll go." Qi Shaohua figured something was wrong between the two. Ultimately, he felt safer with Elder Liu and the others in the cargo bay. Since Elder Liu was closer to that end of the ship, Qi Shaohua would head to themunications room, then down to cargo bay to meet up with the others.

    <span>As soon as Qi Shaohua left their location, Treadmill felt as if his heart was clogging up his throat. All alone, he was as good as dead in the hands of Han GuangMing. Nothing good would happen from this. Looking on the floor, Treadmill realized that the knife HuJun dropped was less than two meters away.

    <span>"Stand up slowly, ce both hands to your back and don''t resist," Han GuangMing ordered Treadmill.

    <span>Treadmill nced at Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing had pulled out ropes from nowhere and was nning to tie him up.

    <span>Being tied up by a ck-Spot Variant, the ending wouldn''t be good. Treadmill could think of many ways to die, but only one way to live. If he didn''t think of a good strategy to get out of this predicament, he was done for.

    <span>"You dare resist mymand, do you know that going against mymand is the same as revolting against Elder Liu''smand!" Han GuangMing was worried that he couldn''t suppress Treadmill alone, so he would rather bind him first. That way, there would be no worries that Treadmill would do something rash. The fear in his heart was real.

    <span>Treadmill suddenly reached down to the floor to grab ahold of the knife. Han GuangMing saw it and tried to remove the knife from Treadmill''s hand. The moment Treadmill saw Han GuangMing rush over, his fear was at its peak. With all the energy in his body, he shoved the knife''s point at Han GuangMing.

    <span>HuJun loved his knife. He polished it everyday, so it was sharper than anyone imagined. It had pierced cleanly through Treadmill''s palm andpletely beheaded Huang WeiTao. Han GuangMing wanted to control Treadmill, but he didn''t want to take Treadmill''s life. Treadmill felt that he was facing an immense threat, so he shed the knife forwards.

    <span>Han GuangMing couldn''t avoid it at all. It sliced through his neck, rupturing his carotid artery and leaving a deep bloody gash. His throat was also shed through, so his mouth could only gurgle uselessly<span>. Han GuangMing tried to apply pressure onto the open wound, but fresh blood kept spewing out. His hand was not effective in covering it.

    <span>"You are a part of them! You want me to be one of you, it won''t be that easy!" Treadmill took a few step backwards before screaming at Han GuangMing.

    <span>Han GuangMing reached out his other hand toward Treadmill before both his eyes became dull. Then his body flopped onto the floor.

    <span>Treadmill was covered in blood, his whole body was shaking. Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he ran over to the lobby where the guns were tied up. He took a few assault rifles in his hands, along with the ammunition in a bag. Then, with his back loaded with assault rifles, Treadmill charged in the direction of themunications room.

    <span>"What happened?" Qi Shaohua asked, as he had just finished up checking themunicator. Qi Shaohua saw that Treadmill was covered in blood, so he immediately panicked.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han became a ck-Spot Variant Zombie, it is also has the ability to shapeshift. He wanted to kill me," Treadmill was trembling as he informed Qi Shaohua.

 Chapter 295

    <span>Chapter 295 - Mastermind

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    TL: End of chapter releasing spree!<hr>

    <span>"You¡­you wouldn''t¡­you didn''t kill him, right?" Qi Shaohua took a step back as he asked Treadmill. He felt that Treadmill wasn''t in a good mental state. With his face flushed red, either from fighting or from running, if Treadmill could kill Han GuangMing, then who was there to stop him from killing others?

    <span>"He wanted to kill me, so I acted in self-defense! He wasn''t Squad Leader Han, he was just a ck-Spot Variant!" Treadmill continued walking towards Qi Shaohua.

    <span>"Don''te near me¡­" Qi Shaohua was terrified. He took a few steps backward, but immediately behind him was themunications room.

    <span>Treadmill with a face covered in blood, was in high alert and rmed. With two assault rifles in his hands, anyone who saw him right now would be scared.

    <span>"Why are you afraid of me? I''m a normal person! Right now onboard <span><em>Serenity</em><span> there are a lot of ck-Spot Variants. They really want me to be a part of their team. I am holding the guns to protect myself!" Treadmill continued moving closer to Qi Shaohua, step by step.

    <span>"Get away! Don''t point the gun at me!" Qi Shaohua found himself cornered into themunications room. It was a dead end. He became even more frightened.

    <span>"It''s just me, why are you so scared? Could it be that you are hiding something? Are you a part of them too?!" Treadmill suddenly stopped at the entrance of themunications room. He shook his head at Qi Shaohua, and continued down the stairs to the rear end of the ship to find Liu Gan. However, Treadmill stopped short as he looked at a nearby broken shard of ss on the wall. His face turned pale.

    <span>Themunications room was well lit since the electricity was running in that room, but outside in the hallway it was dark. The broken shard of ss acted like a mirror. It clearly revealed the reflection of Qi Shaohua''s face.

    <span>The reflection of Qi Shaohua, his face was full of ck spots. His eyes were ck without any white in them. His sinister malevolent face was looking at Treadmill, like a tasty treat.

    <span>"You are one of those horrible zombies! I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU! GO DIE!" Treadmill started opening fire with assault rifles in both hands at Qi Shaohua.

    <span><em>Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom!</em>

    <span>Several bullets passed through Qi Shaohua''s chest and brain. Qi Shaohua was riddled with holes. He copsed into a pool of his own blood and didn''t move again.

    <span>"Terrible Zombies!" Treadmill moved closer to themunications room to add another few shots, feeling that something was wrong.

    <span>Why is it that when these zombies died, they wouldn''t resume their original zombie form? The body didn''t reveal the disgusting ck-spots! Could it be that only with the mirror, it would show the ck spots?

    <span>Treadmill pulled out the small mirror, with his sleeves he wiped it clean. Then, he held his breath as he studied the reflection of Qi Shaohua''s corpse...

    <span>In the mirror''s reflection, Qi Shaohua''s corpse didn''t have any ck spots, it was just full of bloody wounds¡­wounds caused by his assault rifles.

    <span>What was going on? In the broken mirrors, he clearly saw the ck-spots with a sinister face, but now that he was dead, there was nothing like that?

    <span>So that is to say, these ck-spot disappeared after dying and it reverted back to the zombie form? Could it be that these strange creatures didn''t infect them? It was just a parasite that leeched on their body? Only after it died, it would leave the host?

    <span>If that was the case, since Elder Liu wasn''t here, he had taken up arms to kill Han GuangMing, then Qi Shaohua. How would he exin things to Elder Liu clearly? If they were alive, he could still use the mirror to prove that their faces were full of ck spots! Even Huang WeiTao saw it! That could be used to prove his innocence!

    <span>The problem was, Huang WeiTao was dead!

    <span>Since Huang WeiTao had died, Treadmill wanted the ck-Spot Variants to take care of HuJun. He didn''t report it to Elder Liu. So if he spoke up now, it would bring up suspicions and doubts. So even if he said now that he saw that Zhou JingJing, Han GuangMing, and Qi Shaohua were all ck-spot variants, it was doubtful that Elder Liu would believe him.

    <span>He was finished. First he was used of being a rapist, he couldn''te clean before. Now that he is a true murderer, he definitely can''t right his wrongs on this one. Killing Qi Shaohua was a small thing, but killing Squad Leader Han? Elder Liu won''t let this go so easily!

    <span>What should he do now?

    <span>Upon thinking about Huang WeiTao, Treadmill thought of another thing. He thought about the sequence of events, from the beginning. Suddenly, as if a light bulb appeared in his head, he shook from fear.

    <span>Huang WeiTao wanted to stop him from saying Zhou JingJing was a ck-Spot Variant. Treadmill thought the reason was because Han GuangMing was a ck-Spot Variant, to prevent the zombies from being aware that they were noticed.

    <span>However, Treadmill put himself in Huang WeiTao''s shoes. He was right. It was more than what met the eye.

    <span>If Han GuangMing was the ck-Spot Variant, but Elder Liu wasn''t, then Huang WeiTao wouldn''t have pulled Treadmill away. He would''ve called Elder Liu from afar to have Han GuangMing suppressed, then exined the situation.

    <span>This was normal person''s typical response.

    <span>However, in everyone else''s heart, Elder Liu is invincible. He is omnipresent and fearless. Even Kingler was no match for his fist. Huang WeiTao under that circumstance didn''t remind Elder Liu, but he chose to pull back Treadmill. It is possible that the person that was infected wasn''t Han GuangMing, but Elder Liu!

    <span>Or it could''ve been both Elder Liu and Han GuangMing. So Huang WeiTao chose to pull back Treadmill!

    <span>When Treadmill understood this point, he broke out into a cold sweat.

    <span>Who he thought was the most reliable, most dependable and safest person, could possibly be the mastermind behind the mysteries of <span><em>Serenity</em><span>! If even Elder Liu was infected as a ck-Spot Variant, then aside from the dead Huang WeiTao, there was no one left to trust!

    <span>Treadmill stood back up as he got off the ground. He went into themunications room. Whi<span>le he was figuring out where to hide next, he turned around to see Liu Gan appear silently at the doorway. He was frowning as he looked in.

    <span>"Elder Liu¡­" Treadmill shocked. Before figuring out the truth behind it, naturally, the question was, should he aim at Liu Gan or not?

    <span>"What is going on?" Liu Gan walked into themunications room as he pointed at the body of Qi Shaohua.

    <span>Treadmill didn''t respond to Liu Gan''s question. He just kept staring at the broken ss of themunications room to see what Liu Gan''s face was like. He really wanted to know the true reason behind why Huang WeiTao had pulled him away. What was the real reason?

 Chapter 296

    <span>Chapter 296 - No Where To Escape

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    [TL: Busyst week]

    <hr>

    <span>After looking at the reflection in the ss, Treadmill lost himself for a moment. His pupils were dted as he witnessed in the reflection of the ss a scene more horrifying than a ck-Spot Variant zombie.

    <span>In the reflection of the ss, it showed that Treadmill was the only one in the room. Liu Gan didn''t have a shadow or reflection at all.

    <span>Yet, Liu Gan was slowly walking step by step toward him¡­

    <span>He wasn''t a ck-Spot Variant, he wasn''t even Elder Liu. What was he? How could he be translucent in the reflection of the ss? This was something Treadmill couldn''t figure out.

    <span>In that moment, Treadmill was even more scared now that he had confirmed why Huang WeiTao had pulled him back.

    <span>Earlier, Huang WeiTao must have seen it in the mirror. For it to have been more horrifying than the ck-Spot Variant¡­WeiTao must have seen Han GuangMing talking to air in the mirror.

    <span>Treadmill rapidly pulled the trigger at Liu Gan. He quickly emptied his magazine, and all the bullets that struck Liu Gan produced a hollow sound, <span><em>ting ting, </em><span>along with gunfire shes that lit up the room.

    <span>But Treadmill wasn''t able to hurt ''Liu Gan'' at all.

    <span>Treadmill quickly threw aside the empty assault rifles, and pulled another assault rifle off his back. This time, he shot at the ss behind him. He created an opening in the ss behind him to escape from themunications room. Treadmill ran for his life toward the stairs to the top of the ship.

    <span>The second floor of the ship didn''t have light, but Treadmill didn''t dare to keep running recklessly. Treadmill looked back at the stairs that he came up from, and didn''t see the fake Liu Gan following. After a short period of waiting in the darkness, no one chased up the stairs from the first floor.

    <span>Could it be possible that Elder Liu was a spirit?

    <span>Is that why there was no reflection of him in the ss?

    <span>Or could it be his body changed in the process somehow?

    <span>Why didn''t he chase Treadmill up the stairs?

    <span>Could he went back into the reception hall to look at the situation there?

    <span>If Elder Liu saw that Han GuangMing had been killed, he would bring forth his fury. It would be unfathomable to think that Liu Gan would let him go. Being stuck on a stranded aircraft at sea, drifting aimlessly. the moment Elder Liu caught up to him, it would be over for Treadmill.

    <span>Now it was just a waiting game for Treadmill.

    <span>Now that Treadmill had more time to collect his thoughts, he realized he shouldn''t have shot indiscriminately at Elder Liu. Instead, he should''ve tried to talk things through first.

    <span>But¡­was that really Elder Liu? Or was it an imposter? Why didn''t the reflection show a shadow? Was it an ally or was it an even more advanced zombie than the ck-Spot Variant? That would exin why there weren''t any shadows!

    <span>What exactly was happening aboard the airship?

    <span>As Treadmill had his eyes glued on the stairs, from the corner of his eye he saw lights turning on for the entire floor.

    <span>What could it be? The lights weren''t on at all a while ago.

    <span>Treadmill vaguely remembered that the electrical system for this airship was supplied by section, and the whole second floor was considered one section. As quickly as the light turned on, it went off. Except for one light still on, in one particr cabin. What could be the meaning behind this?

    <span>With the fear lurking in Treadmill''s heart, he still edged closer toward the brightly lit cabin. Looking around the cabin room, he heard a sound¡­ing from the room. Once he got closer to the room, the sound stopped.

    <span>Finally, Treadmill walked up to the edge of the cabin room.

    <span>"Is someone here?" Treadmill carefully asked.

    <span>No response.

    <span>Treadmill took out his small mirror, and used the reflection to peak inside the room. Since the door to the cabin was wide open, the small mirror was able to show the inside of the room clearly.

    <span>The reflection in the tiny mirror didn''t disy any abnormality. It turned out to be a typical cabin in the ship. There was a simple bathroom within this room, and alongside the wall were two beds. Closer to the window was a table desk. This would be where the crew members slept, at least before the catastrophe. After Raincoat and his men took over <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, it became their camp.

    <span>Treadmill took small steps into the cabin, and took a seat on the bed. With stress and fatigue setting in, Treadmill was about to drift off.

    <span>Originally, Treadmill was very tired and stressed out, along with his enhanced state of nervousness, it caused him to navigate toward the bed. With his stamina drained, he really wanted toy down and sleep.

    <span>But he didn''t dare to sleep. He tried his best to get up. Then ced his assault rifle back behind his back. Treadmill headed into washroom to wash his face. Looking up, he looked into the mirror right above the sink.

    <span>He saw his own face. It was filled with ck-Spots. His own sclera were also ck. Treadmill released a high pitch scream. He smashed his fist into the washroom mirror and ran out.

    <span>Walking back into the cabin room, Treadmill sat on the bed again and repeatedly touched his own face. He didn''t dare to look at another mirror.

    <span>Something was wrong. When he was looking into the mirror earlier with Huang WeiTao, his face was still fine! Why did it change? Why were there ck Spots? What do the ck Spots mean? Did he get infected? Will he be a Variant Zombie now?

    <span>Why does he still have awareness?

    <span>Treadmill lifted up his wristwatch to check on his own status. to see if his state of infection was on the red indicator. What he saw was a ck screen. No words were visible.

    <span>From the window he heard a noise. It was the sound of wet meat mming against the window of the airship, the sound of it would make anyone ufortable. As curiosity overtook rational thought, Treadmill shone the light in the direction of the source. On the window there wererge suckers of pale white colored meat covering the entire window.

    <span>What was this? Treadmill wanted to start shooting through the window, but held back. He realized that the window itself was preventing the thing from entering. It hadn''t been able to enter the interior of the ship on its own, but the moment he broke the barrier, he would be the one that allowed the monster in.

    <span>At that moment, the cabin lights started flickering and sounds of light bulbs popping could be heard.

    <span><em>Zi Zi</em>

    <span>The lights started bing dimmer, and that spooked Treadmill. He ran out of the cabin and the light from his room extinguished behind him. Shifting from the light into darkness blinded Treadmill like a shbang effect. He couldn''t see his five fingers in front of him.

    <span>Neither side of the hallway had any lights on. It seemed all sources of illumination had died aboard the airship at the same time.

    <span>Trapped in the darkness, Treadmill started suffocating as if someone was holding on his throat. Unable to breathe, he just kept running forwards. He ran back down the hallway to the floor below. Afraid of getting stuck with the creature, he just continued running even if it meant getting trapped in the dark.

    <span>The problem was that he kept running, but the hallway would never end. His suspicion rose, but he didn''t want to stop. After a few more yards, Treadmill felt like he was stepping on something soft, like bedding. It was definitely not the normal floor in the airship anymore!

 Chapter 297

    <span>Chapter 297 - <span>Substantialize

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>Treadmill stumbled a few more steps andid his hands on the wall to regain his poise. The ce where his hand touched, it felt slimy and mushy. Some parts were sticky, but definitely cold and meaty. No one could tell what this mushy mess was in the darkness.

    <span>"Help me!" Treadmill started shouting as his fear overcame him.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Have they still not woken up?" Liu Gan asked Yin He after walking back from tossing thest ck-Spot Variant corpse out the window of the ship.

    <span>Even now, the airship was still docked on the pier with a dozen chains fastening it down. It hadn''t drifted off to the sea.

    <span>"Not yet." Yin He shook her head as she stared at the group members in aatose state within their sleeping bags. No matter what method was used, these members wouldn''t wake up.

    <span>"It is very strange, these hidden ck-Spot Variants have all been killed and tossed overboard. Why haven''t they woken up yet?" Liu Gan asked while deep in thought.

    <span>"I suspect that the main culprit behind this attack isn''t these ck-Spot Variants. Rather, it is something more powerful that lies beneath this ship. It is at least an Advanced Zombie. It has to be nearby, I sensed its presence underwater and it could be an immense threat to us," Yin He spected.

    <span>"I also suspect that. It must be type of underwater advanced zombie that can target the mind. These ck-Spot Variants were just hiding away obeying the orders of that Advanced Zombie," Liu Gan agreed.

    <span>"What should we do now?" Yin He asked him.

    <span>"It is still drizzling outside right now, I will think of a way to get them ashore and far from this airship. That way we can avoid the long range underwater attack." Liu Gan walked over to check on the status of every member again.

    <span>At this moment, every member was breathing rapidly with an arrhythmic heart rate. Their deathly pale faces matched the look of terrified people. Some of the members had rapid eye movements, as if they were in a nightmare and unable to wake up. No matter what Liu Gan shouted or how hard he shook their bodies, they wouldn''t react.

    <span>Yin He was the first to discover something strange from the shaking of the docked boat. Even the guard on duty, Han GuangMing, fell into a deep slumber and ignored the violent shaking of the boat. Yin He discovered that fact and managed to wake Liu Gan up. Afterwards, no matter what they did, they weren''t able to wake the others up from their slumber.

    <span>It seemed like everyone was affected by the psychic attack or a psychological assault from the advanced zombie. This caused them to fall into a deep slumber.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He''s assumptions weren''t wrong. During the day, the ck-Spot Variants were hiding in the venttion ducts while the Advanced Zombie was waiting on the sideline. This Advanced Zombie was a Nightmare Jellyfish. It was capable of micromanaging the ck-Spot Variants into hiding. Only when the people had fallen into the dreamscape did the variantse out to abduct them.

    <span>This was the very same method that caused the death of the remaining soldiers of this boat from Raincoat''s group. While the soldiers were still deep in slumber, they were kidnapped and tossed over the ship into the water, right into the Nightmare Jellyfish''s embrace. The spirits of these soldiers became nourishment for the Jellyfish, and their bodies became underlings of the Jellyfish as ck-Spot Variants.

    <span>The big difference between this time andst time was that Yin He was standing guard. She wasn''t affected by its aura, so Nightmare Jellyfish''s n didn''t work that easily. All the remaining hidden ck-Spot Variants were killed by Yin He and Liu Gan. Without the assistance of the ck-Spot Variants, the Nightmare Jellyfish could only continue trapping the group''s spirits within its dreamscape. The Nightmare Jellyfish couldn''t climb on board the ship, so it was highly reliant on the ck-Spot Variants to work from a distance. The Nightmare Jellyfish could only consume the spirit of an individual at close proximity to its body.

    <span>Yin He was unaffected, so she was conscious the whole time. Due to the specialposition of her body, she was unaffected by the aura of psychological attack and immune to entering the dreamscape. Liu Gan was only temporarily dragged into the dream since his level was higher than the rest of the group. Being only slightly affected by the aura, he quickly woke up with Yin He''s assistance.

    <span>All the other members were affected by the Nightmare Jellyfish, and they were all trapped within the same dreand. Since Liu Gan''s body was stronger, he only required a little external call from Yin He to escape. The ''Liu Gan'' that the members saw in the dreand, was abined conceptualized image. By using their respective idealized forms of Liu Gan, they were able to recreate him in the dreand, even if Liu Gan wasn''t stuck in it. Even if their image of ''Liu Gan'' was fragmented, whenbined with everyone else, it was like a mosaic that worked as a whole.

    <span>Since it wasn''t the real Liu Gan, the moment Huang WeiTao pointed the mirror at Liu Gan and Han GuangMing, he was only able to see Han GuangMing. The reflectionless Liu Gan made Huang WeiTao''s hair rise.

    <span>Not being able to see a reflection was a lot more scary than seeing someone''s face with ck-Spots. The absence of a reflection reminds people of ghosts and spirits. It is easier to fight something that you can see over something that you can''t. Huang WeiTao''s immediate reaction was to pull Treadmill back, so the secret of the ghostly Liu Gan wouldn''t be exposed.

    <span>Later on, Treadmill figured out for himself what Huang WeiTao had seen. Rather it was what the reflection of the ss didn''t show that surprised Treadmill the most. The reasoning behind the absence of a reflection was that ''Liu Gan'' was just a collection of thoughts.

    <span>Almost daily, Zhang ShengLi had been spreading his brainwashing and reinforcing it daily. In the member''s hearts, they have ced Elder Liu''s status as high as the heavens, so it was unthinkable to not have ''Liu Gan'' exist in the dreand. They have substantialized his existence based on will and impression.

    <span>Yin He is always standing by Liu Gan, either visible or hidden. She never says more than she has to, and definitely doesn''t interact with others. So when she wasn''t present in the dreand, it wasn''t strange to other people.

    <span>In themunication room, when they heard Zhang ShengLi''s voice, it was an illusion. Even the projected image of Liu Gan talking with Zhang ShengLi were all illusions created in the dreand. A type of filling in the gap mentality.

    <span>Even Zhou JingJing getting raped was her own fear taking control of her. All the wounds on her face, the clothing being ripped off were illusions that she projected on herself. In the bathroom, Zhou JingJing was alone, the projected crime scene was based off her delusions.

    <span>If their wills weren''t firm or their personalities were weak, that was when their spirits were most susceptible to being attacked. It would also be easier to be entrapped by the dreamscape.

    <span>Zhou JingJing was dead set on pinning Treadmill as the one who had raped her in the dreand, so with more trauma she got more frantic and scared. That moment was when she was her weakest, and her spirit easier to infiltrate as she fell deeper into the dream. Losing her way in the dream wasn''t any different from being a ck-Spot Variant in the dream world.

 Chapter 298

    <span>Chapter 298 - Can''t Bear the Recall

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The reflection portrayed Zhou JingJing as a ck-Spot Variant, mainly due to her being in an extremely frightened state of mind. A weak state of mind would lead to a weak spirit and change their outer appearance.

    <span>HuJun was with Zhou JingJing the whole time, but even with the emotional rollercoaster, he had a strong will. After making level 5, hemitted wrongdoings that didn''t match his personality. He identally killed Huang WeiTao and was imprisoned. Even then, HuJun didn''t have a weak state of mind that allowed his spirit to be easy prey. That was why he didn''t have any ck Spots in the reflection.

    <span>Even though Han GuangMing was a college student in a police academy, his personality had been consistently weak. Now that he was stuck in The Trembling World, he was only thinking of ways to earn the trust of Elder Liu and the respect of other members. The shaky voice and hands were clear signs of his inner weakness showing up through physiological reactions.

    <span>When Liu Gan had left him alone with Treadmill, Han GuangMing didn''t have the courage to face him. With extreme fear taking over, Han GuangMing wanted to control Treadmill as a worst case scenario. At the same time, his fear opened up a path for his spirit to be invaded. That was how ck Spots appeared in his reflection.

    <span>Qi Shaohua was still a level 4 yer, was one of the weakest yers in the group. When he saw Treadmill covered from head to toe in blood, running out from darkness with assault rifles, it was natural for him to panic. Once Qi Shaohua spooked out, his reflection would show up with a face of ck Spots.

    <span>Originally, Treadmill thought of himself as a strong willed person, but after this nightmarish experience he lost hope. The tipping point was when he saw a reflectionless Liu Gan. After that, Treadmill ran up to the second floor to see his own reflection covered with ck Spots.

    <span>As Treadmill''s spirit sank deeper into the dream, it would also be easier for Nightmare Jellyfish spirit to consume. If he didn''t find the strength to muster up his courage or receive some external help, he would remain like that forever. He wouldn''t be able to wake up from hisa after a certain point.

    <span>Since the Nightmare Jellyfish was outside of the airship, it couldn''t physically reach the sleeping members. All it could do is spread its four tentacles, each weighing nearly a ton, and stir the inner turmoil of the sleeping members. This way in the dreand, they could kill each other from suspicion and hopefully ''die'' within the dream.

    <span>If you were killed within the dream, it didn''t mean true death yet. Only when the spirit received serious damage to the point of no return, which is only possible if the members in the dreand fell deeper into the abyss. As their spirit energy became weaker, even the Nightmare Jellyfish outside of the airship could reach them. It could eat parts of their spirits.

    <span>Raincoat''s remaining soldiers weren''t as lucky. They didn''t have Yin He. Her special build and properties made her immune to all mental attacks from the Nightmare Jellyfish. At the same time, Liu Gan had a very strong will and capability, so he was only temporarily dragged into the dreamscape. Liu Gan woke up soon after when Yin He called for him.

    <span>Since the Nightmare Jellyfish was responsible for dragging these members into dreand and since its underlings, the ck Spot Variants, couldn''t retrieve their physical bodies, it could only continue with trapping their spirits in dreams. The Nightmare Jellyfish was livid that it couldn''t feast on their spirits.

    <span>The ck Spot Variants were very tricky, since they had taken the opportunity to push the docked cars into the sea. As a result, Liu Gan was only able to carry an umbre and risk getting struck by lightning as he carried each team member off the airship. One by one, he took them off the boat and ced them far away from <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. The members were ced into a far away empty room off the shore.

    <span>After every team member was moved into the room, Yin He was thest to enter inside.

    <span>Being further away from Nightmare Jellyfish''s attack, Liu Gan tried to wake up the members once again. Using various methods of, HuJun was the first to wake. When he woke up, hisplexion showed a mixture of anger and humiliation. When he looked around to see Liu Gan and Yin He and the surroundings, he slowly lost those negative feelings. Yet, HuJun was still disgusted by suspicion.

    <span>"No matter what you dreamed of, it never happened. Fromst night to now, you have been in aatose state. So disregard all the events that have happened in the dream," Liu Gan exined to HuJun.

    <span>"Dream?" HuJun said in a daze looking at Liu Gan. If it was truly a dream, the dream was too real.

    <span>"Ah. ording to my spection, there is an advanced zombie that is under the airship. It took the opportunity to strike us as we were asleep in our dream-like state."

    <span>"Ah¡­," HuJun sighed and didn''t say any more words. That dream wasn''t worth recalling.

    <span>Shortly after HuJun awoke, Zhang Hua and Martial Thunder also woke up. Their dream experiences were rtively simr, but they didn''t fall into that degree of deep sleep. It couldn''t be said for the other team members, they weren''t waking up from their slumber. That was evidence that their spirits were still suffering within the trapped dreand and they would need more time to recuperate before waking up.

    <span>"Thank goodness, that it was only just a dream," HuJun said that as he embraced Zhou JingJing. As for Zhou JingJing''s disgusted expression, there were no physical signs of being raped.

    <span>"What did you dream about?" Liu Gan curiously asked HuJun.

    <span>"Elder Liu, were you in the dream too?" HuJun curiously looked at Liu Gan.

    <span>"No? Within your dream, I was in it?" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"Yes! You were definitely there!" Zhang Hua butted in.

    <span>"If there was someone in the dream impersonating me, it sounds like there will be severe consequences! Quickly, tell me what you had dreamed about?" Liu Gan touched his chin, as he was unsatisfied.

    <span>"I¡­ I don''t remember." HuJun shook his head. The events that took ce within the dream were things he didn''t want to recall.

    <span>"My dream was rather dull, I slept until I was woken up here. In the dream, the airship was drifting in the sea and further away from the docks. I was with a few members in the cabin helping out. I wasn''t able to figure out how to drop the anchor. Elder Liu, in the dream, you came down to the cabin a few times asking about progress. But, I couldn''t figure that out.." Zhang Hua truthfully reported to Liu Gan.

    <span>"In my dream, it was basically the same. It was rather dull, but the feeling was realistic since we had never experienced this type of dream before," Martial Thunder yawned after interrupting Zhang Hua.

    <span>"Elder Liu, should we continue sleeping? Would we be affected by another attack?" Zhang Hua asked Liu Gan. The first half of the night was restless sleep, that nightmare was quite tiring.

    <span>"Of course you can continue sleeping. Since we are far away from the creature in water, it is unable to attack us. I will also sleep too. This whole night tired me out," Liu Gan replied, as he slipped into his own sleeping bag.<hr>

    [TL: Hopefully no more of that mind games]

 Chapter 299

    <span>Chapter 299 - Deep Sea

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    [TL: Yeah, these chapters are meant to be in a trio.]<hr>

    <span>The next morning, Huang WeiTao woke up first. His ability as a Therapist was capable of self-treatment. After Huang WeiTao woke up, he used his ability to treat the other members.

    <span>"So it was a nightmare! It scared me to death!" Treadmill cursed as his fear lingered in his mind.

    <span>Zhou JingJing quickly nced at Treadmill. Her expression showed that she was quite embarrassed about something. They never made eye contact. As a female, those type of dreams were the worst. Especially the dreams that involved her being mishandled and it bing public knowledge. She would''ve been so ashamed.

    <span>After Zhou JingJing found out that it was all a dream, she looked at Treadmill and realized that he doesn''t look as despicable as she had imagined. In fact, she thinks that Treadmill was quite handsome. So even if something had happened to her, she doesn''t feel like she received the short end of the stick.

    <span>Of course, she was only thinking about it. Scandalous thoughts like those were not meant to be spoken.

    <span>"The events that happened in the dream, I''m really sorry. I didn''t mean to," HuJun said to Therapist Huang.

    <span>"Did you kill me? I still don''t know what had happened that night." Huang WeiTao answered HuJun.

    <span>"I think I should apologize¡­ I seemed to have killed the most¡­" Treadmill apologized to Han GuangMing and Qi Shaohua.

    <span>"It was just a dream, no need to apologize and take it to heart." Han GuangMing and Qi Shaohua nonchntly shook it off.

    <span>Every member shook hands with one another, to drop past grudges. Lastly, it was Treadmill with HuJun. Both were very embarrassed by the turn of events.

    <span>Good thing was, this was just a dream.

    <span>After hearing their different perspectives, Liu Gan understood the majority of what had happened. Liu Gan was d his image wasn''t destroyed in the process. He still held an esteemed position in their hearts. As a result, Liu Gan proposed that there be no further grudges as they continued onward.

    <span>After everyone exined the part they yed in the dream, it was still a sensitive issue to investigate. Through this event, they were able to further understand each other''s personality, turning this bad dream into an useful icebreaker.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>It was now known how the Nightmare Jellyfish attacked, which was after the members fell into aatose state. Then, it would also require help from the ck-Spotckeys to attack and toss the sleeping members overboard. If it was during the day, as long as they didn''t sleep, there wasn''t much danger.

    <span>Eventually, Liu Gan''s group had to return back to <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. Martial Thunder was able to contact the prisonpound in themunications room, and once connected, they exchanged updates.

    <span>Next up on the to-do-list was to understand how <span><em>Serenity</em><span> operated. The operating system wasplicated. Without a specialized technician''s guidance, it would be hard to operate the ship. Trying to operate <span><em>Serenity</em><span> wasn''t a one-man job, it required the coordinated teamwork of others. Yin He was unsessful in obtaining useful data off the mainframe of the Transport aircraft earlier. Even though Liu Gan captured <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, without members capable of operating the ship it was no better than scrap metal. The conclusion was that Liu Gan wouldn''t be able to take <span><em>Serenity</em><span> out of the dock right now.

    <span>Things like initiating and maneuvering the airship would have to be left to other yers to figure out, since they had more time. Liu Gan and Yin He went into the storage cabin and found the small submarine. Typically, small submarines like these had diesel engines and battery power. However, this submarine was gasoline driven. Prior to the thunderstorm, two canisters of gasoline and other goods were relocated aboard the airship. Now the gasoline could be used to fuel the small submarine.

    <span>Within the small submarine were several oxygen cylinders filled with oxygen. Liu Gan and Yin He boarded the submarine and started up the engines.

    <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was docked on a pier that was on a channel to the deep sea. The deep sea stretched several hundred meters down, after the submarine submerged there were no traces of the Nightmare Jellyfish. So far, there weren''t any signs of psychological attack. It seemed like the Nightmare Jellyfish had left the area and gone back to the deep sea.

    <span>Without imminent dangers from the sea, Liu Gan was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the underwater world. But Liu Gan didn''t want to waste oxygen needlessly, so he resurfaced the submarine.

    <span>The small submarine''s top speed on the surface level of the sea was around 40 knots per hour. With sufficient gasoline, it could run for about two hundred nautical miles. Enough to circle the most of NinJing ind

    <span>If <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was not able to start moving. Liu Gan considered using the submarine to circle around to the Northern district of NinJing City, following the map that Mr. Sheng had left behind, to the spatial transfer gate on the map.

    <span>Liu Gan continued piloting the small submarine like a boat above the surface of the water, heading in one direction to a particr ind. Upon reaching the location, the ind disappeared. He suspected that a gigantic sea creature was floating on the water. As the submarine moved closer, it re-submerged back into the depths.

    <span>Considering all the things of this gigantic sea creature could potentially do, Liu Gan decided not to push his luck any further. He changed his direction and headed back toward Green Pao Bay.

    <span>"Wait a moment. I just received a signal¡­" Yin He suddenly stopped Liu Gan.

    <span>"Signal? What signal?" Liu Gan interrupted.

    <span>"It is a SOS signal. It is the type that is sent out for the other Armored Warriors to receive. I intercepted the transmission since I am closer to the source than the other Armored Warriors are. The distance between my location and the source is around 10 kilometers. Even though I am the closest to the source, I still can''t hear the message clearly," Yin He replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"SOS signal? What is the message? I will navigate closer to the shores, so you can listen to it clearly." Liu Gan hesitating as he turned back around once more. This time, he carefully moved along the shorelines.

    <span>After several more kilometers, the message became more distinct. Yin He was able to find out what the message was.

    <span>"Deep in the sea, there is another base constructed by previous Armored Warriors. It is possible that it is another one of the secretboratories. Probably due to the catastrophe, they don''t visit this location as often. Originally, the Armored Warriors would visit periodically. They would inspect and repair theboratory. Thest time the Armored Warriors dropped by this site was nearly a month ago. Without any resupply, the members inside have sensed the disturbance. So they sent out an SOS request. They have encrypted the signal so that only Armored Warriors could receive it. I am the closest so I received it."

    <span>"The SOS message is just an inquiry as to what has happened in the outside world. Questions like why their base was abandoned, and concerns like the depleting supply of fuel and food in the base. Without timely resupply trips from the outside, even their raw materials have depleted, severely dying the speed of their research," Yin He carefully exined the message to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 300

    <span>Chapter 300 - Submerged

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Underwater secretboratory? That is very good! It is possible that we could find things that we need. Oh, can youmunicate with them?" Liu Gan quickly asked, very excited about the news. Theirst encounter at Green Pao Bay was a truly life threatening scenario. It was only through the Yin He''s sacrifice that there was a gain. Ultimately, they both gained in power, but lucky chances like those were very unreliable.

    <span>"I am unable to initiate conversation with them. From the perspective of the creators of these Armored Warriors, the designers deliberately made it so thatmunication was limited to their own species. The Armored Warriors are unable tomunicate with the locals. But¡­ we can still navigate there. I will pretend to be a part of the rescue team and infiltrate theboratory. I will equip the Silver <span>Armor <span>while standing next to you. There shouldn''t be any problems with deceiving them into believing us," Yin He suggested to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Do you know their exact location?" Liu Gan asked again.

    <span>"The SOS message didn''t say the exact location, but I can use three setpoints to triangte the source. This will be my first setpoint. You can head toward setpoint B, up ahead around ten kilometers, and stop there so I can receive their message. Then I can start my calctions," Yin He exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>Twenty minutester, the submarine moved straight in another direction for ten kilometers, Yin He received the message at setpoint C. With the final SOS message received, calctions began. Yin He was able to easily locate the base broadcasting the messages.

    <span>With all the navigating, the submarine burned a decent portion of the gasoline. There wasn''t enough fuel to reach the base and return to <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. Ultimately, Liu Gan piloted the submarine back to Green Pao Bay to refuel.

    <span>Upon hearing of the possibility of a deep sea expedition, the team members really wanted to follow Liu Gan and Yin He. Taking into ount the weight limit of the submarine and the amount of oxygen cylinders, Liu Gan was only able to bring Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng.

    <span>"If you follow us to infiltrate, there is a certain amount of danger. If you aren''t careful, you can easily lose your life. I will do my best to save you, but if I fail then you will be abandoned. This isn''t an easy trip. Even if you don''te along this time, there will be plenty of other times for you to level up," Liu Gan reassured the other non-selected team members.

    <span>Even so, not being picked was a disappointment by itself. From all prior experiences, Liu Gan''s capabilities are very strong, so if he wasn''t around then there was fear of the dangers lurking everywhere.

    <span>For all the remaining team members, they were ordered not to fight amongst themselves and to protect <span><em>Serenity</em><span>. Then, Liu Gan piloted the submarine with Yin He, Han GuangMing, and Zhao Meng onboard.

    <span>The size of the submarine was small, but it could fit six passengers, with four sitting. Thest two spots were meant to store cargo and gasoline. These were provisions meant to help prolong the journey underwater.

    <span>Even though there was enough fuel for the small submarine to travel back and forth to Green Pao Bay and still have remaining fuel for an additional ten kilometers, it was best to be prepared for the worst. Otherwise, they might be stranded in the middle of the sea without any fuel left. Then the four of them will be trapped with no way back.

    <span>Shortly after, the submarine headed back into the sea. Liu Gan piloted the submarine, heading straight toward the source of the signal. The distance from <span><em>Serenity</em><span> to the base was close to fifty kilometers. At full speed, the submarine would take close to an hour before reaching the designated location.

    <span>Operating in open waters wasn''t an issue for the small submarine. Liu Gan was worried about the sea creature that was lurking in the middle of the ocean. The hull of the submarine might look sturdy, but using Kingler''s power as a standard measure of strength, the underwater Advanced Zombie could easily bite down partially, orpletely swallow the submarine.

    <span>If either scenario happened, the other two team members were dead. Liu Gan and Yin He would sink like anchors in the water, and even with life jackets it would be a very troubling problem.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>Perhaps there were very few Advanced Zombies along the route, or it could''ve been their lucky day. It was smooth journey without any disasters. After a quick hour, the submarine arrived at the location of the transmission.

    <span>What they saw wasn''t what they expected. The source of the signal wasn''t a converted deep sea oil well tform, but a coral reef. Constructed on top of the reef was a small wireless radio device. Clearly, this was just merely a transmission checkpoint. The real location of the signal was hidden elsewhere.

    <span>After finding the transmission checkpoint, Yin He was able to receive the actual SOS signal from the source. It was located fairly close to the transmission checkpoint. A few more kilometers away, but deeper. Way deeper, into the abyss of the seabed.

    <span>Liu Gan predicted something of this sort would happen, so he was rtively prepared for additional kilometers of travel. The submarine that everyone was riding in, was capable of reaching depths of 4000 meters, based on information obtained by Yin He. The seabed was around 3000 meters down. Without any incidents, this submarine was capable of reaching those depths.

    <span>Carefully, Liu Gan steered the submarine past the coral reefs into crevices in the seabed. Continually going deeper¡­ 500 meters¡­ 1000 meters¡­ 2000 meters¡­

    <span>As the depthometer continued to increase, the immense underwater pressure weighed down on the hull of the submarine. There were sounds of metal cranking that were simr to metal tes sliding over one another. It felt as if the hull would copse due to pressure and the sea water would rush in.

    <span>Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng''s expressions changed when they heard the sounds<span>. Suddenly, they realized a big w. The submarine hadn''t been maintained for a while now. So no one knew if it was still capable of withstanding this much pressure. If the hull copsed, water would instantly flood this ce. Stuck this deep underwater would mean certain death.

    <span>Liu Gan participated in these deep sea expeditions before, so this wasn''t his first venture into the abyss. Even now, Liu Gan wasn''t disturbed about the creaking noises. His only worry was getting attacked by an Advanced Zombie when he was this close to the seabed. Hopefully, the underwater creature won''t notice the presence of the submarine, or would ignore it. There was also his curiosity about what might be stashed away in the underwater secretboratory.

    <span>No two secretboratories in The Trembling World were the same, and they could be filled with endlessly different possibilities. Yin He was rescued by Liu Gan from a secretboratory. Only with Yin He''s constant protection and assistance was Liu Gan was able to be this strong this fast. Without Yin He, he would not be level 9 this quickly.

    <span>After experiencing Green Pao Bay, Liu Gan specifically told Yin He that when they reached the underwaterboratory, regardless of what happens, she can''t do any more self-sacrificing acts to help him gain levels. Liu Gan really want Yin He to know the importance of her life. Her life was far more important than his need to level up.

    <span><strong> ...</strong>

 Chapter 301

    <span>Chapter 301 - Disconnected

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    [TL: Short survey if you can fill it out, would be appreciated! <strong>]</strong><hr>

    <span>After the submarine reached nearly 3000 meters deep, the intensity of the signal grew stronger. The submarine was already searching close to the seabed. The deepest part of the sea maxed out at a little over 3000 meters. By the seabed, a faint light could be seen from afar. With their enhanced eyesight, it was already visible from a good distance.

    <span>With this, the small submarine safely arrived at the location of the secretboratory on the seabed.

    <span>Closing in on the location, there were a lot of buildings on the seabed, like an underwater city. The glowing light was illuminating a small portion of the total construction area. The lights seeped out through ss windows from a building. The ss used for the window required a special type of ss that could sustain the pressure from 3000 meters of sea water.

    <span>At the edge of the construction site, there was a structure resembling a docking site. It was capable of dockingrge submarines, so for small submarines like Liu Gan''s it was more than sufficient to use..

    <span>Right as Liu Gan''s submarine was preparing to dock at the anchoring joints, a wireless transmitting station from a nearby building came through their radio.

    <span>"May I ask who you are?" A voice transmitted through themunications system inquiring about the new iing submarine. Clearly, these people hadn''t seen the appearance of this particr submarine before. So as a precaution, it was protocol to inquire before letting them off the submarine.

    <span>"We are sent by the mothership, we are the investigative crew. As we passed by the area, we received a rescue signal. Conveniently, we were reassigned to investigate this matter," Liu Gan answered the inquiry.

    <span>"Okay. After the joints finish connecting, please state your identity. We will release you after we confirm your identities," replied the unidentified speaker. As they allowed the submarine to dock to the connecting hatches.

    <span>After the submarine was attached, Yin He equipped her silver armor from spatial storage. Then in the area above her fist, she extended out a sharp spike that she stabbed onto the detection device of the istion chamber in the submarine.

    <span>Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng witnessed Yin He''s transformation and were shocked, but no sounds were made while their mouths hung open.

    <span>"Cool!" Han GuangMing couldn''t think of another word to describe his current mood of being astounded by what he saw.

    <span>"Very cool!" Zhao Meng added.

    <span>Even though it was astonishing, these two didn''t say more than necessary. There were already suspicions going around that Yin He wasn''t human. There were all kinds of secretive rumors spreading within the prisonpound, but none that would reach Liu Gan''s ear.

    <span>"We are now investigative members. When you two are inside, don''t talk at all. Just match what I do," Liu Gan ordered Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Okay!" both nodded.

    <span>Yin He''s spike was used as identification. The detection device produced mechanical sounds as it was inspecting her spike. Then a few secondster, the red light turned green. Naturally, the lock on the cabin door opened up.

    <span>This base of underwaterboratory was isted from the catastrophe, so it had lost all forms ofmunication without any warning. Naturally, the information in their database hadn''t been updated. Even though on the mothership, Yin He''s identification have been listed as ''lost'', due to thegging misinformation, Yin He was able to sessfully bypass the recognition system.

    <span>As a stolen body from the mothership, Yin He''s body had authorization for almost every secretboratory, since the Armored Warriors sent out from the mothership had to have ess to the locations to execute their different missions. The protocol for ''missing'' Armored Warriors would be the immediate termination of authorizations across allboratories, at least before the catastrophe. Ever since that incident, there had been no ess to reach thework of information to update the database.

    <span>After the cabin door to the secretboratory side opened, Liu Gan and the other three stepped into the building. There were a dozen male and female scientists with their whiteb coats gathered in the cabin. The moment Yin He with her Silver Armor disembarked from the submarine, she was greeted with admiring looks from the scientists. Standing right by her side was Liu Gan.

    <span>Back then, there were Armored Warriors frequently traveling to their location for missions. Often, the Armored Warriors would resupply the base as a side effect of dropping by and they would leave withpleted experiment results. These Armored Warriors would rarelymunicate with the research scientists, even rarer when there were humanpanions aboard their submarine.

    <span>There were asions when humanpanions traveled along with the Armored Warriors, and these humans held high ranks even on the mothership. These humans investigators were sent out by the requests of the executive board or investors. So when the research scientists saw Liu Gan standing right by Yin He''s side, they naturally thought Liu Gan was a high ranking official sent by thepany.

    <span>With an Armored Warrior apanying him, no one would ever question Liu Gan and the others'' identities. There was a possibility of having imposters amongst the living, but at their current technological advancement, it was impossible to impersonate an Armored Warrior.

    <span>"Hello, how are you? I''m Wei Liang. I am the supervisor of this secretboratory. I am very happy that you were able toe to our location. We have waited many days and nights for your arrival. Did something happen to the outside world? Why hasn''t anyone contacted us this long? Why did the resupply shipments stop arriving?" asked a researcher in his mid thirties. He enthusiastically walked up to greet Liu Gan.

    <span>"We were only passing by when we received your distress signal. So we took a detour to check it out. Are youpletely disconnected from thework? Why haven''t you tried using any transportation to reach the surface?" Liu Gan attempted to gather information from these people.

    <span>If these people were truly disconnected from the outside world, then it would be easier to manipte them.

    <span>"We are stuck here without any means of transportation to reach the surface. When we agreed toe work here, we signed a detailed confidentiality agreement that without permission we can''t leave," Wei Liang looked strangely at Liu Gan, but continued to exin the situation.

    <span>"So that means all the incidents that happened to thepany''s executive board, you don''t know about it?" Liu Gan faked his shocked expression as he quickly replied.

    <span>"Yes, what happened at thepany?" Wei Liang asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"There''s a change with some of thepany''s executive board members. The board of directors dismissed several managing officers, and some of these officersmitted suicide before they finished their job. That is why a portion of the secretboratories like this one have been forgotten. Seems like you were one of those unluckyboratories," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"So it was like that¡­" Wei Liang was emotionally riled up. Never did he think that a high ranking official would disclose detailed secrets about the executive board.

    <span>"We are in the process of regaining control of the lost assets of thepany. We were sessful in taking back most of the secretboratories back under our control. This time we were out doing a routine patrol when we identally received your distress signal. So we decided to stop by." Liu Gan gave a stern look while carefully examining Wei Liang''s expression.

 Chapter 302

    <span>Chapter 302 - Conference

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Ahh...with the change in executive officers, we were forgotten. Our research projects here haven''t been ordered to stop, right?" Wei Liang worriedly asked Liu Gan. Little by little, Wei Liang waspletely deceived.

    <span>"I am here to check up on your progress. So, based on your project results, we will consider if it is worthwhile to continue this project. If there is value in your research, I will rmend to headquarters to restart this project. Then they can continue allocating resources to your needs and further sponsor your research. However, if there were no useful results, headquarters will seriously consider cutting this project out. This is your chance to show your worth based on the project results," Liu Gan sternly responded to Wei Liang.

    <span>"So it is like that? Please don''t cut our project. This project has achieved a lot of progress, even though it is still just preliminary results. We didn''t receive much funding in the early stages of the research, so if you stop the research now it would be a waste!" Wei Liang pleaded.

    <span>"Well¡­we can decide that after you show me your project results. I will listen to your report and submit a briefing back to the executive board. At that point, what they decide to do will be in their hands. Right, do you happen to have any polymerized photon nanomites to resupply him? We didn''t ount for this trip so he is running low on energy. I must find some way of replenishing his energy." Liu Gan was referring to Yin He, when he spoke to Wei Liang. Liu Gan''s priority were to resolve Yin He''s energy crisis. If he was able to find supplies here, then that would be the best.

    <span>"Their resting chamber should have some? Even though we haven''t been resupplied for awhile, a lot of the facilities were shut down. Their resting chamber is below this floor. To reach that location, you will have to wait for resupplies to arrive," Wei Liang replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Facility shut down? It can''t be opened?" Liu Gan replied to Wei Liang. The moment Liu Gan heard about the possibility of having polymerized photon nanomites, he was very excited. Even though he casually mentioned it, he never expected to be able to find such valuable resource at this location.

    <span>"It is like this, since we haven''t been resupplied for a long time, a portion of our experiment modules were shut off. To conserve our remaining energy, we cut off energy supplying the experiments. That was when an ident urred. Some of the experimental subjects were released into the room. To kill them, we were forced to flood that room with sea water. We were nning to drain the chamber after we got our supplies again. That way we could open up the chamber doors again. If we were to forcefully open up the doors, seawater would flood right into the experiment zone and living quarters. The result would be catastrophic," Wei Liang carefully exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Can we wear oxygen tanks and diving suits? You should have that gear here, right?" Liu Gan wasn''t willing to give up so easily.

    <span>"No, the resilient experimental subject was able to survive the flooded chamber. It carries a fatal virus on its body. So without careful sterilization and treatment, even wearing the diving suit will lead to infection. How about this? As our esteemed guests, you should rest up in the cabin break room. In the meantime, we will carry out some preparation work. We will summarize our report to you in a meeting. We will wait until you can contact the mothership and have maintenance technicians to repair things. That way we can open up the cabin door and continue our research," Wei Liang suggested to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This is only a temporary stop, we can''t be held down here for too long. How about this instead. You can take me to the conference room, and you can prepare amongst yourselves. It doesn''t have to be too detailed. Ten or twenty minutester, the meeting will begin. At that time, you will report to me the purpose and progress of your projects to me. As for resupply from the mothership, it won''t reach here that quickly. it would take at least one or two days. So it is best if I understand the situation first, so I can properly assess how to help you. Even if I can help out, we can still wait for the mothership to resupply," Liu Gan answered Wei Liang.

    <span>Liu Gan wanted to get his goods and leave as soon as possible. It was possible to lock everyone here and get the information out through torture, then forcefully break through and take the goods. The downside to this method is that the most important secrets might not be revealed.

    <span>If Liu Gan continued to y the role of a high ranking official sent by headquarters, he might get the information he wanted without using force. By manipting his identity, he could understand the true purpose of their research. Then, he would know what he would be risking.

    <span>For instance, drugs could have life threatening effects if you didn''t know what they contained.

    <span>"Okay, then we will do as you say. Within twenty minutes, we will meet at the conference room. Please follow me, I will take you to the conference room now." Wei Liang led Liu Gan and his group to the conference room, after giving instructions to the other research personnel.

    <span>Walking pass several hallways and storage rooms, Wei Liang brought the four guests to a conference room. Within the room was a long rectangr table, with alloy seats fastened to the floor. It looked like the designated location for discussing issues within theboratory.

    <span>When Liu Gan arrived on the submarine, he had looked out of the window and seen theyout of theboratory. From his view, theboratory upied so much space that it could be considered a small town. To his shock, there were only a dozen or so research scientists operating this ce.

    <span>Finding out what happened would have to wait until the conference was over.

    <span>The conference table had enough chairs to seat around twenty people, and alongside the cabin wall, there were another two rows of chairs. From the looks of it, this conference room could easily host up to a hundred people for a meeting.

    <span>"To conserve energy, we haven''t used this room for a while. Since you arrived here today, I hope we will be resupplied very quickly. So even if we waste a little more energy, it won''t matter. Our stored reserves aren''t as low as our message had described. We could still endure for half a month or so. If we aren''t replenished within half a month, then that is when we would need urgent help. Even our lives would be in danger. I don''t think thepany will abandon us after investing so many resources, right?" Wei Liang probed his guest for hints.

 Chapter 303

    <span>Chapter 303 - Breathing Underwater

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Rx, you are allpany assets. Thepany won''t let you waste away," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"I am very grateful. What is more important than us, is our project. Our project is top priority. Without enough samples, this project can''t go on. If it is prolonged any longer, then there is a higher chance of project failure. So when you return, you have to guarantee to bring us an ample supply of experimental specimens," Wei Liang continued.

    <span>"The experimental specimens¡­ you are referring to the uninfected human species right?" Liu Gan asked Wei Liang.

    <span>"Yes. As of right now, we need at least fifty of them asboratory specimens. That would prolong the research for half a month. We would need to increase that amountter on," Wei Liang nodded.

    <span>"Okay, you don''t have to continue staying here to apany us. Go help your fellow peers to gather up all the data and bring it back. I will wait patiently here for your briefing." Liu Gan waved Wei Liang away.

    <span>"Okay, I will head back to rush over with the data," Wei Liang said as he left the conference room. Wei Liang quickly found his peers andpiled all the data and finds, before returning to the conference room.

    <span>Ten minutester, every research scientist was gathered in the conference room. There were eighteen scientists there, six more researchers than when Liu Gan arrived. This number of scientist was still lower than what Liu Gan had expected.

    <span>Of the eighteen research scientists, there were thirteen men and five women.

    <span>Standing right next to Wei Liang was a younger woman, a new arrival. The moment she appeared in the conference room, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng''s pupils dted. They stared at her beautiful face for a good while before looking elsewhere.

    <span>"This is my assistant. Her name is Su Nina. She is a very gifted researcher," Wei Liang exined, the moment he caught Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng staring.

    <span>"Esteemed guests, wee," Su Nina greeted Liu Gan and others. Her voice was as sweet as her face, her presence had captivated Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng. Liu Gan was unfazed, not even ncing at her.

    <span>After a simple introduction of the researchers present, the meeting started quickly. As the research scientists reported their findings in a professional format, Liu Gan wasn''t able to understand them. It was good thing Yin He was able to understand some of it. After integrating the data into her memory, she was able to analyze it and turn it back intoyman''s terms for Liu Gan to understand. In a gentle speaking voice, shemunicated the information back to Liu Gan''s earphone. That way if Liu Gan wanted to discuss the relevant information, he could do so like a professional.

    <span>Yin He''s external appearance was that of an Armored Warrior. She had the full set of equipment, ranging from helmet to body armor. So when she used her low volume voice, only Liu Gan could hear it. In other people''s eyes, she was sitting still without moving at all, like a metal statue.

    <span>After realizing that Liu Gan was a fellow professional, Wei Liang and other scientists tensed up. They took turns to exin their projects at hand carefully.

    <span>Through their reported findings and Yin He''s exnations, Liu Gan slowly understood the purpose of this secretboratory. Without a doubt, their research wasplicated, but themon recurring point was that it dealt with oceanic life forms.

    <span>Experiments like extracting anti-cancer medicine from the brains of oceanic organisms were too easy for them. The purpose of their research revolved around trying to iste special properties from the oceanic organisms and reincorporate them back into the human species, such as humans being able to breathe underwater, or so they could withstand the pressure of being thousands of meters underwater. Other abilities would be humans that could release electricity like an electric eel. They had even gone to the extent of mating human DNA with certain fish species to give birth to true mermaids.

    <span>Many of these research topics were a huge disappointment to Liu Gan. He started dozing off. Only two of the research topics piqued his interest.

    <span>The first topic was how the human species might survive underwater, and breathe underwater like a fish. For the sake of the research, they captured a lot of oceanic organisms. Subjecting these organisms to gic modifications, they were able to obtainrge quantities of a strange substance. Then, when they reinjected these strange substances into uninfected ocean lifeforms, their brains started to produce the extraordinary substance. Finally, the substance was injected into a human specimen''s brain for observation.

    <span>Humans had lost gills through many millions of years of evolution. By using the substance as a catalyst, the specimens were able to regain their deteriorated gills. Initially, the specimens were able to use those gills, but this research was cut by headquarters. Headquarters wanted to shift their focus on a new area of research, developing the hidden potential of humans underwater. They wanted to see humans be able to naturally breathe underwater by using electrolysis to extract oxygen out of the water for the body to use.

    <span>The idea started from the electric eel study. The skin tissue of those eels could generate electricity, causing water from the skin to be absorbed. After absorption, the water molecules were ionized apart into oxygen and hydrogen atoms. Oxygen was then quickly absorbed into the circtory system for use in their metabolism. The excess oxygen and hydrogen molecules generated from ionization were expelled out from the surface of the body.

    <span>Noticing that Liu Gan had interest in this project, the beautiful assistant Su Nina quickly proceeded to exin the status of this project. Theboratory was able to sessfully manufacture several vials of finished medicine. After injection, a certain portion of the subject''s skin would change. If sessful, they would develop the ability to breathe underwater, but there was only a 5% sess rate.

    <span>Additional injections would increase the sess rate, but it also carried higher risks. With two injections, even if the subject didn''t die, the chance of going insane was close to 100%.

    <span>To increase the sess rate, they needed more specimens to further their research. Being able to reach a 50% or above sess rate would meetpany''s requirements for manufacturing.

    <span>"So you mean to tell me that, if I inject your drug, I won''t develop gills. Instead, I would change the properties of my skin. My skin would have the ability to ionize water with no physical changes?" Liu Gan confirmed with Su Nina.

    <span>If that was truly the case, he was willing to try it out. If it worked out, then even if he fell into water, he wouldn''t fear drowning. Right now, Liu Gan''s alloy limbs were quite heavy. If he fell into water, it would be hard for him to swim. He would likely sink to the bottom like an anchor. Being able to breathe underwater would mitigate his shorings.

 Chapter 304

    <span>Chapter 304 - Vacuum sealed

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>What mattered more waster on, when Liu Gan had to ride the airship to the main ind. If there had been any idents while riding the airship, then with such a heavy body he was bound to sink¡­his downfall would be due to drowning within The Trembling World. His chances of surviving would be very low.

    <span>With additional abilities, Liu Gan wouldn''t have to worry about the issue of drowning.

    <span>"The appearance of the skin doesn''t change too much, at least, it isn''t visible to the naked eye. The mutation urs at the cellr level. To be honest, we were worried that there wouldn''t be any rescueing. To increase our survivability, we injected ourselves with this drug. However, all of us have failed to awaken the ability. None of us had our skin mutate, but if one of us had seeded, we would''ve arranged for them to depart and seek outside help," Su Nina replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This is 3000 meters underwater. Even if you could to breathe underwater, you wouldn''t be able to withstand the pressure. Your body would sumb to it, right?" Liu Gan thought for a while and asked.

    <span>"We have another drug that is specifically used to strengthen the body''sposition to be pressure-resistant. However presently, this drug is not finished yet. Progress is at a standstill. You are right, the human body isn''t capable of withstanding such high pressure underwater. If we had more specimens, we could make a breakthrough and manufacture it. You must know that the sea it is densely packed with lifeforms. There has to be one or two that could withstand the overwhelming pressure at several thousand meters deep."

    <span>"As long as there is continued funding and resupplies of specimens for us, we can continue the research. There will be a day we can sessfully manufacture a drug that helps resist pressure," Su Nina insisted with Liu Gan.

    <span>As Su Nina continued talking, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng kept staring at her. Han GuangMing was looking at Su Nina''s pretty face. He felt his own face blush red. Zhao Meng''s saliva dripped from his open mouth.

    <span>"For the skin evolution drug, you firmly believe that with one injection, there won''t be any adverse effects?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina again. This wasn''t the first time he experienced this type of situation. The first time was when he woke [Psychic Shock] on the ind in the middle of theke.

    <span>At that time, the white-coat scientist also said his drug had a low sess rate. If two injections were used, the consequences of the side effects would be severe. Aside from Liu Gan, no other volunteers seeded in activating another ability¡­it couldn''t be called apletely sessful activation.

    <span>Even though his ability was a weaker form of the potential ability, it was still a sessful activation. When Liu Gan woke the ability, it was weak. But as he leveled up, it became a formidable force. Who knew if this would be a chance to awaken an underwater breathing ability.

    <span>"Yes, at present it is still a semi-finished product. If it is only one injection, I can still guarantee that it is within the safety limits. Without any more specimens, we were forced to experiment on ourselves. Of the eighteen participants here, none of us were able to evolve our skin. Even after we injected ourselves, we didn''t observe any changes. That should confirm that one injection is still within the safety limit," Su Nina nodded.

    <span>"How about I test the effects of this drug first?" Han GuangMing suggested to Liu Gan. Han GuangMing had also offered to test for drug products thest time. It was his courage that earned him the right to participate in leveling to 5. Han GuangMing felt as if this favor hadn''t been repaid properly.

    <span>Finally an opportunity presented itself, and from the sound of it, there weren''t any side effects. The benefits of being sessful would be a chance to awaken the ability to breathe underwater. The pros far outweighed the cons.

    <span>"I also want to try out this drug," Zhao Meng told Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay, then we should let you two test out this drug. To see if what they have imed is really true," Liu Gan agreed with their pleas.

    <span>"You want to test it right now?" Su Nina asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes, otherwise how do we know if it is true? However, if you are lying and they suffer from side effects, I will severely punish all of you," Liu Gan sternly warned Su Nina.

    <span>Su Nina looked at Wei Liang, waiting for his decision.

    <span>"Bring the vacuum dispenser unit over. We will create the drug on site so our precious guests can experience the drug. At present, we can''t guarantee that it is still effective on you, but the active ingredients within are definitely harmless," Wei Liang promised.

    <span>Two male researchers walked out carrying a ss cab. The ss cab was vacuum sealed. From the way Wei Liang talked, the ss cab was the vacuum dispenser.

    <span>On the side of the vacuum dispenser, two maniptor arm were anchored. The maniptor arms were controlled by a special induction gloves worn by Su Nina. By using the induction gloves, Su Nina was able to indirectly mix the drugponents within a vacuum. Following her set procedure, she mixed the ingredients in order. She then waited for the mixture to precipitate out of solution. In the final step, she extracted the finished drug product and separated it into five vials.

    <span>With thepletion of the drug, Su Nina pulled out the five vials. One of the vials she injected into Han GuangMing''s brachial vein. The second vial, she injected into Zhao Meng''s brachial vein.

    <span>"If it is effective, their body, in particr their skin, should feel a burning sensation within the first crucial ten minutes," Su Nina exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>After ten minutes, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng didn''t feel any of the peculiar burning sensation that Su Nina had described. It seemed they weren''t able to awaken the ability.

    <span>They didn''t have any physical abnormalities and in secret, they checked their alloy wristwatches to confirm. Checking their infection and health status, everything was normal. The alloy watch was very sensitive to any changes, so the moment the yer''s body became influenced by any external factors, it would be reflected on the disy of the wrist watch.

    <span>This wasn''t the first time Liu Gan had experienced a drug injection, and with two members confirming the test procedure, Liu Gan decided to test his own luck. There was no harm in trying, and the first time he injected himself, he was able to awaken his [Psychic Shock] ability. Being able to awaken another ability would be a wonderful addition to his collection.

    <span>With only 5% sess rate, Liu Gan didn''t have high hopes. He prepared himself mentally, since not every lucky opportunity that fell onto his shoulders would be a sess.

    <span>After injecting the drug, three minutes passed by with no effect. Liu Gan was starting to wonder if he would be able to awaken it. And then, Liu Gan felt a hot burning sensation start up.

 Chapter 305

    <span>C<span>hapter 305 - Nightmare Jellyfish

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>This burning sensation started at the lowest, deepest level of his soles and burned upwards. His skin felt like it was being charred on a grill. This type of burning sensation, only a few could withstand the pain that came with it. Liu Gan had a high pain tolerance, so he was able to put up a poker face as if nothing was wrong. Meanwhile, his inner self was restless¡­could it be that he got lucky, and woke another ability?

    <span>Perhaps his body was special, and these drugs had a higher chance of seeding with him?

    <span>"How is it?" Su Nina asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"No particr feeling, seems like this drug really has a low sess rate. Do you have any specimens that seeded with this drug?" Liu Gan asked with a disappointed expression.

    <span>"There actually was a sessful subject, it was during our first round of experiment trials. After the subject was sessful, we extracted the substance back from its body and refined it. That is how we came up with the 5% sess rate, it was based on the experimental model from preliminary estimates. It is probably due to the low amount of specimens that skewed this number so low. If we had more samples, the sess rate of this drug would increase," Wei Liang replied quickly.

    <span>"Okay, let''s pause there. Tell me about the other project. The drug that can induce a fabricated dream. Start from concept to the execution of manufacturing process. Describe it in detail as much as you can," Liu Gan nodded as he shifted the topic of interest.

    <span>When Su Nina was briefly describing their projects, that one caught Liu Gan''s interest the most. It was one of the main points of this trip to the base underwater. It was Liu Gan''s suspicion that everything that had happened on <span><em>Serenity</em><span> was due to the influence of this dream drug and the research project.

    <span>"In that project we discovered that the most timid experimental specimens with the weakest willpower, would, when faced with a certain deep sea jellyfish, experience inexplicable hallucinations and mild hypnosis. Therger deep sea jellyfishes could hypnotize even the stronger specimens. Once they were hypnotized, they began a journey to dreand and it was impossible to wake them up¡­"

    <span>"The hallucinations and dreams were distance dependent, and there were obstacle hindrances, as well. We suspect that the giant jellyfish and the specimens developed a symbiotic rtionship with a spiritual connection that lead to a new advancement..."

    <span>"That was where we started researching the deep sea jellyfish as a target of interest. After a series of testing and drug injections, we were able to increase its hallucinogenic ability¡­"

    <span>"Thisboratory improved deep sea jellyfish, we named it the Nightmare Jellyfish¡­"

    <span>"..."

    <span>After a lengthy discussion on the project by Su Nina, Liu Gan understood the main points of what happened. He had confirmed that what had attacked them the previous night was an Advanced Mutate, an escaped Nightmare Jellyfish from this underwater base.

    <span>"At present, trying to create the dream drug has a very low rate of sess¡­ it might seed one out of every thousand trials or even less. We can''t provide a dream-inducing drug sample. The reason is that creating this drug requires it to be mixed on-site. No matter how we tried to store it, after 5 minutes, the active ingredient in the drug would be inert."

    <span>"To create the drug on-site requires extraction of the active ingredient from the Nightmare Jellyfish. We only have one Nightmare Jellyfish, which is sealed away in the lower level chamber room. Before we get any resupply, that room must stay shut. We are very sorry that we can''t show you the prowess of this Nightmare Jellyfish and have you experience the drug created from it" Su Nina added.

    <span>"Do you believe that after you receive supplies, the Nightmare Jellyfish will still be sealed in the chamber below? That it hasn''t escaped from captivity?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"From a technological aspect, the chance of Nightmare Jellyfish escaping isn''t high. The whole chamber cabin is created from specialized materials. The way it is built makes it nearly impossible to escape from the inside. If it ever escaped, ourboratory would suffer a tremendous loss. Nearly half of all our iing resources were focused on researching it. It is possible that the work we have done on this project is our most praiseworthy work," Wei Liang intervened and told him.

    <span>"Does it show signs of intelligence, that it might have escaped due to hunger? It could''ve used the external pressure in aiding its escape, since this is something you can''t check, right?" Liu Gan was pretty sure that the underwater creature that attacked themst night was this Nightmare Jellyfish.

    <span>"That can''t be possible, right? We left it an ample supply of food, so it shouldn''t be hungry. If it did escape, then our efforts for this year were aplete waste. These kind of events definitely can''t have happened," Wei Liang shook his head in denial.

    <span>"Okay, let''s hope that when thisboratory bes functional again, it behaved itself and stayed within the chamber. That way you can continue your research. Let''s end our conference with this. From what I''ve seen, you have done your best. I will do my best to fight for preserving your ce in theboratory. Also, I will request more specimens and supplies so the project can continue," Liu Gan finalized his decision.

    <span>"I am very grateful that you have agreed to support us! We will try to live up to your expectations. We won''t let down the shareholders and the sponsors. We will strive to get good results from our project!" Wei Liang bowed, representing his staff, as he thanked Liu Gan.

    <span>After the conference is over, with Wei Liang and Su Nina''s guidance, Liu Gan was able to visit the other remaining essible parts of theboratory. Many of the other chambers are locked down, so only two areas were still essible, the experimental area and the living quarters.

    <span>"Thisboratory only has eighteen researchers?" Liu Gan casually asked Wei Liang.

    <span>"Yes, we''ve sent in an application for more assistants. We''ve always had ack of manpower. If it isn''t too much trouble, can you petition on our behalf for more biochemists, electrical engineers, quantum technology experts, and more advanced equipment, so our research efficiency can speed up?" Wei Liang quickly answered Liu Gan.

    <span>"I will do my best," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"You are the most peaceful representative sent by the general headquarters, that I''ve ever seen," Wei Liang finally blurted out.

    <span>"Is that so? I just got this job. Seems like I have to be more stern from now on," Liu Gan joked.

    <span>"You are very professional and responsible, so if you are responsible for handling inquiries from ourboratory, we will be honored," Wei Liangplemented Liu Gan.

    <span>As they were talking, they walked by a closed cabin door. This cabin door was very different from the others, as it had been spray-painted red.

 Chapter 306

    <span>Chapter 306 - Dys

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan pointed out the cabin door and wanted to look inside. Wei Liang''s expression changed.

    <span>"This cabin is filled with seawater, so it is temporarily off limits. The moment this door is opened, the water would flood the remaining areas," Wei Liang exined.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t say anything, but he felt that something was being kept secret. Perhaps it was a lie about the flooding, to keep what was locked behind those doors a secret. This underwater base was sorge that it was impossible to have only eighteen researchers stationed here. Something must have happened in thisboratory during the time frame of the catastrophic event.

    <span>"This is our kitchen and cafeteria. The kitchen runs through several departments that are responsible for catching sea life. After catching the sea life, they are knocked out by electricity and prepped as ingredients. Tonight, we will have a good meal for our guests to enjoy." Wei Liang announced after reaching the kitchen, while pointing at the weird looking seafood.

    <span>"It looks very strange," Han GuangMing said, as he tested the texture of the seafood.

    <span>"Yes, indeed. It looks strange, but tastes fresh like the sea. We have a very special method of cooking it," Wei Liang replied.

    <span>Due to the current condition of the base, only a few chambers were avable. The tour of the base quickly ended. As Wei Liang and Su Nina led Liu Gan and the other three guests to the cafeteria, a loud echo came from the direction of the dock. Shortly after, two research members came rushing into the cafeteria with frightened looks.

    <span>"Sea monster! There is a sea monster outside attacking our dock!" cried the two research members, as they rushed toward Wei Liang and Liu Gan.

    <span>Wei Liang quickly led Liu Gan and the others back toward the dock. They discovered that the small submarine was no longer attached to the dock. The connecting joints were forcefully broken apart.

    <span>

    At the terminal, there was a motion sensor that could monitor what was happening on the outside of the base. Liu Gan witnessed his submarine being seized by a gargantuan soft-bodied sea monster vigorously after breaking the connectors. The soft-bodied sea monster departed with the submarine as quickly as it appeared, vanishing into the deep sea.

    <span>"What is going on?" Liu Gan sternly asked Wei Liang. With the submarine taken away, this is going to be troublesome. Now it was impossible for his group to return back to the surface.

    <span>"I don''t know! We have never had incidents like this where sea monsters would appear. These buildings, here by the seabed, are made from special materials. It isn''t able to enter into the building. Normally, the submarines thate down here for resupply are the heavy-ss types. The connecting joints are created specifically for those ss of submarines, so they are exceptionally secure. Theboratory has never received guests on small submarines before, and it was never possible for the heavy-ss submarines to be stolen away. That is why we never thought it was possible for your submarine to be taken away¡­" Wei Liang was shocked.

    <span>"With the small submarine taken away by the sea monster, does that mean we are stuck here? We wanted to rescue you, but who knew this sort of thing could happen! Why didn''t you tell us anything about this?" Liu Gan frowned. Judging from the video, the responsibilityy with theboratory, so it was understandable why he was mad.

    <span>"Don''t worry! That Armored Warrior is still here, right? I''ve heard that these Armored Warriorsmunicate with quantum technology. Regardless of distance, they should be able to contact each other, even if it is on the moon. You should able to understand theirnguage, right? All it has to do is send a rescue signal to the mothership. The mothership would send a rescue team over, right?" Wei Liang carefully choose his words to test Liu Gan.

    <span>Indeed, Wei Liang was correct with his statement. Even if Yin He didn''tmunicate using the quantum technology, she could remove her shielding bracelet. That would be enough to let the tracking device activate and contact the mothership. Even the deepest sea couldn''t block off the locator. The mothership would be able to zero in on her position.

    <span>The big problem was that Yin He''s body was stolen, so there were two things she absolutely couldn''t do. First, she couldn''t remove her shielding bracelet and reveal her position. Second, she definitely couldn''t contact the mothership voluntarily.

    <span>"Of course I already know that. But, the current condition with executive officers retaking control over operations of thepany is still in disarray. Before we went underwater, we transmitted the rescue signal. So with the current condition of thepany, I predict they would need two to three days if they respond quickly, possibly even a week if they respond slow. You know how the officials are, especially their work ethics!" Liu Gan covered up his lie with another lie.

    <span>"This isn''t a problem, the sea has plenty of good food. At least, we have a nuclear driven power source, which wouldst at least a month if we don''t do any experiments. So waiting a week for rescue wouldn''t be a problem, although our experiments wille to a halt," Wei Liang replied.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t act normally and curse out his frustrations. He could only hold it in and act calm. Where could this sea monster have came from?! Why would it steal the submarine? Is there a particr reason why it wouldn''t let them reach the surface? Had ite to the point where he should reveal his new ability and walk on the sea bed back to shore?

    <span>A level 9 body was strengthened to the point where it could potentially withstand pressure at depths of 3000 meters. Quickly using the equations Liu Gan learned from his physics teacher, he rounded his answer. Every cubic meter at this depth would result in three thousand tons of pressure. The pressure on his body would be two to three hundred tons or so?

    <span>Two to three hundred tons...

    <span>Reaching level 9, physical capabilities increased a dozen times over. As for the amount of resistance to pressure, it was still unknown, and he was doubtful that it could withstand this amount of pressure. The Mist Armor would still have some protective function...

    <span>Ultimately, if there were no options left, Liu Gan would risk entering the sea alone. If there was even the slightest chance of sess, then he would take Yin He along and leave first, leaving Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng behind, at least until he could find a way to rescue them.

    <span>Liu Gan faked to Wei Liang about how tired he was. Wei Liang organized an independent cabin, and after some tidying up, it was presented to the esteemed guests. Even though it looked like an independent cabin, there was a wall that separated the room into two smaller rooms.

    <span>One room was for Liu Gan. The other room was for the other two, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng.

    <span>Liu Gan told Yin He to inspect the room. After confirming that the cabin didn''t have any monitoring devices or wiretaps, Liu Gan consulted his own wrist watch. On the watch face was a new line reading [Dermal Respiration]!

 Chapter 307

    <span>Chapter 307 - Counter Attack

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>In order to confirm what the ability was, Liu Gan poured himself a cup of water. Then he poured it on his chest after taking off his clothes.

    <span>His wet skin was like a sponge, it absorbed most of the water. Then, a refreshing andfortable feeling flowed through different parts of his body. Even though Liu Gan held his breath for a long time, he didn''t feel any internal pressure build up from his lungs. His brain and body didn''t have the slightest feeling of hypoxia, either.

    <span>To further confirm that the ability worked underwater, Liu Gan filled the bathtub with water and crawled into it.

    <span>A short momentter, bubbles ofrge and small sizes started to flow out from the pores all over his body. Liu Gan held himself underwater for another ten minutes. The whole time, he was conscious with a refreshing feeling that felt like breathing. His skin had the ability to break down the water into oxygen and hydrogen as he held his breath in the tub.

    <span>After confirming this point, Liu Gan didn''t continue staying in the water. If he stayed there too long, the cabin would leak out arge quantity of hydrogen that just might explode.

    <span>Liu Gan was definitely happy that he was able to awaken this new ability. He didn''t think that he would obtain it so easily after reaching theboratory. With such a generous gift, his luck was brimming to the max. Every time he injected these drugs, they seemed to be a hundred percent effective.

    <span>Perhaps there really was a special property about himself? What could this property be, that made it so he had a higher sess rate? This was just too strange. The answer wouldn''t be easily found, so Liu Gan didn''t waste too much thought on it for now.

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span>With Liu Gan''s submarine getting abducted by the sea monster, they were forced to stay the night.

    <span>Of course, before figuring out theboratory''s deeper secrets, Liu Gan didn''t want to leave. Another troublesome issue was how to search theboratory thoroughly, and safely leave the area with any spoils.

    <span>As of right now, Liu Gan had no idea what to think, so it was best not to think about it at all. The priority was to figure out theboratory''s true situation.

    <span>The dinner meal had a great deal of weird looking food on the table. ording to Wei Liang''s introductions, these dishes were delicacies found only below 3000 meters. There were some lifeforms that didn''t need much processing, while others contained poison. The poisonous life forms had to be treated and tested poison-free before being ced on the table.

    <span>When cooked, these undersea creatures released an aroma that made the mouth water. The mostmon feature was that theposition of their flesh started topact. If it wasn''t treated, the meat would be tough and durable, hard to chew apart. This was the reason that these lifeforms could survive 3000 meters underwater.

    <span>The cooking process required ultra-high pressure appliances in the kitchen. With pressure cooking, the water temperature could rise above 200 C. Through prolonged exposure to high heat and pressure, the meat softened. The part-time chef added spices to enhance the vor. In fact, it tasted quite fresh, but it still looked odd.

    <span>Liu Gan and the others felt that their food was still quite fresh, but Wei Liang and the other researchers had been eating like this for the past month. Without any new supplies, they had no choice to eat the same dishes every day. With their dulled tastebuds, they wanted to vomit it all back up, but they had to force themselves to keep it down to keep their energy up.

    <span>After dinner was over, Wei Liang arranged for entertainment like karaoke, games, and table tennis for the guests. The few female researchers performed a dance as someone sang. The wide range of activities within this facility was well-thought out. Without these activities, living in confined quarters for long durations would have driven these trapped researchers crazy.

    <span>To win the favor of the esteemed guests, Wei Liang arranged for three of the female researchers to apany Liu Gan, Han GuangMing, and Zhao Meng for the night.

    <span>The one arranged to apany Liu Gan, was none other than Su Nina. She dressed up especially pretty for the nightly visit. The moment she sat right by Liu Gan''s side, she didn''t even open her mouth before Liu Gan waved her away. This made her very embarrassed.

    <span>Seeing Liu Gan reject the service attendants, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng also brushed away the other two females. Wei Liang had no choice but to drop the subject.

    <span>When Liu Gan and the other two returned to their resting quarters, they were exhausted from a full day''s activities. With nothing else to do, they could only prepare to sleep. Liu Gan had to shower before he slept, and Yin He was standing guard nearby.

    <span>Due to the previous night''s dreand experience, and now being underwater and right in range of the Nightmare Jellyfish''s nest, sleeping felt like a very dangerous thing to do. The only thing they could do was maintain their strong willpower and trust that they could be woken up by Yin He.

    <span>From what every member had described earlier, especially Treadmill''s summarized point of view of the dreand, if you were within the dream and weren''t scared or desperate, then your spirit wouldn''t suffer any harm. You also wouldn''t have any ck spots appear on your face. Liu Gan believed in himself, he truly believed that he wouldn''t be scared to that extent. He didn''t have a huge concern about his mind getting hurt in any way.

    <span>***

    <span>Unsure of how long he had slept, Liu Gan felt something moving at the foot of his bed. Quickly, he got up and looked around. He discovered that he was alone in the cabin. Yin He was no longer standing guard by his side.

    <span>Liu Gan shook his head. The Nightmare Jellyfish must have been angry. It tracked the submarine all the way here, and now it was taking revenge. It was using its ability to exact vengeance. This creature didn''t know when to stop!

    <span>Liu Gan was definitely not afraid. The previous day, the moment he entered the dream, he was quickly woken up by Yin He''s call. So he never experienced the dreand with the other members. Now, he really wanted to investigate this experience to see what type of encounters he would meet within it.

    <span>What was the level of this Nightmare Jellyfish, to be able to use this dreand ability? He was still unsure of how to kill it. It didn''t seem feasible to wrestle with the creature in the sea water. It was disadvantageous to attack the monster up close physically, given the power it had shown. If it was also within the fabricated dream, then perhaps if it got injured here, then it could be killed here, too.

 Chapter 308

    <span>C<span>hapter 308 - To Investigate

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The team members that suffered injuries or death within the dreand were those with the weakest spirits. That was how the Nightmare Jellyfish had an opportunity to swallow their spirits. What happened if the roles were reversed? If by chance, it got injured or its spirit got consumed within the dream? Would the Nightmare Jellyfish be physically weak if it died in the dreamscape?

    <span>If there was a chance to kill the Nightmare Jellyfish, it being an Advanced Mutate, would Liu Gan''s level increase to 10?

    <span>Entering level 5 was a bottleneck for yers, their strength rose exponentially once sessful. Entering level 10 would be the second tier hurdle. There must be a huge reward for getting through this breakpoint. If Liu Gan fought against Kingler again, he still wouldn''t have a chance. Perhaps the key to victory against Kingler began after reaching level 10. Body endurance, strength, and speed would reach new levels. Maybe that would be enough to fight Kingler?

    <span>At level 5, Liu Gan awoke an ability, [Mist Armor]. Perhaps at level 10, he would be able to awaken an even better ability?

    <span>Before Liu Gan went to sleep, he had ordered Yin He to not wake him up unless there was something happening. Without an outside influence to wake Liu Gan up, Liu Gan decided to wander the dreamscape to learn more about his enemy, especially how the Nightmare Jellyfish attacked. Then, it would be a battle of determination and willpower, to see whose mind was stronger, giving it a taste of its own medicine!

    <span>Even if the battle in the dreand was a failed attempt on the Nightmare Jellyfish''s life, Liu Gan truly believed that through this type of mentalbat he could train his own mind. Even if his own [Psychic Shock] didn''t improve, he could train his mind to be<span> immune<span> to mental attacks.

    <span>The cabin light was the only source of light in the room, the door out of the cabin was closed. Only Liu Gan remained inside. Liu Gan walked out of his bedroom and into the cabin area. Walking around, he took note of the detailed surroundings and what his senses experienced.

    <span>This dreand was very realistic. It was hard to tell what was real and what was fake. Even now, as Liu Gan walked around barefoot and touched the walls, everything felt solid and indistinguishable from reality.

    <span>It was simr to when he entered The Trembling World. He discovered that there was no discernible difference between the new world he was in, and the old world that he left behind. Now that he was within the dreand, it wasn''t too much of a shock factor. It just <span><em>felt</em><span> very real. Moving and looking around, Liu Gan tried to pick out the differences between the dreand and the real world.

    <span>It wasn''t entirely correct, since the core world wasn''t the real world, but The Trembling World''s dreand. With the current situation, it was hard to differentiate between the two artificial worlds. Liu Gan couldn''t find the difference between the dreand and being awake, just like how he couldn''t find the difference between his real world and The Trembling World.<hr>

    <span>(TL Note: Which should hardly be a surprise, since it''s a virtual reality dreand of a virtual reality world¡­)<hr>

    <span><strong>...</strong>

    <span><em>Meanwhile in the other room...</em>

    <span>"Why aren''t you asleep yet?" Han GuangMing asked Zhao Meng. In this room, the two beds were ced closely together. Zhao Meng hadn''t slept yet, so he kept turning and tossing around. The metal bed kept grinding against the floor, the sound was loud enough to keep Han GuangMing awake.

    <span>"I have something to say, but I''m not sure if I should say it. So I want to discuss with Squad leader Han first. If I say it, please don''t report me to Elder Liu," Zhao Meng hesitated.

    <span>"What is it? Tell me, we are alone right now. Why would I report you to Elder Liu?" Han GuangMing stared strangely at Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Ah¡­I felt that Elder Liu didn''t make the right call. For instance, when we arrived here, why didn''t he arrange for someone to watch over the submarine? Yesterday night, it was a good lesson for us when no one was watching over the vehicles. When everyone boarded <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, the unguarded vehicles were pushed overboard. Same thing now, no one was watching over the submarine, and now we lost the submarine. Why haven''t we learned from our mistakes? We are trapped here and we can''t return," Zhao Mengined as he let his frustrations out.

    <span>"You were thinking about this issue? You wanted someone to keep watch over the submarine? The submarine was docked outside...<span><em>in the damn ocean!</em><span> Aside from Elder Liu, no one has the fingerprint and passcode authorization to enter. Who are we guarding it from? Did you think that a sea creature would abduct the submarine? Do you think you are smarter than Elder Liu? If we left you behind within the submarine, you would''ve been taken away with the sea creature as a midnight snack," Han GuangMing replied to Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Fine¡­let''s not talk about the submarine. Then what about yesterday night? Elder Liu should''ve sent someone to watch over the two vehicles, right? If those two vehicles were still there, we wouldn''t have been trapped in the dreand on <span><em>Serenity¡­</em><span>" Zhao Meng replied.

    <span>"Wait, you are talking about yesterday night when there was a torrential downpour? Okay! Next time, Elder Liu will leave you in the vehicle. That way you can die by a lightning strike or let those ck-Spots Variant Zombies that climbed ashore have their way with you. Is that the result you wanted? It was due to Elder LIu''s brilliance that we didn''t lose a single member. Yet, you are here questioning Elder Liu''s decision¡­<span><em>sigh</em><span>¡­I don''t even know what to say to you¡­" Han GuangMing ridiculed Zhao Meng.

    <span>"I''m only level 4, I can''t watch the car! Elder Liu can let Vice-Leader He and watch the car! With Vice-leader He there, no one would dare to take the vehicles, right?" Zhao Meng tentatively argued back.

    <span>"You dare suggest Vice-leader He watch the vehicles? Okay, if Elder Liu didn''t wake up from the dreand, then by morning, when Vice-leader He walked onto <span><em>Serenity</em><span> since no one came out, she would have discovered that the floor was full of corpses¡­OH Elder Liu, you died a painful death!" Han GuangMing exaggerated dramatically.

    <span>"That can''t work either, how about having Elder Liu stay in the car alone or with Vice-leader He¡­since not having anyone watch over the car or the submarine isn''t a bright idea at all?" Zhao Meng was losing all his honor in this debate.

    <span>"So you want usckeys to peacefully sleep on <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, while we let Elder Liu take the risk of getting struck by lightning, just so he can watch the cars for us? Who is the Elder and who is theckey here? I think your head needs to be used as a ball, with that type of thinking. Okay, so even if you want Elder Liu to watch the car from the outside, when morning came, there would have been corpses all over the floor. Do you think that result is better?" Han GuangMing didn''t know how else to convince Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Okay, it is my mistake. Elder Liu is wise. I see that I haven''t thought it through enough. That is why I chose to discuss it with you first. There''s no other meaning behind it. Squad Leader Han, don''t take what we discussed here to Elder Liu as aint. If he found out, he would kick me in the ass," Zhao Meng whimpered.

    <span>"Of course, I won''t tell it to Elder Liu. In exchange, from now on, you shouldn''t question Elder Liu''s decisions. What we can dopared to what Elder Liu can do is toorge a gap! If Elder Liu is the eagle soaring in the sky, then we are the toads jumping in the bottom of the well. Elder Liu has more life experience than we do!" Han GuangMing educated Zhao Meng.

 Chapter 309

    <span>Chapter 309 - Red Cabin Door

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Indeed, you are right. I shouldn''t question Elder Liu so casually," Zhao Meng nodded.

    <span>"You have to understand one thing. Everything that Elder Liu does, he has his reasons for it. He doesn''t need to exin it in detail for us. He definitely doesn''t need our permission. The things he worries about, will always be more well rounded and thought out than what we can aplish. There are things that you might have just thought of, but he has considered that possibility a long time ago. If you haven''t thought about it yet, Elder Liu is already thinking about it," Han GuangMing continued with his brainwashing. It was the same method that Zhang ShengLi had used on Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Ahh. I understand now," Zhao Meng nodded.

    <span>"Elder Liu has his reasons, so if you feel like it is strange or inappropriate, that only means you haven''t understood it yet. It doesn''t mean that Elder Liu did something wrong. As long as you remember in your heart and hold onto your suspicions, just think about it first. With all other variables, just think about it as if you are Elder Liu. Slowly, you will be able to see the grand scheme of things. Even though you will never reach Elder Liu''s state, it will still be better than you are now. You will improve as you learn," Han GuangMing confidently reassured Zhao Meng.

    <span>"I will, I will!" Zhao Meng was getting heated from embarrassment. At this moment, he knew he messed up; he decided to not speak again without thinking first.

    <span>"Let''s sleep. It is gettingte. What I''ve said to you, I''m not doing that great at it myself. I also need to work harder." Han GuangMing yawned, as he flipped over in his bed.

    <span>Liu Gan thought he heard chatting taking ce in the other room with Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng. When Liu Gan pushed open the door, the cabin was empty.

    <span>It seemed that this time and thest time in the dreand were quite different. The Nightmare Jellyfish pulled only him into the dreand? Could it be that it found him different from others? So it wanted a one on one?

    <span>Or could it be that Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng haven''t slept yet?

    <span>Both options were a possibility.

    <span>Leaving Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng''s room, Liu Gan walked into the bathroom. He turned on the faucet to release cold water and washed his face. Staring deeply into the mirror, he confirmed that there were none of the ck Spots that Treadmill had described.

    <span>What could the Nightmare Jellyfish be thinking of doing? Setting up a trap for him to fall into? ording to the other members statements, it would try to generate feelings of terror to weaken his spirit enough to consume him.

    <span>Good, now let''s see the best way to scare it back.

    <span>In Liu Gan''s memories, there hadn''t been many experiences of fear and terror thesest few years. Even with his limbs amputated, at most he felt anger and despair. There was nothing he was afraid of.

    <span>If this Nightmare Jellyfish was capable of creating fear, then Liu Gan really wanted to experience it.

    <span>Liu Gan walked out of the independent cabin and took a stroll through the building. He wasn''t able to find anyone. No matter how hard he looked, the researchers, Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, and Yin He were missing. They had all disappeared without a trace. It seemed this was his very own dreand.

    <span>Perhaps the Nightmare Jellyfish decided to concentrate its ability all on one person so it could trap him, then swallow up his enormous spirit energy.

    <span>This only got Liu Gan more excited as he kept thinking about it. This was an exciting challenge. The whole time he had been trapped in game, he was only fighting against humans and monsters alike with his fists. All issues were resolved through fighting and killing. This time was very different, he got topete in a mental battle!

    <span>Liu Gan truly believed that if he could win this fight, his psychic ability would increase a level.

    <span>How would the battle begin? Liu Gan had no idea. But, this would be the precedent that he needed to gain enough experience to know the next time.

    <span>Strolling into thest room, he confirmed that there was no one in the vicinity. Unconsciously, Liu Gan walked over to the red colored cabin door. That day, Wei Liang didn''t allow Liu Gan to open it. Looking at the door, Liu Gan thought to himself, if he opened up that door in dreand, would the contents he see inside be considered fantasy? Or would it be simr to reality?

    <span>This was a very exciting situation. If you think about it hard enough during the day, you will dream about it at night. To dream about it in dreand, required the extraction of the location from memory. However, Liu Gan never entered the red colored cabin door, so he had no impression of what could be behind it.

    <span>If he entered through the door, and witnessed scenes he had never seen before, then where was the source of these scenes? Was it all created from his own mind? Or was it something that actually existed?

    <span>Since there was no one in theboratory anyway, Liu Gan could do whatever he wanted to do, there was no one to stop him. To find out the answer, he had to open up the red cabin door. If it was as Wei Ling had said, then there should only be sea water behind the door. It would pour out from the door and into the living quarters. Liu Gan could breathe underwater now, so there was no fear of death by drowning.

    <span>Liu Gan walked right up to the front of the red cabin door. After a little investigating, opening up the cabin door required authentication. Liu Gan wasn''t able to pass the authentication test. Regardless, he had never thought about breaking through the door via normal means.

    <span>Liu Gan took a few steps back before charging forward at the red cabin door with a finishing kick. At level 9, his arms and legs were at a rtively high degree of durability. His limbs has long surpassed the alloy metal properties they started with. In addition to strength and eleration, the force behind his attack was twelvefold above that of a normal person. Every kick became a deforming dent on the cabin door.

    <span>The red cabin door revealed a crack after dozens of kicks. Finally the seal for the door couldn''t withstand the force and broke. The <span><em>bang! </em><span>echoed as the door flew open.

    <span>Pushing aside the door, Liu Gan walked in to look around. He could confirm that he had never seen or been to this area before. An unfamiliar scene appeared in front of Liu Gan. Yet, the feeling was that it actually belonged there.

    <span>Behind the red cabin door was arge experiment testing zone. What Liu Gan saw was out of his expectations, even to the point of it being shocking. It was very clear that thisboratory was hiding away a secret that supervisor Wei Liang hadn''t told him about.

 Chapter 310

    <span>Chapter 310 - Extremely Dangerous

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>This experimental testing zone had work stations and variousplicated instruments within it. There were the eye-catching dissection tables and ss cabs.

    <span>In front of Liu Gan was a colossal ss cab, that extended across his field of vision. Within it were dozens of naked women. Their eyes were closed and small bubbles were flowing out of their skin. Some of these women were in fetal positions, some were sprawled out, but they all had their eyes closed and were suspended in liquid within the colossal ss cab.

    <span>The small bubbles rose to the top of the ss cab and converged into a tube that collected them. The tube was hard to track as it led to another location.

    <span>What shocked Liu Gan the most wasn''t the colossal sized ss cab, nor was it the naked women. No, what caught Liu Gan''s attention was the wristwatches on the women''s arms.

    <span>The style of the wristwatch was no different from the wristwatches of the yers.

    <span>What did this mean? Were they yers?

    <span>Liu Gan quickly thought of two possibilities. These females were all yers that were transferred into this world. They were caught and taken captive by the researchers. Then they would be sedated with anesthesia or hypnosis, and then experimented on likeb rats and ced within the ss cab.

    <span>The second possibility was that Wei Liang was lying. This underwaterboratory hadn''t lost contact with the outside world. This base had been receiving resupplies the whole time. These female yers were all captured by the Armored Warriors from the outside world and sent as specimens to theboratory.

    <span>No matter which of these was the result, what Liu Gan has seen was way beyond his expectations. In the otherboratory, he had witnessed humans treated likeboratory rats, but this is the first time he saw so many women used this way.

    <span>This could be the hidden secret project that theboratory was conducting. Wei Liang probably didn''t want the current executive officers and general headquarters to know about it, so he lied about the cabin doors regarding the flooding if opened.

    <span>If thetter was true, then they were extremely reckless. Good thing it was Liu Gan, who was the representative officer. If it was an actual general headquarters representative, there would be no way for Wei Liang to keep the secret covered

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t figure out onemon point. He was aware that he was within the dreand. Dreaming is pulling out information stored within the brain, but since Liu Gan never seen this area before, it was impossible for it to be so realistic within his dreand. How could he exin this situation?

    <span>There were another two possibilities!

    <span>The first possibility was that the dreand was side by side with The Trembling World. It was just another dimension. Within the dreand, he can probe areas that weren''t essible in the Trembling World, leading to the situation here.

    <span>Another possibility was that this dreand was generated by the Nightmare Jellyfish. Liu Gan''s memories would stop up to the point of the red cabin doors, everything afterwards was memories from the Nightmare Jellyfish.

    <span>This answer had a huge potential problem with it. Putting aside everything, Liu Gan decided to investigate more first. Venturing deeper into theboratory would definitely give more clues.

    <span>Liu Gan walked towards the far end of the room. All along the way, there were more and more colossal sized ss cabs. There were a few contents that matched what he had seen before, and some new ones. There wereplete bodies of men and women, but there were also some filled with only organs.

    <span>Such as human brains, even though had been deliberately modified. Compared to the normal human brain, this modified brain was a lotrger. The shape was quite distinct. It was swollen at certain ces, like the effects of brain tumors. It was a very pitiful sight.

    <span>Normal people that came to ces like this in the middle of the night would feel at least some traces of fear. However, Liu Gan could only feel pity for them.

    <span>The red cabin door and this underwater base, were all lit by motion sensor lights supplied by electrical power. No matter where Liu Gan walked, the immediate area would light up. As he moved away from the area, it would dim and then turn off, leaving it inplete darkness. He wasn''t able to see more than a few meters ahead and behind himself.

    <span>This eerie feeling, those without courage wouldn''t be able to keep walking forward. Yet, Liu Gan kept moving. He walked deeper and deeper down several flights of stairs. Unsure of how far he went or how deep, he finally reached another sealed cabin door.

    <span>The color on this door was ck. The words written on the door were ''Extremely Dangerous''.

    <span>If Liu Gan was awake and he reached the same location, upon seeing those words, he would hesitate and consider if should continue through the ck cabin doors. But, since this was all in dreand, this was all virtual. Perhaps, this was from the Nightmare Jellyfish''s memory. The dangers that lurk within were at most repeats of the Nightmare Jellyfish''s recollections. They shouldn''t pose a real threat to him.

    <span>It was a good way to find the truth to the matter and there was minimal risk. Liu Gan was definitely taking this chance to investigate.

    <span>Without a key, Liu Gan had to brutally break open the cabin door. There was no hesitation when he started attacking the door violently.

    <span>"It is very dangerous inside, you shouldn''t continue deeper," a voice suddenly called out from behind Liu Gan. He immediately reacted and turned around. He saw a female researcher appear from the darkness, walking closer. She wasn''t very far behind him.

    <span>She wore rtively thin pajamas. If the light was on, many men would be able to see in detail the things they would want to see the most.

    <span>This woman was the same girl that stood beside Wei Lian, that Su Nina. Wei Liang arranged for her to apany Liu Gan, but she was rejected immediately.

    <span>"Oh? I thought I was the only one here. It seems there is another person here. The contents behind the red cabin door were certainly entertaining¡­I think what I''ve seen so far should all be from your previous memories? Since I don''t remember seeing them ever before," Liu Gan replied to Su Nina.

    <span>"I don''t know what is going on¡­I fell asleep, and suddenly found myself here. I heard soundsing from this location, so I came over to investigate. I didn''t expect to see you here. Where did the other people go? Why am I the only one here?" Su Nina was suddenly afraid.

    <span>"Although you were born beautiful, your acting skills are dreadful. As to why you are here, shouldn''t you know that better than I do? Isn''t this the fruit of your research? Since I''m trapped here in this dreand, it should be your work of art right?" Liu Gan asked coldly.

 Chapter 311

    <span>Chapter 311 - Cold Air

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"You are talking about the terrible Nightmare Jellyfish? It is locked away in the deepestpartment of theboratory. Also, the walls will block its dream attack. Unless it has escaped, it can''tunch its mental attacks on us¡­" Su Nina shook her head.

    <span>"I am not interested in arguing with you over this problem. Why didn''t you let me open this cabin door? What is the secret that is hidden away behind these closed cabin doors? I am a high ranking official of thepany. I have the right to know everything. However, you have not disclosed to me the truth when I asked for all of the research projects. Do you know this is a severe crime?" Liu Gan shouted.

    <span>"What happened at Company Headquarters, you didn''t seem to be telling the whole truth to us¡­" Su Nina whimpered back.

    <span>"How dare you! Who allowed you to speak to me like that? I have the right to question everything that happens within theboratory. Do you think you have the right to question thepany''s executive management?" Liu Gan acted furious. He has to act disgusted, in order to deceive Su Nina.

    <span>"What you see now, isn''t the real setting. Things behind the red cabin door, were already changed. I don''t know why it was reverted to how it looked back then¡­" Su Nina said with a puzzled look.

    <span>"Seems like you been in dreand for awhile, have you been tailing me silently?" Liu Gan looked suspiciously at Su Nina.

    <span>"Everything you see now, is from an earlier renovation. A week ago, there was an ident that nearly destroyed everything inside. Shortly afterwards, we decided to seal it shut." Su Nina avoided Liu Gan''s question.

    <span>"What happened here?" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"An ident story. A research scientist broke down. He probably stayed underwater for too long. But, his mental state broke down. He decided to release all the experimental subjects. These subjects all carry very deadly viruses that required them to be isted. The moment this virus enters into our cabin area, everyone here will die. You and me appearing here, could mean it has already happened. If this is all real, then we are infected. We can''t return to the cabin that we came from," Su Nina panicked.

    <span>"You just said that everything here is from your past memory, but now you say that you are infected. Can your acting not have such contradictions?" Liu Gan countered.

    <span>"My train of thought is in chaos¡­" Su Nina blushed. Her big eyes were avoiding direct eye <span>contact with Liu Gan.

    <span>"Your experimental subject Nightmare Jellyfish definitely escaped from the cabin. It has attacked us mentally. You are in a dream. All this was created from your memory. With that in mind, how can we be infected?" Liu Gan exposed Su Nina, while nitpicking the statement for answer.

    <span>This woman must be hiding a secret. Her expression and actions didn''t feel right. It was a red g, Liu Gan felt strangely about Su Nina...

    <span>"I am in a dream? Howe I don''t feel like that?" Su Nina asked innocently.

    <span>"If this isn''t a dream, why would you appear when you were sleeping? Then there was the issue of this experimental zone being reverted back to how it looked before?" Liu Gan was getting impatient as he questioned Su Nina.

    <span>If Liu Gan could deceive her into revealing the secret, then he would. If he couldn''t deceive her, then he would force it out of her.

    <span>"I don''t know. I really don''t know. I am still absolutely muddled." Su Nina wrapped her fingers around her head, looking really hopeless.

    <span>"How long have you been researching the Nightmare Jellyfish in this underwater base? Have things like this ever happened before? Such as these mental attacks?" Liu Gan was losing patience with this woman.

    <span>"Our research has always been cautious. There was no way it could''ve attacked us mentally. Things happening like that would be like telling a fairytale story, so today''s experience is the first time it has happened," Su Nina persisted in her exnation.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t want to divert his attention to her anymore. He was most concerned about what was behind the ck cabin door. Even if this was the dreand, then this should be either the Nightmare Jellyfish''s or some other person''s memory. If he wanted to find out what Su Nina was hiding, perhaps the answer was behind this door. Since she wouldn''t tell him, he would find it himself. It would be more truthful than whatever she said to him.

    <span>If there was any danger associated from opening this cabin door, this danger was a mere memory from the distant past. Liu Gan wasn''t worried about it at all as he continued to brutally kick at the door. Kick by kick, his leg knocked down the door. After twenty kicks, it finally produced a <span><em>bang! </em><span>as the ck cabin door broke down.

    <span>Opening the ck cabin door, gusts of cold air flowed out. Liu Gan shivered uncontrobly.

    <span>There was a circr cabin room, at least fifty meters in diameter. The inside was empty. There was an absence of instruments, as if the equipment was moved away. There was dim lighting that led all the way to the center of the room, where Liu Gan saw adder going down.

    <span>Thedder space was filled to the brim with water.

    <span>To continue investigating, he would have to do so underwater.

    <span>Liu Gan decided to give it a test. The water temperature was rather low, almost 0 C. In the Trembling World, it was close to winter, so the temperature was rtively low. Since the underwater cabin could provide warmth, it didn''t normally feel that cold. However, the deep seawater was maintained at 0 C all year long. With nothing in this cabin to providing warmth, it wasn''t strange to feel cold air flowing out.

    <span>"Why are you so curious about the secrets behind this room? You aren''t like the people sent by headquarters. Your task here isn''t simply to investigate our project topics, right?" Su Nina''s voice sounded behind Liu Gan.

    <span>"You are really annoying! Do I need to exin to you people what I want to do? If you continue talking, I will ban all your projects!" Liu Gan shot back as he waded deeper into the water.

    <span>This type of cold¡­it could reach right down to the bone. Immediately a question crossed Liu Gan''s mind - would he freeze up or be unconscious if he continued? After a moment of thought, he reminded himself that this was all in dreand. What would it feel like to pass out in a dream?

    <span>Liu Gan clenched his teeth, and continued down the stairs. Soon, the water was at waist level.

 Chapter 312

    <span>Chapter 312 - Reappear

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    [TL: Cleared up all the Patreon Donations/ Sponsor Chapter! Enjoy!]<hr>

    <span>"Here, take this," Su Nina tossed over an object to Liu Gan. Liu Gan caught the object in one hand - it was a waterproof shlight.

    <span>Liu Gan turned to look at Su Nina, she was no longer looking at him. Her expression was strange, her face was flushed red.

    <span>This is how she expressed her feelings to a handsome guy? Was she infatuated with him already?

    <span>"Where did you get this from?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"This ce, I''m definitely more familiar here than you are," Su Nina sneered, but Liu Gan had lost interest already and turned back around. Clearly, he wasn''t interested in her.

    <span>Liu Gan slowly submerged himself into the sea water. This type of cold was really unbearable. It was a lot colder than when he was stuck on the top of the lighthouse. Last time, he was coated with drizzling rain, this time he waspletely in the near freezing water. The only good thing about today was that this ce wasn''t windy and there was no thunderstorm like thest location.

    <span>Finally he dipped his head and upper body into the cold sea water. Liu Gan turned on the waterproof shlight and lit up his path. This shlight had a really strong and bright range of illumination. The light ray shone through the water, allowing Liu Gan to see clearly.

    <span>The seawater was quite clear. With the shlight''s illumination, he wasn''t able to see any impurities. From the looks of it, no one had been here for a long time. Or perhaps¡­this dreamscape was a very special scene. With the ability to breathe underwater and the strong illumination from the shlight, Liu Gan could continue as long as he wanted without any problems.

    <span>Aside from the fact that he was freezing.

    <span>After swimming for a while, Liu Gan realized that he wasn''t that cold anymore. In fact, his skin felt hot. He was unsure if it was the cold or a condition created by the dreamscape, but since he wouldn''t be freezing to death now, he continued searching for his answer.

    <span>To avoid being frozen stiff, Liu Gan moved his legs faster. He kept walking downwards, but he wasn''t swimming. He was merely walking along the floor. Liu Gan''s heavy body sank to the floor. Naturally, he was able to walk steadily along the floor while being in the water, it looked like he wouldn''t be able to float in the water ever again.

    <span>Liu Gan quickly reached another locked and sealed door. This time, there was no need to violently kick it down. This cabin door had red colored bolts that could be freed by twisting and turning. Even though it was rigid, with Liu Gan''s enormous strength the cabin door opened easily.

    <span>Behind the cabin door was a long tunnel. Reaching the end of this tunnel, there was a flight of stairs that led upwards. Following the stairs, Liu Gan finally stepped out of the ice cold sea water, proceeding until he reached another locked door.

    <span>Liu Gan looked around, and once he saw that no one was around, he stripped nude. He then wrung out his wet clothes as much as he could. Then, he put them on once again. Even though he didn''t feel chilly, the feeling of wet clothes still wasn''tfortable.

    <span>"It is very dangerous inside. I didn''t lie to you. If you enter, you have to be very careful," Su Nina''s voice came from behind Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan grabbed what clothes he had left to cover his body. With his other hand, the shlight shone over to where Su Nina was. He found her in the water walking up out of it. Her pajama was soaked to the point of transparency. She didn''t look like she was wearing any clothes at all.

    <span>"When did you follow me?" Liu Gan raised his eyebrows. This woman was like a ghost, appearing out of thin air. It led to some questions about her true identity.

    <span>"I''ve been following you quietly from behind. It was just that you have been walking forward, never turning back so you didn''t notice me," Su Nina giggled at Liu Gan.

    <span>"What danger lies ahead? Tell me." Liu Gan quickly put on the remainder of his clothes. Then he twisted and turned the bolts on the door.

    <span>"Since you are here anyway, open the door to find out yourself. Remember only to look and don''t go too far in. Deep inside is a dangerous ce," Su Nina said mysteriously.

    <span>"Okay." Liu Gan was sick of ying games. He broke the remaining bolts, then kicked open the cabin door and shone the shlight inside.

    <span>Within this cabin room, there were a lot of apparatus and workstations, but all were severely damaged. All the machines looked as if they were cut by the same thing. The degree of damage was something Liu Gan had definitely never seen before.

    <span>The image of a white-coated scientist appeared near the cabin door. He looked like a virtual shadow, looking around in panic. He changed his direction toward the cabin door, but in mid step, the lower half of his body separated from the upper half of his body. The two halves copsed on the floor.

    <span>After a series of loud screams, he turned into arge ck mist and dissipated into the environment.

    <span>Another white-coated scientist was also panicking as he looked around, he too tried to run toward the cabin door. This time, the lower half of his body broke off. His head had a linear cut from left to right. His body copsed and his eyes became lifeless. The top of his skull was removed cleanly from his head along with parts of his brain. The copsed body revealed a cleanly sliced off cerebrum.

    <span>Liu Gan shone the powerful shlight ray over and discovered the abnormality inside this cabin room. In this gigantic cabin, ck colored lines, triangles, and polygonal shapes were floating in mid air. The correct way to describe it was that there were ck Polygon Patches floating in mid air. Some were being moved by the air currents, and revolved slowly about the room.

    <span>The researcher''s body separation and then the skull being cut moments ago were due to the ck Polygon Patch that was rotating in mid-air.

    <span>"Those ck lines and the other polygon patches are spatial cracks, slight cracks in dimensional space. Remember to not touch them. They are very dangerous." Su Nina appeared from behind Liu Gan again.

    <span>"Spatial cracks?" Liu Gan shone his light at the ck Patches again.

    <span>The two corpses and the destroyed instruments, slowly formed into ck mists and dissipated into the surroundings. Clearly, this was the ident that Su Nina had described happening, and Liu Gan was able to witness the scene take ce.

    <span>"You can test its power." Su NIna walked forward with a rod in her hand. She swung the rod into the nearest ck Polygon Patch. The result was the rod was sliced cleanly in half. The rod part that was cut off fell to the floor and nged loudly.

    <span>Su Nina returned with her half of the rod for him to examine. The cut from the end that interacted with the ck patch was very smooth. It was smoother than precision machine-cutting, truly remarkable.

 Chapter 313

    <span>Chapter 313 - Key

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Spatial crack! Yourboratory was able to find a way to crack space!? Did you report this to the headquarters?" Liu Gan stared at the severed rod with a dismayed look.

    <span>"A handful of the higher executives should know about this. Perhaps they didn''t disclose that detail to you?" Su Nina calmly replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>At this moment, within the gigantic cabin appeared several Armored Warriors. Clearly, they were the same as the researchers, fragments of memory, a mere virtual shadow of the distant past. They walked by the ck Polygon Patches, but they weren''t sliced apart. Their armor sparked with several blue flickers of light.

    <span>The Armored Warriors had high defensive properties when equipped with their armor. Even the Spatial Cracks weren''t able to damage them. In the virtual shadow-memory, the Armored Warriors were carrying something. They were heading toward the center of the cabin room before they vanished into darkness before Liu Gan''s eyes.

    <span>"From this spatial crack research, what were your conclusions?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"Follow me," Su Nina said, and suddenly, she had another powerful shlight in her hand. She lead Liu Gan into the cabin room, which she carefully navigated around, avoiding the floating ck Patches in various shapes. She lead Liu Gan to the center of the cabin room.

    <span>In the center of the room, Liu Gan saw arge piece of ck mirror, or something that resembled a mirror. It was actually inappropriate to be called a mirror, since it couldn''t reflect an image. Its surface waspletely pitch ck, and when light shone on it, no reflections ured. From the side, it had a smooth surface. Its edges weren''t neat and it looked half-shattered. In fact, the ck mist was trailing out from it all around the edges. This alone was quite peculiar.

    <span>"That is a damaged Spatial Transfer Gate. If it wasn''t damaged, it could transfer to very far ces and even remote dimensions. At least, that is what I''ve heard. We''ve never tested it ourselves, so it might not be true," Su Nina exined to Liu Gan. Meanwhile, she was reminding Liu Gan to avoid the floating spatial cracks.

    <span>"Damaged Spatial Transfer Gate?" Liu Gan frowned at the thought. Liu Gan had heard about the Spatial Transfer Gate before, from Jiang JinYuan. However, Jiang JinYuan told Liu Gan that this Spatial Transfer Gate was only in the Central City of the Main Ind. Going through that Gate, it was possible to be transferred back into the real world. At that time, Liu Gan didn''t believe it. There was a higher possibility that San Xing Corporation was trying to swindle Jiang JinYuan as a volunteer by iming there was a return trip.

    <span>However, now Liu Gan had seen the damaged Spatial Transfer Gate with his own eyes. He now truly believed that in Central City somewherey a functional Spatial Transfer Gate that was capable of returning to the real world.

    <span>Perhaps, Mr. Sheng''s symbol on the map was the designated location Northern NinJing City''s Spatial Transfer Gate. That could also be an indicator of its existence.

    <span>"Hey say, if this Spatial Transfer Gate was still functional. Where do you think it would transfer us to?" Su Nina ying dumb.

    <span>"You were researching all this time, yet you couldn''t find ways to revert it back to normal?" Liu Gan countered and asked Su Nina.

    <span>"I have an idea, if we had enough potential energy, like those from ten nuclear bombs or even more, it could absorb it. Then perhaps, it will restore function," Su Nina replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Seems like you do know a lot! How did you find this method?" Liu Gan looked suspiciously at Su Nina.

    <span>"This is information that general headquarters had told us. I find it strange that you wouldn''t know anything about this," Su Nina countered, while smiling sinisterly.

    <span>"I told you that, I just picked up the job that was left behind by my predecessor. So what you meant before was that as long as a nuclear bomb explodes nearby the Spatial Transfer Gate, it will reinstate its function?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"It requires a lot of energy to restore the function of the Gate. To safely use it, you would require the key. If you went in without the key, you will be transferred in bits and pieces. Small pieces that are the size of rice," Su Nina exined.

    <span>"What is this key?" Liu Gan continued, but faced the possibility of being exposed as a fraud. Even if there was a risk, he will take the chance for this precious information. If his identity became exposed, these scientists won''t be much of a threat. If the time came, then he would just have to force the information out of the researchers.

    <span>"It is a type of¡­PDA. Contained within the PDA are set values. As long as you are carrying the PDA nearby the Gate, then the Gate will recognize the key. The Gate should activate the authentication system. After sessful authentication, you will be a mist. As a mist, you will travel safely to your destination," Su Nina told Liu Gan.

    <span>"PDA? What does it look like?" Liu Gan suddenly remembered that he had one on him. Due to theck of sufficient charging, it hadn''t been able to start up.

    <span>"The screen should be this big. The color is dull silver. Sr powered recharge station¡­" Su Nina continued to exin to Liu Gan. The more she described it, the more it sounded like Jiang JinYuan''s PDA.

    <span>Liu Gan looked into Su Nina''s eyes and suddenly he had a thought. Was this woman reading his memory, then fabricating a lie to trick him?

    <span>This woman''s appearance was questionable. Her ghostly appearances and disappearances twice by his side were too strange. Also, she seemed to pull out items from thin air.

    <span>"Why would you tell me this? It doesn''t seem like you are telling me everything just because of the fact that I''m someone from headquarters?" Liu Gan acted casual as he tested Su Nina.

    <span>"I don''t know, it could be that I like you. Ever since that day I saw you, I''ve had a crush on you," Su Nina answered, giggling loudly.

    <span>"There may be some men that would fall for that, but it doesn''t work against me!" Liu Gan shouted back. In the real world, he was a son from a wealthy family. Not only was Liu Gan wealthy, but he was also handsome and charming. He had learned not to believe words from spontaneously flirtatious women.

    <span>These type of spontaneously flirtatious women who could casually throw out phrases like ''like you'' and ''crush on you'' always had a hidden agenda, especially when they were beautiful. Because they were beautiful, they didn''t rashly fall in love with others or have a crush on people. So even if they liked someone, they wouldn''t voluntarily reveal it. They had too much pride and they enjoyed the feeling of being courted.

    <span>Beautiful females wouldn''t feel motivated to do something just because of someone''s charm or attractiveness. It was all an excuse to hide their secret agenda. Only the weakest-willed men would be tricked!<hr>

    <span>[TL: Nonreflecting substance like Vantack]

 Chapter 314

    <span>Chapter 314 - Unrecognizable

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Wei Liang assigned the women over to apany Liu Gan and others, so Liu Gan suspected that he had a secret agenda. At the time, Liu Gan suspected that it was an attempt to try and win his favor. That way they could bargain for more sponsorship and benefits, but the situation didn''t seem as simple as it looked anymore.

    <span>"Ah¡­" Su Nina looked at Liu Gan''s back and released a sigh. When she said ''that day'', it meant it wasn''t today. Clearly, he didn''t pay attention to the details of her statement.

    <span>"I already know that you don''t ept it, but as I''ve already said, I really like you. I love your cold and independent personality, you are unwilling to submit to the flow. You are my type of male idol," Su Nina continued.

    <span>"Are you still reading into my memory?" Liu Gan suddenly turned around. A dagger appeared into his hand, which he pressed onto Su Nina''s neck.

    <span>"No, I don''t have such ability," Su Nina calmly replied. She wasn''t afraid of the dagger was pressed on her neck. She continued to warmly stare back at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Why don''t you directly tell me what you hope to obtain from me? Perhaps, I could give you what you want. That way we don''t have to do things this way." Liu Gan pulled his dagger back.

    <span>"I am in love with you, whether you believe it or not. Although I am interested as to what the mothership is really like? I also want to know why they decided to send a member like you? I know you won''t be willing to speak, but that is just my personal curiosity." Su Nina continued to stare at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Do you know me from somewhere before?" Liu Gan started to figure something was weird as the conversation continued.

    <span>"No¡­we don''t know one another," Su Nina thought for a long while before answering. Obviously, she didn''t want him to know her identity right now.

    <span>"On the mothership, there were internal conflicts, resulting in battles and fights. It was a mess, so I don''t want to tell you too much no matter how much you ask," Liu Gan casually answered her as he stared suspiciously back at Su Nina.

    <span>Liu Gan believed that he didn''t know her. In his memory, there was no person like her. So there was a problem with her attitude, she was acting like the both of them had met before and she recognized him.

    <span>"Where are you from? From another far away, or a parallel universe? I know that the mothership utilizes very advanced technology. It has the power to pass through space and time, is that how you got here?" Su Nina inquired, testing Liu Gan.

    <span>"Our technology is simr to humans looking down at ants. Do you know how I feel now? Don''t ask me these questions, I can''t answer them for you," Liu Gan coldly stated.

    <span>"You are so cold¡­I see that you are from another alien. That would exin it¡­" Su Nina ridiculed Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay! My turn to ask you," Liu Gan angrily replied.

    <span>"Ask away," Su Nina responded obediently.

    <span>"In those ss cabs, there were people with the wrist watch, how did you get them? They aren''t the ones supplied by general headquarters!" Liu Gan asked promptly.

    <span>"You are correct, they aren''t the type of specimens that were normally supplied to us. Those people have an astonishing background story. Suddenly, they appeared within ourboratory. It was also the same day we were running low on specimens so we decided to round them up and treat them like expendables," Su Nina replied calmly.

    <span>"How many of them were there?" Liu Gan continued to ask.

    <span>"There were around forty people? Even as we were running our individual projects, we couldn''t find out how they were transferred over. Themon point was that they were all wearing this wrist watch, it is a very advanced item. There was nothing we could do to iste it. We tried chopping the arm off, then it would appear back at another body part. Unless they die, the wrist watch won''t disappear. It changes state from solid into a gas and dissipates as a ck mist into the environment," Su Nina anxiously exined.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t continue asking. He sympathized with those forty yers as their luck was the worst. Only moments after being transferred into the game, they fell victim to bingb rats.

    <span>Compared to these yers, Liu Gan felt rtively luckier since he was transferred over to the za. But, these forty yers were possibly quite dumb. With forty yers, they could have easily suppressed the minority group of researchers.

    <span>On thinking that, Liu Gan realized something.

    <span>"Pull up your sleeves!" Liu Gan ordered.

    <span>"Oh?" Su Nina blushed with embarrassment when she heard themand. She slowly unbuttoned her pajama button.

    <span>"Pull up your sleeve, not take off your pajamas! If you do anything foolish like that again, do you think that I won''t kill you?" Liu Gan threatened Su Nina with his dagger again.

    <span>Su Ninaughed, embarrassed, then pulled up her shirt sleeve. There wasn''t any wrist watch, she wasn''t a yer like Liu Gan had suddenly suspected.

    <span>ording to Liu Gan''s adjusted suspicions, thisboratory might only have 18 researchers left due to the arrival of the yers. The yers wouldn''t have submitted to being captured so they must have put up a fight. The remnants of the researchers were the survivors and the victors of the fight.

    <span>Regardless of the presence of the wrist watch, Liu Gan was still wary of Su Nina''s true identity. He still thought she could be a yer who had met him before in the real world. It sounded more reasonable in that context.

    <span>Su Nina didn''t have any wrist watch, so the possibility of being a yer was low. They were currently still within the dreand, so there was still a chance of it being hidden away. If Liu Gan woke up from dreamscape, he would reexamine her identity.

    <span>"So, you were saying that we are in a dreamscape?" Su Nina changed the topic.

    <span>"What do you think? How could you exin the disappearance of the other people? And we are the only ones here. It seems like this isn''t your first time experiencing it! Don''t act innocent with me." Liu Gan walked over to the Spatial Transfer Gate to inspect it and the rest of the room.

 Chapter 315

    <span>Chapter 315 - Confirmation

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Su Nina''s expression said it all, she was embarrassed. She didn''t even try to exin herself, she simply continued to tail behind Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan was unable to find anything worthwhile inside the cabin room. So he returned along his original route. He walked back through the ck cabin door, and past the red cabin door. Finally, he reached the living quarters. Once again, he checked every room to confirm that Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, Wei Liang, and others weren''t there.

    <span>It seemed this dreamscape limited sharing to him and Su Nina. It was very different from when all his team members had a shared dream.

    <span>Liu Gan walked towards the istion chamber, he wanted to test it out even in a dream. Could his [Mist Armor] withstand the pressure at 3000 meters below sea level? There was also the question of duration underwater. Even if it was a dream, it didn''t represent reality. In fact, no one knew if there was a corrtion. This was actually a good opportunity to test his theory.

    <span>"Even when you are trapped within the dreand, you aren''t scared at all?" Su Nina curiously asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"What is there to be scared of?" Liu Gan said without the slightest change in expression. He opened the door to the istion chamber.

    <span>"What are you going to do?" Su Nina chased after Liu Gan into the istion chamber.

    <span>"Going to see the outside world. With this chance, why not visit the beautiful world of the underwater life forms?" Liu Gan replied as he closed the door behind him, getting ready to open up the external istion door.

    <span>"If you do that, we will die. Do you know how immense the pressure is?" Su Nina was holding back Liu Gan.

    <span>"Dying within the dreand? That isn''t a bad experience. I would like to try it." Liu Gan roughly pushed aside her hand.

    <span>"Don''t do that, you will hurt yourself." Su Nina was angry that she got pushed aside and walked back to stop him again.

    <span>"You are afraid? What are you afraid of? If you are afraid, then go back into the other room, why did you follow me into the istion chamber?" Liu Gan raised his eyebrows.

    <span>"I have no idea, I know that I like to stick with you. You keep on thinking that I have an ulterior motive! I''m just following my heart! Wherever you go, I want to follow you, I just don''t want to hurt myself," Su Nina replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t continue to bother with Su Nina. He continued with his n to visit the outside world, as he tried to figure out how to to open up the external istion door.

    <span>Under normal conditions, when there were submarines connected to the joints, opening this external istion door would be easy. The safety mechanism installed with the door prevented it from opening without any submarine attached to the building. So when Liu Gan tried to forcefully pry open the istion chamber external door, an rm was triggered.

    <span>Liu Gan had to resort to manualbor as he forcefully pried open the cabin door, first by loosening up the bolts, and then pulling open the door.

    <span>Under the immense pressure of water from outside of the building, water poured into the istion chamber. Liu Gan was pushed back into the istion chamber by the overwhelming force. He mmed hard onto the wall behind him. The blow to his head caused him to be disoriented for a few seconds. Still, with his [Mist Armor] active, the majority of the damage was negated.

    <span>In a matter of seconds, the istion chamber was filled. The pressure in the istion chamber equalized with the sea outside.

    <span>Liu Gan turned on his waterproof shlight, then he tried to move several steps within the cabin. He quickly discovered that it felt like he was carrying several tons of weight, it was hard to move even a step.

    <span>The wrist watch disy indicator changed from red to ck for [Mist Armor]. Trying to walk underwater to the shore would be an impossible feat.

    <span>Su Nina suddenly appeared outside of the istion chamber and closed the external door. The pressure on Liu Gan''s body also disappeared. Then Su Nina reappeared close by Liu Gan and walked in front of him. Her sleeping pajamas looked even more lightweight than before, they were like gauze that fluttered with the slightest breeze. There was nothing behind the clothing, like it was <span>omitted<span>.

    <span>Liu Gan could tell from from her expression that she wasn''t suffering at all. Small bubbles of gas seeped out from her skin. Without a doubt, she was lying to him. She had the ability to breathe underwater.

    <span>Liu Gan saw that Su Nina didn''t continue speaking. He was starting to grasp the full meaning behind this dreamscape.

    <span>Su Nina looked at Liu Gan, as she closed in, she wrapped her arms around Liu Gan. She closed her eyes, and puckered up her lips in an attempt to kiss him.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t bother to dodge her kiss this time, instead he pulled out a dagger. As Su Nina got closer, he pierced into her heart and twisted it around several times.

    <span>Su Nina opened her eyes, she was very shocked. She didn''t think that Liu Gan would be irrational enough to actually kill her. As her expression became dull, the water still surrounding Liu Gan also became a blur, as if this whole dreand was on the verge of copsing.

    <span>Liu Gan heard a noise like pieces of armor crashing into metal as he woke up abruptly. Yin He sat down by his side. She was equipped with the heavy armor.

    <span>"Dreaming?" Yin He asked in an unfamiliar voice.

    <span>"Yes, seems like I haven''t woken up yet." Liu Gan revealed his dagger and stabbed Yin He in her heart.

    <span>"You¡­why did you kill me?" Yin He asked in a surprising manner and unfamiliar voice.

    <span>"If you were truly her, this weak attack wouldn''t have harmed you at all. The only reason is because you aren''t her. You are Su Nina. So my dagger was able to pierce through the armor, right into the heart. This is where you die twice, within your own dreand," Liu Gan said confidently.

    <span>"You are very strong, just like before. You really don''t feel any sympathy toward the other sex. I can''t even find your weakness. But, you are wrong. I didn''t create this dreamscape to hurt you¡­it was¡­I wanted to just finish a dream, that''s all¡­" the Yin He sighed. Once again, Liu Gan''s surrounding became blurred. By his ear, he heard metal parts shing against each other.

    <span>Liu Gan woke up once more, this time it was Yin He sitting by his side. Except, she didn''t have her armor equipped. Liu Gan stabbed at Yin He''s heart again without any hesitation. Yin He didn''t dodge at all, allowing Liu Gan to stab at her metallic body.

    <span>"Someone was imitating your identity, so I had to test if it was really you," Liu Gan exined, as he put away his dagger after confirming who she was.

    <span>"That thing appeared again? It attacked you in the dreand?" Yin He asked angrily. She wanted to do her best to defend Liu Gan, but she couldn''t sleep so she couldn''t help him at all.

 Chapter 316

    <span>Chapter 316 - Special Identity

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"It wasn''t the Nightmare Jellyfish, it was Su Nina! Her ability to create a dreand is greater than the Nightmare Jellyfish!" Liu Gan clenched his fist, just to make sure that he was actually awake this time.

    <span>These continuous dreand attacks for two nights in a row made him angry.

    <span>"Do you need me to go kill her? I never liked her when I first saw her!" Yin He suggested to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at Yin He with a surprised expression¡­could it be that she was jealous?

    <span>"I will handle her myself. If you are angry that I attacked you, I knew that I couldn''t harm you. I only wanted to test to see if I was still trapped within the dreand." Liu Gan reached out to Yin He''s hand. If she could get jealous, this couldn''t possibly be another dream, right?

    <span>"No matter what you did to me, it was necessary." Yin He didn''t me Liu Gan for his action.

    <span>It was at this moment that the noise of activity starteding through the bedroom door. It sounded like broadcasting. The cabin doors were supposed to be soundproof, but even through two doors it was possible to hear the sounds. The broadcasting sound system must have been very loud in the hallway. So, especially with Liu Gan''s enhanced hearing, it wasn''t surprising he could hear it.

    <span>Liu Gan lifted his hand and made a ''hush'' handsign. He got dressed quickly and left his room to check on the status of whatever was happening outside of his cabin room.

    <span>Wei Liang and a few male researchers were passing by. They were rushing toward the direction of the dock and the broadcast stopped ying shortly after Liu Gan walked out.

    <span>"What is the matter?" Liu Gan walked out to stop Wei Liang. It was clear to Liu Gan that Wei Liang was lying about many issues. Even his assistant Su Nina was highly suspicious. In the middle of the night, they weren''t sleeping, so they must be up to no good.

    <span>"General headquarters sent someone! Who would''ve thought they would respond this fast¡­" Wei Liang happily replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"General Headquarters personnel? They came in the middle of the night?" Liu Gan raised his eyebrow. Could it really be the Armored Warriors? Was it really so coincidental that these Warriors were somewhere nearby doing missions, then were redirected to this location?

    <span>There was such a coincidence? They didn''te early orte, but at the precise moment when Liu Gan was present. Would their covers be blown?

    <span>"Yes, I allowed them to dock in¡­ didn''t theymunicate with you? Aren''t they responding to your distress call?" Wei Liang looked at Liu Gan strangely.

    <span>"My contact told me it would require three days for them to arrive. Right now, general headquarters has several conflicting factions and so themunications between departments suffers. I wasn''t able to find out which faction this team belongs to," Liu Gan casually made up a lie.

    <span>"Then¡­would you like to follow us and take a look?" Wei Liang suggested to Liu Gan.

    <span>"You can go greet them! But without my permission, you can''t tell him about our presence here yet. I need to figure out what faction they belong to. Report back to me when you return, then I will decide if I want to go out to meet them," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>It was very obvious that Liu Gan wouldn''t go with Wei Liang to meet the neers. Just in case it was a group of Armored Warriors, him and Yin He couldn''t possibly handle them. If they faced off in a fairpetition, it would be suicide. If these neers were Armored Warriors and they wanted to enter the underwaterboratory, there was no purpose in trying to stop them. If they wanted, they could destroy all of the facilities in the underwater base. Instead, it was much wiser to observe the neers and find out their capabilities.

    <span>"Okay, I understand. You rest first," Wei Liang agreed. Then he proceeded toward the dock with his colleagues.

    <span>"Actually no, it''s better if I went with you. If they ask, just say I''m your assistant. Don''t you dare say anything unnecessary," Liu Gan blurted out to Wei Liang. Liu Gan took off ab coat that one of the male researcher was wearing and put it on. Naturally he followed behind Wei Liang.

    <span>Wei Liang didn''t dare have any objections. He led Liu Gan over to the istion room, while Yin He stayed in a different room. Liu Gan allowed her to head to the control room to monitor the situation in the istion chamber. She was to hide her presence until the right moment.

    <span>The three arrived at the istion chamber, pushing open the istion lock and two more series of doors. A man disembarked from a small amphibious aircraft. In his hand was a leash attached to a¡­robotic dog.

    <span>Liu Gan was surprised. Aside from this dog owner, there weren''t any Armored Warriors disembarking from the amphibious airship. If it was only one individual, then this would be an easy matter. As long as there were no one else aboard the airship...

    <span>If this was a scout, then there shouldn''t be any problems, Liu Gan could easily kill the dog owner and take over the airship. However, if there were someone else onboard, then Liu Gan had to be on high alert. Any wrong moves would expose not only his position, but Yin He''s identity as well.

    <span>"Why did it take so long to wee me?" the dog owner abruptly asked Wei Liang.

    <span>This neer''s name was Peng Xuetao, he was a foreigner recruited by the mothership. When the catastrophe was taking ce, he was executing his mission so he was unaffected by the destruction that the mothership had experienced. Currently, he would abuse his special identity to his advantage for food. As he was passing the vicinity at night, he discovered the location of this underwater base, so he decided to visit.

    <span>"I am very sorry, it is the middle of the night and I was sleeping. I couldn''t make it to greet you. Please ept my sincerest apologies," Wei Liang bowed to Peng Xuetao.

    <span>"Sleeping? Are they all sleeping? With such argeboratory, there is no one that has night duty? Are you the supervisor responsible here? How did you arrange shifts? Do you want me to destroy you?" Peng Xuetao pointed with his finger. On that index finger was an alloy metal ring.

    <span>Peng Xuetao looked about 30 years old, and his physical stature was chubby and short. His hair wasbed slickly backwards, with mustaches hanging down the sides of his face. He had a high pitched voice like an eunuch, with a sarcastic tone to it.

    <span>Liu Gan believed the ring on the man''s index finger must have some special ability as a weapon, otherwise there was no reason for Peng to point his finger while scolding Wei Liang. Liu Gan was sizing up Peng Xuetao, but wasn''t paying attention to the conversation. Liu Gan couldn''t tell if this individual would be considered a special NPC and killing him would give experience or rewards.

    <span>One such reward being the ring on his index finger. With his enhanced vision, Liu Gan could discern that there were a lot of runes on that ring, it must be a rare treasure.

    <span>Before figuring out the strength of this dog owner, Liu Gan didn''t want to make any rash decisions. Even if he wanted to take action, he had to talk with Yin He first.

 Chapter 317

    <span>Chapter 317 - Don''t You Dare Ask

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"General headquarters hasn''t had a chance to replenish our supplies, so ourboratory has stopped functioning for the most part. We do have guards on night duty, the moment you arrived I was notified by them through the broadcast system. I rushed over as fast as possible, but I am a slow runner so that is my fault! I apologize and ask for your understanding! Please forgive me and don''t let anger ruin your mood," Wei Liang lowered his voice.

    <span>"Okay, okay! Quickly prepare some food for me to enjoy! Don''t give me raw food!" Peng Xuetao quickly ordered. Then Peng Xuetao paraded around the room with his dog in hand.

    <span>"What is with his dog?" Liu Gan whispered to Yin He via his earphone. Yin He was able to monitor everything through the surveince system.

    <span>"It is a robotic dog, one of the robots deployed on the mothership. It can move around quickly, it also has the protection of the Spatial Armor. In terms ofbat strength, it is not as capable as the Armored Warriors," Yin He replied.

    <span>"Do you have any information regarding this male dog owner?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"He should be a true representative sent out by headquarters, but his rank is the lowest. Now that the mothership is damaged and unmonitored, he might be taking advantage of the broken system to cheat meals at differentboratories," Yin He assumed, based on her stored data. Since Yin He couldn''t connect with the mothership for any new information, she would have to resort to using her own judgement.

    <span>"Does that mean I can continue impersonating a high ranking official and have you reveal yourself? Maybe we can have him show us where the polymerized photon supplies are kept," Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"That won''t be too wise. Even though he is an official of the lowest rank, he is still a registered person. He also has the robotic dog with him. He can easily contact the transport ship and mothership through hismunicationwork. The moment we reveal ourselves, he could find out that I am one of the missing Armored Warriors. Through quantum technology they can get in touch with the mothership easily. The worst case scenario would be an army of Armored Warriors sent to hunt us in response," Yin He disagreed with Liu Gan.

    <span>"Do you think we can handle him and his dog, then take over his airship? How high are our chances of it seeding?" Liu Gan continued to press.

    <span>"All personnel sent out for missions have the protection of Spatial Armor, just like the robotic dog. To break through the armor requires a certain degree of damage. However, they must have a good amount of polymerized photon nanites to replenish their energy. It is definitely more than what we have on hand. If the fight gets dragged out into a war of attrition, we will absolutely lose," Yin He continued with her analysis.

    <span>"He has protection, too? Can I have that blessing of armor on my body too?" Liu Gan still believed this was a good opportunity to pige.

    <span>Surviving within apocalyptic times, strength is the ultimate deciding factor. Absolute strength to overwhelm the opponent meant being relentless without a chance for the opponent to take revenge. However, if yourbat strength was inferior to the enemy, then utilizing tactics would be your best option to obtain the upper hand. In the current situation, Liu Gan had the upper hand as he was still undiscovered. He could easily wait for a good method to kill the opponent.

    <span>"That is not possible. To obtain the Spatial Protection of any type requires strict identity verification. The moment there are signs of unqualified verification, the Spatial Protection system will self-destruct. You and I are different. You can''t force your way to obtain the armor like I did," Yin He continued with the bad news.

    <span>"Then can we leave poison in the food to get rid of the guy?" Liu Gan scheming plots in his head.

    <span>"It''s no use, the robotic dog has senses keener than mine. It would easily detect any poisonous substance," Yin He said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay, then we will continue to monitor the situation," Liu Gan finally decided. If he couldn''t win in a fight and had no better tactic, the best thing was to wait.

    <span>Wei Liang was closely following Liu Gan''s order. Liu Gan''s presence was never mentioned. In Wei Liang''s head, he only wanted to get through this situation peacefully. It was something way above his pay grade, so rather than causing a scene, he did nothing. Wei Liang hadn''t even thought about asking Peng Xuetao about Liu Gan''s identity.

    <span>Soon Wei Liang ordered people to cook up a feast. Peng Xuetao didn''t head to the cafeteria for the food, he had his meal served to him in the reception hall. Right before eating, Peng Xuetao had the robotic dog examine the food before picking up utensils. What Yin He had said earlier was true.

    <span>At Peng Xuetao''s order, Wei Liang brought out the best wine to apany the delicacies.

    <span>"Have everyone within theboratorye out. It doesn''t matter if they are asleep or awake, just tell them toe out!" Peng Xuetao shouted with food in one hand and drink in another. Seems like Peng Xuetao had a temper.

    <span>"Okay, I will do that right now!" Wei Liang bowed as he left the room.

    <span>"If there are people hiding, my dog WangWang will search the area! If WangWang finds you, then you will definitely die! Don''t even think of hiding away in a corner!" Peng Xuetao continued to shout out orders like a tyrant.

    <span>"Okay, okay, I will make sure everyonees out," Wei Liang replied onest time. Even he wasn''t too sure for the reasons behind Peng''smands, but Wei Liang wasn''t going to defy any orders.

    <span>Liu Gan finally understood what Wei Liang meant about the personalities of representatives from general headquarters. Judging from what Liu Gan had heard so far, this Peng Xuetao was aplete scumbag. He was the type to irrationally kill someone if they don''t follow his orders.

    <span>"Have you figured out what faction this person belongs to? It can''t be the same faction as yours, right?" Wei Liang walked over to Liu Gan, pretending to give him orders. In the secret exchange of words, Wei Liang showed how displeased he was with Peng Xuetao. He would rather deal with Liu Gan than Peng Xuetao.

    <span>"We don''t belong to the same faction. If my identity was revealed, we might have to fight," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"There is the issue of several of yourpanions hiding, and whether the robotic dog will be able to find them¡­" Wei Liang said in a worried tone. Wei Liang was worried about being med if the dog found someone hiding.

 Chapter 318

    <span>Chapter 318 - Emperor

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"If you remain hidden away in our cabin, will the robotic dog be able to find you?" Liu Gan whispered into the earphone.

    <span>"It could, this type of robotic dog specializes in searches. No matter where we hide, it will be able to find us," Yin He replied.

    <span>"Send a few work clothes to mypanions and im they are members of yourboratory," Liu Gan instructed Wei Liang.

    <span>"Both of you are representatives of general headquarters, but he is a lot more difficult to serve. Why don''t you just reveal your identity and speak on our behalf!" Wei Liang begged Liu Gan. However, it came off as if Wei Liang was still testing the identity of Liu Gan.

    <span>"No, don''t tell him that we are from general headquarters. I don''t want him to know yet. Just tell him we are technicians of theboratory. If you dare to disobey I will kill you all!" Liu Gan continued with his threat.

    <span>"It might work if I said that you and the other two members are technicians, but what would I say about the Armored Warrior? Would he be able to recognize it?" Wei Liang was referring to Yin He.

    <span>"That won''t be a problem. We have the technology to change her outer appearance. She can change into the look of a technician," Liu Gan led Wei Liang to his cabin room. Then Liu Gan ordered Yin He to retract her armor.

    <span>"Ah¡­" Wei Liang stared at Yin He in fright. He couldn''t imagine that behind the cold and imprable armory a beautifuldy. In his imagination, the armor had something horrific inside, like an alien.

    <span>"Go find several sets of work clothes for us to change into. You shouldn''t have your guests wait too long," Liu Gan urged Wei Liang.

    <span>"I will do that immediately!" Wei Liang quickly grabbed his own set of clothes from his closet.

    <span>***

    <span>While handling Liu Gan''s issue, all the other scientists assembled at the reception hall to greet Peng Xuetao.

    <span>"Ah? There are quite a few beauties among your group!" Peng Xuetao focused his attention on Su Nina amongst the group of women. Peng Xuetao had a lewd smile as his eyes lingered on body parts of the women. Even though the rest of thedy scientists there weren''t as pretty as Su Nina, their bodies were a lot more voluptuous than hers.

    <span>Su Nina walked out fully clothed in aboratory outfit. Her expression didn''t match the look Liu Gan had when he woke up from the dream. Instead, she raised her brows when she noticed the perverted nces from Peng Xuetao. Already, distasteful feelings were brewing in her.

    <span>Even though Peng Xuetao was continuing to eat and drink, part of his remaining focus was shifted onto the five female scientists. Peng Xuetao quickly called for two women to apany him to eat and drink, while Su Nina and the rest of the girls were to stand spread out in front of his table.

    <span>"As for the rest of you¡­start strip dancing. You go first." Peng Xuetao pointed at one of the women standing in front of him.

    <span>T<span>he chosen researcher was horrified. They didn''t sign up for this! They weren''t the type of women to sell their bodies. In addition, there were quite a few of their coworkers present. It was <span>an act that vited their dignity, they couldn''t do that type of stuff.

    <span>"You dare disobey mymand?" Wei Liang frowned.

    <span>The chosen woman was trembling with fear as she stared back at Peng Xuetao in disbelief. She held tightly onto her cor of herb coat. While she looked around her to see if anyone was willing to stand up for her, she remained motionless herself.

    <span>"Go! Bite her!" Peng Xuetao patted his dog''s head and pointed at the chosen woman.

    <span>The robotic dog dashed forth with lightning-like reflexes, jaws wide open. Mercilessly, it closed its jaws on her neck and tore her head clean off. The head rolled onto the floor, and blood sprayed out from the body like a fountain. The lifeless body copsed onto the floor, dyeing the surroundings red.

    <span>A loud shriek echoed in the reception hall. Witnessing the sudden turn of events left everyone else dumbfounded. With horrified expressions, they watched as Peng Xuetao continued to enjoy his meal through the whole ordeal.

    <span>"Is there anyone else that dares to disobey mymands? You there! Strip dance for me! Right now!" Peng Xuetao pointed at another girl standing next to Su Nina.

    <span>This second woman burst into tears. With the dead woman serving as a lesson, she didn''t dare to disobey Peng Xuetao''s order. Slowly items of clothing started toe off, until there was nothing left.

    <span>Then came the order to take up embarrassing postures.

    <span>"Good! Very good! Excellent!" Peng Xuetao shoutedpliments as his hands wandered onto the body parts of the two women by his side. However, his eyes shifted from the female scientist dancing to Su Nina.

    <span>At this moment, Peng Xuetao really wanted to embrace Su Nina, but it was better to save the best for thest. Since he was like an emperor here, there was no need for any worry about a woman escaping his grasp. It was meaningless to rush, there was no enjoyment just racing to the finish line. It was best to enjoy it slowly, starting with her disrobing. The expression he wanted to see most was that look of embarrassment and despair.

    <span>"Okay, move aside! It is now your turn!" Peng Xuetao pointed at Su Nina.

    <span>Su Nina looked back at Peng Xuetao, but remained motionless. She had no intention of taking off any of her clothes. With therge audience surrounding them, it wasn''t something that any girl could pull off.

    <span>"Do you dare disobey mymand? Do you want to die?" Peng Xuetao angrily shouted. Peng Xuetao started petting his dog''s head, sending a warning to Su Nina that he could let the dog loose any moment.

    <span>Su Nina looked at Peng Xuetao, then back down at robotic dog. Standing still as a rock, she still didn''t even move her hands to unbutton her shirt.

    <span>"Kill him!" Peng Xuetao pointed at one of the male scientists standing closest to Su Nina.

    <span>Once again the obedient dog rushed over and with its metallic teeth chewed through the throat of the unknown man. With the severed head rolling on the floor, the fountain of blood sprayed out in the surrounding area. It was a tragic sight.

    <span>No one knew how to react in this situation. This time, not even a shriek was made in time. The women started weeping and crying softly.

    <span>Arrogantly, Peng Xuetao looked around for signs of disapproval. Lastly, he focused his concentration on Su Nina''s body. The right to killy solely within his hands. With the exceptional feeling of being an emperor, he could kill whoever he wanted. Whatever woman he wanted, he would get!

 Chapter 319

    <span>Chapter 319 - Give Up

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Beautiful girl, will you take it off now? If you don''t continue, would you rather that I continue to kill your co-workers one by one before you take it off? Until both of us are the only ones that remain. By then, the floor will be covered with blood and it will ruin the mood!" Peng Xuetao threatened Su Nina.

    <span>At this moment, Wei Liang returned from the living quarters with Liu Gan and his group. They arrived in the reception hall.

    <span>"I''ll do it." Su Nina gave Liu Gan a grudging look. First, she took off her whiteb coat, then she started unbuttoning the rest of her shirt.

    <span>Peng Xuetao stared perversely at Su Nina''s every movement. He was enjoying her performance. He heard footstepsing from the direction of the door, nced over, and saw Liu Gan standing next to Yin He. Peng Xuetao''s eyes widened as if he had just seen something amazing.

    <span>What was with this underwater base? How could it hold this many beautiful girls? It was certainly a surprise! What a plentiful find!

    <span>"Hey, hey you! You! Standing over there! Come here! What is your name?" Peng Xuetao stared at Yin He.

    <span>Yin He didn''t bother responding to Peng Xuetao. She stood still by Liu Gan''s side. At this moment, she didn''t want to reveal her identity. The moment the mothership knew of their presence, that would mean more trouble for her and Liu Gan.

    <span>"Damn! This woman here definitely has personality! One that wouldn''t even listen to me talk! Are you nning a rebellion?" Peng Xuetao mmed his hand loudly onto the tea table. He was very angry. Peng Xuetao''s original n was to enjoy thepanionship of these beautiful women, but he couldn''t resist the urge to release his dog.

    <span>"They are onlyboratory workers, they aren''t specialized for these types of performances. So please be magnanimous for theirck of respect. I will apologize on their behalf!" Wei Liang quickly spoke up.

    <span>"Who do you think you are? Are you trying to teach me how I should act?" Peng Xuetao was enraged. He walked over to p Wei Liang on the face a few times.

    <span><em>Pa pa pa pa pa!</em>

    <span>Wei Lang''s cheeks<span> were swollen red.

    <span>Peng Xuetao started at the lowest level when he joined thepany. Prior to the catastrophe, everything Peng Xuetao did for the corporation was exhausting and mundane tasks required for day to day operations. Although he was arrogant and despotic, he never dared to openly humiliate any female scientist for fear of repercussions andints. Under most conditions, the opposite party would offer themselves up. Even if they didn''t volunteer their bodies, the matter would be dropped.

    <span>However, it was now very different.

    <span>With the mothership out of control, and the majority of the executives onboard dead or missing, the remaining members were people like Peng Xuetao, people with the ability to think for themselves. It was especially beneficial for Peng Xuetao when the controller recklessly issuedmands to the remaining workers onboard to do unimportant missions. All this factored into how members like Peng Xuetao were taking advantage of the situation.

    <span>Since Peng Xuetao was unable to reach the mothership to take over as the controller, he still had to obey the missionmands that were issued to him. Compared to the days prior to the catastrophe, Peng Xuetao had fewer missions assigned to him. It was as if the controller had forgotten about him. Nevertheless, he still had a robotic dog at hismand. So after the catastrophe, he traveled fromboratory toboratory acting like an emperor. Whoever didn''t obey hismands, he would kill.

    <span>As for the research projects, since it isn''t on the agenda of the mothership, no one cared to do their job! Peng Xuetao definitely doesn''t care about it. Everyone was disposable to him since he had no rtionship with them.

    <span>Today was rather a good day, his luck wasn''t that bad. He was able to find some entertainment in the rather dull lifestyle he had now. There were two beautiful female workers here. He felt that tonight''s entertainment would be rather enjoyable. Before, that happened, he wanted to enjoy the strip dance. The enjoyment of watching them strip in front of their male coworkers was a pleasure by itself!

    <span>The corner of Wei Liang''s mouth started bleeding as he begged forgiveness from Peng Xuetao. After looking at his coworker''s corpse, he looked at Liu Gan with a pleading expression.

    <span>"Are you her boyfriend?"

    <span>Peng Xuetao realized that Yin He was sticking slightly to Liu Gan''s side. When he ordered Yin He to slowly strip dance, she stood staring at Liu Gan. Immediately, Peng Xuetao realized something was wrong and arrogantly walked up to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes." Liu Gan replied. This was a troubling situation, since Liu Gan wanted to hide in public. He didn''t want to attract any unnecessary attention. Now that this person voluntarily stepped forwards in his face, there would be trouble.

    <span>"Tell your girlfriend to strip dance, show her off to everyone here, and make sure she does it slowly! If she resists, I will order my dog WangWang to get rid of your arm. After your arms are gone, it will remove your legs, until you have nothing left, but just parts remaining!" Peng Xuetao threatened Liu Gan.

    <span>Making a beautiful women perform, and being able to cuckold the boyfriend in front of the girlfriend? That was killing two birds with one stone. What a wonderful tactic!

    <span>"What do you take your dog as? How dare you use it to harass your elder?" Liu Gan angrily replied.

    <span>"Damn! Do you know who I am? How dare you speak to me that way? Are you living too long of a life?" Peng Xuetao looked at Liu Gan strangely. This wholeboratory was quite strange, even the workers seemed to act recklessly.

    <span>"Who are you? You must be someone of a low stature! What type of attitude do you think I should use? I can beat you up if I want to!" Liu Gan rarely resorted to the crude way of speaking. Following closely, Liu Gan aimed his fist at Peng Xuetao''s head.

    <span>Peng Xuetao wasn''t harmed at all due to the protection from his Spatial Armor. However, the force behind Liu Gan''s fist mmed Peng Xuetao''s chubby body to the floor.

    <span>The robotic dog saw its owner get injured, so it quickly rushed over to bite down on Liu Gan''s arm. Luckily, Yin He was prepared. Her armor equipped, and she moved to defend Liu Gan. She grabbed the dog''s head in a choke hold, as they crashed together to the floor.

    <span>Wei Liang and the rest of the bystanders quickly moved out of the way. When fights broke out between the factions from general headquarters, they couldn''t possible step in to help. Even though they normally didn''t take sides, they wholeheartedly wanted Liu Gan to win. Peng Xuetao''s evil deeds and repulsive face had caused everyone to hate him. They wanted Liu Gan to avenge their fallen co-workers.

    <span>Meanwhile, Liu Gan suppressed Peng Xuetao by continuously throwing punches at his head. His protection wouldn''t be prated anytime soon, but at least his armor would suffer some damage.

    <span>Originally, Liu Gan didn''t want to provoke these people and stay out of their issues, but the moment Peng Xuetao ordered Yin He to strip down, it angered him. If Liu Gan didn''t beat this scum up, it would be hard to vent his frustrations.

 Chapter 320

    <span>Chapter 320 - Pitch-ck

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <strong>Sponsor''s Song: </strong><hr>

    <span>Peng Xuetao started to tremble with fear when he witnessed Yin He suddenly transform into an Armored Warrior. The corner of his eyes revealed how dreadful the situation had just be. Warily, Peng Xuetao looked back at Liu Gan. Unable to push back against Liu Gan, Peng Xuetao was pinned down.

    <span>"Stop hitting me! Who are you guys?" Peng Xuetao demanded of Liu Gan. Peng Xuetao touched the ring on his finger. An ultra-high voltage electric baton appeared, and Peng Xuetao swung it at Liu Gan.

    <span>The electric baton brushed against Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] and electric sparks appeared, but they didn''t harm Liu Gan, although the voltage stiffened him rigid with shock. Peng Xuetao took this chance to sneak an attack at Liu Gan''s chest. It sent Liu Gan flying backward into the wall, making a dent.

    <span>Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] indicator turned red. Just now, Peng Xuetao''s two consecutive attacks had severely injured Liu Gan.

    <span>"I thought that you were quite capable! Seems like you can''t even take a hit! Yet you wanted to pick a fight against me!" Peng Xuetao stood up as he angrily looked at Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan also stood up from the floor, as he walked closer to Peng Xuetao.

    <span>"You have shielding material to hide your body''s signal! Ah! I figured it out! You are traitors that escaped! I will tell general headquarters toe and capture you!" Peng Xuetao brought up his virtual screen as he tried scanning Yin He''s serial number on the armor.

    <span>"You know too much!" Liu Gan charged forward with a punch at Peng Xuetao.

    <span>"You really want to fight it out! You must have a death wish!" Peng Xuetao showed a toxic expression, he raised his electric baton at Liu Gan again.

    <span>"DIE!" When Liu Gan got close to Peng Xuetao, Liu Gan activated [Psychic Shock]. Peng Xuetao''s brain felt a sharp pain. Liu Gannded a punch on Peng Xuetao''s head.

    <span>Peng Xuetao''s Spatial Protection was able to withstand another attack from Liu Gan, but the force behind the attack caused a rebound that still affected Peng Xuetao. With the punch to the head, on top of the effects from [Psychic Shock] from earlier, it was enough to knock Peng Xuetao out and down to the floor, and he dropped his electric baton.

    <span>Liu Gan took the opportunity to pick up the electric baton. He pressed the button on the baton to release the ultra-high voltage electricity onto Peng Xuetao''s body. This baton weapon was a regr type of weapon, it didn''t require any personal verification. Liu Gan was able to use it after picking it up off the ground.

    <span>Peng Xuetao was already halfway recovered from the [Psychic Shock]. That was when Su Nina walked up behind Liu Gan. Both her eyes turned pitch-ck. Unexpectedly, she cast [Nightmare Assault]!

    <span>Peng Xuetao was on the edge of recovering his state of mind, but with the second psychological attack to his psyche, he became absent-minded once again.

    <span>Everything was hazy and indistinguishable.

    <span>Then, Peng Xuetao felt himself able to stand up. He felt brave as he threw multiple punches at Liu Gan. This time the robotic dog was able to hack off Liu Gan''s arms and legs. Afterwards, he forced Su Nina and Yin He to strip dance in front of him. What an overwhelming victory! Peng Xuetao smiled sinisterly at his feat.

    <span>However, everything he witnessed was just fabrications of his own dreand. In reality, his eyeballs were rapidly moving as he slept on the floor motionless. Peng Xuetao was unable to resist as Liu Gan used the electric baton on his Spatial Protection.

    <span>Liu Gan was shocked to find Peng Xuetao in this abnormal state. He turned around to see Su Nina''s eyes, all pitch-ck. Then he considered Peng Xuetao''satose state, connected the two dots, and understood what had happened.

    <span>Liu Gan used the electric baton to continuously attack Peng Xuetao. Every 15 minutes, he would activate [Psychic Shock] to weaken his mental state and damage his psyche. That way he could fall deeper into dreand, unable to wake back up.

    <span>Yin He was still wrestling with the robotic dog, she held onto the front legs of the dog since the dog had its jaw locked onto her arm. The two were intertwined in battle, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand.

    <span>After twenty minutester, the energy supplying the electric baton, was empty. Nevertheless, it wasn''t enough to damage Peng Xuetao''s Spatial Protection. Peng Xuetao''s physical body was still unharmed. Liu Gan tried a different method to harm Peng Xuetao. He picked up Peng Xuetao''s body and aimed his head at the ground.

    <span>The moment the Spatial Protection sensed any abnormal conditions, it would automatically increase its output. Surrounding Peng Xuetao was a few centimeters of buffer zone. Thus, Liu Gan was unsessful with this method.

    <span>Liu Gan took some time to think of another method. He threw Peng Xuetao into a tub filled with water. This time, Liu Gan wanted to drown Peng Xuetao. Small bubbles promptly starteding out from his mouth. It seemed the Spatial Protection armor provided the wearer a special type of alternative breathing, making it impossible to drown him.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled Peng Xuetao out from the tub. Out of frustration, Liu Gan kept punching at Peng Xuetao. The rate of punches thrown out was staggering. Normal people couldn''t even follow the movements anymore. When it was time, Liu Gan unleashed another [Psychic Shock] to weaken Peng Xuetao''s psyche. The regr interval of [Psychic Shock] was to keep Peng Xuetao trapped within Su Nina''s nightmare ability. This way, Liu Gan could freely experiment with different methods of prating the armor. Since the energy supplying the armor wasn''t replenished, it would stop functioning eventually.

    <span>All of the staff were simply watching the fight on the sidelines, anxious about the results. They grouped up to think of a countermeasure for the worst case scenario. It was evident that the oue of the battle carried the weight of their lives. If it was Liu Gan who won, they would be safe since he was much more reasonable. However, if Peng Xuetao won, then they would be in a much worse condition. Peng Xuetao''s personality was too evil, he wouldn''t hesitate to kill everyone out of anger.

    <span>After another ten minutes, Yin He was still wrestling with the dog in a power struggle. Liu Gan''s fists hadn''t stopped beating down on the armor. Liu Gan''s frequency of punching hadn''t slowed down even when he started sweating profusely and veins appeared on his forehead.

    <span>Su Nina continuously had her ability active. By using [Nightmare Assault], she guaranteed that Peng Xuetao wouldn''t wake up. Liu Gan knew that it was a race against time. He must prate the Spatial Protection while Su Nina still has the ability to control Peng Xuetao in the dream. If Peng Xuetao woke up now, he might pull out some stronger hidden weapon that could turn the tide of battle.

    <span>"Miss Su, that cracked Spatial Transfer Gate, does it really exist?" Liu Gan quickly asked Su Nina, as he recalled his own recent dream. He remembered that when the Armored Warrior passed through the Spatial Transfer Gate, shiny blue rays would be produced as the spatial cracks reacted against the armor. It seemed like those shiny blue rays were a phenomenon when the Spatial Protection was damaged.

 Chapter 321

    <span>Chapter 321 - Burning

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>There was also the urgency of finishing off Peng Xuetao before reinforcements arrived from the mothership. The longer the fight dragged out, the more disadvantageous it was for Liu Gan and Yin He.

    <span>Su Nina''s eyes were still pitch-ck. She didn''t respond. She was really concentrating all her focus on maintaining her ability. Since it used most of her focus, she couldn''t reply back to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t just stand idly anymore. So just like how it was in his dreand, he kicked down the red cabin door and borrowed a underwater shlight from Wei Liang. Then, with one hand he carried Su Nina on his shoulder. On the other hand, he carried Peng Xuetao by the waist and rushed over to the Spatial Transfer Gate area.

    <span>With his enhanced strength, Liu Gan could easily carry the two bodies and still move with ease.

    <span>Behind the red cabin door, there were multiple ss cabs. Except this time, the contents of the cabs were missing. In fact, most of the cabs were empty. Liu Gan wasn''t concerned about looking into it more. He only wanted to quickly head deeper into the chamber, before Peng Xuetao woke up. Liu Gan''s n was to borrow the destructive power of cracks from the Spatial Transfer Gate to destroy the Spatial Protection armor. This was the only viable way of ensuring victory.

    <span>This was exactly how Yin He had described it. A war of attrition. Yin He''s energy reserves were definitely not as well supplied as the enemy.

    <span>Kicking open the ck cabin door, there was the round chamber. Leading to the center of the room was an underpass filled with water. The water level was higher than in his dream. When Liu Gan entered the freezing cold water, his body became rigid. It was a lot colder than he had experienced in the dream. Right now, Liu Gan relied solely on his willpower. He carried two people across the underpass until he reached the other side of the round room.

    <span>With the underwater shlight, Liu Gan saw that there were Spatial Cracks that were revolving around the round room. They were revolving faster than expected. Liu Gan ced Su Nina in a safe location before using Peng Xuetao''s body as a shield, while making his way to the Spatial Cracks.

    <span>It was a given that the Spatial Cracks were more effective in damaging the Spatial Armors then he would be. Even Liu Gan''s strikes were unable to put a dent in the armor. The dimensional cracks formed infinitely sharp disruptions that produced very fine blue rays as they contacted the Spatial Armor. The Spatial Cracks were revolving around the Spatial Transfer Gate as their center. Using Peng Xuetao as a shield, he confirmed that the Spatial Armor could obstruct the path of the Spatial Cracks, and they would ultimately melt down part of the armor.

    <span>Knowing that the Spatial Cracks could wreck havoc on the armor, Liu Gan used the shlight to find the path to the center of the room. Carefully, he navigated to the Spatial Transfer Gate. Earlier in the night, when Liu Gan was struck by Su Nina''s [Nightmare Assault], she was nowhere close to his side. From that Liu Gan could estimate the approximate effective distance of the ability. So Liu Gan ced her by the side of the cabin door away from danger. To deal with Peng Xuetao, he also had to dodge the Spatial Cracks, so he didn''t want to divert his focus on protecting her as well.

    <span>The Spatial Cracks closer to the center of the room revolved more quickly, at least several times faster than they did in dreand. It was still within the speed that Liu Gan could react to. Most of the Spatial Cracks were revolving in an anticlockwise rotation, and Liu Gan was using Peng Xuetao as a human barrier, so he wasn''t too worried about getting hurt.

    <span>Walking closer to the damaged Spatial Transfer Gate, it was rather calm. Like the eye of the storm, it had only a few disturbances, and only a slow piece of Spatial Crack revolving slowly close to it. Liu Gan timed it carefully to put Peng Xuetao in front of the Spatial Crack. At the same time, Liu Gan ced the lower half of Peng Xuetao into the damaged Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>The damaged Spatial Transfer Gate was thergest Spatial Crack by far. By connecting the two Spatial Cracks, it maximized the damaged done to the Spatial Protection Armor. Sparks of blinding blue rays were produced. It was like looking at a small sun. Liu Gan couldn''t watch directly.

    <span>After ten minutester, Liu Gan heard a loud bang as something exploded. The shiny blue rays disappeared. Liu Gan quickly pulled Peng Xuetao back out. The damaged Spatial Transfer Gate was now a lot smaller than earlier, and Peng Xuetao''s protective armor was shattered!

    <span>Without the special destructive properties of the Spatial Transfer Gate, Liu Gan estimated that he might not be able to break through the Spatial Protection if he used his fist for a year straight. Luckily, this underwater base had it. If Liu Gan didn''t find this out in his dreand, he might not have thought about it to use it against this fatty.

    <span>Earlier when Peng Xuetao had his protection on, Liu Gan wasn''t able to hold onto his clothes, nor could he search him. Now Liu Gan could do both! Without any hesitation, Liu Gan stripped Peng Xuetao down as he piged. First, Liu Gan took the ring on his finger, but there wasn''t anything else useful on Peng Xuetao.

    <span>Liu Gan had his suspicion that the ring functioned as a Dimensional Storage Space. Peng Xuetao seemed to have stored items in it, but Liu Gan was unable to open it up.

    <span>After searching thoroughly and still unable to find anything useful on the naked Peng Xuetao, Liu Gan pulled out his dagger and cut off Peng Xuetao''s manhood. That part was forever gone, once Liu Gan tossed into the Spatial Transfer Gate. With a lighter, the dagger was heated to cauterized the wound. To prevent his blood from spilling all over the ce, as Liu Gan dragged Peng Xuetao''s out from the chamber.

    <span>The pain of losing his manhood and the cauterized wound was enough of a shock to wake Peng Xuetao up. When he discovered that he had lost his prized possession and was nude, while on someone''s shoulder, he was stunned. Not to mention, he had lost his protective armor.

    <span>The worst part for Peng Xuetao was the burning sensation in his groin area¡­ Peng Xuetao repeatedly cried out loudly, so much that Liu Gan had to shove a stinky boxer in his mouth.

    <span>"Finished?" Su Nina realized that she had lost control of Peng Xuetao in the dream. She looked exhausted as she recovered from her focused state.

    <span>"Finished, now we just need to finish taking care of the robotic dog and the airship. Otherwise, we will still be dead!" Liu Gan didn''t want to dy any further. The mothership reinforcements could arrive anytime. He had to figure a way out of this underwaterboratory fast!

    <span>Although Liu Gan''s was very quick, walking through the ice cold water was enough to knock out Peng Xuetao. Peng Xuetao was dropped onto the reception hall, where Wei Liang injected him with medicine. After the injection, Peng Xuetao was pped on the face to quickly wake him up.

    <span>Watching Peng Xuetao''s wretched face in this state, especially without his manhood, caused every person there to start cheering for Liu Gan. The female scientists were crying for joy. To punish evildoers, evil must be used. Peng Xuetao messed with the wrong person this time, that lead to his downfall.

    <span>"You¡­ lowly animals¡­ How are you! Do you know who I am? You dared to go against me?" Peng Xuetao screamed out loudly.

 Chapter 322

    <span><strong>Chapter 322 - Remodel</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, Lifeisajourney

    <hr>

    <span>"Cut the crap! I ask the questions, you answer them! Otherwise, you won''t enjoy what I will do to you!" Liu Gan pulled out iron pliers and plucked away one of Peng Xuetao''s teeth.

    <span>Peng Xuetao cried out in pain. This time the pain woke him up even more. Now he realized the situation he was in. With the disappearance of his protection, he was vulnerable. He knew that these people wouldn''t let him off the hook easily, especially after what he had done to them. So before reinforcements arrived, meaningless threats wouldn''t work. As Liu Gan moved to pluck another tooth, Peng Xuetao surrendered.

    <span>"Reassign the rights of the ring to me." Liu Gan showed the ring on his hand. Liu Gan believed there was something useful hidden within the ring.

    <span>"The rights can''t be transferred over unless I die¡­ No, unless¡­" Peng Xuetao slipped up, but couldn''t think of another excuse.

    <span>"Oh? Then forget it. I don''t want to kill you. How about this. Cancel the order for the dog to attack. Then transfer the rights for the dog to her! I might reconsider letting you go for what you have done," Liu Gan ordered.

    <span>It looked like ownership of the ring was simr to ownership of the dagger. Only after the previous owner died would it be the property of the new owner. So even if it was in Liu Gan''s hand, it wouldn''t work. At present the most urgent thing to do was resolve the problem with the attacking dog.

    <span>"I can onlymand the dog to stop attacking. As for the transfer of rights, I can''t do that!" Peng Xuetao admitted with a cry.

    <span>"So you want to y the game of buying time? I will count to ten. If you don''t do it , then <span>every ten seconds I will remove one of your teeth. I will pull out a tooth every ten seconds until you have nothing left!" Liu Gan held up the iron pliers to scare Peng Xuetao.

    <span>It was too bad that Peng Xuetao didn''tply, which resulted in two more teeth being pulled. In the end, Peng Xuetao only called for the robotic dog to stop attacking. Seeing that tears were flowing and snot rolling down Peng Xuetao''s face, Liu Gan didn''t think it was possible to transfer ownership.

    <span>"If there was a PDA, I could make it work with his and hers help. I am only temporarily hacking into the mothership peripheralwork and rewriting the procedures to the robotic dog. I can change the ownership from him to her," Su Nina mumbled into Liu Gan''s ear from the side. The ''him'' she was referring to Peng Xuetao and the ''her'' she was referring to Yin He.

    <span>"PDA? Are you referring to the Spatial Transfer Gate key, that PDA?" Liu Gan confirmed with Su Nina.

    <span>"Yes, originally, I had one, but the microchip¡­ melted." Su Nina nodded with a depressed look.

    <span>"Then¡­ that type of PDA, I also have one, too. It requires sr panel recharging. The problem is that the weather here is always cloudy. There''s not enough electricity to even start it up, so I don''t even know if it works?" Liu Gan had now heard something very interesting from Su Nina. Since it involved giving ownership of the robot dog to Yin He, Liu Gan voluntarily gave up the PDA.

    <span>If Su Nina dared to pull a stunt in front of him, he won''t mind killing her on the spot. The history of this woman was questionable. Her psychological ability was very strong, it could be considered a huge threat to Liu Gan. So it was hard to confirm if she was trustworthy. The easiest solution would be to kill her.

    <span>"Ah? You want me to try?" Su Nina shocked.

    <span>"Without electricity, how will you do it?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"It is not that simple? I can try to change the electric circuits. Maybe it would ept the electricity from ourboratory," Su Nina answered nonchntly, as if this was a simple procedure.

    <span>"The electrical circuits are installed in a unique method. Are you sure you won''t damage it?" Liu Gan recalled Han Guangming''s warning, as he was still suspicious of Su Nina.

    <span>Within the prisonpound, there were a few electrical specialists, and even they were helpless when it came to the PDA. It is not that easy to rewire the electrical circuits, it was easier to destroy the microchip inside.

    <span>"You are correct, the circuits are installed in a very strange way. It is encrypted. I know the principles behind this type of instation so it wouldn''t be too big of a problem for me." Su Nina called for equipment to be gathered. She took apart the PDA and carefully removed the sr panel and circuit pathways.

    <span>Located right behind the sr panel were electrical circuits and the most important part - the microchip. This microchip has its own set of electrical circuits and data processing ability, so the moment the PDA was burned everything would be unsalvageable. There were more than 100 pins around the circuits, so when Jiang Jinyuan was charging the PDA with an external energy source, at least a dozen of those pins were in contact charging the PDA. It was Liu Gan''s fault for not noticing the importance of the pins.

    <span>The encapsted electrical circuits each had different voltages that required fine tuning. If a single electric circuit was running on the wrong voltage, it would lead to the microchip burning. So when Su Nina took a look at the PDA, she seemed very familiar with theyout. Su Nina understood that only a dozen pins out of the hundred were actually useful. She carefully located the pins on the circuit board and started remodeling them to fit theboratory''s energy output. She fine-tuned every wire in theboratory to the right voltage. After ensuring that there weren''t any mistakes, she connected the wire to the PDA.

    <span>The moment the electricity started supplying the PDA, it turned on.

    <span>When Liu Gan saw this scene, he let out a sigh of relief. It all looked llike simple handiwork as an outsider, but if he had to do it himself it would end in failure. Not only did Su Nina not break it, she was sessful in recharging it. Now Liu Gan was interested in Su Nina''s identity. Who was this girl and what was her background? How could she understand thisplex system? Could she be simr to Jiang Jinyuan, a member of San Xing Corporation?

    <span>There was another issue, it was how Liu Gan had been impersonating a San Xing Corporation worker. Up to now, he had no idea what position the mothership held within San Xing Corporation. Even Yin He wasn''t able to find any information regarding that in the database. If Su Nina was able to hack into the mothership''swork, does that mean she wasn''t part of San Xing Corporation? Or could she be like what Peng Xuetao had said earlier, a traitor?

    <span>So before uncovering Su Nina''s real identity, Liu Gan won''t easily believe anything she says. If he did, his death might be worst than Peng Xuetao''s.

    <span>"Since you are working on it now,pletely change the energy supply for the PDA so that I can use alternative outputs to recharge it." Liu Gan said to Su Nina.

    <span>"Okay, I can do that and rearrange the energy supply to your liking. That way you can recharge it with any electric power source," Su Nina giggled as she answered Liu Gan.

 Chapter 323

    <span><strong>Chapter 323 - Changing Names</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <hr>

    <span>"There''s no rush to change the system right now, first change the robotic dog''s program so it will listen to her," Liu Gan ordered. Su Nina could already guess that Liu Gan wasn''t a representative of the mothership. Regardless, he would still pressure her to do work for him. Her psychological ability was stronger than his, but this wasn''t a dream. So he must have Yin He''s help to suppress her.

    <span>Su Nina started operating the PDA, and after a short while she stopped to look at Yin He.

    <span>"What''s wrong?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"I am unable to connect her to the mothershipwork. It seems like the signal is¡­ hidden?" Su Nina asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"We are traitors that have escaped, she has been hiding her signal ever since. You will finish the task I asked you do to or else I will kill everyone here," Liu Gan threatened Su Nina. There was no point in hiding his identity anymore, since he really needed her help to finish the task.

    <span>"Honestly, I knew that already¡­ You just need to tell her to reveal her signal for a little while to match the time that allows me to join into her port. It should take around two minutes. I will try my best to finish it before general headquarters discovers her location."

    <span>"Open up her port?" Liu Gan frowned. He wasn''t too sure about this since he was afraid she might mess with Yin He''s procedures.

    <span>"I won''t change her procedures. The moment I change anything, she would know. I just need to use her to join into the mothership''s database channel. That way I can connect to the robotic dog''s procedures to change ownership on thework. Then I can reconnect the robotic dog in offline mode to obey her," Su Nina quickly exined.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at Yin He. Yin He nodded. Liu Gan agreed to let Su Nina operate as described.

    <span>Su Nina pulled out an external connector onto the PDA and quickly input data. The screen on PDA showed arge amount of data that Liu Gan couldn''t understand. This was out of his control. He could only hope that Su Nina cooperated and resolved the issue with the robotic dog. Otherwise, this robotic dog would create a lot of trouble for him and Yin He.

    <span>"I need your authentication code, and you better not lie about it. Don''t make me stick a needle in between your nails!" Su Nina held the PDA to Peng Xuetao''s face.

    <span>Liu Gan walked over and squeezed Peng Xuetao''s finger with the pliers. Horrifying cracking sounds followed shortly.

    <span>Under Liu Gan''s and Su Nina''s continuous threats, Peng Xuetao broke and gave up the authentication code. With the code, Su Nina was able to transfer over the rights to Yin He sessfully.

    <span>"Her identity is still within thework, it hasn''t been erased yet. It is listed with a status of ''missing''. So transferring the rights over to her was a lot easier. If you had wanted me to transfer the rights over to you, I don''t think I could have done that. In the database, there isn''t any information regarding you." Su Nina looked at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Just work faster, talk less!" Liu Gan barked at Su Nina. First of all, he isn''t even from the mothership, so how would there be any information regarding him?

    <span>"Done! She can wear the shielding bracelet again. Okay, so you will need extra shielding material to cover the tracking signal. I''ve already set it to offline mode, but it requires a reboot. Remember that once a hidden signal tries to log back online, the controller would require new procedures to ept it," Su Nina said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Would these work?" Liu Gan pulled out two more shielding materials for Su Nina.

    <span>"Yes, this is very high quality shielding material." Su Nina quickly started modifying the material to put over the robotic dog''s tracking signal in its leg. For safety, Su Nina turned off the Spatial Protection for the dog, then she wrapped the shielding material onto the dog''s leg. Afterwards, she restarted the program up again in the dog.

    <span>"I also casually gave it a name, so it is no longer called WangWang. You can call it NaNa. This name is hard set onto the microchip. To change it would require reconnecting it online. But, if we connect it to online, the mothership might regain control of it again," Su Nina exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"NaNa?" Liu Gan cringed. Did the robotic dog just be a small female pup?

    <span>"Yes, it uses my name. So when you call for it, I want you to think of me," Su Nina blushed.

    <span>Liu Gan was speechless¡­ Rather he didn''t want to say anything unnecessary. It was just a name. No matter what, it will obey Yin He so the name didn''t mean anything to Liu Gan.

    <span>After the robotic dog rebooted, the lights in its eye were green. Yin He tried to give it simplemands. Front¡­ Back¡­ Left¡­ Right¡­ Run¡­ No matter what it was ordered to do, it obediently listened. After finishing with themands, it would return to Yin He''s side andy down. It would wag its tail as it stared at Yin He. If it weren''t for the metallic outer frame, it didn''t look too different from a regr dog.

    <span>Yin He rearranged its external appearance, not needing much time. She gave it apletely new redesigned look¡­ It looked like a regr Chinese Garden Dog. Only when it equipped the Spatial Armor would the metallic dog appearance be restored.

    <span>Peng Xuetao couldn''t believe what he was witnessing and identally let out a shriek. After the catastrophe, he relied on the Spatial Protection and the robotic dog to be a tyrant at differentboratories. Today was a total loss. With his Spatial Protection being ruined, the robotic dog stolen, and his manhood cut off, he would no longer be able to show off his might. Let''s not even mention about messing with the female scientists anymore.

    <span>Now that he was within Liu Gan''s hand, there was no such thing aster on.

    <span>"Now can you trust that I don''t have any bad intentions?" Su Nina stopped in front of Liu Gan.

    <span>"Help me reconfigure the PDA''s electrical supply first." Liu Gan pointed at the PDA.

    <span>"No problem, I will figure this out for you really fast." Su Nina quickly got started. She set up the wiring one by one and ced the PDA into a metal container. When the PDA was re-connected to the electrical circuit, she used fast-acting white glue to stabilize it. Then she ced the metal container onto the back of the PDA. Now a normal plug could connect to back of the PDA.

    <span>"If the sr panel doesn''t provide any power, you just need this wiring to tap into the regr energy supply. Through the metal container, it will change into energy that can supply the PDA," Su Nina exined briefly, avoiding an extended exnation.

 Chapter 324

    <span><strong>Chapter 324 - Lover</strong>

    <span>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Even though the PDA now held an extra metal container, the electrical wiring was held in ce by fast-acting white glue to fasten it. It looked rtively neat even with all the wiring.

    <span>Since there was an expert on the scene, Liu Gan decided to attach the detection device onto the PDA to test it out. This was the PDA''s best function.

    <span>To his disappointment, the PDA didn''t disy any readings. After trying several times unsessfully, Liu Gan had to ask Su Nina for help.

    <span>"The microchip detection device is broken," Su Nina responded after a short inspection, reporting the bad news back to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Broken? I''ve been keeping good care of it when I carry it by my side. How could it be broken? Is it fixable?" Liu Gan was disappointed. The purpose of fixing the PDA was to use this detection device. Who would''ve thought that now that the PDA was fixed, the detection device was broken.

    <span>"You didn''t break it. It is just that the microchip is installed into an auto-degradative system. It only allows three days of use. Every three days it requires the instation of a new microchip, since the the microchip will start degrading after several hours of usage. Once the microchip is damaged to a certain point, it is irrecoverable." Su Nina handed the detection device back to Liu Gan.

    <span>A loss of the detection device, but a gain of a robotic dog, which could scan and fight. In Liu Gan''s heart, the scale of loss and gain was bnced. The detection device itself was a huge cheat. If it could be used sessfully, Liu Gan suspected the checks and bnces of the game would bring him more trouble.

    <span>"The PDA has a microchip with personal information. His name was Jiang Jinyuan. Is that your friend?" Su Nina asked Liu Gan. When she was charging the PDA, she couldn''t help sneaking a look at Liu Gan''s personal data, only to find it was someone else''s information.

    <span>"Yes, this PDA belongs to him. It is my fault that I didn''t do my duty to protect him. He was ambushed by a Variant Zombie¡­" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>At the start, when Liu Gan met Jiang Jinyuan, he had full intentions of taking the PDA for himself. That evil thought subsided when Jiang Jinyuan helped him find the most important person in his life, Yin He. From that point forward, Liu Gan felt he owed a favor to Jiang Jinyuan. Unable to repay the favor, Liu Gan even promised to fulfill hisst will. Even now, Liu Gan still hadn''t able to settle it.

    <span>"It contains his gic information and all the memories prior to being transferred. It is stored in the form of data as backup. I have an idea to recreate a body, this way he couldmunicate his thoughts," Su Nina said, testing Liu Gan''s response.

    <span>"Oh?" Liu Gan was shocked, as he looked at Su Nina. ording to what she meant, Jiang JinYuan backed up his data in the PDA? A live person could store his own data and memory as backup? That was a bit too surreal, right?

    <span>"In ourboratory, we were researching that. I''ve created a dozen bodies of myself, scattered throughout the deep sea. Standing in front of you is only one of the many bodies. So I''m not afraid of your threats, since it doesn''t mean much if you kill me. I only want to help you," Su Nina was referring to the scene in the dreand, where Liu Gan stabbed her.

    <span>When she was stabbed, it made her feel really upset. Later on, when Liu Gan helped kill Peng Xuetao when she was being harassed, it restored her feelings toward Liu Gan. She quickly forgave him.

    <span>"Okay, if you can revive him, I will owe you a favor," Liu Gan immediately answered Su Nina.

    <span>"Well, what can this favor be used for? Can I exchange it for a kiss?" Su Nina giggled at Liu Gan.

    <span>"No." Liu Gan firmly shook his head.

    <span>"Ah¡­ If that doesn''t work. I will still help you. It is merely because you are my favorite," Su Nina replied, disheartened.

    <span>"Do you know me from somewhere before?" Liu Gan asked one more time. This wasn''t the first time she had hinted at this. There must be another reason why she was so bent on helping him.

    <span>It was at this very moment that a sound came from the istion chamber. It sounded like an rm ringing. A member that was responsible for monitoring the dock quickly ran over to Su Nina.

    <span>"There is a problem with their airship! I need to go resolve it! Let me borrow the PDA!" Su Nina quickly rushed away. She had a very worried expression.

    <span>Yin He also rushed over with her dog, since she seemed to have sensed something was wrong.

    <span>"What did you do?" Liu Gan picked up Peng Xuetao from the floor and rushed over to the istion chamber.

    <span>"I sent an SOS request to the mothership. It must be one of the protocols of the mothership. When it doesn''t have avable personnel to send over or it can''t reach here, it will lead the airship to self-destruct. If we don''t leave this area now, we will all die!" Peng Xuetao heard the warning sirens from the airship and understood them.

    <span>"Are you able to resolve the issue?" Liu Gan walked over to Su Nina.

    <span>"Still in the process of figuring it out," Su Nina replied. She was still unable to open the doors to the airship. Even Peng Xuetao''s fingerprint and retina scans wouldn''t open the door. Evidently, when the mothership controller received the distress signal, it reassumed control of the airship. It also erased Peng Xuetao''s authority on the vehicle. When the mothership''swork was hacked and themunication with the robotic dog was also lost, it initiated the self-destruct sequence.

    <span>Su Nina wouldn''t be able to get in the airship. She hoped that using the PDA, she could remotely hack into the airship''s control system.

    <span>"Does he still have any use?" Liu Gan held up Peng Xuetao, as he asked Su Nina.

    <span>"The mothership decided to abandon him. He is useless to us now," Su Nina replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Hey! Wait, you promised to not kill me¡­" Peng Xuetao realized that the situation he was in and tried to remind Liu Gan.

    <span>"My promises are only for people who are worthy. Too bad, you aren''t worth it." Liu Gan promptly punched Peng Xuetao''s head until it became mush.

    <span>Disappointingly, there were no ck mist appearing, but there was a reaction from Liu Gan''s ring¡­ It was simr to the time when he received ownership of the dagger, and felt simr to that of his watch. He could retract and store certain equipment into his wristwatch, like an inventory.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled the ring out from his wristwatch and put it on his finger. Now that the ring was bound to him, he had full control. When he focused on the ring, he could ess a small dimensional storage space. This dimensional storage space was not a set location, it could be manipted with his thought power and float around his body. When it was in front of him, he noticed something was inside it already. He also found something small to put into the dimensional space and stored it there.

 Chapter 325

    <span><strong>Chapter 325 - tten</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The dimensional storage wasn''t that spacious. It took the shape of an inted balloon. At max, it might reach twenty cubic centimeters. This was where Peng Xuetao stored his ultra-high voltage electric baton. Aside from the electric baton, there were five vials of polymerized photon nanites.

    <span>Without a doubt, this was a personal inventory space. The problem was that this storage space was too small. It could only fit small objects. Anything big like food or bulky weapons couldn''t be stored within.

    <span>Nevertheless, this was a great beginning. This mean that there were many more rings avable out there. Liu Gan had only found one of those rings. He might not find a ring that provided more space, but he could find another way to expand the space within his ring.

    <span>Especially valuable were the five vials of polymerized photon nanomites, they came at the right time to resupply. Under normal conditions with minimal fighting, Yin He would''ve been able tost for five months. After her strenuous fight with the dog, she needed the vials to replenish her lost power.

    <span>Peng Xuetao had arrived in an airship, simr to the small transport aircraft they saw earlier. This type of aircraft could fly in the air and also submerge into the deep sea. It was connected at the dock.

    <span>"I am unable to stop it from self destructing. The controller has locked me out of every possible port. Even if we take the risk now to breach the hull, it would be useless. It might only trigger the self-destruct faster," Su Nina exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This airship, how deadly is the force from the explosion?" Liu Gan asked Su Nina.

    <span>"Ask her, she should understand this better than I do," Su Nina pointed at Yin He.

    <span>"The force from the explosion is equivalent to ten nuclear warheads. Everything here will be ttened to the ground."

    <span>"The order for the self-destruct came directly from the mothership. It could be possible that the mothership realized that one of its members was attacked, and it opted for sacrificing him. It chose the most simple solution and that was to blow everything up with the airship," Su Nina added.

    <span>"How long until it detonates?" Liu Gan asked the most important question.

    <span>"We don''t have more than five minutes," Yin He and Su Nina answered in sync.

    <span>"Not even five minutes?" Liu Gan was feeling down. Now that he knew of the location of a Spatial Transfer Gate, they could take the risk to use that route. The problem was that the Spatial Transfer Gate was broken. From Su Nina''s earlier theory, it would require absorbing a ton of energy before it could function. By that time, he wouldn''t even have a body left.

    <span>Five minutes, that was just enough time to reach the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>"Do you have any way to fix the Spatial Transfer Gate?" Liu Gan was unwilling to give up.

    <span>"Forget the Spatial Transfer Gate, we will all be ashes before we reach there. If you want to live, follow me!" Su Nina handed the PDA back to Liu Gan as she ran toward another istion chamber.

    <span>Looking out of the closest window, there was a monster that spanned at least a thousand meters long with a body illuminated by fluorescent light, that drifted over from the deep sea. It was a Colossal Jellyfish. It had its body wrapped around the outer door of the istion chamber.

    <span>Su Nina forcefully opened up the istion chamber door from within, a small amount of sea water flooded into theboratory. As the pressure equalized, the water didn''t leak in, they could see an opening into the Colossal Jellyfish''s internal cavity.

    <span>"Follow me! It will take us to a safe ce!" Su Nina screamed at Liu Gan. All the other research scientists didn''t look surprised, they all held memory sticks as they ran into the istion chamber and into the internal cavity of the Colossal Jellyfish.

    <span>"Elder Liu! What do we do?" Han GuangMing stood by, asking Liu Gan.

    <span>"Go in with them! We don''t have any other choice!" Liu Gan hesitated for a split second before also charging into the Jellyfish.

    <span>As Liu Gan''s group was thest to enter, the Colossal Jellyfish quickly closed up its cavity opening. It released its grip on the istion chamber and spread its tentacles wide apart like wings as it darted away from the scene, <span>leaving the now-flooding base to its fate.

    <span>The Jellyfish had a colossal body that allowed it to survive the intense underwater pressure. Every time it would spread its tentacles, it would dart forward a kilometer or two. After a few minutes, they were already a dozen kilometers away, they finally heard an echo of the explosion. The Colossal Jellyfish tensed up as it prepared for the shockwave. If Liu Gan hadn''t listened to Su Nina, they would''ve been blown into pieces.

    <span>The explosion created a shockwave that spawned a surge of waves at least a hundred meters high. This worried Liu Gan; if his men were still aboard the <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, then by the time the waves reached them¡­ sigh¡­

    <span>The Colossal Jellyfish retracted most of its body, but it still absorbed most of the damage from the shockwave. Its travel speed also slowed down. The stormy tides might have died down, but that didn''t mean the Jellyfish could withstand it.

    <span>"It must have been the Spatial Transfer Gate that absorbed most of the explosive energy. Otherwise, the destructive force would''ve been a lot worst. This isn''t as powerful as it could''ve been. At our current distance, we wouldn''t have survived a full-on st," Su Nina exined.

    <span>"That Spatial Transfer Gate. No one knows where it would actually lead you¡­" Liu Gan said to Su Nina. "Judging from the explosion, the Transfer Gate should have received more than enough energy, but do you think it is repaired?"

    <span>"There will be a chance for you to return, but there is no supporting data. You won''t even know where it will send you to. I don''t suggest you try," Su Nina replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Now that theboratory is destroyed, my friend Jiang won''t have a chance to revive?" Liu Gan had something else in mind when he said it.

    <span>"Rx, there are plenty of underwaterboratories! I will take us to anotherboratory once things calm down. By that time, I will revive your friend," Su Nina said in a confident tone.

    <span>"Who are you?" Liu Gan looked carefully at Su Nina. There was still no impression of her in his memory.

 Chapter 326

    <span><strong>Chapter 326 - Journey</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Sleep a little, you will know when you wake up," Su Nina teased Liu Gan.

    <span>"Sleeping by your side, within the Nightmare Jellyfish''s stomach¡­ I don''t have any feeling of safety¡­" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"I did so much for you already, you still don''t trust me? Not even a little?" Su Nina sounded hurt.

    <span>"Well, how long is this trip going to take?" Liu Gan asked her.

    <span>"Since it is injured, it will take a longer amount of time. At least seven or eight more hours?" Su Nina replied.

    <span>"Where are you preparing to bring me?" he asked.

    <span>"To anotherboratory! We can revive your friend Jiang there!"

    <span>"Anotherboratory? Deep sea? You won''t be taking us near the Central City, right?" Liu Gan''s feelings were conflicted. On one hand, he really wanted to go to Central City on the main ind, but he was worried about his crew on <span><em>Serenity</em><span>.

    <span>"Deep sea? There are too many advanced monsters there, even those of General rank. If you want to head to the deep sea, you are asking to die¡­ I have only been in the shallow sea area around here. We are heading towards Northern Ninjing City. There should still be a functionalboratory there. We are still quite far from our destination, but it is the closestboratory," Su Nina exined to Liu Gan, then she pulled up the map on the PDA.

    <span>With a map, it became a lot easier to visualize. The destination was the sea by Northern Ninjing City. It was more than a dozen kilometers away from shore. They had only traversed a tenth of the way.

    <span>This trip to the Northern Ninjing City was something Liu Gan had on his agenda all along. One of the main reasons was to reach the Spatial Transfer Gate that was on Mr. Sheng''s map. The biggest problem that he had was that he didn''t know how to reach the base. Now that Su Nina was going there anyway, Liu Gan would just enjoy the ride on this guided tour.

    <span> "Rx, once we receive your friend Jiang, I will send you all safely on shore. As for what happens after that, that will be up to you. If you want to continue exploring the deep sea or another ind, all you need to do is call for me by the shore," Su Nina told him.

    <span>"I was nning to head there anyway, but just take us ashore when we are finished. I am very tired right now, I want to sleep. If there is any update, just tell me¡­" Liu Gan closed his eyes as he fell asleep inside of the slimy Jellyfish.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>A transport airship filled with a dozen Armored Warriors was flying right above the sea patrolling for evidence. It had received direct orders from the mothership in space. The transport airship arrived at the scene and circled the premises. Soon it discovered a colossal jellyfish swimming away.

    <span>Upon discovering the massive jellyfish, a new order was issued by the controller. The new order was to track and not to engage the jellyfish. The goal was to follow it back to its nest, then capture the jellyfish and destroy the nest.

    <span>So the transport airship adjusted its speed to follow the Colossal Jellyfish closely. Evidently, the jellyfish was heading toward the northern shore of the ind.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>An eventful night didn''t allow Liu Gan to rest at all. After closing his eyes, he fell asleep quite quickly. Soon he felt someone touching his face. When he woke up, Yin He, Han GuangMing, and the others were all missing. Inside of the Jellyfish was only him and Su Nina.

    <span>So the person touching his face was Su Nina.

    <span>"You timed it well," Liu Gan sat up. He knew that he was in the dreand that Su Nina created.

    <span>"Don''t you want to know who I am?" Su Ninaughed at Liu Gan.

    <span>"If you want to tell me, you would''ve told me already. If you don''t want to say it, even if I asked, it wouldn''t matter." Liu Gan touched his face and sat upright to chat.

    <span>"You don''t recognize me, but you should remember my cousin Su Sou, right?" Su Nina dropped a hint.

    <span>Listening to her say that, Liu Gan suddenly remembered a charity banquet he had attended two years ago. There he met a woman called Su Sou. It was a cliche meeting¡­ Su Sou was holding a cup of wine that got knocked over as spun around quickly. She spilled her wine all over Liu Gan''s clothes. As a way to apologize, she led Liu Gan to the bathroom try to remove the wine stains off his clothes.

    <span>Even though both of them had just met, they exchanged stories about each other and were quitepatible. After exchanging numbers, they chatted on the phone a few times before agreeing to meet up. Su Sou asked Liu Gan out on both asions.

    <span>Liu Gan treated Su Sou like he would a normal friend. Liu Gan had only recently moved into the city, so he spent most of time exploring alone in the wilderness. In general, the areas he had explored were areas that didn''t have any reception, so he was hard to reach. After many failed attempts of reaching Liu Gan, many of his friends gave up and Liu Gan forgot about them, too.

    <span>It was only a year ago that Liu Gan had returned home. Su''s family was nning on forming an alliance with Liu''s family through an arranged marriage. Su''s family was offering Su Sou''s hand in marriage. Liu Gan''s father asked for Liu Gan''s opinion, but Liu Gan was distracted by his expedition to Mt. Everest, so he didn''t care too much about it.

    <span>Liu Gan''s father knew his son''s personality, so he didn''t agree to terms with Su''s family. As for the marriage, he postponed it until Liu Gan came back after his expedition. A monthter, Liu Gan''s ident on Mt. Everest urred. When Liu Gan was carried back home, he had lost both his arms and legs. Afterwards, Su''s family didn''t bother mentioning the marriage. When Liu Gan''s father brought up the matter again, Su''s family tactfully retracted their marriage proposal.

    <span>Whether it was Su''s family proposing the marriage or rejecting the marriage, Liu Gan didn''t take it into his heart. He had forgotten about Su Soupletely, so it was a surprise to hear Su Nina mention it.

    <span>"You are Su Sou''s cousin?" Liu Gan pretended he didn''t remember. When Su Sou met up with Liu Gan on both asions, she had a younger girl with her. What her name was, Liu Gan still couldn''t remember, but he knew that she was around six or seven years old. She was acting quite weird, and she wore sses. Her one distinguishing feature was that she lookedpletely different from Su Nina.

    <span>However, this proimed Su Nina looked at least twenty years old. She was very beautiful and sexually appealing, she lookedpletely different than before.

    <span>"Even though it was your date, I kept interrupting and disrupting it. I''ve said many memorable things, but you don''t seem to remember me¡­" Su Nina said in disappointment.

    <span>"You were that girl by Su Sou''s side, who wore sses? That is impossible. Even stic surgery can''t have this much of a difference, right?" Liu Gan was unconvinced.

 Chapter 327

    <span><span><strong>Chapter 327 - Reconstruct</strong>

    TL: xDh20, Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"Yes, I''m not as pretty as my cousin, but I knew that my cousin didn''t really have any true feelings towards you so I purposely tagged along to mess up the date¡­" Su Nina blushed from embarrassment.

    <span>"No, you aren''t her, there can''t be that big of a change." Liu Gan shook his head. Even though his impression of the young girl wasn''t that deep, but it was definitely not within the margin of change for a young girl.

    <span>"When I was in middle school, I recognized you. You came topete in my school''s ser tournament. I was one of the volunteers there, I handed you a drink and towel. You were so handsome! It was from that moment that I fell in love with you. Every day, I only hoped that I could grow older so I could be prettier. In the meantime, I was hoping that you hadn''t found true love, and that you didn''t marry yet, so you could wait for me to be your girlfriend and I could marry you¡­"

    <span>"Through mywork of friends, I was able to gather some information on you. I know that you are very independent, you like to do outdoor adventures alone. You enjoy thrilling challenges and many different physical activities. You were like a superhero to me, there was nothing you couldn''t do. When you were attending college, I would take a longer route just to stop by your university. I would be able to catch a glimpse of you when you were on your way there¡­ There were days when you would turn and look in my direction and I would be so happy on those days¡­"

    <span>"I didn''t think my cousin Su Sou would be the first to make a move on you. When you were on your date, I felt pain in my heart. I knew that she wasn''t meant to be your true love. She was a woman that schemed a lot. She would be willing to sacrifice anything to aplish her goals¡­"

    <span>"Later on, when I found out that something happened to you, my cousin Su Sou¡­ she started messing around with your brother¡­ I went to your family several times afterwards. I wanted to see you, but you rejected me every visit. I was very hurt, but I was also very worried about you. I would cry myself to sleep every night¡­" Su Nina couldn''t continue as tears started flowing from her cheeks.

    <span>During that period of time, Liu Gan couldn''t even remember if Su Nina visited. No matter who came, he would straight out refuse so he didn''t inquire who it was. Later on, he would relocate to the mountain vi and live his life isted from the world.

    <span>"My body and body sizes were all average, but I''m very smart. My IQ is close to 200. My academic grades are superb. Every year I am the valedictorian of my grade. Ipeted in our nation''s Mathematical Olympiad ande out as the number 1 winner. That qualified me to join China''s national team to win against the American team on the international stage¡­

    <span>"Various other studies, I would alsopete and win awards¡­

    <span>"So I entered this game earlier than you have imagined. As you know, my family owns Emperor Technologies, we have cooperated with San Xing Corporation for sometime now. So when <em>The Trembling World</em> was still in closed beta for the development of this game, I already had ess. The only thing different from closed beta and game release was that I didn''t transfer into the game. I was still using headgear and mouse to y the game.

    <span>"There were other beta testers. It gives us an advantage over other regr yers. After the transfer urred, I discovered that I had kept my level from closed beta. If you look at my level, I''m already at level 12." Su Nina showed off her wrist watch. On the level indicator, it had the number 12.

    <span>In the earlier dreand, her wrist watch didn''t show anything. She must have used some sort of method to block Liu Gan from seeing it.

    <span>"This type of game also has closed beta testers!" Liu Gan was shocked. He knew that he was at a high level even amongst regr yers, but with the beta yers, there were people at level 12!

    <span>"When the beta yers first began, they also aggregated in city centers. My ability, [Puppet Avatar], allows me to maximize my ability for the sea. There was one time when I was fighting a battle in the deep sea, that nearly took my life. I escaped to the shallow part of the sea here and found the underwater base.

    <span>"I quickly took control of the underwaterboratory. I used all my umted knowledge and experience, along with their existing advanced technology and progressive theories to conduct experiments. We captured many yers and the lucky survivors to do experiments that wouldn''t have been allowed in the real world. The Nightmare Jellyfish was one of the research finished results¡­

    <span>"When I reached level 10, I was able to wake up another ability [Soul Takeover]. With this ability, I could transfer part of my spirit into a new body. I could also manipte several of those bodies with my spirit. This way allows me more than one chance to survive. That was also when I started to reshape my physical appearance¡­

    <span>"Currently, you are looking at one of my experimental bodies. I found a beautiful looking and sexy shaped female, she was a good specimen to begin with. Through gic modification, I made her perfect. She doesn''t have any shorings. Using her as base temte, I cloned a dozen of this body as backup. I''m using one of those bodies now.

    <span>"Right in front of you is only one of those bodies, so if this body dies, I can transfer my spirit into a backup. Unless all my cloned bodies are destroyed at once, no one can kill me.

    <span>"Aside from that, this Nightmare Jellyfish is also one of the many bodies that I am host of. I hid the backups in various ces, like inside the internal cavity of the Jellyfish, or in other Nightmare Jellyfish spread out in various parts of the sea. Wei Liang and these scientists aren''t the original scientists. They are part of my puppet creation. Their memories aren''t their own. From the original set of scientist''s brains, I extracted the information out and copied it over into the brain of my puppets.

    <span>"By reviving your friend Jiang, I will use the same technology. As long as the database isplete, I can duplicate him as if he was an original. I can even make him even better than the original if you want," Su Nina was getting excited as she talked.

    <span>"You are crazy!" Liu Gan stunned by what he had heard. This is simr to one of the movie plots he had watched revolving around a crazy scientist. In front of Liu Gan was one of those people that had reached the state of madness.

    <span>"Everything I''ve done is for you. For you, I reconstructed myself. Then, I''ve been searching for the Spatial Transfer Gate. This way I can bring the technology here back to the real world and reconstruct your limbs so you can be able to be yourself again!

    <span>"Aside from that, with the new beautiful me, I should have the right qualifications to be by your side¡­

    <span>"I would never had thought that I would be able to meet with you. On top of that, you even have your limbs again. You became even more powerful than in the real world. You don''t seem to need my help at all¡­" Su Nina anxiously said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"So even the SOS signal I received was a fake. It was a ploy for you to lure me here, am I right?" Liu Gan realized the situation he was in.

 Chapter 328

    <span><strong>Chapter 328 - Fighting Alongside</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    My birthday week so I decided to release a few extra chapters!<hr>

    <span>"Two nights ago, when my Nightmare Jellyfish was located near Green Pao Bay by a certain airship, I was able to capture a dozen specimens. I fed their souls to the Nightmare Jellyfish to increase the power of its ability. Their soulless bodies are also stored within the Nightmare Jellyfish''s internal cavity. I can rewrite their memories at anytime for me to use.

    <span>"Recently, I needed arge amount of healthy human specimens for me to run my experimental trials. It was the night before yesterday that I sent my Nightmare Jellyfish to venture in the area. When I found out that it hadn''t returned from its mission, I discovered that you were mentioned throughout the dreand. Even though it wasn''t your dreand, it was the collective imagination that others had of you¡­

    <span>"So I sent several puppets onboard to check out the situation. I discovered that you had an Armored Warrior nearby and since theboratory has the encrypted channels, I was able to send out an SOS signal in the vicinity, and that is how I lured you here.

    <span>"When I first saw you in our private dreand, I was really happy. Since I am not in my original body, I was afraid that I would humiliate myself in front of you¡­ So even in the dreand, I wanted to seduce you and get closer to you¡­ But instead I was just killed by you. That was a very embarrassing turn of events¡­ I don''t regret it though, since I love you. You are still cold as ever, but you are still living cleanly and honestly. In this world, you are perfect¡­

    <span>"You aren''t like me, I am created through human modifications¡­

    <span>"My cousin Su Sou has a terrible personality. She doesn''t deserve you. When you were at your most vulnerable period, she never stood by your side cheering you on. She abandoned you and started fooling around with other people. I look down on people like her¡­

    <span>"When I heard you were in a terrible ident, I only wanted to stay by your side but I didn''t have that chance.

    <span>"I know that you don''t have feelings for me the same way I have for you, but my feelings are very real. I am telling you all this because I really want to stay by your side. I don''t have any bad intentions! My infatuation with you took up most of my teenage years. It is also because of you that I worked very hard. I haven''t allowed myself to take it easy." Su Nina finally stopped her side of the story.

    <span>Liu Gan stared at Su Nina for a long while. He opened up his mouth, but he didn''t know what were the appropriate words to say.

    <span>An obsessed woman that was borderline crazy, it really wasn''t a good thing. Right now, Liu Gan really wanted to ask Su Nina¡­ What do you like about me? What can I change about it?

    <span>"Will you let me kiss you?" Su Nina proposed to Liu Gan.

    <span>"My heart has someone already," Liu Gan rejected Su Nina.

    <span>"Can you tell me who she is?" Su Nina looked at Liu Gan with teary eyes.

    <span>"I can''t be with you, so I can''t promise you anything. I really have to thank you for your help thus far. If you don''t want to continue helping me after this, I understand. I won''t force you to do anything against your wishes. I might be perfect in your heart, but that isn''t the real me. I''m sorry to disappoint you," Liu Gan didn''t want to reveal Yin He''s identity yet. The feelings that he had for her couldn''t be described to outsiders.

    <span>No one, including Liu Gan himself, would''ve thought that he would develop feelings for Yin He. Even though these feelings were just at the infancy stage, he would remain loyal to her.

    <span>"If you don''t want to say it, then I''ll ept that. No matter who she is, I know that she must be the luckiest woman in the world. I wish you and her the good fortune. Brother Liu, I really, really love you," Su Nina started crying.

    <span>"I also wish that you will be able to find your other half," Liu Gan replied back.

    <span>"I will help you revive your friend, then send you back to shore. It will take some time for me to recover from the painful heartbreak, but my memories of you are perfect. I will store it at the bottom of my heart. Afterwards, I will begin a new chapter of my life," Su Nina wiped away her tears.

    <span>"You are an outstanding person, I believe you have goals of your own. Achieve those goals and that should be your new starting point," Liu Gan added.

    <span>"I love the feeling of fighting alongside you. Thank you Brother Liu, I will see youter." Su Nina started dissipating into bright white lights and scattered into the environment.

    <span>Liu Gan heard sounds of metal parts banging into each other, when he slowly regained senses. He was very dizzy, the sensation was as if he had slept for a really long time¡­ By the time he woke up, the Nightmare Jellyfish had already docked at the pier of the northern underwater base. Everyone was preparing to enter into the istion chamber.

    <span>"How long have I slept?" Liu Gan asked Yin He.

    <span>"Very long. Did you dream?" Yin He replied.

    <span>"I''m not too sure¡­ I can''t recall the details." Liu Gan held Yin He''s hand, as Su Nina caught a glimpse from afar.

    <span>Su Nina looked strangely at Yin He. Ultimately, she didn''t say anything. She led the scientists into the underwaterboratory.

    <span>This base was a lot smaller than the base at Green Pao Bay. The surface area that it covered was less than half a ser field, so there weren''t manyboratories.

    <span>After discussions with Liu Gan, Su Nina chose the new body for Jiang JinYuan. It was one of the bodies stored inside the Nightmare Jellyfish''s internal cavity. The body was very athletic and had a handsome look. This would allow the new Jiang JinYuan to move faster than his former self. In half an hour, Jiang JinYuan''s memory database was transferred into the new body. Using cloning technology to create a Jiang JinYuan that looked exactly like before would''ve taken more than a few days.

    <span>Men usually preferred themselves to be more handsome and fit, right? In addition, Jiang JinYuan''s former body had the potential danger of cancer and low leveling potential. With his new body, he should be more able to survive in The Trembling World.

    <span>"This is him, are you sure that is him?" Liu Gan looked at the newly revived Jiang JinYuan after he ''rebirthed''. There was still suspicions in Liu Gan''s head of whether or not it would work.

    <span>"That I don''t know, I only focused on the technological aspect of recreating him. As for the ethical aspect, that should be left for the philosophers to debate," Su Nina gave an ambiguous answer.

    <span>Just as everyone else was busy moving into their new base, severalsers prated through the walls of the base at different ces, and water poured into the rooms. The entire base echoed with warning sirens.

    <span>A strange looking sea creature rose from the nearby seabed, it charged toward therge airship that was approaching the underwater base. Like a moth attracted to the light, it stood in the way of the airship and theboratory. Therge airship shot several moresers and exploded the sea creature into pieces.

 Chapter 329

    <span><strong>Chapter 329 - Getting to shore</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Taking advantage of the extra time bought by the selfless destruction of the sea creature, every jellyfish of any size under Su Nina''s control was swimming over to the underwater base. They quickly lined up their internal cavities with the openings to the istion chambers to stop the flooding.

    <span>"Our Nightmare Jellyfish was being tracked! This time it is arge fighter airship! They want to destroy us all! Quickly escape in the Nightmare Jellyfish, it will take you away from here! I will be bait for the fighter airship!" Su Nina shouted to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan and Han GuangMing quickly carried the newly born Jiang JinYuan over to the cavity of a small jellyfish. Liu Gan left Jiang JinYuan in the hands of Zhao Meng and Han GuangMing. Then, Liu Gan, Yin He, and her robotic dog departed in another jellyfish.

    <span>The moment Liu Gan entered into the cavity of the jellyfish, a few moreser shots prated through the underwater base. With those few shots, the entireboratory was nearly filled with water. Unexpectedly, one of thesers struck the jellyfish that Liu Gan and Yin He were in. The small Jellyfish was fatally wounded and water started rushing into the cavity.

    <span>"If we separate, then meet up at the first ce we saw each other!" Liu Gan said to Yin He as he held her hands.

    <span>Yin He didn''t have time to respond, as a dimensional bomb was shot out from the fighter airship. The reality-ripping bomb was specifically targeting the base and when it exploded, the force of impact blew apart several jellyfish. With Yin He and Liu Gan''s wounded jellyfish being the closest, the Jellyfish''s body was fried. Meanwhile, Liu Gan, Yin He, and the dog were swept away by the current.

    <span>A nearby jellyfish swam as hard as it could against the current to open up its cavity to take in Liu Gan. Then it swam as fast as it could toward the shore. Suffering from the continuous bombardment ofsers and the dimensional bomb, Liu Gan was in critical condition as he passed out.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span><em>Meanwhile at Green Pao Bay¡­</em>

    <span>The<span><em> Serenity </em><span>airship was no longer docked at the pier. The entire pier was inplete disorder. There was debris littered everywhere. The structures on the pier were copsed, this was all due to the self-destruction of the airship underwater. The explosion caused a tsunami that destroyed everything along the shore. All the ships were swallowed up by the sea.

    <span>Located several kilometers away from the pier was the familiar round hull of <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, stuck between two giant rocks. Even though, the hull was breached in many ces, Treadmill and his men disembarked from the ship. They all looked like they''d been through hell, but no one was seriously injured.

    <span>Prior to the tsunami, several members felt the tremor. Other members saw the hundred-meter high wave from a distance, so they were able to prepare for impact. They secured themselves to the body of the ship. Since <span><em>Serenity </em><span>airship was round hulled, it kept rolling over with the waves of the sea. That was until it got stuck between two gigantic rocks at an elevated ce that held it in ce, but they were several kilometers away from their starting point when that happened.

    <span>These members that remained on <span><em>Serenity</em><span> airship experienced the tormenting sea. They were rather lucky to be able to secure themselves in time, so no one was seriously injured. Through [Treatment] by Therapist Huang WeiTao, they were as good as new. The only thing they could do now was see if they could salvage themunication device from <span><em>Serenity </em><span>airship. That way they could contact the Prison Compound. Then they could wait for rescue and for Elder Liu''s return to shore.

    <span><strong>¡­</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan was able to return to shore, but not by Green Pao Bay. Liu Gan was closer to Northern Ninjing City.

    <span>After losing consciousness, Liu Gan had many dreams. The feeling was like he had lost a lot of time, as if it was several years long¡­

    <span>By the time he woke up, Liu Gan felt the warmth of the sun and the prating rays of sunlight.

    <span>Was this a dream? Did he return to the real world through death?

    <span>Sitting upright, Liu Gan looked around to see Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, and a nk-looking Jiang JinYuan. There was also Wei Liang, and a male and female scientist present. With that information, Liu Gan realized he hadn''t died yet.

    <span>However, the sunlight was real. It was slowly warming up his body, as his clothes were soaked through.

    <span>"Elder Liu? Are you awake?" Han GuangMing happily shouted out.

    <span>"Ah¡­" Liu Gan tried his best to sit up. Several parts of his body were in pain. Looking carefully, he discovered that those areas were from severe burns andcerations. Even though the wounds were huge, they were starting to heal already.

    <span>First theser prated through Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] and left behind the burning injuries, followed by the dimensional bomb that shattered the body armor created from Kingler''s carapace. Through the dual protection of [Mist Armor] and Kingler''s body armor, Liu Gan was able to survive by a thread. Surviving through two explosions, aside from his alloy limbs, his body''s internal organs should be severely wounded.

    <span>"Little He?" Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.

    <span>"A small jellyfish sent you onto the shore, I haven''t seen Vice-Leader He or the dog NaNa¡­" Han GuangMing reported back.

    <span>"How long was I asleep for?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"Three days and three nights," Han GuangMing replied.

    <span>"For three days, she didn''t return back to shore?" Liu Gan quickly looked out to the sea. The earpiece that he used tomunicate with Yin He, was lost in the explosion. There was no way for him tomunicate with her.

    <span>Even if the earpiece was gone, it was only effective within several hundred meters.

    <span>"Perhaps, Vice-Leader He was able to climb ashore somewhere else¡­" Han GuangMing tried tofort Liu Gan.

    <span>"What is this ce? Why is there sunlight?" Liu Gan asked as he looked around. With the separation of Yin He, they would have to meet at the location where they first met. That would be San Xing Corporation''s Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. If she was safe and sound, they would be able to meet up again.

    <span>This coastline was simr to the one in the south by the seaside base camp. Both had a small sandy beach, while surrounded by steep cliffs and precipitous rock faces. Right behind the beach was a jungle. With the sun shining down, the temperature was at least mid-twenty degrees celsius. It didn''t quite seem as cold as it was in the south. This pr opposite was very strange.

    <span>Under normal conditions, the north should be colder than the south. The jungle was proof that this weather didn''t match logic.

    <span>"Elder Liu, do you see that hole in the sky? Breaking through theyer of cloud was a strange circr shape. Through that opening, the sunshine was able to reach this area. So everyday, for several hours, there would be sunlight. That was enough for this jungle to grow naturally," Han GuangMing exined the phenomenon to Liu Gan.

    <span>"At this location, there would be such a big opening in theyer of clouds, enough for sunlight to pass through? This is too unfathomable!" Liu Gan frowned slightly.

 Chapter 330

    <span><strong>C</strong><span><strong>hapter 330 - Jungle</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>Happy Thanksgiving!<hr>

    <span>Looking closely at the gaping hole in the sky, along the edges it looked as if something was holding back the tumultuous clouds. Liu Gan was a taken aback by what he saw.

    <span>"This can''t be a wormhole, warping of space and time, right? It is too upsetting that there aren''t any airnes, otherwise we could try to see if it would take us back to the real world," Han GuangMing stated sadly.

    <span>Being trapped for prolonged periods of time in The Trembling World or any horrifying game would result in yers developing fantasies of being able to return back to the real world. The longer they remained here, the more it felt impossible to go back to the people they loved - their family members and friends.

    <span>"No, that is only an cloud canal, you are overthinking it." Liu Gan shut down Han GuangMing''s fantasy. Liu Gan wasn''t in the mood to y around.

    <span>Yin He hadn''t made it back to shore for three days. She should''ve reached the shore long before he woke up. Since she wasn''t here, there were only a few possibilities. The most probable one was that she had reached the shore earlier than they did and was on her way to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center.

    <span>Wei Liang and the other two scientists hadn''t been able to contact Su Nina. The mothership''s attack was very sudden, and the explosion split everyone up. Whether the people were alive or dead, no one could confirm for sure.

    <span>The mothership deserved to be destroyed!

    <span>This wasn''t the first time Liu Gan had been hunted down by the mothership. Liu Gan clenched his fists as he looked up toward the sky. There would be a day when he would fly into space and destroy the controller, or take over the spaceship.

    <span>That was not something he could presently aplish. With his current abilities, it was for the best if he left the area to group up with Yin He at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center.

    <span>"From what I have heard from them, they said we know each other? And you saved my life?" The nervous question came from Jiang JinYuan who had walked over.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan''s memory had gaps in it. He only remembered volunteering to join an expedition, and when he arrived he joined up with these people. The thing was, his body wasn''t his own, the wrist watch had another person''s name, and all his personal belongings were missing. Everything was very strange to him.

    <span>"When I have time, I will exin it all to you, but this isn''t the right time for that." Liu Gan wasn''t in the right mood to do extended talking.

    <span>"Sounds good." Jiang JinYuan epted the answer honestly. In thest three days he had learned a few things. The man in front of him was the leader for this group. Since he was a friend of the leader, everyone treated him with respect, but Jiang JinYuan was uneasy with this type of treatment.

    <span><strong> ...</strong>

    <span>Deeper ind was arge plot of jungle trees. The treessted until they reached the precipice with very steep slopes. There was a waterfall above them which split into several meandering pathways that took different routes. There were streams that flowed alongside the cliff, which would eventually dump the water into the sea.

    <span>To get over the mountain range and further ind, the only way up was by climbing. Even though it was quite steep, it wasn''t a problem for Liu Gan. He could easily make it over. After climbing to the top of the cliff, Liu Gan pulled vines off the trees and reinforced them by interweaving them. Using these braided vines was more than enough to lift up the people that couldn''t climb by themselves.

    <span>The PDA was also missing, or at least it wasn''t in Liu Gan''s care. Whether it was lost or in Su Nina''s care was unknown. Liu Gan tried to recall from memory the map that he had seen on the PDA. Even though he couldn''t remember most of the map, he was able to guess their approximate location. To reach further ind, he had to traverse this jungle first.

    <span>Without taking breaks, the entire group climbed over the cliff and started to make some distance in the jungle.

    <span>For those without wilderness training, it felt like they were walking in circles since every tree matched thest tree they walked by. It was easy to get lost. After climbing over the cliff, they thought that they could pass through the forest after walking for a short time. They didn''t think that after walking for half an hour, there would still be jungle trees.

    <span>A never-ending jungle.

    <span>After another half an hour of walking, they were still working the jungle.

    <span>Liu Gan wasn''t in a good mood. He hadn''t spoken much since hisst conversation with Jiang JinYuan. Without much instruction, Liu Gan continued to lead the group forward. The entire group''s morale was low, but no one spoke up. Like robots they just silently followed behind Liu Gan - running, jumping, climbing.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan''s new body was quite capable. In the real world, the former owner could''ve been an athleticpetitor. Even though the memories of the previous owner was wiped clean, his body still retained the conditioning of the previous owner. Since he was at level 5, Jiang JinYuan didn''t have much trouble keeping up with the speed of the group.

    <span>Wei Liang and the male and female scientists also demonstrated frightening capabilities. They each had a wristwatch, which meant they weren''t originally scientists. Su Nina must have taken these yers as specimen bodies. Before Su Nina ''brainwashed'' them, they were quite capable. There was no onegging behind and they were moving at a rtively fast pace.

    <span>"Elder Liu, how can we leave this area?" Han GuangMing asked as he caught up to Liu Gan.

    <span>Some people were worried about Liu Gan''s state of health. As Liu Gan had just woken from his three full days ofa, they were wondering if he had a n. After separating from Vice-leader He, they wanted to know where their destination was. To them, it seemed like they were walking in circles. So they asked Han GuangMing to be their representative and ask Liu Gan.

    <span>If they were stuck in the jungle when it got dark, there would be some level of danger. If they remained by the sea, they could catch shrimp, ms, and other seafood. There was also a clean stream to supply fresh water. The natural setting of the rocks would provide a good temporary campsite.

    <span>However, it was a different setting in the jungle. Surrounding them were trees reaching unimaginable heights. Naturally the dim setting gave off an eerie feeling. There were bizarre sounds that seemed like they came from mythical creatures living in the jungle.

    <span>"It''s very simple. You watched it take ce. Remember when we climbed up the cliff, we passed by the downstream current, it was flowing into the sea. Then, if we followed it upstream back to the source, we would reach the ind. As long as we follow in the direction along the brook, we will be fine," Liu Gan replied to Han GuangMing. Clearly, he wasn''t as clueless as he had looked. Everything he had done was with a purpose.

    <span>"Then, how will we find that stream? There are only trees here, I can''t see any traces of flowing water¡­" Han GuangMing continued to ask.

 Chapter 331

    <span><strong>Chapter 331 - Variant Beasts</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <strong><span>Happy Thanksgiving!!</strong><hr>

    <span>"Did you know that in front of us is the mountain''s peak? You might not be able to see it now, but that spot is the best ce for an outlook. It is this mountain''s highest point. Once we find our destination, it will be easy to travel down that path. Even though we are surrounded by the jungle, at the very peak, it will show us our way down to the stream." Liu Gan pointed in a direction covered by the thick nket of the forest.

    <span>Hearing Liu Gan exin himself thoroughly, Han GuangMing was able to calm down even if he wasn''t able to see the peak himself. It proved that Liu Gan didn''t have any problems with his state of mind. It only meant that he was in a bad mood. There was no one more experienced than Liu Gan in the field of exploration in deep jungle. He wasn''t the type to get lost.

    <span>The forest ground was covered with a slippery mixture of mud and rotting leaves. Walking in this setting had to be done carefully. All it took was just one wrong footstep to sprain an ankle. Even if the sprain didn''t ruin the ankle, randomly grabbing at tree branches could lead to unimagined problems. The branch could be a snake or some sort of variant beast.

    <span>After two hours, Liu Gan was still leading his group through the wet jungle. When they were at the foot of the mountain, they started reconsidering the question of howrge this jungle was!

    <span>Without a map, Liu Gan was unable to confirm his location. Relying only on icons and the map Su Nina had described to him earlier, he used them as a basis for his decision to head southeast.

    <span>The time was around noon. Sunshine prated through the thick cloud canal. Without the thick clouds getting in the way, sunlight was very strong. The water on the ground of the jungle evaporated. The temperature soared up thirty degrees Celsius as humidity filled the air. Like being steamed in an oven, this feeling was unbearable.

    <span>Liu Gan''s group had been dwelling in the freezing cold climate in the south, so the immense heat created doubts in their mind, doubts that it was the winter season. Rather, it brought new beliefs that it was the thick cloudyers blocking out the sunlight which were causing the entire world to rapidly drop in temperature. The areas with sunlight were the only areas that still felt warm. ces like the jungle with high air temperature stood out even amongst all the other strange ces in the game.

    <span>The design of the weather system in this game was astonishing.

    <span>As they continued on foot, they took off all the thick clothing they had on. Even their innermost shirts were soaked in sweat.

    <span>Out of nowhere, Liu Gan stopped walking. He was staring at a nearby tree with branches as thick as his arm. He shook a branch a few times, then a dagger appeared in his hand as he held it near the tree''s roots. He used a rock as a hammer and the dagger as a chisel. Eventually, a long branch was cut off; whittling away the outer bark, it became a good spear.

    <span>After escaping from the underwaterboratory in a hurry, nearly all the personal belongings they had on them were lost. It was necessary to create weapons from nearby resources. Liu Gan had seen this tree species before. Even though it was quite thin, it was very durable. It was a very good material for creating spears ornces.

    <span>As the group stopped to rest, they each borrowed Liu Gan''s special dagger and copied his method to obtain their own spear. As a result, each of them had a weapon in hand when they resumed their march toward the peak.

    <span>"When will we be able to get out of here?"ined a few members, as they were about to deplete their supply of drinking water. They were losing stamina fast. Their eyes were filled with fatigue.

    <span>"This whole plot of jungle is huge, we will reach the end sooner orter. We will be able to reach it," Liu Gan nonchntly replied. In the meantime, he continued to move forward.

    <span>Being stuck in the jungle with a minimal view of the sky created a feeling of ustrophobia. Along their journey, there were quite a number of animals. Some were still normal, that would run away from the group. There were others that had mutated into different shapes; they had rotting skin that was simr to corpses. These mutant animals had no fear, they were lurking in hiding for an opportunistic time to strike their prey.

    <span>The only good thing was that these variant beasts only had the strength of normal zombies. So, they weren''t a huge threat.

    <span>With the existence of these weak zombified variant beasts, then there had to be stronger andrger variants. Now that the group had removed their thickyers of clothing and protective wear, the greatest threat to the group wasn''t the variant beasts¡­ It still hadn''t appeared yet. In fact, it was something small that could be found alongside their body.

    <span>For instance, a cluster of variant mosquitos.

    <span>These mosquitos experienced mutations, and became even more sinister looking. Along with their mutations, a behavioral change also took ce. They were faster than before, but like kamikaze nes would still charge forward. Even if they got caught in between pping palms, if the crushing force behind the hands was not strong enough, it wouldn''t be enough to kill the mosquitoes.

    <span>After being bit, the familiar round red bump would appear. It would be itchy beyondpare. Themon solution would be scratching until the skin festered. It might be easier if they just cut off the bitten area. The only lucky aspect is that after being bitten, there weren''t any symptoms of infection. On the wrist watch for infection status, it would say normal. Only the health condition status would gradually decrease.

    <span>Aside from that, every step had to be carefully made through the soft leaves on the ground. Extra attention was required for their footing, as even an ordinary looking stick of wood could be a camouged Variant snake. All it took was just one bite from the snake. Even if the virus didn''t change you, the poisonous venom would be lethal.

    <span>Within the jungle, danger lurked everywhere.

    <span>"<em>Shh</em>¡­" Liu Gan suddenly signaled. He must have heard something dangerous as he warned the group.

    <span>Every member held their breath. After the area was quiet, it was possible for Liu Gan to hear movement noises on the ground. It was as if something close to the surface of the ground was moving at a high speed towards them. Normal people wouldn''t have been able to detect this frequency, but Liu Gan was level 9. He sensed something dangerous was about to ur.

    <span>As the sound indicated that the distance was close, Liu Gan ordered them to be silent. That was when other people first noticed the abnormality¡­ A Variant poisonous snake lunged off from the ground at the weakest member of the group, Zhao Meng. The variant was at least two meters long, its thickest part as big as Liu Gan''s arm.

    <span>Liu Gan was prepared for an ambush; he threw the spear in his hand and it instantly pinned the snake''s body to the ground. The snake''s triangr head was only 30 centimeters away from Zhao Meng when it spat something out toward Zhao Meng''s face. It nearly hit its target.

 Chapter 332

    <span><strong>Chapter 332 - Giant Sequoia Tree</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <strong><span>HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!</strong><hr>

    Liu Gan walked up and ced his foot on the snake''s neck, so that it was under his foot without any chance of opening up its mouth.

    "Come kill it!" Liu Gan shouted at Zhao Meng quickly.

    Zhao Meng snapped out of his dream-like state. Quickly, he picked up his own spear and stabbed at the snake head. A weak attack from Zhao Meng''s spear wouldn''t be able to kill the snake anytime soon. Instead Han GuangMing handed over a stone to Zhao Meng. With the stone, Zhao Meng smashed at the neck until it separated from the body of the snake. At that moment, arge ck orb seeped out from the snake''s body and was absorbed into the body of Zhao Meng.

    Treading through the jungle had to be done with extreme care. The jungle in this world was a lot more terrifying than the jungle in the real world. If Liu Gan hadn''t stopped the snake, Zhao Meng would''ve been infected or poisoned. Either way, Zhao Meng would''ve had to die.

    "I am finally level 5! Thank you, Elder Liu for saving my life! Thank you again for giving me this opportunity!" Zhao Meng quickly got on his knees to kowtow.

    "<em>Shh</em>¡­" Liu Gan picked up his spear and signaled Zhao Meng. Liu Gan listened to his surroundings quietly.

    Once again, no other team members were able to hear anything in particr.

    "Elder Liu, what did you discover?" Han GuangMing quietly asked.

    "Something nearby has been tailing us. It has been following us for a long time, but it is keeping its distance away. It is relying on its sense of smell to track us. I''m curious as to why it hasn''t attacked us yet. It is maintaining its distance," Liu Gan frowned.

    "What could it be?" The others started to tense up when they realized that Liu Gan was worried.

    "There is a high possibility of it being an Advanced monster. It will hunt us for dinner. It is probably waiting for a more opportunistic time," Liu Gan guessed.

    "That is too horrifying!" eximed the rest of the members when they heard it was an Advanced monster. Some of the members paled in fear.

    The poisonous snake from earlier was quite sessful in its attempt, it was just that Liu Gan was faster. Zhao Meng would''ve died to a variant creature, so if it was an Advanced monster like Kingler, then there chances of survival were low. In the jungle, Advanced beasts like tigers and panthers were the most difficult to handle.

    "From the way the monster''s panting sounds, it could be a bear species. Everyone be on alert, don''t break formation. The moment you get separated, your life will be in danger," Liu Gan warned. Since he was leading the way, it was hard for him to focus on the movement of Advanced Malevolent Bear behind them. If the group was too spread out, then some of them would be in danger.

    If Yin He and her dog NaNa were here, they could still fight against the beast. Since they weren''t present, Liu Gan couldn''t rely on his current group to properly handle an Advanced beast.

    The stories of how Liu Gan killed Kingler with his bare fists were blown out of proportion. The actual battle was a lot more brutal. Kingler was severely wounded by a lightning strike due to Yin He''s sacrifice. The finishing blow was with Liu Gan''s hand grenade.

    Right now, Liu Gan''s only weapons were his wooden spear, dagger, and his storage ring. Inside of the dimensional storage was an empty electric baton and an USB.

    The USB was given to him by the crew woman when he was still stuck on the billboard. Earlier, Liu Gan tried to ess the USB, but it all the data was encrypted. Without the correct key, it was impossible to read the data. So Liu Gan safely kept the USB close to his body.

    Luckily the ring could store materials inside, which was why his USB didn''t get washed away in the explosion and rushing waters. When Liu Gan had to escape from the underwater base, he left behind most of his bags and didn''t have time to store more important items inside the dimensional storage space.

    "Elder Liu, when you were in the real world, did you have any experiences surviving in the jungle?" Han GuangMing asked.

    "Yes, but not that often," Liu Gan looked upward, he was close to the mountain''s peak. He should be able to find a good outlook.

    "In the real world jungle, when people encounter bear species, what would be the appropriate normal response? Would it be best to hide silently or y dead on the floor? Or perhaps climb a tree?" Han GuangMing continuously asked Liu Gan. If he knew that it was this dangerous in The Trembling World, then he would''ve tried to learn more survival skills to gain experience.

    "ying dead on the floor is useless. If you know how to climb a tree, then the bear will climb it better than you will¡­ In the real world, the best method would be to shout at it, using the loud noise to scare it away. Bears are very sensitive to smell. It can smell prey for up to ten kilometers. Even if you hide silently, it would be able to pinpoint your location. The more you try to hide, it will recognize you as prey," Liu Gan shook his head.

    "So if I shouted at the bear loudly, wouldn''t it get angry and rush towards me?" Han GuangMing questioned Liu Gan''s method.

    "Then run downwind, using the geography and trees to reduce its speed. Try to get out of its field of vision. Running downwind will prevent the bear from picking up your scent. If you are lucky and youe across a river, then run into the water to wash off your scent. Once it can''t follow you, it won''t be a problem. However, don''t even think about hiding underwater. Bears can swim better than you can," Liu Gan reminded Han GuangMing.

    "What happens if I can''t outrun it?" Zhao Meng also chimed in.

    "Then¡­ just wait to die. Don''t underestimate the bear''s intelligence. It is a natural-born predator," Liu Gan quickly replied, as he started scaling the mountain.

    Another hour passed and by this time, everyone was exhausted. The group had finally reached the mountain''s peak. Even at the peak, there were still trees. The crown of the trees covered up most of the sky. It was hard to look for distant sceneries.

    "Elder Liu, what do we do now with this kind of overlook?" the other people asked angrily.

    "It is very simple. Now that we are at the peak of the mountain, we just need to find the tallest tree. Climb up on the tree and use that panoramic information to figure out where to go next." Liu Gan scouted out the tallest tree easily.

    Staring at the giant sequoia tree, he had suspicions that the tree must have mutated after the catastrophe. This tree had reached unimaginable heights. It was at least a hundred meters tall, with a great deal of vines that wrapped around the trunk forming different shapes. Based on its looks alone, it gave off signs of trouble.<hr>

    <span>[TL Note: Yes, sequoias get that tall in real life; they don''t grow in hot jungles; they are pines; don''t have branches starting that low on their tracks, nor vines; and don''t grow in SE Asia. Happily, video game logic gets to ignore all of that.]

 Chapter 333

    <span><strong>Chapter 333 - Competition for Survival</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Due to the damp air, the vines that had wrapped themselves around the bark of the tree had moss grown all over them. After expending so much energy from walking, trying to climb up the tree wasn''t going to be an easy task.

    <span>Liu Gan sat down to rest, while Han GuangMing and others tried to climb the giant sequoia tree. No one was able to climb up and stay there for more than a few minutes. Climbing this tree required a different strategy than regr tree climbing due to the sheer size of this tree. For inexperienced climbers or unathletic people, it would be a very difficult feat.

    <span>It was very important that they climb up the tree since it was the only way they could find the path out of this jungle. Even if it was an impossible task, Liu Gan would have to aplish it himself.

    <span>As an experienced former rock climber, Liu Gan couldn''t use the same technique for rock climbing with tree climbing. Rock climbing required finding the pivot point on a ledge for sturdy grip, but tree branches and vines were slippery. On top of that, his body was quite heavy, so they could snap and break off at any moment.

    <span>With the properties of Liu Gan''s body, even if he fell from a dozen meters, it wouldn''t be a serious injury. Heights greater than that would result in a fatality since the tree was at least a hundred meters high.

    <span>With everyone else just standing at the foot of the tree, Liu Gan started climbing. By the time Liu Gan reached twenty meters up, <span>he had disappeared from view.<span> A few normal monkeys were dancing on the branches, but Liu Gan quickly passed them as he kept climbing.

    <span>As Liu Gan sat down on a tree trunk to catch his breath, a Variant Monkey appeared above. It howled a few times at Liu Gan, then rushed violently for Liu Gan. Swinging between branches, it quickly closed in on Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan also moved like a monkey as he swung between branches, leaving behind him trails of broken twigs with every shake of the branches he touched. Avoiding the Variant Monkey''s strike, he dodged it with a swing by holding onto another branch. In the same swing, he came back around and kicked the Variant Monkey.

    <span>The Variant Monkey gave a terrible howl of pain, but it disappeared from view after the kick. It never returned to bother Liu Gan after that. The branch that Liu Gannded on started to crack under his weight, cracking noises could be heard.

    <span>Liu Gan grabbed onto two nearby vines to stabilize his body before the branch snapped or else he would''ve been fatally injured from the fall.

    <span>Liu Gan was able to find another peaceful location to take a break before he continued climbing. While climbing, Liu Gan had realized something important with his surroundings. All these trees at of the mountain peak had thin and long branches. It would be hard to see the sun of the tree before he reached the crown of the tree.

    <span>Sunlight in The Trembling World was a valuablemodity. It was only this section of trees that received the blessing of the sun. Only this region had a cloud canal that allowed sunlight through to the surface. With the strength of this sunlight, even a few hours a day was more than sufficient to sustain the jungle.

    <span>Only the trees that grow the highest will be able to receive the rays of the sun, so trees strove to grow as tall as they could. Then, they could cast a shadow to block out other trees. There was only one options for the trees; take up the space or have the space taken by another tree. Even though this was a biological nt, thepetition for survival was extreme. Other nts won''t grow if there''s not enough sunlight or if they weren''t high enough to receive the sunlight.

    <span>Even a strong wind would break the weakest branch first.

    <span>Soon, Liu Gan reached the 40 meter mark on his climb. However, his position wasn''t high enough. He still couldn''t see anything. He had to reach the tree''s crown quickly. After another half an hour had passed, Liu Gan used up his remaining stamina to reach the tree crown a hundred meters up.

    <span>This summit section of the tree was flourishing with life. Branches were solid and thick. Even the twigs branching out were thick and strong, and could withstand Liu Gan''s extremely heavy body weight. Prior to entering the Trembling World, Liu Gan had never experienced climbing trees to this height before. <span>A hundred-meter high tree was such an amplified height.

    <span>Standing at the very top branch of the tallest tree, Liu Gan witnessed thendscape scenery with its natural beauty. Liu Gan wasn''t in the mood to enjoy the magnificent sight. He was only looking for a way out of thisbyrinth of a jungle. There was only one thing he wanted most, and that was to meet up with Yin He at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. To do that, he had to climb safely down this tree and lead his team out of the area.

    <span>The moment Liu Gan looked at his surroundings, his heart dropped.

    <span>Using this giant sequoia tree as an outlook, no matter which direction he turned it was an endless view of jungle. Even in the direction of the sea he had came from, it disappeared from view. This was definitely a limitless terrain of jungle. Even Liu Gan started to wonder if his sense of direction was faulty.

    <span>Liu Gan used the sun''s location to pinpoint his own location, based on the time it took to move and the direction it was heading towards. The conclusion was that his course thus far was correct, he had maintained a southeast direction.

    <span>Carefully looking for a way out of the jungle, Liu Gan noticed something peculiar with a certain region where the mountain and the jungle met. Studying that region, there was a line of dividednd. On one side the trees were very tall, on the other side the same type of tree was shorter by ten meters!

    <span>That dividing line was a river, a rather wide flowing river. The river forcefully split apart the jungle, leading to the difference in growth rate.

    <span>Now that Liu Gan was able to observe the situation, he still needed to rest for a few more minutes to recover his strength. Once a portion of his strength recovered, the way down was a lot easier than climbing up. Due to the slippery nature of the vines, he could even slide down partway. As long he didn''t pick a vine that broke easily, he wouldn''t take too long to go down the tree.

    <span>"Elder Liu, what is the situation like up there? Did you find a path out of this jungle?" shouted a few people on the ground below as they saw Liu Ganing down.

    <span>"Yes, but there is still a ways to go." Liu Gan didn''t tell them about the sight of endless jungle. If he told them about it, their morale was going to drop and they wouldn''t want to continue walking.

    <span>Even Liu Gan felt a little hopeless when he saw his surroundings filled with jungle trees. Even though he had found a river, no one can say for sure this river would be the path that led out of the jungle.

    <span>Without the PDA, Liu Gan still remembered a few things about the map he saw. There weren''t any clear indicators about how much terrain the jungle upied, and Northern NinJing region was several timesrger than the southern region.<hr>

    <span>TL Note: Yes, sequoias get that tall in real life; they don''t grow in hot jungles; they are pines; don''t have branches starting that low on their trunks, nor vines; and don''t grow in SE Asia. Happily, video game logic gets to ignore all of that.

 Chapter 334

    <span><strong>C</strong><span><strong>hapter 334 - Never Give Up</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>If this jungle continued for another ten kilometers, Liu Gan wouldn''t even be surprised.

    <span>The jungle was very well preserved, probably even before the catastrophe. It must have been a national reserve protected by the NinJing City government. That was how the jungle had maintained its natural state. There were no signs of human construction or modifications to the area, or at least nothing that Liu Gan''s group had seen yet. There were no houses built or roads cutting through the mountains. The only way out was through hard work on foot.

    <span>Getting lost in thisbyrinth disguised as a jungle would be a truly dangerous situation. Even if Liu Gan was a level 9 yer, he was no match for Mother Nature. Only through perseverance and a little bit of luck might Liu Gan and his group survive the junglebyrinth.

    <span>Along the route to reach the river, the bushes were grouped up more closely. Trying to tread through the terrain was very difficult. These shrubs all contained sharp thorns and the vines intertwined, making them more difficult to break.

    <span>Especially the uing undergrowth. When the group members tried to walk through them, they didn''t make it too far. Without axes or swords to clear the path, Liu Gan was forced to use his dagger and body instead. Using this method just to clear a path was highly inefficient. They only made it through a meter after a minute.

    <span>After a certain time of clearing the path with this exhausting method, Liu Gan had to switch with another member to open up the path. Although their efficiency was far slower than Liu Gan, they gave Liu Gan time to rest.

    <span>After two hours, the group was still clearing out the brush in front of them. Three more hourster, the group was in the deep part of the jungle. Sunlight had been blocked out by the trees for some time already. It was dark, as if the sun had set.

    <span>Mosquitos were congregating under the shade of the canopy, and kept stinging frantically at members stuck in the brush. As a preventive measure, they wrapped their faces with pieces of cloth. However, these mosquitoes had a long and sharp proboscis, and could easily prate through the cloth. As a result,rge red bumps appeared on their faces.

    <span>Aside from the pesky mosquitos flying around, there were the normal problems of hunger and thirst. They were already at their limits of endurance. Unable to ovee their problems, they felt defeated. Slowly, their confidence dropped and their resolve was about to break.

    <span>"You don''t have to worry about us three. We can''t continue anymore," Wei Liang said to Liu Gan, after he spoke with with his other two colleagues.

    <span>It wasn''t the question of whether they want to continue or not, but they were simply exhausted. Even before entering the undergrowth, they were at their limits already. In the face of this never-ending wall of nt life, their confidence was depleted. They weren''t able to continue with their persistence.

    <span>"If you give up, we will have to let you go. The moment you give up, you will die here. You won''t be able to leave this ce," Liu Gan replied as he turned around to exin.

    <span>These people were Su Nina''s people; unless it was really necessary to abandon them, Liu Gan didn''t want to leave them behind. It wasn''t important if Su Nina cared about their safety, he just wanted to return them back to Su Nina''s side safely, since he still owed her a favor.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I can''t continue any longer. We will just be your baggage. You have done your best to help us, you don''t have to worry about us anymore. It is not your responsibility to help us stay alive, you should do your best to live," Han GuangMing suddenly blurted out.

    <span>When Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan heard Han GuangMing say that, they took a seat on the ground regardless of the thorns. They were mentally and physically exhausted.

    <span>Liu Gan stared at Han GuangMing for a long time. He knew that this fellow was very tough andpetitive. He is typically thest person who would give up. So when others heard that he was giving up, they weren''t able to muster up any strength.

    <span>"What do you think you are doing! Get up! We are within fifty meters of the river! There will be clean water and fresh wish! No one can give up! If you want to die, then die by the river!" Liu Gan started yelling loudly.

    <span>Whether it was Liu Gan''s shout or his promise of clean water and fresh fish, everyone licked their chapped lips in anticipation and found the strength to move forward.

    <span>They moved past more the fifty meter mark, closer to a hundred meters. Liu Gan was able to lead them pass the densest part of the undergrowth. After another hour, when the shrubs weren''t intertwining as much, they didn''t need to walk in a single line formation anymore. Everyone''s clothes were in shambles, and their bodies had shes from the thorns and bumps filled with pus from mosquito bites.

    <span>Liu Gan was in a better condition than the rest of his group, even though his clothes were torn. His [Mist Armor] was wounded to a red condition. Luckily, it still protected his old wounds from reopening.

    <span>Passing through the thick undergrowth nearly killed the team. After the bitter came the sweet; even though there wasn''t a wide river, there was a small flowing stream. The stream was almost three meters wide at the widest part, and a meter for the narrow part. Without food, many people could survive up to half a month. Without water, many people wouldn''t survive more than a few days. This small stream flowing past was fresh water, and it was drinkable.

    <span>When they arrived at the stream, they all dropped down on their knees to quench their thirst. Liu Gan halted them quickly.

    <span>"Drink it slowly, otherwise you will vomit," Liu Gan said to them. Under conditions of extreme thirst, drinking mouthfuls of water wasn''t ideal for the body.

    <span>Surviving in the wilderness, Liu Gan would carry his water canteen, the type that could be carried on his back and could be boiled to sterilize it. He would typically boil all his water before drinking, especially jungle creek water. Sterilization through boiling was one of his survival principles.

    <span>However, this stream had a quick current, and it looked rtively clear. There were also signs of healthy organisms, like fish and shrimp, swimming in it. These were telltale signs that the water was clean. Liu Gan hesitated on whether he should drink it as is or boil it first. Then he realized he didn''t have anything he could boil it safely in. Without any of his equipment, he could only submit and drink the unsterilized water.

 Chapter 335

    <span><strong>Chapter 335 - Camp</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>With the current situation, some standards had to be put aside. Liu Gan''s hydration status was close to <span>ck<span>on his wrist watch. His health condition status was disying bright <span>red<span>. If he didn''t drink some water, his body functions could copse at any moment.

    <span>After resolving the dehydration problem, many members started gathering around the creek in an attempt to catch fish or shrimp. These small streams didn''t have many fish, but plenty of the small freshwater shrimp. Judging from the texture of the shrimp, they hadn''t been contaminated yet and were quite healthy.

    <span>As the majority of the group gathered to catch the shrimp, Liu Gan was drilling the wood to start a fire. In the real world, trying to start a fire with this primitive method would take an hour or longer to create the tinder. With Liu Gan''s strengthened body, it wasn''t an obstacle. He used ten minutes or so to create a huge fire.

    <span>Since no one had been in the jungle or the area recently, the pige was bountiful. The group members were able to gather a huge heap of shrimp by the fire.

    <span>Liu Gan used the tree bark as the baseyer on top of the charcoal, then ayer of mud with the final twoyers being tree leaves. The shrimp wereid on top of the leaves. Afterwards, a<span>nother twoyers of tree leaves were used to cover the shrimp, with a centimeter thickyer of mud on top of the leaves. Another barkyer was added on top to seal and thus the shrimp were sandwiched in the middle of this mud baking style cooking method. Then with the charcoal created from burnt wood acting like an earth oven, it was ced all around the outer tree bark to cook the shrimp thoroughly.

    <span>Other members copied the same method Liu Gan used, to cook their own food. First with the fire to create charcoal, then with the charcoal to create an oven to cook the shrimp.

    <span>After twenty minutes, the heated goods were removed from the fire. Cracking open the top mudyer revealed fresh red colored shrimp. The aroma erupted from the mud mount like a volcano and the juices of the shrimp flowed out of the shell. Inside the shell was juicy fresh shrimp meat. Every bite was filled with shrimp juice. It was enough to temporary relieve the terrible memories of this whole day. Everyone had a smile on their face as they ate their share of the meat.

    <span>Alongside delicious food and the campfire, unbeknownst to them, night had fallen upon them. This would be their first time experiencing a night in the jungle. From Liu Gan''s knowledge and prior experiences, the jungle predators usually napped during the day and hunt at night. If these variants be even more malicious after their mutation, then tonight would be a long night.

    <span>"Things like setting up the camp should''ve been done before it was night, but we took too long to get through the shrubbery. We can only do it now in the dark," Liu Gan exined to them.

    <span>"Elder Liu, the members are very tired already. Can we just set up camp by the stream?" Han GuangMing said to Liu Gan. If they set up camp by the stream, it would be very convenient in the morning to clean and to gather resources.

    <span>"No, setting camp here is very dangerous. If there were any sh flood from the mountain, it would go downstream. Plus the ground by the stream is very damp, it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. We need to find a drier ce to set up camp," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>Even though they were tired, under Liu Gan''s ushering they created torches from concentrated resin found in the trees. With torches in hand, they sought higher ground for an appropriate encampment location.

    <span>Not far from their location, there was a roar. Following the loud roar were echoing replies, which were just as loud. At this point, nearly every member felt as if there was a malicious beast nearby. The eerie feeling of darkness in the wood didn''t help their situation. A spine tingling sensation was what they had felt when they heard the roar.

    <span>If this was in a different environment, like a city, when encountering a wild beast, they could y hide and seek within the structures. However, in the jungle, there were no ces to hide.

    <span>"Elder Liu, should we climb up the trees to camp out there?" Han GuangMing was frightened as he asked Liu Gan this.

    <span>"Many beasts are capable of climbing up trees, and these variant beasts are even better at climbing. If you are stuck at the top of the tree, it would be even harder to escape. As long as you don''t panic, don''t underestimate our currentbat ability. If there are beasts or variant beasts that close in on us, we need to practice our battle formation. If we can''t win in a fight, we can reconsider the option of running away," Liu Gan shouted as loud as he could.

    <span>In the jungle, there were colossal beasts, so it was a bad idea to set up camp near them. The correct solution would''ve been to escape from the area as fast as possible. In The Trembling World, there were beasts and Variant Beasts. They must have maintained the habit of hunting at night and resting during the day, which would exin why nothing could be heard when they were walking. At least they were safe until night came. Now the beasts of the whole mountain had woken up as it was tracking them.

    <span>The members were already exhausted, but the moment they heard roars of the beast, they moved at their fastest speed. By the time darkness had surrounded them, no one knows where to hide to feel safe in this situation.

    <span>"Then let''s set up camp here, gather as much firewood as you can. Let''s create arge bonfire. Jungle beasts are afraid of fire, but the Variant Beasts might not be as reserved," Liu Gan said after he noticed the area was better suited for a camp. He also found it pointless to run any further.

    <span>If only Yin He and the dog, NaNa, were here, they could protect the group and go on patrol. This would immensely reduce the danger in the surrounding jungle. Liu Gan could only rely on himself and his current team''s strength to survive this horrific night.

    <span>No one else spoke, they knew what they had to do. They worked hard to gather firewood and cleared up <span>an empty patch for the <span>bonfire. Burning firewood could serve as a screen for annoying mosquitoes and illuminated the darkness. Once the area was lit up, Liu Gan ordered every member to focus on stacking up the firewood for the bonfire.

    <span>To create a safe campsite, there had to be extra precautions set up. It was necessary to clear up the ground surface free of piles of dried leaves and thorns, but not by using hands since there were potential dangers of hidden scorpions or poisonous creatures in their burrows. Cleaning had to be done with tree branches to sweep away the leaves and when they slept, it would feel safer and cleaner. The best solution would be to sleep on dry dirt.

    <span>Snakes and scorpions were the usual culprits that passed underneath the shades of the leaves. After cleaning, these critters wouldn''t identally wander into the camp. At the same time, the leaves could used as tinder and fuel for the bonfire. Once the fire started, the smoke drove the mosquitoes away. That was one problem solved.

    <span>At the same time, the smoke was annoying for some members, butpared to mosquito bites it was bearable.

    <span>Once the first wood was ignited in the bonfire, loud eerie sounds from the surrounding can be heard. Borrowing from therge bonfire, there were shadows moving at the edge of the trees.

 Chapter 336

    <span><strong>Chapter 336 - Advanced Malevolent Bear</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Like a veil that was lifted, the darkness was removed and the surroundings were visible. There were beasts with ck eyes with red or green pupils that were staring back at the group.

    <span>The closest to the group was a pack of wolves.

    <span>As it got darker, there were more shadows surrounding the bonfire by the edges of the jungle. Even the shadows seemrger than before. Rustling noises of gathering beasts were quite loud. Even though it was quite loud, they weren''t of any concern to Liu Gan yet. The only beast that bothered Liu Gan was the roar of the bear.

    <span>When Liu Gan first sensed the presence of the bear, he knew that the bear was dangerous. It could be an advanced beast, but it had just watched them from afar. It was still waiting for its opportunity when other beasts surrounded the camp, and that was when the bear decided to close in.

    <span>As it started charging, Liu Gan could smell the fishy stench in the airing from the bear. The sense of danger was getting stronger; it was definitely an advanced beast. It didn''t bother to attack before, so it must have some level of intelligence. It was waiting for other beasts to attack to measure the capabilities of the people.

    <span>Kingler was quite powerful, Liu Gan had already experienced its strength before. An intelligent bear would be quite a formidable foe.

    <span>The members had stacked up a pile of firewood, it would be enough tost throughout the night. Their main concern now would be if these beasts weren''t afraid of fire and might charge in without regard.

    <span>Anything was possible.

    <span>Soon, this wasn''t even their main concern.

    <span>The sky opened up, and it suddenly started raining.

    <span>"It is over...We are dead!" Wei Liang and Zhao Meng started panicking when they felt the raindrops.

    <span>Between the beasts and them, were only these bonfires. These bonfires would''ve been enough of a deterrent from them getting closer.

    <span>The problem was that it was starting to rain!

    <span>There is a saying that one door closes, another door opens. In this situation, it seems that all doors were closed!

    <span>These members had experienced this weather before. There was no such thing as small showers in the Trembling World. If it was going to rain, it would be a thunderstorm. It wouldn''t be long before that happened. Right now, the rain droplets weren''t affecting the bonfires too much, but if it persisted then it would easily drench the firewood and put out the fires.

    <span>The moment the fires were put out, then there would be nothing standing between them and the beasts. To fight against them in a battle would be suicide. There were seven of them, and at least twenty beasts circling the bonfires.

    <span>The veil of darkness and jungle were their territory.

    <span>"We must leave this area before the thunderstorm!" Liu Gan announced as he surveyed his surroundings.

    <span>"Where can we go?" The members waved around their torches, their faces filled with dread. With the beasts lurking in the shadows, it would be even scarier without the protection of the bonfires.

    <span>"No matter where we go, as long as it is not here. We will be waiting to die if we stay here," Liu Gan calmly replied. Liu Gan didn''t have absolute confidence that he would be able to survive in this situation.

    <span>It didn''t take too long for the thunderstorm to arrive. Even under the canopy of the trees, the raindrops were forming a streamline as they trickled down. Two bonfires were put out by the rainwater.

    <span>Several Variant Wolves charged over from the direction of where the bonfires were put out.

    <span>Han GuangMing had a rock in hand and threw it. Instantly, a ray of light like a meteor pierced through the wolf''s brain.

    <span>The momentum of the dead Variant Wolf''s body sent it sliding on the ground. Other variant wolves continued stepping on their deadpanion as they charged at the humans. At the same time, other fires also started to go out. Now it was close to pitch ck, where they could no longer see their fingers in front of them.

    <span>Soon more of the circling pack of Variant Wolves started to attack, as well as Variant Boars and Variant Monkeys that closed in on the humans.

    <span>Liu Gan waved his dagger around as he dodged left and right from two wolves attacking, and counter-attacked. Liu Gan cleanly sliced through the wolves'' brains. As for the other team members, they could only rely on their own abilities and the battle formation. Each of the team members were quite capable in their own way, as they had enhanced vision, hearing and sense of smell.

    <span>Fighting in the darkness was quite fair, since with these enhanced capabilities they weren''t weak against the Variant beasts. It was just that they hadn''t had a chance to experience fighting in the dark.

    <span>"Use all your senses! Hearing and smell! If you can''t see, they can''t either!" Liu Gan shouted as he killed another wolf.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t see the wolves, but he moved in response to the activity on the ground. He could smell the odoring off the body of an animal. As the wolves moved, they created a change in the wind pattern and Liu Gan could reach out to snap their necks.

    <span>Just as Liu Gan had said, the members had underestimated their own abilities, even though the Variant beasts upied the upper hand of having more numbers and this was their territory. Facing this desperate situation, the members can only hold onto their fury and fight.

    <span>After listening to Liu Gan''s words, they focused on their hearing and smell topensate for theirck of sight. After a short while, seven or eight Variant Beasts were defeated. The majority of the kills were from Liu Gan, but the remaining were from thebined efforts of the group.

    <span>"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

    <span>The team members were holding on to their anger as they celebrated their temporary victory against the Variant Beasts. It didn''t seem that the beasts were as scary as they had imagined...

    <span>That is, until the appearance of the Advanced Malevolent Bear.

    <span>In the darkness, a figure around three meters tall started charging over. It chose to appear behind one of the women scientists. By the time she reacted, a bear w was deeply embedded into her chest. The bear pulled out her heart and arge part of her chest.

    <span>When the woman looked down at the painful hole missing from her chest, she couldn''t see anything in the dark, but she lost consciousness.

    <span>The Malevolent Bear ate the flesh from its w. It became more berserk and started charging on all fours. It charged at Wei Liang, who was running away in panic.

 Chapter 337

    <span><strong>Chapter 337 - Fierce Battle</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The Advanced Malevolent Bear took a huge chunk starting from Wei Liang''s left shoulder, right down to his right lung chamber. Wei Liang unleashed a horrific cry like a broken bellow.

    <span>After Liu Gan finished exterminating the two Variant Wolves closest to him, he rushed over. Only through multiple enhancements to his eyes was he able to see a blurry presence of the Advanced Bear moving around in the dark. Equally important was his keen sense of smell that locked onto the bear''s distinct fishy scent. Then Liu Gan charged over in its direction with the intention of casting [Psychic Shock] when he got closer.

    <span>The furious Malevolent Bear was stopped in mid-action, Liu Gan hopped onto the neck of the bear like a piggy back ride. Without any hesitation, Liu Gan used his dagger to stab deep into the bear''s eyes.

    <span>In the real world, facing off against these wild bears would be suicidal if escape was not an option, especially if the person didn''t have any long range weapon, like a spear or iron bat. Now that the bear was blinded, there was a higher chance of survival. This was the extent of what Liu Gan could do for now, whether it would be effective was still too early to tell.

    <span>The dagger was halfway into the bear''s eye socket, unable to go deeper in. Liu Gan tried to scoop out the contents of the eyeball to blind the Malevolent Bear. Like stabbing a dense log, the dagger wasn''t able to prate deeper. Liu Gan couldn''t pull the eyeball out!

    <span>The Malevolent Bear didn''t suffer much from the [Psychic Shock], it recovered quickly. While Liu Gan was riding on him, it frantically tried to w him off. Liu Gan predicted this would happen, but he couldn''t react fast enough to dodge the ws widespread reach. As a result, he was caught and dragged onto the ground. The Malevolent Bear lunged forward to take a bite out of the fresh meat.

    <span>Liu Gan stuck out his arm to shield the important parts of his body. The bear bit onto Liu Gan''s arm. His [Mist Armor] was still effective and theposition of the alloy arm prevented Liu Gan from losing a piece of it.

    <span>The bear grew even more infuriated, wing at different areas of Liu Gan''s body. Then it tried to smash Liu Gan onto nearby rocks, trees and sharp edges. Finally, it tried to body-m Liu Gan, borrowing its overwhelming body weight.

    <span>While Liu Gan had one of his arm pinned by the bear''s mouth, and his body was flung around, his free hand was jabbing at the wounded eye. After a dozen or so strikes to the eye, the Malevolent Bear couldn''t handle the pain. It released Liu Gan from its grip, and picked up Wei Liang and the woman''s corpses off the ground as it escaped into the woods.

    <span>This Malevolent Bear''s strength was far stronger than Liu Gan. It also disyed signs of intelligence. After tasting Liu Gan''s cold skin texture it determined that the meal wasn''t worth fighting for, so it fled. On top of that, its eye injury was very painful.

    <span>Due to the power behind the attack, if the battle had continued, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] would have shattered.

    <span>While Liu Gan and the Bear were fighting, Han GuangMing and others had killed several more Variant Beasts. Once the remaining beasts noticed that theirpanions were being ughtered, they scattered away in panic.

    <span>"Elder Liu! I''m level 6 now!" shouted Han GuangMing in the darkness.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t respond back.

    <span>"Elder Liu?"

    <span>Han GuangMing sensed that something was wrong, they quickly searched the ground floor by feeling around. Finally, in a puddle of rainwater, they found someone that resembled Liu Gan, unconscious.

    <span>When Liu Gan was escaping the underwater base, he suffered from the aftershock of the dimensional bomb and burns from thesers. His body was heavily injured in many parts, with deepcerations and multiple bone fractures. Even with an impressive recovery rate, he didn''t wake up until after three days and three nights of rest. While he was in the internal cavity of the smaller jellyfish, the jellyfish had secretedrge amount of mucus to help coagte his wounds. Due to the severity of the wounds, he still wasn''tpletely healed by the time he woke up.

    <span>Thisst battle against the Advanced Malevolent Bear opened up all the barely healed wounds on his body. Fresh blood leaked from his injuries. If there was even a streak of light going through the canopy, it was possible to see Liu Gan''s body submerged under water with the water dyed red.

    <span>Han GuangMing and the others picked up Liu Gan out of the puddle, they headed to arge tree with a wide canopy andid him down on the trunk.

    <span>"Elder Liu, how are you?" Han GuangMing asked again.

    <span>"My wound¡­ is still open¡­" Liu Gan feebly replied.

    <span>"What do I need to do to stop the bleeding?" Han GuangMing quickly replied.

    <span>"It''s still raining, and you don''t have the tools to suture it upy me t on the ground and use mud on the wound," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Then? What happens after that? Elder Liu¡­ it doesn''t seem to stop the bleeding!" Han GuangMing screamed as he pressed the mud against the open wound.

    <span>"Then¡­ it''s up to God," Liu Gan whispered as he fainted.

    <span>"Elder Liu!" Han GuangMing was tearing up. Ever since he had joined up, he had never seen Liu Gan this weak. Even more rare was hearing him say ''it''s up to God''. In his heart, Elder Liu was the most capable person of leading them out of this world or any difficult situation.

    <span>But now, even this strong person had to leave things up to fate.

    <span>"Zhao Meng and Young Gao, go collect some dry firewood. Jiang JinYuan, go collect leaves, I want to create a makeshift<span>shed." Han GuangMing calmed himself down as he ordered the remaining three people around him. At this point, the most reasonable thing to do is to create a warm environment to help Liu Gan recover.

    <span>Liu Gan had lost too much blood, so he was in an extremely weakened state. After hisst words with Han GuangMing, he passed out. By the time he woke up, it was the afternoon of the following day.

    <span>Even though his body was weak, everything felt cold; the cold caused his body to keep shivering to keep warm. However, Liu Gan discovered that it wasn''t the weather that was cold, but his body temperature was lower than the surroundings. He had a high fever.

    <span>"Elder Liu? Are you awake?" Han GuangMing was emotionally wrought.

    <span>Liu Gan tried to move his lips, but no words came out. His throat was swelling with pain, and aside from his limbs, everything else hurt.<hr>

    <span><em>[TL: Young Gao is the remaining scientist with Wei Liang]</em>

 Chapter 338

    <span><strong>Chapter 338 - Drowsy</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, I used fishbone and tree bark fibers to forcefully seal up your wound. The problem is that¡­ we might have contaminated it. There is pus oozing out from it. What should we do next?" Han GuangMing asked him for advice.

    <span>"You did very well¡­ Help me sit¡­ upright¡­" Liu Gan weakly replied.

    <span>"Very well." Han GuangMing called over Zhao Meng for assistance in helping adjust Liu Gan by the tree trunk.

    <span>"How long have I slept?" Liu Gan continued asking Han GuangMing.

    <span>"From yesterday night until today, it hasn''t been too long," Han GuangMing replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"We¡­ stayed at the same location¡­ as yesterday?" Liu Gan moved a little to look around.

    <span>"Yes" Han GuangMing nodded.

    <span>"Leave me behind, you have to lead them to escape. Bears have good memory and they will hold a grudge. If you stay here, it wille back again tonight to exact revenge. You might die under its ws," Liu Gan tried his best to speak.

    <span>High fever was induced as a symptom of being infected by bacteria. Now that Liu Gan had a bacterial infection in his body, the health status indicator on his wrist watch changed from <span><strong>red</strong><span> to <span><strong>ck</strong><span>. He knew that his condition wouldn''t be resolved anytime soon.

    <span>"No! We won''t leave you behind!" Han GuangMing shook his head.

    <span>"It isn''t the problem of you leaving me behind, but it is pointless to stand guard for me. You are waiting to die with me. If you find the path to leave this jungle a<span>rea, you can head to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. Vice-leader He should be there waiting for me, she cane find me¡­ If I am still alive¡­" Liu Gan continued to whisper.

    <span>"No! I won''t leave you behind! Absolutely not!" Han GuangMing started tearing up.

    <span>"This is an order," Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"Even if this is an order, I can''t abide by it! We will make a stretcher. If we have to leave, we will carry you out! Without Elder Liu, we will never be able to leave the jungle." Han GuangMing had Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan carry over a stretcher. Without saying much, they moved Liu Gan onto it. Earlier they had dried some of their clothes in the sun. They collected them now and piled them onto Liu Gan''s body.

    <span>Liu Gan was burning up from the fever, as he drowsily look up at the sun beyond the canopy. Unaware, he fainted again.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"My dear boy, Gan¡­" a familiar voice whispered by Liu Gan''s ears.

    <span>"Mom?" Liu Gan opened his eyes. Mysteriously, his surroundings had changed and along with it, the weather too. He was no longer within the jungle.

    <span>Snow. There was snow everywhere.

    <span>In front of him was his mother, back when he was younger. She was smiling as she squatted down to his height. She reached out her warm hands to squeeze his cold cheeks. At that time, he was around six years old?

    <span>"Mommy has to leave again, this time it might take¡­ several months? By then, I will probably be back by spring. My little boy Gan is mature now, a growing gentleman. You will have to learn how to take good care of yourself, since mommy won''t be by your side now. You have to learn to be courageous, strong willed, and don''t cry. No matter what, don''t give up so easily," cried his mom.

    <span>"Mommy, don''t leave me!" Liu Gan embraced his mother. He didn''t want to let go of her.

    <span>"My boy Gan, listen to me. This will be thest time mommy leaves you behind. Mommy promises you this. When Ie back next time in the spring, I won''t have to leave anymore," said his mother as she kissed his cheeks and forcefully pushed young Liu Gan away.

    <span>"NO! Don''t leave me!" Liu Gan suddenly screamed loudly.

    <span>Young Liu Gan at the age of six, didn''t know why his mother had left him. In his memory, that was thest time he ever saw his mother. Ever since that day, he would wait by the ce where hest saw her. He waited until the snow melted. He waited until spring came. He waited by the road until new sprouts would appear on the tree branches. The problem was, his mother didn''t return.

    <span>Another year went by and still no news. Liu Gan''s father had called for an investigation on her whereabouts. They searched through everyone she had been in contact with, but sadly, no one was able to give a definitive answer of her location. The only useful information was that Liu Gan''s mother was an archaeologist, as well as an explorer. When Liu Gan''s father cheated on his wife, it led to their divorce. After that, she would frequently go on adventures alone to historical remains.

    <span>As for the winter of that year, herst destination, no one knew.

    <span>From that moment, Liu Gan started to train his body. He sought out different survival techniques. For his summer vacation in high school, he would venture out to deste and uninhabited areas to explore. There was a reason why he put himself in danger; it wasn''t for the thrill, but to search for his mother''s whereabouts.

    <span>When he was alone, exploring nature, especially on quiet nights; that was when he dreamt that his mother had returned to his side. She would use her warm hands to squeeze his cold cheeks, telling him to be courageous and unyielding.

    <span>By the time he was a senior in college, he had abandoned his studies. For his four years of college, more than half that time was spent in the wilderness. Even after he had graduated from college, he didn''t return home. Ever since his mother had left him that winter, his life had changed. He was searching, chasing for his mother''s footsteps. Anyone who was familiar with his mother would know her catchphrases and Liu Gan had them memorized by heart.

    <span>Even if he was in the wilderness alone, when his inner spirit calmeds down, he would feel as if the gap between him and his mom would close. He could hear her calling for him. He would feel the love that he had never received.

    <span>As for scaling Mt. Everest, it was due to information supplied by his younger brother, Liu Kun. He said that he received some information that Liu Gan''s mother had scaled Mt. Everest years ago. Rumor was that there was a banner that she had put up at the peak, so Liu Gan had to confirm it with his own eyes.

    <span>Shortly after, his search in Mt. Everest was abruptly interrupted.

    <span>Parkour, rock climbing, countryside survival, these were all skills that he obtained in his search.

    <span>"My son Gan, you have to persist, don''t give up," said his mother as she pinched Liu Gan''s face.

    <span>"I''ve tried, I really tried to persist, but I''m tired. There are times, when I don''t know what I am insisting on doing," Liu Gan shook his head. He was burnt out. He was exhausted, he didn''t even want to open his eyes anymore.

    <span>He felt as if his whole life was about chasing after something with all his persistence, but he knew early on that it was rather pointless.

    <span>"Everyone sent to this world, has their own reason. Don''t give up, continue with your persistence, you will find the meaning to your life¡­" His mother''s voice was fading away in the distance.

    <span>After a little shaking followed by an acute pain, Liu Gan felt himself falling from somewhere high up. It abruptly woke Liu Gan up from his sleep. When he opened up his eyes, he saw that the sky was dark. Han GuangMing had misstepped and Liu Gan had fallen from the sketcher.

    <span>It was veryte at night, and they were still trapped within thebyrinthine jungle . Variant Beasts could be heard howling in the distance.

 Chapter 339

    <span><strong>Chapter 339 - Bluff</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, are you awake? Did the fall hurt? I''m very sorry, I couldn''t keep the stretcher steady¡­" Han GuangMing quickly went to help Liu Gan.

    <span>"No it doesn''t hurt, I don''t feel any pain" Liu Gan shook his head. At this point, his fever caused him to be drowsy and dizzy, the same effect as if he was intoxicated by alcohol. Even his wordse out as a whisper and slurred.

    <span>"Elder Liu, I won''t let anything happen to you," Han GuangMing started tearing up. Ever since Liu Gan had fainted, he picked up the role as the temporary leader with the decision-making. He was not ready for this position at all.

    <span>So he wanted Liu Gan to recover quickly, that way he could put down the burden in his shoulders. It didn''t seem like that would happen any time soon, Liu Gan looked a lot worse now than before. It seemed his condition had worsened.

    <span>"Squad leader Han, there''s a small cave ahead. It seems like it will rain again. Should we head over to the cave to avoid the rain?" said Jiang JinYuan and Young Gao, as they returned from scouting ahead.

    <span>"Ah¡­Let''s enter the cave" Han GuangMing put Liu Gan back on the stretcher. He and Zhao Meng continued carrying the stretcher.

    <span>"Cave? There might be a beast¡­ let''s hope that it''s not the bear?" Liu Gan mumbled, but his voice was too low to be heard.

    <span>As they approached the cave, they were still a dozen meters away, when they smelled a fishy scenting out from the cave. Then the Advanced Malevolent Bear rose up at the entrance of the cave.

    <span>Facing off against the Malevolent Bear, with its overwhelming size, reminded them of how Wei Liang and the female scientist had died. They were terrified.

    <span>"Battle formation! Protect Elder Liu!" Han GuangMing yelled. With their current condition, they won''t even be able to put up a fight against the bear. If they split up to run now, Elder Liu would definitely be the first to die. Surviving alone in the dark wilderness would be even harder.

    <span>The only question would be how would they die.

    <span>As the other three group members grouped up closer next to Han GuangMing, they had treences and torches aimed toward the bear. At the same time, they raised their voices. ording to Elder Liu, bears were afraid of loud noises, so they had to try it to know if it worked.

    <span>As the Advanced Malevolent Bear took two steps forward, it roared at the group, both ws getting ready to strike what was in front of it.

    <span>It seemed like being loud was ineffective against it, and in fact made it angrier.

    <span>The four members were quaking with fear, they were just one intimidating move away fromplete panic mode. As they watched the bear lift up its paw, they heard an angry growl from behind. When the Malevolent bear heard the growl, it disyed signs of fear as it took a few steps backward. Then it got on all fours, as it started frantically wed at the floor.

    <span>As Liu Gan got off the stretcher, he was the one who growled. It used most of his energy to even produce a sound loud enough to be heard.

    <span>"Do you want to get beaten up again? Leave now! Before I get angry!" Liu Gan walked closer as he screamed at the Malevolent Bear.

    <span>The Advanced Malevolent bear didn''t retreat, it roared a even louder sound, but even deadlier was the bear''s breath. The smell was so obnoxious that Liu Gan couldn''t even get up properly.

    <span>"Target your attacks at the eye!" Liu Gan said as he used his [Psychic Shock] ability on the bear.

    <span>When Han GuangMing heard themand, he activated his own [Meteor Cannon] with a rock in hand at the Bear''s eye socket.

    <span>Zhao Meng and Young Gao''s ability weren''t fit for this type of attack. Jiang JinYuan had woken an ability [Exploding Fist], which would still work moderately against the bear. The ability struck the bear''s eye from afar.

    <span>As the Advanced Bear recovered from the [Psychic Shock], it felt the sharp pain in its eye. When it saw Liu Gan again, it remembered the fight the previous night. Taking another two steps back, the bear roared again as it abandoned its nest in the cave and dashed into the jungle.

    <span>When Liu Gan was able to confirm that the bear had left the vicinity, he couldn''t stand up anymore. Liu Gan was wobbling and Han GuangMing quickly ran over to help Liu Gan before he fell to the ground.

    <span>Today''s encounter was a lot deadlier than the previous night. Liu Gan''s condition couldn''tpete against the Bear''s strength. The dozen punches at the bear''s eye was a traumatic experience for the bear, so this bluff worked.

    <span>The bear was just still at the early stages of bing intelligent. If the bear was a little smarter, the bluff wouldn''t have been effective.

    <span>Liu Gan spent the remaining strength and energy he had within him, and now was so weak he passed out again.

    <span>"Let''s enter the cave, we will find some nearby shrubs to create a barrier by the entrance of the cave. We will also need to make a bonfire, too¡­" Liu Gan stressed to Han GuangMing. Without some guidance, Han GuangMing might make another wrong decision.

    <span>"Stay in the cave? The cave is the Malevolent bear''s nest. It will definitely return. If it returns¡­" Han GuangMing didn''t finish speaking, but the idea was there. With Liu Gan''s current condition, when the bear returned, no one would be capable of withstanding the bear''s attack.

    <span>"It has intelligence, it has mistaken our presence asing forth to attack it. As long as we maintain the cave, we will have the upper hand. If we run, it will think that we are timid and try to attack us again. As long as we strengthen our location here, it will think that we are strong, it won''t have any intention of attacking us¡­" Liu Gan exined.

    <span>This was the only thing they can do. Leaving the cave would be a sign of weakness. Everyone would die. As long as this bluff was maintained, at least there would be a chance for survival. As for how long it would work, it was up to fate.

    <span>"Brilliant, Elder Liu! Then we will stay at the cave." Han GuangMing finally understood, and he carried Liu Gan on the stretcher into the cave.

    <span>The cave entrance reached from five to seven meters high, and was ten meters wide. With the torch, they could see bear fur all on the walls and floor. Without a doubt, this was the bear''s den.

    <span>Deep inside the cave, there were piles of bones. Aside from that, they found Wei Liang and thedy scientist''s clothes and remaining body parts. The cave was filled with an eerie feeling.

 Chapter 340

    <span><strong>Chapter 340 - Waterfall</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan woke up briefly, but fainted again. The members quickly cleaned up their temporary quarters and left Liu Gan inside as they started doing other duties. They had to hurry while it wasn''t too dark yet, chopping firewood and gathering shrubs with thorns nearby.

    <span>The firewood was for piled up for a bonfire. The shrubs with thorns and the bush would be ced right by the cave entrance as a barrier. These thorns weren''t something to be ridiculed, even the wild animals would avoid them if possible.

    <span>As for whether the Variant Beasts would avoid these thorns, that was still too early to tell. Liu Gan left specific instructions to Han GuangMing, so they followed them to the dot. These thorny barricades and bonfire would eventually have their benefits. As long as the Advanced Malevolent Bear didn''t force its way back, the other variant beasts weren''t a threat once the members were in battle formation.

    <span>After they set up the preventive measures, it started raining again. By then, everyone was back in the safety of the cave. They had to avoid catching a cold from getting soaked. Han GuangMing arranged shifts for night guard duty, then hey down to sleep.

    <span>There were Variant Beasts that approached the outside of the cave, but they only growled in anger and left. asionally, the Advanced Malevolent Bear''s roar could be heard. It was at most twenty meters away. The bear could see the bonfire by the cave entrance, it knew that the cave was still upied, but could only walk resentfully away.

    <span>While Liu Gany unconscious within the cave, Han GuangMing didn''t allow anyone to leave the cave. Even during the daytime, the members were only allowed to hunt nearby for food. Before night, they had to return back to the cave to stand guard. They had to be careful of not getting surrounded by the Variant Beasts and continue with the bluff so that the Malevolent Bear wouldn''t return.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan was unconscious, his wounds were gradually improving. Understandably, a level 9 yer''s regenerative ability was shocking. Even after excessive blood loss, infected wounds, numerous bone fractures, and manycerations, he was still alive. An ordinary person would''ve died in two days.

    <span>Just like this, another three days and three nights went by. Finally, Liu Gan woke up. By the time he woke up, Han GuangMing and all others were in unpresentable conditions, with messy hair and dirty faces. They looked no different from their primitive ancestors.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan had just woken up and his wounds had almost finished healing, his body was weak. This time he learned from his mistake. He didn''t overrush things. He opted to remain inside the cave until all his wounds had recovered. After that was over, he would consider other issues.

    <span>Another two days passed, and Liu Gan''s injuries had fully recovered. His body condition was operating at around eighty percent of his peak state. At least now, he had a chance of fighting against the Malevolent Bear. On the morning of the sixth day, he decided to depart. He had to find a way to leave this jungle and regroup with Yin He at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center.

    <span>As for their route, it was naturally to follow the creek they had found earlier.

    <span>"Elder Liu, if we continued following the creek, how can you be so sure that it is the right direction? If it is the direction that flows toward the sea, then wouldn''t that mean we are going back from where we started?" Han GuangMing asked hesitantly.

    <span>He wasn''t questioning Liu Gan''s strategy, but he wanted to learn how to survive in the wilderness with his own ability. These few days proved that Elder Liu might not be there to give out directions, so he must learn to do it himself, or at least be able to make the right calls.

    <span>"I can''t guarantee that this creek will be able to lead us to where we need to go, but from the flow of the stream doesn''t seem to be heading toward the sea. It is flowing ind. This is all my assumption; as to whether it is true, I won''t know until we get there," Liu Gan replied honestly.

    <span>"If we get lost in the wilderness, do we always follow the creek?" Han GuangMing continued to ask.

    <span>"Following the creek out of the jungle is a high possibility, but it might not be the safest nor the fastest route. At least it is a route; it''s not an easy route, but it will work better than you searching for yourself," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Ah, I understand now! Thank you Elder Liu!" Han GuangMing

    <span>"It was tough for you these few days, if it weren''t for you I wouldn''t have survived until now," Liu Gan patted Han GuangMing on the shoulder.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you don''t need to say that¡­We were able to survive up until now because we followed you. You leveled us up so these few days I am just repaying my debt!" Han GuangMing grew red from embarrassment.

    <span>"Squad Leader Han is really good. I thought he was only a high schooler, but he has the capabilities of a squad leader. If it weren''t for him, we wouldn''t have known what else to do. His leadership skill helped us survive for this long," Zhao Meng startedplimenting Han GuangMing.

    <span>"But, it''s all Elder Liu''s effort, that we were able to survive countless numbers of days," Han GuangMing passed off thepliment.

    <span>As the group followed the stream for an hour and half, the noise from the stream changed to a thunderous boom. Liu Gan felt disturbed, so he rushed forward. Just as expected, the stream flowed into a waterfall. The waterfall was a steep drop from a precipice cliff.

    <span>The height of this cliff face was at least a hundred meters. There was no easy way down. If they had to search for an alternative route, it would take a day or two. There was no guarantee that they could find the way down.

    <span>Liu Gan was deciding whether they should rappel down or climb down. Climbing down had the higher degree of difficulty. The surfaces of the rock by the waterfall were very smooth, so it was impossible to find ces to grip by rock climbing. So, the only feasible thing to do was to rappel down.

    <span>While looking at his surroundings, Liu Gan decided to gather the required materials. Liu Gan grew up ying in trees and with vines, so he knew it was the best material to turn into rope. Liu Gan climbed onto thergest tree and with his dagger, he sliced off many vines and left them on the ground. Then he advised the others to use a specific method of twisting to conjoin all of them. As long as the length of this vine rope was at least a hundred meters, everyone could rappel off the precipice safely.

    <span> Liu Gan tied one end of the vine rope to the nearest tree, and the rest of the rope he tossed over the side of cliff. Standing right above the cliff, he first confirmed that the rope reached the bottom. Then, he started rappelling down. <button ss="btn btn-sm btn-primary" type="button" data-toggle="copse" data-target="#notes" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="notes"><i ss="fa fa-sticky-note"></i> Notes</button>

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 Chapter 341

    <span><strong>Chapter 341 - Violent Journey</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The precipice was rugged in between rocks, making it difficult to rappel. The best ce to rappel down the facing was near the path of the waterfall. The view of the waterfall was breathtaking. However, rappelling down in the middle of the waterfall, you could feel the full force of the water pressure that made it impossible for people to breathe.

    <span>In addition, the surface of the rocks were very slippery, making it hard to get a good footing. The vine ropes were soaked with water, making it hard to get a grip. But under Liu Gan''s guidance, everyone slid down the rope without much issue.

    <span>At the base of the waterfall, another stream formed, flowing into arger river. Liu Gan used a stone to hammer onto his dagger like an axe. Using this method, he chopped down a number of straight trees. After trimming the branches and twigs, Liu Gan aligned the trees. The vines were used to hold the trees together and form a raft.

    <span>When they sat down on the raft, night was falling and they would be traveling in the dark. For safety''s sake, they had to move slowly.

    <span>After two days of traveling, they finally left the woods. Liu Gan''s guess proved correct, this direction of travel didn''t lead back to the sea. It was heading ind away from the sea. There was a small town that was right on the outskirts of the jungle.

    <span>After a brief rest, Liu Gan disembarked from the raft to scout the town. With the rest of the team, they investigated the area. They killed several hundred regr zombies and a few variant zombies. Jiang JinYuan made level 6. In the town, they found several motorcycles. After refueling them, Liu Gan''s group headed toward the city nonstop.

    <span>It wouldn''t be too long before Liu Gan could see Yin He. Liu Gan was riding the motorcycle violently, there were three separate asions where people had set up an ambush on both sides of the street. Since Liu Gan wanted to return to the city as quickly as possible, he killed them without mercy, riding through the blockades without much problem.

    <span>Except for any beta yers, Liu Gan didn''t believe that at the present stage other yers would prove much of a threat.

    <span>Liu Gan was definitely not familiar with the countryside of the southern region. He couldn''t suppress his urges. He kept circling the area, and after spending a day and night, he returned to the outskirts of Nin Jing city. After parking their motorcycles properly, he returned to a familiar block. It was the very starting point where he transferred in: San Xing Corporation''s Biochemistry Intelligence Research building.

    <span>The building was in front of the city za. The only thing left standing was the pir, the billboard was gone. All that was left of the billboard were twisted metal bars. At least a hundred zombies were scattered around the za. When they saw the new group, they quickly charged, trying to surround them. Compared to the time when Liu Gan first entered The Trembling World, their bodies looked withered, but they could still move very quickly.

    <span>Although these undying zombies didn''t match up with logic. Liu Gan didn''t really care about the details on how these zombies moved. In the end, he treated it as a game.

    <span>After the members set up their battle formation, it didn''t take them long to kill all of the zombies on the za. Liu Gan was deeply moved. Compared with the time when he first transferred in, he was doing incredibly well. With Liu Gan''s current condition, these normal zombies were killed as easily as ants.

    <span>During his initial startup, he nearly died here. If not for the billboard, he would''ve been surrounded by the corpse tide. He hadn''t had anywhere else to escape.

    <span>From the moment he transferred into The Trembling World, two months had passed by. The real world was bing further and further away. To him, the Trembling World was more realistic. It was as if everything here was more real.

    <span>In the end, which was the true real world? No one could say for sure.

    <span>"Of course, when I came here with you, we used your PDA to open several door locks¡­" Liu Gan exined to Jiang JinYuan while walking. Liu Gan exined that situation as a trigger for Jiang JinYuan''s memory.

    <span>"In the dark, there was a Variant Zombie that attacked us. You were stabbed through the heart, I couldn''t react in time to save you. So¡­" Liu Gan exined how he found Yin He in the underground chamber, and about Jiang JinYuan''s death.

    <span>"The PDA has all my data? I didn''t know that." Jiang JinYuan was surprised at the revtion.

    <span>"Su Nina exined that the data was part of a special type of instation. Once it returns to your body, it cannot be reused. So, now that you''ve revived once, your next time won''t be as easy," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Ah¡­ No matter what, I am very grateful for you. If it weren''t for you, I would''ve been dead. I can''t aplish the job given to me by thepany," Jiang JinYuan sighed.

    <span>"We would have revived your original physique and looks, but your original body was too weak. That body had a high chance of cancer. Even its innate leveling ability was too low. You weren''t that¡­ handsome. Adding to the other conditions, recreating a new body would''ve taken three days. We didn''t have enough time. So we had to find a body recement instead. I can''t exin the rest of the details to you," Liu Gan added.

    <span>"This is good, I would never have thought that I would be this handsome with a good physique. I''m full of energy and I don''t have to worry about cancer¡­ The problem is when I return back to the real world, my wife and daughter won''t be able to recognize me¡­ Ah¡­ No matter what, with this handsome face, I won''t feel so inferior."

    <span>Now that Liu Gan had exined everything to Jiang JinYuan, he fell silent. They''d arrived at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center, and walked all the way down to the underground chamber. The problem was that Yin He was still missing.

    <span>Han GuangMing and the others sensed something was wrong when they arrived to an empty chamber. Even though they didn''t say anything, they knew that Yin He was separated from Liu Gan by the attack from the fighter airship. No one knew her whereabouts; could she have been captured by the Armored Warriors after the fight?

    <span>The fighter airship was very prepared for the fight. It had the devastating destructive force of the dimensional bomb that could easily shatter the protective armor of the warriors.

    <span>When Liu Gan felt as if his mood was at its lowest, from the top of the stairs, was a loud barking sound. Liu Gan saw that it was a garden dog that pounced towards him.

    <span>Without a doubt, this was the robotic dog NaNa!

 Chapter 342

    <span><strong>Chapter 342 - Reunion</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"NaNa!" Liu Gan hugged the robot dog in surprise. He looked around to see if Yin He was nearby.

    <span>She couldn''t possibly hide in order to surprise himter, right? That type of joke wasn''t her style.

    <span>After NaNa came running down the stairs, he still didn''t see Yin He anywhere. He was disappointed. If she was here, she would be the first one to hug him and not jokingly hide around.

    <span>Could she have encountered something unexpected, and ordered NaNa toe here instead?

    <span>"<span><em>Woof Woof!"</em>

    <span>NaNa barked twice, then from dimensional space it equipped the full body armor to revive the look of a robotic dog. From both eyes, it shot out ionized projector lights, and the 3D image of Yin He appeared.

    <span>"Brother Gan, I''ve waited here for more than ten days. I believe in your abilities, but it is too long for you to reach here. Unless something has happened, I''m getting worried. So I decided to return back to the sea to find you¡­"

    <span>"NaNa and I canmunicate through a temporary quantummunication technology. If you reached the meet up point and find NaNa, say to her ''Open Communications''. She will open a channel with me. Half a minute should be rather safe before they can detect it¡­"

    <span>"Brother Gan, please don''t let anything happen to you¡­"

    <span>Hearing Yin He leave this depressing voice message, Liu Gan felt relieved. Nothing happened to her, she was just worried so she returned back to the sea to find him.

    <span>"NaNa, openmunications," Liu Gan quickly said to the dog.

    <span>It didn''t take very long for NaNa and Yin He to open up amunication channel. Yin He''s 3D projection appeared on the floor in front of NaNa. Only this time it wasn''t a recorded message, it was a live image. He was unsure of what technology it relied on, but it also disyed her surroundings.

    <span>She was at the town on the outskirts of the jungle investigating the clues that Liu Gan had left behind, namely the zombie bodies that Liu Gan had killed mercilessly.

    <span>"I''ve arrived at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center with NaNa," <span>Liu Gan quickly informed Yin He.

    <span>"Brother Gan, wait for me, I will return to you quickly," Yin He excitedly replied.

    <span>From the moment they''d met, they had never been apart for this long. In fact, this was the first time they''d been separated.

    <span>"No, you stay there. I wille find you. There''s something I need to finish in the jungle," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Okay, I will wait for you." Yin He nodded. For safety''s sake, it was best to halt the quantummunication before it was intercepted.

    <span>"Congrattions Elder Liu, you found vice-leader He!" Han GuangMing quickly spoke up. Han GuangMing knew how much Yin He meant to Liu Gan, even he felt terrible when he didn''t see her waiting in the chamber.

    <span>Liu Gan hadn''t been happy since he woke up from the sea. Even though his personality was rather antisocial, he still preferred thepany of Yin He. Han GuangMing knew that fact and it pained him to see Liu Gan so depressed.

    <span>"I will return to kill the Advanced Bear and avenge the two scientists! You can stay here for now, once I am finished with my task I will reunite with you!" Liu Gan ordered Han GuangMing.

    <span>Revenge was one reason. But since they hadn''t met many Advanced monsters yet, being able to kill the Malevolent Bear would be a power spike in his leveling up. It was possible for him to level up to 10. Once he reached level 10, it was the beginning of a new stage. He would be able topete against the beta yers.

    <span>"Elder Liu, can Ie with you?" Han GuangMing asked.

    <span>"No, you won''t be able to keep up with my speed. I want to get there at top speed," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Okay!" Han GuangMing sensed something else was going on, so he didn''t persist.

    <span>Elder Liu had been apart from Vice-leader He for so long, they must want to meet up as quickly as possible. When they met up, if they did anything, they wouldn''t want any bystanders to bother them. It would be best if they had some time alone.

    <span>After arranging tasks for Han GuangMing and the others to aplish while he was absent, Liu Gan departed with NaNa. They frantically rushed out. Every obstacle that was in the way was either ran over or kicked aside. As for the regr zombies along the route, he didn''t even bother wasting time to kill them. Like a speeding tank, he smashed into them and continued on out towards the outskirts of the city.

    <span>Arriving at the outskirts, Liu Gan reimed the motorcycle that he had stashed away earlier. Refueling the motorcycle, he rode away in the direction of the small town.

    <span>NaNa didn''t get on the motorcycle, she easily paced the riding Liu Gan. The dog must have suppressed her speed earlier, when Liu Gan was running on foot.

    <span>It was at least a hundred kilometers from t<span>he Northern district from the sea to the edge of the jungle. Liu Gan had meandered through the forest, wasting a lot of time and effort; two days of wandering, to be exact. However, now that he had been there and back, he knew the approximate area to head towards. Within a mere three hours, he was able to return to the town on the outskirts of the jungle.

    <span>Upon hearing the roaring engine of the motorcycle and feeling NaNa''s transmission signal closing in, Yin He walked out to the town''s entrance to greet them. When Liu Gan saw Yin He, he got off the motorcycle immediately and ran towards her. He really wanted to hug her so when their bodies collided¡­ it resulted in a loud ''<span><strong>bang</strong><span>'' as the nearby cracked walls fell. It was a truly romantic scene where the ground was shaking and walls copsing.

    <span>Liu Gan held Yin He in his arms and moved in for the kiss on her lips.

    <span>Yin He closed her eyes¡­

    <span>As for what happened after that, one can take a guess.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span><em>Two strenuous hourster...</em>

    <span>"I heard that Lee Miao is pregnant," Yin He replied as she was still within his arms.

    <span>"Ah?" Liu Gan didn''t think that Yin He was capable of this topic.

    <span>"She said she will help Zhang ShengLi give birth to a son¡­" Yin He continued.

    <span>"Yeah, that is the product of their love," Liu Gan nodded. He had just exhausted most of this stamina, so he was sweating profusely .

    <span>"If I was a normal person, then¡­ what we did, could I also bear a child?" Yin He giggled.

    <span>"Ah¡­ hmm¡­" Liu Gan had no idea how to answer this question.

 Chapter 343

    <span><strong>Chapter 343 - Dog Fight</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"I want to give you a son, a baby Gan¡­" Yin He rubbed her face on Liu Gan''s chest.

    <span>"Sounds good¡­" Liu Gan was stumped by her words. He had some regrets about whether what he had done was the right choice.

    <span>But, it felt <span><em>really</em><span> good.

    <span>"It is upsetting that I''m different from you. I can''t bear a child." Yin He was depressed.

    <span>"It''s no matter, we can adopt one," Liu Gan consoled Yin He.

    <span>"No, that''s not what I want. It isn''t the same, it isn''t baby Gan," Yin He shook her head.

    <span>"It doesn''t matter, as long as we are together. Whether we have a baby Gan, it doesn''t matter," Liu Gan shook his head. He hadn''t realized how much he had enjoyed herpany until the days when she was gone. Much of his time he had spent worrying about her.

    <span>"Do you like NaNa?" Yin He asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes I like her, she is rather cute," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Then you can have a baby with her. She can bear children for you. I decided not to get jealous of you two. Since I can'' have your baby," Yin He honestly replied.

    <span>"NaNa? Even if I like her, I don''t think she can give birth, right?" Liu Gan stared at the robot dog and quickly shook his head.

    <span>"Haha, I didn''t finish! I meant Su Nina¡­" Yin He jokingly punched Liu Gan.

    <span>"Haha¡­ Quit joking, I''m just friends with Su Nina. There''s no love between us. I only owe her a favor. I will only use my friendship to repay her and not with love. My love belongs to you and only you. There''s no room for me to share, so let''s not debate this anymore," Liu Gan sternly replied.

    <span>"Brother Gan, I still feel that I am not worthy enough," Yin He pouted with a depressed look.

    <span>"There''s no reason to feel so let down. You have returned to my side and that is God''s blessing to me. I thought I would be alone forever. I thought that I would have to search alone for the meaning of my life. It wasn''t until that moment when I was separated from you that I understood the true meaning of my life. It is to be with you. I want to be with you forever, without having the need to separate," Liu Gan gently kissed Yin He''s cheeks.

    <span>"I''ve heard that a sma spirit is the same age as the cosmos. I''ve wandered the cosmos for many years. I''ve lost most of my memory, so I don''t even know how I came about. I guess I am also searching for my meaning of life? Perhaps several million and millions of years ago, when the cosmos was born, I was already destined to meet you. You are the meaning to my life," Yin He stared into Liu Gan''s eyes, as she closed in for a kiss.

    <span>"<span><em>Woof Woof!"</em>

    <span>NaNa was very bored as it waited for its owner. Being a single dog was a terrible feeling! Especially when the owners had no shame and continued with their conjugal rtionship in public.

    ***

    <span>It was veryte by the time Liu Gan''s two hours of sexual activity had finished, plus he was traveling back and forth for most of the day. He really needed a good night''s sleep, and chose to stay in the town for the night. Night time wouldn''t be the ideal time for him to hunt the Advanced Malevolent Bear.

    <span>As for the night guard duty, it was left for NaNa. Yin He was apanying the sleeping Liu Gan. Even though she didn''t need to sleep, she loved the feeling of having an arm around her.

    ***

    <span>The very next morning, Liu Gan was woken up by several dog barks. Outside of his cabin were severalrge dogs. Liu Gan casually walked out with Yin He, and they saw that there were also several cars parked nearby.

    <span>Standing by the parked cars were a dozen men. There was a bulky man that stood out the most, and in his hands were two leashes. Each of the leashes was attached to a nasty looking Tibetan Mastiff. From the looks of it, the dogs had been mutated by the virus. These dogs must have been tamed by someone''s [Tamer] ability. That [Tamer] ability had to be high level, since they could control two Variant Tibetan Mastiffs.

    <span>The two Variant Tibetan Mastiffs released a low growl at NaNa, looking ready to tear NaNa apart. NaNa retaliated with barks of her own. NaNa still had the order that limited her radius of movement, since she was still in guard duty mode.

    <span>"Boss, it is him! He killed several of our brethren and ran off! I saw him ride back here on the motorcycle. I didn''t think we would be able to catch him!" shouted a nearby yer, pointing at Liu Gan.

    <span>Along the route to the city center, Liu Gan had killed several people during their ambush attempts. Liu Gan didn''t have the time to chase after the ones that escaped alive. These people wanted to avenge their fallenrades.

    <span>"Are you stupid? We only wanted money from our roadblock. How dare you kill so many of our brethren! How do you think we should resolve this!?" shouted by the bulky male yer holding the Mastiffs.

    <span>"How do you want to settle this?" Liu Gan looked at the dog master.

    <span>"You have a dog, too? How about this. I won''t bully you. We can settle this with a dog fight. If your dog loses, you will kowtow toward us a hundred times, cut off your arms and legs and blind yourself. After that, I will take good care of yourdy. Hahaha¡­" said the dog handler. He had caught sight of Yin He.

    <span>Theckeys around him starting chuckling evilly.

    <span>These yers were elites and they were out for blood. With two Variant Tibetan Mastiffs, they considered theirbat strength unbeatable. Their enemies were only two yers and a dog, without any backup, in this isted town.

    <span>They had arrived in front of the house that Liu Gan was staying at. They looked around the area suitable for a dog fight. The dog fight suggestion was a way to embarrass the owner. A Variant Tibetan Mastiff against a garden dog? Even without any hidden abilities, NaNa had a smaller stature, so she didn''t look like a contender.

    <span>"You want to have a dog fight?" When Liu Gan heard the suggestion, he couldn''t contain hisughter.

    <span>"You don''t dare? If you don''t want to fight, then just get on your knees! You killed my people and then hooked up with this beautiful girl. You have guts to do something this bold!" the dog handler retorted.

    <span>"We can have a dog fight, but what happens if your dog loses?" Liu Gan asked. Yin He walked up to join Liu Gan. When she was around, Liu Gan found it easier to calm down. These people didn''t know what was good for them if they were picking a fight against him. Instead, he would enjoy this small diversion.

    ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)

 Chapter 344

    <span><strong>Chapter 344 - Divine Ground</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"<span><em>Hahahahaha</em><span>¡­ You think my dog will lose? You don''t know the limits of your ability! From what I can tell, you are delusional!" The bulky yer stared at NaNa. From what he could tell, there was nothing special about the garden dog.

    <span>"Cut the bullshit, let the dog out to take care of them!"<span>shouted the frustrated bystanders.

    <span>"Go! Bite that dog and then kill the man. Leave the woman for us!" the husky man ordered the Variant Tibetan Mastiff.

    <span>Almost instantly, the Tibetan Mastiff started charging towards NaNa. NaNa obediently looked back at Yin He for orders. Yin He gave the green light to NaNa. These next events happened very quickly. NaNa disappeared and charged towards the Variant Mastiff.

    <span>Even without equipping its armor, NaNa still had steel bones, although it was impossible to tell with the naked eye. The dogs collided. Cheers started roaring out as the bystanders watched. They were expecting the Variant Tibetan Mastiff to take a big bite out of the garden dog. Little did they expect that the garden dog would be biting into the neck of the Tibetan Mastiff after a brief tangle.

    <span>In front of their eyes was a Variant Tibetan Mastiff that should''ve had an overwhelming victory, since it was so fierce and huge. The opponent''s garden dog was small, but yet it held on to the neck of the Mastiff. No matter how hard the Variant Tibetan Mastiff tried to shake it off, NaNa didn''t let go. Eventually, NaNa bit through its neck. Its jugr severed, the Tibetan Mastiff lost consciousness and copsed to the ground in a pool of blood.

    <span>The once noisy cheering squad stopped abruptly; their massive Tibetan Mastiff was dead. It happened all too quickly, a truth that they were unable to ept.

    <span>After finishing off the first Variant Tibetan Mastiff, NaNa charged at the second Variant Tibetan Mastiff, and tore out its throat before the bystanders were able to react.

    <span>"Kill it!" the bulky man finally cried out after his dogs had died. With their weapons in hand, the bystanders charged at NaNa.

    <span>NaNa promptly equipped its Spatial Armor and reverted back into its recognizably robotic dog look. NaNa opened its mouth to reveal its fierce set of metallic canine teeth. NaNa leapt back and forth between its enemies. The level 5 and under yers all died from a single ripping bite or ripping w. The level 6 yers took two bites from NaNa due to their primitive Mist Armor.

    <span>The level 7 yer, the husky man, saw the situation and tried to escape. NaNa caught up to him and bit him on his leg.

    <span>In a contest of strength, the husky yer tried to punch NaNa off so he could escape, but with the Spatial Armor equipped, no signs of deformation affected NaNa at all. The husky yer''s primitive Mist Armor shattered after a prolonged bite from NaNa. Finally, there was a snap as his leg broke.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He walked over to look at the sorry state of the once-domineering yer.

    <span>"Spare my life! Don''t let it bite me anymore!" the man cried out.

    <span>"What did you say before? ''Bite that dog and then kill the man. Leave the woman for us!'' It was good that my dog won. If your dog won, then we would''ve been in your position. So why should I spare you now?" Liu Gan crouched down over the man.

    <span>"Buddy! No! I was just joking¡­ Don''t take that too seriously¡­ If you spare my life, my camp and all myckeys, even my harem will be yours!" cried the man. The pain of his broken leg was too much for him to bear, he had to continue begging for mercy. He had no idea who his opponent was, and they were even able to hijack a robotic dog! This had to be a bug in the game, right?

    <span>"I am absolutely not interested in your trash. At all," Liu Gan coldly replied. He waved his hand as a signal to NaNa to end the man''s life.

    <span>As a level 7 yer, leading a handful of level 6 andrger group of level 5 yers, with two Variant Tibetan Mastiffs around, his camp had been considered an elite group. It could be said that they were one of the biggest forces of the Northern NinJing region. However, Liu Gan didn''t even need to participate. He simply ordered NaNa to take out the whole group.

    <span>Resolving this short interlude, Liu Gan and Yin He charged deeper into the jungle woods to resolve his old dispute.

    <span>When Liu Gan tried to leave the jungle a week ago, he was fixated on reuniting urgently with Yin He. Overall, his temper had been very impatient and irritated. Now that he had met up with Yin He, he became much more rxed and lively.

    <span>When Liu Gan and his group left the bear''s den, it took them two days and a night to leave the jungle. With Yin He and NaNa, it only took them a day''s worth of time to return to the area near the cave. By this time, the Malevolent Bear had reimed its den. It was napping when it heard movement outside and smelled a familiar scent - Liu Gan. The Malevolent Bear rushed out and roared at the intruders.

    <span>To the Malevolent Bear, these human intruders just didn''t know when to quit. They had upied its nest for several days already. Why did they return? Could it be this cave was a divine ground and they wanted to im it for the long term? Did they want to build a property on this ground? Was it even righteous?

    <span>"Bite it!" Liu Gan ordered NaNa.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan was the one ordering NaNa, themand had to go through Yin He. Yin He and NaNa''s short rangemunication didn''t have to be verbal, it was transmitted instantly in real-time. From an outsider''s perspective, it seemed that Liu Gan ordered NaNa.

    <span>Once NaNa received the order, she charged towards the Malevolent Bear. The Advanced Malevolent Bear was furious. Even though it couldn''t win against the humans, it had no idea why its opponents had sent out a garden dog to attack it. What was the point?

    <span><em>(Ed: This is one mightily overthinking high IQ bear.)</em>

    <span>Thinking back on its past, from the sea to the jungle, the Malevolent Bear was the king beast. No matter which wild beast or variant beast saw it, they would retreat in respect and fear. How dare a small garden dog decide to challenge the king beast?!

    <span>By the time NaNa reached the proximal vicinity of the bear, NaNa was ordered to equip the Spatial Armor. Then, NaNa made a huge leap to bite onto the bear''s right front paw.

    <span>The Malevolent Bear was instantly in pain; it flung its foreleg around wildly, but it couldn''t remove NaNa. The bear tried to take a bite out of NaNa, but its teeth shattered. This was when the king beast started to panic. Who were these people that are so strong? They had been a persistent problem - like a wart!

    <span>Liu Gan was standing far away on the side lines with his hands crossed. The Malevolent Bear saw Liu Gan and that was when it realized, Liu Gan must be interested in its territory.

    <span>That was the breaking point for the Malevolent Bear. It didn''t appreciate being looked down upon, but it didn''t want to y their game! The bear roared twice before it started running away from the fight.

    <span>Even if it intended to escape, NaNa was still stuck on the bear''s paw without any sign of letting go.

    Happy Holidays!

 Chapter 345

    <span><strong>Chapter 345 - In All Directions</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The bear was angry, yet nervous. It gave up the den, but why wouldn''t it stop chasing? Perhaps, he is interested in something else that it has to offer? Like deflowering it? That wouldn''t be¡­ good at all!

    <span>The bear ran on all fours through the jungle, it didn''t take long for the bear to escape to the deep parts of the jungle. But since it was unable to get rid of NaNa, Yin He was able to track the exact location and they trailed behind.

    <span>Suddenly the bear couldn''t run any more. Like an anchor, NaNa had her hind legs stuck to a thick tree root. The bear''s paw lost a few centimeters of meat from where NaNa had bit into it, but NaNa was holding on steadfastly.

    <span>The tree root wasn''t thick, but it wasn''t thin, either. If the bear had enough strength, one paw was enough to pull up the tree roots from the dirt. At least the tree roots could''ve been broken into pieces. The current situation was quite precarious for the bear. The robot dog had dug its teeth deep into the bear''s paw. Even though the bear could move its paw, it was hard to tell which would break first, the paw or the tree root.

    <span>Even if the bear pulled out the tree by the roots, with arge tree as anchor it would get stuck in between other trees. This was a difficult situation for the bear. The bear was panting, and it was in pain every time it moved its injured paw. With the other paw, it kept striking NaNa, but it was ineffective.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He caught up to the bear. Yin He realized that NaNa couldn''t handle the situation so she equipped her Spatial Armor and shot outsers from her fist at the Malevolent Bear.

    <span>The Malevolent Bear didn''t have an outer shell like Kingler, so its defensive capabilities were far worse than Kingler. Thesers left holes in the bear''s body. With a few more punches, blood was oozing out from the wounds.

    <span>The Malevolent Bear felt that it would definitely perish if this continued. Even if it was painful, the bear violently swung the wounded arm around. Poor little NaNa was shaken off. The Malevolent Bear pulled off theyer of skin that was hanging on its paw. It was crying out in pain as it ran toward the jungle.

    <span>NaNa got flung off, but it caught up to the bear. This time the little garden dog bit into the wound created by theser. The bear couldn''t shake off NaNa again, so it endured the pain and focused on running away.

    <span>It didn''t take long for Yin He and Liu Gan to catch up. Meanwhile, Yin He kept shootingsers at the Malevolent Bear whenever she had the chance. After an hour of chasing, the Malevolent Bear copsed onto the ground. It was unable to continue running due to excessive loss of blood.

    <span>"That''s all it took?" Liu Gan wasn''t too willing to get close to the Malevolent Bear. Could it be ying dead? Or was this a chance for him to reach level 10?

    <span>This Malevolent Bear''sbat ability was far too weak. At leastpared to Kingler, this bear was weak. With a little effort, it just gave up? This was a little too unusual. Perhaps, it wasn''t an Advanced Beast? Otherwise, it couldn''t be this weak, right?

    <span>Liu Gan was thoroughly disappointed as he walked up to the Malevolent Bear. Carefully, he shoved a hand grenade into an open wound on the bear''s body. The n was to blow up<span>the bear from within.

    <span>The problem was that after the explosion went off and the smoke had dissipated, there were no ck orbs that leaked out from the bear''s body. In fact, the explosion caused the bear''s body to swell up...

    <span>Yin He shot hersers a few more times at the swollen body, but no harm was done.

    <span>"Damn! He couldn''t have mutated into his second state right?" Liu Gan felt that something was wrong with the situation¡­ The once wounded bear stood up. This time its eyes wereplete ck, there were no longer signs of intelligence behind those eyes. Aside from that, its ck fur became as sharp as thorns.

    <span>In appearance, this bear looked more like a hedgehog now!

    <span>"Not good!" Yin He screamed, as she pushed Liu Gan onto the floor for cover. At the same time, a shadow trailed behind the ck thorns as they wereunched everywhere in the surroundings. These ck thorns left holes in the trees wherever they came in contact. The thorns didn''t stop at the first tree, going through several trees until the force propelling the thorns was exhausted.

    <span>Needless to say, this Advanced Malevolent Bear had two transformational states. After it was heavily injured, it would shift form to this state. In this state it could shoot out densely packed thorns.

    <span>If Yin He hadn''t covered Liu Gan in time, his body would''ve been filled with thorns. The Mist Armor would''ve been severely damaged.

    <span>Against this type of bear, even NaNa wouldn''t be able to do much damage. Even Yin He''sser did limited damage to the new state of the bear. Thesers only created a dent on the surface of the bear, it was as if its skin had be a thickyer of armor.

    <span>"Hide somewhere far away for the moment, wait until I can beat the state of this bear. I will call you back over," Yin He told Liu Gan.

    <span>"Do you have enough energy?" Liu Gan was quite worried.

    <span>"Just enough, I will use the remaining three months of energy. It is more than enough to defeat it," Yin He replied.

    <span>The thorny bear charged toward Yin He and Liu Gan. The bear''s ws were extended. When it started waving its ws around, the nearby tree trunks were shaved off when they connected. The trees fell like fresh timber in the jungle.

    <span>Liu Gan took the chance to use [Psychic Shock] at the thorny bear, but it was ineffective. It seemed that when it was in this condition the thorny bear didn''t have any conscience, so the skill was ineffective.

    <span>With Yin He''s protection, Liu Gan escaped the scene. He couldn''t do anything to help now. He was just a burden to Yin He and NaNa if he remained on the battlefield. This battle was enough to rattle the mountain. Liu Gan stood a hundred meters away, but he still felt the shaking. He could only imagine how intense the fight must be at the center of it.

    <span>Liu Gan thought that with his powerful psychic and superb defensive abilities, along with his underwater breathing ability, he was a strong contender. Up until now, he wasn''t able to awaken a offensive physical ability. Otherwise, at least he could have supported in the fight and not stood idly by.

    <span>He was still unsure if Yin He and NaNa could handle the thorny bear, how much effort would it take to kill it? If too much energy was exhausted, then this fight was not worthwhile.

    <span>asionally, Liu Gan snuck closer to the battlefield. From afar, he could seeplete chaos. The trees at the center of the fight, were all taken down. The shrubs were crushed underneath the trees. There were traces of footprints, and thorns stuck on the trees.

    <span>The amount of thorns on the bear had decreased significantly, it looked like it had used up most of the projectiles. Yin He and NaNa had the upper hand, so killing the bear was only a matter of time.

    <em>(Ed: This bear has some issues.)</em>

 Chapter 346

    <span><strong>Chapter 346 - Crescent de</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Christmas event with pipipingu, Chaotic Sword God trantor! Sponsor a chapter here and he will match my chapter release! Merry Christmas! Thanks Karl for the sponsor!<hr>

    <span>Clearly there were some issues with this thorny bear''s intelligence. These thorns weren''t a threat to NaNa and Yin He, but the projectile thorns hadn''t stopped¡­ at least until the thorny bear ran out of thorns on its now-smooth back.

    <span>Still, the most impressive aspect of the thorny bear was its w. Luckily it was Yin He and NaNa doing the close-quartersbat. If it was Liu Gan, his [Mist Armor] would''ve been destroyed ages ago.

    <span>If The Trembling World was really a type of game, Liu Gan was cheating. He was using Yin He and NaNa to power-level. If it were other yers around his level, their strength would not have been be able to wound the bear even at the first state. Needless to say, they wouldn''t have been able to force a transformation into the second state.

    <span>With countlesssers fired at the thorny bear, Yin He was able to severely wound it. NaNa also bit off various parts of its arm. Once the thorny bear was assessed as harmless, Liu Gan was called over. He shoved two hand grenades into the thorny bear to end its life.

    <span>Arge ck orb seeped out from the blown-up bear. It was several degrees less dense than the orb that came out from Kingler. The bear was weaker than Kingler? Aside from that, Liu Gan still felt the burning sensation of leveling up, and his wrist watch confirmed that he was now level 10!

    <span>The Trembling World had a rule that every five levels would grant an ability. Liu Gan had three abilities prior to level 10; his abilities were [Mist Armor], [Psychic Shock], and [Dermal Respiration]. With the possibility of a new ability, he hoped it could be some offensive ability that he longed for.

    <span>His new ability, [Crescent de], had no cooldown timer. [Crescent de] could be activated once one of the two requirements are met: If Liu Gan was extremely angry or [Mist Armor] was damaged. [Crescent de] could be charged up with this fury to increase its damage output. As long as the fury counter wasn''t empty, then a set amount of fury was consumed on every activation of [Crescent de]. Even when both arms and legs were upied inbat, the ability could still be activated. It projected a ray-like de from him ten centimeters long that trailed golden light and dealt immense damage to the target<span>.

    <span>When fury was fully charged, the [Enhanced Crescent de] could be cast. This enhanced ability had a range up to twelve meters away with ten times the power of [Crescent de].

    <span>The wrist watch didn''te with any instruction manual other than the ability name, Liu Gan spent fifteen minutes testing his newly gained ability. However, he was unable to activate the [Crescent de] ability. Frustrated with hisck of sess, he looked down to notice something resembling a counter. As if he sensed the purpose behind it, he ordered Yin He to attack him. The fury counter started to rise up, and eventually he was able to cast his first [Crescent de].

    <span>Through repeated experimentation, Liu Gan figured that his [Mist Armor] had to be damaged to a tenth of its durability before the fury counter maxed out. Releasing the [Enhanced Crescent de], he was surprised at how powerful his first offensive ability was.

    <span>The [Crescent de] easily sliced through tree trunks up to thirty centimeters in diameter when close up. The [Enhanced Crescent de] could slice apart a tree trunk with a diameter of fifty centimeters that was twelve meters away!

    <span>This type of ability that required damaging [Mist Armor] to build up fury points was not something Liu Gan was fond of. This pent-up unhappiness turned into anger, which also slightly increased his fury counter. As if he had sensed something, he tested out his theory by doing things that will aggravate himself. Adding to it, he raised his voice and started screaming; he also confirmed that being angry was sufficient in increasing the fury. This was more fitting for his agenda.

    <span>Aside from that, his body strength, agility, hearing, vision were increased significantly more than hisst few level ups. Even his [Mist Armor] was ten times more dense than before.

    <span>With his current strength, he could fight against the second state of the bear. Liu Gan estimated that he could win before his [Mist Armor] was severely damaged.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t feel self-satisfied with his current stats. In fact, he felt an urgent crisis to find more Advanced monsters to raise his level and stats. Judging from Su Nina, there were a lot of beta yers setting on the Main Ind. The total tally could reach up to at least two thousand yers.

    <span>If they were able to survive, their levels wouldn''t be low at all. If he didn''t catch up to their level, then the moment these beta yers left the Main Ind for the outer inds it would be a problem. Another foreseeable problem would be if Liu Gan decided to head onto the Main Ind, then these beta yers would be a huge threat.

    <span>These beta yers relied on their earlier experiences with a standardputer and mouse to raise their levels. With this easy head start, it wasn''t fair to the other yers. Was it always this unfair in the world?

    <span>In this world, there was no such thing as justice, Liu Gan could only rely on himself. Even when Liu Gan was transferred into The Trembling World, his alloy limbs were a huge advantage over his peer yers. This was a type of unfair treatment to other yers.

    <span>Regardless, these beta yers didn''t have to experience the same experiences that the general yers had to go through in order to survive. These beta yers came in with a silver spoon with less realbat experience than the lucky survivors or the general yers. In terms of advantage, Liu Gan felt that these countlessbat experiences made him better.

    <span>After testing out the new ability, Liu Gan prepared to leave with Yin He and NaNa back to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center to regroup with Han GuangMing. After that, the next step would be to visit the symbol on Mr. Sheng''s map, to see if the Spatial Transfer Gate actually existed.

    <span>Even if the Spatial Transfer Gate existed, Liu Gan didn''t dare to enter it. He just wants to check for its location and once he had more information on the gate, he could reconsider.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>By the time they returned to the foot of the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center, it was close to three in the afternoon. Only Jiang JinYuan and Young Gao remained. Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng had left to gather food and water.

    <span>There was a huge difference when Jiang JinYuan also reached level 6. The scattered normal zombies weren''t a threat. Young Gao and Jiang JinYuan searched the building together and found some useful materials. They built amunication device that was ready for use.

    <span>Liu Gan attempted to reach out to the prisonpound, and after a few tries it was sessful. He updated his current situation to Zhang ShengLi.

    <span>"We are in the Northern Region, I want to investigate this area first. I have to find out if the Spatial Transfer Gate exists in this area. I received information to enter this gate, it would require a key. Before I find the exact location of this gate, I don''t want to return yet. As for thepound, you are in charge," Liu Gan briefly summarized.

 Chapter 347

    <span><strong>Chapter 347 - Ticket</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>2nd Sponsor chapter! Remember CSG will be 1:1 match on my sponsored releases! Thanks Travis F. and Peter B.!<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, stay safe, I don''t think the Spatial Transfer Gate can be solved in the short-term. <span><em>Serenity </em><span>airship is destroyed, but Treadmill and the others onboard are safe. I received some information a few days earlier, I don''t know if Elder Liu will be happy hearing it," Zhang ShengLi replied back.

    <span>"What is the message?"

    <span>Zhang ShengLi updated Liu Gan of all the transmitted broadcasts that were picked up during this time. Some were useful to Liu Gan, but most were not. There was one particr piece of information that attracted Liu Gan''s attention. It was regarding <span><em>Brave</em><span>, a codenamed airship.

    <span>With the destruction of <span><em>Serenity</em><span>, Liu Gan had to shift his focus to other airships, in particr the sole <span><em>Brave </em><span>model. Zhang ShengLi recorded all the names that were used over the public channel and on this channel; the message was an open bounty. They were looking for people on their list. If anyone found those people, they could reach out to the <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship. The bounty reward for each person found was a ticket onboard the <span><em>Brave</em><span>. There would be a helicopter dispatched to pick the people up.

    <span>On that list was a name, Lee Dong. This person was the captain''s grandson, and he was four years old.

    <span>"This DongDong¡­" Liu Gan suddenly remembered the name. It was close to the same name as the small kid that LuLu had rescued. The kid also said his grandpa was a captain? If that was the case, then finding DongDong would mean someone onboard the <span><em>Brave</em><span> would send a pick-up?

    <span>As long as Liu Gan got onboard the <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship, he was confident that he could hijack it solo. As long as the crew remained alive, he could navigate it to wherever he wanted.

    <span>That DongDong¡­ could he still be in the Lucky Garden Residential District? The only reason Liu Gan still remembered the name of the area was because he had been on high alert ever since he transferred into the game, and that area left a deep impression on him.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan left LuLu and DongDong behind in the Lucky Garden District, he wasn''t sure if they were still there. From the time he left them behind to now, it had been two months. With LuLu''s ability and personality, it was highly unlikely that they were able to survive this long, especially with a young child.

    <span>It was good thing that the Lucky Garden District was along the route from the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center to Mr. Sheng''s indicator on the map, so Liu Gan wouldn''t have to take a detour. This way he could see if he was able to find DongDong. If he found him, then this <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship would be his.

    <span>Shortly after the transmission with Zhang ShengLi was over, Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng returned from their gathering trip. They also brought along another person.

    <span>It was a young girl.

    <span>"Elder Liu! When did you and Vice-leader He return?" Han GuangMing happily rushed over to give Liu Gan a bear hug.

    <span>Liu Gan was very ufortable with such an affectionate disy of friendship. Han GuangMing felt slightly embarrassed after he realized what he had done and released his grip. Then, he introduced the neer to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Elder Liu, do you recognize her?" Han GuangMing proudly asked. When he first met Liu Gan, there was a order that was given to him and it was to find the pair of sisters. He wasn''t able to fulfill this task and it caused him moments of gloominess. Never would he have thought that he could find the sister here.

    <span>"You are¡­ the water caltrop sisters?" Liu Gan slowly recognized the young girl with mud smudged on her face. The water caltrop sisters¡­ their surname sounded close to Lee? What was it? Lee¡­?

    <span>"I am DingXiang. I recognize you! You are the big brother who gave me crackers," the young girl nodded quickly.

    <span>"Oh right, you are Lee DingXiang. You have an older sister, Lee DingXin right? Where is your sister? Why isn''t she with you?" Liu Gan asked Lee DingXiang. He had promised these sisters good food, but he was never able to fulfill that promise.

    <span>"Sister was taken away¡­" Lee DingXiang started crying loudly.

    <span>"Oh¡­ Don''t cry. Who took her away?" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"Three days ago, we met a group of people while searching for food. They surrounded us. They didn''t look like good people. I ran with my sister as fast as we could. Sister tried to bait them so I could run away. Then, she was caught by them," Lee DingXiang sobbed as she told her story.

    <span>"Where is your sister taken from? Do you know where those people are right now?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"I know¡­ They seem like they are¡­ at¡­ the College of Agriculture? They have a lot of people¡­" Lee DingXiang pointed in a certain direction.

    <span>That direction was exactly where Liu Gan was going to go anyway.

    <span>"No need to rush, as long as we know where she is. No matter who caught her, I will rescue her. As long as you lead us there, we can take a look at it," Liu Ganforted the younger sister.

    <span>These sisters were able to survive in this horrific world together, and Liu Gan was impressed. He also wanted to fulfill his promise toward them; he owed them a good meal. Now that Lee DingXin was caught, he could rescue them and use them as guides. These sisters were the local survivors of NinJing City, so they would be the most familiar with finding the whereabouts of Mr. Sheng''s map icon.

    <span>Since it wasn''t dark yet, the group hurried over to the Lucky Garden District. This area wasn''t affected by the gustnado so its structural integrity hadn''t beenpromised.

    <span>Shortly after, Liu Gan arrived at DongDong''s house. Inside the house, there was ayer of dust and cobwebs in the corners. There hadn''t been anyone living there for awhile now. There were no signs of LuLu or DongDong.

    <span>Liu Gan went to another location; it was the temporary camp that he had suggested to LuLu and Pan Hua before he left them. This location also wasyered with dust and cobwebs. No one had been here for a long time either.

    <span>As long as there was someone living here, there would be clues as to what happened to them. Liu Gan searched and found a diary. Cataloged on the top of the diary was a date. Judging from the style it was written, Liu Gan was able to confirm that it was by LuLu.

    <span>On the first day, LuLu found a distressed mother and daughter that had arrived at the Lucky Garden District. They were rescued by Liu Gan and he instructed them to find this area¡­ In fact, it was actually Jiang JinYuan who instructed the mother and daughter to find LuLu.

    <span><em>Could it be possible that he wille back?</em><span> LuLu ended that day''s diary with thisst sentence.

    <span>After two days, a six-year old child arrived at the Lucky Garden District. Her name was LingLing and she was covered in blood. She didn''t look infected, and LingLing said she was attacked by people and she quickly fainted.

    <span>LuLu helped treat LingLing''s wounds and fed her food. After waking up, the first thing LingLing wanted to hear was a song. She made LuLu sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".<hr>

    [TL: Chapter 40 when they first met DongDong]

    [TL: Chapter 66 for the mother (Cheng Qi) and daughter (Yao Yi)]

    [TL: Chapter 98 for LingLing trapped in the cage]

 Chapter 348

    <span><strong>Chapter 348 - Beginner Vige</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    1st Regr Chapter! Christmas event is still active! CSG will mirror my sponsored chapters!<hr>

    <span>LuLu started singing for LingLing the song <span><em>Twinkle Twinkle Little Star</em><span>. Her beautiful voice brought tears to LingLing. She said it was the same luby that her mother used to sing.

    <span>It didn''t take too long for LingLing to be attached to LuLu. She started following LuLu like a loyal attendant. It didn''t take LuLu to figure out something was different about LingLing. She could easily kill the normal zombies. One day there was a Variant Zombie that tried to attack LuLu, but LingLing was able to overwhelm the Variant Zombie instead. Then, LuLu took the finishing blow and reached level 5.

    <span>After reaching level 5 and with LingLing as apanion, LuLu became more courageous. In the diary, she went to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center, but she wasn''t able to find Liu Gan. She wrote down many questions like "where did he go?" and "would he return?". There were also many statements like "cold-hearted man", "heartless man", "pig-brained man" and many more angry phrases.

    <span>That was when her diary abruptly ended. There was no mention of where she lead DongDong.

    <span>"There is a picture book, Elder Liu. From the artwork, it looks like you." Han GuangMing handed over an open art book to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan flipped open the manga book, the first page showing a drawing of a person that resembled himself. Even though it was an exaggeration, Liu Gan had thick lips and was very expressive. The following pages were everything they''d experienced together, from Liu Gan rescuing them when they were stranded on the building rooftop, to when Wang ChangShun was bitten in the grocery store. There were also scenes of Liu Gan carrying LuLu out of the hardware store, Pan Hua''s tragic death, and Liu Gan teaching LuLu how to fight.

    <span>This was unquestionably, LuLu''s handiwork when she had time.

    <span>In particr with the scene of Liu Gan teaching LuLu how to fight, Liu Gan''s head resembled that of a pig. In the manga, he spoke the words "Are you a pig?". Seems like LuLu held quite the grudge when she was scolded by Liu Gan during training. The resentment ran quite deep for her to remember it for this long.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t help but chuckle. Seems like this female broadcaster had multiple talents. She was good at singing, and she could even draw.

    <span>After that were manga pages regarding LingLing, DongDong, Cheng Qi and Yao Yi, they were living with LuLu harmoniously. Liu Gan would never have thought that the same LingLing who killed Zhang ShengNan would escape to here. On top of that, she was taken in as an assistant to LuLu.

    <span>The manga and the diary both ended abruptly. There were no more signs of where LuLu might have taken DongDong. The n to use DongDong to gain that ticket had to be put on standby. The most important task now was to rescue the older sister, this way the water caltrop sisters could be reunited.

    <span>By now, night had started setting in. On top of rushing for the whole day, everyone was tired. They ate provisions brought in by Liu Gan from gathering in the forest. Their temporary camp for the night was in one of the houses in the Lucky Garden District.

    <span>***

    <span>The next morning after everyone freshened up, they packed everything and left Lucky Garden District heading toward the outer city.

    <span>The jungle to the sea was west of the Northern Region. Liu Gan was heading north, but from the eastern direction. From his brief glimpse of the PDA, the northeast region was huge. It consisted of twenty small viges or towns. There was even a college established there, NinJing City''s College of Agriculture.

    <span>NinJing City''s College of Agriculture was at the foot of thergest mountain in the valley of mountains. With Lee DingXiang guiding the group, Liu Gan and his group walked a day and a half before they arrived at the entrance of the college.

    <span>From Mr. Sheng''s simplistic hand drawn map, the Spatial Transfer Gate should be in one of the mountains behind this College of Agriculture.

    <span>It was just as Lee DingXiang had said, there were a lot of people in this college, and they were the group who had captured her sister. Just peeking into the College through the metal gates, they could see people ying sports - track & field, basketball, and ser. It was very lively and quite shocking. It was as if this scene was no different than from a college in the real world.

    <span>The wall by the entrance of the College had the words "Beginner Vige" written in. There were even receptionists standing by the entrance. Both of the receptionists stood up when they saw Liu Gan''s group head towards the gate.

    <span>Lee DingXiang felt scared as she hurried behind Liu Gan. In a whisper, she said this was where Lee DingXin was dragged to.

    <span>"Are you transferred yers?" the two receptionists smiled as they greeted Liu Gan. From first looks, they didn''t seem like harsh and terrible delinquents.

    <span>"Yes, what is this ''Beginner Vige''?" Liu Gan decided to figure out the situation within the enemy camp first.

    <span>These people seemed reasonable, so it was better to resolve matters through diplomatic means. If things couldn''t be resolved by discussion, then alternative persuasive means could also be used.

    <span>"We are all yers. As you might have known, two months ago we were thrown into this world, trapped into ying this game. That was when I met my current Elder Leader. He established this "Beginner Vige" so we can gather as many surviving yers and take them back here.

    <span>"I was also one of those lucky people rescued by our Elder Leader. After that, there was a specialized group of people to teach us how to kill zombies. They leveled us up to level 3. By level 3, we will arrange different types of jobs. Throughbor, you can earn your meal. Aplishing certain missions will earn you points. This point system can be used to exchange for items you desire."

    <span>"Every yer here is treated equally. Depending on your ability, you will be arranged to do tasks within your limits. No one will force you to do their bidding. If you are injured, someone will defend and treat you. In our society, we have social order within these walls"

    <span>"So would you like to join us? If you decide to join us, you won''t regret it!" the two receptionist warmly weed Liu Gan''s group.

    <span>"How many people are in the "Beginner Vige"?" Liu Gan continued to ask.

    <span>"Our leader has gathered up to a thousand yers. Everyday, he is bringing in yers like you into our camp. Surviving alone in this apocalyptic age is very difficult. With our leader''s guidance, we can work together with one another to prosper. If you are willing to join us, I can be your referrer!" the two receptionists continued to warmly push their agenda.

    <span>"What if they aren''t yers, can they join you?" Liu Gan asked the two. With that many people in their society, it would be quite difficult to find a person amongst so many. Lucky Garden District was rtively close by, so it wouldn''t be difficult to create a small society within the walls. There was a high possibility that LuLu and DongDong had been captured here.

    I got shivers from reading about LingLing.

 Chapter 349

    <span><strong>Chapter 349 - Personal Property</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>3rd Sponsored Chapter! Enjoy! Thanks Fabian R., Jhon T., Chris J.!<hr>

    <span>At that point, Liu Gan decided to infiltrate this society first. That way, he could find the person he wanted and he would be able to understand the situation inside better.

    <span>"Of course! Even if you aren''t a yer, if you are a local survivor we will happily ept you. The problem was that the local survivors have been treating us with hostility. So if a local survivor wanted to join us, they would have to be referred to by a yer to join our Beginner Vige"

    <span>"That way, the yer would be the local survivor''s voucher. If you decide to take a local survivor into here, then you will be held ountable for their actions. If they do something wrong or break any of the rules, you will suffer the punishment," the two receptionists hesitated for a short while before answering Liu Gan.

    <span>"That means¡­ each yer could bring one local survivor here?" Liu Gan showed his wrist watch to the two receptionists.

    <span>"Yes," the receptionists nodded.

    <span>"Can we bring dogs in?" Liu Gan pointed at NaNa by Yin He''s side.

    <span>"With such a lovely dog, there should be no problems" said one of the receptionists as they tried to approach NaNa to pet it on the head, but NaNa barked in refusal.

    <span>"These dogs suffered through the apocalypse, so even if they haven''t be monsters, they are very wary of people. It was best that you don''t touch them. If you get bitten, I don''t want to be held liable," Liu Gan reminded the receptionists.

    <span>"Yes, that is quite understandable" agreed the embarrassed receptionist.

    <span>"We have five yers, these two here are local survivors. So if we vouch for them, then they cane in with us?" Liu Gan pointed at Yin He and Lee DingXiang.

    <span>"Yes, those two will be your personal property. Inside they will be protected by us," the two receptionists nodded.

    <span>"Personal property?" Liu Gan raised his eyebrows at that answer.

    <span>"Ah, since we are a yer created camp, we reserve the rights to protect the interest of the yers first. As a yer, you should understand our reasons for doing that, right? Of course, whoever you bring in will be your personal property. Even though they don''t have a yer''s status or position, they won''t be bullied by other people. If someone bullies them, then it would be like they bullied you. That is a major vition of our rules," the receptionist exined.

    <span>"Okay, tell me what your rules are," Liu Gan continued to pry.

    <span>"If you decide to join us. I will take you into our Beginner''s building. Inside that building is where you will learn all our rules." The receptionist clearly had something that can be revealed only to insiders.

    <span>"Then¡­ what happens if I saw these rules, but I feel like I can''t follow them. If I don''t want to stay anymore, is there any restriction on leaving?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"No restrictions, you can leave anytime. As long as your personal property hasn''t been exchanged with others, you can also take them along. We advocate freedom and equality. Our Elder Leader is a role model leader. He is above level 10, bullets and swords won''t harm him. His abilities are deep and immeasurable. He wants to create an ideal society in this terrible world. Within these walls, the yers can enjoy hospitable treatment and safety," the receptionists continued to sell the benefits of the settlement.

    <span>"Above level 10? How high is his level?" Liu Gan disyed shock, but it was just for show. If this leader wasn''t bluffing, then he must be a beta yer. He was still unsure if this beta yer had snuck over from the Main Ind.

    <span>"This Elder Leader started at the same time as we did, how could he can level up so fast and surpass level 10? This leader must be a genius. He must have been sent by heaven to us. As long as we follow our leader, we can find the rumored Spatial Transfer Gate. Then we can leave this terrible World!" the receptionist continued to praise his Elder Leader.

    <span>Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng nced at each other¡­ Those words sound very familiar. It sounded like something Zhang ShengLi would''ve said to the team members.

    <span>"This Elder Leader of yours sounds like a godsend! On top of that¡­ I want to know, with one thousand people, how do you resolve the issues with feeding them? Aren''t you afraid of causing a famine from food shortages?" Liu Gan asked his final question.

    <span>"In the back of the mountain, a location known only by the Elder Leader. This ce has a huge store of food and daily necessities. There are canned goods, flour, rice, noodles all stored away. On top of that, this is an agricultural college, there are several facilities that seemed to have stashed away seeds.

    <span>"Among our group of yers, there are some who specialize in agriculture. We have started to plow newnd for farming, some have started sowing the seeds. Do you see that cloud canal? It is our Elder Leader''s fist that opened up the clouds for sunlight to shine through. Our farnd is able to prosper due to the sunlight that shines in this area¡­" the receptionists started to speak without thinking.

    <span>Liu Gan stroked his forehead. He was starting to feel sorry for those that believed this story. If this cloud canal hadn''t appeared in the Northern NinJing City, but in the Southern NinJing City, then it would be Zhang ShengLi saying these words. Would Zhang ShengLi also make up a story like this, that Elder Liu broke through the clouds with his fist?

    <span>With Zhang ShengLi''s temperament, it was a high possibility.

    <span>"Our leader is our god. As long as we follow him, we won''t starve. As long as he exists, we will have hope. Everyone here is alive because of him. We are lucky to live because of him. Every member here is grateful to him," the receptionist continued to show his passion toward his leader. It sounded like wordsing from a pious believer talking about his god.

    <span>"Okay, I have nothing more to ask. Take us in to look around." Liu Gan was very interested in this Beginner Vige, but also it seemed like he could test out his abilities again.

    <span>After reaching level 10 with his new abilities, Liu Gan really wanted to find someoneparable in strength to spar with. He''d thought that on this outlying ind with NinJing City, it would be hard to find an appropriate candidate. Never would he have thought that this candidate would be so close by.

 Chapter 350

    <span><strong>Chapter 350 - Training</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"That is what I want to hear! Thank you very much! Every member that I invite to our vige, earns me ten points in our point reward system. So with five yers here, us receptionists can split it into twenty five points between us two. We are very grateful towards you! From now on, you are my friends!

    <span>"My name is Sun Cheng, his name is Jiang Cong Ming. We both wee you. Please follow us in, we will describe to you the purpose of our facilities. That way, no matter what trouble you encounter, you can find the appropriate lifestyle adviser or you cane find us.

    <span>"As long as we haven''t left the vige, you can always reach out to us. It also benefits us in the vige, as long as we are helping the beginners, we get points," Sun Cheng happily said as he led the group into the College grounds. Jiang Cong Ming was left behind by the front gates to continue his duties. Today both of them were on duty, so no matter who did the primary introduction, the reward points were split in half.

    <span>"Let''s enter," Liu Gan was the first one in. They didn''t walk too far until they saw another sign that says "Neers".

    <span>"You can leave your baggage and weapons here. Everything you deposit here will have your name and an assigned ID number written on it. There will someone watching it, so nothing will go missing."

    <span>"Your bags will be arranged to be brought to your temporary residence. As for the weapons, those can only be taken out if you leave the vige grounds. We don''t allow weapons into the vige for the safety of others. I hope you can understand the reason behind it," Sun Cheng continued exining the rules.

    <span>"That''s no problem" Liu Gan still had his hidden dagger. They were carrying woodennces, nothing significant, no heavyweight weapons. These were thences created from trees so there was no harm in letting them be taken.

    <span>The staff members in the Neers area had to verify the authenticity of the alloy wrist watch. Then, they questioned their levels. Under Liu Gan''s instructions, they all reported their levels to be level 2 or 3. Their collective story was that they recently arrived thesest few days.

    <span>Hearing that they were only level 2 or 3, the staff didn''t further investigate the wrist watches. Only level 5 and above would receive special treatment. As for the level 3 and under, they were still considered new people. If Liu Gan said that he was level 5, these staff would definitely press for further investigation.

    <span>Liu Gan and everyone else received an ID number. These ID numbers were also attached onto the baggage and woodennces that were ced into a nearby room beside the Neers area.

    <span>"Several poor filthy people, they don''t even have any goods to bring in. Their weapon is made out of wood! I want to toss it out like trash¡­" whispered one of the staff working there.

    <span>"Their levels are so low, it must have been hard for them to survive. They must have been lucky to have survived to reach us¡­" another staff member muttered back.

    <span>"But, have you seen the female they are with? She is so pretty. She isparable to our Fifth Elder. I wonder where they found her. What dogshit luck, howe I didn''t meet her first?"

    <span>"What? Do you want to steal? nning to steal someone else''s property? Be careful you might get caught by the Elders!"

    <span>"I was only kidding¡­"

    <span>Liu Gan was able to hear these staff members gossip, but he didn''t care what they were saying.

    <span>Once the Neers area received their baggage and weapons, Sun Cheng lead Liu Gan''s group to another building to report for registration. After filling out a form, Liu Gan was brought to a nearby lecture hall.

    <span>"I will take you to your assigned ss. You will be apart of Grade One, ss 3Three. Every ss has around twenty people. ss Three has thirteen new members, with you seven, it will be exactly twenty people. Perfect fit!" Sun Cheng told them.

    <span>"Even though your property are in your ss, they can''t apany you into the same ssroom. They will be in the nearby ssroom to learn the rules for being property. There will be an instructor to teach them what ought to be done and what should never be done. Of course, these sses are optional for them. If you don''t want them to be in the ss, you can have them be on standby outside your ssroom, just as long as they don''t wander off."

    <span>"Like I have said before, their actions are your responsibility. I suggest that they receive lessons from our lecturer so they know the rules. In our vige, there are around two thousand local survivors. If they received our teachings, then they can better adapt to their new life within the vige. This will avoid them bringing you unnecessary trouble," Sun Cheng went on.

    <span>"No need, I will just have them wait outside of the ssroom. I will make sure to restrict their actions," Liu Gan waved his hands. Never would he have thought that with over a thousand yers here, there were over two thousand more local survivors. There were close to four thousand people in this vige!

    <span>"Okay, then I will do as you have requested. I will lead you to your ssroom so you can meet your lecturer and ssmates. In our Beginner Vige, as long as the neers haven''t reached level 5 or above, they will all be ced into Grade One to go through training."

    <span>"If you are in the vige for more than three days and your record is clean, then by the time you reach level 3, you can advance to Grade Two. After that will be Grade Three, then Grade Four. After Grade Four, you can graduate. You can also apply to be a lecturer," Sun Cheng continued on, introducing the grade system.

    <span>"Is there a chance to reach level 5?" Han GuangMing tactfully interrupted.

    <span>"Once you reach level 5, you can enter into the Elder Grade. That is when you be a part of our respected Elders. We have over a hundred Elders. Only the Elders are eligible to vote. The higher level, you are the more votes you have at your disposal. So even amongst Elders there are different ranks. In our small society, before we make an important decision, we have to vote on it first. This protects the interest of the majority," Sun Cheng replied. Little did he know, he had just revealed the main strength of the vige.

    <span>"Can I skip the training and get a tour around the area first?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"That wouldn''t be too convenient. I hope you can understand. The training is very simple, it won''t take too much of your time. If you never went through the training, you won''t know our vige rules or how it functions. If you don''t know the rules, you will probably break them without knowing. So if you want to get a tour of the area, you have to be in training for at least half an hour. Then, you can finish off your remainder of your training whenever it is convenient for you!" Sun Cheng replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay, I will do as you suggested" Liu Gan was quite interested in how regted this Beginner Vige was. Even the management seemed very orderly. He nned to learn from this experience to use it in the future.

 Chapter 351

    <span><strong>Chapter 351 - Roster</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Han GuangMing was there to learn it, too. As long as he could grasp the knowledge, then Liu Gan would have one more person who could specialize in management. It would be good for the Prison Compound.

    <span>"Pleasee this way," Sun Cheng enthusiastically lead the group to the front of ss Three. There Liu Gan met the ssroom lecturer, he looked to be in his mid-twenties.

    <span>"I wee you to ss Three. I am your ssroom lecturer, Kong Mu. In the following few days, I will be here to teach you step by step our way of living here. Once you have learned the rules, we can take you out on missions. That way, you can quickly upgrade to Grade Two," Kong Mu warmly weed his students.

    <span>"Thank you" Han GuangMing replied back on behalf of everyone else.

    <span>"Let''s warmly wee our new ssmates!"

    <span>By the time Liu Gan and the other four walked into the ssroom, Kong Mu shouted loudly to the other students. These students had been decently trained already. They all stood up and smiled, as they apuded the five neers.

    <span>"These are our basic rules. You can pass it around, but return it back to me after ss." Kong Mu handed over a printed piece of paper to Han GuangMing.

    <span>"This is printed out? You have electricity to print?" Han GuangMing curiously asked.

    <span>"Yes, our Elder''s living quarters all have ess to electricity. If you get to level 5, you can once again enjoy the benefits of modern society!" Kong Mu revealed his envious look.

    <span>"That is something to look forward to!" Han GuangMingughed.

    <span>"Yeah, we also long for that day. But first, we would need to reach level 5. That is harder than achieving enlightenment. The Variant Zombies are a tough foe to fight. If you aren''t paying attention, you might lose your life!" Kong Mu replied.

    <span>"Couldn''t the Elders take you to kill the Variant Monsters¡­" Han GuangMing questioned.

    <span>"They need to kill several Variants to reach higher levels! Why would they leave any behind for us? If we want someone to take us to kill Variant Zombies, we would need several million reward points. That is such an astronomical figure," Kong Mu shook his head.

    <span>This started a discussion with other ssmates. When they were talking about the amazing abilities of the Variant Zombies, they all disyed exaggerated expressions. Clearly, reaching level 5 was very important to every neer. It was definitely not an easy task, but it was their dream.

    <span>"You want to reach level 5? To be a Elder in this glorious Vige?" Kong Mu shouted to his students.

    <span>"I do!" a dozen students replied at the same time to Kong Mu.

    <span>"As long as you do your duties and follow the rules, contributing to our vige will speed up the day you get your chance! Someone will lead us to kill the Variant Zombies, so you can reach level 5, too!" Kong Mu enthusiastically shouted.

    <span>"We will do our best!" a dozen students shouted back to Kong Mu. Their eyes showed signs of a crazy person.

    <span>Zhao Meng felt very lucky that he had chosen to follow Elder Liu. He hadn''t waited too long before the opportunity to reach level 5. If there were a thousand yers in the Beginner Vige, it would be a long waitlist.

    <span>To survive in The Trembling World, reaching level 5 was only the beginning stage. Only after breaking through the level 5 barrier would they be able to protect themselves. Reaching level 5 in this vige would earn them the right to vote and special privileges. It was an upward social mobility.

    <span>As for those neers who couldn''t vote, they were worth almost nothing.

    <span>Five people in Liu Gan''s group sat down. They looked through the handbook; it was mainly for Han GuangMing to figure out. Everything was quite detailed within the handbook. There were several parts that were divided up in the handbook, such as the rules of vige life, item exchange rules, mission system rules, and rules for battles outside of the vige.

    <span>From the first look of the handbook, it looked quite perfect. Looking deeper into its context, the rules were quite fair. Especially the rule that emphasizes that Elders can''t bully yers of a lower Grade. There will be severe punishment if they were found viting the rule, and even the Elder Leader was not above the rules.

    <span>The rules of the handbook were quite favorable for the neers. It was created to help the neers adapt. If the neers submitted anyints, then there was an Elders Committee to investigate the charges and punish appropriately.

    <span>There was even an example in the handbook. There was one instance when the Third Elder bullied a neer''s girlfriend to the point of sexual harassment with kisses and grouping, but not to the point of rape. The neer submitted aint to the Elder Committee about the Third Elder. The punishment to the Third Elder was to apologize to the public and do a full day of handyman work. When the Third Elder held a grudge, he didn''t ept his punishment and killed the neer instead.

    <span>The Elder Leader opened a plenary meeting for all to attend. Even though most of the Elders pled on behalf of the Third Elder, the majority favored punishment. As a result, the Third Elder was personally killed by the Elder Leader. This was to show everyone that no one was above the vige rule; no one was an untouchable.

    <span>This was shocking news to everyone in the vige. If the Third Elder could be killed, even being a part of the Elders Committee wouldn''t matter. From that point forward, no one dared to bully the neers.

    <span>The primary way of punishing would be deducting points. Reward points were the vige''s system of currency. The more severe punishments deducted more points. If the person''s points were negative after ounting for the punishment, then manualbor was required until they found food or new yers to replenish the amount of points owed.

    <span>Today''s lesson was about going over the rules and examples to back them up. Then there would be a quiz to let the neers figure out which was right and which was wrong, as well as figuring the appropriate punishment associated with the fault.

    <span>This type of rule management was quite beneficial. Han GuangMing could learn from this experience and use it to help manage the prisonpound. As for Liu Gan, he liked to travel solo. It wasn''t a bad idea to let people he trusted manage his base. In fact, it was good to leave a back-up strategy.

    <span>Liu Gan''s group arrived around noon, and after half an hour of lesson it was close to the lunch break. Kong Mu led his students away from the ssroom and toward the cantina.

    <span>"Does this vige have a roster? I have a few friends that were transferred into the game, too. Since the vige has this many people, I was hoping I could find them here. I wouldn''t know where to start searching," Han GuangMing asked after rushing up to Kong Mu''s side.

 Chapter 352

    <span><strong>Chapter 352 - Community Bedroom</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"There is, but it is part of the Elders Committee. If you want to find someone, tell me the name and I will submit it in my report along with a request. At most it will take two days before resultse back," Kong Mu replied.

    <span>"It takes that long?" Han GuangMing guessed that Liu Gan didn''t want to remain there that long.

    <span>"There are a lot of people and the archives area is still being established. It won''t be easy to find someone. You can also head to the center of the vige za¡­ It is the college''s outdoor movie theater. Perhaps putting up a missing persons notice would be effective in that area," Kong Mu said sympathetically.

    <span>"Okay, that''s okay" Han GuangMing didn''t make things difficult, since it was out of his pay grade.

    <span>"Right, this is your point reward. Every neer will receive ten free points. These ten points will be enough for you to eat two meals. If you want more points as reward, then you can do moremunity services such as gathering food outside of the vige or recruiting more neers." Kong Mu took out a printed piece of paper and handed it over to Liu Gan''s group.

    <span>Five yers received fifty reward points, enough for them to eat lunch.

    <span>On these primitive ticket, there were points printed on them: 1 point, 2 point, 5 point, 10 point. The tickets were signed by the Elder Committee. This was the currency used in this vige. In the short term, there aren''t any worries of someone forging them. The amount of people with ess to the printer were few in number, full control still resided with the Elder Committee.

    <span>"The kitchen offers two types of lunch meals - the ones that cost three points or five points. If you chose the lunch option that takes three point, then you can have three meals. If you chose the option for five points, then you can only eat two meals," Kong Mu continued to exin.

    <span>At the same time, walking alongside them and also heading towards the canteen were other people. There were some people who looked very nervous as they looked left and right over their shoulders, these were definitely neers as well.

    <span>ording to Kong Mu, in the vige there were more than ten cantinas. The Elders had a specialized cafeteria that supplied better tasting food. As for how much better it tasted, no one in the lower grades knew for sure. They believed that through hard work, they would be able to achieve the Elder grade eventually.

    <span>Without a doubt, this Elder Leader had great managing ability. In the real world, he could be an experienced manager or CEO. It wasn''t easy to run a four thousand personnel campground and manage it in such an orderly manner. This proved that the Elder Leader wasn''t someone simple. If they relied solely on strength, they would not have gotten this far.

    <span>On top of that, Liu Gan believed that this Elder Leader had another purpose for constructing a camp thisrge. ording to what Sun Cheng said before, a receptionist by the front gates would be rewarded ten points for each neer. However, if they ventured further out to find new yers, then it would be a hundred points instead. This meant that the Elder Leader was prioritizing expanding the size of his staff.

    <span>This location was an attractive location for wandering neers. The rules in the camp favored the neers. The Trembling World didn''t have any Beginner Vige, where yers were transferred in. So the yers weren''t too well adapted to the environment when they arrived. These scattered neer yers were searching for the feeling of belonging, especially when they felt like they had been dumped into an unknown world. In addition, these proactive recruiters were searching around for more yers. This would exin the fast expansion of this vige. This was, without a doubt, one of the major influences in NinJing City.

    <span>As for the Elder Leader''s personal agenda, it definitely wasn''t as simple as establishing a Beginner Vige. From recruiting neers to discipline, it was a streamlined process to get the yers to follow rules and regtions. At least one thing could be certain, the longer these yers lived here, the more they would be attached. If this Beginner Vige were to sh with other influential groups forpetition over food ornd, then these four thousand people would be a force to be reckoned with.

    <span>The lunch meal was rather simplistic, as Liu Gan started munching on it¡­ He tasted something familiar¡­ it had the same consistency as the seafood he ate in the underwaterboratory. This was bizarre. From the map left by Mr. Sheng, there was still some distance before reaching the sea. It wouldn''t even make sense to go fishing for deep sea creature meat. So how did they get ess to this?

    <span>Kong Mu doesn''t know the origins of this seafood, he only said this was the meat that belonged to a huge creature that was killed by the elite squad led by the Elder Leader. The neers could receive very small portions of it, while majority of the meat was served to members of the Elder Committee.

    <span>Liu Gan had strong feelings that there was more to this than met the eye. This Elder Leader definitely had some hidden secrets.

    <span>After lunch was over, Kong Mu led his group of students toward their bedrooms. It was amunity bedroom that had a dozen bunk beds. Every neer was entitled a free bedspot for a limited time.

    <span>As for their property, people such as Lee DingXiang and other survivors wouldn''t be in the same bedroom. They had their own separate location, and their living conditions were a lot worse. If they wanted to improve their living condition, then their owner had to earn more reward points.

    <span>If the owner had enough reward points, they could rent a room that can fit a three-tier bunk bed, where six people could livefortably. A better alternative would be getting a teaching job and living in the teacher''s dormitory, which came with the benefit of having a solo room. Withplete autonomy in the room, they can ce as many extra beds as they wanted.

    <span>Yin He and Lee DingXiang didn''t head to the designated area for survivors, they remained with Liu Gan''s group, in themunity bedroom.

    <span>After showing his ss to themunity bedroom, Kong Mu departed after giving them a brief message. This was their afternoon break. An hourter, he woulde get them again to learn how to fight in the training ground.

    <span>Neers had three days of fitting in. After three days, if they didn''t have enough reward points to pay for dormitory fees, then they could only sleep on a straw mat inmon areas like the gym or library. That was a lot worse than sleeping in amunity bedroom.

    <span>Needless to say, with more contribution the better your living situation would be. With the least amount of contribution, you will be at the lowest living standards.

    <span>This bigmunity bedroom were all neers of Grade One, ss Three. The other neers had arrived only a few days ago, with the longest neering in no more than three days ago.

 Chapter 353

    <span><strong>Chapter 353 - Afternoon Break</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Sponsored Chapter! Thanks <strong>Joey </strong>L., <strong>Jozef </strong>G., <strong>Andrew </strong>V., and <strong>Keh </strong>W.!<hr>

    <span>During the afternoon break, everyone else in the room started to introduce themselves. Aside from Liu Gan, all the others were quite eager to speak up. The feeling resembled their days of college life.

    <span>Han GuangMing was the most familiar with this environment, and the most willing to gossip with others. After chatting briefly, he found out a bunch of information rting to their personal lives, especially their professions. However, there was onemon ground, regardless of their prestige, authority, wealth, or power in their prior lifestyle - it no longer mattered here. It was like truly living a new life.

    <span>Basically these people didn''t get any rest. Most were conversing their time away, there were a handful of people that wanted to sleep, but it was just too noisy. From their conversation, these yers weren''t the initial first set of people to enter the game. After a month had passed since the game server was released, they were transferred into the game through various means.

    <span>Through the eavesdropping, Liu Gan understood a little better about the conditions in the real world. The government couldn''t resist pressure from the civilians. As a result, San Xing Corporation was liquidated. All the executive or high ranking officials were arrested. There were rumors that some might be be given the death penalty.

    <span>Trying to pacify the families of the missing yers, the government paidpensation. However due to the continued disappearance of people, society was unstable. Many of the major urban cities imposed martialw. On top of that, the government issued discussion bans rting to The Trembling World. The day a discussion was uploaded online, the next day that person will be invited to coffee by government officials.

    <span>"I don''t even y these type of games. My work revolves aroundputers, so I face theseputer monitors day after day. That day, I was on the phone with my boss to discuss a work-rted issue. I was typing into my email when a sudden popup interrupted me. The popup was about registering to The Trembling World!

    <span>"I couldn''t stop myself fast enough. Instinctively I clicked on it with my mouse. The next thing I knew, I was transferred here! The initial moments of arriving were really terrifying. Not too far from me were two zombies; the moment they saw me, they charged toward me. That was when I knew, I was a victim of this game¡­

    <span>"Immediately, I turned around to run, only to encounter another zombie. I fell onto the ground¡­ Just as they closed in on me, several arrows shot the zombies in the head. Next walked over some yers. At that moment, I thought they were more holy than angels.

    <span>"They were checked my wrist watch and then brought me to this Beginner Vige. I can only say that I was really lucky. If it weren''t for them, I would''ve been dead," a yer loudly stated.

    <span>"Yes! My situation wasn''t too different from yours. I was sitting in the train when I received a call from my girlfriend. As I was talking on the phone, there was a popup that made a weird noise and I clicked on it by ident¡­ From my mistake, I was transferred here.

    <span>"I was transferred into a shopping mall. Everywhere were wandering zombies, I was so scared. I could only lock myself in a small room. I peeked through the window curtains to look outside, it was a good thing that the zombies didn''t discover me.

    <span>"Then there were a group of people that entered into the shopping mall, they were incredible. Every zombie they saw, they killed. It didn''t take long for them to kill all the zombies in the mall. As they were searching through the rooms, they found me and told me all about the existence of the Beginner Vige. I was d they brought me here!" exined another yer talking about his experience.

    <span>"I came here in a different way," another yer finally opened up.

    <span>"How did you get here?"

    <span>"I picked up a phone call from a number that I don''t recognize. The voice on the other end was a female voice. She urately reported my name and address as well as my personal information like ID number. Then, she introduced me to the game.

    <span>"I had already read on the newspaper and inte about the The Trembling World game. I know that I am not supposed to click on the monitor or on the phone. So when she told me about the game, I thought she was joking with me.

    <span>"I was very bored at the moment, and her voice was soothing. So I decided to mess around with her for a bit longer. She asked me if I wanted to join The Trembling World? As long as I join the game, I could see her. I didn''t realize the consequences of my action, since I thought that I am not pressing on the monitor it wouldn''t matter. So I replied, ''yeah, sure I wille find you''¡­ The result was that I was dragged in here.

    <span>"I have terrible luck. My initial starting point was in the middle of a river. I am lucky I knew how to swim. I swam to shore as fast as I could. At that point, I was still puzzled about where I was. Looking around my surrounding, I saw the outline of a beautiful female with her back facing me. I patted her on the shoulder to see if she was the one who wanted to meet me¡­"

    <span>"She overpowered me after turning around. She opened up her mouth, getting ready to bite me. I was so frightened that I kicked her off of me. I realized everything was really odd when I noticed my wrist watch. That was when I knew I was trapped by the soothing female voice!" said the perverted man.

    <span>"How did you find out about the Beginner Vige?" asked someone.

    <span>"After I killed the beautiful female zombie, I started wandering aimlessly. I picked up a broken iron rod and started killing isted zombies. That was when I discovered that I could level up! Everything about my physical capabilities were enhanced! Walking through several streets, I started to notice logos pointing in the direction of the Beginner Vige. Following the signs, I killed the zombies along my way here," said the perverted man.

    <span>"You are incredible! You can survive alone and you found the Beginner Vige by yourself!" said by several envious yers.

    <span>"I was military trained before, so I have survival capability."

    <span>"Is that right? Then please take care of us in the future!"

    <span>"That is a given! Since we share amunity bedroom, you can call us brothers, it is a type of destiny to be able to meet. I will definitely take care of you!" the perverted man patted his own chest.

    <span>An hour of chatting unconsciously ended. Kong Mu came back to themunity bedroom to call everyone out. He would lead them to the vige''s training ground to start the afternoon lesson in fighting.

 Chapter 354

    <span><strong>Chapter 354 - Marketce</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>5th Sponsor chapter! Thank you <strong>Daryl </strong>V.!<hr>

    <span>Their training was not the same as what Liu Gan had in mind. The zombie was chained at the neck and held down by a pir. The neers would hold their wooden stick and stand far away. The zombie would stretch out their hand and the yer would have to figure out the best position to strike.

    <span>These zombies were all caught alive by high level yers. Their purpose was for neers to kill, but payments in points were required.

    <span>The person catching the zombie could earn twenty points, but the yer that killed the zombie has to pay up forty points.

    <span>The neers usually didn''t have many points to start with, so they would use their personal belongings to trade for points. Otherwise, they would have to do chores like cleaning clothes, cooking, and other mundane tasks for points.

    <span>Of course, between yers they can negotiate personal deals such as services in exchange for points. For example, female yers tended to offer up their body in exchange for points from the male yers. These incidents weremon as long as both parties agreed, with additional supervision from a governing party. The exchange had to take ce at a set location.

    <span>If the exchange took ce outside of the designated location, and a dispute arose, then the majority of the time the female yer would have the upper hand. As a result, the Elder Committee would find fault with the male yers and severely punish them. This was in ordance of their motto of protecting the weak.

    <span>Along his way to the market, Liu Gan noticed quite a few incidents of neers begging for points from veteran yers. There were some lucky individuals that received point tickets. This vige was bing more simr to a small society, even to the way it operated.

    <span>"Can I walk around?" Liu Gan asked Kong Mu.

    <span>"It is best that you stick with the group. It will benefit your future development," Kong Mu replied with a suspicious look.

    <span>"I just want to familiarize myself with the location, I still haven''t decided if I want to remain here," Liu Gan insisted.

    <span>"In that case¡­ go have your free time" Kong Mu wasn''t happy with the question, but ultimately agreed. Ever since establishing the Beginners Vige, there was no one that had decided to leave after joining. So when Liu Gan said he was still deciding whether he wanted to stay, it was unfathomable for Kong Mu.

    <span>Liu Gan had Han GuangMing and the rest of the group to follow the newbies to the training ground. As for Liu Gan, he had Yin He, Lee DingXiang, and NaNa apany him. Aside from this College of Agriculture, there were severalrge schools nearby that had also been taken over as part of the property of the vige.

    <span>Due to the nature of the missions and rewards system in this vige, there were tasks that someone would be willing to do. Overall, this entire vige was very well-designed. No matter which path was taken, there were directions avable at every fork in the road. There were even maps to illustrate the district lines.

    <span>The directions would usually point toward the training ground, cafeteria, lecture hall, ssroom and others. Liu Gan was most excited to see the words "marketce". There were multiple marketces, so Liu Gan headed toward thergest marketce. This was the prime location for exchanging goods and services.

    <span>The marketce stretched far and wide, lying in between several school grounds. It must have been aprehensive marketce before the catastrophe.

    <span>Arriving to the marketce, Liu Gan found out that majority of the items up for sale weren''t lifestyle products, but were zombies. These zombies were missing limbs and had their teeth removed.

    <span>This exchange market was simr to a market for selling experience. In the training ground, the neers would require forty points for a zombie caught by the veteran yers, but at the market, it was priced at thirty points. As long as there was a difference in the price range there would be a market. For the neers who were terrified of leaving the vige to level up, this safe method of leveling up was a very attractive offer.

    <span>Aside from selling zombies, the second highest transaction in the market were humans, the majority of them women. They were trapped inside metal cages.

    <span>Their wrist didn''t have the watch, so they were definitely local survivors. They were most likely caught by yers and taken as personal property used for trading.

    <span>Selling humans covered several districts. Lee DingXiang wanted to go search for her sister in thergest district. Liu Gan had Yin He follow Lee DingXiang. Liu Gan headed towards a smaller district of the marketce. As he starts walking through the district, he walked by his first cage.

    <span>Inside the cage was a woman locked inside.

    <span>"Hey handsome, are you interested in getting a round in? One time buyout, you can do whatever you want after you buy her out. No need to go to red light district for each time," a merchant walked over to greet Liu Gan.

    <span>"Buy me! I know how to do chores, and other stuff¡­ I can also satisfy your needs¡­"

    <span>The woman inside the cage crawled to the edge of the bars and started selling herself to Liu Gan. With a begging look, she looked at Liu Gan. She was a twenty year old woman with barely any clothes on her, so she was shaking whenever the wind blew.

    <span>This merchant was employing underhanded marketing techniques on Liu Gan. If apassionate yer saw this sad scene, they would''ve made an impulsive buy.

    <span>Other women in the cages also tried their best to sell themselves to Liu Gan. Some women took off the remaining clothes off from their body to stimte Liu Gan''s urges as a selling point.

    <span>The Beginner Vige did everything it could to protect the interest of the yers, but the local survivors were treated like tools and products. Local survivors were the personal property of yers. The yers had the final say in what they did with their personal property. As long as they didn''t kill the survivors, the Elder Committee didn''t care.

    <span>If a yer had multiple survivors as ves, in theory, they could just live as a ve owner. Even if the yer earned only a few reward points, he could still live quitefortably.

    <span>So whenever these yers had a chance, they would proactively catch local survivors. They would treat them as their personal ve. Even the top ten Elders had dozens of male and female ves. They could live a life of being serviced by ves.

    <span>When Liu Gan saw this scene, he frowned. He was neither a saint nor a savior, but he felt terrible when he saw another person trapped within a cage, to be sold as another person''s toy.

 Chapter 355

    <span><strong>Chapter 355 - Consign</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    6th Sponsored Chapter! Thank you <strong>Daryl </strong>V.<hr>

    <span>"If I want to buy her, what can she do?" Liu Gan inquired.

    <span>"You asked what you can do with this woman? You can do whatever you want to do with her, as long as you don''t kill her. Anything you do to her, the Elder Committee won''t care" the merchant startedughing loudly. To prove his point, he reached into the cage to grope the woman.

    <span>The woman didn''t resist the merchant''s advances, she only shook in fear with a pitiful expression, staring at Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan nced at the price tag right above the cage. This woman has a nice physique with a pretty face. The price tag was twenty-five hundred points. Using three to five reward points for lunch as a basis, this woman would cost around twenty-five hundred yuan.

    <span>"Do you want to buy? If you want to buy, I can give you a discount," the merchant said to Liu Gan.

    <span>"If you buy me, I can help you earn points. I will earn back the points you spent on me! Buy me!" <span>the woman <span>pleaded. Living in the cage was worse than a life of servitude.

    <span>Liu Gan took onest look at the woman,. Unable to help with her situation, he left.

    <span>Walking along the marketce road, many of the other caged women started to scream "Buy me! Buy me!" <span>They wanted to sell themselves; they would rather be a sex ve than remain in the cage.

    <span>Even if Liu Gan felt terrible about the human trafficking in the marketce, he didn''t take action. One could imagine that in The Trembling World, these situations went on every day. Even if he wanted to take control of the situation, he didn''t have the right.

    <span>Even if he rescued these people from the cages, he couldn''t be responsible for them. He can''t afford to feed them. They would be caught by the vige sooner orter, and this cycle would repeat until they were sold.

    <span>Liu Gan''s original n was to run through this small marketce district and regroup with Yin He. That was the n, until he heard a young girl''s faint scream from one of the cages. She shouted differently from what the other women were screaming. Liu Gan was able to catch on to her words through his enhanced hearing and the voice sounded familiar. So he stopped short and decided to find the source of the voice before leaving.

    <span>"Big Brother, I exchanged water caltrops with you before. Do you remember me?" a caged young girl started shouting loudly to Liu Gan. Like other girls, she was wearing very few clothes and trembling to keep warm.

    <span>Liu Gan recognized the young female as the older sister, Lee DinXin. Due to her shabby clothes, dirty face, and smelly body, while feigning insanity, her buyout price wasn''t very high. The price tag for this cage was one thousand reward points.

    <span>"How about it? Are you interested in her? She is insane. But, if you tie her down and wash her, she can be quite good looking. This is the cheapest in my shop," the store owner walked over and sshed a bucket of water onto Lee DingXiang, as if he was washing a dog.

    <span>Within the college grounds, the water supply system had been repaired. The water source was from the nearestke, and was mainly for daily lifestyle uses. Even though the College of Agriculture was at the border of the cloud canal, so it was quite chilly. When the cold water was sshed onto Lee DingXin, she shrieked while the store ownerughed hysterically.

    <span>"That''s enough! She is one of my friends. Release her from the cage," Liu Gan dered.

    <span>"No problem, just give me one thousand reward points. That is my lowest offer, I can''t go lower than that." The store owner rubbed his hands, waiting to receive his money.

    <span>"I don''t have that many reward points. I already told you that she is my friend. You shouldn''t have caught her in the first ce," Liu Gan stressed. With the Beginner Vige this well managed, Liu Gan didn''t want to cause any disruptions, he merely wanted to resolve this issue peacefully.

    <span>"Friend? There are too many friends in this world. If you met her once and called her your friend, then everyone would be your friend. How would I do business then? She was caught by Elders from the outside and brought here for me on consignment to sell. If you feel like she is your friend, then you should follow the rules and pay her fee." The store owner wasn''t moved by Liu Gan''s words.

    <span>"I don''t have that many reward points," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"How many do you have? Since she is your friend, the best discount I can give you is ten percent. Do you have nine hundred reward points? If you have anything less than that, I don''t think I can sell her to you," the store owner replied.

    <span>"I am a neer, I only have a few reward points," Liu Gan pulled out the point tickets from his pocket to hand over.

    <span>"With your mere five reward points, you want to take her? Are you joking with me?" the store owner frowned. He understood the situation. A new yer that just joined, wants to buy a woman he can y with. What a joke, if a yer wanted to buy a woman, at least earn some more points first.

    <span>"I will tell you one more time. She is my friend; she should never have been taken in the first ce. This is all your mistake. I don''t want to bicker with you, but I will need to take her with me." Liu Gan started getting aggravated.

    <span>"I understand your feelings, but I didn''t catch her. An elder consigned her to my shop. If you are persistent in taking her with you, then you need to discuss with that Elder. Please don''t make it difficult for me. I am only a small shop owner. I work hard, but I earn very little reward points everyday." The shop owner started lowering his tone.

    <span>"Okay, then I won''t make it difficult for you. Find the yer that consigned her at your shop. I will personally negotiate with them," Liu Gan replied after thinking about it briefly. Since the shop owner couldn''t take charge, it was best for both of them if this process was facilitated by someone who could be responsible.

    <span>Liu Gan''s negotiation technique and reasoning was very simple. The yer who caught his friend could apologize for his wrongdoing and then release Lee DingXin. Liu Gan didn''t want continue this argument. Otherwise¡­ the alternative would be beating them up. Either way, the problem would be resolved.

    <span>"I have to watch the shop, though! How can I leave it unattended? The person consigning it is an Elder. Elders have a busy schedule. They aren''t someone I can just invite so easily. Please don''t make it difficult for me," the shop owner shook his head.

 Chapter 356

    <span><strong>Chapter 356 - Civilized</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    7th Sponsored Chapter! Thanks <strong>Daryl </strong>V.! Two more sponsored chapters left!<hr>

    <span>"You have two options. First option, you can call that yer over and I will discuss with him, this way you won''t be involved. Second option, I can beat you up and forcefully have you open the cage, that way you can exin to the yer yourself. Now choose your option," Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>Liu Gan still had a good feeling about this Elder Leader, judging from the way things were handled. It was simr to a small-sized society. Liu Gan didn''t want to destroy this area from something so trivial that could be resolved by talking, but he was losing patience rapidly.

    <span>"Okay! Okay! You are the best! You are the boss! I will go call for them!" the shop owner announced. Looking at the well-defined physique of Liu Gan, the shop owner knew that he didn''t want to mess with him. A wise man always knew better than to fight when the odds were against him. This fight wasn''t his to fight, it was best if he distanced himself from this incident as fast as possible.

    <span>After the shop owner left his stand, he didn''t reach out to the Elder, who had consigned Lee DingXin. Instead, the shop owner went directly to the marketce management. Upon hearing the incident, the two marketce security guards rushed over to Liu Gan, led by the shop owner. The security guards were unhappy with the disturbance on their watch.

    <span>"What is the matter with you?" the security guards asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"My friend was caught for no reason and trapped in the cage. I just want to take her away. The shop owner can''t make the decision to let her go, so I told him to bring the yer who could. Since I am talking this over to you, are you the yer who caught my friend?" Liu Gan asked the two security guards.

    <span>"The situation is not as he as described. If you want to rescue your friend, you have to pay the pointpensation. The Elder that caught her, wasted energy and took risk. And you want to release her with nothing more than your word?" the two security guards asked, exining their logic to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Well, this turned out to be really simple. I will ask if you can resolve it? If you can''t, then bring me the Elder that caught my friend. If you can resolve it, then I will discuss it with you. Otherwise, don''t waste my time here," Liu Gan was getting impatient. If he wasn''t holding back, he would''ve punched one or two of them already.

    <span>"How do you want to resolve it?" the two security guards looked at each other.

    <span>"I will be a bigger person and not argue about my friend taken from her ce. Now that I am here, I will leave with her. If you continue to stop me, I won''t take it kindly anymore. If I have to force my way through, I will. Things like this are so simple, you don''t have to make it soplicated," Liu Gan responded.

    <span>"Young man, you don''t have to be so arrogant. You look like you are new here. Didn''t your lecturer teach you the rules? Do you know the result of creating trouble in the marketce? Let''s not even talk about whether you can or can''t beat me. As long as you are the first to strike, that will be enough evidence for the Elder Committee to lock you up!" the two security guards getting serious.

    <span>"Sounds like you want to be personally responsible for this matter?" Liu Gan clenched his fist.

    <span>"Today at the market, we are the security guards on duty. Naturally, every problem shall be resolved by us. If you don''t like the way we resolve problems, then you can go to the Elder Committee andin about us. Then, the Elder Committee will mediate the problem between both parties," the security guards exined the rules patiently.

    <span>"I am not a patient person. Today, I have been very patient in trying to resolve this issue, but we haven''t been making any progress towards resolving it. Don''t me me if I am impolite anymore!" Liu Gan rushed up and tossed aside both the security guards.

    <span>Liu Gan used minimal strength to toss them aside. Both the security guardnded on a nearby tree. They suffered bruises, but didn''t have any broken bones. The pain was enough so they couldn''t get up immediately.

    <span>Liu Gan knew that these security guards were fulfilling their responsibilities, so his attitude toward them was quite civilized. However, they needed to be taught a lesson. So, the security guards were left alive. If it was his former self, these security guards would''ve been dead.

    <span>"If you think you will get beaten up by me, then hand over the key to the cage. Then, go find the yer who captured my friend," Liu Gan told the shop owner.

    <span>"I will go find that Elder!" the shop owner dashed out. Even the marketce management was beaten up. If the shop owner tried to speak out now, then he will get beaten up. The young girl was only consigned at his shop, there is no particr rtionship between him and the Elder that would make it worth getting beaten up.

    <span>As for the appropriate punishment for attacking management, the Elder Committee would take action. If the shop owner stayed any longer, he would be taking an extra loss with nothing to gain. When the security guards were taken down, other shop owners in the area also left their stalls. They scattered in different directions, they were calling for reinforcements.

    <span>Liu Gan wasn''t afraid that they will call for backup. Leisurely he walked back to Lee DingXin''s cage side. The loud ruckus attracted Yin He''s attention. She rushed over with Lee DingXiang to the source of the noise. Lee DingXiang recognized her sister within the cage, they reached out to hold each other''s hands and started crying.

    <span>"Do you want me to kill everyone here?" Yin He asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"<span><em>Woof Woof!</em><span>" NaNa bared her teeth as she barked.

    <span>"No need, you don''t need to do anything until I call for you. Just protect the sisters," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Okay," Yin He obeyed.

    <span>"My temperament is quite good. I don''t even believe it myself," Liu Gan shook his head. He was surprised at how civil and reasonable he was. He couldn''t remember how long it had been since he took the time to be reasonable with others.

    <span>Liu Gan walked to the side of the cage, but wasn''t able to locate the key. With both hands he pulled apart the two centimeter thick bars in the cage. Lee DingXin was able to get out through the gap.

    <span>"Big Brother, everyone here is very strong. We should escape now," Lee DingXin was shaking to keep warm, as her clothes were soaked.

    <span>"No need. Now that I am here, no one will bully you again. Let''s wait until they get back. You don''t have to run anymore. Just follow this older sister here. She will protect you." Liu Gan shook his head. With Yin He, they walked further away from the marketce.

    <span>Liu Gan hadn''t walked too far away when he encountered over ten people running towards him. Their leader was a tall, skinny man with a cold, stern expression. After he had heard the news from the shop owner, this tall-skinny yer decided to lead his men to stop Liu Gan.

 Chapter 357

    <span><strong>Chapter 357 - Pleading Guilty</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>8th Sponsored Chapter! Thanks <strong>Evan </strong>B.!<hr>

    <span>"What is the matter? Who is the one causing trouble?" the tall, skinny man asked.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t respond. Instead, the shop owner had to exin the situation again. It was rtively truthful. During this extra time, the two security guards recovered and started whining with tears flowing from their face about getting beaten by Liu Gan.

    <span>"I''m asking you! Are they speaking the truth? Did you beat them?" the tall skinny man pointed at Liu Gan.

    <span>The surrounding shop owners were just staring at Liu Gan and the tall-skinny yer. This tall-skinny yer was different from the other yers; he was an Elder, a level 5 yer. Liu Gan''s actions had beenbeled as an offense. For these crimes, the retribution could range from whipping to prison sentence.

    <span>"What they said is the truth. I assaulted them. The main point was that I wanted to resolve the issue through discussion. Since we were getting nowhere with that method, I escted the situation. I emphasize my point one more time, I want to rescue my friend so I will resort to any method possible," Liu Gan answered indifferently.

    <span>"Do you know what is the punishment for assaulting the managing staff?" the Elder inquired. Now that Liu Gan had admitted for his crime, the following questions were protocol preset by the Elder Committee.

    <span>"I don''t know what the punishment is. I just care that someone snatched my friend and imprisoned her in the cage. I will definitely rescue her. I gave your side sufficient time and alternative methods to resolve the issue, but you weren''t able to do anything. So, I will use my own methods," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Fine, seems like I don''t have any need to discuss this any further. Arrest him!" the Elder pointed at Liu Gan.

    <span>As an Elder in this vige, no matter where they went, they were respected by the regr yers. There was never an incident with a yer using this rude tone speaking to them. Especially when the person speaking was a neer!

    <span>If it wasn''t for the Elder Leader''s rule that Elders could only strike when the opponent made the first move, this Elder yer would''ve beat Liu Gan into a pulp. To bait Liu Gan into openly initiating an aggressive move, the tall Elder needed to provoke him.

    <span>Once the order was given, the other two nearby yers dashed forward. With both their arms, they gripped onto Liu Gan. But could they really hold onto Liu Gan with theirbined strength? Liu Gan easily threw them off.

    <span>"You dare to attack other yers in front of me! How dare youmit a crime in front of me! Seems like I have to teach you a lesson myself!" the tall Elder shouted.

    <span>"Okay, I will see how you can teach me a lesson, then?" Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t want to create trouble after he found Lee DingXin. He still had to find LuLu and DongDong. Keeping in mind that this Beginner Vige was home to many others and it was very organized, Liu Gan had lost interest. He only wanted to finish up his agenda and find the Spatial Transfer Gate on Mr. Sheng''s map.

    <span>Who would''ve thought that after releasing Lee DingXin out from her cage, there would be so many people obstructing him. These people continuously nagged and hindered his travels, Liu Gan didn''t want to give them any more face.

    <span>Elders were able to carry weapons within the vige, and the tall-skinny yer''s weapon of choice was a fire axe. He had another weapon, a machete, on his back. It seemed most of the experienced yers found the fire axe a better weapon than the machete.

    <span>Within NinJing City, there were plenty of locations to find fire axes throughout the buildings. It became the weapon of choice due to its abundance.

    <span>From the way others listened to the Elder yer, Liu Gan guessed that the tall-skinny yer was an Elder. That meant he could be a level 5 yer or higher. To Liu Gan, they were no different than ants.

    <span>"This is yourst chance to admit your guilt! Get on the floor and kowtow! Otherwise I will kill you, and I won''t even get punished!" "Stick Elder" shouted at Liu Gan.

    <span>Killing people in the Beginner Vige was a major crime. There had to be sufficient reason to do so. Stick Elder didn''t want to leave behind too much trouble, so the protocols had to be followed even if it was just for show.

    <span>"This is also myst chance for everyone here. Clear the way, let me and my friend leave. As for all the disputes from earlier, I won''t argue with you. However, if you want to die, then I will fulfill that wish," Liu Gan was getting irritated with their lethal intentions.

    <span>"You are really reckless!" Stick Elder was unable to bear Liu Gan''s attitude and rushed over to attack.

    <span>The crowd cried out in rm. Ever since the Elder Leader killed the Third Elder, no one had dared to make any bold moves. Fighting was strictly forbidden within the vige, unless there was a valid reason for it. Otherwise, both parties would receive severe punishment and a trial by the Elder Committee.

    <span>Naturally, the Elder Leader set the rule to protect his fellow yers. However, not every issue could be reviewed by the Elder Leader personally, so the Elder Committee was in charge of maintaining order in this society. Any issues between yers would be brought to trial at the Committee. On top of the difference in strength between Elders and the average yer in the vige, no one would dare to solo challenge an Elder.

    <span>So to the audience, this neer, Liu Gan, must be very bold. He voluntarily started provoking the Elders. From their point of view, it seemed that this neer wouldn''t have a good end. Even if Stick Elder decided to kill this neer, the surrounding shop owners and security guards would testify on the Elder''s behalf.

    <span>If the neer Liu Gan was to die in the fight, only his stupidity could be med.

    <span>What disappointed the crowd the most was when the Stick Elder failed to kill the neer. Liu Gan easily dodged his attack. In retaliation, Liu Gan kicked the Elder away. Stick Elder couldn''t dodge the attack, so after the kick he flew backward andnded on his arse.

    <span>Stick<span> Elder had no idea how that happened. Even though he didn''t understand, Liu Gan''s attack didn''t have any strength behind it. If Liu Gan had used some strength, this Elder would''ve died.

 Chapter 358

    <span><strong>Chapter 358 - Double Insurance </strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    9th Sponsored Chapter! Thanks <strong>Evan </strong>B.!<hr>

    <span>As a level 10 yer, killing a level 5 yer was as easy as killing an ant. Liu Gan acknowledged that he didn''t have any hatred with this Stick Elder. This fool was merely doing his duty to maintain order. Liu Gan held back on his attack, so he wouldn''t severely wound the yer.

    <span>"How dare you attack me?" the Stick Elder started ming Liu Gan. While still sitting on the floor, hisplexion looked like he suffered some internal injury from Liu Gan''s attack.

    <span>It only took one attack for the Stick Elder to know that Liu Gan was hiding his true abilities. He was certain that Liu Gan wasn''t a neer. If Liu Gan had reached level 5, it would exin why he was able to dodge the attack and then counterattack.

    <span>Stick Elder didn''t think that Liu Gan could be on a higher level. He felt that he had only underestimated the enemy, and this opened up an opportunity for the enemy to strike.

    <span>"If you wanted to kill me, did you think I would just sit there and let you? This time I won''t take it to heart. If you continue with this meaningless struggle, I won''t be so kind next time!" Liu Gan coldly replied.

    <span>The audience crowding around were startled. Could this neer be level 5? Otherwise, how else could he dodge the Elder''s attack? Instead, the Elder was the one on the floor? Today was certainly lively! Seemed like this incident had to be resolved by the top ten Elders from the Elder Committee!

    <span>In this Beginner Vige, aside from the Elder Leader, there were nine more Elders in the elite squad. The level range of these Elders ranged from seven to nine. The Second Elder was a few levels above level 10; as for the exact number, no one knew. These top ten yers were the Elders that had the most influence in the Elder Committee. Regr yers would treat these top yers with respect and call them Second Elder through Tenth Elder.

    <span>Stick Elder finally mustered the strength to stand up. He stood outside of the three-meter radius around Liu Gan. By now, he thought he had the initial assessment of Liu Gan''s real strength as a level 5 yer.

    <span>A level 5 yer that hid their strength to blend in with the crowd, it was an obvious attempt at derailing this society! As for this type of sabotage or disruption of themunity, it was against the rules. As a result, the intruders were worth at least two thousand reward points, for anyone who could kill them.

    <span>After confirming that Liu Gan was here to sabotage them, the Stick Elder decided it was justified if he used his ability to injure the intruder. Then, the heavily injured intruder could be presented to the Elder Committee as an achievement. Slowly, Stick Elder walked up to within three meters of Liu Gan to trigger his ability.

    <span>While every yer at level 5 was able to awaken an ability, Stick Elder gained the ability [Quick Strike]. If the yer threw any sharp weapon, like a machete or axe, then within the three meters range it would strike the target. The target wouldn''t be able to evade the attack. This ability was simr to Han GuangMing''s [Meteor Cannon], but the skill activation range was much closer.

    <span>"You said you are a new yer?" Stick Elder yed it casual. This was to guarantee that the first strike of his ability would be a one-hit kill. Firstly, Liu Gan had to be distracted, that way the result would be better.

    <span>Level 5 yers didn''t have [Mist Armor], so in fights between level 5 yers, it was the one who couldnd the first ability sessfully who would have the greater advantage. It could be a one-hit kill, which was exactly what the Stick Elder was banking on happening. He had to calmly talk to Liu Gan, then activate his ability without him knowing.

    <span>"Yes" Liu Gan also replied. In Liu Gan''s mind, he didn''t have to worry about these cheap tactics and weak abilities. They could no longer can harm him.

    <span>"What ss are you from? Who is your lecturer?" the Stick Elder slowly walked closer. Step by step, he was calcting the distance. Once the distance was good for activation, he triggered his ability. He threw the fire axe in his hand at Liu Gan, then pulled his machete off his back. With the fire axe flying at Liu Gan, he charged forward with his machete in his other hand. Only the afterimage of the weapon could be seen by the crowd, they couldn''t keep up with the weapon itself.

    <span>This was double insurance; even if they avoided the attack, they would be heavily injured by the follow-up attack!

    <span>"The Elder is activating his ability!" the crowd started cheering. These abilities were a myth to yers below level 5. They had never seen a killing ability activate, so they didn''t know the conditions for activation.

    <span>Now that they finally got to see one with their own eyes, it was a satisfying feeling. They couldn''t suppress their smirks at the fate of the neer. They all thought that this neer would die to the Elder''s ability.

    <span>The moment the Elder threw the axe, Liu Gan realized that it was definitely an activated ability. Regardless, that didn''t change his views. With one hand, Liu Gan caught the shaft of the fire axe before itnded.

    <span>When the Stick Elder witnessed his own weapon being caught, he waspletely shocked. The fire axe was a sturdy weapon, more so than the other weapons. His original n was to have the fire axe cut off a limb. Never would he have thought that someone could react that fast. A normal person wouldn''t have such a fast reaction time!

    <span>A normal level 5 yer would''ve thought of ways to avoid the attack. They wouldn''t have done anything fancy like stick their hands out to grab the axe!

    <span>The surrounding audience grew and was filled with yers and shop owners, all cheering the Elder on. The Elder followed up with attack by the machete on the same hand that caught the fire axe.

    <span>There was ag time before the audience realized what had happened. They weren''t able to keep up with the fight. They weren''t able to perceive Liu Gan catching the fire axe, nor were they able to see the follow-up attack by the Elder.

    <span>What they saw was the Elder getting kicked backward after he disappeared from his original spot. This time the Stick Elder was sent all the way to the back wall of a nearby shop. With his bones shattered this time, he wasn''t able to stand up even after numerous tries.

    <span>Evidently, this continued act of aggression by the Stick Elder infuriated Liu Gan. So this kick had a lot more force behind it. Still, Liu Gan sincerely didn''t want to stir up trouble at this vige, which was why he hadn''t taken the Stick Elder''s life.

    <span>Now the Stick Elder was defeated on the ground, while the victor, Liu Gan, remained standing. In Liu Gan''s hand was the fire axe thrown by the fallen Elder.

    <span>That was an ability! Activated ability! How could he use his hand to catch it!? The audience was stupefied.

    <span>"There''s a powerful enemy here! Don''t just stand there! Sound the rm!" the Stick Elder finally understood the danger level of his enemy. With blood oozing out from the corner of his mouth, the Elder couldn''t stand up. Instead, he shouted to the nearby yers and shop owners to call for reinforcements.

 Chapter 359

    <span><strong>Chapter 359 - Lively Attraction</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>10th Sponsored Chapter! Thanks Evan B. and Daryl V.! No more chapters in stock!<hr>

    <span> After t<span>he yers and shop owners witnessed the defeat of a level 5 Elder, they scattered in different directions to report the incident for points. Shortly after, the emergency sirens went off. The type was used to alert everyone to the presence of intruders. Following up on the siren was verbal information that the intruder was located at thergest marketce.

    <span>The Elders that were still within the Vige, whether they were on duty or on break, had to respond to the emergency. The moment the Elders heard the information, they all headed toward the marketce from all directions.

    <span>Ever since the Beginner Vige was established, the emergency siren had never been sounded. No one could''ve expected that today was going to be the day it was triggered! What type of person would dare cause trouble at the marketce? It was certainly unimaginable.

    <span>Even though the Beginner Vige was expansive, the scattered Elders responded very quickly. Within ten minutes, they had reached the marketce. Each Elder had their ownckeys to do their bidding. Theseckeys also followed their Elders and surrounded the marketce.

    <span>Aside from the Elders, the riot police had also been alerted. They were fully geared from head to toe with equipment, and had assault rifles as they marched toward the marketce. To prevent the intruder from escaping, the exit routes were all sealed off. No one was allowed to exit, only allowed in.

    <span>However, Liu Gan had no intentions of escaping. He told Yin He to head to a nearby shop to find dry clean clothes for Lee DingXin to switch into. If she kept her wet clothes on in this cold day, she would get sick.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>"What happened?" Han GuangMing asked Kong Mu. They were still at the training ground when they heard the emergency sirens.

    <span>"We seem to have an intruder, and they seem to be at the marketce. You don''t have to worry about it at all. The Elders are already there taking care of it," Kong Mu attempted to pacify his group.

    <span>Han GuangMing and Zhao Meng looked at each other¡­ It couldn''t have been their Elder Liu Gan, right? Liu Gan wasn''t someone they could simply tie down by sheer numbers.

    <span>"We should go take a look, too!" the neers cheered excitedly.

    <span>"We can go take a look at themotion, but don''t get too close. We don''t want to get killed as coteral damage from the fight. Bystanders that get injured can only me their bad luck!" Kong Mu agreed to the neer''s request.

    <span>Kong Mu carefully led his ss toward the marketce. He chose a rather safe spot to view the lively action from afar.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>"What happened here?" A robust Elder walked up, his presence gives off the feeling that he was a lot stronger than the other Elders. He acted like he was capable of giving orders out to other Elders.

    <span>"Seventh Elder, how are you! The situation is like this: They came to the marketce to stir up trouble, then he assaulted both of us. Stick Elder tried to negotiate peace, but he was also beaten up," the two security guards and shop owners started reporting in. The Stick Elder also had a surname of Liu.

    <span>"Is that him?" the Seventh Elder pointed at Liu Gan. It was strange to see an intruder standing there so leisurely, without any intention of escaping.

    <span>"Yes! That is him!" the group pointed at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Is what they have said true? I will give you one chance to exin yourself to me!" the Seventh Elder walked over to Liu Gan.

    <span>ording to the preset rules of Elder Leader, if the conflict involved an Elder shing with others, then the opposition deserved a chance to exin themselves. Being able to beat the Stick Elder to the ground meant that this person was more than capable of joining the Elder Committee, too. When the Seventh Elder arrived, he didn''t see any fighting going on. To reach a correct judgement, he had to understand the situation.

    <span>This was just in case this was one of those situations where the Elders were bullying the new yers. Situations like those were the ones Elder Leader tried to avoid. As for handling this type of matter, they were taught to side with the new yer''s point of view.

    <span>"I''ve recently arrived at this vige, I found that one of my friends was taken against her will by an Elder here. Then, they imprisoned her in this cage. I wanted to rescue my friend, so I tried to negotiate with the shop owner. The shop owner said he didn''t have the authority to make the decision, so I told him to find the Elder that caught her. He promised me, but instead he went to the marketce management to report me instead.

    <span>"I was talking to the security guards about it, but they didn''t care about who was right or wrong. They only cared about taking me in for punishment. That type of meaningless talk was leading to nowhere. So I just tossed them aside. Then this Stick Elder also disregarded what was right or wrong, and attempted to kill me. To survive, I had to defend myself.

    <span>"I came here for two reasons. My first reason was to find a friend. My second reason is to find another person. I didn''t have any intentions of creating trouble. All this is very simple. You were in the wrong to catch my friend, so it was your fault first. You can release my friend and all this will be resolved. I will be the bigger person and not hold you ountable. However, if you insist on not letting them go, I can only forcibly take them with me." Liu Gan tried to reason with the Seventh Elder.

    <span>"ording to you, that means we made a mistake?" Seventh Elder disputed after hearing both sides of the story. ording to the rules here, anyone who made the first aggressive move was wrong. After hearing both sides, it would seem that the neer was the one to make the first move.

    <span>"Of course it is your fault. If you haven''t arrested my friend then I wouldn''t have had toe searching for her. Now that I have found her, it is a given that I want to rescue her. Things that happen afterward, you can''t me me. I am not forcing you people to apologize to me, but you dared to attack me. If your leader understands what is right from wrong, then this matter would''ve been resolved ages ago!" Liu Gan crossed his arms.

    <span>"Okay, seems like you are the type of person to be unreasonable! Several of you, go arrest him!" Seventh Elder started ordering the riot police and his lower ranking Elderckey.

    <span>By now, the number of Elders that had gathered totaled over thirty people. In addition, most of these Elders had on riot gear. With this much power in front of him, Seventh Elder felt like there was nothing he couldn''t aplish. As long as he followed the rules, then even the Elder Leader wouldn''t nitpick the issues.

    <span>"Hands on your head! Get down!" The riot police pointed at Liu Gan with their assault rifles.

    <span>"You people act so recklessly!" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>With just these people''s assault rifles, even concentrated fire shooting at the same location for several hours wouldn''t be able to prate his [Mist Armor]. With one [Crescent de], all of these people would perish. Aside from the Elder Leader, Liu Gan couldn''t imagine anyone would withstand his [Crescent de] attack.

    <em>(Ed. Note: They¡¯re in a different world/video game, and someone doing PK in a ve market is unimaginable? Some people have no imagination¡­)</em>

    <em>(Ed. Note: Everyone knows, and the NRA insists, that there is no such thing as assault rifles. So, this is definitely not real, all you yers!)</em>

 Chapter 360

    <span><strong>Chapter 360 - Unavoidable</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>11th Sponsored Chapter! Thanks <strong>Joseph </strong>S.! <hr>

    <span>Liu Gan only wanted to resolve the problem peacefully. Never would he have thought that it would take a massacre to solve his problems. He thought that he could talk with this well-organized vige, otherwise he would''ve resorted to violence the moment he entered the vige.

    <span>When Liu Gan disobeyed the orders to submit to the Elders in Riot Police gear, they moved in to prepare to suppress Liu Gan to the floor. The Riot Police were meant as a deterrent, they were never meant to open fire unless necessary. This was another rule set by Elder Leader.

    <span>Liu Gan''s unwillingness to submit was viewed as resistance. Since Liu Gan didn''t act aggressively in front of Seventh Elder, the Riot Police didn''t open fire. Their next best solution was to take Liu Gan into custody.

    <span>"You have to be careful! This person isn''t easy to handle! If you want to make a move on him, you will have to use full force!" the Stick Elder shouted from afar to remind hisrades.

    <span>Even with the Stick Elder''s reminder, the Elders who rushed up to suppress Liu Gan, didn''t put too much thought into it. They were above level 5, so the condition of their bodies was far superior to normal humans. They were very confident in their abilities.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at the oing enemies and the surrounding people. <span><em>Seems like everyone here is an Elder, who are the level 5 and above yers. After reaching level 5, these yers have suitable abilities to defend themselves, but they chose to remain in this vige under the Elder Leader.</em>

    <span>It seemed <span>like this Elder Leader had a remarkable charisma that was nothing to ignore. Otherwise, he couldn''t have gathered so many yers by his side. With over one thousand yers and more than two thousand survivors, the Elder Leader could nurture their growth... Just like how Liu Gan had nurtured Zhang ShengLi and the others; as a result, their loyalty was very high.

    <span>Liu Gan was correct in his guess, the majority of these yers were nurtured by the Elder Leader and his elite squad. When the veteran Elders were still level 4, they were following Elder Leader. Only by remaining at Elder Leader''s side, were they given chances tost-hit Variant Zombies to break through to level 5.

    <span>Theirbat capabilities and survival experiences would never be as high as those who risked their lives trying to kill a Variant Zombie. They were able to kill the Variants through steadily avable chances and in turn a steady rate of leveling up. By being fed kills instead of through hard work, they were able to survive. That was why they had chosen to remain in the vige.

    <span>These several Elders that had rushed over to Liu Gan heard the warnings from Stick Elder, but they still held back. From their point of view, with several Elders surrounding this opponent, it would be enough to dominate the enemy. There was an advantage in their numbers, so if they couldn''t dominate this situation then it would be quite embarrassing. Fully equipped with Riot Police gear against an opponent not so equipped?

    <span>From the point of view of other Elders who had encircled the area, they felt that Liu Gan must be crazy. How dare a single person challenge the Elder Committee! Was this person looking to die?

    <span>All these Elders, other yers, and shop owners chuckled at Liu Gan''s seemingly inevitable defeat. With the Seventh Elder present to takemand of the situation, and the entire Elder Committee responding to the call, the bystanders really wanted to watch how a new yer fell. At the given signal, the Riot Police closed in on Liu Gan... only to be sent flying backward from kicks and punches thrown out by Liu Gan. They were sent flying like sandbags.

    <span>Liu Gan realized that the more mercy he showed, the more persistent these people became. This time, he increased his strength output to a degree where each punch was going to break bones. So when these Elders flew backward, they were holding onto their injuries. They were all screaming in pain about their broken bones.

    <span>This situation was beyond Seventh Elder''s expectations. Immediately, he called for the Riot Police to aim at Liu Gan. However, before they were able to open fire Liu Gan had rushed over to them already. He was breaking their formation, by kicking them down one by one and confiscating the assault rifles, bending the assault rifles into clumps of useless metal.

    <span>"This person is fierce! Every Elder, follow me! Don''t show mercy! This person must be taken down!" shouted the Seventh Elder, as he led the charge toward Liu Gan.

    <span>Today was the day Seventh Elder was on duty. If this many people couldn''t even handle one single opponent, they would definitely lose face. If he had to wait for Elder Leader and Second Elder toe back to resolve this issue, then he would no longer have the pride to stand before them.

    <span>With a group of ten yers level 5 yers and above, they each activated their abilities as they charged in. Their target was Liu Gan. This type of consecutive ability strikes as abined attack could finish off a group of Variant zombies.

    <span>If this wasn''t enough to take down Liu Gan, then the Elder Committee would lose the respect of the regr yers.

    <span>Liu Gan shook his head. The thought of killing them all crossed his mind, but he didn''t resort to it. He chose the alternative option of evading the attacks. When he was surrounded, he elerated toward a tree. Borrowing from the momentum, he parkoured up the space between the wall and the tree. Followed by two consecutive leaps, he was able to reach the rooftop of a building. Liu Gan looked down at the crowd from above.

    <span>"If you have guts, don''t run!" several yers shouted at Liu Gan. Even though these yers were above level 5 and had their strength and agility increased, they couldn''t parkour as easily as Liu Gan.

    <span>This had nothing to do with their levels. It was all gained from Liu Gan''s training in the real world. Liu Gan was already at a world-ss level in this area of expertise. Normal people could only dream of this achievement. So when Liu Gan reached level 10, his physical properties also increased. Naturally, his parkour skills would be several stages higher.

    <span>"This b*tch a$$ yer! If you have gutse down! Who are you trying to imitate? The monkey king?" an unknown yer started cursing at Liu Gan. This person had tattoos covering his body, and his face was scarred. With his rude tone and manner of speech, he continued with his vulgarnguage. Even in the real world, he didn''t have good qualities.

    <span>Liu Gan frowned. As requested by the tattooed yer, he jumped off. However, Liu Gan jumped right on top of that yer.

    <span>This unknown yer had an iron rod with the sharp end pointing at Liu Gan. Liu Gan''s heavy body crushed the tattooed yer. That unknown yer was dead upon impact, from his head to his ankle, he became mush. As for the iron rod, it was confiscated by Liu Gan.

    <span>Witnessing this scene, the surrounding yers were shocked. Jumping from a tall building in the middle ofbat was a dangerous act. The person on the ground could use different methods to hurt the person jumping. But, the person jumping couldn''t change his course in mid air.

 Chapter 361

    <span><strong>C</strong><span><strong>hapter 361 - Meeting</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>As a result, this tattooed yer didn''t even hurt Liu Gan. Liu Gan killed him on impact. That yer was already at level 6!

    <span>"I''ve given you people plenty of chances, but you keep pushing your boundaries. Don''t me me if I start a massacre!" Liu Gan dered to everyone around as he cracked his neck.

    <span>"Kill him!" Seventh Elder shouted after getting kicked back by Liu Gan. The Seventh Elder''s [Mist Armor] hadn''t been prated, so he didn''t think that Liu Gan could be that dangerous. Once again, he ordered all the Elders to attack.

    <span>With so many Elders, they attempted to surround Liu Gan once again. The yers that didn''t activate their abilitiesst time did so now, firing at Liu Gan. Liu Gan wasn''t so lenient this time. However, he didn''t use [Crescent de]. Liu Gan used his iron rod to smack down any yers that came up to challenge him. If one came, he would get smacked down. If two came, both would be knocked down. In no time, more than ten Elders wereying on the floor.

    <span>These Elders had more severe injuries than broken bones. Their bodies were in a much worse condition. Theyy on the floor, just crying in pain without moving.

    <span>Seventh Elder didn''t rush in this time, but he was also shocked by what he saw. The newly fallen Elders were a major fighting force of the vige. Who would''ve thought that this neer could keep up with their challenge! The Seventh Elder had reached level 7 already, but he didn''t have the capability to unleash and take down so many Elders at once.

    <span>Perhaps this person was higher than level 7. Realizing this, if Seventh Elder decided to face off against the enemy, he might die from the struggle. Unless the Elder Leader or the Second Elder were present to help stabilize the situation, this was a losing scenario.

    <span>As for how high the Elder Leader''s level was, no one knew. Aside from the Elder Leader himself, there was another person who knew, and that would be the Second Elder. Only when the Elder Leader had reached level 10 was he able to establish the vige and overwhelm any signs of a power struggle within the vige.

    <span>Liu Gan took down another ten Elders, and meanwhile, he stepped closer to the Seventh Elder.

    <span>"This brother¡­ Let''s talk it over. There are some things we can resolve peacefully. Didn''t you say that you want to release your friend? We can release her now. Continuing to fight or kill each other isn''t a good solution!" Seventh Elder started backing up as he pleaded for his safety.

    <span>Now that the tables had turned, pride did not matter. A man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him. The Seventh Elder knew that he couldn''t handle the situation, especially not against this person. It was best if it was handled by appropriate yers, like Elder Leader and Second Elder. If he continued to act tough, he would have the same ending as his predecessors and their broken bones.

    <span>In The Trembling World, broken bones could still be treated by the doctors, depending on the degree of bone fracturing. If the fracture was too severe, not even the doctors could use [Treatment] to fix it. It could lead to permanent disability. If the Elder remained bedridden for too long, then they might lose their position, so it was an unnecessary risk.

    <span>"I didn''t want to fight, either! If you had agreed to my terms earlier, we wouldn''t have had to reach this stage, right?" Liu Gan dropped his weapon.

    <span>"Yes! Yes! It was definitely their fault. Hey you store owner, go open the cage for this brother''s friend" Seventh Elder started smiling to Liu Gan, and then turned to shout orders at the shop owner.

    <span>"Seventh Elder, that person had been released already. She is standing right there." the shop owner quickly pointed at the young girl standing next to Yin He.

    <span>The store owner was shaking in fear. He knew that he had made a mistake and brought disaster to the vige. He caused Seventh Elder to be in this terrible fix. It would be very unlikely that the Seventh Elder would forget this grudge. He would be the target of Seventh Elder''s frustration. What bad luck that the Stick Elder had consigned the young girl to his store!

    <span>Earlier, the shop owner knew that Liu Gan looked fierce and quite capable, but no one could''ve expected that he was this capable! Dozens of Elders went up to challenge him, but none were his opponent!

    <span>"If you really wanted to resolve problems, I have another issue that I need help with. As long as you are sincerely helping me, I won''t make a move." Liu Gan ced his hand on Seventh Elder''s shoulder. From afar, people could mistake them as the best of friends or brothers.

    <span>"Hey¡­ Hey¡­ What bothers you? Let''s talk it over peacefully! Let''s talk it over!" Seventh Elder started to shout out of concern for his own safety. Seventh Elder started to feel the aura around Liu Gan when he drew closer.

    <span>This type of aura was on a spiritual level. Only those with spiritual power surpassing the other person can give off such a feeling. Liu Gan let off this aura to reveal his strength. In terms of strength it was rtively simr to Elder Leader and Second Elder''s aura. Now that the Seventh Elder is held down, no one could dare say no<span> to Liu Gan.

    <span>"I also have a friend, she is a female yer. She has a four-year-old male child. It is possible that she is in this vige. I need to know their whereabouts. You have a roster for everyone and their personal properties. I need you to gather them all here. Bring the roster over. Let me see if my friend is here or not. I won''t bring you trouble for no reason. Once I find my friend, I will leave." Liu Gan answered Seventh Elder in a friendly tone.

    <span>"Okay, okay! No problem! We have so many people in the vige, the marketce wouldn''t be able to amodate them all. How about this, I will gather everyone to the za center and you can look around to find your friend. It would be much easier that way," Seventh Elder started promising Liu Gan.

    <span>Right now, the Seventh Elder was using stalling tactics. With something this huge happening in the vige, someone would definitely have left to contact the Elder Leader and Second Elder. All that was left was to buy time for them and the elite squad to return. The tactic was to lead Liu Gan to the za center and have him waste time searching for people. This way Liu Gan will be stalled and their leader would have time to return.

    <span>As long as Elder Leader and the Second Elder returned, then the Seventh Elder didn''t have to bear the responsibility. Naturally, it would be the Elder Leader handling this person.

    <span>Liu Gan figured Seventh Elder''s intentions out easily. However, there was no need to reveal the fact. Now that things had advanced to this stage, it seemed like meeting with this Elder Leader was inevitable.

 Chapter 362

    <span><strong>C</strong><span><strong>hapter 362 - Elder Leader</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>This went without saying. If the Elder Leader knew how to be tactful, he would''ve handed over the person Liu Gan was looking for. That way things wouldn''t escte out of hand. If they didn''t want to hand over the person, then they will get beaten up again. They didn''t want to hand over Lee DingXin, so they got beaten up. Liu Gan didn''t mind beating them up once more, just to force them to hand over the people he was looking for.

    <span>Today his purpose was to look for those people, no matter what he had to do to find them. Especially DongDong, he really needed to find him. Once he found DongDong, then the <span><em>Brave</em><span> model airship would be his for the taking.

    <span>Liu Gan was already level 10. He didn''t mind if there were higher level yers that would like to participate in a PK. It would be a good practice match. Liu Gan was highly confident in his alloy limbs, and his abilities of [Mist Armor], [Psychic Shock], and [Crescent de]. He should be able to challenge yers a few levels higher.

    <span>Aside from that, the beta yers had a unfair advantage over other yers. If strong yers like Liu Gan couldn''t even win with that much of an advantage, he could always use Yin He or NaNa. It was highly doubtful that there are more than a few yers who were capable of handling theirbined attack. Unless it was necessary, he wouldn''t call for their help. This was a good chance for him to test out his own capabilities. It was the itch for a enjoyable battle that had been driving him crazy.

    <span>With the Seventh Elder''s order, hisckeys started to spread out to gather everyone in the vige. No matter if they were an adult or child, survivor or yer, they were gathered in the central za. Taking advantage of the fact that Liu Gan couldn''t see behind the scenes, Seventh Elder ordered hisckeys to stall for time by moving slowly. The people gathering in the za center were moving very slowly, which let them buy time for Elder Leader and his elite group to return.

    <span>Theckeys instinctively understood the meaning behind stalling for time. As the za center started to fill up with people. Kong Mu and his ss also joined the za center. Sun Cheng and the others also gathered there. They looked up to discover that Liu Gan and Seventh Elder standing next to each other and smiling like friends. To Kong Mu, it was a strange sight.

    <span>It led him to question whether these neers were new yers. How could they have connected with someone as powerful as the Seventh Elder? Kong Mu was on the outskirts of the za center, so he didn''t know what had urred between the two. It was above his pay grade, he was only ordered to assemble at the za center, and he obeyed.

    <span>"Your work efficiency is very low! Can they move faster? Even if you want to stall until your Elder Leaderes back to meet me, there is no need to order them to do it so half-heartedly, right?" Liu Gan urged the Seventh Elder.

    <span>"Ah¡­ No way, I haven''t? Right here, we don''t have any cellphones, so calling for people isn''t that easy. There might some people that are still asleep. There are others that live quite far away. So it would take them a bit longer to arrive.." Seventh Elder was blushing red as he tried to exin to Liu Gan.

    <span>"You really need to try so hard to stall? Even if you drag this out until your leaderes back, you will still need to return to me the person I am looking for. The problem still hasn''t been resolved. I advise you to hurry up and find out if the person I am looking for is here. That way I won''t need to bother you any longer. Do you want your leader to suffer this embarrassment? You will feel that your decision you made wasn''t very smart..." Liu Gan started chuckling

    <span>"Okay, Okay! I will do my best!" The Seventh Elder didn''t dare to talk back to Liu Gan. The only thing he could do now is put up an act and rush hisckeys.

    <span>By this time, the far end of the za center seemed to have gathered a crowd of people, creating a disturbance. The group was walking toward the tform. There were people started shouting loudly.

    <span>"Elder Leader and Second Elder have returned!"

    <span>"Fourth Elder and Fifth Elder are back!"

    <span>"Someone will suffer now!"

    <span>"Let''s see how Elder Leader uses his face to wipe the floor!"

    <span>Seventh Elder quickly looked at the far end of the za center. It was definitely the outline of Elder Leader, Second Elder, Fourth Elder and Fifth Elder returning from their hunt. Seventh Elder rushed off the tform, like he had met his idol.

    <span>The Elder Leader was called Qiu Zi Tao. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was very handsome. With his pretty looks, he could definitely be an idol. Regardless of his age, he would be considered fresh meat with that pretty face.

    <span>Qiu Zi had reached level 11. He was definitely a beta yer. However, he wasn''t considered the highest level, that would be the Second Elder. That person had a well-defined body. He was already level 13. The Second Elder''s name was Zhao Nan Shan. Qiu Zi was the Elder Leader, but he was just a puppet. He was a chess piece groomed by Zhao Nan Shan.

    <span>From the society rules to arranging the tasks, it was all Zhao Nan Shan working behind the scenes. Qiu Zi was the puppet to execute his bidding. Although Qiu Zi agreed to follow Zhao Nan Shan''s bidding, this matter was highly confidential and only the two of them knew. In the vige, not even Third or Fourth Elder knew.

    <span>In other people''s hearts, they knew that their leader and Second Elder were above level 10. Since Second Elder had been worshipping Qiu Zi as the leader, they thought that Qiu Zi was higher level than Zhao Nan Shan.

    <span>Zhao Nan Shan had a reason to hide his true strength. As for why he was willing to submit to the position of Second Elder, instead of taking the leadership for himself, even Qiu Zi had no idea. There was only one thing Qiu Zi cared about, it was the feeling of being worshipped by others.

    <span>"What happened in the vige? Why did you all leave your positions? Why is everyone gathered in the center za? Qiu Zi started shouting at them. His voice was loud enough for most of the people gathered in the za to hear.

    <span>"Reporting to Elder Leader! Someone from the outside is here to provoke a fight! He injured many of our yers! Please, Elder Leader, help us!" Seventh Elder started reporting to Qiu Zi.

    <span>"Oh? I only leave for half a day, and something this big takes ce? Who would have such balls to do that? To injure my men?" Qiu Zi looked around and saw Liu Gan standing on the tform with his arms crossed.

    <span>Alongside Qiu Zi was the Fifth Elder. With Liu Gan''s improved eyesight, he could easily recognize the Fifth Elder as someone familiar. It was someone who he had been searching for - it was LuLu! However, DongDong wasn''t by her side anymore. There was a younger girl following her instead.

 Chapter 363

    <span><strong>Chapter 363 - Contrast</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Who would''ve thought that she could survive so well? She had made her way to the side of the Elder Leader and gained a leadership spot as the Fifth Elder. But, it wasn''t too much of a surprise. With LuLu''s physical features, it wouldn''t be hard at all. Not every guy was like Liu Gan, so cold and heartless to a beautiful woman like LuLu.

    <span>Standing next to LuLu''s side was the younger girl, who was also someone Liu Gan was familiar with. It was the girl who had murdered Zhang ShengNan and her boyfriend at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. Then she tried to assassinate Liu Gan, but was beaten up by Yin He instead.

    <span>As for why LuLu and LingLing were together, Liu Gan found that answer in LuLu''s diary. One was abandoned by Liu Gan, the other was beaten up on Liu Gan''s request. What a bad rtionship. If it weren''t to find DongDong, Liu Gan wouldn''t have came back to find LuLu.

    <span>LingLing felt Liu Gan''s stare from afar. She lifted up her face and bared her vicious teeth in retaliation. She wanted to shred Liu Gan into pieces, but she was also very scared.

    <span>LuLu was panicking the whole way back to the vige, but she calmed down once she looked up at the stage. That was when she discovered that Liu Gan was on the za center tform. She was shocked to see him there, but once she locked her eyes on him she didn''t shift her focus away.

    <span>Biting her lower lip she was pondering if she should go up to greet him. When she started moving forward, Qiu Zi blocked her path.

    <span>"Things like this should be handled by me." Qiu Zi mistook LuLu''s intention.

    <span>"No¡­ I just¡­" LuLu was interrupted before she could finish her sentence. Qiu Zi had leapt up onto the stage already.

    <span>The za''s center tform was around two meters high. It was a open theater stage, perfect for performances. With the stage as the centerpiece, people could see from all around.

    <span>With the stage so high, it would be hard for anyone below level 10 to leap up without using their hands. Qiu Zi easily reached the stage andnded elegantly, giving off a presence as if an immortal had descended.

    <span>"So it was you who had injured many of my followers?" Qiu Zi revealed an wide smile. He was very confident in his abilities, but if it weren''t for Zhao Nan Shan backing him up, he wouldn''t be so brazen about it.

    <span>"Yes," Liu Gan replied simply. Liu Gan took his time to analyze the so-called Elder Leader, and he was quite surprised by what he was looking at.

    <span>There was a feeling of doubt in Liu Gan''s mind. He didn''t think that this so-called Elder Leader in front of him was capable or bold enough to manage such arge vige. From this person''s attitude, he didn''t seem to match the description of the other yers that the Elder Leader was calm and collected.

    <span>"Why did you do that?" Qiu Zi spread out his arms in opposite directions and pointed around. These useless movements were Qiu Zi''s way of disying how his immortal elegance, it was very theatrical.

    <span>To Liu Gan, it seemed like this Qiu Zi loved to y pretend, so much so that he weed the worship and looks of attention given to him. There was a huge discrepancy between how people had described the Elder Leader as an unflustered and seasoned yer.

    <span>"I was only here to search for my friends. One of my friends was locked up in a cage in the marketce. I told them to release her, but they refused, so I took things into my own hands," Liu Gan exined patiently.

    <span>"Oh? I heard that she was released already. So why did you continue with creating more chaos?" Qiu Zi continued to interrogate him. Even though Qiu Zi was asking questions, his temper was starting to boil.

    <span>If Qiu Zi was merely a chess piece, he had been trained very well to do the job of being a chess piece.

    <span>Standing on the stage, Liu Gan looked around. When he saw the Second Elder in the crowd, he frowned. The feeling he got when he saw the Second Elder was that this person on stage couldn''t be the real Elder Leader. It must be the Second Elder controlling things behind the scene. However, there was no proof. It was just an instinct that Liu Gan relied on. He still needed to confirm the enemy''sbat abilities and identities.

    <span>"I''m still looking for one more friend. She is in your vige. As long as you agree to let me take her along, I won''t cause anymore trouble." Liu Gan directed his attention to LuLu.

    <span>LuLu looked back at Liu Gan; she still had a grudge against him.

    <span>"Ah? Who is it you are looking for? Have you found them?" Qiu Zi asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"I found her, she is right there. Seems like she is your Fifth Elder." Liu Gan pointed at LuLu.

    <span>Qiu Zi watched Liu Gan point his fingers at LuLu, then he noticed LuLu was staring back at Liu Gan. She had on an expression that he had never seen before. Qiu Zi sensed something was up between the two and this was starting to anger him.

    <span>Qiu Zi had been trying to court LuLu since she had joined. However, LuLu didn''t return any signs of affection. Due to Zhao Nan Shan''s rule of not being able to use force, Qiu Zi could only think of different ways to win LuLu''s heart. One of his method was to bring her gifts, in the form of Variant Zombies so she could level up. LuLu had easily leveled up from 5 to 8. Only recently did she show signs of opening up to him, but now this intruder wanted to take away his love interest.

    <span>When the Elders in the vige heard the conversation between Liu Gan and Qiu Zi, they started gossiping. As long as there was a society, there will be gossip. Almost every yer in the vige knew that Qiu Zi was trying to win over LuLu, but was unsessful.

    <span>Now there was the sudden appearance of another male yer, who had dered he wanted to take LuLu away. What an abrupt turn of events! Does this mean that the two men were going to fight for a woman?

    <span>"Is he your friend?" Qiu Zi asked LuLu. Even though Qiu Zi was smiling, he was very jealous and barely able to keep his facade up.

    <span>As Zhao Shan Nan''s pawn, Qiu Zi was able to get everything he wished for¡­ with the exception being LuLu, due to the rules. Qiu Zi hated Zhao Shan Nan''s rule, but he didn''t dare to disobey. Even killing the Third Elder was ordered by Zhao Shan Nan. It was a warning to others that no one can disobey the rules. Even if the rule breaker held the position of an Elder, they were not above the rule.

    <span>Even if Qiu Zi was already level 11, he didn''t dare to show any signs of breaking the rule. He could only smother her with gifts.

    <span>"Yes I know him. He was the heartless one who abandoned me. I didn''t think he woulde back to find me," LuLu replied to Qiu Zi.

 Chapter 364

    <span><strong>Chapter 364 - Unhappy</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <span>Donation Queue as of 1/11/2018: 0/30

    <span>All donated chapters cleared!

    <span>Thank you Michael B. and Aaron L. for the donation!<hr>

    <span>"Kill him! Kill him! He is the world''s most evil person! Kill that evil person!" the young girl, LingLing started jumping excitedly while pointing at Liu Gan. It is now very clear that LingLing didn''t like Liu Gan.

    <span>"LingLing don''t act out." LuLu was distraught by anxiety already, she knuckled down onto LingLing''s skull. Instantly LingLing quieted down. She still maintained her re at Liu Gan. Standing not too far off was Yin He, right next to the za center tform.

    <span>Yin He recognized LingLing, but before she received the order from Liu Gan, she wouldn''t move.

    <span>"If that is so, do you want me to teach him a lesson on your behalf?" Qiu Zi asked LuLu. Qiu Zi felt more at ease when he realized that LingLing was quite biased against Liu Gan.

    <span>"LuLu, if you don''t want toe along with me, I don''t mind. Just hand over DongDong to me" Liu Gan sensed the tension in the air. Liu Gan didn''t want to drag on this melodramatic y so he simplified his conditions.

    <span>"So you aren''t here for me?" LuLu was shocked when she heard Liu Gan''s terms. LuLu was so shocked, she froze in ce.

    <span>Originally, when she saw Liu Gan on the tform, she thought that he was there for her. He created this hugemotion to find her, and deep down, she felt moved. She was under the impression that Liu Gan returned for her.

    <span>She was mistaken.

    <span>In the Lucky Garden District, after Liu Gan had left, LuLu was depressed. She couldn''t stop thinking about the man who had left her. Even though they weren''t together for a long period of time, he deeply influenced her. Her memories of their time together were even drawn out in DongDong''s drawing book.

    <span>Then Yao Yi and Cheng Qi, the mother-daughter pair, arrived at the Lucky Garden District. They exined their situation to LuLu and how Liu Gan had rescued them. They exined that Liu Gan pointed out this safe haven to them. LuLu mistook that as sign of Liu Gan returning back to her. She could only daydream her fantasy of him returning to her after he finished his business.

    <span>Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned into months. She felt that he would eventually return for her. Even the most hopeful would start to lose hope. She started to wonder if she had fallen in love with Liu Gan. There were internal conflicts as to how it was possible for someone as cute as herself could''ve fallen in love with a thick-headed man like him. In this hellish world, there was nothing else for her to think about in her free time. When she was working, she would lose those thoughts, but the moment she stopped working, they returned. This cycle of frustration made her temper even worse.

    <span>Then there was one morning, when a wounded young girl arrived at the Lucky Garden District. Her name was LingLing. She was on the verge of dying from her severe wounds. LuLu nurtured her back to good health and sutured the wounds. Even when LingLing wanted to hear ''twinkle twinkle little star'', LuLu sang it for her. Even when LuLu casually sang the song, it came out really well, which was why LingLing decided to remain by LuLu''s side.

    <span>There was one time when they were out hunting when they came upon a Variant Zombie. LingLing used her strong jaws to bit the Variant Zombie close to death, and LuLu got the kill. That was how LuLu reached level 5, and she received the ability [Bewitch], it was a psychic type ability.

    <span>Then a little over a month ago, Qiu Zi was wandering the nearby the Lucky Garden District, when he noticed LuLu. It was a shocking discovery to find out that LuLu was his favorite inte broadcaster.

    <span>LuLu also recognized Qiu Zi''s name when he spoke up about it. It turned out that he was one of those zealous fans. He had given hervish amounts of money as donations. Even Qiu Zi''s close aides were fans of LuLu. They immediately recognized her from just one look.

    <span>At their invitation, LuLu decided to join arms with them to build the Beginner Vige. With Qiu Zi and his aides giving free kills to LuLu, she was able to reach level 8 very quickly. She easily became the Fifth Elder with her newfound eptance. After joining the vige, LuLu was well recognized. She picked up the responsibility of being the public speaker to help with spreading publicity. As work got busier, she set aside her feelings and memories of Liu Gan.

    <span>So LuLu never thought that she would have the chance to meet with Liu Gan today. At the point she saw him, she was shocked. She thought that he was there to find her and that thought dug up her sealed memories. She felt very happy and it was very sweet. She realized that he was her first love, even if it was only unrequited love.

    <span>In the real world, LuLu and her veteran father had a huge argument. She ran away from home and found a job. She wanted to be famous so she could earn enough money to buy a house for her father as an apology. So her lovelife was nonexistent while she was focused on work.

    <span>It was only after arriving at the Trembling World that she was moved by Liu Gan. He was the only one that was able to make her feel so emotional. When she heard that he was back, she felt excited, but she wasn''t the one that he was looking for. He was looking for DongDong. This emotional roller coaster made LuLu very sad and angry.

    <span>"You came here only for DongDong?!" LuLu angrily shouted back at him.

    <span>"He is an NPC with a mission, I need to bring him back with me," Liu Gan replied, concealing his true purpose.

    <span>"You came back to look for me, just for that?" LuLu asked with a sad expression.

    <span>"Did you feel that there was any other reason?" Liu Gan looked suspiciously at LuLu.

    <span>Yin He''s eyes were bouncing left and right as she looked from LuLu back to Liu Gan. She realized that LuLu looked at Liu Gan with the same expression as Su Nina. Was it possible that they had some sort of unspeakable rtionship? Brother Gan was exceptional, nearly every girl would fall in love with him!

    <span>"DongDong won''t leave with you" LuLu said with a cold expression.

    <span>"LuLu, I''m warning you. If it is something I want, no one can stop me! If you don''t want this ce to be dyed with people''s blood, then don''t make it difficult!" Liu Gan angrily threatened.

    <span>"Wow such a big bluff!"

    <span>"This person must be daydreaming!"

    <span>"He beats a few Elders and thinks he can challenge our Elder Leader?"

    <span>"He must be looking to die!"

    <span>As the crowd started to get rowdy, people were shouting out their thoughts. Qiu Zi didn''t have any intention of interrupting. He heard LuLu and Liu Gan exchange words and wanted them to continue arguing. In fact, he wanted LuLu topletely lose interest in Liu Gan.

    <span>As for what Liu Gan had dered, it made others angry. This way he could use this chance to punish Liu Gan as a lesson. He could remove a love rival and appease the crowd. It was a good strategy that could knock out two birds with one stone. If he seeded, he would be even more appreciated.

    Sponsored Chapter

 Chapter 365

    <span><strong>Chapter 365 - Sudden Realization</strong>

    <span>TL: xdh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>While Zhao Nan Shan didn''t chime in on the conversation, he stared at Liu Gan with a worrisome look. He didn''t recognize Liu Gan and he wasn''t able to discern Liu Gan''s abilities. It was difficult to figure out the extent of Liu Gan''s strength. However, his sixth sense kept reminding him that Liu Gan standing easily here on the tform was a dangerous foe¡­ a lot more dangerous than the enemies he had fought before.

    <span>If this person was just looking for his friend, without any bad intentions, then it would be for the best if everything was resolved peacefully. Zhao Nan Shan had a secret agenda that he had to fulfill. He didn''t want any side issues that would distract him from his mission. It was a mission that he must fulfill without any interruptions.

    <span>"Brother Gan, can you stop being like that? Interactions between people shouldn''t be like this. There has to be some emotion!" LuLu said in despair.

    <span>"You are so annoying! Hand over DongDong now so I can leave. I will use my methods to find the people I want. DongDong will be found sooner orter. If you force my hand, people in this vige will suffer for your actions. Is that what you want to see?" Liu Gan snorted.

    <span>"Seems like you aren''t wee here. We won''t hand over the person you are looking for. Do you want to walk out yourself or would you want to be carried out?" Qiu Zi asked. He felt it was time to intervene now as a way of resolving this problem for LuLu.

    <span>"If you give me the person I asked for now, I will leave immediately. If not, I will use force to take him back!" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"It is too bad, she has already said that DongDong won''t leave with you. I suggest that you be tactful in your next actions. If you want to make a move, I don''t mind telling you that I am already level 14! You won''t be my opponent. If I beat you down, then don''tin when you have a bloody nose¡­" Qiu Zi announced.

    <span>As for Qiu Zi''s level 14 bluff, he was only level 11. The audience below the stage couldn''t tell the difference between level 11 or 14.

    <span>"Elder Leader is already level 14!"

    <span>"No wonder he is so powerful!"

    <span>The audience in the crowd started cheering more excitedly. They''ve never heard their leader announce his level. There were rumors going around, but it wasn''t something concrete.

    <span>"Level 14? Interesting¡­" Liu Gan reassessed Qiu Zi. It looked like he could temporarily forget about the issue of looking for DongDong. At this moment, he was more interested in finding a more durable sparring partner.

    <span>"I will take into ount that you and LuLu were friends, so I won''t penalize you for what you have done so far. I forgive your actions even though you have killed and wounded my brothers. But, if you don''t know what is good for you and refuse to concede defeat, then I won''t show you any kindness!" Qiu Zi warned Liu Gan.

    <span>"Elder Leader, Fifth Elder, less trouble is better. I suggest you just hand over DongDong to him. It is hard enough to survive in this world already. Better to have one more friend than an enemy," the Second Elder, Zhao Nan Shan, finally shouted out.

    <span>Hearing Zhao Nan Shan say this, Qiu Zi''s expression grew even worse. They had a prior agreement. In public spaces, Zhao Nan Shan would never speak up. Only behind closed doors would Zhao Nan Shan instruct Qiu Zi. Qiu Zi didn''t expect Zhao Nan Shan to intervene and ask for this issue to be resolved peacefully.

    <span>As a chess piece, Qiu Zi knew that he couldn''t beat Zhao Nan Shan in a fight. So rather than picking a fight, he figured that it would be better to have his support behind the scenes. Qiu Zi has never disobeyed Zhao Nan Shan''s orders. That was, until this point. This issue rted directly to LuLu and his own face, it was not something that he could hold back.

    <span>Why should he give in to this intruder, Liu Gan? He would rather rely on his own ability to beat up this man. That way, he could take the chance to "identally" kill him, so he wouldn''te back to bother LuLu again.

    <span>"No, issues like these I will decide! Not you!" said Qiu Zi, after a brief moment of contemtion. After being a quiet follower for so long, it was time that he grew a backbone on issues that he felt strongly about. Maybe Zhao Nan Shan could rte and forgive him this time...

    <span>Zhao Nan Shan shook his head in disappointment, and didn''t speak any more on the issue. Now that things had turned to this type of situation, if he spoke out even more, then his cover would be blown. He still had his secret mission to fulfill, and that was more important.

    <span>"LuLu, bring DongDong over so I can have a few words with him. Let see if he wants to stay by your side or if he would rather leave with me. Let him decide for himself, so you don''t have to decide for him!" Liu Gan shouted to Lulu as he walked over to the edge of the stage.

    <span>"You were the one who abandoned us first! It is toote to pull a stunt like this! I won''t let you see him again! I won''t let you hurt him! I know that you treat him as your tool!" LuLu maintained her cold demeanor, but her eyes betrayed her. She started tearing up the moment she finished her sentence.

    <span>From the people closest to the stage to the people watching from afar, including Han GuangMing, Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng, they were all stunned. Fifth Elder was Liu Gan''s ex-boyfriend! How heartless of the husband to abandon the wife and child! Now he only wanted the child back.

    <span>Yin He looked curiously at Liu Gan, then back at LuLu. She was very curious as to what had happened between the two and what the stories were.

    <span>"You stupid woman! We haven''t even been here for a long time! How stupid like a pig can you get! If you hand over DongDong to me, I won''t let harme to him! I can promise that once he is in my custody, I will leave immediately. If you don''t agree to my terms, then I don''t have the patience to continue arguing!" Liu Gan started getting impatient.

    <span>"Yes, I am stupid! Stupid to the point where I would love you! Even after you heartlessly left me, I kept thinking about you day and night!" LuLu shouted and tears started streaming down her face.

    <span>That was when the audience went into an uproar. Before the confession, it was all spection and rumors, but now everything was clear. Fifth Elder was clearly in an abusive rtionship! The feeling when a man abandons a woman, it was a situation many women felt sympathetic to!

    <span>"Damn!" Liu Gan smacked his forehead. Originally, he only wanted to be stern to LuLu, but now that she was crying, it didn''t feel right to get more aggressive towards her.

    <span>Liu Gan nced around. He realized everyone was giving him a weird stare, including Yin He. That was when he realized that he had screwed up the situation. His original n was simple. Rescue her, and then take her back with him. <span><em>How did things get to this point? Where did things go wrong?</em>

    <span>Thisdy broadcaster was too creative and sentimental. He abandoned her solely because she could be a liability. Even if she proimed feelings for him, she didn''t need to be so exaggerated!

    Anyone y Lineage II: revolution on Aden03 server?

 Chapter 366

    <span><strong>Chapter 366 - Backstabbing</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Hey! Are you done yet? Do you enjoy bullying ady? If you really have guts, then you should fight me instead!" Qiu Zi felt sickened from overhearing the lover''s quarrel.

    <span>Nearly everyone within the vige knew that Qiu Zi was LuLu''s superfan. Ever since they''d reached The Trembling World, Qiu Zi had been trying to court LuLu, but he waspletely unsessful.

    <span>LuLu would turn down most of his courting requests. This led Qiu Zi to wonder if LuLu had someone she valued in her heart already. Upon listening to the quarrel between Liu Gan and LuLu, Qiu Zi finally understood why he had been denied all this time; someone else had upied a precious ce in her heart already. Now this person dared to show up uninvited to his vige!

    <span>If he didn''t vanquish her lover, then how else could he speak with pride after this! Even as a chess piece, he had pride that he couldn''t throw away. He enjoyed the glory given to him by Zhao Nan Shan, but for this incident regarding LuLu, he has to prioritize his pride over Zhao Nan Shan''s order.

    <span>To maintain his image in front of others, especially LuLu, Qiu Zi contained his jealousy internally. Up to this point, he hadn''t disyed any signs of aggression. He felt it was more important to uphold the image of a gentleman and showpassion. If he proimed to provide justice in the name of LuLu, it would be a righteous reason.

    <span>It was very clear that LuLu and her lover weren''t on friendly speaking terms, so there was no need to add in extra triggering words. If the two continued to argue, their rtionship would deteriorate. It would reach the point where the rtionship could not be amended. That is when Qiu Zi would have a real chance at LuLu''s heart.

    <span>In the Trembling World, it was hard to find a beautiful and independent woman like LuLu. Even though LuLu had a heart-breaking rtionship, Qiu Zi decided to forgive her. No one could me her, but it was unfortunate that she didn''t meet him earlier.

    <span>"Stop messing around. Even if we continue this argument, it is pointless. It will only lead to other people misunderstanding and it will destroy your image!" Liu Gan was trying to convince LuLu.

    <span>"I am a stupid woman! I am a pig! So what can you do about it? You won''t even pay attention to me¡­" LuLu continued to cry. When a woman suffers painful heart breaking rtionship problems, they won''t care about something so trivial like a proud image.

    <span>Liu Gan might have berated her by saying she was stupid like a pig, but she can''t seem to muster up the anger to hate him. She even wondered if she had Stockholm syndrome. There were better-quality suitors that loved her, but she only liked this cold, heartless man with a rotten personality.

    <span>"Comfort her! No need for such heartless words¡­"

    <span>"Yeah! Fifth Elder treats you right, how can you be so cold to her?"

    <span>"Big man ideologies!"

    <span>"Men that don''t know how to treasure¡­"

    <span>"Rather than stand there and watch her cry, say something pleasant tofort her¡­"

    <span>"There is a saying, once a married couple, there will always be feelings¡­"

    <span>"Their son is already four years old. The son is growing up to be very cute. How could he have severed ties with the wife and kid so irresponsibly?"

    <span>Even in the vige, these women felt as if they could rte to the situation. They all sided with LuLu and gossip started spreading once again. Women''s empathy was a formidable force. The moment they discovered that a loved one suffered an emotional turmoil, they could rte as if they were a victim themselves. They would group up and attack the heartbreaker.

    <span>Liu Gan stared nkly at these women¡­ What were these "four-year-old son" and "severing ties with wife and kids" allegations? Did they really think that DongDong was the child of him and LuLu? Could they use their brains? The server for The Trembling World had only been open for two months!

    <span>Qiu Zi had to painfully listen to other women startmenting. He couldn''t help but wonder, why did they have to chime in on the argument? They should''ve just kept quiet and watched! Why would they try to pacify the argument? These women weren''t helping his cause, and indirectly backstabbing him!

    <span>For the sake of preserving his perfect image, Qiu Zi didn''t vent out his frustrations.

    <span>LuLu was shielded by other females, and this gave her courage. Without further exnation, she kept her angry stare on Liu Gan. She had a sad expression that said she had suffered through many injustices in life, but she will still love him regardless.

    <span>"Okay, fine then I will admit that it was a mistake to abandon you. You must understand that I was going to take a risk, so I couldn''t bring you with me. Do you remember Jiang JinYuan? I couldn''t even protect him, so he was killed. If I brought you along with me, you would''ve had a much worse fate than him. But, if I left you behind, you would survive. Doesn''t the fact that you became the Fifth Elder prove that it was a better decision to leave you behind?" Liu Gan finally started to reason with LuLu.

    <span>If Liu Gan could sweet talk his way into having LuLu hand over DongDong, that would be the best strategy. Otherwise even if this vige was dyed in red, he would find DongDong. Liu Gan was never the one to resort to killing innocents as his first choice. Weighing both options, it was better if she would willingly hand over DongDong.

    <span>"So that was the reason why you didn''t bring me along? Then¡­ Why didn''t youe find me afterwards?" LuLu asked. LuLu felt a lot better after hearing Liu Gan''s reasoning. A woman that is in love is quite crazy. Once the man gives a reason that they want to hear, her brain will fill up the gaps.

    <span>"Afterwards, there was a corpse tide, zombies flying in tornadoes¡­ Even if I wanted to return, I was forced to continue to South NinJing City. It was only these few days that I was able to return to this region by following the shoreline. The moment I realized I was back, I went to the Lucky Garden District to find you. That was when I saw your diary and drawings," Liu Gan continued his exnation.

    <span>"Liu Gan even brought these two items with him to look over when he has time!" Han GuangMing quickly rushed over. Han GuangMing pulled out the diary and drawings and ced them in front of LuLu.

    <span>Liu Gan nced at Han GuangMing. When did Han GuangMing have the habit of collecting stuff?

    <span>LuLu received her own diary and drawings back. The moment she saw the diary and manga drawings, she remembered the initial feelings that moved her to draw them. The feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Following those days were feelings of anger and longing. Tears started to flow from LuLu''s face.

    <span>"Okay, now that you understand what happened. Can you bring DongDong out? I will leave with you both together," Liu Gan urged LuLu.

    <span>LuLu raised her head to look at Liu Gan. She was wondering if Liu Gan came for DongDong or her. She felt rushed to leave. The way Liu Gan had worded his statement came off as insincere.

    <span>"LuLu has answered you already. DongDong doesn''t want to see you! She won''t leave with you either! Don''t continue dragging this out! If you continue bothering her, even my kindness has its limit!" Qiu Zi finally walked over to p his hand on Liu Gan''s shoulder.

    (Ed. Note: Wow, how big a mistake can you make?)

 Chapter 367

    <span><strong>Chapter 367 - Aligned Wishes</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Originally, people were expecting a fight between two yers. The original plot would have been that Qiu Zi was sessfully defending against an intruder, but with new elements introduced, it became a love triangle drama. Qiu Zi felt terrible at the absurd development.

    <span>What bothered Qiu Zi the most was that it felt as if LuLu was close to forgiving Liu Gan. She was very close on making the decision to leave the vige behind. Then she would wipe away everything he had done for her. He had invested too much in her. There was absolutely no way that he could just let her go like this.

    <span>"Why did you interrupt us? It isn''t your decision to make," Liu Gan sharply criticized Qiu Zi. This strategy of sweet talking LuLu to hand over DongDong was just about to bear fruit, but Qiu Zi interrupted it all.

    <span>"You really don''t know what is good for you! Once again, I will excuse your actions because of LuLu''s face. However, if you insist on your actions, then I will be forced to teach you a lesson, so you will know the limits of your ability!" Qiu Zi replied back.

    <span>"Kill him! Kill him!" chanted the men watching in the crowd. These men were not fond of watching it drag on for so long. To them, resolving issues like these were best done through a fist fight.

    <span>"You assaulted my men when I wasn''t here! Do you dare to fight like a real man against me?" Qiu Zi continued to provoke Liu Gan.

    <span>"Okay! If you want to make a move, then I will do so to defend myself!" Liu Gan replied.

    <span>To look for DongDong, he nearly forgot about looking for a sparring partner. Now that Liu Gan had reached level 10, he had to find someone stronger than him to exchange blows. This was the fastest method to find out how much he had improved. One side imed righteousness as an excuse to vanquish the foe. The other side wanted to test their ability after leveling up. Even though their reasons were weak, they have aligned wishes to fight to vent out their frustrations.

    <span>"Then we should dere our terms now. If I win, you will kneel on the stage for three days and three nights to apologize for everyone you have killed and wounded!" Qiu Zi wanted to humiliate Liu Gan even if he couldn''t kill him. Hopefully, from the embarrassment, he would stop pestering LuLu.

    <span>"Good!"

    <span>"Elder Leader is powerful!"

    <span>"Elder Leader is imprable! Unbeatable!"

    <span>"Scum deserve punishment!"

    <span>A group of male yers started cheering at the top of their lungs. They were Qiu Zi''s superfans.

    <span>"Elder Liu has never lost in a fight. That clown is sure unlucky," Han GuangMing said to Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>It was like two teamspeting at the World Cup, the ser yers would meet on the field to fight. As the ser yers yed against each other, the fans would pay attention close to every move. Every fan wanted the team they were cheering on to win. This feeling was even more intense than the yers involved would have.

    <span>Han GuangMing wasn''t worried about Liu Gan''s safety. Even if the opponent had an advantage, Liu Gan had experienced many hardships. This experienced fighter haven''t lost a fight yet, so even if Liu Gan lost once to Qiu Zi, then vice-leader He would continue the fight with NaNa. Even if there were four thousand opponents, Yin He and NaNa would kill them all.

    <span>Elder Liu''s attitude so far have been very civilized and understanding.

    <span>"That sounds good! I will give you credit for creating such a huge vige that benefits the yers. So I won''t force you to do anything embarrassing if you lose, I just want you to hand over the person I demand!" Liu Gan replied to Qiu Zi.

    <span>Liu Gan''s objective of going to the vige was to find the older caltrop sister, Lee DingXiang, and DongDong. There weren''t any feelings of animosity against the yers, so there was no need for a fight to the death. When saving Lee DingXiang, he had taught a lesson to those who were obstacles.

    <span>This fight against Qiu Zi was solely for sparring purposes; Liu Gan didn''t have any intention of fighting to the death. If it was really a fight to death, it would seem like he had feelings for LuLu. That wouldn''t even be funny as a joke!

    <span>Upon hearing Liu Gan''s reply, Qiu Zi''splexion worsened. What Liu Gan had said made it seem like Qiu Zi was the type to hold grudges and gets jealous, while making Liu Gan seem like he was generous and forgiving. Even before fighting, it was as if he had lost the battle formation. This type of way cost him face by taking the high road. Unforgivable!

    <span>"You guys don''t need to fight! Let''s just talk it over!" LuLu rushed up to the stage to halt the two.

    <span>"This isn''t any of your concern. Move aside!" Liu Gan and Qiu Zi replied in unison to LuLu.

    <span>"Finish him!"

    <span>"Elder Leader is formidable! Unbeatable!"

    <span>"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

    <span>The men in the audience were there to get rowdy, they weren''t afraid of creating chaos. This incident had wasted more than half the day; if nothing exciting came out from the end of it, then it would be a big disappointment.

    <span>"Kill him! Kill him! Kill the scum!" LingLing jumped excitedly as she cheered on Qiu Zi.

    <span>Liu Gan stared at LingLing; he did a beheading hand gesture and LingLing got scared as she hid behind LuLu.

    <span>"Rx LingLing, I will teach him a lesson. I will help you get your justice" Qiu Zi promised LingLing.

    <span>"Elder Leader is unbeatable!"

    <span>"Elder Leader is formidable!"

    <span>"Elder Leader forever!"

    <span>"Why would the chant be like that?"

    <span>As the crowd of men cheering intensified, things got even more rowdy. They''d only seen Elder Leader Qiu Zi solo hunt Variant Zombies, and with Second Elder''s help, he killed Advanced Beasts. There was never an incident where Qiu Zi went against top yers in a one versus one.

    <span>Qiu Zi had gained control of most of northern NinJing City by annexing the enemy camps, as many of the leaders of those camps weren''t a match for him. The former leaders had the choice of fighting or submit to Qiu Zi. At most, the former leaders could withstand only one attack. So rather than get injured, they chose the easier route of bing a useful pir in the Beginner Vige. That was how the vige had expanded to its current size.

    <span>These former leaders were at most level 6 or 7. There was never anyone higher level than that. Even the current top ten Elders at level 7, 8 and 9 were all power-leveled by Elder Leader and Second Elder.

    <span>As for this opponent named Liu Gan standing before him, was able to take out several dozen Elders solo. Even the Seventh Elder epted defeat. Judging from his actions so far, he was quite strong. It was still questionable as to how hepared against the Elder Leader. Could hest more than a couple of rounds?

    <span>This type of high level PK between yers was rare, but definitely a fight that couldn''t be missed!

 Chapter 368

    <span><strong>Chapter 368 - Superiority</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>It was a rather well-known fact in the heart of these yers within the Beginner Vige that, they held their Elder Leader in high regard. They treated his existence as if he were a god. So, they felt that if Elder Leader wanted to do something, it could be done. They were expecting a quick match against the intruder.

    <span>Liu Gan was equally excited. Ever since he entered the Trembling World, he had never faced a really challenging opponent. Even though Su Nina was strong, her strength was her mental abilities. Every other yer he had faced was finished off within one or two strikes.

    <span>If the opposing yer didn''t have any [Mist Armor], then they would be finished off with one strike. If they had [Mist Armor], then it would take two strikes. There were never any thoughts of surrendering. Even with the seemingly unbeatable Yin He by his side, when it came to dueling other yers, he never ordered her to help.

    <span>To Liu Gan, this chance of fighting against a self-proimed level 14 yer was worth the risk. No matter what level his opponent was, he would have a good chance to stretch out his muscles. Training his PK skills against a good training dummy was something Liu Gan wanted to do for a while. Even if Lee DingXiang wasn''t the reason, Liu Gan would''ve wanted to spar with Qiu Zi regardless.

    <span>Qiu Zi saw that Liu Gan didn''t have any weapons on him, so he didn''t feel the need to use any weapons. Even though Liu Gan had a follower apanying him, Qiu Zi didn''t feel threatened. So if Qiu Zi picked up a weapon against the weaponless Liu Gan, then in front of other people he would lose face.

    <span>"Okay, you can have the first move."

    <span>Right as the battle about to begin, Qiu Zi hand motioned for Liu Gan to initiate. This many eyes watching his every move, it would be bad for him if he did something that ruined his image.

    <span>"You were the one who wanted to challenge me, so you should be the one to make the first move." Liu Gan crossed his arms while he cockily provoked Qiu Zi.

    <span>Qiu Zi got even more aggravated listening to the provocation. To him, it was much cooler to be the second to strike. His opponent didn''t want to give him that opportunity. If both yers kept urging each other to start, they would not get anywhere. This could be a strategy of the enemy!

    <span>"Then, you need to be careful!"

    <span>Qiu Zi rushed over and in a sh, he appeared next to Liu Gan. With a open palm, he chopped down at Liu Gan.

    <span>The crowd gasped. Even though most of the Elders in the za had enhanced sight, they could only see Qiu Zi''s afterimage, not keep up with his movement.

    <span>What speed! People in the audience were trying to imagine what it would be like if they were in Liu Gan''s shoes. Against this swift attack, they didn''t feel like they could react fast enough to block it.

    <span>Qiu Zi didn''t even ask about Liu Gan for his level, but through this swift attack, he coulde up with an estimate based on the reaction and oue. Not only was Qiu Zi thinking about this, but the audience felt the same way. They could easily figure out if Liu Gan was all talk.

    <span>Liu Gan easily sidestepped to avoid Qiu Zi''s attack. A spark of relief shed in his eyes¡­ this Qiu Zi was capable. The attack just now was even faster than his own. The sh dash followed by a sword hand chop was a sign of high level offensive ability activation.

    <span>Liu Gan noticed Qiu Zi''s bluff. Qiu Zi was definitely not level 14. Nevertheless, Qiu Zi could prove to be a capable opponent. A fitting high-level yer, worthy of his respect.

    <span>"You can avoid my ability. Seems like you do have some skill. You should be at least level 10, right?" Qiu Zi suddenly asked after Liu Gan dodged his skill.

    <span>"Sorry, I am already level 18," Liu Gan replied. Since Qiu Zi lied first, Liu Gan didn''t see the need to be truthful.

    <span>"Oh? Level 18? Even if you are level 100, you aren''t my opponent! I can kill you easily if I wanted to!" Qiu Zi coldly replied.

    <span>"What? You can try!" Liu Gan shot back. Even though Liu Gan didn''t attack, he was trying his best to generate fury.

    <span>This [Crescent de] ability was the best. However, fury must be generated through anger or from damage converted into fury. This type of fury would slowly decrease if it wasn''t used. So, if Liu Gan started fighting, he would find things that he could use to trigger his anger to self-aggravate.

    <span>"I won''t kill you. I will beat you so you can fulfill your promise to kneel here for three days and three nights. A man''s worth is his word. Just don''t forget what you had promised to do!" Qiu Zi was triggered by Liu Gan''s choice of words, so he felt the need to speak up and get thest word.

    <span>"With just your skillset, you want to attack me? Even your grandpa is no match for me!" Liu Gan suddenly cursed out Qiu Zi. This increased Liu Gan''s fury counter. The feeling of looking for something triggering was quite strange.

    <span>LuLu had reached the tform side, and she stared up at Liu Gan. She thought she understood him. Aside from the incidents when he called her degrading names, he would also curse frequently. From today''s incident so far, it seemed like something had changed!

    <span>"Receive my attack! Let''s see where you can hide!" Qiu Zi charged forward with another attack. This time both his hands had an electric glow and discharge as he attacked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Go die!" Liu Gan threw out an uppercut. The fist had a hint of golden glow, a sign of [Crescent de] activation. Liu Gan activated his skill right as Qiu Zi was charging forward.

    <span>Qiu Zi had momentum from his move, so he couldn''t avoid the attack. [Crescent de]nded right on his body. Qiu Zi''s [Mist Armor] shattered twenty percent. In return, Qiu Zi''s [Lightning Palm]nded on Liu Gan''s arm. However, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] didn''t suffer any damage at all.

    <span>Liu Gan''s first awoken ability was [Mist Armor]. So naturally, his [Mist Armor] was different from other level 6 yers. His [Mist Armor] was at least several dozen times more dense than regr yers. His [Mist Armor] had high defensive capabilities. Even though he was level 10, his [Mist Armor] was better than any level 14 yer.

    <span>Aside from that his alloy limbs were used to block the enemy attack, so Liu Gan didn''t suffer any injuries. Since there was no damage done, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] didn''t decrease in durability. Only when his head and body parts got injured would his [Mist Armor] lose durability.

    <span>Once [Mist Armor] was damaged, its recovery speed would also slow down. If [Mist Armor] waspletely destroyed, then it would take one whole day before it could be reinstated. So when level 6 yers battled against one another, they would both have primitive [Mist Armor]; it was critical to get the first move to shatter the enemy [Mist Armor]. The first sessful strike would gain superiority over the other.

    <span>When Liu Gan and Qiu Zi exchanged blows, the electric discharge rubbing on the alloy limbs produced sparks that lit up the stage. The audience continued pping and cheering at the spectacr fight. To them, it seemed like the fighters were evenly matched. But, in reality, only Qiu Zi suffered damage to his [Mist Armor], while Liu Gan was unscathed.

 Chapter 369

    <strong><span>Chapter 369 - Second-ss</strong>

    <span>TL: xdh20, Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Qiu Zi rarely had his [Mist Armor] damaged when he fought against other yers. Taking the full damage from [Crescent de], he was furious at what had happened. He did consecutive strikes with his [Lightning Palm] on both hands. Using his level advantage and speed, he was able to suppress Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan maintained his defensive posture. the type of stance used by boxers. With both his arms up, blocking attacks from the left and right, Liu Gan mitigated Qiu Zi''s [Lightning Palm] strikes. By the end of his attack, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] wasn''t damaged at all. Liu Gan used the opportunity to increase his fury counter, while waiting patiently for an opening to strike.

    <span>Within thest few minutes, the yers were fighting for their lives. Since they were moving really fast, the audience in the crowd couldn''t rely on their eyes to figure how the two were fighting. Instead, they relied on their guts to determine which side was winning. They could catch glimpses of Qiu Zi on the offensive and Liu Gan on the defensive. For every ten attacks Qiu Zi threw out, Liu Gan would strike once.

    <span>Qiu Zi maintained a calm and collected mood, while Liu Gan had a frustrated expression throughout the fight. asionally, Liu Gan would release a grunt.

    <span>So, from an outsider''s perspective, every time Liu Gan grunted, it was a sign of frustration. A frustrated grunt would seem like he was having a hard time keeping up. Almost everyone was positive that Qiu Zi was dominating the fight. It would be only a matter of time before the intruder would be defeated.

    <span>Han GuangMing was starting to get worried. Even though vice-leader Yin He was there to back up Liu Gan, if Liu Gan lost it would look very bad. It would be like rooting for the losing team. He would feel ashamed, like he was a second-ss civilian.

    <span>There was a major difference in the feelings on-stage and off-stage., Liu Gan had been defending all along. In his boxer stance, he would use his arms and asionally his shin to defend. He would do flips to reposition himself on stage. Liu Gan was able to easily avoid most of Qiu Zi''s attacks. Qiu Zi still hadn''t damaged Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor].

    <span>Whenever there was an opening, Liu Gan would use [Crescent de] to attack. Every time it wouldnd on Qiu Zi''s body, so his [Mist Armor] would lose durability. After around twenty minutes of nonstop fighting, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] was still undamaged, but Qiu Zi''s [Mist Armor] had lost more than half its durability. If the fight continued this way, then Qiu Zi could onlyst another fifteen minutes.

    <span>That would be the most optimal situation, since Liu Gan hadn''t used [Psychic Shock] and [Crescent de] simultaneously yet.

    <span>When both fighters shed, it was really like two ser teams fighting for the ball to score. One side would constantly be on the offense; with every kick, the ball would fly near the goal, but never score sessfully, while the other side would take advantage of free chances to get in a free goal.

    <span>This type ofpetition, it was hard to tell who woulde out as the final victor.

    <span>Qiu Zi had dominated the situation, using every move he knew to attack Liu Gan. He felt that with such strong attacks, he could prate Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor], but he didn''t know why it was taking so long. Slowly, Qiu Zi grew impatient.

    <span>Then, in one of Qiu Zi''s attacks, he switched things up. Qiu Zi relied on his fast movement to gain the upper hand. Qiu Zi used his level 10 ability, his strongest move: [Lightning God''s Kiss]!

    <span>A cloud mass started expanding exponentially in the center of Qiu Zi''s palms. When the mass reached half a meter wide, electrical discharges appeared on the cloud''s surface. All around the cloud, a deathly sensation could be felt. With Qiu Zi closing in quickly on Liu Gan, it was impossible to dodge. Liu Gan had to brace for the full impact of the lightning explosion.

    <span>The impact caused Liu Gan to tumble backward several times. Liu Gan was knocked to the edge of the stage, before he was able to stand up. He was roughed up after that attack.

    <span>The tumbling was inevitable. With the full force of the explosion, part of his clothes were burnt.

    <span>With Qiu Zi''s surprise attack, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] lost a tenth of its durability. Liu Gan had his clothes burnt through and his face was charred ck.

    <span>"Elder Leader is the best!"

    <span>"The intruder has ck-face¡­"

    <span>"Scum, please die!"

    <span>"Kill the scum already!"

    <span>The crowd of yers started shouting again. It was a moment of rejoicing for their side, with their Elder Leader proving himself to be the more powerful one! He seemed unbeatable! It would be the end of the enemy scum!

    <span>Han GuangMing and others watched that scene, and suddenly they grew really worried. It seemed like Liu Gan had finally met his match. It didn''t seem like he could continue fighting much longer.

    <span>"Ah, what a weak attack!" Liu Gan sighed in relief. Now that he had measured his opponent''s full strength, he didn''t feel scared. Liu Gan didn''t have anywhere to dodge, so his [Mist Armor] had to endure the full force of the attack. In the end, it only shaved off a tenth of his [Mist Armor''s] durability.

    <span>In exchange, Liu Gan''s fury counter was at maximum.

    <span>Qiu Zi thought that this attack would shatter Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] and knock him off the stage. Little did he suspect that Liu Gan would recover from the attack and stay on the stage.

    <span>In addition, Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] was still up!

    <span>"This will be the end!" Qiu Zi shouted. Once again, Qiu Zi activated his [Lightning Palm] as he closed in on Liu Gan. Even if he had to ram into the enemy, he would make sure Liu Gan fell off the stage! If he couldn''t even do that, then he had to wonder if he had what it took to defeat Liu Gan.

    <span>As Qiu Zi was closing in on Liu Gan''s body, right when it seemed like Liu Gan couldn''t dodge the attack, his brain felt a sharp pain. His consciousness was blurred for a moment. Liu Gan mmed both his hands onto the floor to swing his leg in downward chop onto Qiu Zi, while Qiu Zi''s attackpletely missed.

    <span>With Liu Gan''s fury counter at maximum, he released his [Enhanced Crescent de]. Qiu Zi was motionless for the close-range attack!

    <span>Qiu Zi wobbled a few steps backward after the attacknded before his mental state started to recover. By the time he regained full awareness, his [Mist Armor] was close to nonexistent; it was just hanging by a thread! One more attack, and his [Mist Armor] would break!

    <span>What was the matter? How could his [Mist Armor] durability drop from half so quickly? What just happened? Why did he lose control of his consciousness?

    <span>It was at this moment, Qiu Zi broke out in cold sweat; he was wondering why he couldn''t prate his enemy''s [Mist Armor]. Instead, his own [Mist Armor] was almost shattered. No one in the audience could figure out the situation. To them, it seemed like their leader had the upper hand the whole fight, and the fight would end sooner orter in his favor. So they were all cheering loudly, ignorant of the real situation at hand.

    <span>Only Qiu Zi knew how dangerous his situation was. It was very clear that by relying only on his fists, he couldn''t win against Liu Gan. There was an urgent need to bring out a weapon to win.

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 Chapter 370

    <span><strong>Chapter 370 - Sparring Partner</strong>

    <span>TL<span>: xdh20, Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Now that things had turned out this way, Qiu Zi couldn''t worry about something trivial, like his pride. He materialized an alloy metal axe from his wrist watch as he charged Liu Gan.

    <span>This alloy metal axe was a weapon obtained when beta yers killed a special type of Variant zombie. It was simr to when Liu Gan obtained his dagger. These alloy metal weapons could be stored within the wrist watch, which was how Qiu Zi pulled his weapon out of thin air.

    <span>Using his axe, Qiu Zi could distance himself from Liu Gan. It was an attempt to protect his [Mist Armor] from shatteringpletely.

    <span>"Cool! Very cool axe!"

    <span>"Elder Leader, you are so cool!"

    <span>"Chop up the scum!"

    <span>Seeing their idol Elder Leader swinging the axe proficiently, the yers were enjoying every moment. They were waiting for Qiu Zi to use his powerful weapon and finish off the weaponless intruder.

    <span>If there was aparison, it would be like one of the ser clubs decided to hire expensive foreign assistance, while the other ser club used their domestic members. If the team with hired help was able to beat the domestic team then, the fans wouldn''t think that it was an unfairpetition.

    <span>In this world, fairness and justice does not exist. Justice varied between people, and was not the same for everyone. If the situation benefited one''s interests or group''s interests, then there was a conflict of interest when passing judgement.

    <span>There was one major point that the yers watching in the audience have missed¡­ It was the reason why Qiu Zi decided to take out his axe against Liu Gan. If Qiu Zi had dominated the fight, then there wouldn''t have been a need to use a weapon. Especially since Liu Gan was only using his fists to fight.

    <span>Almost everyone in the crowd thought Qiu Zi still had the upper hand. Only Zhao Nan Shan frowned; he could tell that Liu Gan was more than Qiu Zi could handle. His original order to pacify the intruder by handing over DongDong was the right call. However, Qiu Zi disobeyed the order and sought trouble. Qiu Zi''s selfish decision might ruin Zhao Nan Shan''s bigger n.

    <span>Qiu Zi made his selfish decision partly due to his attraction to LuLu. He didn''t obey Zhao Nan Shan''s order, which was why things had progressed to this point. This Qiu Zi Tao wasn''t mature enough to be a part of his ns!

    <span>After Qiu Zi pulled out his axe, he swung it around fiercely. Qiu Zi was quite experienced as he forced Liu Gan to constantly dodge on stage without any openings for retaliation.

    <span>"Elder Liu! Catch this!" Han GuangMing threw over an iron rod he had found on the ground.

    <span>Liu Gan caught the iron rod midair and tumbled as hended. Liu Gan swung around the iron rod deftly.

    <span>Qiu Zi chuckled as he watched Liu Gan wield the iron rod. Continuing his attack, Qiu Zi charged forward and naturally, Liu Gan used the iron rod to block.

    <span>What Liu Gan didn''t expect was the iron rod to get cut in half. The iron rod was as thick as a person''s arm. Qiu Zi cut the iron rod in half like it was made out of tofu! Thispletely shocked Liu Gan!

    <span>What kind of axe was this? It was able to slice through the iron like it was nothing!

    <span>Liu Gan took two steps backward to regain his posture. The iron rod split into two in his hands, it resembled some sort of nunchuck without the chain.

    <span>Qiu Zi was only a level higher than Liu Gan, so his basic physique was more durable than Liu Gan. With the addition of a powerful axe, Qiu Zi''sbat strength increased significantly.

    <span>After several more chops, Liu Gan''s iron sticks were in fragments on the floor. Eventually it was tossed aside, Liu Gan had to pull out his dagger from his wrist watch.

    <span>The audience broke out into augh at the sight. With their Elder Leader exerting his dominance over the intruder, the intruder could only pull out a small dagger. How could this small little daggerpete against a giant axe?

    <span>Qiu Zi forced Liu Gan to retreat even more. In the case of close quarterbat, danger spring up all around. There were several close encounters where Liu Gan almost couldn''t dodge the attack and was almost injured from Qiu Zi''s axe strikes.

    <span>Using a dagger against an axe resulted in the dagger''s edges getting dulled and chipped. The dagger wouldst a few more direct hits before it broke. At that point, Liu Gan wouldn''t be able to dodge any more attacks. He wouldn''t even be able to counterattack. Qiu Zi forced Liu Gan into an unavoidable position, and Liu Gan tried to block the attack with both his arms. He found out his arms were able to withstand the overwhelming force behind the attack, and the sharpness of the axe itself!

    <span>Even now Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] haven''t been damaged. From the blocked attack, Liu Gan was able to tell his alloy limbs were more dense and durable than the axe, so the axe couldn''t hurt him unless itnded on his body or head.

    <span>Having this information, there was no need to be afraid. Liu Gan continued weaving and bobbing as he dodge the attacks. If he couldn''t dodge, he would simply use his arm to block the attack. This bold action surprised Qiu Zi. From Qiu Zi''s perspective, Liu Gan was running out of options and he was using [Mist Armor] to stop the axe attack. So in Qiu Zi''s head, if he kept attacking, then Liu Gan''s [Mist Armor] would break eventually.

    <span>What Qiu Zi didn''t know was no matter how hard he struck his axe on Liu Gan''s arm, it didn''t even damage his [Mist Armor].

    <span>Liu Gan was able to sum up his opponent, and his fury counter was near full again. At the right time, [Crescent de] could be activated and end this fight with Qiu Zi. Liu Gan even had the option of killing his opponent, but after such a long search it would be a pity to kill a good sparring partner. With this much umted PK experience, it was a waste if he ended it so soon, especially when he didn''t know when he can afford such a good training moment again.

    <span>So Liu Gan wasn''t in a rush to cast his ability. Instead, he acted like he couldn''t counterattack. That way he could practice his dodging, using Qiu Zi as a training dummy, since it was hard to find someone with his stats forbat practice. Instead Liu Gan took this moment to train his reaction time for future battles!

    <span>With this attitude, Liu Gan didn''t bother to attack. He sidestepped around Qiu Zi. When Qiu Zi shed downward, Liu Gan would dodge and evade. When Qiu Zi used a wide swing, Liu Gan would use his elbow to stop the attack by moving in close to the attacker. At other times, Liu Gan would use his arms to stop the axe. Qiu Zi grew impatient with each unsessful attack, and every sessive attack was more ruthless.

    <span>Liu Gan started off really sloppily, but when he got the hang of it, he was quite flexible. It was possible this type of realbat could help improve his capabilities in the long run.

    <span>However, in other people''s eyes they were reassured that Qiu Zi still had the advantage. When Liu Gan never returned strikes, Han GuangMing and others were starting to get nervous about their situation.

 Chapter 371

    <span><strong>Chapter 371 - Overbearing</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>From the point of view of Han GuangMing and the others, their Elder Liu still hadn''t struck back after a while. How could he win a fight when he wouldn''t even attack? It seemed Elder Liu had met someone even more powerful. This might be the first time Elder Liu suffered a defeat.

    <span>Qiu Zi continued to chase Liu Gan on stage with his axe for what seemed like an eternity. Even with all his attacks, Liu Gan was still alive. Qiu Zi was riled up and his face was feverishly red. His shirt was drenched in sweat and he was near his limit of endurance.

    <span><em>Damn it! How can this person still be alive when I''m close to exhausted!?</em>

    <span>Qiu Zi used his axe to support himself on stage. He was heaving for more air while maintaining his re on Liu Gan. The fight dragging out this long was unfathomable.

    <span>Liu Gan stood at the other end of the tform. He had quite the rxed expression. Liu Gan didn''t take the initiative to walk up and attack Qiu Zi. He knew that even one attack could end Qiu Zi. Without spending any money, he had hired a high-level sparring partner. After more than thirty minutes of continuous fighting, it was quite reasonable to let him catch his breath. Otherwise, how else would he continue to help out with training?

    <span>Meanwhile, the Second Elder frowned. He had already figured out that Liu Gan''s strength was deep and immeasurable. Only, Qiu Zi didn''t understand that yet.

    <span>The yers in the audience continued to cheer rowdily. In their eyes, their leader was able to beat the intruder into submission. Winning was only a matter of time. Even though the fight dragged on longer than expected, even some yers got tired from standing and watching. These yers took the chance to retrieve some snacks and water before returning to the za to enjoy the fight.

    <span>Even LuLu walked alongside the stage to bring Qiu Zi a bottle of spring water.

    <span>"This person is very sinister, he loves to use underhanded tactics. He is a difficult person to handle. Be careful not to let him get under your skin," LuLu said with some concern to Qiu Zi.

    <span>"Don''t worry! I will do my best to beat him. By the time I''m done, he won''t want toe back to give you any more trouble!" Qiu Zi said in an overbearing, self-important manner as he finished the bottle of water.

    <span>With her concern andfort, Qiu Zi felt rejuvenated. Even if it was a difficult task, Qiu Zi made it his personal goal to eliminate the target. Then, he would hang the corpse by the front gate as a warning to others. Otherwise, he couldn''t let go of his resentment so easily.

    <span>With renewed enthusiasm, Qiu Zi picked up his axe and charged over at Liu Gan. Liu Gan stood in ce without any sign of urgency. Liu Gan continued to dance around Qiu Zi while dodging his strikes. After several more minutes, Qiu Zi started to wobble in his steps. Even the axe in his hand was dropped.

    <span>Liu Gan frowned and walked up to check on Qiu Zi. Liu Gan didn''t take this opening to attack.

    <span>Qiu Zi felt a sudden pain in his abdomen. He used his hands to press on the belly. After a few seconds of thinking, Qiu Zi looked at LuLu as if he realized the reason for his pain. The pain intensified from his abdomen. The pain was so extreme that the second episode caused his brain to slowly shut down. Qiu Zi was losing consciousness from time to time. Even his vision started to be blurry.

    <span>"Are you okay? Do you have a stomachache? If you can''t bear with the pain, we can continue this on another day." Liu Gan sincerely concerned with Qiu Zi. For being a good sparring partner for this long, Liu Gan felt it was only right to be concerned for the wellbeing of his partner. Qiu Zi''s efforts had been recognized by Liu Gan.

    <span>"LuLu, what did you do to my drink?" Qiu Zi used his axe to hold himself up as he shouted at LuLu.

    <span>"Nothing special, I just added some of LingLing''s poisonous saliva in the water," LuLu casually answered. LingLing was the host for a parasite. So LingLing could excrete a tasteless poison. Even a small dose was lethal to an adult.

    <span>Just moments before, in the bottle that LuLu handed to Qiu Zi, there was poison added.

    <span>"You! Why did you need to do that?" Qiu Zi was shocked. He didn''t understand her actions. He treated her so well. Even this fight against Liu Gan, was partially dedicated to fighting on her behalf. However, at the most critical moment, LuLu poisoned him!

    <span>"There is no other reason other than the fact that he is my benefactor. He saved me so many times that I can''t even count. Even if I hate him, I can''t watch you kill him. Another thing, I''ve told you many times that he is the one that I love. You forced me to stay by your side. There were numerous times when you tried to force your wishes on me. If it weren''t for LingLing''s protection, you might have vited me already! If you kill him, then I really won''t be able to escape your influence. This is myst chance of escaping!" LuLu gave a clear response to Qiu Zi.

    <span>"You! You cheap whore! You dare poison me. Don''t think¡­ about¡­ leaving here¡­ alive!" Second Elder¡­ he won''t¡­ allow you¡­ to leave!" Qiu Zi gasped out his final words. Green veins started appearing in his forehead. The pain was too much to bear. In an attempt to attack LuLu, Qiu Zu took two steps forward. With his body feeling heavy and his movements sluggish, Qiu Zi copsed on the floor instead.

    <span>Several healers ran up the stage to use their healing abilities on Qiu Zi. However, LingLing''s strange toxin was too deadly. Once the poison was in the blood vessel, there was no treatment.

    <span>"Elder Leader has died!"

    <span>"LuLu poisoned the leader for an outsider!"

    <span>"LuLu, you cheap whore!"

    <span>"What will we do now? Without our leader, what will be of us?"...

    <span>Once the yers in the crowd received the announcement that their leader had died, many people started shouting out their concerns. Some started crying. This was when several Elders started ordering their subordinates to surround the stage, while the higher ranking Elders gathered by Zhao Nan Shan''s side to discuss the next course of action. No one expected this situation to ever happen.

    <span>Even before the Second Elder and the higher ranking Elders opened their mouths, some of the lower level Elders were getting ready to attack LuLu. LingLing sensed the tension and bared her vicious teeth at the enemy.

    <span>"You really poisoned him?" Liu Gan walked over to LuLu.

    <span>"Yes, I did it to help you¡­ and to repay my life debt to you." LuLu stared at Liu Gan. She understood how much trouble she was in, no one could save her in this situation. From the moment she decided to resort to poison, she was prepared to not walk out alive.

    <span>"Are you stupid? Damn! I was using him to train me. Once I really wanted him dead, I could do it at anytime. Did you really think that I needed your help?" Liu Gan angrily scolded LuLu.

 Chapter 372

    <span><strong>Chapter 372 - Clear Conscience</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"I did everything for you. I know that no matter what I do for you, you won''t be satisfied! You are stubborn just like my father! Conceited and unreasonable!" LuLu started crying loudly again.

    <span>"Bad man! Bad man!" LingLing cursed at Liu Gan, while she hid behind LuLu.

    <span>"You¡­" Liu Gan cracked his knuckles loudly. Liu Gan lifted his fist with the intention of hitting LuLu on the head.

    <span>"Kill me then! I didn''t know you were training. I did it because I thought you were afraid of losing face if you couldn''t beat him! So to prove to you that I am no longer a weak female broadcaster, I did what I had to do!" LuLu lifted up her head as she stared Liu Gan.

    <span>"Forget it. I don''t have anything worthwhile to say to you," Liu Gan shook his head. There was something more urgent that he had to do.

    <span>"Kill her!"

    <span>"Hang her!"

    <span>"Sacrifice her!"

    <span>"Avenge Elder Qiu Zi!"

    ***

    <span>Once again the crowd of yers were getting rowdy. They felt nothing but hatred toward the invader. This nice living environment was created by their Elder Leader. Then, LuLu backstabbed their leader for her lover. This betrayal was not something they could forgive. Even the majority of LuLu''s fans were unable to ept her actions; some cursed her for her actions, while others just remained silent.

    <span>LuLu was in despair. She knew her actions would lead to a crowd riot. Yet, she still decided to do it because she wanted to save Liu Gan. Although she had undeniable intentions of getting his approval, even if the whole world hated her, she was resolved to bear all the consequences of her actions.

    <span>She was hated by almost every yer in the Beginner Vige, and she didn''t win over Liu Gan. This wasn''t the result she was expecting, and made her even more depressed.

    <span>While the background noise were curses directed at LuLu, she suddenly thought of an old memory back in the real world. Her father was a soldier that had suffered a injury to his lower back. He couldn''t find work, and slowly he became more dispirited. With no stable ie, LuLu had toe up with a way to make money. Her psychological stress increased, which lead to her school grades falling. With no intentions of continuing on to higher education, LuLu decided to participate in singingpetitions to be famous, with the good intentions of buying her father a house, and changing their lifestyle.

    <span>However, her father didn''t understand the daughter. He was reluctant to give his support. He even forbid her to continue in the entertainment business. Singing in thepetition wasn''t a realistic goal, so LuLu chose an alternative, and it was to be a female broadcaster. She didn''t expect to umte hardcore fans in a short period of time.

    <span>When her father found out that she became a broadcaster instead, he deemed it an indecent upation, an upation that would shame his ancestors. Furious, he smacked her on her face and smashed all of the things she had bought. Next, he locked her in her room to reflect on her actions.

    <span>LuLu climbed out through the window by using the water pipe. From her third floor room, she escaped down to the ground. With her fan''s financial support, she was able to rent a new apartment and buy equipment. From then on, she wholeheartedly started her career as a fulltime female broadcaster. A yearter, she started to gain more traction. She decided that once she had enough money, she would return to her father to ask for forgiveness. Before she was able to do that, she was trapped in The Trembling World.

    <span>The initial harsh reality in The Trembling World made her give up on any chances of living. Her one-sided love for Liu Gan was part of her self-preservation mechanism. She was able to rely on this unrealistic fantasy to cope with the harsh reality. Her veryst attempt to kindle Liu Gan''s love was terminated, and so her fantasy was destroyed.

    <span>This man was definitely spawned out from a rock. Even if she used heart-throbbing sexual movements, he might remain indifferent. He would forever remain ice-cold. There was nothing she could do to warm him up to her.

    ***

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t have the mood to care for LuLu. He walked straight over to Qiu Zi''s corpse. He kicked aside a few helpers, who were preparing to pack away Qiu Zi''s equipment. Liu Gan reached out to grab therge axe in one hand and with his other hand he ripped off Qiu Zi''s clothes. Liu Gan was piging Qiu Zi''s corpse! Liu Gan proceeded to confiscate all the remaining valuables within the wrist watch, since Qiu Zi had no use for them, anyway.

    <span>Liu Gan ripped off an alloy-ted protective armor. The front and back halves of the armor were held together by alloy shackles. This finished product could block attacks from both front and back. The protective armor andrge axe were listed as ownerless, so Liu Gan was able to take ownership over them and retain them in his own wrist watch.

    <span>Based on the items obtained from the piging, it seemed like these beta yers had quite the advantage with items. Thisrge axe and the protective armor were game equipments!

    <span>"HEY! Those items don''t belong to you!" cried out the man who was kicked away by Liu Gan. The angry man stood up and shouted at Liu Gan.

    <span>"You don''t think it''s fair? Should we fight over this to decide who is the rightful owner?" Liu Gan red at the angry therapist. Meanwhile, he was doing his routine axe demonstration. The transition between poses felt very smooth in his hands.

    <span><em>Thisrge axe can certainly make the wielder feel invincible!</em><span> Even the iron rod that was several centimeters thick was sliced through by this axe like it was tofu! Liu Gan had been searching for a convenient weapon for a long time. Eventually, he was forced to use the fire axe, but now he could use a real weapon of his choice!

    <span>If LuLu hadn''t poisoned Qiu Zi, Liu Gan would''ve felt slightly embarrassed from piging Qiu Zi''s corpse. Now that Qiu Zi was dead, the items became ownerless, so Liu Gan pocketed everything without feeling bad.

    <span>There was a high possibility that if Liu Gan saw these treasures he would fight for them. In the apocalyptic world there was a standard for ethics, and it mainly depended on how enticing the treasure was. As long as the benefits outweighed the risk, it was all dependent on the strength to survive.

    <span>"Fifth Elder, do you want tomit suicide? Or would you rather us do it for you? Then string you up by the front gates as sacrifice for our leader?" the Third and Fourth Elder ran up to ask LuLu, after they asked Second Elder for advice.

    <span>With the news of the Elder Leader dead, there was chaos spreading far and wide in the Beginner Vige. Even though the outsider, Liu Gan, was intolerable, there was another urgent issue that needed to be handled first. It was to figure out how to handle the traitor LuLu. This would be the first step toward pacifying the crowd.

    <span>The Third and Fourth Elder''sbined strength wasn''t enough to be troublesome for Liu Gan, but it was more than sufficient to handle LuLu.

    <span>¡ºNo matter how big my dreams are, you still can''t see me¡»

    <span>¡ºNo matter how deep my love is, you still love yourself more¡»

    <span>¡ºYou''ll never understand, how these cuts truly hurt¡»

    <span>¡ºI can''t be found in any of the universe within your heart¡»

    <span>LuLu was sitting on the stage, ignoring the Third and Fourth Elder. As the two elders ran up the stage to confront LuLu, she started singing while facing Liu Gan.

    <span>"Sing? Why are you singing? If you don''t kill yourself, then don''t me us for being rough!" Third and Fourth Elder were getting more angry. As they prepared to take action against LuLu, they felt like they would gain poprity with the crowd by acting in the name of justice.

    <span>Second Elder didn''t care what the others did at this moment. After Qiu Zi died, there was a chance someone would be promoted internally to receive the teachings, just like Qiu Zi. If they proved themselves to be worth it, they could reach level 10 and higher, bing the new Elder Leader.

    <span>¡ºNo matter how big the world is, you are still the same¡»

    <span>¡ºDoesn''t matter what I say, you''ve never understood¡»

    <span>¡ºYour humor is like shards of ss cutting in both my hands ¡»

    <span>¡ºIn your eyes, I am just an image pieced together¡»

    <span>LuLu continued to sing, while she pulled out her diary and that drawings that she had received earlier. Paper by paper, she started shredding it into pieces.

    [TL: It is an actual song. https://.youtube/watch?v=o9FK1_i1TUs]

 Chapter 373

    <span><strong>Chapter 373 - Egotistical</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>LuLu had the same thought as the rest of the audience. Both thought that Liu Gan was at the mercy of Qiu Zi. She thought that based on her knowledge of Liu Gan''s personality, he couldn''t handle the shock of failure. Especially if he had lost, he would have to kneel on stage for three days and three nights; that kind of embarrassment would be too much for him to handle. That was only part of the reason. The second part of the reason was that she loathed interacting with Qiu Zi. She was worried one day she would be a victim if he became aggressive with her. To finally rid herself of the nightmare, she chose to poison Qiu Zi.

    <span>She knew her actions were extremely violent, so she didn''t expect anyone to let her go. Her only wish was for Liu Gan to understand her intention, but it seemed like it was all unnecessary. Her assistance was more problematic than helpful.

    <span>She felt that her existence was as Liu Gan had said. She was stupid like a pig. There was nothing she had done so far that Liu Gan had praised her for. All this led to her losing hope again, with the intention of giving up. The only thing she couldn''t let go and was also her biggest regret was not being able to meet her dad. She really wanted to apologize to him.

    <span>The violent yers on stage attempting to subjugate LuLu suddenly quieted down. Their expression of anger changed to sadness. In fact, some of these yers couldn''t keep their emotions in check and started crying.

    <span>Seems like while LuLu was singing, she unknowingly activated her [Bewitch] ability. She spread her emotions to share with yers in her surrounding. The closest yers were most affected by the [Bewitch] ability. They couldn''t control their emotions and started tearing up.

    <span>"You! Stop that!" Third Elder felt that the situation took an odd turn! He charged at LuLu with a machete.

    <span><em>"Sss!"</em>

    <span>LingLing rushes forth from behind LuLu to confront the enemy Third Elder. LingLing had a monstrous look with her tongue sticking out.

    <span>"LingLing, fall back!" LuLu ordered LingLing. LuLu closed her eyes and tilted her head up to show she had given up. This lowest point in her life, she had lost all hope and even the courage to continue living.

    <span>Perhaps with this exit, she could leave this death game and return back to her father? If God gave her a chance to return to the real world, she would only do one thing and that was to apologize to her father.

    <span>She didn''t think she had chosen wrong, but when weighed against the rtionship with her father, the rtionship would tip the scale. In life, there were a lot of valuable things. Only after you lost them would you understand their true worth.

    <span>"Kill that girl!"

    <span>"She even bewitched us!"

    <span>The singing had stopped but the pandemonium in the za didn''t stop. These yers couldn''t handle this type of betrayal. Especially the closest yers on stage, they felt humiliated and started chanting for justice.

    <span>After LingLing retreated back behind LuLu, Third Elder readied his machete to chop down on LuLu''s neck. There was no hesitation in his eyes as he swung downward. LingLing was on the floor like an injured animal that kept wing the floor and shrieking. Since LuLu didn''t order her, LingLing couldn''t do anything other than watch.

    <span><em>Dong!</em>

    <span>It was t<span>he sound of Third Elder''s machete shing with Liu Gan''s axe. Liu Gan easily blocked the attack.

    <span>"Even if you want to kill her, did you ask for my permission?" Liu Gan smashed the floor with his axe to show his authority.

    <span>These yers didn''t understand the concept that the strongest yer would have the final word. Lately Liu Gan had been feeling very kind. Perhaps these vigers mistook his kindness for weakness, that was why they didn''t respect him?

    <span>"Do you want to interrupt our internal affairs?" Third Elder retreated. His original n was to gain the favor of the people by killing LuLu, but he was foiled with the interruption.

    <span>Watching LuLu and Liu Gan argue fiercely, Third Elder thought there wouldn''t be any more interruptions even if LuLu was killed. The chance to kill in the name of justice was gone.

    <span>"What do you mean, internal affairs? Even though she is stupid like a pig, she is a pig that I raised. Don''t you know that even if you beat a dog, you have to see who the owner is?" Liu Gan coldly replied. Once NaNa heard that, she quickly barked at Third Elder to show that she existed.

    <span>LuLu''s actions were quite infuriating to Liu Gan. He even had thoughts of beating her, but he also understood LuLu''s reasoning. A big factor had to do with how she felt for him. If he let her get killed because of that reason, then wouldn''t he lose face? Someone helping him out of good intentions, but ending up dying for it, it would leave a bad reputation for future incidents when others wanted to help him.

    <span>Aside from that, Liu Gan really needed LuLu to find the whereabouts of DongDong. If LuLu was killed, then he would have to start the search all over again, and without any hints. So no matter what angle he justified it with, he couldn''t let anyone make a move on LuLu.

    <span>"Are you prepared to make an enemy out of all of us? Do you really think you are invincible? Stop dreaming!" Third Elder shouted at Liu Gan, while slowly retreating back to Second Elder''s side.

    <span>"An enemy out of all of you? Haha¡­ you really look up to yourself! Even if I have to make an enemy out of everyone in the whole world, so what? I, Liu Gan, have always been like this! Do you feel that is unjust? If I said she is mine, then she is mine. I dare you to make a move on her, I will kill you instantly! There would be no trades of you left when I''m done!" Liu Gan swung his axe on the stage, while releasing [Crescent de] from the des of the axe. The ability destroyed arge chunk of the cement from the stage.

    <span>Third Elder was frightened by that surprising attack. Unconsciously, Third Elder stumbled backward, and fell off the stage. Lucky for him, hisckeys caught him midfall so he didn''t look so clumsy.

    <span>"Everyone attack! Kill the scoundrels!" Fourth Elder started yelling to the crowd. Even though the two high ranking Elders were preaching for revenge, they didn''t move closer to take action.

    <span>"Avenge the leader! Kill him!''

    <span>The yers off-stage were overwhelmed by feelings of rage. With waves of angry emotion they were easily persuaded by Third and Fourth Elder. Up until now, the Third and Fourth Elders were on stage, but Second Elder hadn''t even moved from his initial spot. While shouting, Third and Fourth Elder would constantly look at Second Elder for approval. No one was stupid enough to charge up on stage to challenge the intruder. It was a one way ticket to Hell!

    <span>Liu Gan stared at the audience. Suddenly, he chuckled loudly. He realized that even though everyone was shouting for revenge, no one actually took action. These people only know how to use others as sacrifices so they could reap the benefits of being a survivor.

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 Chapter 374

    <span><strong>Chapter 374 - Not Mammals</strong>

    <span>TL: xdh20, Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Since the rowdy yers didn''t charge onto the stage, Han GuangMing, Jin JiangYuan, and Zhao Meng rushed onto it instead. With their weapons ready, they were prepared to defend with their lives. Yin He and NaNa followed suite and jumped onto the stage. Liu Gan stood in between the two. They were prepared to fight against any anomaly.

    <span>Liu Gan wasn''t nervous at all. He was monitoring Zhao Nan Shan for his intentions. As for what the side yers did, they didn''t faze Liu Gan.

    <span>This Second Elder was the true mastermind behind the creation of Beginner Vige. Since Second Elder was even higher level than Qiu Zi, Liu Gan wasn''t confident that he couldn''t win. If there was truly a life threatening moment, all Liu Gan had to do was let Yin He do the fighting and NaNa to do the biting. Even with a hundred more Zhao Nan Shan, they wouldn''t be a match for Yin He and NaNa.

    <span>So even if it was a numbers game, as long as the quality was low it wouldn''t be a threat. Like a flock of sheep, even if there were several tens of thousands of them bleating at a lion, once the lion roared, the frightened sheep would scatter.

    <span>"Brother Liu, thank you," LuLu whispered to Liu Gan as she stood up. She had given up on living, but his words lifted her spirit. His words was able to move her heart. Did this man want to make an enemy out of everyone? Right when the the yers in the crowd were readying their pitchforks to kill the sacrifice, Liu Gan''s group banded together to fight alongside her, as if they were willing to defend her at all costs.

    <span>LuLu was overthinking it at this point. When Liu Gan dered that he wasn''t afraid of "making an enemy of everyone in the world", he was merely showing his dominance over Third Elder. In fact, there wasn''t much of a connection to LuLu.

    <span>"Where is DongDong? You should bring me to him. That way he won''t be a hostage in this situation," Liu Gan reminded LuLu. Currently, his major concern was whether he could obtain the Brave aircraft.

    <span>"I will leave DongDong in your custody. Then you can do whatever you want, I never thought about stopping you. The problem is¡­ How do we get out of this situation?" LuLu nced around. They were surrounded by angry mobs of yers.

    <span>"You don''t think it is easy getting out of here? I just don''t want to turn this ce into a bloodbath!" Liu Gan continued to shout. Originally, Liu Gan didn''t want to put up his fighting stance, but it didn''t seem like it was possible now.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Second Elder, how should we handle this situation?"

    <span>As Liu Gan and his group were discussing what to do, Third Elder and Fourth Elder were running back to the Second Elder to take the next responsive measure.

    <span>From an outsider''s point of view on Liu Gan''s fight against Qiu Zi, there was only a slight level difference, which was why it was hard to determine a winner. As for anyone who wasn''t within the level range, they couldn''t even fathom going against Liu Gan. There was only one person left, and that was Second Elder.

    <span>"How should we handle this? He far surpasses Elder Leader, so I can''t even do anything to go against the intruder. So what do you suggest?" Second Elder bounced the question back to the group of yers around him. If only Qiu Zi had listened and allowed the intruder to leave with the people he wanted, then Qiu Zi would still be alive. This disastrous oue had foiled his secret n.

    <span>"WHAT?" Third and Fourth Elder shouted in shock. They felt that Zhao Nan Shan was higher level than Qiu Zi, so they were in shock when they heard him say "the intruder far surpasses Qiu Zi".

    <span>Qiu Zi looked like he had dominated the entire fight, but he lost due to poison. If only LuLu hadn''t resorted to poison, then the intruder wouldn''t be a problem. At least this was themon thought in the vige yers'' heads.

    <span>"Ah¡­ you guys are naive. The intruder would have finished the fight a lot earlier if he wanted to. I don''t know why he stalled the fight for this long. Well¡­ A fight between high levels isn''t something that can be understood by everyone." Zhao Nan Shan shook his head in frustration.

    <span>"So, Second Elder, you mean that his level is really that much higher than Qiu Zi?" The nearby yers were frightened.

    <span>"His level might not be higher than Qiu Zi, but hisbinedbat power is much higher than Qiu Zi. Otherwise, why do you think Qiu Zi was forced to use his weapon? Use your brain!" Shan Nan Shan shouted.

    <span>Third, Fourth, and the other Elders stared nkly at each other, looking for another exnation. When theybined all the evidence, they realized Second Elder was correct! Qiu Zi must have been in a desperate situation for him to have used a weapon when both parties had agreed on fighting without weapons. As for why they didn''t think about it on a deeper level during the fight, they didn''t even know themselves.

    <span>"So when he says he won''t allow you to kill Fifth Elder, then don''t bother. Otherwise, you are just seeking death. He wasn''t joking when he said he could turn this ce upside down." Zhao Nan Shan wiped the sweat rolling off his face. There were two other people that he had to be wary of, on top of Liu Gan. It was the mysterious woman and the dog, both standing next to Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhao Nan Shan had a psychological ability, he was able to sense that the mysterious woman and dog weren''t of the mammalian species. With such powerfulpanions following the intruder, they were a force to be reckoned with, as long as people recognized the enemy''sbat power. Zhao Nan Shan wasn''t able to measure the depth of Liu Gan''s ability.

    <span>The most important point was that Zhao Nan Shan had no intentions of taking this risk. In fact, he was the only one who wanted a peaceful solution. It was Qiu Zi''s stupidity that lead to his downfall. As for Zhao Nan Shan, he still had his own agenda he needed to fulfill and he didn''t want to get sidetracked by anyone else''s blunders.

    <span>As for the will of the people, it was fragmented in a few ways, but there was nothing that could be done at this point. There would be a group of people that were definitely disappointed in this Second Elder. As long as the group didn''t leave the Beginner Vige, then it was still the optimal oue for Second Elder.

    <span>"Then Second Elder, your intentions are?" asked some yers.

    <span>"Hand over the person he wants, as long as his requests aren''t outrageous we shouldply. What else can we do? Do you want him to wreck our vige that we worked so hard on?" Zhao Nan Shan shrugged.

    <span>After Qiu Zi had died, Zhao Nan Shan was thinking of raising a new chess piece to the leadership position. As for his pool of current followers, none of them had the appropriate characteristics of a leader.

    <span>"So we just let them go? If we really did that, then majority of the vigers will feel bitter disappointment!" Third and Fourth Elder shouted their frustrations. They definitely wouldn''t let this opportunity to show off slide past them.

    <span>"There is another option," Zhao Nan Shan snapped his fingers, as if he realized something.

    <span>"What is it?" Third and Fourth Elder quickly asked.

 Chapter 375

    <span><strong>Chapter 375 - Appointing</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"With Qiu Zi dead, we can let this powerful yer take his ce as leader of the vige. He can be our new leader to manage the day-to-day operations within the vige!" Zhao Nan Shan looked across the stage at Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhao Nan Shan needed a functional society. As long as the society of the vige returned back to normal, then it didn''t matter who was leading the vige, even if the leader was this yer named Liu Gan. His conduct and speech were within reason. His qualities were suitable for a leader, with overwhelming aggression, but controlled emotions.

    <span>If this person was willing to remain in the Beginner Vige as the leader, then Zhao Nan Shan would have an easier search. The alternative would take a lot longer, since it would involve retraining a new leader.

    <span>"You want to let him take over the leader''s position?"

    <span>Third, Fourth, and other high ranking Elders were shocked. They were thinking that their Second Elder must have hit his head, so he wasn''t thinking straight. From suggesting to letting the enemy go, to fulfilling enemy wishes, and now this new proposal to appoint him as their leader! That was the tipping point! Who in the right mind would ask the enemy to be their leader? What was he thinking?

    <span>With their leader Qiu Zi dead, every yer in the vige thought that their Second Elder would take up the challenge to go against the intruder. Since Second Elder refused to stand up to avenge Qiu Zi, no one else could overturn Second Elder''s decision to appoint the intruder.

    <span>Based on their actions toward this intruder, they feared repercussions once the intruder became the new leader. It wasn''t too long ago that they were still threatening to kill the intruder, and now, there was an abrupt offer to appoint the intruder as the new leader.

    <span>"Ah. If it''s like that, then I will head up to greet the yer as the new leader! If you want to follow along, thene. I won''t force you to do something against your wishes." Zhao Nan Shan easily hopped onto the stage. Smiling, he walked right up to Liu Gan.

    <span>The discussion between Second, Third, and Fourth Elder were done in private. So no one in the audience knew what to expect when they saw Zhan Nan Shan walk up to confront the intruder. All of a sudden the za quieted down as they watch the confrontation and expected a fight.

    <span>"Second Elder!" LuLu quickly stood up to greet Zhao Nan Shan.

    <span>The true strength of Second Elder was still unknown. Second Elder had always been a mystery to others, since he was rarely seen speaking in public. However, in the situations where Second Elder did speak, even Qiu Zi had to be respectful. So when LuLu saw Zhao Nan Shan, she felt an indescribable episode of shock.

    <span>"May I ask for this gentleman''s name?" Zhao Nan Shan ignored LuLu as he greeted Liu Gan respectfully.

    <span>"Second Elder, right? You are giving me too much respect. My surname is Liu. As I''ve said countless times before, I am here to save a few friends. As for the tragic events that followed, I didn''t n for them. Since everything has already happened, I can only express my regret, although I will still need to take my friends with me. So if Second Elder can step aside and make it more convenient for me," Liu Gan smiled. With kindness and respect shown to him, Liu Gan reciprocated the same attitude. Liu Gan didn''t want to provoke Zhan Nan Shan with any malicious intent.

    <span>"Lord Liu has a noble character and gentleman''s integrity. You acted upright and it was our Elders acting rash. I, Zhan Nan Shan, will apologize to Lord Liu! Please forgive us for our offenses!" Zhan Nan Shan starting to speak more formally and modestly.

    <span>"Second Elder, that is too much of a praise for me to ept!" Liu Gan waved his hand. Liu Gan had his suspicions that Zhan Nan Shan was plotting something, but his current attitude made it less likely that would happen.

    <span>"Lord Liu has such great reflexes! We would be put to shame if wepared ourselves with you! Now that the current leader is dead, our vige security will bepromised if we don''t have a new leader. Would you be our lord and take over this vige? I would be the first willing follower to obey yourmands!" Zhao Nan Shan shouted to Liu Gan for everyone else in the area to hear.

    <span>First formality, then business. As for the polite words Zhan Nan Shan started off with, the conversation took a serious turn when Liu Gan was asked to take control of the vige. This was surprising news to everyone.

    <span>Not only did Second Elder not kill LuLu and the intruder to avenge Qiu Zi, but he invited the intruder to be the new leader?

    <span>"Ah. Is Second Elder trying to appoint me to a leadership position?" Liu Gan looked at Zhan Nan Shan. Now Liu Gan had justified reasons for his suspicion of Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"That is correct. This vige needs a strong leader to hold down the fort. I know that I don''t have the aptitude for it. Since there is no one who qualifies for that around me, I was hoping that Lord Liu would step up to the asion. I can tell that Lord Liu is fierce and courageous, like an experienced leader. Your actions show that you are qualified to be an excellent leader. So please forgive my straightforward nature and honest opinion!" Zhan Nan Shan bowed with his hands together.

    <span>"You really know how to sweet talk! Were you a diplomat?" Liu Gan replied back.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you know how to jest! In the real world, I was an entrepreneur!" Zhan Nan Shan smiled as he replied.

    <span>"Alright, well if you want to hire me, then as a leader, what are the benefits?" Liu Gan teased Zhao Nan Shan. Earlier, Liu Gan had sensed that this Second Elder had an unspeakable secret. What this secret was, it was too early to tell. However it was a very questionable proposition to invite him over to take over the vige.

    <span>Even the crowd was stunned by the exchange of words that had taken ce. Their very own Second Elder wanted the intruder to take control of the whole vige? This idea was unfathomable. To give out benefits like this to a stranger?! Did he really think that highly of the intruder? Even if the intruder was a little talented, the leadership position was too much to give away!

    <span>"Ah. Benefits. Qiu Zi''s axe and remains were given away to Lord Liu. As for the other benefits, we can discuss this in private. I don''t want to pressure Lord Liu to choose at this moment," Zhao Nan Shan suggested.

    <span>"Oh? This is quite interesting. If i continued to decline, then I wouldn''t be giving Second Elder any face. Okay, let''s find a more suitable location to discuss the details. As of right now, I will agree to temporarily be the interim leader," Liu Gan nced at Zhao Nan Shan.

    <span>This trap sounded like it was a freebie; this Beginner Vige with a poption of over four thousand strong mighte with a few strings attached! Liu Gan wasn''t Qiu Zi Tao, so no matter how Zhao Nan Shan nned to control Liu Gan, it wouldn''t work.

    <span>"You have heard it! From now on, Lord Liu will be the new leader! I, Zhao Nan Shan, will swear to follow Lord Liu til the day I die! From now on, everyone has to obey Lord Liu''s wishes! Going against Lord Liu''smands is equivalent to not paying respect to me!" Zhao Nan Shan announced on the stage for everyone to hear.

    <span>With absolute silence during the announcement, no one in the crowd knew the secret agreement between both parties. Everything that urred today was outside of their expectations. From a normal day with their former Elder Leader Qiu Zi organizing the vige properly to a sudden change in leadership? Especially, when the new leader was an outsider! A lot of changes would take ce, so they would have to adapt to quickly.

 Chapter 376

    <span><strong>Chapter 376 - Storm Brewing</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Elder Liu, I feel that there is a conspiracy going on" Han GuangMing whispered into Liu Gan''s ear. There must be a reason behind Zhan Nan Shan''s proposal. It didn''t sit right with Han GuangMing.

    <span>"Don''t worry, I know very well what to expect," Liu Gan replied to Han GuangMing. From their brief talk with Zhan Nan Shan, Liu Gan felt like the secret agenda would be discussed in the private meeting. Truth be told, Liu Gan was really curious to know.

    <span>Liu Gan could decide if he wanted to continue working togetherter on. Since Liu Gan wasn''t in a rush to head back to the southern district, he could stay for awhile longer. He could use this chance to trick the rescuers from Brave airship once he alerted them about DongDong.

    <span>If it were anyone else, they wouldn''t have had any confidence to remain in the vige. It was aplicated mood; the enemy had just lost their leader, so their hatred was strong. It would be hard for any other yer to try to control the vige, but Liu Gan wasn''t bothered.

    <span>Even if it wasplicated or difficult, Liu Gan would use his fist to resolve it. There was nothing he couldn''t control with that ideology.

    <span>"Please listen to our new Lord as he speaks!" Second Elder announced, as he weed Liu Gan onto the front of the stage.

    <span>"I am not familiar with you guys, so I don''t have anything remarkable to say. Once I take over, I want the day to day operations to remain the same as before. This is one of those critical moments that I want all the Elders to pay attention to. If there is anyone spreading false rumors or insinuating riots behind my back, I will catch you and kill you. I have no mercy for those yers!" Liu Gan made his first speech quite simple.

    <span>"Our Lord Liu has passed through the all of NinJing City. He controls the entire southern district. He has traveled from the seabed to the northern district. There was nothing he hasn''t seen yet! It would be in your best interest to serve Lord Liu. Otherwise, you won''t have a good end!" Han GuangMing continued with Liu Gan''s speech. Han GuangMing changed his catchphrase from Elder to Lord, since it sounded more prestigious in public.

    <span>As the Third, Fourth, and other high ranking Elders stared at Han GuangMing, they were infuriated. After Qiu Zi''s death, they thought they had a chance to raise up in the ranks. Perhaps one of them would be chosen to be the new leader! Watching a stranger be the new leader, they hated it, even more when Liu Gan''sckey was speaking louder than they were. They felt theckey was looking down on them. This tension building up created a stronger hatred.

    <span>Evidently, the majority of the people had strong negative feelings about Second Elder''s decision. There were things ordinary people couldn''t resist when it was something above their pay grade, especially when it was the executive officer making the decision. Ordinary people could only hold in their anger.

    <span>As for those who could resist the executive order, they would plot in secrecy. They would discuss and judge the events of today. Issues like these would have to be resolved by Zhao Nan Shan, Liu Gan didn''t want to be bothered with disciplinary acts if he didn''t have to. Liu Gan''s major concern was to find the Brave airship and then talk with Zhao Nan Shan about the more important matters. What benefits could this job as leadere with?

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>LingLing had several feelings toward Liu Gan and Yin He, and they were mostly fear and hatred. However, she remained in ce under LuLu''s order. She didn''t disy any acts of aggression, she had suffered getting beat up once before. If Yin He didn''t have the 800-meter distance limiter, LingLing would''ve died.

    <span>As the crowd started to disperse, LuLu lead Liu Gan to her residence. As the Fifth Elder, LuLu received special treatment. Her residence was the vi standing behind the College of Agriculture building. Her vi stood right next to Qiu Zi''s vi. In between the two vis was a wooden fence.

    <span>DongDong, Cheng Qi, and Yao Yi were living in LuLu''s vi. LingLing returned to the vi and joined DongDong in ytime. During her ytime, LingLing had part of her human side return.

    <span>"Lifesaver! Is that you?" Yao Yi and Cheng Qi greeted Liu Gan. They rushed over to him, bowing and thanking him.

    <span>"No need to be so polite. To be honest, the ones who saved you is him¡­ He is the man I was with when I rescued you. It was just that his facial features have changed, and his body shape is better now. He lost his memory, but his name is Jiang JinYuan. Do you remember that?" Liu Gan quickly threw Jiang JinYuan over to the mother and daughter.

    <span>"You are¡­ the mother and daughter I met earlier?" Jiang JinYuan asked. He only heard of the story from Liu Gan. The kind act of saving the mother and daughter was strange, since he forgot the reason why he stepped in. Through his feelings, he realized that the mother and daughter reminded him of his own wife and kid.

    <span>Even though the mother and daughter really wanted to repay Liu Gan, they felt that he didn''t really want to talk so they didn''t push too hard. So they updated Jiang JinYuan with everything that had happened. They thanked Jiang JinYuan on Liu Gan''s behalf.

    <span>"Now can you tell me what you need DongDong for?" LuLu asked Liu Gan, while they watched LingLing and DongDong y.

    <span>"Do you have amunications instation here?" Liu Gan asked LuLu.

    <span>"I think we do have one. It is barely functional. Inside themunications team, there is a log to keep track of the information it has gathered. I am rarely interested in what it had to report," LuLu shook her head.

    <span>"Then it would seem like you have not received the news!" Liu Gan replied to LuLu.

    <span>"What news?"

    <span>"DongDong''s grandpa is Brave airship''s captain. Through public channels it was broadcasting out names of important rtives, and DongDong was included on the list. They said if we found DongDong or the other family members, we can step aboard the Brave airship," Liu Gan revealed the truth to LuLu.

    <span>"You want to join him on the Brave airship?" LuLu confirmed her suspicions.

    <span>"Yes," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Okay, since it is DongDong''s grandpa that wants to reunite with him, then I can''t object to that. I want to ask for your objective in boarding the airship," LuLu asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"This¡­ You don''t need to know the details." Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"The San Xing Corporation worker that came with you¡­ His name was Jiang JinYuan? He died and was revived? Could it be that you want to steal the airship and ride it to the Spatial Transfer Gate in the Central City?"

    <span>"Close enough" Liu Gan said in a depressed tone.

    <span>"Who is she?" LuLu looked afar at the nonspeaking girl, Yin He. LuLu wanted to ask the question a lot earlier.

    <span>"My girlfriend!" Liu Gan loudly answered LuLu.

    <span>"Ah? Your girlfriend?" LuLu shocked.

    <span>"What''s wrong?" Liu Gan stared at LuLu.

    <span>"She¡­ is very pretty¡­ When did you meet?" LuLu''s expression had hints of sadness.

 Chapter 377

    Chapter 377 - Secret Meeting

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    ¡°After leaving Lucky Garden District, I met her. We¡¯ve been together ever since,¡± Liu Gan replied to LuLu¡¯s question.

    ¡°She is definitely not weak like me. She won¡¯t be your baggage, is that why you have her by your side at all times?¡± LuLu continued to pry.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Liu Gan nodded.

    ¡°I see¡­ Seems like I really don¡¯t have a chance. My confession today, I hope it won¡¯t cause any problems for the both of you.¡± LuLu started glowing red from embarrassment.

    ¡°No, our rtionship is through unwavering trust. We rely on each other to cover each other¡¯s back. There is nothing that can cause any disruption between our love,¡± Liu Gan said indifferently.

    ¡°That is good...¡± LuLu nced one more time at Yin He. Yin He had maintained a calm expression this whole time. Yin He didn¡¯t speak much, didn¡¯t move around much. She just stood there and stared at Liu Gan. Her attention never shifted off of Liu Gan. This is when LuLu got curious¡­ So, Liu Gan liked this type of woman?

    If there was a chance, LuLu wanted to find out what Yin He¡¯s personality was like.

    ¡°So you said yourmunication instations aren¡¯t reliable?¡± Liu Gan asked LuLu. Now that DongDong was found, it was time tomunicate with the Brave airship.

    ¡°Yes, that is correct,¡± LuLu nodded.

    ¡°I want to bring several of my friends in to see if they can repair themunications device. Can you bring us there? I want to convey the news to Brave airship as soon as possible,¡± Liu Gan rushed LuLu.

    Jiang JinYuan and Young Gao were experts in repairingmunication devices. With theirbined knowledge there was nothing that they couldn''t fix. Then it would be a waiting game for the Brave airship to arrive. Once Liu Gan boarded the vessel, it would only be a matter of time before there was a hostile takeover by changing the captains. Then Brave¡¯s destiny would be under Liu Gan¡¯s control.

    ¡°¡±Okay,¡± LuLu said resentfully. She still assisted Liu Gan with whatever he needed done.

    Liu Gan ordered Yin He to watch over DongDong in the house. Liu Gan left with Jiang JinYuan and others for themunications room. Along the way, they could feel lingering eyes watching them from afar. Most of them were whispering to one another. There were some people who voluntarily walked over to greet Liu Gan and Yin He.

    This was a period of recing the old leadership with the new. Everyone had their own thoughts and attitudes towards it. Some people were against the new leadership. Others weed the new leader, knowing it meant a chance of rising up in rank. Every opportunity not taken was an opportunity lost.

    However, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t in the mood to care for them or what they were nning. At this point, he really wanted to finish up what he needed to do, then ept Zhan Nan Shan¡¯s invitation. Even the decision to temporarily be the leader was just so he could move around in the vige without limitations. There was also the secret that Zhan Nan Shan hadn¡¯t revealed yet.

    In one of the school buildings for studying physics, there were ssroomboratories. At the top of the building, there was a satellite dish. The control room had been equipped withmunications devices that worked with the satellite dish. However, the receiver could only pick up fragmented messages. It was hard to make outplete sentences, so it was pretty much unreliable.

    Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan didn¡¯t like these devices, so they only left one person in charge of themunications room. This person would find spare parts to try and repair the damaged machines. After sessfully repairing the device, he would report back to Qiu Zi and collect his reward. Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan would then use the device for one whole night, and the device would have several importantponents burn out by the next morning.

    After hearing this person narrate the timeline of his duties, Liu Gan suspected that Zhan Nan Shan didn¡¯t want the vige to have any contact with the outside world. Yet, they have to keep up the facade of having amunications room. All of that was an act just so they could have amunications room, but limit the functions of the devices.

    Throughout history, when rulers wanted to dupemoners, they would burn the books and bury the schrs. This was all to limit the range ofmunications and knowledge shared between others. To better defend hisnd, Zhan Nan Shan used the same tactic.

    This made Liu Gan even more interested in Zhan Nan Shan. From what he had learned so far about Zhan Nan Shan, he only knew that Zhan Nan Shan wanted to create a huge campground, and the unknown reason was bound to be somethingplicated.

    Jiang JinYuan paced back and forth checking on the equipment. He was able to find the parts that burned out. Theseponents had to be reced before the device could function. Since the brokenponents couldn¡¯t be reced in the vige, they would have to take a trip down to the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center to find the spare parts.

    Han GuangMing mustered up his courage to volunteer as tribute to find the pieces, but it was gettingte in the day already. Liu Gan told him to search for them tomorrow. In addition, he had Zhan Nan Shan find a van for Han GuangMing, Jiang JinYuan and several others to look for the spare parts at the Research Center.

    ***

    In a ssroom in a particr building, a secret meeting was taking ce. There was smoke filling up the room since there was no venttion. Several men were grouped up as they smoked.

    Tobo was a rare and scarcemodity. It was a luxury good. To be able to enjoy such goods, they must be quite high in ranking in the vige.

    ¡°Third Elder, what do you think of this situation?¡± Fourth Elder asked. Apanying Fourth Elder were the Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Elders. The secret meeting had begun.

    Fourth Elder¡¯s name was Qu Han, he was three years younger than Third Elder. Fourth Elder hadn¡¯t known Qiu Zi as long as Third Elder had, even though both were level 9. So Qu Han still felt lower in status in the presence of Third Elder.

    Third Elder¡¯s name was Xie Dong Cheng. In the real world, his upation was the supervisor of several nightclubs. The type of nightclub was owned by the mafia and ignored by the corrupt police. Xie Dong Cheng was a vicious and merciless person. He was always scheming something behind the backs of others. Since Xie Dong Cheng was quite capable, he was one of Qiu Zi¡¯s most trusted yers. When Qiu Zi was alive, many of the tasks that required enforcement were done by Xie Dong Cheng.

    ¡°What can we do? Second Elder has publicly dered the decision. What else can we do?¡± Third Elder Xie Dong Cheng shook his head. He was infuriated.

    ¡°When we decided to kill the Fifth Elder, we were interrupted. Seems like Fifth Elder and the new guy are a band. If that new guy, Liu Gan, bes our leader, we won¡¯t have any good days!¡± Fourth Elder Qu Han frowned.

    ¡°You seem like¡­ you have a solution already?¡± Xie Dong Cheng looked at Qu Han.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any solution, it was just that all myckeys feel the same way I do. We don¡¯t like the arrangements Second Elder has decided for us. It feels pointless to stay here,¡± Qu Han replied.

    ¡°Myckeys feel the same way. We¡¯ve followed Qiu Zi from the beginning. However, Second Elder just decided to let an outsider take over. Even if this outsider is strong, we don¡¯t feel satisfied with that as a qualification!¡± Seventh Elder Ge Rufeng chimed in. Ge Rufeng was the first Elder to confront Liu Gan on the za, and where he got beaten up. In his heart, he refused to yield to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 378

    <span><strong>Chapter 378 - Evil Dragon Gulf</strong>

    <span>TL: xdh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>In Ge Rufong''s mind, if Liu Gan became their new leader, his life would be over in this Vige. He thought that Liu Gan would be petty and punish him for his earlier actions.

    <span>In all honesty, Ge Rufong was thinking too highly of himself. Liu Gan had forgotten most of the incidents earlier that day. He saw too many faces, so it wasn''t a surprise that he didn''t recognize anyone. It would be like walking down the street and not remembering how many ants he had stepped on. But, the ant itself would feel that the person was doing it on purpose. In this case, the person simply didn''t notice the ant blocking his path. The ant was just overthinking things, if it could think at all.

    <span>"What is the use in getting angry? Could it be that our rebellion will fail?" Xie Dong Cheng shook his head.

    <span>"Why won''t we revolt? Third Elder, every one of us in here is just waiting for your your orders! If you say the word, I guarantee that all of our followers will respond to your calling!" Seventh Elder Ge Rufong blurted out. Seventh Elder had discussed their options with Fourth and Ninth Elder previously, and they agreed to bring the topic up with Third Elder.

    <span>"Call to arms? You are making it sound too easy. Do you even know what level Second Elder is? Even if Second Elder was no match for Qiu Zi, he must be at least above level 10. In addition there''s the new guy you have to ount for, and even Second Elder was wary of him. This new guy must be above level 10, too. So tell me, how do you want to rebel? To die? It must be nice to be you guys, if I call forth a rebellion then I will be put up on a stake." Xie Dong Cheng shook his head.

    <span>"There are certain things that can''t be tackled aggressively, they have to be won over intellectually." Fourth Elder Qu Han got straight to the point.

    <span>"Oh? It would seem like you have some sort of tactic?" Xie Dong Cheng nced over with an intrigued expression. Outright denying the ims of rebellion was fake. After Qiu Zi died, and Zhan Nan Shan didn''t want to take up the responsibility, naturally the next in line would be the Third Elder. However, an outsider was able to cut in front of him. With Third Elder''s troubling personality, he wasn''t happy with that news.

    <span>Xie Dong Cheng had set Liu Gan up as an enemy target. Before he was confident in taking over, he didn''t want to stand out. The first thing was to maintain a low profile for survival.

    <span>"Let''s think of a way to kill that Liu guy!" Qu Han directly said out loud.

    <span>"And here I thought that you had some brilliant n! Kill him? Hahahaha¡­ Fourth Elder, are you trying to tell a joke to cheer us up?" Xie Dong Cheng asked loudly. If it was just killing Liu Gan, then it wouldn''t be so difficult. The question was whether or not they had the ability to kill that person!

    <span>"Everyone has a weakness. Even the strongest man will have signs of vulnerability. As long as we can find that weakness, we need to use it to our advantage. Once we lose that chance, then we won''t have another opportunity. Second Elder was afraid of going against the intruder alone. If he dies, the vige will belong to you, Third Elder. So when that timees, don''t forget us who helped you get there!" Qu Han said with a wicked expression.

    <span>"Well, do you know that person''s weakness?" Xie Dong Cheng stoppedughing and asked with a stern look.

    <span>"Third Elder, you didn''t notice, but when that person arrived, he wasn''t looking for Fifth Elder. He was looking for the child under her care. Even though we don''t know why the child is important to him, we just know he is important. So DongDong is definitely one of his weaknesses," Qu Han moved closer to Xie Dong Cheng.

    <span>"One? So you mean to say that he has two weaknesses?" Xie Dong Cheng asked nonchntly. Xie Dong Cheng didn''t feel that the little boy was important enough for Liu Gan to submit.

    <span>"Well, when he came in, he also had a dog and a woman with him. I carefully monitored their rtionship and they are often exchanging looks at each other. When he looks at her, it is different from how he looks at other people. His facial expression is more emotional when he looks at her. When he looks at other people, he always has that stern look on his face. I can testify that this woman is very important to him. Even more important than the little boy," Qu Han continued.

    <span>"Are you positive?" Xie Dong Cheng was starting to get excited.

    <span>"I definitely believe that. As you know, my observations are very urate. Once I confirmed their rtionship, I''ve been paying extra attention to them. I watched them exchange looks with each other. The girl had her eyes locked onto the guy nearly all of the time. When the guy speaks or moves around, he would casually nce over at her. From a psychological perspective, it means that she is his mental support. This natural reaction only urs if she is very important. This point I am absolutely certain of!" Qu Han continued to guarantee that to Xie Dong Cheng.

    <span>"So what happens after?"

    <span>"We can deduce that the woman and DongDong are his weak points. What we must do now is wait. We need to wait patiently for the moment when they are separated. That is when we strike!" Qu Han continued.

    <span>"You want to hold his girl hostage to force him to submit to our wishes?" Xie Dong Cheng frowned.

    <span>"Close enough," Qu Han agreed.

    <span>"That doesn''t seem too possible. There are few men who would die for their partner. Are you sure he is one of those types? You might be overthinking it," Xie Dong Cheng shook his head.

    <span>"Third Elder, do you remember Evil Dragon Gulf?" Qu Han suddenly asked.

    <span>"Evil Dragon Gulf?"

    <span>"The Evil Dragon Gulf that no one ever returns from. Even Elder Leader and Second Elder were afraid of that ce¡­ we don''t need to force our hands. After securing his girl and DongDong, we can lie to him that they are trapped at Evil Dragon Gulf. So he will head there to find them¡­" Qu Han spoke his borate n out.

    <span>"This n¡­ very interesting!" Xie Dong Cheng praised loudly.

    <span>Evil Dragon Gulf was located on the coast of the northern shore. When Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan first explored that region, they had a dozen yers by their side. They were heavily injured when they escaped. After another month, Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan made a second attempt with over a hundred yers. The result was the same, only the two of them were able to escape.

    <span>ording to their ounts, Evil Dragon Gulf had an extremely powerful-looking creature that looked like an Evil Dragon from western myths. Even with theirbined strength, they weren''t able to defeat this creature that dwelled by the ocean. The creature''s nest was in the gulf, and so it was inessible. Even if they could reach the nest, getting out alive was another story.

    <span>To prevent yers in the vige from carelessly wandering into the area, Qiu Zi produced a map that marked the region of Evil Dragon Gulf. The map was meant to prohibit anyone from entering that danger zone.

    <span>From Qu Han''s perspective, as long as Yin He and DongDong were caught, then they could be used as bait. This way Liu Gan would mistakenly enter the marked-off nest region and definitely get wed apart by the sea creature.

 Chapter 379

    <span><strong>Chapter 379 - Calcted</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Once Liu Gan died, Second Elder won''t have any reason to me anyone. Then the duty would once again fall back into the cycle of the select few in the vige.

    <span>It was a given that with a name like "Evil Dragon Gulf", it was termed by Qiu Zi. Such a horrifying name would put Liu Gan on guard. To avoid the situation where Liu Gan was on guard, they decide to rename the gulf to "Moonlight Gulf". Then they would hand Liu Gan a specially modified map with the new name.

    <span>Naturally they would im that Yin He and DongDong were locked up in the nest of the Evil Dragon. The moment Liu Gan got close enough to the nest, he would be minced meat by the dragon''s pointy ws. There was no way for Liu Gan to survive the Evil Dragon.

    <span>"Once he knows that we have captured his girl and DongDong, he will be infuriated. We must survive his attacks and threaten to kill the hostages if he hurts us. We must have our statements match up. We will tell him that if he doesn''t reach the nest in one day, the hostage will die. That way he won''t have time to waste with us. He can only rush to the nest and die," Qu Han continued his future predictions.

    <span>"Ah, your n doesn''t sound too shabby. Now we just need to wait for him to separate from his girl. From what I''ve seen so far, this intruder is quite arrogant. He looks down on us, so he won''t prepare any countermeasures. There will be plenty of these opportunities," Xie Dong Cheng was very satisfied with the work Qu Han had put in.

    <span>"I will arrange for someone to monitor their actions. When they are separated from each other for long periods of time is when we will execute the n," Qu Han continued.

    <span>"Monitor? Don''t make it too obvious. They might be cautious, and that will backfire on our n," Xie Dong Cheng interrupted.

    <span>"Hey, rx. Scattered throughout this vige are people who report to me. They are all my trusted sources. I won''t have people tail them, but no matter where they go, someone will see them!" Qu Han smirked.

    <span>"If the n seeds, no matter which of us bes the new leader, we should take care of each other," Xie Dong Cheng smiled.

    <span>"Third Elder, you really know how to speak! When that intruder named Liu dies, then it is obvious the leader position will be you! So when that timees, Third Elder¡­ No, I will have to change and call you our new Elder Leader when the timees!" Qu Han quickly added.

    <span>"You are giving me too much credit! Let''s wish this oue will be as nned!" Qu Hanughed loudly.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"It is almost night already, would you like to stay at my ce for dinner?" LuLu suddenly suggested. Now that LuLu knew that Liu Gan has a girlfriend, she didn''t have any ulterior motives. As long as she epted him as a friend, she will be happy.

    <span>"That sounds great!" Liu Gan took her up on her offer.

    <span>"Before I came here, I told sister Cheng Qi to prepare dinner. By the time we get back to the apartment, it should be time to eat." LuLu was happy to hear that she will have guests staying over. She had slight worries that Liu Gan might be overly cautious of her poisoning him

    <span>"You don''t put in poison in the food, right?" Liu Gan suddenly brought up the topic and asked LuLu.

    <span>"Why would I?" LuLu became depressed. She thought that he wouldn''t be suspicious of her, but she was dreaming.

    <span>"LingLing''s toxin is too powerful. It can even kill a yer above level 10 like it was nothing!" Liu Gan remembered the scene where Qiu Zi just fell to the ground. There was no such thing as being overly careful.

    <span>Of course, with NaNa by his side, Liu Gan wasn''t worried that LuLu might poison him. NaNa''s sense of smell was very advanced, it could detect any sort of poison or toxin in this world.

    <span>"I did that¡­ because of you¡­ If you don''t feel safe, I will eat try all the food before you eat it!" LuLu felt wronged.

    <span>"No, that won''t be necessary" Liu Gan still believed that NaNa''s senses were more reliable. So if he tried anything dangerous, NaNa would be the first to alert him. From now on, no matter what he eats, he would let NaNa take a sniff first. There might be a day, if he wasn''t too careful, where he could be the next victim of poisoning.

    <span>"That San Xing Corporation worker¡­ how did Jiang JinYuan die?" LuLu asked, trying to change the topic.

    <span>"When I was with him in the building searching through stuff, in the dark a tentacle monster was lurking around. It caught us off guard and killed Jiang JinYuan by stabbing him through the abdomen," Liu Gan answered.

    <span>"Don''t you have a very strong scanning device? How did you get ambushed with it working?" LuLu was curious.

    <span>"He was working on something else, we thought that it was safe in the basement. It was totally unexpected," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"So how did you revive him? Did you find the key to revive dead yers?" LuLu looked at Liu Gan with an interested expression. She still felt that she owed Pan Hua her life. If possible, she wanted to revive Pan Hua to repay her life debt.

    <span>"Jiang JinYuan is very special. He is San Xing Corporation''s worker, so the PDA had his personal backup data. I was able to meet a friend who can use the data to recreate a new body. This way he was able toe back. It isn''t like your fantasy of reviving a dead person!" Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"A person can have his personal data backed up?" To LuLu, this was unthinkable, as she had never witnessed it.

    <span>"Who knows? This could be like a game where every yer has their own unique string of data¡­" Liu Gan wasn''t too sure himself. So he wasn''t able to exin to LuLu the concept behind it.

    <span>"Well, your friend¡­ who used the backup data to create his new body, what kind of person is he? Is he part of San Xing Corporation, too?" LuLu continued to ask.

    <span>"No, she was one of my real life friends. She is a science nerd. It is best if you don''t meet her, otherwise it could mean trouble." The person Liu Gan was talking about was Su Nina.

    <span>"Oh, she isn''t with us right now?" LuLu was upset that she wasn''t able to meet her.

    <span>"I lost contact with her. I don''t know how she is doing right now" Liu Gan shook his head. Su Nina said she had multiple bodies, but that didn''t stop him from worrying about her safety. In the end, she was still his friend.

    <span>"So your purpose ofing here, is for matters regarding the <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship?" LuLu changed the topic once again.

    <span>"Yes."

    <span>"To be honest¡­ I want to help you reach the Central City on the Main Ind," LuLu admitted to Liu Gan.

    <span>"What? Why?" Liu Gan looked strangely at LuLu.

    <span>"Qiu Zi told me that he was from the Central City. Even though I didn''t like him, he would voluntarily tell me a lot of things about what had happened in that ce," LuLu continued to speak while monitoring Liu Gan''s response. She had a feeling that he would be quite interested in this topic.

    <span>"Oh? He would tell you things?" Liu Gan was definitely hooked on her bait.

 Chapter 380

    <span><strong>Chapter 380 - Big Issue</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Qiu Zi said he was merely one of the many beta yers. At one point, he mentioned that several thousand beta yers also arrived with him. When they were ying this game, it was still in front of monitors and with a mouse. But this time, they were all transferred into the game, without the function of logging out."

    <span>"Okay," Liu Gan nodded. He knew about this from Su Nina already.

    <span>"During the beta period, they were only on the Main Ind. So they are more familiar than us regarding the game aspects. Many of these beta yers had reached level 10, by the time the game server was finally released to public. Qiu Zi was in front of the monitor browsing through stage props that lead him to stumble through a Spatial Transfer Gate. He was transferred over to NinJing City. As of right now, his level would be the lowest among the beta yers," LuLu continued to speak. In reality, Qiu Zi hadn''t been honest; it was with Zhan Nan Shan''s help that he had arrived at the current ind.

    <span>"ording to him, the zombies on the Main Ind are much more vicious. Even the normal zombies on the Main Ind have the same power as Variant Zombies on this ind, which includes the ck-Spot Variant Zombies¡­ With this long amount of time, if the beta yers were still alive they would be between level 15 to 20," LuLu continued.

    <span>"However, he found his way of life, worshipped by thousands. He loved that feeling," Liu Gan interrupted her.

    <span>"It is possible that you are quite strong right now, but I feel that we can''tpare with the beta yers. When you arrive at the Main Ind, it isn''t the danger of zombies, but the danger of yers," LuLu continued to urge Liu Gan.

    <span>"Aside from that, what else did he say?" Liu Gan asked. Everything LuLu had said, had been said by Su Nina already.

    <span>When this game first developed, it wasn''t the type where people were transferred into the game. No, it was the type of typical game that you yed with mouse and keyboard through the monitor, somewhere safe. Suddenly being kidnapped into the game, these beta yers kept their previous game data, which gave them superiority over the normal yers.

    <span>Their superiority wasn''t just with levels, as weapons were also part of this advantage. As with the case with Qiu Zi''srge axe, it was such a rare weapon. If Qiu Zi had obtained a weapon like this, then the higher level yers must have even more powerful weapons.

    <span>With these beta yers spreading out to explore, Liu Gan knew it was just a matter of time before he confronted another. As theatrical as the fight was today, it was just a practice show. There was now once again urgency to raise his level. Otherwise his advantage with the alloy limbs would be useless.

    <span>Liu Gan was living quitefortably on NinJing City, as the ind was considered a peripheral ind. The main contestors on NinJing City were Kingler, the Malevolent Bear, and the Armored Warriors. Other than that, there was no real threating from yers.

    <span>The situation would bepletely different if it was on the Main Ind. There would be so many high level beta yers that wouldpete with each other. Every level above others would be an advantage and it would start an overwhelming dominance. As with the recent fight between Liu Gan and Qiu Zi, Qiu Zi was able to use his level advantage. If Qiu Zi had a one level advantage, then imagine what a couple of levels higher could do to Liu Gan.

    <span>"He also said that¡­ the Main Ind is veryrge. To put the size inparison, it would be simr to maind China. The weather is not as nasty as it is over here, although he didn''t know how the weather was right now. This was all before all the catastrophe urred. Qiu Zi said he and the other beta yers werepleting missions in the game. He said that their individual efforts and joint missions lead to the catastrophe breaking out. At that time, it was just a game for them, so they didn''t think too much about it," LuLu continued.

    <span>"What individual and joint missions were those?" Liu Gan continued to ask. This was something that he had never heard of before.

    <span>"At that time¡­ I wasn''t too interested in this topic¡­ so I didn''t ask him any more. I only heard him say that the beta yers facilitated the catastrophe. They all experienced the catastrophe as they witnessed the fields get dyed red from blood-colored rain. The rain turned everyone in the city into zombies. Other than that, I am not too sure."

    <span>LuLu had an embarrassed expression. She was quite ashamed that she didn''t listen attentively to Qiu Zi''s narrative. She was only half-heartedly listening to his chatter most of the time. If she knew that Liu Gan would be this interested, she would''ve paid more attention and inquired more.

    <span>As Liu Gan and LuLu were exchanging words, they unconsciously walked backed to LuLu''s house. Standing in front of the house were two yers waiting around. When these two yers saw Liu Gan, they rushed over.

    <span>These two yers had met with Liu Gan earlier; it was Sun Cheng and Kong Mu. Sun Cheng was guarding the gate, and Kong Mu was the ss lecturer. With Liu Gan as the new vige leader, small fries like Kong Mu and Sun Cheng were upgraded from their positions by Second Elder. As a reward for being the first toe in contact with Liu Gan, they were promoted from their previous duties to be footman specialized for contacting Liu Gan.

    <span>"Lord Liu, Second Elder wants to invite you over for dinner." Sun Cheng and Kong Mu bowed down to Liu Gan. They didn''t expect that the new yer would be their new leader.

    <span>"Help me thank Second Elder, but I''ve already promised Fifth Elder that I would eat here. If there''s anything else thates up, let''s discuss it after dinner. I don''t want to hold up Second Elder from his duties," Liu Gan kindly rejected the offer.

    <span>Second Elder already knew that Liu Gan was going to be having dinner with Fifth Elder, but sending two people to confirm that was just a friendly gesture. Just in case, Liu Gan was indeed left behind without anyone to host him, these yers were sent to pick him up. After being rejected, Sun Cheng and Kong Mu left to report back to Second Elder and quietly departed.

    <span>Cheng Qi''s dinner was well prepared. Liu Gan hadn''t had chinese cabbage for a long time. Everything he had for dinner was grown in the self-cultivated fields behind the school. These fields were specifically cultivated for the high-ranking Elders. Cheng Qi and her daughter, Yao Yi, even made dumplings stuffed with meat and cabbage for Liu Gan to enjoy.

    <span>Real world simple food like this had be a delicacy. At least, this was true for many normal yers that were stuck in this world. Experiencing the horrors and despair of this world, they realized how fortunate they were in their formerly peaceful lives.

    <span>If there was a chance to return back to the real world, their mentality would be tougher than the average person. Even with a small setback, they wouldn''t be as frail or weak anymore. In fact, they would cherish everything they had more than they did before.

    <span>After eating the dumplings, LuLu brought in beef and rabbit meat to apany the alcohol. LuLu also opened up bottles of wine for Liu Gan to enjoy. It was such a good night for Liu Gan that he ate happily. Unconsciously, Liu Gan finished several bottles of wine and grew tipsy.

 Chapter 381

    <span><strong>Chapter 381 - Injury</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    <strong>LEWD warning.</strong><hr>

    <span>Seeing Liu Gan eat so cheerfully, LuLu felt happy as well. Even though she knew that he had a girlfriend, his attitude toward her had also changed. He didn''t think of her as an annoyance, which made her feel better.

    <span>"Have you ever thought of staying here? If you don''t leave, then this ce will be yours. Everyone here will have to obey yourmands" LuLu continued to test Liu Gan.

    <span>"There is no way I can stay here for the long term. Once I get the <span><em>Brave </em><span>airship, I will leave this ind behind. I will head for the Main Ind," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Why must you head to the Main Ind? Is there another reason? If not, then wouldn''t it be better to just stay here on this ind?" LuLu asked again.

    <span>Liu Gan started a new train of thought. He had never thought about this question before. It seemed like Jiang JinYuan had told him that on the Main Ind was a dimensional spaceboratory. In thatboratory was a possible Spatial Transfer Gate. However, it was after hearing that the Main Ind had more powerful Variant Zombies and Advanced monsters that Liu Gan wanted to head to the Main Ind.

    <span>Everything afterwards was in preparation for his trip to the ind. From running through NinJing City to Green Pao Bay, where he found the <span><em>Serenity </em><span>airship. He found the airship, but was unable to use it. Then he met with Su Nina in the underwaterboratory. Through unfortunate circumstances, he wound up on the shore of the northern region. When he found out about the <span><em>Brave </em><span>airship, he wanted to take over it to head to the Main Ind.

    <span>Was going to the Main Ind really that important to him? What did he want to do there? Use the Spatial Transfer Gate toe back to the real world? No, he didn''t have any intentions of returning back to the real world.

    <span>The only possible exnation that he could tell himself was that there must be more powerful monsters on that ind. With harder opponents, he would be able to level up faster. The grass is always greener on the other side.

    <span>If he doesn''t raise his level faster, then in the future the beta yers or stronger monsters can overtake him. For survival''s sake, he must be stronger.

    <span>On another hand, Liu Gan always had the habit of traveling the world. He was never the type to be content staying in one ce for too long. In the real world he was like that. It wouldn''t be an exception in the the Trembling World.

    <span>"So you want to honor yourmitment to Jiang JinYuan?" LuLu guessed.

    <span>"I am just doing what I see fit to my circumstances. If I am able to reach the other side, the potential for development is endless. If I don''t raise my strength quickly, then I will be crushed by the other beta yers when they arrive. We will all be their ves," Liu Gan answered LuLu.

    <span>"You are considering quite far into the future," LuLu replied.

    <span>"People without thought for the future, must have close worries," Liu Gan scratched his head, as he was about to pass out.

    <span>Liu Gan had consumed too much alcohol. After dinner was over came the sleeping arrangements. Yin He was guarding Liu Gan inside the room, and NaNa was guarding outside of the room.

    <span>"He fell asleep?" LuLu whispered her question to Yin He. LuLu came back from helping Cheng Yi with clean up.

    <span>"He''s asleep," Yin He replied to LuLu. Then Yin He scoped LuLu up and down.

    <span>"What happened this morning¡­ I was very rude. I said things that I shouldn''t have. I didn''t know that he already has you in his heart. I hope you don''t mind¡­" LuLu voluntarily apologized.

    <span>Confessing her love in front of so many people, especially when the other person had a girlfriend. To top if off, the girlfriend was very pretty. It would make anyone feel embarrassed if they were to bepared standing next to each other.

    <span>"Oh, I don''t mind," Yin He brushed her hand on LuLu''s shoulder, smiling as she replied.

    <span>"Could we chat for a little bit?" LuLu suggested to Yin He. Even though LuLu didn''t care, Liu Gan was still her first love. So if she was unable to be with him, she wanted to understand the woman he chose over her.

    <span>LuLu didn''t have any intentions of breaking up Liu Gan and Yin He. It was purely out of curiosity for her inquiries.

    <span>"Okay." Yin He nced over at the bed Liu Gan was sleeping on. Yin He sent out a signal to NaNa to swap ces with her. Then, she followed LuLu out of the room into the living room. They sat down across from each other to talk.

    <span>"You should understand Brother Liu a great deal, right?" LuLu started off with a topic. Between the two, their discussion would most likely revolve around Liu Gan.

    <span>"He is good. Very strong," Yin He answered LuLu.

    <span>"Ah¡­" LuLu felt that there was something wrong with Yin He, but she couldn''t put it in words...

    <span>"He is good. Very strong," Yin He repeated her words once again.

    <span>"He is indeed very strong¡­ But, I feel like he experienced some sort of injury. That is why he keeps all his issues internalized. It gives off the feeling that he is very cold to those who don''t know him," LuLu continued to speak.

    <span>"Injury? His recovery rate is very high. It doesn''t matter if he is injured," Yin He honestly replied to LuLu. Aside from Liu Gan, Yin He didn''t have much opportunity to socialize with other people. Liu Gan wasn''t the type to talk much at all. So when she was with LuLu, it was the first time she had spoken so much in one sitting.

    <span>"I''m not saying that his body is injured. It is a psychological injury¡­" LuLu was bewildered with Yin He''s answer. LuLu wasn''t sure if she shouldugh or cry with that response.

    <span>"Psychological? His psychological state is also very strong." Yin He continued to answer LuLu, even though the answers were not rted to the question.

    <span>LuLu stared at Yin He. For two minutes of silence, they were staring at each other. Yin He didn''t have any change in expression. LuLu felt it was very bizarre.

    <span>Is this a normal person?

    <span><em>Brother Liu''s girlfriend seems to have some sort of mental problem! Is it autism? Or is it an emotional barrier? Either way, she doesn''t respond like a normal person.</em>

    <span><em>Could it be that Brother Liu loves these type of girls? The brainless type?</em><span> Suddenly, LuLu felt wronged. Liu Gan has been scolding her dumb this whole time, but he likes this asinine girl!

    <span>"I think¡­ Brother Liu must have a certain heartbreaking past. He must have not mentioned it to anyone else. This shows how hurt he must have been. I am talking about his psychological hurt. This would exin why he would shut himself in. People who don''t understand Liu Gan would sense he is like a brick. Even in the abyss of his heart, he has a soft and fragile side. You should know that, right?" LuLu tried to ask Yin He again.

    <span>"His arms and legs are very sturdy. Even more sturdy than metal ingots. Some of his body parts are hard and sometimes they are very soft," Yin He nodded. She agreed with LuLu''s words.

 Chapter 382

    <span><strong>Chapter 382 - Aware</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>LuLu was stunned as she stared down at Yin He. She didn''t know if Yin He was ying a practical joke on her, or Yin He''s psychological state was seriously the problem. This whole time they were chatting, she couldn''t understand a single word?

    <span>"Have you figured that I am not normal?" Yin He could tell from LuLu''s expression.

    <span>"No, definitely not. Don''t misunderstand¡­" LuLu quickly denied.

    <span>"Recently, I found that I am not that normal. I think the emotional process exceeded the limit," Yin He lowered her head.

    <span>"Emotional¡­ process?" LuLu couldn''t understand Yin He at all.

    <span>"You aren''t hostile, and you treat Brother Gan well," Yin He looked at LuLu.

    <span>"Yes, he saved me before. I hope to repay his kindness¡­" LuLu nodded.

    <span>"I believe you. So I will tell you a secret. You must promise to keep this a secret," Yin He continued to tell LuLu.

    <span>"Okay, I will keep this secret between us" LuLu promised Yin He.

    <span>"Brother Gan, is a good person. A very good man. He treats me well. I love him," Yin He thought for a bit before speaking.

    <span>"I can tell. You are very fortunate to be able to be with him" LuLu nodded.

    <span>"I can''t have a baby with him. There''s no way for me to give birth to a baby Gan," Yin He shook her head.

    <span>"Oh?" LuLu wasn''t expecting this topic with Yin He.

    <span>"I will tell you a secret, I''m actually an android. So I am unable to give birth to a baby Gan," Yin He looked right at LuLu in the eye.

    <span>"Ah?" LuLu widen her eyes. It seems like she understood Yin He''s condition now. She thought that theirmunication was weird, but it seems like this was the problem.

    <span>She says she is an android?

    <span>"Brother Liu¡­ does he know?" LuLu asked.

    <span>"He knows,"

    <span>"He knows?" LuLu didn''t know how else to continue this conversation. Liu Gan knows that she is an android, but yet he still loves her? And he ims her as his girlfriend?

    <span>"Yes, he woke me up from my sleep mode. This was at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center," Yin He nodded.

    <span>LuLu stared at Yin He without a response, mainly because she didn''t know how to respond to that answer. An android? Isn''t that, like, no different from a desktopputer? LuLu thought she could finally have a girl talk with Liu Gan''s girlfriend, but it seems like Yin He was no different from aputer. It was as if LuLu was staring at the monitor of a portableputer, looking for a response.

    <span>"I also saw your diary and manga," Yin He voluntarily spoke up, since LuLu was silent.

    <span>"Ah¡­" LuLu had ''clueless'' written all over her face. She was absent-minded as to what she should say to Liu Gan''s portableputer.

    <span>"I heard you confess your feelings and the song you sang. I feel that your feelings toward him are genuine," Yin He continued to say.

    <span>"My feelings are really genuine¡­ Ah¡­ Except¡­" LuLu was getting embarrassed. Never in a million years would she have guessed that her love rival was an android.

    <span>"There''s something I want you to do for me¡­" Yin He looked at LuLu with a serious face.

    <span>"Oh? What is it?" LuLu looked at Yin He. What coulde out next is entirely unpredictable.

    <span>"Originally, I felt that Su Nina was suitable, but now that I have met you, I feel that you are more suitable for him. Su Nina is too much scheming," Yin He mumbled out loud.

    <span>"What?" LuLu didn''t understand the meaning behind Yin He''s sentence.

    <span>"Lately my thoughts are in disarray. It might be possible that I can''t stay with him forever. I hope you won''t give up on the person you love. If I am really unable to stay with him, I hope that you can take care of him on my behalf. You both are the same species, so you can help him give birth to a baby Gan," Yin He looked LuLu in the eyes as she said those words.

    <span>"You will leave him?" LuLu heard the news, but wasn''t sure if she should be happy about it.

    <span>"I don''t know. There are parts of my forgotten memory that areing back to me. I feel that something awful might happen," Yin He thought about it before telling her.

    <span>"What awful thing could it be?" LuLu quickly followed up.

    <span>"My memory is very disordered. I can''t exin it in detail. Even if I exined it to you, you wouldn''t understand it. I''m just afraid. Afraid that Brother Gan will be lonely. Even though he is very strong, he is very reliant on me. I''m afraid that I¡­" Yin He frowned.

    <span>"If he loves you that much, and he relies on you, then you don''t have to leave him! Even though I really want to be with him, I don''t want him to feel hurt. I would rather stay alone and watch you from afar as you enjoy your time with him!" LuLu held onto Yin He''s hands.

    <span>"If I am able to stay with him. I would be willing to give up my million-year lifespan. I would give it all up. There are times when it is not up to the wishes of the individual. Do you understand what I mean?" Yin He asked LuLu.

    <span>"I don''t understand¡­ Your hands are freezing¡­" LuLu shook her head.

    <span>"This is the first time I''ve spoken with someone other than Brother Gan for this long," Yin He looked at LuLu.

    <span>"Thank you for your trust in me" LuLu replied.

    <span>"The things I''ve said to you, please don''t tell Brother Gan. There are a lot of things, that I haven''t figured it out myself¡­ It is veryplicated." Yin He sighed.

    <span>"I never understood Brother Liu that well. I was just guessing that he suffered some psychological injury. It is probably some injury he sustained when he was younger. This would lead his personality to be antisocial and strange. He must have his reasons for loving you. Thinking back on it¡­ I think he is a lot different from the first time I''ve met him. He is more open and gentle now. It is all due to your presence that he changed. So if you can stay be his side, then please don''t leave!" LuLu sincerely told Yin He her opinion.

    <span>"I also hope that I can stay by his side forever." Yin He looked up over head. Her thoughts passed through the ceiling and she sensed the pitch-ck night sky, expanding into the deep abyss of the cosmos.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan slept for a bit before he woke up by himself. His tipsiness from the alcohol was nearly gone. Undoubtedly, his recovery speed was much faster than a normal person. Even alcohol poisoning was weak against him.

    <span>Liu Gan petted NaNa on the head before he got up from his room to walk around the apartment.

    <span>"Lord Liu, Second Elder sent a representative to sincerely invite you over to his mansion. You weren''t awake, so I haven''t replied back yet. The representative is still waiting for your reply in the living room. What do you want me to do?" Han GuangMing reported to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 383

    <span><strong>Chapter 383 - Settling Down</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Okay, I will go greet them" Liu Gan nodded. As of right now, he knew that Zhan Nan Shan must have an unspeakable secret. That was why he promised benefits as an exchange.

    <span>"Would it a Red Dinner?" Han GuangMing was worried.

    <span>"Even if it was a Red Dinner, what about it?" Liu Gan didn''t care.

    <span>"I will apany you!" Yin He walked over to Liu Gan.

    <span>"This¡­ Ah¡­ How about this. Let NaNa follow me, you will stay here to protect DongDong. I sense that the night is too quiet. There might be someone nning stuff behind our backs. I''m afraid of the slight chance that something bad might happen. If there are any suspicious intruders, you don''t have to be merciful. You can hit them until they are close to dying," Liu Gan instructed Yin He.

    <span>"Okay, don''t worry about it. I will guard DongDong, so nothing will happen to him," Yin He nodded.

    <span>Yin He instructed NaNa using message transfer. NaNa followed Liu Gan by his side. Prior to this, Zhan Nan Shan had sent a representative to wait in the living room. The representative respectfully greeted Liu Gan as they met. Then he handed over the invitation card over to Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan''s mansion wasn''t in the vige. It was an isted agricultural building on a small mountain. Behind the building was an observatory. Zhan Nan Shan didn''t like rowdy locations, he prefered living quietly.

    <span>The distance between the mansion and vige wasn''t too far away, approximately several hundred meters away. It was mostly mountainous uphill terrain that would be difficult for some people. For Liu Gan, the mountain roads were like walking on tnd. Soon he arrived at Zhan Nan Shan''s mansion.

    <span>Upon being notified of Liu Gan''s arrival, Zhan Nan Shan approached his front door to greet the guest. As a host would respectfully invite a honored guest, Zhan Nan Shan led Liu Gan to the living room. Liu Gan noticed that there weren''t any Elders there. Then Zhan Nan Shan dismissed all the workers so there was only them two left in the mansion.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan had prepped a pot of ceremonial Kung Fu tea as he sat down across from Liu Gan. Sipping on the tea, they were about to have the talk. NaNa was instructed to obey Liu Gan''smand and remain by his side to guarantee safety.

    <span>"Lord Liu, it is everyone''s fortune for your arrival!" Zhan Nan Shan respectfully stated.

    <span>"Second Elder, you and I both are understanding people. I don''t like to go around in circles. When you extended your invitation for me to stay here, it was so you could reap some benefits. At the same time, if there are no benefits, then I won''t help you for free. There''s no one else here, so let''s be frank with each other. What do you want me to help you with? And what benefits can you give me?" Liu Gan asked as he drank his first cup of tea.

    <span>"Lord Liu is such a straightforward person. Then I won''t waste your time, either. I love making friends like you. When I say help¡­ It is really simple. I just want Lord Liu to be the leader of this vige. Only with yers like Lord Liu with spirit and potential can control these people. A leaderless vige will be chaos. Of course, I won''t let you do it for free. I will give you benefits worthy of your time," Zhan Nan Shan chuckled as he replied.

    <span>"All this to manage this vige? Why don''t you step up and manage it yourself? Why must you find someone else for the job?" Liu Gan directly asked Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"There are many times that I''m not here in the vige. Aside from that, I''m veryzy. I don''t like nor do I have any interest in managing the vige. However, I do wish for the continuation of the vige. I don''t want to manage it myself, so I can only find someone else appropriate for the job"

    <span>"It is like¡­ I''ve adopted a dog, but I have don''t have any interest in continuing to support the dog. I don''t want to give it away to just anyone, so I must find someone that is suitable. I thought that Qiu Zi Tao was going to be a good candidate but, his actions yesterday disappointed me. Other people in the vige aren''t fit to do the job, so I can only bother Lord Liu!" Zhan Nan Shan decided to use the pet as an analogy when he saw NaNa.

    <span>"Oh? When you say it like that, then your objective is very noble. It wasn''t what I had imagined¡­" Liu Gan narrowed his eyes as he stared at Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"In the real world, I''m an entrepreneur. I''m in the real estate market. I''ve done a lot of things to amass my wealth. Bribery, forgery, cheating, and lying were just a few things I''ve done. Internally, I feel very guilty and conflicted. I wanted to atone for my sins. When I came to this world, I realized I had a chance of repenting. It was to create an organized society within the vige so atrocities wouldn''t happen. It would also let the yers have a ce call home so they could settle down. I hoped that by doing this I can lighten my inner guilt.

    <span>"I reached my goal of creating a society within the vige, it is a very simplistic goal. I just want this vige to continue existing. The task of holding down a vige requires a strong leader. Aside from Lord Liu, the others are not fit. If they were in a position of power, I don''t think I could rx. Throughout the years, I''ve umted a set of skills, I''m very good at dealing with people,I''ve been able to urately judge people''s character. When I first saw Lord Liu, I knew that there was no one with a better fit to be the leader," Zhan Nan Shan continued.

    <span>"So you mean that you will hand over this vige of four thousand people over to me without any strings attached?" Liu Gan raised his brow.

    <span>"Yes, if you are suspicious of something I can leave the vige and move far away. Now that the vige is in your capable hands, you can manage it however you see fit. You can do what you like with full control. I will not interfere," Zhan Nan Shan nodded.

    <span>"Okay, I will temporary believe your words. You did mention about benefits for me." Liu Gan added. There was a slight feeling that Zhan Nan Shan was still hiding something.

    <span>"This is a map. The indicator on it is the mountain behind this building. It shows the location of a secretboratory. I feel that you would be interested in things like this, right? This is the only one I can give to motivate you. As for the other misceneous items, I am not even interested in them, those so naturally Lord Liu wouldn''t be interested, either." Zhan Nan Shan pulled out a map andid it out for Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan received the roughly-drawn map from Mr. Sheng. The map had the approximate location of a possible Spatial Transfer Gate. The general location of the secretboratory was at the peak of the mountain. That was all the detail the map indicated.

 Chapter 384

    <span><strong>Chapter 384 - No Return</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Relying simply on Mr. Sheng''s rough drawn map, Liu Gan would''ve had to search aimlessly through the wilderness. Just likest time on Green Station Mountain, by relying solely on luck, they were fruitless on their search. Zhan Nan Shan gave him this map, it had the closest approximate location on it. Without a doubt, Zhan Nan Shan''s map was very detailed. It had routes along the mountain drawn out. If Liu Gan followed the map, he could easily pinpoint the exact location of theboratory by the end of the day.

    <span>As for Mr. Sheng''s map indicator of the Spatial Transfer Gate, it was only the location of the secretboratory.

    <span>"I believe this secretboratory, is something that greatly interests Second Elder too, right? Why didn''t you bother investigating it? Instead you handed it over to me?" Liu Gan wouldn''t easily ept anything given to him without asking first. There might be traps in the area.

    <span>"To be honest, I did venture in there. Qiu Zi went, too. Except, none of us were able to reach the actual secretboratory. Thisboratory has too many traps, it is very dangerous. Only those who are both intelligent and courageous can conquer it." Zhan Nan Shan drank another cup of tea.

    <span>"Traps? What traps did you encounter?" Liu Gan asked.

    <span>"Qiu Zi entered through the main entrance, but was caught in the first series of traps. Hispanions all died in there, only he was able toe out unscathed. He was unwilling to discuss what happened in there. He only stated that there was a trap in there, and it was hard to beat. Hearing that, I didn''t take the risk. So if Lord Liu wants to venture in, then be careful!" Zhan Nan Shan didn''t bother hiding the truth from Liu Gan. As to whether Liu Gan would be willing to take up this risk, it was for him to decide.

    <span>"Okay, I''m not quite satisfied with this benefit, but I will ept it. As for the vige, I will temporarily take over management. I will give you a few days to reconsider if you regret your decision. If you reconsider, you can take it back within these few days. I guarantee that I won''t mind if you do take it back." Liu Gan packed up the map securely on his body.

    <span>"Then, I will leave it in your care. I definitely won''t regret extending my invitation to you. With the vige in the hands of such a capable leader, I feel very relieved. Now I can do whatever I desire." Zhan Nan Shan felt relieved.

    <span>"You are preparing to leave?"

    <span>"Yes, I''ve stayed here longer than I nned to. I didn''t feel at ease with Qiu Zi in charge yet, so I decided to stay until he matured a little more, just to give him more time. But, now that Lord Liu is here, I think I can rx. There''s no purpose in me staying here any longer!" Zhan Nan Shan nodded.

    <span>"You don''t understand me at all. Words like ''rx'', I would beg to differ!" Liu Gan had a natural suspicion of Zhan Nan Shan''s words. At this time, he couldn''t figure out what the old fox was hiding behind his slick words.

    <span>"I''m very urate at judging people. I don''t think I''ve misjudged someone yet. I can tell that Lord Liu is courageous, caring, and just. Perfect traits for being a leader. Even two of those traits was enough," Zhan Nan Shan immediately responded.

    <span>Liu Gan smiled, but didn''t say anything more. He already knew how he felt about this situation. Receiving praise like this from strangers sounds pleasant, but it is superfluous and untrustworthy. It is a sugar-coated bomb. Zhan Nan Shan had no demands, and he handed over the vige and the map over to Liu Gan. This was a suspicious move that made Liu Gan feel like something was being nned behind his back.

    <span>Could it be that something disastrous will happen to this vige? Is that why Zhan Nan Shan wanted to leave first? So Liu Gan could take the me?

    <span>This type of guessing game was nonsensical.

    <span>However, what could the other reason be? Did Zhan Nan Shan really construct this vige to relieve his inner guilt? But he didn''t want to manage the ce, so he found someone more suitable for it?

    <span>His exnation was reasonable, but was it as noble as his ims? Liu Gan wasn''t sure. Ever since the ident that resulted in Liu Gan''s limbs being amputated, he couldn''t help thinking the worst of everyone. He wouldn''t fall for anyone''s foul y if he could help it.

    <span>"Second Elder! Lord¡­ Lord Liu! Ninth Elder has something urgent to report¡­" Zhan Nan Shan''s worker ran in to report.

    <span>"Can''t you see that I''m enjoying tea with Lord Liu?" Zhan Nan Shan angrily replied, since his tea time was interrupted.

    <span>"Ninth Elder says it is very urgent. It rtes to the safety of Lord Liu''s people!" Ninth Elder was following the worker.

    <span>"Second Elder, Lord Liu! Third Elder, Fourth Elder and Seventh Elder are conspiring to rebel! They want to abduct your woman and the child, then trick Lord Liu to go to Evil Dragon Gulf and use that as a pretext to move up the ranks! I was forced to conspire with them. I used this chance to report to Second Elder and Lord Liu!" Ninth Elder informed the two.

    <span>Ninth Elder and Seventh Elder were on friendly terms, so it was quite a surprise to see Ninth Elder snitching. When Ninth Elder was dragged over to conspire for rebellion, he had his own ns that didn''t align with the others. With a new, stronger leader, he felt that it was more appropriate to work with, rather than going against, the new leader. Relying on this opportunity to gain favor of the new leader, Ninth Elder ran up the mountain to snitch.

    <span>"Those scum! This is ridiculous! Let''s hurry back down the mountain to control the situation!" Zhan Nan Shan smashed his tea cup on the floor and stood up.

    <span>"Second Elder, no need to get anxious and rush. They want to catch my woman? Let them do as they please," Liu Gan halted Zhan Nan Shan, unconcerned.

    <span>Yesterday, when Zhan Nan Shan announced that Liu Gan would take over as the new leader, there were suspicions that some people wouldn''t ept the change in leadership without putting up a fight. As for any conspiracies, he wasn''t too worried. If these people didn''t want to live any longer, then it would be their mistake in underestimating their opponent. Yin He might look weak, but she definitely won''t get bullied. She wasn''t a weak opponent, and easy to misjudge!

    <span>"Lord Liu, I didn''t think that those scum would do such a thing! Are you sure that everything will be okay?" Zhan Nan Shan asked in embarrassment as he sat back down on his chair.

    <span>"If they die, then let them die. If you don''t want them to die, then you better call someone to stop them. It will be a one way trip for them," Liu Gan coldly replied.

    <span>"Then I think I have to go take a better look. Ah! These people make me heartbroken! After so many days, they still haven''t matured at all!" Zhan Nan Shan sighed, and then stood up.

 Chapter 385

    <h3 id="h.isxn9i6rrqoy"><strong><span>Chapter 385 - Army</strong>

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    The feeling of joy experienced by Zhan Nan Shan could not be described. He was so fortunate to have correctly judged Liu Gan when watching the fight on stage. He was able to sense that Liu Gan''s girlfriend and his dog were not mammals. There was one thing that Zhan Nan Shan was definitely sure of, and it was to not turn Liu Gan into his opponent. His assessment was verified when Liu Gan arrived with only his dog. Leaving his girlfriend behind to guard LuLu and the others, Liu Gan only needed his dog for protection.

    "I will go with you. I think we are close to done discussing things. I will also head back." Liu Gan stood up.

    Noticing how calm Liu Gan''s demeanor was, Zhan Nan Shan sighed. If he had to guess, by now Xie Dong Cheng, Qu Han, and Ge Rufeng were probably half as good as dead. No one would''ve thought that they would disobey his order from yesterday. To do such traitorous things, they deserved to die. Hopefully, this wouldn''t affect his secret agenda.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    As Liu Gan and Zhan Nan Shan departed, by the time they arrived at LuLu''s vi the battle was over. A group of yers were all on their knees by the vi doorway, while getting lectured by Han GuangMing. Third Elder Xie Dong Cheng, Fourth Elder Qu Han, and Seventh Elder Ge Rufeng wereid out on the floor with their blood still leaking out.

    Half an hour ago, Qu Han received a tip that Liu Gan was heading up to Zhan Nan Shan''s mansion for tea. This was the opportunity the three rebellious Elders were waiting for. Immediately, Qu Han notified Xie Dong Cheng and Ge Rufeng about the news. These Elders didn''te alone, they each brought a trusted aide along to attack LuLu''s mansion. Their mission was to kidnap Yin He, LuLu, and DongDong. Then they could trick Liu Gan into heading off to Evil Dragon Gulf.

    They thought that with theirbined power, they had more than enough hands to maintain the situation. Their n was to kill their way into the mansion and overpower LuLu and LingLing. What actually happened was when they entered the vi, it wasn''t LuLu or LingLing that attacked first. It was Lord Liu''s girl, the gentle pretty-looking one.

    They watched this gentledy transform into a horrifying Armored Warrior with the glistening silver armor. Both her fists hadsers firing out. Instantly, Xie Dong Cheng and Qu Han''s weak [Mist Armor] shattered. Without any defense, they were beaten up severely.

    All the trusted aides that came with their respective elders wanted to run, except they were blocked off by Han GuangMing, Jiang JinYuan, and LuLu. With the unbeatable armor equipped, no one could touch Yin He. Instantaneously unequipping the armor, the image of a gentle fragile girl came back into view. She ran quickly to take down the yers that escaped the fastest. Ultimately, everyone involved had their knees on the floor as a symbol of surrendering. Side by side, these yers were lined up in front of LuLu''s vi.

    It didn''t take long for Han GuangMing to begin admonishing the subordinates.

    "Second Elder¡­ Help us!" Xie Dong Cheng, Qu Han and Ge RuFeng chimed simultaneously. They hadn''t died yet, they cried for help when they saw Zhan Nan Shan walk closer.

    "You dared to be rebellious, but then ask for my help afterwards? No one can save you now!" Zhan Nan Shan angrily shook his head.

    As more bystanding yers join the crowd to watch, Zhan Nan Shan asked for Liu Gan''s permission to impose martialw. Unrted yers and local survivors are not allowed to leave their residences. To enforce martialw, guards were grouped into squads to patrol the perimeters. As for the appropriate punishment that had to be handed out to the participating yers, this was a task for the Elder Committee. Every Elder rushed out in the middle of the night to meet up and discuss the judgement. Naturally, the topic for the abrupt meeting was what to do with Third, Fourth, and Seventh Elders since they were the leaders of the rebellion.

    The congregating Elders were meeting at the proceedings hall, which was just a huge lecture hall on the highest floor of the school building. Due to the location of the lecture hall, it was hard for anyone to eavesdrop. The front doorway was normally kept locked, while the back doorway was the route that Elders use to enter and leave.

    This Assembly Proceedings Hall had nearly two hundred seats, so even with over a hundred Elders, there were more than enough seats to host all of them.

    This was Liu Gan''s first Elder Committee meeting in his role as the new leader. Liu Gan didn''t want to chime in his thoughts on the issue yet. His first task was to observe the way things operated in the Elder Committee, then he could add in the necessary adjustments.

    It was a lie when Liu Gan said he wasn''t interested in taking over the vige. With four thousand capable people, he could easily create an army. The first thing on his agenda would be dissolving the yer-survivor ve ownership rule. Then he could organize the army into formations and start training them.

    It was possible topletely get rid of all the zombies infesting NinJing City with this army. Then the northern and southern regions could be connected, turning this whole region into a base of operations. Lastly, the person left in charge of the day-to-day operations of the base had to be someone Liu Gan could trust. This way no matter where he went in the future, he could expect powerful backups and ample supplies.

    In this vige, society followed a series of set rules. No matter the issue, big or small, it must be brought to the Elder Committee''s attention first. This way the perpetrator and victim would both have a chance to dispute. This time LuLu, Han GuangMing, and Jiang JinYuan were the victims. The perpetrators were Xie Dong Cheng, Qu Han, and Ge RuFeng. They each had a chance to give a statement. As for the punishment, it was up to the rest of the jury of Elders in themittee to decide, after listening to both sides.

    After the long and tedious procedural hearing, both parties debated and nitpicked the opponent''s statement. Since LuLu poisoned Qiu Zi Tao, she was full of ws that could be used by the opponent if she made a statement. Jiang JinYuan stuttered quite a bit, so it was left for Han GuangMing to carry out the debate. Xie Dong Cheng would definitely hold onto the point that LuLu poisoned Qiu Zi Tao and say that he did what he had to do out of an impulse for revenge. The reason he wanted to capture LuLu was so he could carry out punishment, which aroused many of the juror''s sympathies.

    Clearly Xie Dong Cheng and the rest of the perpetrators were sessful with their ploy. They effectively turned their crime of treason into an impulsive rage case, which was backed by the majority of the jury of Elders.

    Han GuangMing didn''t know Xie Dong Cheng''s purpose, but having LuLu on their side was a weak point. In the debate, they were gradually losing support from the jurors and were at a disadvantage.

    "Ninth Elder,e out and tell what you''ve heard about Third Elder and his ns. It wasn''t to punish LuLu, but to kidnap the girl, Yin He, and the child, DongDong, then mislead Lord Liu to Evil Dragon Gulf, was that not the case?" Zhan Nan Shan called forth Ninth Elder once the debate was over.

    Ninth Elder''s name was QiuTao. He listened in on Third Elder''s schemes and then snitched on them to Zhao Nan Shan, prior to the incident. QiuTao wanted the chance to rely on the new leader by showing his allegiance. At this time, Zhao Nan Shan mentioning his name was like pointing out that he was the snitch. This was when the low whisper among the Elders started.

    The majority of the Elders were buying into the sob story of Xie Dong Cheng and his crew. With new evidence that Ninth Elder was betraying Xie Dong Cheng, the juries all red at QiuTao with despicable looks that practically shouted "traitor".

 Chapter 386

    <span><strong>Chapter 386 - Voting Rights</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"So the situation is like this¡­" QiuTao continued to side with the new leader since he had already offended Xie Dong Cheng. Now that it hade to this, QiuTao had to add details to his story about Xie Dong Cheng''s plot to hurt Liu Gan.

    <span>At this point, Xie Dong Cheng''s supporters started cursing at QiuTao. Phrases like "curse your family", "scum", "liar", "spineless critter", "they were doing it in the name of justice", and "punish LuLu" were shouted out.

    <span>Since the first phase of the kidnapping was unsessful, the second phase of the n was never carried out. Xie Dong Cheng and his men denied all allegations. It was now a case of he-said-she-said.

    <span>After both sides were finished giving their statements, the Elder Committee started debating the proper judgment. Since this situation was a severe matter, it took half an hour before results were out.

    <span>The jury of Elders decided that QiuTao had no evidence, so his ims wouln''t hold up in this court. As for the punishment of Xie Dong Cheng and the other two for their attempt to capture LuLu for the former leader, it was pardonable. Since their actions didn''t reach the point where they had grave consequences, Xie Dong Cheng and the other two were fined five thousand points each, and three full days ofmunity service. As for LuLu''s punishment for poisoning Qiu Zi, she would lose her position as the Fifth Elder, and be a free sex ve in the red light district for a month.

    <span>With the majority of the Elders supporting this judgment, ording to the vige rules, it would mean that the case had reached a verdict.

    <span><em>So this is the Elder Committee? </em><span>Liu Gan chuckled as he listened to the results of the judgment. <span><em>Seems like democracy has democracy''s benefits in mind. The so-called ruling ss of democracy, seems like this is the extent of it. They can willfully jail the men, and force the women to prostitute. As long as it fits their benefit, it is no wonder that this vige has the yer-survivor ownership system in ce.</em>

    <span>"ording to the vige''s rule, as a leader is there the power to veto?" Liu Gan asked Zhan Nan Shan. In any situation, it was always a correct move to have diplomacy before violence.

    <span>"ording to the vige rule, as a leader, you have about ten percent of the voting rights of the entiremittee. After the addition of the ten percent voting, if it counterbnces the decision of the Elder Committee, then the leader has to obey the Elder Committee''s decision," Zhan Nan Shan replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>From the Eldermittee''s decision, the majority sympathized with Xie Dong Cheng and he received the support of over seventy percent of the Elders. So even with Liu Gan''s ten percent of votes, it wouldn''t be enough to change the ultimate verdict.

    <span>"In that case, what is the point of having a leader?" Liu Gan asked Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"This¡­ for the day-to-day operations, big decisions have to be decided by the leader. Then, afterwards the Elder Committee will discuss the judgements so they can be rectified for future incidents," Zhan Nan Shan responded.

    <span>"So this vige, you are sure you want to hand it over to me?" Liu Gan asked Zhan Nan Shan one more time.

    <span>"I''ve said that it is yours to keep. I am a man of my words. Why would I retract my statement after I''ve promised you?" Zhan Nan Shan nodded.

    <span>"Okay, as your new leader I will make a new rule announcement. In the vige, if the leader didn''t inquire about it, then the Elder Committee will decide. Otherwise, the leader''s suggestion will be the standard. Elder Committee can''t have any objections!" Liu Gan announced as he walked to the center of the stage. Liu Gan did so while facing hundreds of Elders.

    <span>The audience of Elders started countering ferociously. Amongst them, one Elder felt that his moral indignation had been vited, he stood up to shout ''I OBJECT! Even though you are the leader, you can''t take away the voting rights of the Elders! Otherwise this isn''t a democratic society, it is a dictatorship! This precedent must not be set!"

    <span>"There is no way we can let this precedent set! The moment this is allowed, there will be disorder!"

    <span>"Yeah! Yeah! If the Elder Committee doesn''t have the vetoing rights, how will we keep the leader''s actions in check?"

    <span>"This is something that can''t happen!"

    <span>All other Elders started making simr shouts and the Proceedings Hall was very noisy. Voices shouting over each other made it hard to distinguish what some people said.

    <span>"You there. Come up, I didn''t hear what you said before," Liu Gan pointed at the first person who stood up in objection.

    <span>That person hesitated for a moment, while he was surrounded by other Elders cheering him to go forth. Slowly, the person walked toward the stage.

    <span>"You said I was a dictator?" Liu Gan walked closer to the oing Elder.

    <span>"Yes. This vige was able to thrive because the Elder Committee had strict rules for people to follow. The moment it is destroyed, the aftermath will be unimaginable. The United States is so advanced, but why is it flourishing? It is because of the effect of having a long-term democracy, with legitive, executive, and judicial branches keeping the checks and bnces," the Elder rebutted. This Elder studied political science, so he was confident in his answer as he shouted back at Liu Gan. He was helped by all the other Elders in the audience cheering him on.

    <span>This type of change in power affected the benefits of every Elder present. They would not back down on this. The moment they backed down now without putting up a fight, it would be hard for them to regain control of the vige.

    <span>"Okay, seems like I have to demonstrate what a real dictatorship would do!" Liu Gan finished his sentence as arge axe appeared in his hand. With a smooth downward sh, the opposing Elder didn''t have a chance to retaliate. His head was cut clean off and sent flying to the far corner. While blood was still gushing from his neck, his body flopped over onto the floor.

    <span>Originally, the audience of Elders were all being rowdy with chatter, but now there were only screams.

    <span>"Now, is there anyone else that objects to my new rule?" Liu Gan pointed his axe at the audience.

    <span>There was absolute silence in the the entire Proceedings Hall.

    <span>"He wants to kill us all! Quick run!" Xie Dong Cheng cried out loud as he tried to escape from the hall. Originally he was tied down by the rope, but someone must have snuck him a razor de so he could cut the rope loose.

    <span>Even now, he was very weak. His poor health condition made him a slow runner. There were two escape routes. One of the escape route was guarded by Jiang JinYuan and Zhan Nan Shan. The other escape route was the one Xie Dong Cheng wanted to take.

    <span>Liu Gan was fast like lightning, rtive to these slow Elders, as he chopped down on Xie Dong Cheng like a log. Xie Dong Cheng lost his [Mist Armor] earlier, so when this axe struck his left shoulder, it was enough to split his body in half. Intestines and organs tumbled free from his body as it spilled onto the floor.

    <span>It was unnecessary for Liu Gan to rush over to kill Xie Dong Cheng. Since Yin He and NaNa were guarding the back door. Prior to the proceedings, Liu Gan ced this trap so no one could leave without his permission.

    <span>"All of you sit still! Don''t you dare jeer and incite trouble. Leave your seat, and you can meet them in the afterlife!" Liu Gan shouted loudly enough to echo throughout the Proceedings Hall.

 Chapter 387

    <span><strong>Chapter 387 - Fearsome</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>These Elders were listening obediently to every word the new leader had to say. There were some that had a pleading look at Zhan Nan Shan. However, Zhan Nan Shan stood in ce without any intentions of stepping in.

    <span>After Liu Gan killed two people, he walked back on stage. Standing right next to Qu Han and Ge Rufeng.

    <span>"Lord Liu, spare me!" Fourth Elder Qu Han and Seventh Elder Ge Rufeng started pleading. Even though these two were untied, they were paralyzed with fear. They were on their knees pleading for mercy at Liu Gan. They didn''t have any intentions of running away.

    <span>"Mercy? Pardon your offenses so you can try to scheme and hurt me again?" Liu Gan raised his axe, and promptly lopped off both Qu Han and Ge Rufeng''s heads.

    <span>"I know that when a new regime is in power, there will be some people who won''t sit well with that knowledge. There will always be some who refuse to obey, and try to pull small stunts. Let these people''s blood be a warning for those who want to follow in their footsteps. The things you ought to do, and the things you should never do! Think about it. I think that with the sacrifices of these ''pioneers'', you understand the way of your new leader''s style, right?" Liu Gan shouted.

    <span>The Proceedings Hall was still silent. No one wanted to make a sound.

    <span>"Hey, are you all deaf? Mute? Don''t you hear me asking you a questions? Do you understand?" Liu Gan shouted louder. This time he walked off the stage. The feeling was that it was like a high school teacher lecturing the new students in the ss, except this teacher had a brutal personality.

    <span>"Understood!" the nearest Elders instantly replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Elder Committee willply with all Lord Liu''s demands!" shouted a few of the Elders who could think quickly on their feet, as they pledged their new allegiance.

    <span>"Good! From now on, under normal circumstances I won''t interfere with how the vige operates and the Elder Committee''s decisions. However, when I do give my opinion, then the Elder Committee must obey! This is the one new rule you must remember. That will mark the end of the discussion. Go back to your residences. Remember, if you congregate to stir up trouble, I will kill everyone I catch. I won''t be lenient!" Liu Gan shouted at the Elders, and then dismissed them.

    <span>As if these Elders had received amnesty, they all rushed out through the back door. They passed by Yin He and returned to their homes. In the Proceedings Hall, only Zhan Nan Shan, LuLu, Han GuangMing, and a few others remained.

    <span>"I knew I wasn''t wrong in choosing Lord Liu. You are a strong leader. In this apocalyptic world, only Lord Liu''s style will have a prosperous vige," Zhan Nan Shan continued with the sweet talking.

    <span>"Chaotic times requires heavy-handed tactics. With a new leader in charge, if I don''t kill the rebels today, then there might be more than just three fatalities in the future," Liu Gan calmly replied.

    <span>The two continued to chat in the hall before leaving. Qiu Zi Tao''s residence had been cleared out. The bedsheets and furniture were all swapped out for something new. This was now Liu Gan''s temporary mansion.

    <span>Liu Gan realized that his mansion was located right next to LuLu. Naturally, LuLu was very excited. LuLu asionally bumped into Liu Gan as she was talking to Yin He. Liu Gan wasn''t bothered by the arm-to-arm brushing, but LuLu was satisfied.

    <span>"Arrange for someone to call over the Ninth Elder. I need to speak with him," Liu Gan motioned his hand to Han GuangMing.

    <span>Han GuangMing in turn instructed a yer to bring forth QiuTao.

    <span>Ninth Elder QiuTao received the message and instantly rushed his ass over to Liu Gan''s mansion to report in. After today''s tense situation, he didn''t know Liu Gan''s temper yet. Arriving in the living room of the mansion, QiuTao bowed ny degrees while standing at attention. He felt miserable since he was unsure of his situation. Was he getting recognition since he snitched on the Third Elder?

    <span>"Sit," Liu Gan pointed at the sofa across from him.

    <span>"Thank you, Lord Liu," QiuTao carefully walked over in front of Liu Gan. QiuTao sat down with his chest up and back straight, both hands on his knees.

    <span>"No need to be so nervous. You did the correct thing today. When we return, I will find someone to send you a reward. Aside from that, I want to ask you about that Evil Dragon Gulf, tell me everything you know about it. I will add additional rewards for the information," Liu Gan said to QiuTao.

    <span>Snitchers were looked down upon by others, but it would be advantageous to have one on his side. To maintain a regime, a clear-headed leader must use wisdom and power to rule. Having a few of these yers who would have no problem snitching was necessary, as long as the leader put on a poker face when receiving news from the informant.

    <span>"Thank you, Lord Liu. Evil Dragon Gulf''s original name was Moonlight Gulf. Prior to the catastrophe, it was a seaside state park. The deepest part of the sea reached ten kilometers. It is surrounded by mountains and bordered by the sea. It could easily amodate up to ten thousand tourists¡­" QiuTao continued to exin to Liu Gan. As QiuTao was exining the details out to Liu Gan, he also handed over a detailed map. Everything he could think of was told to Liu Gan.

    <span>Back when Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi led his men to Evil Dragon Gulf, both times led toplete annihtion of their men. Both times, only two were able to return. It was said that there was a horrifying monster there that was shaped like a dragon. From then on, they changed the location name from Moonlight Gulf to Evil Dragon Gulf. That way, when yers heard the name, no one would dare get close to it.

    <span>QiuTao heard a rumor in private, that a courageous yer had disobeyed Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan''s rule and ventured to Evil Dragon Gulf. From afar, he could see the giant monster. He returned with his pants soaked from urinating himself. He was able to confirm that it wasn''t a dragon, but the shape was like a dragon. From several kilometers away, he could see it move like mountains were shifting position.

    <span>This was just a rumor, it was hard to know if that yer did sneak away to explore on his own.

    <span>Liu Gan guessed that since Qiu Zi and Zhan Nan Shan were heavily injured, the monster couldn''t be just an Advanced monster. Its rank must be a level above Advanced, possibly a General rank monster.

    <span>Based on Liu Gan''s current fighting capability, he could easily kill an Advanced beast. With Yin He and NaNa, along with his new,rge, and very sharp axe, he could struggle topete against this General rank monster, right? The current information on this monster was too little. Once the current task at hand wasplete, he could check out what monster was lurking at Evil Dragon Gulf.

 Chapter 388

    <span><strong>Chapter 388 - Complete Nonsense</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>As of now, Liu Gan had several tasks at hand that he could aplish. The very next day he would have to arrange for the instation of themunication device to be finished. After that he would have to find a way to reach the airship <span><em>Brave</em><span>. Then, Liu Gan would board the airship when it picked up DongDong.

    <span>The next task was that Zhan Nan Shan had given Liu Gan a map. On the map was an indicator of the secretboratory''s location. If it was indeed the location of theboratory, then there was a high chance of obtaining treasures.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan had handed over the map with clear warnings about the dangers of theboratory. The dangers within theboratory warded off Zhan Nan Shan from ever trying. Without any intention of ever entering theboratory, Zhan Nan Shan handed over the map to Liu Gan.

    <span>There was also¡­ the possibility that this was part of Zhan Nan Shan''s plot. Second Elder''s performance was quite strange today. The ims of leaving behind a vige without any strings attached were just too suspicious. Liu Gan didn''t quite believe that people didn''t have any selfish motives. Zhan Nan Shan could be waiting, but what it could be was still hard to tell. The first step was to monitor his actions to see if he was true to his words.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>The very next day, Liu Gan started establishing his army. This world was very different from the real world. There was no such thing as weak elderly and defenseless women. If they could walk and swing, then they could fight, kill zombies, and level up. As long as they didn''t have any untreatable disability, then they can enroll into the army.

    <span>The workload was immense, Liu Gan merely suggested the idea and outline of the n. As for executing this n, Han GuangMing and QiuTao would be left in charge of leading the Elder Committee to implement regtions.

    <span>Liu Gan took the opportunity to announce a very important new rule. From that point forth, all local survivors were emancipated. All the local survivors and yers would have the same rights and benefits. yers would not have any ownership of survivors. The capable survivors would have to register their information onto the roster. All this would be managed by Fifth Elder LuLu.

    <span>The Beginner Vige would not tolerate any ve ownership. Raping a female local survivor was equivalent to raping a female yer. The punishment would be equally severe.

    <span>This new rule stirred up a lot of yer''s fundamental benefits. Amongst the Elder Committee, nearly eighty of those Elders were collectively protesting and rebelling. Liu Gan killed the ten leading organizers for spearheading the rebellion. The bodies of these ten organizers were hung on a tree in the za center for everyone to see. From then on, no one wanted to stir up any trouble.

    <span>On the other hand, instead of rebelling, several Elders and several regr yers tried to escape the vige with their private property. They were preparing to escape and establish a new base to continue their ve owner lifestyle. Fortunately, they didn''t get a chance to escape too far away when NaNa caught up and killed the leader of the group. These escapees were escorted back to the vige.

    <span>On the other hand, there were many that voluntarily pledged their allegiance to Liu Gan. This way they could be put into an important position, like QiuTao. Some of the more quick-thinking local survivors signed up for the new patrol squads. These new few days were very tense, so frequent patrols were necessary to suppress any conflicts.

    <span>Regime takeovers were bloody urrences, especially when it involved a change in the social structure. Without shedding some blood, it was impossible to realize. Liu Gan was never a fan of democracy, since he felt the democratic leadership was inefficient. When there was an imbnce in power, then the democratic leader title wasplete nonsense.

    <span>His method of ruling this society was simr to a dictatorship. Liu Gan was determined to create an organizedmunity of over four thousand strong-willed soldiers. To ensure strict obedience, no one could challenge or disobey him, unless they had enough power to overturn his regime.<span>1

    <span>All it took was one new rule, and the emancipated local survivors changed from farming and prostituting to many more choices. Naturally, they were very supportive of their new leader. With the majority of the people being survivors, there was even more support for the leader. The minority group were the yers, as they barely numbered over a thousand. Even if the yers wanted to disrupt society, it would be hard for them to go against the majority group. Although restructuring society was going slowly, it was being firmly implemented.

    <span>Northern NinJing City wasrger than Southern NinJing City. After a month-long campaign of recruiting and tribal wars, Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi were able to gather all the yers into this Vige. There were probably some remnant forces hiding in the jungle or mountains, who weren''t satisfied with the way things were working in Beginner Vige. As of this moment, these remnant forces weren''t a threat to the vige.

    <span>In the early stages, Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao were easygoing with their followers. They gave the yers privileges like ve ownership, and provided a safe haven. That unified the yers together. Now that Liu Gan had arrived, it was a definite change of dynasties. They changed from a ve society to a feudalistic society. The original Elder Committee that followed the ineffective democracy also changed to something more efficient, like a monarchy.<span>2

    <span>After two days of readjusting and reorganizing, the transition period for the Beginner Vige was nearly over. By the afternoon of the third day, Yin He led Jiang JinYuan and a few others back from looting the parts at the Biochemical Intelligence Research Center. Installing the parts to themunications device didn''t take long, and it was once again usable.

    <span>For these two days, Zhan Nan Shan wasn''t in the vige. He didn''tmunicate with his close aides about what he was doing, so no one knew if he had left the Vige forever, or was out attending to his business. It was the first night when someone tipped off Liu Gan with that information, but Liu Gan didn''t find it too surprising. Liu Gan felt that Second Elder''s true intentions were still hidden.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"In the city, we encountered ck-Spot Variant Zombies, and there were quite a lot of them. It was lucky of us that Vice-leader He was with us. She wounded all of them and I was able to get thest kill. I''m level 7 now," Jiang JinYuan reported back to Liu Gan.

    <span>"ck-Spot Variants?" Liu Gan nced at Yin He.

    <span>"Yes, it is the same type that we encountered at Green Station Mountainboratory. I don''t know why we are finding them here," Yin He confirmed.

    <span>"Seems like something bad has happened..." Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>Han GuangMing was in themunications room, he was able to contact the prisonpound. Zheng ShengLi urgently reported the updates back to Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhang ShengLi represented Wang DeCheng and the entire prisonpound as he spoke on the line with Lord Liu. They had a startling news. A few days prior, the prisonpound was besieged by another corpse tide. This time among the normal zombies were mixed an absurd amount of ck-Spot Variant Zombies. There were several hundred of these ck-Spot Variants!

    <span>The prisonpound had high walls that was capable of defending the first wave of attacks. The floor on the outskirts of thepound was soaked in gasoline and lit on fire as the corpse tide encroached. Various rock boulders were thrown at the corpse tide to eliminate as many as possible. The battle against the ck-Spot corpse tide hadsted one day and night, from two days ago until yesterday night.

 Chapter 389

    <span><strong>Chapter 389 - Steamed Meat Bun</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Due to the ck-Spot corpse tide, Zhang ShengLi had reached level 7. Wang DeCheng, Xue Jian, Treadmill had all reached level 6. Even the normal yers within the prisonpound were all level 5. Overall, the averagebat strength of the prisonpound had increased significantly.

    <span>"Elder Liu, seems like some big event must have happened. Would it be a second catastrophe? How is the situation in the northern region?" Zhang ShengLi asked Liu Gan over the radio.

    <span>"The northern region also had ck-Spot Variant Zombies. Seems like something must have triggered that happening," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"I will send someone to investigate, and see if I can find any clues."

    <span>"Okay, you have to be careful. Don''t take risks, be aware of the safety of the prisonpound."

    <span>"I will. Oh right, Elder Liu how is the situation in the Northern region? There should be a lot of powerful influences there, right? With Elder Liu''s brilliance, I don''t think it will take more than half a month before you can take it all as your own!" Zhang ShengLi changed the topic.

    <span>"I already have it under control."

    <span>"Huh?" Zhang ShengLi was shocked.

    <span>"This side was already unified when I arrived, their leader was dead, so¡­" Liu Gan didn''t get too specific that LuLu had poisoned Qiu Zi, as it wasn''t a glorious thing to speak about.

    <span>"Elder Liu, you are really funny, hahaha¡­!" Zhang ShengLi didn''t believe that the new leader could just die so suddenly. He must have been killed by Elder Liu!

    <span>"Elder Liu, does that base have a lot of yers? Are there a lot of females?" Treadmill rushed over to ask Liu Gan on the microphone.

    <span>"Yes! There are a lot! Over a thousand yers. There are also over two thousand survivors, so they tally up to four thousand people. Do you want to court them? Then you need to think of a way to run over here," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Not to court¡­ Elder Liu do you remember the bearded man called Lin Feng? He came back a few days ago," Treadmill continued to exin.

    <span>"Oh?" Liu Gan suddenly remembered there was a person that he had met once by the seaside base who was searching for his daughter.

    <span>"He hasn''t found his daughter yet. However, this old man is quite strong. He was able to reach level 6 by himself! With this many yers at your side, if Elder Liu is free can you inquire about the whereabouts of his daughter? He is really pitiful!" Treadmill asked Liu Gan. Treadmill had been entrusted with this duty by Lin Feng.

    <span>"What is his daughter''s name? How old?" Liu Gan asked Treadmill. He had nearly forgotten about this matter.

    <span>"His daughter''s name is Lin ShiYa, she is 20 years old. I gave you the old man''s picture before. If you can''t find it, squad leader Han should have one on him," Treadmill replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Han GuangMing,e over here¡­" Liu Gan didn''t have time to handle trivial duties like this. It was best if Han GuangMing oversaw this search for Treadmill.

    <span>Han GuangMing promised Treadmill that he would post up a announcement in the vige, and lead an investigation. However, since it was already night, it was toote to do anything. He could do it first thing in the morning.

    <span>Once updates were finished with the prisonpound, Jiang JinYuan changed the channel frequency to the public channel used by <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship earlier. Hopefully, they could get in contact.

    <span>"<span><em>Brave</em><span> airship! <span><em>Brave </em><span>airship! I found one of your people of interest! Please respond!" Jiang JinYuan hailed across the channel.

    <span>However the airship <span><em>Brave </em><span>didn''t respond.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan, themunications tech, changed to several different broadcast frequencies to hail <span>the<span> airship again. Once again, there was no response.

    <span>Liu Gan felt disheartened. Could it be possible that something happened to the airship already? Did someone beat him to his n? Did they take over the <span><em>Brave, </em><span>or did they destroy it? He couldn''t have this much bad luck, right? He needed that airship¡­ and the crew onboard. Otherwise, even with a huge airship, with no one to pilot it, he wouldn''t be able to go anywhere.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan''s dinner meal was eaten at LuLu''s residence, since the two were neighbors it was very convenient. The main factor was that Cheng Qi''s cooking skills were top notch. Yesterday night, Cheng Qi went to the warehouse to obtain yeast powder to ferment overnight. By dinner time it was ready to be used. Cheng Qi created a basket of steamed meat buns and another specialty dish.

    <span>This College of Agriculture had many acres of experimental fields and the school had stored many types of seeds. These plots of experimental fields received up to two hours of sunlight, and coupled with greenhouse technology, the vegetables grew rapidly. When they were ripe for harvesting, the vegetables were first served to Liu Gan.

    <span>Yin He didn''t sit down to eat, so other people didn''t feel right sitting together. As a result, only Liu Gan and LuLu ate together.

    <span>"What are youughing about?" Liu Gan realized that LuLu wasn''t eating, but she was giggling.

    <span>"Just watching Brother Liu eat," LuLu replied.

    <span>"What is there good to look at? Just eat your own food! If I''m just eating alone, then I might as well eat somewhere else!" Liu Gan said to LuLu.

    <span>"Okay, I''ll eat too!" LuLu quickly put some food in her mouth.

    <span>Cheng Qi''s chef skills were on point. In the steamed meat bun, there was broth that filled up the mouth with every bite. The soft crust of the bun with the umami vor overflowing from the meat made the eater want to take another bite. In just one minute, Liu Gan ate five steamed meat buns. He was satisfied to be able to experience this sensation once again. To be able to eat this delicious bun once again hadn''t been easy at all.

    <span>"Brother Liu, do you know what my real name is?" LuLu spoke up after a period of silence.

    <span>"LuLu?" Liu Gan was curious as to why LuLu asked.

    <span>"That is my stage name, okay? Everyone else wants to know what my real name is, but I''ve never told anyone. If you want to know what it is, I can tell you," LuLu was looking forward to Liu Gan''s answer.

    <span>"Tell me," Liu Gan''s tone wasn''t very interested.

    <span>"My surname is Lin, full name is Lin ShiYa. I sit in front of theputer webcam to broadcast my channel. I use heavy makeup to cover up myself so people can''t recognize me. That''s why I also switched my name to the stage name LuLu," LuLu¡­ no, Lin ShiYa continued to exin to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan wasn''t interested in her at all, so he had never asked about her real name this whole time. Meanwhile, all the other guys wanted to get closer to her so they really wanted to know what her real name was. She never had any intentions of telling anyone else. This was the first time she had voluntarily told someone.

    <span>"Lin¡­ ShiYa? Your name is Lin ShiYa?" Liu Gan raised his brow. He seems like he had heard this name before.

    <span>"What is it?" Lin ShiYa looked at Liu Gan with a strange expression.

    <span>"I''ve heard this name before¡­ I''m definitely sure I''ve heard that name¡­ When was it¡­" Liu Gan tried to recall where. Where did he hear that name? He was definitely sure he had heard it. It was not in the real world, it was something more recent in The Trembling World.

    <span>His conversation with Treadmill, he wasn''t focused on the details. So whatever Treadmill had said, he wasn''t paying attention, and this was the result.

 Chapter 390

    <span><strong>Chapter 390 - Fatherly Love</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Heard of it? Wait, have I told you my name before? That can''t be possible. Maybe Pan Hua told you it? No¡­ I never even told it to Pan Hua, even if he was a superfan¡­" Lin ShiYa looked at Liu Gan with a strange expression.

    <span>"I think I remember¡­ You can''t be¡­ No¡­" Liu Gan smacked his own forehead. He finally remembered part of Treadmill''s conversation. In themunications room, he spoke with Treadmill, and a picture had been mentioned. Liu Gan reached into his pocket to search for it. Then, Liu Gan looked for it in the dimensional storage space of his ring.

    <span>Unfortunately, he couldn''t find the picture Treadmill had handed to him. From a distance, he noticed Han GuangMing. Liu Gan waved Han GuangMing over, and Han GuangMing pulled out a crumpled photo from his pocket. It was the very same one that Treadmill had handed over to him.

    <span>The picture had been soaked in sea water, so it was quite blurry.

    <span>"Brother Liu, what are you searching for?" Lin ShiYa asked Liu Gan with a strange expression. After hearing her name, why would he have this response?

    <span>"You know this man?" Liu Gan handed over the crumpled photo over to Lin ShiYa. The bearded old man Lin Feng had handed this photo over to Treadmill.

    <span>"Him¡­" Lin ShiYa started acting strangely.

    <span>"He is called Lin Feng, he has a huge beard" Han GuangMing chimed in. It couldn''t be this big of a coincidence right? Lin Feng''s daughter was LuLu?

    <span>"It is him! You¡­ How do you have his photo?" Lin ShiYa stared at the photo with her eyes wide. Her expression became more and more shocked, her eyes like saucers.

    <span>"He really is your dad?" Liu Gan finally understood.

    <span>"Why would you have his photo?" Lin ShiYa asked Liu Gan again.

    <span>"Fifth Elder, you can''t be the daughter that he wants to find right? The Lin ShiYa?" Han GuangMing was getting excited at the turn of events. Han GuangMing had heard the name Lin ShiYa multiple times, so he was very sure.

    <span>"She is Lin ShiYa, she just told me" Liu Gan responded to Han GuangMing. This time Liu Gan could remember the name clearly.

    <span>"Brother Liu! You still haven''t told me why you have this picture!" LuLu was bing more emotional as she held onto Liu Gan''s arm.

    <span>"Your father¡­ He is in this world. He came in to this world to search for you. The day he entered, I was nearby. That day there was a thunderstorm, and tsunami. He nearly died from hypothermia. The very next day, I I took him to the base in the southern region. Before he left, a copy of the photo was passed out to everyone. He can''t be your dad, right? This is too much of a coincidence," Liu Gan was surprised at the sudden turn of events.

    <span>"He is my father¡­" Lin ShiYa nced at the crumpled and fuzzy photo. Looking at the photo, her eyes were tearing up.

    <span>"He had your photo, but I didn''t see it when I was with him since the situation didn''t allow for it. Otherwise, I would''ve recognized you immediately. I didn''t think that it would be you. If I knew that it was you, I would''ve brought him along with me to search for you." Liu Gan was surprised that a father and daughter could reunite in this world.

    <span>"He is really foolish! Why? Why would hee in here?" Lin ShiYa was losing control of her emotions. She leaned forward onto the table and drops of tears can be heard hitting the surface.

    <span><em>Drip, drip...</em>

    <span>She had been looking for a way out of this world and back into the real world. Her motivation? To meet her father for one more time, so she could ask him for forgiveness. She wanted to be forgiven for being unfilial. She thought he was disappointed in her and possibly despised her. She wasn''t even sure if he would forgive her. Thest thing she would''ve thought was that he had left the real world to venture into this dangerous realm to search for her.

    <span>Unconditional fatherly love; she finally understood what it meant to be loved as a daughter. A father''s love was very deep and forgiving. He had never med her at all. He never even despised her. He was just unwilling to express this emotional side to her.

    <span>"Fifth Elder, we better hurry to themunications room. I think he left the southern base yesterday. We should see if we can find him. If he is there, then you can talk with him so he can stop roaming aimlessly around looking for you," Han GuangMing reminded Lin ShiYa.

    <span>Frantically, Lin ShiYa got up and rushed out with Han GuangMing. With Jiang JinYuan''s help, they were able to broadcast the news to the prisonpound. However, Treadmill was telling Lin ShiYa regretful news.

    <span>Yesterday, when Lin Feng arrived back to the prisonpound, he hadn''t heard any updates of her daughter, so he left this morning. Treadmill asked where he would search for her next, he said that he searched through most of the southern district so he wanted to enter the city. His next step was to continue toward the northern region to continue searching.

    <span>Lin Feng added that he wouldn''te back in the short term to the prisonpound. Even if he was able toe back, it would be at least one or two monthster.

    <span>"That night, we were at the seaside base when we met your father. There were some tremors in the sea that caused multiple tsunami. The entire seaside city was wiped out. At the crucial moment, Elder Liu lead us to climb to the roof of the lighthouse. Everyone was freezing cold. Right when the water receded, Elder Liu brought us one by one into the lighthouse. That saved our life, your father''s life included¡­" Treadmill exined in detail.

    <span>"It was Brother Liu who saved him?" Lin ShiYa asked Treadmill in a daze.

    <span>"Yes!"

    <span>"When I was transferred in, I also encountered Brother Liu. He also saved me too¡­" Lin ShiYa didn''t know what else to say.

    <span>"Ah? How could it be so coincidental? You met with Elder Liu that long ago?"

    <span>"Yeah¡­ It was that time¡­" Lin ShiYa exined her situation to Treadmill. Then she exined how Liu Gan personally taught her how to kill zombies, so she could have a fighting chance to survive in this world. However, she left out the part where Liu Gan abandoned her.

    <span>"Ah¡­ You said you used your stage name? If you had used your real name, then when Elder Liu saved your father, he could''ve told him knew you. Your father wouldn''t have had to search so hard looking for you¡­" Treadmill replied regretfully.

    <span>"I am to be med¡­" Lin ShiYa was crying in themunications room. Now she had thoughts about searching through the entire southern district in search of her father.

    <span>"ShiYa, you best stay right there and don''t go anywhere. If you leave now, then when your fatheres back here, he wouldn''t know where to go. Can you tell how worried he would be?" Treadmill tried to convince Lin ShiYa not to go.

 Chapter 391

    <span><strong>Chapter 391 - Letter</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Yes, LuLu, if you stay here then your dad will find this ce sooner orter. Or wait until he reaches the prisonpound, he will find an update of your safety" Jiang JinYuan urged Lin ShiYa.

    <span>"Lord Liu has a n of creating an army, of equipping up four thousand people here, and then heading into the city to clear the ind of zombies and monsters. As long as NinJing City is safe, then you and your father can meet one day. No need to rush," Han GuangMing and Jiang JinYuan hurried to convince Lin ShiYa.

    <span>The surrounding people continued to mediate, but Lin ShiYa''s mood was depressed. She didn''t respond to anyone''s words. After returning to her mansion, she locked herself in her room.

    <span>"From what ChengYi said, it seems that LuLu was very hurt. Maybe you should go try to convince her? You can make her happy again," Yin He looked at Liu Gan.

    <span>"In this type of matter, it is useless for me to try to convince her of anything. Even if I convince her, can I create a meeting between father and daughter? If a person is strong enough, they can only rely on themselves. They can''t rely on someone else''s persuasion," Liu Gan shook his head. He wasn''t interested in doing something like that.

    <span>"She loves you very much, so if you say one word it would make a bigger difference than if ten of us said the same thing," Yin He added.

    <span>"I only treat her like I do friends, if I could help in any way, then I would. But, this is something very personal. It is not something that I can control. I don''t have that kind of intimacy with her, so it is impossible for us to reach that degree of talk." Liu Gan held onto Yin He''s hand.

    <span>Yin He opened her mouth to continue talking, but ultimately nothing came out.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Liu Gan nned to tackle four issues. Army, the airship <span><em>Brave</em><span>, the secretboratory, and Evil Dragon Gulf. Of the four, since the <span><em>Brave</em><span> airship was at the top of the list, then the army was a convenience factor. Now themunications device was fixed, but the <span><em>Brave </em><span>couldn''t <span>be reached, so he could address the other two issues.

    <span>The secretboratory was closest, as it was located behind the College of Agriculture. Liu Gan decided to clear theboratory before he considers Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>Going to the secretboratory would require several willing volunteers. But there was a rumor that theboratory contained a Spatial Transfer Gate as an ess point back to the real world. There were many enthusiastic volunteers, and Liu Gan hand-picked 15 volunteers to go with him.

    <span>Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, and Jiang JinYuan wanted to go, but Liu Gan didn''t take Han GuangMing. Han GuangMing had the duty of remaining in the vige to help Lin ShiYa. Zhao Meng specialized in opening locks, Jiang JinYuan specialized in electronics. Both of these two yers were indispensable to the n.

    <span>With Zhan Nan Shan''s detailed map, the location of theboratory was very easy to find. Liu Gan took NaNa along, with Yin He remaining in the vige. With this trip with NaNa along, even if something happened in theboratory or he doesn''te back after a certain amount of time, Yin He could rush over to provide back up.

    <span>On top of that, Yin He could remain in the vige to help Han GuangMing and Lin ShiYa suppress any rebels. Even now, the will of the people wasn''t very stable.

    <span>The problem was when Liu Gan was prepared to depart, he still hadn''t seen Lin ShiYa. Cheng Qi urgently rushed out from the vi and handed over a letter to Liu Gan. She said that ever since Lin ShiYa came home, she had shut herself in. She didn''t eat breakfast this morning and it was already 9 AM. Cheng Qi was worried something might have happened to her, so she tried knocking, and found the door unlocked.

    <span>The room was empty and Lin ShiYa was nowhere to be found. The sheets on the bed were neatly folded, like it hadn''t been slept on. On the table was a letter with LuLu''s writing. On the top of the folded letter was written ''To Brother Liu''.

    <span>Liu Gan opened up the letter; there were several pages, with a total of like several thousand words. It seems like she wrote this during the night. The contents of the letter were her feelings from the moment they met, to the time she got left behind, and to now when they were able to meet up again. All her feelings of curiosity, happiness, and sadness were conveyed. Lastly, she was very grateful that both she and her dad had been rescued by him.

    <span>The final message was that she couldn''t remain in the vige doing nothing while her father was risking his life passing through the city to find her. She made the decision to head south. Hopefully, before anything happened to her father she could apologize to him and make up for her years of wrongdoing.

    <span>"A person''s lifetime is transient, but irreceable. There are too many things they greatly value, but since it''s always by their side they take it for granted. Only when it is gone, then they will feel the regret after it is toote.

    <span>"I must find him, otherwise I won''t be able to forgive myself. This is the only way for my soul to be saved.

    <span>"You are my first love, this feeling that I have towards you is very precious to me. I don''t want to forget it. I think that no matter the difficulties that lie before me, when I think of our time together, I will be able to muster up courage to ovee the obstacles.

    <span>"Miss Yin He told me something, I promised that I wouldn''t mention it to you. Even though I can''t tell you the contents, I can tell that she loves you very much. I admire both of you. I truly wish that the both of you can stay together. At the same time, I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, don''t let go of her hand and don''t let her leave you.

    <span>"I am very grateful for your patience when you taught me how to kill zombies. Thank you for giving me a chance to survive in this cruel world. Thank you for appearing in my life. Even though we only were together for a few days, it is enough for me to remember you forever.

    <span>"Please don''t look for me, but I know that with your personality, you won''t go searching for me. Even though we merely spent a few days together, I feel like I already understand you. As if we had known each other for a long time¡­

    <span>"It must be from our previous reincarnations? Haha¡­ I was just joking. It is just me being sentimental.

    <span>"I ask for your forgiveness for the troubles I had brought you. Every time, you would forgive me for my mistake and I haven''t been able to repay my debt. I can only offer you my sincerest blessings.

    <span>"I hope that you are able to be truly happy. I know that you''ve experienced hurt before, and it traumatized you so you iste yourself from others. You must have many troubling issues that you weren''t able to dispel. With your personality, you don''t want to share the pain with others. I want you to know that it is all in the past, you should just let it go.

    <span>"Promise me, that you need to be happy!...

    <span>Thest remaining page was a drawing. Lin ShiYa drew a romantic picture with the center of it being Liu Gan and Yin He. Surrounding the two was a huge heart, and below the heart it said "Blessings". Signed at the bottom was <span><em>Yours Truly, Lin ShiYa</em><span>.

 Chapter 392

    <span><strong>Chapter 392 - Freeload Experience</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Fifth Elder left?" Han GuangMing and Jiang JinYuan sensed something was wrong when they saw a letter.

    <span>"Yes, she left to find her father," Liu Gan nodded, and gave Yin He the letter.

    <span>"There''s so many ck-Spot Variants out right now. If she goes out solo right now, it is like suiciding! Should I arrange to send someone to find her?" Han GuangMing asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"No need, she said that she is doing this to save her soul. Her resolve is solid. The moment she made that decision, we shouldn''t look for her. Everyone has their own right to make their own decisions. We have no right to interfere," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Are you sure we don''t need to search for her?" Yin He read the letter quickly and asked Liu Gan. Her expression said how hurt she was. She didn''t have many friends in this lifetime, Lin ShiYa was one of them.

    <span>"If you think of her as a good friend, then hold my hand and don''t leave me," Liu Gan whispered into Yin He''s ear. He held onto Yin He''s cold hand, he knows that she is hiding something. Since she isn''t ready to talk, he won''t question her about it.

    <span>Yin He didn''t say anything more, she embraced Liu Gan''s arm. She was unsure of what would happen to Lin ShiYa.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Departing from the College of Agriculture, the mountain routes were rugged. For these yers with fortified bodies, it wasn''t a problem to walk through the terrain. It was just that the meandering paths were a huge waste of time.

    <span>While wandering along the path, suddenly three ck-Spot Variant Zombies appeared. It was hard to fathom why there were zombies here, since these zombies were simr to the zombies created by the Armored Warriors with forced injections. However, Liu Gan didn''t bother overthinking this problem. There wasn''t enough information to specte so it wasn''t worth the effort. With a downward sh of therge axe, Liu Gan chopped these variants down. The remainingst hit was given to the freeloading volunteer yers.

    <span>These ck-Spot Variants were a ss above all level 4 yers. If any of these pre-level 5 yers came across a Variant, it would be fatal. As for level 5 to 7 yers, it would be difficult fight against the variant. Level 8 to 9 yers could effortlessly challenge them, but if there were several other Variants, then it would be quite difficult.

    <span>As for level 10 yers, like Liu Gan, they could overwhelm this ss of zombies. These ck-Spot Variants weren''t even considered a threat anymore. In Liu Gan''s eyes, they were slow, so Liu Gan could dodge and counter-attack easily.

    <span>Killing more of these ck-Spot Variants wouldn''t give Liu Gan any more experience points. So after heavily injuring them, thest hit was left for Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng.

    <span>As they headed deeper into the mountain forest, more ck-Spot Variants appeared. Large groups of them started showing up, it was lucky this group had Liu Gan and NaNa to attack and defend. Groups that didn''t have powerful allies, were left to fend on their own against the dangers of the wild.

    <span>It didn''t take long for members of the group to feel that it was worth the risk to take. Liu Gan gave the majority of the experience to Jiang JinYuan, but soon it trickled down to the other yers. With a stronger yer leading, they were simply freeloading the experience. This was definitely better than going out solo to hunt.

    <span>Ninth Elder QiuTao was also part of the volunteering expedition group. Liu Gan promised him a reward, so QiuTao also received more chances to getst kills as well.

    <span>Now that these yers were standing alongside Liu Gan, they were able topare their strength with the ck-Spot Variants as a standard. To put it into perspective, they couldn''t even put up a fight, but Liu Gan chopped up the Variants like chopped sd. The majority of the expedition group were just casual yers, they were ying just to get by and survive this game - a survival game. In contrast, Liu Gan was ying it like it was for forever.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>With the Zhan Nan Shan''s map as guidance, Liu Gan passed through the mountain around noon. Liu Gan stopped to let the team cook the meal. After the short lunch was over, the expedition group continued on their trip. This time, they killed a little over a hundred ck-Spot Variants. After passing through three mountains, the sun was setting and they were at the location on the map.

    <span>In front of them was an abandoned factory. The factory didn''t have any mountain roads that connected it to the outside world. It was hard to tell what was built or constructed onsite. Unless the products were transported by helicopters or airships, this factory couldn''t function by normal means.

    <span>From the outside, it looked like an abandoned factory. It was hard to tell what was abnormal about it. Within the factory were a few scattered ck-Spot Variants. They couldn''t do anything to hurt the group anymore, since their averagebat ability had risen. With Liu Gan and NaNa doing all of the work, these lower-level yers just freeloaded the experience.

    <span>Entering into the factory, the map guided Liu Gan to a particr room. At first look, it was simr to the many of the other normal rooms. However, after entering the room, they found a certain tile in the far corner of the room had a trapdoor. Without this map, they wouldn''t have known where to even start looking.

    <span>This trapdoor had been opened by Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi before. After leaving, they used a discarded metal pot and pressed it onto the surface to seal the trapdoor. Once the metal pot was removed, this is was where the volunteers would shine. Feeding them experience wasn''t really free. If there were any potential dangers, then they will do their duty as cannon fodder. They could only summon up courage and boldy face the unknown.

    <span>Out of everyone in the expedition group, aside from Jiang JinYuan, they could all be cannon fodder. If it was within Liu Gan''s ability, he would protect them. In the worst case scenario, if he couldn''t protect them, then he couldn''t help it. They volunteered for this expedition, so they knew the risk involved. They knew that there was a chance they could be cannon fodder, but they chose to risk their life for the rewards. High risk, high gain.

    <span>After the metal pot was dragged off the trapdoor, the floor had an opening. ording to the map, the secretboratory began after going all the way down this bunny hole.

    <span>"Brother Qiu Zi and Second Elder came by thisboratory before. They all took their trusted aides along with them, I also volunteered but wasn''t chosen," QiuTao spoke up. He wanted to showcase his value, so whatever came to mind, he just spoke out.

    <span>"When Qiu Zi came by, what danger did hee across? Why did he return without achieving anything? Did you ask him about that?" Liu Gan casually asked.

    <span>"He wouldn''t talk about it in detail. Since all their trusted aides all died, he just returned with Second Elder back to the vige," QiuTao replied.

    <span>Liu Gan already knew about this from his talk with Second Elder. It seems like Qiu Zi went underground with everyone else, while Zhan Nan Shan guarded the outside. Since only Qiu Zi was able to escape, so Zhan Nan Shan didn''t bother taking the risk.

 Chapter 393

    <span><strong>Chapter 393 - Evolution</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>NaNa equipped her Spatial Armor and jumped head first into the opening. After shended, she barked a few times.

    <span><em>Woof, Woof!</em>

    <span>This meant that it was safe to head down. Liu Gan and others went down thedder, one by one into the darkness.

    <span>It was very dark going down, but the yers were prepared. Everyone brought along powerful illumination tools that lit it up fairly well. It was arge underground chamber. Along one side, there was some old-fashioned factory machinery, but what is was used for, no one knew.

    <span>Looking around a while, Liu Gan couldn''t find another location that led deeper underground. Alongside another wall was a wide pool, made of cement, but filled with dirty water.

    <span>Liu Gan had NaNa sniff the water, and the dirty water didn''t have any poison in it. Due to umtion of stagnant water for long periods of time, it had started producing a stinky smell and turbid colors. Even with the bright shlight, it was hard to see past a few feet.

    <span>If there is any way to go further into theboratory, it would be this water route.

    <span>"Who wants to dive with NaNa into the water to find a path?" Liu Gan asked his group.

    <span>Even though he had the dermal respiration ability, he didn''t need to let them know. This expedition wasn''t so they could gain easy experience. When there was danger, they must do their duty as cannon fodder.

    <span>For a long while, no one responded, as no one wanted to be the first one in. The murky water was quite scary, no one knew what creatures might be in there. There was also the fear of getting lost and being unable to find the way back. The fear of drowning was also another factor.

    <span>"I''ll go." Jiang JinYuan responded since no one else volunteered. This whole time, Liu Gan gave him the most free kills, so Jiang JinYuan didn''t feel right for not doing anything.

    <span>"Okay, this time he goes. Next time, it will be one of you guys. I will distribute and arrange ording to situation," Liu Gan told the others. NaNa went into the water first. Jiang JinYuan took off his clothes, then followed NaNa into the dirty water.

    <span>Both NaNa and Jiang JinYuan disappeared into the murky water. Over ten minutes passed before ripples appeared. NaNa had returned. Even with NaNa''s mechanically dense body, its Spatial Protection could generate a special type of buoyancy that allowed it to doggy paddle through the water.

    <span>After NaNa returned, Jiang JinYuan also showed up. The temperature of the water was rather cold, so he quickly dried himself off with a towel and put on his clothes.

    <span>"Is there anything in the water? Any danger?" Liu Gan asked Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>"There''s no danger lurking in the water, it''s a very short trip underwater. Once you swim through the waterway, you will reach the other side. It led me to an empty room. However, you can continue deeper into theboratory from there," Jiang JinYuan reported back to Liu Gan.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan finished his first scouting assignment and returned alive to report it. He didn''t encounter any danger, and he was able to repay his debt to Liu Gan in a way. Jiang JinYuan was very happy. Now, he didn''t have to take on any more dangerous tasks, if they went down the list of volunteers.

    <span>"Okay, then we will all go," Liu Gan told everyone.

    <span>"Lord Liu, what will we do with our clothes?" a yer hesitated. It was cold outside and the water temperature was low. If the jacket became wet, they would still need to take it off.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t answer the yer, he took off his clothes and tossed them aside. Then he jumped into the dirty water and started swimming. The other yers saw this, and quickly followed. If they don''t go with Liu Gan now, they could only wait here. They would be wasting this opportunity for more benefits.

    <span>Liu Gan swam ahead, while others held their breath and trailed after him. The waterway wasn''t a very long swim. At the end of the swim was a small empty room. However, it was connected to a passage that led deeper in.

    <span>Jumping out of the cold water, everyone was sneezing and trembling. Liu Gan asked for another volunteer to go with NaNa into the passage. It didn''t take long for this volunteer to return back with a good news. At the end of the passage was another room, and it was a wardrobe room! Alongside the wall, were closets that had many standard winter clothes. There were even diving suits in these closets!

    <span>Without encountering any dangerous situations, the expedition group dried themselves off and changed into the winter clothes.

    <span>"Why would they make the entrance to thisboratory so secretive andplex? But, with that in mind, the secrets within must be worthy of the extra precaution!" QiuTao started rambling while he was changing.

    <span>"Yeah! With this so hidden, the secret it contains must be unspeakable!" other yers chimed in, agreeing with QiuTao.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t have the same feeling. Thisboratory''s entrance wasn''t that hidden. At least whenpared with Green Station Mountain''sboratory and the Underwater Base, thisboratory was insufficient. At most, this wasparable to theboratory in the middle of theke, the Ind Lakeboratory.

    <span>Even if Liu Gan didn''t have high expectations from thisboratory, as long as he could get his hands on an artifact and learn a new skill or level up, then he would be satisfied. In Liu Gan''s mind, the real challenge waited at Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>As thest member finished changing and left the room, they continued down the hallway to the sounds of zombie moans and footsteps. All the noise from the yers had echoed through the passage, luring all the nearby zombies over. These zombies were like the zombies outside - all ck-Spot Variants. They all woreboratory coats, or something resembling one.

    <span>It was rumored that three days prior to the server release day was when the red rain poured into the city. It was regarded as a sign of the beginning of the end. With the sudden appearance of so many ck-Spot Variants, it was like the sign of a second catastrophic event. This was enough of an omen for Liu Gan to figure out that something catastrophic would happen. Another spection might be that The Trembling World was beginning a new phase.

    <span>This type of change was an intuition Liu Gan had, which started when he was in the vige. Now that he had encountered this strange phenomenon outside, his gut feeling had intensified.

    <span>While yers could evolve, the zombies could also evolve. Beasts and monsters didn''t stop their evolution. The only difference between all of them was the rate at which they evolved.

 Chapter 394

    <span><strong>Chapter 394 - Trial</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The yers that hadn''t reached level 5 yet would soon lose their qualifications to live in The Trembling World. If the yers didn''t work hard to reach level 5, they would fall behind other more hardworking yers.

    <span>Fortunately for Liu Gan, he was able to keep his level one step ahead of the evolution. This was how he was able to live his lifefortably so far.

    <span>From this point on, the yers couldn''t rx at all. The moment they ck off for even a bit, then even the slow speed of evolution from zombies and monsters would catch up. It will only get harder to survive from now on, and the unqualified yers would get weeded out.

    <span>Liu Gan and NaNa rushed forward and lightly injured the several ck-Spot Variants ahead of him. As usual, the experience points were given to the other team members. This powerleveling service wasn''t free. A different yer volunteered to follow NaNa to the end of the passage. Once he confirmed it was safe, he returned with the news.

    <span>At the end of the passage was a staircase down. Right next to the staircase was an elevator, also heading down. This staircase was one of those fire safety staircases. Even if they wanted to take the elevator, there was no way electricity was still being supplied. As a result, the expedition group could only take the stairs.

    <span>As they walked down one flight of stairs, they found the door locked. They continued to the next floor, it was locked as well. The group continued down six floors with all locked doors until they encountered a few ck-Spot Variant Zombies. Along the wall were scattered bodies of rotting zombies. These were probably the zombies killed much earlier by Qiu Zi.

    <span>They arrived at the sub-7th floor of this staircase, thest avable floor. Just likest time, another member volunteered to go with NaNa to scout around. Once it was safe, then therge group followed along.

    <span>Passing through the door was another long and narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was arge lounge. In the middle of lounge were several sofas and a tea table, along the walls were several rooms. Arriving in this room, everyone seemed to have understood why Qiu Zi was the sole survivor. Scattered across the floor were corpses, not of zombies, but of former yers. Their bodies were scattered all over the lounge.

    <span>A few of these yer bodies were beheaded. The others had several indents on their skulls; most definitely an instant kill. These yers didn''t even have the chance to be zombies. Nevertheless, the dead yers had a rotting stench. The living yers had an increased resistance to certain abnormalities, but their enhanced sense of smell wasn''t able to resist the pungent smell of rotting meat.

    <span>Upon deeper investigation of these wounds, Liu Gan frowned. These wounds matched the type of wound created by hisrge axe. This was the samerge axe he took from Qiu Zi. So did this mean they were all killed by Qiu Zi?

    <span>There was a big question revolving around why Qiu Zi might have killed his close aides. Did they discover some treasure that caused an all out brawl? Was that the reason why Qiu Zi was the sole survivor? No way, the other yers knew that they couldn''tpete against Qiu Zi''s strength. So there''s no way they would be stupid enough to fight against Qiu Zi, unless something happened with their cognitive ability to change their judgement. Otherwise, there''s no reason as to why they would want to challenge the impossible.

    <span>Then¡­ What could be the other reason why Qiu Zi would kill all of hispanions?

    <span>It wasn''t only Liu Gan who noticed this strange urance, other yers soon noticed the wounds on the corpses and matched it up with therge axe. Once knowing this fact, their expressions changed. No one knew the answer to the question of why their ex-leader had killed hisckeys. These weren''t his normalckeys, these were all trusted aides of his former inner circle.

    <span>It was at this moment a loud ''<span><em>Bang!</em><span>'' could be heard a distance away. Quickly looking behind them, there was a thick heavy metal alloy door that sealed the hallway the group had came from! At the same time, the room lit up brightly.

    <span>The lights had turned on and it was illuminated the room bright enough that the yers turned off the shlights.

    <span>"What''s going on?" This sudden noise sounded like an ambush, that made everyone nervous.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan was right, this ce was definitely a trap. When Liu Gan came, he had suspicions that something like this might happen, but with a map that clearly pointed in the direction of theboratory it was just too tempting to not go. Even if he knew it might be a trap, he would still head towards it.

    <span>Qiu Zi wasn''t able to escape this trap, but Liu Gan was confident in his wisdom and abilities. What''s the worst that could happen? Worst case scenario would be that he couldn''t get his hands on any treasure, but he would still be able to escape. With this mindset, he knew that he wasn''t going to suffer any loss.

    <span>"Wee, wee! I wee you to San Xing Corporation''s Psychological Research Institute," a voice suddenly echoed through the lounge from overhead speakers.

    <span>"Who are you?" Liu Gan looked at the ceiling.

    <span>"I am theboratory mainframe! Once there are intelligent beings here, like humans, then I will activate," the voice replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"What do you want from us?" Liu Gan asked the mainframe one more time. At the same time, NaNa and Jiang JinYuan began to start scanning the area for a terminal or something simr to terminal that they could use it to hack into.

    <span>"You are seeking treasures that lie within thisboratory right? I research human psychology, so I am very knowledgeable about your intentions. To tell you the truth, we do have a decent treasure in here!" The mainframe startedughing.

    <span>"So you know our intentions, then hand over this treasure! Otherwise, I will destroy this ce until you have handed it over!" Liu Gan dered as he swung around hisrge axe.

    <span>"Hand it over? That I could. Only if you pass through 3 trials!" The mainframe ignored Liu Gan''s threat.

    <span>"What trials?" Liu Gan continued to drag out the conversation so Jiang JinYuan and NaNa had more time to search.

    <span>"Wisdom, valor, and massacre. A total of three trials! The first trial has already begun. In this location that everyone is in, only thest person alive will be able to pass the first trial. That sole survivor can pass through the metal alloy doors to the next stage of trial. After half an hour, if the amount of people alive is more than two, then I will detonate a vacuum bomb that will use up all the oxygen in this room," the mainframe responded.

    <span>"What do you take me as? Why must I believe everything you say? Do you have proof that you are the mainframe of this area?" Liu Gan swung hisrge axe around again.

 Chapter 395

    <span><strong>Chapter 395 - Set Up</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The moments before a heated fight usually have verbal exchanges. Through these types of arguments, the opponent''s ability can be evaluated. It was possible to tell if someone was bluffing.

    <span>With that strategy, Liu Gan kept asking the mainframe several questions for this purpose. By buying time, Jiang JinYuan and NaNa could look around to find a terminal.

    <span>"If there is one person alive, then I will open a path to the next trial, and the door behind you. Then, the survivor can choose if he wants to continue to the next stage or withdraw," the mainframe answered without any hesitation. On one of the walls, a clock appeared. There was a timer with 30 minutes that started counting down...

    <span>"Do we have the option of withdrawing out from the selection?" a member shouted out loud. Now it was clear why Qiu Zi had killed all his trusted aides.

    <span>If they couldn''t withdraw, then after half an hour is up, no one knew how Liu Gan would react. Even if Liu Gan didn''t kill them all, then they would risk the threat of being eliminated by vacuum bomb. If it was anyone else was in Liu Gan''s position of power, they might just kill everyone for their own survival.

    <span>"No. Now that you have entered, you must pass the first trial. Only the sole survivor has the choice of continuing to next trial, or withdrawingpletely," the mainframe answered the yer''s question. Following that, no matter who asked the question, the mainframe didn''t respond.

    <span>When Qiu Zi faced this trial, the result was a sole survivor. Undoubtedly, Qiu Zi mercilessly killed everyone he was with. Being the only one standing after half an hour, Qiu Zi made the choice to withdraw from the trials. As for the unfortunate souls that were sacrificed, they were all exchanged for Qiu Zi''s safe passage. To these still living yers, they realized that their situation was simr to their dead predecessors. However, they couldn''t evenpete against Liu Gan''s monstrous strength.

    <span>If the gentle personality of Qiu Zi would do such a thing, then the violent personality of Liu Gan would have a higher possibility ofmitting such an atrocity. The question of who lived and who died would be determined by Liu Gan''s whim. However, Liu Gan was still thinking about the question given to him by the trial, he didn''t have any intentions of killing anyone.

    <span>"He will kill us all! He will kill us all! We must kill him before he makes his move! Otherwise, none of us can return alive!" a scared yer suddenly whispered to his nearby fellow yers.

    <span>Liu Gan''s sensitive hearing heard the treacherous whispers clearly. However, he didn''t do anything. He just sat there just thinking about the trial.

    <span>Meanwhile, everyone else was looking at Liu Gan with scared expressions. Under this situation, Liu Gan still didn''t make a move. Whether it was because he didn''t have the nerves of steel to do it, or he didn''t want to make a move, was still uncertain. The moment he decided to make a move, then no one could put up a fight.

    <span>No one would''ve thought that thisboratory would be a set-up. With just one order, they would have to kill each other in this trap. Originally, everyone thought that Qiu Zi had fought against an Advanced monster, but it seems like the dead yers had fallen prey to their own leader Qiu Zi instead.

    <span>"We must work together to kill him first. It is a few of us, or none of us survives!" The scared yer kept ncing toward Liu Gan. That was when he noticed that Liu Gan was showing his back to him, a weakness, as only amateurs would let their guard down.

    <span>The nearby yers knew their own limitations, and they didn''t want to take any actions that would be irreversible. Plus, they didn''t have an urge to seek death so they were just sitting and thinking.

    <span>Liu Gan was still in his thinking mode, those traitorous words could still be heard by him. Upon hearing the scared yer trying to upstart a rebellion, Liu Gan got annoyed and threw his axe at that yer. The yer was unable to dodge the sudden attack and his body was split in half.

    <span>Other yers scattered in every direction away from Liu Gan, looking at him with terrified expressions. It seemed he was going to exterminate everyone!

    <span>"I''m thinking of a way to rescue everyone. If anyone tries to instigate events, then they will end up the same way as him!" Liu Gan picked back up his axe as he pointed at the fallen yer. Liu Gan walked back to the sofa.

    <span>Seeing that Liu Gan didn''t continue with the killings, the yers calmed down a bit. Aside form Jiang JinYuan, no one else wanted to get close to Liu Gan.

    <span>"NaNa is still looking for an electronic port. If we can manipte the port, we can find a way to hack into the mainframe and change its decision," Jiang JinYuan reported back.

    <span>"No, this issue can''t be that simple." Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"Do you have any ns?" Jiang JinYuan asked. Since his life was saved by Liu Gan, even if Liu Gan wanted to take his life, he wouldn''t have anyints.

    <span>"For the time being, I don''t have any ns, but I am thinking that these trials are a set-up," Liu Gan replied to Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>"How did youe up with that theory?" Jiang JinYuan was trying his best to help Liu Gan analyze the situation.

    <span>Hearing Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan''s conversation, others started to move to the walls to see if they could find anything useful. They didn''t want to have the same endings as Qiu Zi''spanions.

    <span>"Qiu Zi killed everyone he was with. His actions would''ve made him pass the first trial. Seems like he didn''t advance to the second trial. He made the decision to withdraw. If we go by logic, he wouldn''t have given up since he already sacrificed hispanions. Then, it must mean that the entrance to the second trial didn''t open. Only the door to return back to the surface opened, so that''s why he returned alone" Liu Gan summarized his theory.

    <span>"Then this first trial isn''t to eliminate everyone here? That must mean the true answer to this trial is something else? What do you think we should do?" Jiang JinYuan asked again.

    <span>"<span>Woof, Woof!<span>"

    <span>NaNa seemed to have found something, as she barked to alert Liu Gan and Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan rushed over to where NaNa was. It was in the hallway they had passed through to get to the current lounge. They broke a piece of the wall off, then they moved the tea table and a chair over to that location. Using the tea table as the base, the chair was ced on the table and Jiang JinYuan stood on top of the chair to reach the ceiling. Running his hands along the ceiling, Jiang JinYuan was able to find something. This was all thanks to NaNa''s guidance.

    <span>"What did you find?" Liu Gan looked up at Jiang JinYuan. Issues like these that required technical skills should just be left to Jiang JinYuan, Liu Gan had decided.

 Chapter 396

    <span><strong>Chapter 396 - Metal Partitions</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"The pathway that we came from has a small hidden infrared scanner. It was able to correctly decide how many people came in. In addition, the ceiling has several speakers hidden away. They were probably where the mainframe''s voice came from. There''s also a revolving surveince camera that can cover the whole of the room. However, there aren''t any ports that would allow us to hack into the equipment," Jiang JinYuan quickly reported back to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Since it is like that, it simplifies things. Since the infrared scanner is supplied by electricity, it has been functioning this whole time. The moment we entered this area, it alerted the person hiding in the background. With the surveince camera, they can watch us, and through the speakers, they canmunicate with us. Then, that person acts as an autonomous mainframe instructing us to partake in three trials. Their purpose is to lower ourbat ability by making us massacre each other, using the pretext of blowing us up if we don''t do as they say," Liu Gan summarized his thoughts.

    <span>"Ah, so you are thinking that when this trial is over, no matter what we do, we will fail? And the only door that opens is the door behind us, the route back to the surface? While the door to the next trial, won''t open... At that time, there might be a more urgent threat that might force the yers to escape from here instead of challenging the next trial," Jiang JinYuan put in his thoughts on the topic.

    <span>"Their motive is to scare us so we won''t reveal any secrets about thisboratory!" QiuTao mirrored Jiang JinYuan''s theory.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan and QiuTao''s agreement helped stabilize the mood in the room. The majority of the other yers were going to agree with their theory since they had no other choice but to believe in them. The alternative option was death by Liu Gan''s hand.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan had said those words, he didn''t have any evidence to back it up. Could it even be possible that this undergroundboratory would have survivors left? Were there enough supplies and resources to let them stay alive? There was just too little evidence. It was best if he didn''t reach any conclusions too prematurely.

    <span>"Your analysiscks logic, I encourage you to quickly finish your first trial. Otherwise, the moment I use the vacuum bomb, you will all be dead!" the mainframe suddenly interrupted them.

    <span>"I can tell that you are panicking," Liu Gan said after hearing the mainframe''s response. With a surge of rage, he activated [Crescent de] at the speaker overhead.

    <span><em>Boom!</em>

    <span>The attack left a huge gap in the ceiling from the impact. Electrical wiring and instruments were revealed. It looked like the camera and the speaker were destroyed in one attack by Liu Gan.

    <span>Now, no matter what Liu Gan said, the mainframe couldn''t interrupt again. The electrical system was silenced for good.

    <span>"Now that they''ve lost their sight and speech, if they want to take action then this would be the moment. Since they haven''t used the vacuum bomb, it must be a bluff," Liu Gan turned around to tell everyone.

    <span>"What do you n on doing now?" Jiang JinYuan asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Very simple, they told us there is a path toward the next trial. Let''s force our way through!" Liu Gan walked around scouting along the wall for any weak spots. Using his axe to attack the wall was the simplest way.

    <span>The majority of the walls were built with reinforced concrete for both their inner and outeryers. The hidden pathway had reinforced concrete as the outer wall, while the inner wall had thick metal partitions. Following Liu Gan''s rapping, thudding sounds echoed out. That was until Liu Gan struck certain positions on the wall. Feedback from the hidden pathway sounded different from the wall; crisp echoes could be heard.

    <span>This meant that behind this wall was the hidden pathway. As long as this wall was smashed, then they could pass through. Made with reinforced concrete, his axe wasn''t able to smash it very well.

    <span>When Qiu Zi was here, he had also found the hidden pathway. He also tried to force his way through, but his abilities were all electrical in nature. His abilities against reinforced concrete had no effect; the electricity would follow the reinforced concrete due to conductivity, and was dispersed away. Simply put, there was no way for him to break the outer wall.

    <span>Liu Gan was different. His [Crescent de] was an attributeless ability. As long as the skill was high enough, then even metal partitions could be pierced through. Liu Gan wasn''t gentle at all. Pent-up anger kept refilling his rage bar, so he could constantly throw out [Crescent de].

    <span>The reinforced concrete shattered from the bombardment of [Crescent de]. Once the outer wall was broken away, the inner wall of metal partitions revealed itself. This metal partition was dense and thick. Therge axe wouldn''t be able to hack it apart, but with Liu Gan''s ability, it could leave dents several centimeters deep.

    <span>Liu Gan smashed his axe on the wall. Loud echos rang out as the axe head smashed into the metal partitions.

    <span><em>Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    <span>The loud tremors hurt some of the yer''s eardrums. Naturally, they avoided any side effect by not standing too close to the wall.

    <span>Liu Gan''s prowess was not to be underestimated. Even the thick metal partition was starting to fracture. This made the yers wonder would happen if that axe hadnded on their body.

    <span>Liu Gan kept up with his offensive strikes, every regr attack would enrage him, and when the rage counter maxed out, he would cast [Enhanced Crescent de]. This ability created a sh ten centimeters long and the deepest part of the attack prated through the metal partition.

    <span>This confidence booster helped Liu Gan continued hacking away. Liu Gan purposely shaped his attack to fit his hand through, enough to ce a hand grenade into the wall.

    <span>Liu Gan withdrew a hand grenade from the dimensional storage space of his ring. Warning the others before he pulled off the ring and ced it inside the metal partition. Then, he retreated far away, behind a sofa.

    <span>Shortly following was the sound of the explosion.

    <span><em>BOOM! </em><span>T<span>he sound echoed through the room as the walls shook. Dust fell from the ceiling down onto the shoulders of the yers.

    <span>After the smoke and dust had settled down, Liu Gan walked over to look at how much damage had been done to the metal partition. The explosion blew a hole in the wall, but it still wasn''trge enough to fit an adult through.

    <span>Once again, Liu Gan got to work. Soon, another hole was made, for a total of three holes, with each hole at each corner of a triangle. Shoving another hand grenade through the opening, it exploded and caused the structure of the metal partitions to weaken. Liu Gan rushed up to finish the job. Finally, he made a gap that was wide enough for a person to pass through.

    <span>NaNa went through the gap first. Then, a volunteer yer followed NaNa through. His task was to scout the area beforeing back to report.

 Chapter 397

    <span><strong>Chapter 397 - Deep Cliff</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>After ten minutes, that yer returned to the gap. Speaking through the gap nonchntly, the yer updated Liu Gan. There was another long passage more than a dozen meters long beyond the gap . At the end of the passage was an opening to another room. This room was smaller than the lounge they had been trapped in.

    <span>After being reassured by Liu Gan that there were no dangers on the other side, one by one the yers squeezed through the gap. They walked together as a group through the passage and into the other room. It was as the yer had reported, the room was definitely smaller than the lounge.

    <span>The moment someone walked by the sensors, the speakers were activated. It seemed there was another surveince camera and speaker in that room, and it hadn''t been damaged yet.

    <span>"Congrattions for passing the first trial. Even though¡­ your method of passing the trial relied on brute force. If you had a brain, you could have used it. You could have looked under the sofa, in the ceiling panels, or the walls for a hidden trigger. By flipping this trigger on, you would''ve been able to pass through the passage here," the mainframe continued with its verbal diarrhea.

    <span>"Cut your bull! No one wants to y your boring IQ games!" Liu Gan cursed the mainframe.

    <span>"Okay, since you have all passed¡­ this is the second trial. It tests your courage. Without any courage, you won''t be able to pass this part," the mainframe continued speaking. As such, this room they were in was the second trial waiting room. In front of their path at the far side of the room was now revealed a dark tunnel.

    <span>The sound of a horde of zombies escaped from that dark tunnel. As each different zombie produced different noises, it didn''t sound like the normal zombies. These zombies kept moaning at different intervals so there was hardly a moment of silence. The noise didn''t seem to being at eye level, it sounded like it was at a much deeper location.

    <span>Liu Gan walked up into the dark tunnel, and after a dozen meters into the darkness he reached a wide opening. He shone his shlight at the surroundings. It was such a vast space that he was awed at the fact it was even built.

    <span>The tunnel abruptly ended at the opening, since it was a deep cliff that bordered the tunnel and the vast open space. It was so dark that his shlight couldn''t illuminate the other side. That was when Liu Gan realized he was only standing on a small tform in this vast open space.

    <span>The light didn''t reach the other end of the room, but it still reached the bottom¡­ Over ten meters down, there were at least several thousand ck-Spot Variant zombies. When the zombies heard themotion at the top of the cliff, they tried to scale the walls and climb on top of one another. It resembled a zombiedder. Since it was hard for the zombies to get a grip on the slippery walls, they were unsessful in reaching Liu Gan and his group.

    <span>Even for someone as strong as Liu Gan, if he fell it would be hard to climb back up to his current location. Not to mention, he would be trapped among several thousands zombies. Even the fiercest warrior would sumb to this many ck-Spot Variants. Even a warrior has limits on how many fights it can take on at once. All it took was one fatal bite for him to lose everything.

    <span>The other yers hadn''t even reached level 10, so if it was a fair 1-to-1 fight they would have a chance. However once you threw them into the pit against a horde, then they wouldn''tst more than a few seconds.

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t even imagine how these zombies got there. Why in the world would there be a secretboratory like this here? Why would theboratory have so many ck-Spot Variants? This was when Liu Gan started to suspect the corpse tide he had experienced in the city had more than just civilians wrapped up in the mix. It was possible that additional zombies were warped in.

    <span>If he had topare to personal experience, he could only think of the previous zombie survival games. The moment you saw signs of a corpse tide, there was no reason to second guess it. It wouldn''t take long before the waves of zombies showed up.

    <span>In The Trembling World, the sudden appearance of this many zombies and even evolution of normal zombies into ck-Spot Variants, was quite unexpected. Before Liu Gan found the correct reason, nothing went ording to logic right now. Would the game advance to a phase where zombies and monsters evolved?

    <span>Thinking about these world problems would lead to frustration. Instead, Liu Gan had a different strategy - level up as fast as he could to improve his abilities. This simple yet correct way of thinking was how Liu Gan nned to deal with any pointless issues. He would focus on the challenges at hand that he could deal with, rather than pointless worries.

    <span>Liu Gan was starting to doubt whether the mainframe was really a person, or a really boredputer. If it was thetter, then it must have spent time thinking of pointless trials to test the yers.

    <span>Or it could be that the mainframe was simply a game design from The Trembling World that offered three trials. After the three trials, a prize was given. Everything could be like just a casual game without any schemes or traps, and the yers were worrying too much, or overthinking.

    <span>It didn''t seem like the trials were a scheme. So far the trials matched the description of what the mainframe had said. The first round was testing for wisdom. If it was as the mainframe had said and there was a mechanical trigger for unlocking the room to the second trial, then an intellectual person might have found it. Liu Gan used a different method, he opted for brutality.

    <span>This sort of brutality caused Liu Gan to recall several adventurous puzzle games that had risks involved. There were games that involved the main character getting locked up with ignited explosives while being trapped behind locked doors. The only way to escape was to find the key.

    <span>The main character in those games won''t be afraid of the explosives if they weren''t trapped behind locked doors. Their biggest fear would be relying on brute force only to find that it wouldn''t budge after a kick. Since the key was the only way out of the locked room, weapons in those games would have no effect on the door.

    <span>From this point of view, being in The Trembling World was very realistic. As long as your strength was high enough, even the thickest metal partition door wouldn''t be a problem. Even without any Intelligence, as long as the fist is sturdy enogh, it will prate through the door.

    <span>Focusing back on the second trial, Liu Gan looked around for any clues as to which of the two remaining trials this was. It seems like to pass this test of ''valor'', they must cross through these zombies to the other side to be considered a sess.

    <span>The question is¡­ How do you get over there?

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t have any wings, so sure as Hell he can''t fly over. Even though the yers all had rope, it was impossible to see the end to do a pulley system.

 Chapter 398

    <h3 id="h.7vkhumdiqmf4"><strong><span>Chapter 398 - Iron Hook</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>What was definitely impossible was heading down to the ground level to fight them off. Even if it was Liu Gan, there was no end to the amount of zombies. His field of vision wasn''t capable of seeing the end of this horde of ck-Spot Variants. It wasn''t that Liu Gan was not confident in his skills to kill his way through, it was that the walls were very slippery. Even these zombies weren''t able to climb up. Liu Gan believed that if he fell down, it would be hard for him to climb back up.

    <span>So to pass this trial, the ess path definitely wasn''t by the floor below. It should be above.

    <span>To confirm if there was a route above, Liu Gan shone his light on the ceiling to search for clues.

    <span>Lo and behold, right above his head by the edge of the cliff, there were several rows of iron hooks. These hooks were spaced half a meter apart, and stretched endlessly into the darkness. This was the test of ''valor'' that Liu Gan was expecting. Seems like they had to rely on these iron hooks to swing straight into the darkness. Since both hands were going to be upied, they wouldn''t have any shlights to know where the end is. This was truly a test of courage. Not knowing where the end is, but the courage to keep on going.

    <span>There was also the unknown question of whether the iron rod would hold up under the weight of the person. Without knowing how far to go, and endless amounts of ck-Spot Variants waiting for you to drop, to reach out both hands onto the iron hook required a lot of courage. All it took was just a little fatigue to fall down into the abyss.

    <span>Originally, Liu Gan thought this was all a scam or a trap. He didn''t really think he would have to go through three legit trials. Qiu Zi must have felt yed by the first trial, so after discussing it with Zhan Nan Shan, they believed it was a trap. They knew that there must be a good reward at the end of the trials, but at the same time they didn''t want to continue taking this risk. So when Zhan Nan Shan left the Beginner Vige, he wasn''t be able to taste the fruits of this treasure trove. As a result, he handed it over to Liu Gan as a sign of good faith.

    <span>"Seems like we have to swing our way through. If you feel afraid, then stay here. It might be bad if we started going and then you fell when you ran out of energy," Liu Gan exined to the other yers. Even at this point, he would continue if others stayed behind.

    <span>This was the moment when each yer decided what they were going to do. While looking over the edge, yers revealed how fearful they were. This wasn''t just a trial of courage, it was also a trial of strength. The moment you started the climb, you had to keep going. There was no way for you to remain attached to the hook. This relied on the strength of arms and hands to hold onto the iron hook and swing across to the next iron hook, just like monkey bars.

    <span>If midway through the climb, they looked down at the crowd of zombies reaching out to the yer, then fear might take over.

    <span>The most important question that hadn''t been answered yet, how long was it to the end? Will the iron hooks be able to withstand this many people climbing across? If any iron hook wasn''t strong enough, then it might copse; the subsequent yers wouldn''t be able to pass through the gap. The consequences would be severe.

    <span>Looking carefully down, there were a few normal zombies mixed into the crowd of ck-Spot Variants. However, there were some other strange-looking Variant zombies that they hadn''t encountered before. So it was hard to tell what type of attacks it could use. With this many unknown variables mixed in, if someone were to fall down into the crowd of zombie, they definitely wouldn''t be able to live.

    <span>The initial climb upward was simr to a rock wall. No one knew who installed these iron hooks or the process by which the iron rods were installed in the rocks. The iron rod nearest to the tform they were on, was over three meters up. Every yer there, based on their current capabilities, could easily jump to reach the first iron hook.

    <span>Liu Gan looked and asked around one more time. They were fearful and hesitant They didn''t immediately respond to Liu Gan. Clearly, they had a lot of questions that they wanted to ask, but there was no definitive answer to their doubts. They questioned themselves if they had the confidence to make their way over.

    <span>The biggest motivation for climbing would be like the mainframe had said, that there would be rewards. Even if there were rewards, would there be enough to go around for everyone? If after all this hard work, their reward got allocated to someone else, then this would be pointless. Up to now, there hadn''t been much risk involved, Liu Gan had powerleveled them this whole way. So if they replied ''no'' to Liu Gan, they had already earned enough to call it quits. Since Liu Gan didn''t want to force anyone who wasn''t willing to go forward, the majority of the yers wanted to retreat.

    <span>"Mainframe! If there is a reward for reaching the other side, does everyone get one?" a curious yer shouted. Since they''ve already reached this far, he didn''t want to simply call it quits.

    <span>"Yes, everyone that passes through these three trials will be able to obtain their own reward. They won''t be able to steal away someone else''s reward," the mainframe answered the yer''s question.

    <span>"It feels like that is such a fake answer¡­"

    <span>"Is it really true! Do you think this is a game? Rewards bound to the yer?"

    <span>"Do we need to register first?"

    <span>"Liars everywhere. This must be one of them liars¡­"

    <span>As other yers started debating and doubting the mainframe''s credibility. At the same time, they talked themselves out of attempting the trial.

    <span>"You don''t have much time left. Better hurry and start the trial or else you might fall off the cliff!" The mainframe started speaking again. This time the tunnel behind them had a heavy metal door close shut.

    <span><em>Boom!</em>

    <span>That was when a thick metal framed doore down, shutting off their only escape route. Once again, they were left with no choice. This time, the ground beneath their feet started to move forward like a treadmill.

    <span>The yers were all startled. They watched their feet get dragged closer to the edge of the cliff. Now they had no choice! If they didn''t climb now, then they will fall into the grasp of the zombies. This was the moment of do or die!

    <span>Liu Gan gave NaNa specific instructions. NaNa bit onto one of the iron hooks and swung herself onto the second iron hook. She was the guinea pig that was going to test the waters - to see if the iron hooks were indeed sturdy.

    <span>Liu Gan stood up and jumped onto the first hook that NaNa had bit onto.Using his strength he swung forward. Now that things had turned out this way, he was going to thoroughly investigate this ce. Even if there was a trap, he would go down fighting! There must be a way through if he fought vigorously!

    <span>The yers watched as the treadmill sped up, pushing them ever closer to the edge. Staying would only result in death. They could only muster up their strength and courage to continue after Liu Gan on the climb.

    <span>The iron hooks were quite sturdy. It didn''t seem like the ceiling would copse any time soon. Using their strength to climb was a huge challenge to the yers, even though their muscles and bodies had been enhanced numerous times, their stamina was finite. Once it was used up, then what they feared most would happen.

    <span>As such, they had no more choices. They couldn''t just wait there. They had to push forward since death awaited if they stood around.

 Chapter 399

    <span><strong>Chapter 399 - Searchlight</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Truthfully, this trial wasn''t much of a challenge for Liu Gan. Now that he was level 10, his strength was much higher, so he had a higher stamina than the other yers, perhaps up to ten times as much. On top of that, his cheat, the alloy limbs, hardly experienced fatigue like regr muscles would.

    <span>Liu Gan truly believed that his strength would be able to withstand the challenge. Even if he got tired, with NaNa by his side he could grab onto her body to rest a bit until his strength returned. With his fortified mentality, he hardly felt any fear. To him, this trial wasn''t much of a test.

    <span>"How long is it! Do you see the end? If we don''t reach the end of this, we will run out of strength!" a yer shouted after he had reached a hundred meters or so in his climb. He was starting to panic. At this moment, he still had strength, but fear started to set in. When fear set in, his mentality started to drain the strength in his arms.

    <span>"Concentrate on your climb! Don''t shout! It won''t help you at all!" Liu Gan shouted back at the fool.

    <span>Relying on upper arm strength to monkey climb through high altitude required a lot of strength. Normal yers could onlyst the initial ten meters, but these yers survived a hundred meters, then two hundred meters. That was the limit for these level 5 yers.

    <span>"I can''t! I don''t think I can hold on anymore! Someone! Help me!" a yer panicked as he shouted loudly.

    <span>"I don''t think I can hold anymore! Lord Liu, help me!" another yer started panicking as well.

    <span>"This is a test of ''valor'', it is not a strength test. As long as you don''t sumb to the fear of the zombies, then you won''t have any problem!" Liu Gan encouraged the yers.

    <span>"Lord Liu! It is easy for you to say! Having courage doesn''t mean we can just continue climbing through this! Hurry and save us! Otherwise we will die here! It will be all your fault!" the yer started slipping on his grip as he shouted at Liu Gan.

    <span>"I didn''t force you toe with me. When I called for volunteers, you knew what you were signing up for," Liu Gan replied after he heard the yer''sint. When he asked for volunteers, he clearly said that this trip to theboratory was very dangerous. It was possible that no one would return alive. Yet, these yers rushed to volunteer of their own will.

    <span>Even if Liu Gan had intentions of using them as cannon fodders, they were willing to be subjected to this condition since they signed themselves up.

    <span>These new yers that surrounded Liu Gan weren''t familiar with Liu Gan''s personality yet. Only the few familiars like Jiang JinYuan, Zhao Meng, and QiuTao were the ones that Liu Gan would help in critical conditions. Ultimately, if it came down to it, Zhao Meng and QiuTao would have to be given up. It was necessary that he protect Jiang JinYuan this time around.

    <span>Why the special treatment for Jiang JinYuan? Since Jiang JinYuan was the match maker for him and Yin He. It was quite difficult to revive Jiang JinYuan with Su Nina''s help. Until thest minute, he wouldn''t give up Jiang JinYuan so easily.

    <span>"Liu Gan! I curse you and your ancestors!" the yer shouted after he was denied any help. Asctic acid built up in his arms, he lost his strength and fell into the horde of zombies.

    <span>A searchlight on the wall suddenly turned on. It was located fairly close to the fallen yer. It shone onto the yer as he fell down around 15 meters into the grasp of the zombies. He was swarmed by the zombies and torn apart. The zombies all had a piece of the fallen yer, from his skin to his organs. The yer was screaming as he was torn apart alive. The sound of the zombies moaning drenched out his screams of pain.

    <span>Without a doubt, this searchlight was turned on by the mainframe, using it to light up the fallen yer''s demise. This tragic scene aroused more fear among the remaining yers, further increasing the tremendous amount of psychological pressure.

    <span>When the remaining yers watched the scene of their fallenrade dying, they tensed up, and the overtension made them feel even more tired and exhausted. It didn''t take long before other yers started losing strength in their grip. One by one they started falling after feeling mentally exhausted.

    <span>Remaining by Liu Gan''s side was QiuTao, Jiang JinYuan, and Zhao Meng. QiuTao was level 7, so it wasn''t a surprise that he could support himself up to that point. Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng were level 6, so they were a little better than the level 5 yers that fell.

    <span>"I don''t think I continue any longer, Lord Liu! Thank you for cultivating me! This is a consequence of my own actions. It is no one else''s fault!" After ten minutes of continuous climbing, even Zhao Meng fell down. Right before he fell, he shouted up to Liu Gan.

    <span>Another searchlight started up and shone on Zhao Meng''s body as he got torn into shreds by the zombies.

    <span>"I don''t think I can handle it any longer. Thank you Lord Liu for saving me. My fate seems to be the same asst time. I''m really sorry¡­" Jiang JinYuan was at his limit as he said this to Liu Gan.

    <span>This ce didn''t seem like it was for yers below level 10. For the first trial, Liu Gan didn''t kill his own followers. That was a lot more generous than what Qiu Zi had done. The second trial was the limit for these yers.

    <span>"Climb onto my back," Liu Gan said to Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>"That... How can I do that?" Jiang JinYuan didn''t expect Liu Gan to say that to him. In all honesty, everything that happened after transferring into the game, Jiang JinYuan had no memories. Everytime Liu Gan treated him with favoritism, he feels ttered.

    <span>"Quickly, climb onto me. I can''t hold your weight for long, since I will have a time when I feel exhausted," Liu Gan told Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan had no choice but to climb onto Liu Gan''s back. Liu Gan continued to climb forward with Jiang JinYuan on his body. After several minutes, when Jiang JinYuan recovered some of his strength, he climbed off of Liu Gan''s body and continued himself. Liu Gan continued to climb on.

    <span>After half an hour had passed, there was still no end in sight. Unsure of how much further to continue, Liu Gan shouted out loud. The mainframe didn''t respond. Seems like it would only respond when someone fell down, then it would use the searchlight to let everyone know how tragically they ended.

    <span>"Lord Liu, thank you for everything you have done for me. I don''t think I can continue any further. It is pointless to continue being your baggage," Jiang JinYuan was exhausted as he shouted loudly to Liu Gan. Jiang JinYuan didn''t want to exhaust Liu Gan by being carried, either.

 Chapter 400

    <span><strong>Chapter 400 - Shore Embankment</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan sensed that something wasn''t right. He turned around, but Jiang JinYuan had already let go. He was in midfall as Liu Gan tried to grab hold of his hand. A mere few centimeters, and he could only watch Jiang JinYuan fall down into the horde of zombies.

    <span>"Who allowed you to let go?" Liu Gan shouted. Throughout his climb, his fury counter was already maxed out. At this point, he couldn''t suppress his anger anymore. Liu Gan had one hand on the hook, in his other hand he took out his greataxe. He threw his [Enhanced Crescent de] down on the zombies.

    <span>That was when he saw a glitch. Liu Gan sensed that something wasn''t right. After a brief moment of hesitation, he ordered NaNa to also let go and jump off.

    <span>When Liu Gan reached the bottom of the cliff, the horde of zombies all vanished. However, he continued to keep falling. That was, until he fell into the water. Quick rapids carried him downstream.

    <span>He was unsure of how far he had traveled along the rapids in the darkness, when the current suddenly calmed down. After a short time, there was a bright light up ahead. Liu Gan swam toward the only bright area, where he arrived at a channel. In the middle of the channel was a water drainage, and on both sides of the channel were fairly well-constructed shore embankments, illuminated by electric lights.

    <span>Every yer that had fallen was present on the shore embankments, all of them drenched by the water. Even the yer that had cursed Liu Gan''s ancestors was there; he was pale when he saw Liu Gan, and quickly hid behind another yer.

    <span>After Liu Gan reached the channel, NaNa came swimming up in a doggy paddle behind him.

    <span>"Those hordes of zombies at the bottom of the cliff, were all illusions! Damn!" Jiang JinYuan cursed. He thought he was a goner when he fell. This was a relief, that they were able to survive a sick joke fabricated by the mainframe.

    <span>"I''ve seen this type of technology before. No wonder the iron hooks kept continuing and there were endless amount of zombies. I had some doubts as to whether it was all a hallucination." Liu Gan shook his head. This feeling of getting yed, made him feel sick. If he ever saw the mainframe, he would destroy it. His fury meter was at maximum capacity.

    <span>"Lord Liu, I shouldn''t have cursed at you. It is my fault! I sincerely apologize to you. Please forgive me!" the yer who had cursed Liu Gan couldn''t bear the internal guilt. He voluntarily walked up to apologize.

    <span>That moment when he thought he was going to die, his anger was directed at Liu Gan. He misdirected it all onto Liu Gan. Now that he hadn''t died, he was at the mercy of Liu Gan. Everyone knew that Liu Gan had a bad temper if you messed with him, so this yer knew he wouldn''t get off easy.

    <span>"Now you know your own fault? How dare you curse at Lord Liu? Are you trying to die!" Zhao Meng walked over to punch and kick that yer, enough pain to cause that yer to scream in misery.

    <span>There was a reason behind Zhao Meng''s actions. He was saving this poor yer''s life. Even his hardest punch wouldn''t take away this yer''s life. At most it would bruise his muscles, but he would live. If Liu Gan used his fist, then the poor yer would be a goner.

    <span>After awhile, QiuTao also swam up to the shore embankment. From the first fallen yer to thest yer, they had gathered onto the channel.

    <span>On the channel wall, there was a door. After QiuTao swam up, the metal framed door naturally opened.

    <span>Liu Gan and the rest of the yers walked through the metal door. Inside was a small room. Both sides of the room had wardrobes of clean, dry clothes, and towels. This expedition group didn''t have any female yers, so the men all undressed and wiped themselves down with the towels, then put on the dry clothes. This was after they had inspected the wardrobe and room for any traps.

    <span>"Congrattions everyone for passing the ''valor'' and ''strength'' test. The following is thest of the three trials. It is the ''massacre'' trial. If you don''t want to participate in thisst trial, you have the opportunity to retreat. The moment you advance to the next tunnel, you won''t have the chance to regret!" the mainframe''s voice echoed loudly in the room.

    <span>"How do we retreat? Will you send us back to the surface?" a yer asked the mainframe.

    <span>"After the participants finish their ''massacre'' trial, then there will be a special path that bes avable for you to return to the surface" the mainframe replied.

    <span>"What is this ''massacre'' trial like? Is it killing zombies or killing each other?" another yer asked the mainframe. It seemed the mainframe was very willing to give out answers right now, so it was best to inquire about more rted information. If it was to massacre each other, then they didn''t even need to hesitate to say they wanted to retreat. To fight against Liu Gan was like dancing with death itself.

    <span>"Of course I wouldn''t have you kill among yourselves here," the mainframe replied. That was when it stopped replying to any more questions.

    <span>"I feel like these trials were just a bluff to scare us. As long as we don''t mess up our own formation, we won''t have any issues. Oh yeah, don''t aim your weapons at one another, then we won''t have massacre among our own," QiuTao continued to speak up.

    <span>"Yes, Ninth Elder is right" other yers started to agree with QiuTao.

    <span>Liu Gan frowned. The moment he entered the game, he knew that there was a conspiracy behind this. Now that he had finished this second trial, Liu Gan felt that these were purely three trials without any hidden agenda. Passing through these games, he would be able to obtain the treasure. However, he could sniff out the danger that lurked behind the uing trial.

    <span>As for the actual situation, it was hard to tell. He could only wait until after the third trial to know the truth of his precarious situation.

    <span>The majority of the yers agreed with QiuTao''s point of view. Now that they had reached this point, it was time for thest trial. To fight for their prize would mean a better chance at surviving in The Trembling World. If they wanted to live a peaceful andfortable life, it wasn''t easy, but it was possible if they were stronger. So, this chance was something they couldn''t miss.

    <span>When Liu Gan entered through the metal door, others followed behind him. Once again, after walking through the framed metal door, it closed and locked tightly behind them.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>The group walked through another long tunnel, until they reached a gigantic empty room. When everyone had walked into the room, the tunnel passage also sealed up behind them. They heard<span><em> Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!</em><span> as continuous heavy objects blocked the way back. It was now pointless to try to break through the way they way they hade.

    <span>The yers knew that it was impossible to turn back now. They have to face the third trial now. If the third trial was a breeze like the previous two trials, then they wouldn''t have to gamble with their lives.

    <span>Even more lights lit up the room. They were high-powered lights, blinding everyone temporarily. After adjusting to the brightness, they could see the situation in this gigantic room.

 Chapter 401

    Chapter 401 - Repeat

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Scattered on the floor were various types of weapons: machetes, axes, spears, iron rods, pikes, shields, and so forth. yers scattered to look for their favorite weapon of choice to prepare for the oing battle.

    In the gigantic room were multiple concrete tforms of various heights. Some were two meters high, others three, four or even five meters high. The highest tform was ten meters high. Alongside the tforms weredders that could reach the top. Even before the third trial started, Liu Gan climbed onto the highest tform to map out the geography. This entire room was around two hundred meters long, several hundred meters wide, and twenty meters high. There were around twenty or so tforms.

    With these concrete tforms were in ce, it gave the room areas more suitable forbat. They could take advantage of this terrain to set up their battle formation. They could also set up their formation around a particr tform to maximize the potential of the yers.

    He was unsure of how this ¡®massacre¡¯ trial would turn out, but it had to do with a uing battle. It could be zombies or beasts or anything.

    ¡°Lord Liu, I shouldn¡¯t have cursed you. It is my fault! Please forgive me!¡± the yer who cursed at Liu Gan walked over apologetically. This was when Liu Gan climbed off of the tform.

    ¡°Now you know your own fault? How dare you curse Lord Liu? Are you trying to die!?¡± Zhao Meng walked over to punch and kick that yer, enough pain to cause that yer to scream in misery.

    Liu Gan frowned.

    ¡°Lord Liu, there is something wrong with this scene. Didn¡¯t we say those exact same words and actions before?¡± Jiang JinYuan walked over to whisper into Liu Gan¡¯s ear.

    ¡°You remember them saying those exact same words?¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°Lord Liu¡­ You couldn¡¯t have forgotten already?¡± Jiang JinYuan was scared as he looked at Liu Gan.

    ¡°Of course I remember.¡± Liu Gan looked at Zhao Meng and the yer getting beaten up. Liu Gan frowned as he kept thinking.

    Under the other yers persuasions, Zhao Meng stopped beating on the yer. Rather, Zhao Meng was looking at Liu Gan to see if he was still angry.

    ¡°Who are you? What ce is this? Why am I here?¡± Jiang JinYuan looked at Liu Gan, as he suddenly blurted out.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Liu Gan grasped Jiang JinYuan¡¯s cor.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ What did I just say?¡± Jiang JinYuan was puzzled and nervous.

    ¡°Your mental state seems to be the problem.¡± Liu Gan looked at Jiang JinYuan. ording to the symptoms that Jiang JinYuan had disyed, he understood the situation with these yers.

    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t be afraid. I feel like these trials were just a bluff to scare us. As long as we don¡¯t mess up our own formation, we won¡¯t have any issues. Oh yeah, don¡¯t aim your weapons at one another, then we won¡¯t have massacre among our own,¡± QiuTao spoke up.

    ¡°Yes, Ninth Elder is right!¡± the other yers started to agree with QiuTao.

    ¡°Those words he just said. I feel like I¡¯ve heard it before. What is this deja vu moment?¡± Jiang JinYuan continued to speak. He was very nervous as he crowded around Liu Gan.

    Liu Gan didn¡¯t say anything back. He turned and waved to NaNa. They walked behind a concrete tform, where he turned on the quantummunication system to send a message to Yin He. Then Liu Gan returned back to the group.

    ¡°Why did you say those exact same words twice?¡± Jiang JinYuan asked QiuTao.

    ¡°Say what words twice? I did that?¡± Qiu Tao was curious at the sudden turn of events.

    ¡°When you arrived onto the shore embankment, you said the exact same words. You, him, and also him have said the exact same words!¡± Jiang JinYuan pointed out to the yers.

    ¡°I have said those words before? Wait¡­ I think that did happen! What is going on here?¡± QiuTao suddenly remembered something. His facial expression was that of shock and fear.

    ¡°You there! You have apologized to Lord Liu already, why did you need to apologize again? You also beat him up already and yet you did it again¡­ You guys are repeating the same things over. Why?¡± Jiang JinYuan walked over to confront Zhao Meng and the beaten up yer.

    ¡°I seemed to have been beaten up twice at the same spot,¡± the beaten-up yer sighed.

    ¡°Yeah, your nose is bleeding,¡± Zhao Meng said to Jiang JinYuan.

    ¡°You¡­ You¡­ You¡­ are bleeding too!¡± Jiang JinYuan touched his nose. Then Jiang JinYuan pointed at Zhao Meng, and QiuTao¡¯s noses.

    ¡°I¡¯m also bleeding from my nose¡­¡± other yers started to touch their noses.

    Unconsciously, Liu Gan also touched his nose. He didn¡¯t bleed from his nose. He was the only one without a nose bleed.

    ¡°What is going on here? Why hasn¡¯t the third trial started yet?¡± Jiang JinYuan held onto his nose as he retreated back to Liu Gan¡¯s side. He panicked as he looked at the other yers, then at Liu Gan. When Jiang JinYuan noticed that Liu Gan was the only one without a nose bleed, he grew even more nervous.

    At this moment, in a certain direction the ground started trembling. It was followed by loud noises, like a heavy door was opening. After that were footsteps of waves of zombies charging at them. These zombies made their way around the tforms and charged in one direction - at the yers.

    ¡°These are all normal zombies! No need to get onto the tforms! Stay on the ground to ready your battle formation!¡± Liu Gan stood at the top of the highest tformdder to survey the area. Then, he jumped off and issued themands.

    By now, the nose bleeds had stopped. When they heard Liu Gan¡¯smand, they quickly picked up their weapons and fought off the oing zombies. There were around a hundred zombies, and the majority of them were just normal zombies. Only 5 or 6 ck-Spot Variant zombies were in the mix. This type of situation was just an intimidation. There wasn¡¯t much of a struggle as the yers killed the zombies. Under Liu Gan¡¯s leadership, these zombies were like slicing up tofu. Soon the hundred zombies were all dead.

    Once the zombies fell onto the ground, they dissipated as ck mist and scattered away.

    ¡°These zombies don¡¯t even leave behind corpses, so it must be a hallucination! So this trial is just to scare people! There is no danger involved!¡± QiuTao announced as he jumped to conclusions.

    ¡°This type of situation isn¡¯t as simple as it seems. You best not jump to conclusions so early!¡± Jiang JinYuan disagreed with QiuTao¡¯s point of view. Everything that had happened so far was very strange, so he felt deeply worried as his heart was pumping rapidly.

 Chapter 402

    Chapter 402 - Appetizer

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    ¡°Right, no matter what, these small fries won¡¯t amount to much. There must be a second or third waveing. It is a test of ¡®massacre¡¯. There must be stronger zombies in the uing waves!¡± Zhao Meng added.

    ¡°No matter if this is real or fake, why must we stand here to face off against them? Lord Liu, shouldn¡¯t we climb up to the highest tform. We would be up there, while the zombies would be down here. As long as we have thedder, we can climb up and it can¡¯t attack us if it can¡¯t reach us,¡± QiuTao suggested to Liu Gan.

    ¡°Right! We should be on top of the tform!¡± other yers chimed in as they agree with QiuTao. They viewed the tform as a protective screen, it would be easier to face off against waves of zombies. There shouldn¡¯t be much danger associated with this theory.

    ¡°If we all remain at the top, the zombies might not be able to attack us, but what happens when waves upon waves of zombiese rushing at us? Ultimately, the entire room can be filled with zombies. At that point, when it is a zombie army, how do we kill them? How will we pass this trial of ¡®massacre¡¯?¡± Liu Gan nced back at QiuTao.

    ¡°Yes! One chopstick is easy to break, but if a whole pile of chopsticks are bonded together then it is impossible to break!¡± Jiang JinYuan added.

    ¡°Lord Liu is right! I didn¡¯t consider that at all!¡± QiuTao suddenly realized the dangers of what he had almost suggested. Other yers seemed to finally understand, too. Liu Gan¡¯s spection was correct. It is a hard decision to make, to not go up on the tform. Killing each wave was the correct decision. Once these scattered zombies grouped up, it would be hard to kill them. At that point, it will be impossible to kill them all.

    The second wave of zombies was also around a hundred zombies. This time there were ten ck-Spot Variants mixed in. These ck-Spot Zombies were the only threat to the level 5 yers. However, Liu Gan sliced them down with his greataxe like regr zombies.

    Liu Gan was like a reef in the ocean, fighting against the flow of the current. He stood in front against the oing waves of zombies. With his greataxe, he damaged the ck-Spot Variants, leaving thest kill to his teammates behind him, since these zombies didn¡¯t give him any more experience.

    asionally, when the yers slipped up, NaNa woulde in a timely manner to save them, thus dissipating any threats to the yer.

    ¡°This is not an illusion! It is real! I¡¯ve leveled up! I killed the ck-Spot Variant and leveled up to 6!¡± An originally level 5 yer took thest kill on a heavily injured ck-Spot Variant. This yer checked his wrist watch to verify, much to his surprise.

    ¡°Killing them really obtains experience? Wonderful news!¡± Other yers started to cheer.

    These oing waves of zombies weren¡¯t that hard to handle! If there was experience involved, then with Lord Liu powerleveling them, they definitely wouldn¡¯t let this opportunity go.

    After killing thest zombie in the second wave, the third wave of zombies began. This time, among the wave there were a few more ck-Spot Variants added. There were at least 15 or 16 of them. This wave of zombies was a little hard to handle, but it didn¡¯t matter to Liu Gan. He was chopping them down like vegetables. Once again, after heavily injuring the variants, he gave the kills to other yers.

    Then it was the fourth wave. Then the fifth wave. After every sessive wave, there were more ck-Spot Variants added. Liu Gan wasn¡¯t fazed by this type of pressure, but some of the yers couldn¡¯t handle the pressure. They climbed onto the tform to avoid the attacks of ck-Spot Variants that got past the battle formation.

    Even though the battle formation was scrambled, it was only for a moment. Soon, Liu Gan cleared out the remaining wandering zombies. He even got the ck-Spot Variants that were trying to climb onto the tforms. Like usual, the yers took in the experience from killing the ck-Spot Variants.

    A total of twenty waves of zombies. Thest wave was all ck-Spot Variants. However, with Liu Gan standing at the front, none of them were a threat, especially when Liu Gan had his fury counter charged up to max. One [Enhanced Crescent de] was able to cut dozens of ck-Spot Variants in half. Severed from the waist down, their bodies flopped onto the floor. The guts and organs spilled onto the floor, but they were still moving around. The remaining yers took thest kills themselves. The corpses of these zombies dissipated as ck mist into the surroundings.

    If these zombie bodies didn¡¯t dissipate by themselves, then there would have been a mountain of corpses. Two thousand zombies wasn¡¯t a small amount of body count.

    ***

    After twenty waves of zombies were cleared, there was a long moment of silence. Seems like there wasn¡¯t another wave of zombies appearing¡­?

    ¡°So it was like that? What kind of trial is this? It is like an appetizer!¡± QiuTao shouted from the top of the tform.

    ¡°What do you mean appetizer? If it weren¡¯t for Lord Liu and only us, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive!¡± Zhao Meng didn¡¯t agree with QiuTao.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t ended yet. If you say it is an appetizer, then you have jumped to conclusion again!¡± Jiang JinYuan shouted back.

    ¡°I meant¡­ With Lord Liu leading us, this ¡®massacre¡¯ trial is just an appetizer. Please don¡¯t misunderstand. If we were alone, we would¡¯ve been dead a long time ago,¡± QiuTao added hurriedly.

    ¡°Quickly, jump back down!¡± Liu Gan saw something at the corner of his eye, and shouted to QiuTao.

    However, it was toote. The moment QiuTao reacted, a shadow dropped from the ceiling andnded where QiuTao was standing. QiuTao didn¡¯t even make any sound, his primitive [Mist Armor] shattered upon impact. His body was squashed like paste. Even the tform he stood on copsed. The crushed concrete of the tform caused several nearby yers to suffer coteral damage.

    After the shadow was confirmed, Liu Gan starred at the target. It was another Kingler!

    Without any presence, it came dropping in from the ceiling. With its immense weight, it crushed QiuTao and the concrete tform itnded on!

    ¡°Quickly, run as far away as you can!¡± Liu Gan shouted to the yers. Then he picked up his greataxe and charged at the Kingler.

    After reaching level 10, Liu Gan had not had a chance to fight against an Advanced monster. This was a good opportunity to measure how much he had grown sincest time. Also, killing this Kingler could finally earn him some experience, so this was a chance that he couldn¡¯t miss!

 Chapter 403 - Generous Rewards

    Chapter 403 - Generous Rewards

    TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

    Seeing that Liu Gan was charging over, the Kingler held out his pincers just as quickly to squeeze Liu Gan. However, Liu Gan wasn¡¯t like his past self. This time, his speed was much higher than when he first encountered a Kingler. He was at least ten times faster. So, in other yer¡¯s eyes, a Kingler¡¯s pincers were fast. However, in Liu Gan¡¯s eyes, it was fairly slow. Liu Gan easily dodged the attack.

    Then, Liu Gan activated his [Crescent de] ability onto the Kingler¡¯s face. Instantly, the Kingler¡¯s face had a deep gash that was ten centimeters deep. The pain surprised the Kingler and caused it to jump backwards. It was getting violent. With both pincers swinging around wildly, it would brush against the columns like an explosion. Even the tforms were dented in the process. The dust from concrete and rubble covered Liu Gan¡¯s body.

    Other yers heard Liu Gan¡¯s order loud and clear. They ran far away and climbed onto the tforms to watch the fight scene. This type of fight was beyond their capabilities, and they were in shock and awe. That was when they understood what it meant to be a trial. If it weren¡¯t for Liu Gan fighting against the Kingler, they wouldn¡¯t havested more than a few seconds. Their fates would be the same as QiuTao¡¯s.

    Liu Gan took advantage of the concrete tforms to get around to the Kingler¡¯s back side. Since the Kingler¡¯s body shape was huge, it had limited mobility in that terrain. Surrounding Kingler were concrete tform towers. So whenever it tried to attack Liu Gan, it had to destroy the concrete tforms first. Liu Gan was building up fury for his [Crescent de] ability, and it wouldnd on the Kingler¡¯s body without fail.

    The level 10 Liu Gan was definitely more powerful than pre-level 10 Liu Gan. Before, when Liu Gan had to face off against the Kingler, he didn¡¯t have any chance to retaliate. Now, he was kiting this Kingler easily.

    Building up his rage, Liu Gan took the chance to use [Enhanced Crescent de] on Kingler¡¯s body. Since it had a huge body, it was impossible to miss the attack at his distance. The [Enhanced Crescent de]nded on Kingler¡¯s carapace and left a deep wound that started leaking a ck substance.

    The ability seemed to do a lot of damage to the Kingler, and it went berserk. However, since there were still multiple concrete tforms in the nearby vicinity, Kingler couldn¡¯¡¯t focus on its target. It could only unleash its frustration on the tforms.

    The ten-meter tall concrete tform copsed under ten strikes. Once it crumbled, a dust cloud scattered.

    After the dust settled down, Liu Gan appeared by the Kingler¡¯s side. He continuously attacked its carapace where it had been damaged by [Crescent de] earlier. With his greataxe, he broke off a piece of the Kingler¡¯s carapace.

    Within Liu Gan¡¯s dimensional storage ring, he still had two hand grenades. There was no need for him to use those. He continued with this method of using [Crescent de] to prate the carapace, then attack it with his greataxe. All his abilitiesnded on the Kingler¡¯s body. Several more wounds opened up. When his rage build up was at max, he would cast [Enhanced Crescent de] on Kingler¡¯s pincers or carapace.

    After an hour of using this strategy, the battlefield was a mess. The tforms all became rubble fragments. The Kingler¡¯s carapace was fractured in multiple ces. On its back internal organs exposed. Of the two pincers, only one remained. It could still move its pincer around, but it was losing strength fast.

    Liu Gan jumped onto the top of the Kingler¡¯s shell and mmed his greataxe down. Then, he threw an [Enhanced Crescent de] into the Kingler¡¯s brain. After this attack, the Kingler¡¯s body slumped heavily down onto the floor, where ity motionless.

    Originally, when Yin He was still in her original body, she had sacrificed her life to kill the first Kingler. Now Liu Gan could walk out unscathed after fighting solo against a Kingler. The difference in power after reaching level 10 was iparable. From this fight, it was clear to see the difference.

    Shortly after, arge dense ck orb seeped into Liu Gan¡¯s body. Liu Gan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. He wasn¡¯t particrly happy. It didn¡¯t take long before Kingler¡¯s body also dissipated into the surroundings as ck mist.

    ¡°Congrattions on passing the ¡®wisdom¡¯, ¡®valor¡¯, and ¡®massacre¡¯ trial! You have sessfully survived to this point! You will be able to receive generous rewards from The Trembling World!¡± the mainframe¡¯s voice echoed out from the loudspeaker.

    ¡°The Trembling World?¡± the yers looked at each other. They each had a strange look on their faces.

    When they transferred in, every yer knew that The Trembling World was just a game. However, this was the first time they heard the game name announced as it dispensed rewards. This ce was only a copy of The Trembling World!?

    When Liu Gan heard the mainframe speak through the speakers, his expression changed.

    ¡°The path through the door has been opened for you. You can pass through to obtain your reward in that room. That is where you will obtain your generous reward,¡± the mainframe announced.

    After the mainframe spoke, a loud rumbling noise could be heard. In front of them, at a far corner, a metal door had opened up. At the same time, all the high-powered lights extinguished. Only the light that shone onto the door remained lit.

    When the word ¡®reward¡¯ was announced, everyone was very eager. They didn¡¯t wait for Liu Gan to scout ahead. No one was afraid anymore. They rushed forward as if they were afraid ofgging behind other people, or afraid of getting their reward stolen.

    Jiang JinYuan noticed that Liu Gan wasn¡¯t in a hurry, so he stayed back with Liu Gan. He humbly followed by Liu Gan¡¯s side.

    Walking through the well-lit door, they found another tunnel, a bit over twenty meters long. At the end of the tunnel they arrived at another room. This room¡¯s interior design was very special. It resembles a spaceship feel, something that was very futuristic.

    Surrounding this room were different instruments, with different flickering lights. In the middle of the room were four hibernation chambers, simr to the ones seen in movies. It gave off an elegant feeling despite its unknown purpose.

 Chapter 404

    <span><strong>Chapter 404 - To Gamble</strong>

    <span>TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Alongside the walls were rows of capsule chairs. These chairs were shaped like mods, ergonomically designed for human engineering. There was a door that wasn''t open on one side of the room, where it led to still unknown.

    <span>"The yers that participated have toy down in the reward capsule to receive your rewards. Please go in order, one by one. Don''t have more than two people in capsules at the same time. After you enter, please wait for the prompt to begin. Don''t damage the reward capsule, otherwise you won''t be able to retrieve your reward," the mainframe announced.

    <span>The yers were looking at each other, hesitation in their eyes. Who would be the first willing guinea pig to enter the capsule? Even though the words "generous rewards" were appealing, they weren''t enough to get them to go in. To them it seemed too easy, like they were missing a piece of important information.

    <span>"How do we know if this is a trap? What happens if we enter it and won''t wake up?" a yer asked the mainframe.

    <span>Along the wall one of the doors opened up and from the looks of it, it was an elevator lift.

    <span>"If you don''t want your reward, you can enter here that to leave this area. The elevator will return you back to the surface. However, the moment you enter the elevator, that means you''ve given up your option for reward. After that, I won''t be able to give you your reward," the mainframe replied to the yer''s question.

    <span>"Well then, I should go try it first. If there is a trap, I will find out for all of you!" a yer volunteered to head into the reward capsule first.

    <span>This volunteer was the yer who had cursed Liu Gan earlier, and was beaten up twice by Zhao Meng. Naturally, he felt ashamed, so he hoped to redeem himself by currying the favor of others. It was a gamble, too. If he proved to be useful, then Liu Gan might forget about getting cursed at. There might be additional rewards for being the first!

    <span>This unnamed yer entered the reward capsule, and the ss door automatically closed. Through this ss door, the unnamed yer was visible. They witnessed headgear being ced on the yer, as well as wrist and ankle shackles locking onto to him.

    <span>The unnamed yer''s heart rate, respiratory rate, level, health condition, and other statuses were also disyed on the ss screen of the capsule. It was synchronized to match the readings on the unnamed yer''s wristwatch.

    <span>"This matches what you would find in a traditional game system! It seems there are certain game elements from The Trembling World that have been implemented. This is the first time I''ve seeing something that connects to the game," another yer said loudly when he saw the screen.

    <span>Whatever the helmet instructed the yer to do, only the yer inside could hear it. There were spections that it was instructing the yer to remain still, since once the unnamed yer entered he justid motionless.

    <span>After a short while the machine started rumbling loudly. Meanwhile, the monitor of reward capsule disyed "Rewarding in Progress''''. This was followed by ear-piercing chimes when the yer leveled up, the stats disyed slowly increasec for the yer.

    <span>Strength, agility, vision, hearing, and other stats were slowly increasing at set intervals. After the overall stats had reached a certain level requirement, the machine chimed. A gray light flowed within the chambers of the capsule. A notification popped up to show that the yer had leveled up from 5 to 6!

    <span>"Damn! This is handing out experience points like candy! There were enough points for a level up!" The bystanding yers were ogling the monitor. They were all excited, and eager to test it out themselves.

    <span>However, the reward capsule didn''t stop after the level-up. The yer''s stats continued to rise. After ten minutes, it jumped to level 7! Even at this point, his stats continued to rise. It was nearing the requirements for level 8!

    <span>The 12 yers standing outside were just watching. They had nothing else to do, so they were growing impatient. There were a few yers who wanted to enter into the remaining reward capsules. They wanted to personally experience this feeling of jumping levels. To the inhabitants of The Trembling World, there was nothing more important than levels. Every level increase would raise their body''s properties substantially. This would give them an advantage over the lower level yers.

    <span>Only the strongest survive, only the higher level yers could thrive. In the vige, the higher status yers had more rights and authority. Having higher levels would earn them the respect of other yers, since having power was equivalent to getting respect. Gaining levels was one of the most enticing offer anyone can provide. It wasn''t just one level, but several levels of experience.

    <span>Such an enticing offer for these yers was hard to resist. If they weren''t any potential dangers, they would''ve hopped into one of the chambers for the reward capsule. They were afraid of the mainframe changing its mind and retracting the offer, or any anomalies that mighte up during the transfer of experience. There was also the fear of thepeting yers beating them to the level-up and then sabotaging the machine. That would mean the remaining yers would be unable to im their level-up reward. That would be truly unfortunate!

    <span>The more clear-headed yers held the eager yers back. Since they had one guinea pig already, there was no need to have more than one casualty if something did happen to the first yer. It was for the best if they waited for the first yer to leave the reward capsule first. To confirm its safety, it is worth it to wait briefly for the final results.

    <span>Since the whole leveling procedure was very slow, the once rowdy crowd of yers was losing patience and getting tired. If they weren''t waiting for the final results, the impatient yers would''ve had an impulse to sleep through the entire reward procedure.

    <span>It was fortunate the bystanding yers hadfortable chairs to sit and sleep around them. It was a brief solution to ease their frustration. However, there were a few yers who chose to remain by the reward capsule; they wanted to be the first persons to witness the benefits after the reward. They were cautious and skeptical of this reward system. Eventually the feelings of anxiety and fatigue caught up to the yers once they started to sit down. The overwhelming feelings made the yers fall asleep on the chairs, and it didn''t take long before they started snoring.

    <span>Just like that, the first yer started at level 5, then it raised to level 6. From level 6 to 7, from 7 to 8, and now 8 to 9. At level 9, it rose to level 10¡­ That took two hours toplete. The reward procedure stopped after the unnamed yer reached level 10.

    <span>At the same time, the monitor indicated that the first yer had obtained a new ability. It must be the ability that was granted to him after reaching level 10.

    <span>"Level 10!"

    <span>"Level 10? This is really hard to believe!"

    <span>"Is it really possible to level up to 10 from level 5?!" the bystanding yer shouted loudly to wake everyone up from their slumber.

 Chapter 405

    <span><strong>Chapter 405 - Ungrateful</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"This is out of our expectations!"

    <span>"It''s like the Heaven''s gift!"

    <span>"If we reach level 10, then by the time we return to the vige, won''t we be well-respected?"

    <span>"Mainframe! Is everyone''s reward going to be as generous as this yer? In one go, this yer went from level 5 to level 10. Since I''m level 6, does that mean I will reach level 11?" an impatient yer suddenly shouted loudly to the mainframe.

    <span>"The reward isn''t a lot, it is just that you feel like it is because your levels are too low! These three trials are for level 10 yers. Under normal circumstances, none of you should''ve been able to pass the trials. So a simple reward had an amplified effect when you weak yers receive it," the mainframe loudly and bluntly.

    <span>"That would make sense, especially if these rewards were meant for level 10 yers. We were able to skip to level 10 from our original levels of 5 or 6. The earned rewards were meant for level 10 yers, so that goes to show how hard it will be to raise a levelter on. Is that thinking correct?" The yer summarized what he had understood and exined to others.

    <span>The situation was like a high level yer carrying his team of noobs to kill a BOSS. When the experience points were equally distributed, then the high-level yers might only gain a level or half a level, while the lower-level yers would have more to show for with the same amount of experience. It wouldn''t be a surprise to see single-digit level reach double-digits in level.

    <span>"Does that mean post-level 10 yers wouldn''t be able to gain several levels?" Jiang JinYuan asked mainframe, on behalf of Liu Gan.

    <span>"Post-level 10 yers won''t be affected as drastically after they im their rewards. At most the post-level 10 yers would gain a level or two. However, level 12 or 13 yers might not level up at all. Raising even fifty percent of their experience bar is considered quite generous.

    <span>"There are also other factors thate into y aside from levels. Their innate body properties and mental determination yers can help these level 10 yers gain up to five levels. But the chance of that happening isn''t very high.

    <span>"Passing the three trials will provide every participating yer with the same amount of experience points. As for the lower-level yers, they will see more of a jump. The effects on higher-level yers will see a gradual increase. For the new level 10 yers, they might be able to obtain an additional ability. As for what other ability it is, that will rely on that person''s luck. Normally, it is more favorable for yers with a strong willpower and psychological fortitude to be able to obtain stronger abilities," the mainframe responded to Jiang JinYuan''s inquiry.

    <span>This was the moment when the unnamed yer was released from the reward capsule. The helmet, wrist, and ankle shackles were released from the yer. As the first volunteer, he stood up and walked around as he checked out his stats on the alloy watch.

    <span>"Damn! This is good! I feel my body is filled with energy!" The unnamed yer looked like he was rejuvenated, with higher spirits than before.

    <span>"Are you really at level 10 now?" The bystanding yers surrounded the unnamed yer, all wanted a glimpse at his wrist watch.

    <span>The unnamed yer disyed his alloy watch proudly for others to see. There was one specific number that the yers were looking for, it was the number that showed "10". When the yers saw the number, they were all shocked.

    <span>"Were you able to activate another ability?" a yer suddenly asked.

    <span>"Yes! You are right!" the yer responded. Unable to resist the urge, the yer lifted up his fist to punch the air. His duo fists were wrapped in ayer of blue mes; it looks as if he was ying with two fireballs!

    <span>Clearly, this was an ability that could be awakened by level 10 yers! What a strong ability!

    <span>"So cool! I don''t care anymore! I will also go im my reward!" Several yers rushed toward the reward capsules. They can''t wait any longer to obtain their reward.

    <span>"Hey! What is wrong with you people? Let Lord Liu go first!" Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng blocked the yers that tried to rush into the capsule. Four yers rushed into the reward capsule and sealed it off.

    <span>"No need to fight over it. If they want to im their reward first, then let them go first," Liu Gan told Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng. Liu Gan was sitting on his chair without any intentions of moving or iming the reward.

    <span>"Ugh, these people are ungrateful. They don''t know how to give thanks!" Zhao Meng said in a bad mood. He felt that these people, who had received Liu Gan''s kindness so eagerly, forgot to repay the favor.

    <span>"Yeah! If only Squad Leader Han GuangMing was here, he would make sure that this reward process would be upheld fairly," Jiang JinYuan said in a depressed mood.

    <span>Hearing Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan''s concern, Liu Gan''s expression didn''t change; he continued to pet NaNa on the head without a care in the world.

    <span>The remaining bystanding yers didn''t react fast enough, so they could only surround the yer who came out of the capsule. They kept asking about rted issues; they were worried that they would screw up the procedure somehow and be unable to obtain the reward.

    <span>ording to what the yer had said, after he had entered the capsule, the helmet was giving directions on what to do and what not to do. When he leveled up, the feeling was simr to the feeling of killing zombies to level up. His body would experience a burning sensation and along with it, the stats to show the level up. After every level-up, the burning feeling of improving was very distinct. It was as if the stats were burned into his body.

    <span>"No need to be afraid, justy down and don''t move. It is very easy to obtain your reward. Just rest like you are sleeping and by the time you wake up, you will be as powerful as me!" the yer encouraged his weaker mates.

    <span>After reaching level 10, people''s attitude changed. To suddenly change their status from a weak yer to that of a strong yer would boost a yer''s confidence. Especially when talking to yers lower level than they are, an arrogant expression woulde to surface.

    <span>If there was a real world situation to describe it, it would be with college ssmates. Even though they were considered equal in status, when one of them gained a better status through wealth or fame, they might unt it around other ssmates. The sudden change in status would change people. So naturally, the unnamed yer spoke arrogantly.

    <span>Over two hours of waiting, the four yers obtained their reward. No matter whether they were level 5 or 6, they were all raised to level 10. The unnamed yer was the first yer to enter into the capsule and no abnormalities had appeared, so people believed that there were no adverse side effects from leveling this way.

 Chapter 406

    <span><strong>Chapter 406 - Meaningful</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"You people still haven''t thanked Lord Liu for his kindness! Without Lord Liu guiding you through these three trials, you wouldn''t have been able to obtain level 10 at all!" Zhao Meng angrily shouted at the yers.

    <span>Even now Zhao Meng felt that it was quite unfair. These people had gained everything, but they still hadn''t given thanks to the person responsible yet. Rewards like these were supposed to be meant for loyal yers who had been with Liu Gan since the beginning.

    <span>"Yes, you are right! All this is due to Brother Liu!" several yers started replying to Zhao Meng. In their manner of speech, they were quite arrogant with a slight condescending tone. They were very respectful towards Liu Gan, when they were still level 5 and 6. Now that they were all level 10, they felt like they could disregard Liu Gan.

    <span>Since they were all level 10 now, they felt that they were peers now. So even saying the "Brother" in Brother Liu, they feel like they had paid their respects to Liu Gan already. When they returned to Beginner Vige, no one could stand against them. So if they worked together now, even Liu Gan would have to respect them, right? There was no way they could let just one person rule the vige.

    <span>Upon hearing the words "Brother Liu" and their rude attitude, Zhao Meng got even angrier. Zhao Meng nced at Liu Gan, at which point he discovered that Liu Gan wasn''t angry at the attitude of the outrageous yers. Liu Gan had on a calm demeanor, which discouraged Zhao Meng. If Liu Gan wasn''t mad at this, then what right did he have to be mad?

    <span>Judging from Liu Gan''s former style, he would be in a bad mood when dealing with yers like these. He wouldn''t be this calm.

    <span>After another slow two hours, the reward capsule released four more yers. When Liu Gan left the vige, he brought along 15 yers. Along the way, two yers had died. The first batch of four yers epted the rewards after the first unnamed yer. Then, another batch of four yers came out. All that were left were Liu Gan and four other yers.

    <span>After the second batch of four yers left, another two yers rushed into the avable capsules. Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng really wanted to enter into the reward capsule, but it was only right that they ask Liu Gan first.

    <span>"Lord Liu, you should go in first," Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng suggested to Liu Gan. Even though they didn''t want to be thest batch of yers to im the reward, they were used to seeking Liu Gan''s advice.

    <span>At the same time, they highly respected Liu Gan. It was due to his guidance that they were still alive, so his opinions are highly valued.

    <span>"I won''t enter it. You shouldn''t enter it either. This is a trap. These people are in big trouble. You will see the reason very soon," Liu Gan told the two. Maintaining his expression, Liu Gan sat in the chair.

    <span>"Lord Liu, did you discover something?" Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng whispered in concern. The rewards were too generous, it was quite an enticing offer. As proof, those previous yers who had im the reward were still live and running about! There was nothing visibly abnormal about them.

    <span>Deep down, Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan hoped that this reward capsule wasn''t a trap. If it was a trap, then it was quite disheartening. They thought that this was a rare chance to rise to level 10 in one go! Those yers didn''t deserve the rewards, and they were quite ungrateful about it. But, since they were all there, it was inevitable.

    <span>"It is hard to say now, but the result will show itself. You guys, don''t have to be too disappointed. If it doesn''t work this time, there will always be another chance in the future. I will find a chance for you to reach level 10. The right way to reach level 10. Not like them¡­" Liu Gan looked at the bunch of excited level 10 yers.

    <span>Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng nced at each other. This type of jumping levels was an alluring offer. However, the moment Liu Gan warned them, they didn''t want to attempt something that dangerous. They knew that Liu Gan was very cautious, so he would never miscalcte.

    <span>"Why haven''t you imed your reward?" the rewarded yers asked the three remaining people - Liu Gan, Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng. It was strange, why they haven''t im their reward yet.

    <span>"We¡­ choose to give up the reward" Zhao Meng whimpered once. Then, repeated it louder the next time so the yers could hear it.

    <span>"What? Why would you give it up? This is such a good opportunity!"

    <span>"Yes! Are you stupid?"

    <span>"You are overly cautious."

    <span>"This is unreasonable¡­"

    <span>All the yer had on unimaginable expressions.

    <span>"We like our current level now, why would we want to rush the level up?" Zhao Meng red at those yers. The question was something he wanted to direct at Liu Gan instead of the yers. With Liu Gan''s warning, these rewarded yers will have trouble in the near future.

    <span>This was something that Zhao Meng didn''t quite understand. The rewarded yers still hadn''t shown any troublesome signs yet. So he could only hope that Liu Gan was right. If these rewarded yers didn''t show any problems, then only he and Jiang JinYuan hadn''t obtained the reward. What a depressing day.

    <span>The rest of the rewarded yers kept discussing how stupid it was to forgo the reward. At the same time, they started discussing their newly awakened abilities; they cared most about how they could show off their might in the vige.

    <span>Naturally, one or two yers felt that Liu Gan''s actions were strange. They also worried that the reward capsule were a trap, but such worries were brushed away by the sess of awakening an ability. Subconsciously, they brushed away any worries.

    <span>Even after such a long period of time, there was nothing wrong with the rewarded yers'' bodies. So what was the worry? Liu Gan and the other two must be stupid, to give up such a good reward!

    <span>After another two hours, thest two yers also imed their reward, and finished obtaining it a simr amount of timeter. They walked out of the capsule toward the other yers as theypared their abilities.

    <span>Thest two yers iming their rewards were excited to demonstrate their abilities to the others. One after another, they were debating who had the better ability.

    <span>"We people need to bond together. If we bond together, we will be an unstoppable force. That way we don''t have to be dependent on other people!" The first yer who had imed the reward started to rope in the other level 10 yers. This was also the same yer who had cursed at Liu Gan.

    <span>This person knew that after cursing at Liu Gan, his future was very limited. So even if he returned back to the vige, he wouldn''t have it easy. Now that he was level 10 and had activated new abilities, he had to rope in new allies. With more allies, they didn''t have to fear Liu Gan, since they would have strength in numbers.

 Chapter 407

    <span><strong>Chapter 407 - Capsules</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Yes! You do have a point. We should group together!" Another rewarded yer nced in the direction of Liu Gan. Then he started chiming in with the other yers. As members of the Elder Committee, their rtionship with each other was a lot better than it was with Liu Gan. It was fortunate that they were able to level to 10 together, so they could work with each other.

    <span>Once they bonded together, at least they didn''t have to be dependent on Liu Gan''s will; Liu Gan couldn''t order them around like he used to, they felt. With strength in numbers, they could even expel Liu Gan from the vige and pick a new leader.

    <span>"Lord Liu, did you hear what they just said? These people are such¡­" Zhao Meng was in such disgust when he heard the unrestrained conversation between the yers. He was at the end of his patience.

    <span>Even though the yers were now level 10, Zhao Meng was only level 6. If he had an angry outburst, he didn''t have the strength to provoke these yers. They could kill him like an ant. If he was left alone with these yers, his life would be as cold as ice.

    <span>"Rx." Liu Gan wasn''t angry at all. All he did was sit on the chair with a rxed look while petting NaNa.

    <span>"The remaining yers, please im your reward. Afterwards you can safely ride the elevator to return. If you choose to give up on your reward, then after half an hour the reward capsule will remain sealed forever." The mainframe noticed there were three yers who hadn''t imed a reward yet.

    <span>"Lord Liu, we really shouldn''t enter?" Zhao Meng asked Liu Gan one more time. He was hoping that Liu Gan''s judgement was wrong, or his mind would change if he asked once more. The rewards didn''t seem toe with a side effect, could it be that they are overly cautious.

    <span>"Mainframe, don''t rush us. Why would you need to rush?" Liu Gan nced at Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Lord Liu is right." Zhao Meng nced at the reward capsule. Everytime someone mentioned the word <span><em>reward</em><span>, it was just too tempting to refuse.

    <span>"Mainframe, can we leave first, then?" The other yers didn''t want to continue standing around in that location.They wanted to rush out to gather more support and scheme.

    <span>"No. Once everyone ims their reward, they can leave together. Shortly after, I will seal off this part of theboratory forever. After that, no one in the future can obtain rewards if they pass through the trials," the mainframe responded.

    <span>"The rewardboratory will seal in half an hour. Brother Liu, you should hurry up!"

    <span>"Yes! We are very tired. Let''s hurry up and go back to the vige to sleep¡­"

    <span>"Don''t waste other people''s time!"

    <span>The yer heard the mainframe''s answer. One by one, they urged Liu Gan. After they decided to work together, they lost all respect for Liu Gan.

    <span>"If you want to leave, then leave. Why are you still here mumbling?" Liu Gan finally spoke up.

    <span>"Brother Liu, you are quite funny. Didn''t the mainframe tell us? We need you toe with us! Otherwise, none of us can leave," the yer angrily spoke back.

    <span>"Yeah! You are wasting our time!" The other yers started to work with each other. As Elder Committee members, they were able to forge bonds quickly.

    <span>Liu Gan nced at the yers, he didn''t care for them anymore. That was when he started petting NaNa on the head again.

    <span>"<span><em>Sigh</em><span>¡­ how can someone be like this?"

    <span>"No team spirit!"

    <span>"Poor manners!"

    <span>"Seems like it is due to theck of proper education¡­"

    <span>Several yers continued to vent their frustrations and me Liu Gan. In fact, they were quite loud so everyone could hear.

    <span>Zhao Meng continued to re, as that was all he can do. What he wanted to do is beat up these ungrateful yers. He regretted not doing that before, and he definitely can''t do that now. Even one of their punched would be lethal to him.

    <span>At this time, lights in the room darkened, warning lights started shing. The fire rm siren was echoing.

    <span>"Please hurry and im your reward! The system is failing. If you don''t im the reward now, it will be ineffective! If you wait too long, then don''t regret if you can''t get any rewardter!" The mainframe started bing more impatient.

    <span> Liu Gan patted NaNa on the head. Without any expression, he replied to the mainframe, "Then render it ineffective. I never had any intentions of iming the reward."

    <span>"You three should just obediently im your reward! Don''t waste our time!" The arrogant yers started tosh out at Liu Gan, Zhao Meng, and Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>"You can''t wait that long? You should be nose bleeding anytime now," Liu Gan continued.

    <span>Sure enough, after a few minutes, the yers started to bleed from their nose. They wiped it off as if they didn''t mind it. Now they were ring maliciously at Liu Gan, likepletely different personalities.

    <span>"Lord Liu, what is the matter?" Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan were surprised at how urate the prediction was. Then, with the change in attitude, they could confirm that something suspicious was going on.

    <span>"If my guess is right, these aren''t reward capsule. It is some sort of high-tech spirit-seizing device. The yers that entered the capsule were injected with another person''s soul. Since it was forcefully implemented into the new body, it was in an unstable condition. With the hostile takeover of the new body, it was still hard to adjust to the yer''s body.

    <span>"Now that they realize I won''t enter the spirit seizing capsule, they want to use physical force to pressure us. To do that, they needplete control of their new bodies. By forcing the process of adapting to the new body, it causes harm to the new body. The biggest clue to that was the nose bleeding." Liu Gan told Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan.

    <span>"However, when I climbed out of the water, I also had a nose bleed¡­" Zhao Meng recalled.

    <span>"Ever since entering theboratory, you have been breathing in the air that had special chemicals mixed in. It must have some gaseous vtile drug mixed in. The more you breathe it in, the easier it is for your body to adapt to epting new souls. So the more drug there is in your system, the more harmful it is to your body. Certain phenomena, like nose bleeding, will show up," Liu Gan continued to specte.

    <span>"You also inhaled the drug?" Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan started to sniff out the surroundings with fear.

    <span>"As long as you don''t enter those spirit seizing capsules, then nothing will happen. However, if you enter the capsules, your body will be taken over by someone else. Just like how they are now. Before the nose bleed, they were still themselves. After the nose bleed, they are different people." Liu Gan looked at the malicious yers.

 Chapter 408

    <span><strong>Chapter 408 - Impartial</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"Their¡­ their bodies have been taken over?" Zhao Meng looked suspiciously at the sinister-looking yers, that was when he understood the hate behind their re.

    <span>Unsure of it himself, but once Zhao Meng understood that there was something wrong with the yers - he felt happy. He had the mischievous feeling of happiness when it was at the expense of someone''s else. Before hearing that statement from Liu Gan, Zhao Meng wanted to beat these ungrateful yers up. However, once he knew about the soul seizing capsules, it was the best retribution. To strengthen the body, but lose their soul in the process. It was ironic. These yers must have felt despair and regret inside the capsule.

    <span>"Their current reaction matches my spection. Seems like there was a conspiracy behind the creation of the Beginner Vige. It has been nned for a long time. They were probably waiting for someone like me - a strong yer. Now is their chance to execute their n," Liu Gan stood up from the chair.

    <span>"Beginner Vige''s conspiracy n?" Zhao Meng raised his eyebrow at that term. This was the first time he heard of this, so he was wondering how thisboratory can tie up with the vige?

    <span>"Whether you want to or not, you will enter the reward capsule!" one brave yer challenged Liu Gan. These yers have changed from their former selves; they stood upright with chests out and had stern expressions with a malicious look in their eyes.

    <span>"Lord Liu, what are these people now?" Zhao Meng shivered from a cold chill that went down his spine. He was afraid and d at the same time. He was afraid because he couldn''t understand what was going on; he was d because he had listened to Liu Gan''s advice to not enter the capsule. If he didn''t listen, then he would''ve met the same fate as the yers who entered into the capsule.

    <span>"Look at their standing posture and have you noticed their tone? I think they have been trained in the military," Liu Gan walked up to Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Soldiers?" Zhao Meng and Jiang JinYuan were more confused.

    <span>"I am only specting, that might not be the exact truth. The original yers with us, their souls are no longer in their bodies. After the injection, their body was injected with the souls of soldiers. However, the body and soul needs time to synchronize, before the soldiers soul can control the bodypletely,"

    <span>"I refused to enter the capsule. So the current situation has changed, they are forced to act. If I don''t enter the capsule, they can''t aplish their mission. They need my body to host one of their important fellow soldiers. Their only option is to pin me down inside the capsule," Liu Gan exined to Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Then¡­ the original souls¡­ the ones with us. What happened to them?" Zhao Meng asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"The original souls are forced aside to the backseat, with the new souls taking up reins of the body. The original souls could only watch their bodies being manipted. There is nothing the original souls can do since the new souls are stronger.

    <span>"Eventually, they will be marginalized. The original souls would be pushed further aside and into the dark abyss. The original soul would shrink or be consumed as nutrition for the new souls. Once their soul is gone, all their memories will be erased. In the end, the body will be host to a new identity," Liu Gan continued to exin to hispanions.

    <span>Everything that was happening to the yers, was something that had been done to Jiang JinYuan''s body. In the underwaterboratory, Su Nina exined in detail to Liu Gan about the process of soul-seizing. The earliest symptom of soul recement is when the body bleeds from the nose. That was how Liu Gan noticed something was wrong.

    <span>As for the drug that diffused into the air, it was made to help the new soul synchronize to the body faster. That was why everyone had short-term amnesia earlier. Even a fragmented soul remaining in Jiang JinYuan''s body was awakened; that moment when Jiang JinYuan forgot who and where he was.

    <span>From the moment Liu Gan had stepped into theboratory, he didn''t breathe in the air. All he had to do was wet his skin and his [Dermal Respiration] ability would activate. From time to time, Liu Gan would touch his ring to use the Dimensional Storage Space and take out some water to wet his skin. He only needed several droplets to convert into clean pure oxygen.

    <span>The gaseous drug diffused in the air was very dispersed. However, NaNa was able to detect the abnormality. It warned Liu Gan earlier when it pulled him aside. Since Liu Gan didn''t need to breathe in the air, it wasn''t a concern for him. As for hispanions, he can only observe their reactions from breathing in the air. After all, they didn''t have any alternative method of breathing to turn to. All these clues would help Liu Gan figure out the true purpose behind these three trials.

    <span>"Hurry up and enter into the reward capsule to receive your reward! Don''t force us to hold you down!" The same yer amongst the group started shouting aggressively. By now their faces were livid with pale blue color. The new soul was trying to take over the body as fast as it could, but the body wasn''t cooperating. They red at Liu Gan with hostility.

    <span>"Lord Liu, they are soldiers of which military? The alien army? Why do they want to take over our bodies?" Jiang JinYuan was having a hard time believing it. His current shell was taken over by his soul; it was a given that he didn''t want to lose his body again.

    <span>Soul-seizing wasn''t too much of a shock factor for Jiang JinYuan. Zhao Meng always had a different view of life; he couldn''t believe things like souls that he read in wuxia novels can apply to him.

    <span>"If I didn''t guess wrong, they are Zhan Nan Shan''spanions. The Second Elder should be hiding in a certain area just watching from behind the scenes. My second guess would be that he is the mainframe that keeps assigning us these trials," Liu Gan continued.

    <span>"Second Elder Zhan Nan Shan?" Jiang JinYuan and Zhao Meng thought it was strange. How could theboratory be connected with the vige and Zhan Nan Shan? They had only heard good things about Zhan Nan Shan in the vige. On top of that, Zhan Nan Shan selflessly gave up the vige to Liu Gan. So it was hard to imagine Zhan Nan Shan as the culprit behind this conspiracy!

    <span>"This is one of those times when you have to connect several issues together to find the truth. I''ve always suspected Zhan Nan Shan for his reasons behind the creation of the vige. It was even more suspicious when he handed over the vige without any qualms or requests. To top it off, he purposely gave me the map that led us to theboratory. This was part of his ploy to get me to go through the trials. Now, I understand the full situation," Liu Gan answered Jiang Jin Yuan and Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Brother Liu, you are very intelligent. I underestimated you again," Zhan Nan Shan''s voice traveled through the inte. It seemed it was indeed him from the very beginning, acting as the mainframe was just a way to hide his presence.

    <span>"Second Elder, your true intentions were really well hidden. However, I didn''t underestimate your intelligence and ambitions at all," Liu Gan replied.

 Chapter 409

    <span><strong>Chapter 409 - Impossible To Escape</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Hahaha, Brother Liu, you know me really well. I am starting to admire you even more! If it wasn''t for the mission that I have to fulfill, I would love to have a friend like you. I bear the burden of an important mission; it carries the significance of the fate of the human race!" Zhan Nan Shanughed loudly.

    <span>"Thank you, you put me in too high regard. Ever since I met with Second Elder, you have been praising me nonstop. If it was anyone else, they would''ve sumbed to your sweet talk. I''m a rather clear-minded person. When I hear ttery, I will be even more suspicious. I won''t be fooled that easily," Liu Gan replied back to Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"You are truly a perfect host. A person with strong soul and firm willpower would definitely have a strong shell. You should be proud to be the next host for my organization''s true leader - the Dragon Commander. He will enjoy your shell once he takes control of it. Aside from you, I don''t think there will be a more suitable candidate to sacrifice to the Dragon Commander. You are definitely the miracle we were waiting for! It was as if you were specifically prepared for us!" Zhan Nan Shan continued.

    <span>"Your organization''s true leader, Dragon Commander, should be at least level 15 or above, right? He only has the soul left, I can imagine how hard it would be to find another body that is level 15 to match his soul on NinJing Ind. So people like me, level 10 is the most eptable?" Liu Gan replied to Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>Hearing Zhan Nan Shan and Liu Gan''s conversation, Jiang Jin-Yuan and Zhao Meng were still confused. They couldn''t follow the content of Zhan Nan Shan and Liu Gan''s discussion. Who is the person that they speak of, the Dragon Commander? Was Qiu Zi Tao was still alive? What is this issue about level 15 and above? The more they asked, the more they realized they how much they didn''t know.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan''s true leader, Dragon Commander, wasn''t the already dead Qiu Zi Tao? It was Zhan Nan Shan''s organization leader. Everything Zhan Nan Shan had nned so far, it was all to revive the Dragon Commander.

    <span>Evidently, their technology was very different than Su Nina''s technology.

    <span>"With a perfect shell like yours, even if your level isn''t high, it is eptable. Your body is very fit and you possess unlimited potential. If Dragon Commander upies your body, it wouldn''t even take long for him to level back up. I''ve talked with Dragon Commander about you, he was quite satisfied with your shell. I am forced to make a move on you," Zhan Nan Shan continued.

    <span>"You really want me to take over my body, but that isn''t as simple as you would imagine," Liu Gan chuckled.

    <span>"Do you think you have the right to negotiate? You are trapped meters underground, with reinforced concrete and steel tes built into the foundation of the structure. It will be quite difficult for you to escape! Did I mention that you are surrounded by level 10 yers that are under mymand. Their original levels exceeded level 10, many souls were up to level 13 and 14. During the beta period, we were all on the Central Ind with a mission to fulfill. We have our unrelenting spirit and determination to rely on! With military background from different fields, we have to do what is necessary. We are Special Forces!

    <span>"So, even if you beat two or three of them, can you handle all ten soldiers at the same time? I encourage you to behave yourself and enter the reward capsule on your own. If I have to use force, I have a hundred different ways to make you submit to my will! Even though we were once friends and I admire you, I don''t want to resort to that. If your shell gets hurt in the process, I wouldn''t want to damage the goods," Zhan Nan Shan urged Liu Gan.

    <span>"On active duty?"

    <span>Liu Gan narrowed his eyes as the conversation progressed. Zhan Nan Shan''s statement hinted that during the beta period the army was already settled in The Trembling World when it was still a game. That would mean their conspiracy wasn''t limited solely to the creation of Beginner Vige. If the conspiracy was nned even before the server release date, then everything from the catastrophe to the trapped yers would fall under this conspiracy.

    <span>"Yes, I am a Major. I am carrying out my my duties as a soldier. This isn''t a game, it is a war! It is a war to save our world. I will do whatever methods it takes to seed. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. I must use everything at my disposal, including your body! No matter how hard you struggle, it is futile! Just obey mymand and enter into the capsule!" Zhan Nan Shan''s tone became more aggressive.

    <span>"So you were a ranked officer? It''s too bad that I''m not your soldier. Yourmands are meaningless to me¡­" Liu Gan shrugged. ording to all the clues given, his spections were almostplete.

    <span>"Okay, since I''m unable tomand you. I canmand the soldiers that are surrounding you; they are my best subordinates. They have devoted their life to this cause. Needless to say, they will do their best to carry out their mission," Zhan Nan Shan reminded Liu Gan.

    <span>After Zhan Nan Shan''s statement, it was cue for the remaining yers to make a move on Liu Gan.

    <span>"No problem! Let them try! I love getting into fights. Fighting one to one isn''t fun at all, it is only satisfying when fighting against a group of people!" Liu Gan instigated as he stretched out his muscles. Bones cracked throughout his body at the joints, it was a horrifying sound.

    <span>"You refused my kindness and prefer to do things the hard way! Dragon Commander fancies your body, consider that a honor! When we finish our mission, we will tell stories of your sacrifice! As a martyr, you will be hailed as a hero! If you put up with a stubborn resistance, then you are dering that you are an enemy of humanity! You will have to forgive us for being rude!" Zhan Nan Shan continued to exert his influence.

    <span>"Bullshit! You give yourself too much credit. If you want to test my patience, then let theme at me!" Liu Gan unrelentingly announced.

    <span>The rewarded yers didn''t immediately lunge toward Liu Gan. They moved to the cab doors on the walls. The cab doors were popped open remotely by Zhan Nan Shan. They equipped themselves with never-before-seen weapons, and put on gas masks.

    <span>White gaseous smoke was released into the venttion ducts and leaked into the room. This gas had anesthetic properties. For that reason, Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan held their breath, but they couldn''tst more than a few minutes. Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan copsed onto the floor shortly after.

    <span>Liu Gan stood in ce as if nothing was wrong in the first ce. Zhan Nan Shan didn''t know about Liu Gan''s ability to breathe through his skin instead of his mouth. Liu Gan could extract as much water from his Dimensional Storage Space for oxygen as he needed.

 Chapter 410

    <span><strong>Chapter 410 - Witchcraft</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Even with such a strong anesthetic, it is fucking useless against you¡­ Seems like I still haven''t been able to grasp the full extent of your potential. No matter, you will be forced into the reward capsule!" Zhan Nan Shan was getting more aggressive, and appeared to be getting more nervous by that fact.

    <span>"You nned for such a long time, it can''t be just these tactics?" Liu Gan frowned disappointingly. He was still waiting for Zhan Nan Shan''s big move!

    <span>"So you really want to do things the hard way. Then, I can only resort to these uncivilized means! Everyone charge! Force him into the reward capsule!" Zhan Nan Shan ordered the yers around Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes, sir!" these soldiers responded as they charged toward Liu Gan with circr weapons.

    <span>"You can all go die!"

    <span>Right as the soldiers reached within a meter of him, Liu Gan casually waved his hand from left to right. He was masking his [Psychic Shock] with the hand motion; the ability was simultaneously used on the yers. In his other hand, Liu Gan readied his greataxe to prepare for the next strike...

    <span>The next following series of events surprised Liu Gan; it even surprised Zhan Nan Shan. The soldiers suffered from the ability as they copsed into fetal positions on the ground. The soldiers kept screaming in pain as they held onto their heads.

    <span>They all tore off their gas mask, blood was flowing turbulently from their noses. One by one, the soldiers fell. The soldier''s body were twitching from muscle spasms. They were contorting to different shapes that he had only imagined. The painful expressions the soldiers had on their faces showed that they had lost the will to fight.

    <span>"HEY! HEY! HEY! What did you do?" Zhan Nan Shan couldn''t sit still; he couldn''t figure out what Liu Gan had done. Relying on data from the hour-long fight of Liu Gan against Qiu Zi Tao, Zhan Nan Shan thought he had evaluated his enemy''s ability correctly. Not only did the anesthetic gas fail to affect Liu Gan, but a casual wave from his hand was able to cause all the soldiers to suffer. Every soldier lost the ability to fight.

    <span>Could it be a never-before-seen type of witchcraft?

    <span>"This is so disappointing. I didn''t even start to fight and they are overwhelmed already?" Liu Gan shook his head. It didn''t take long for Liu Gan to figure out how what had happened.

    <span>These soldiers had their souls forcefully imnted into the body of the yers. Normally, the body would require time to adapt and therapy before full control was attained. It was simr to being going through organ transnt surgery. Even post-surgery treatment would require immunosuppressant drugs to suppress the body from rejecting the new organs. However, Liu Gan didn''t fall for Zhan Nan Shan''s scheme. The soldiers were in no condition to put up a fight.

    <span>The new souls contained within the bodies were still highly unstable, but only on a spiritual level. Their bodies wouldn''t have had a problem in a normal fist fight. In fact, they would''ve been quite capable in pressuring Liu Gan if they worked together. The problem was that right before the fight, Liu Gan activated [Psychic Shock]. This was the psychic ability he had obtained in the Ind Lakeboratory.

    <span>This psychic ability was suitable for weakening an opponent. Against these yers with unstable souls, it was like striking their Achilles heel. It caused their souls to lose control by detaching from the body.

    <span>The new souls were also harmed in the process. This allowed the original souls to temporarily regain control. By natural order, their bodies favored the original soul. The internal conflict between new and old soulspeting intensified the stress reflected on the body. The body was never meant to contain two disharmonious souls. The byproduct of the conflict was their body contortions, muscle spasms, and nose bleeds. The internal damage to their organs was more severe than the damage disyed on the surface.

    <span>"You aren''t human. You are a demon!" Zhan Nan Shan couldn''t sit back any more.

    <span>"Second Elder, no need to hide anymore. Come fight against me. Your n has been foiled already!" Liu Gan shouted loudly. He wanted to spar and stretch his muscles, but wasn''t able to get what he wanted.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan didn''t reply back. With the anesthetic gas proving to be ineffective, it had been turned off a while earlier. Jiang Jin-Yuan and Zhao Meng started to show signs of regaining consciousness..

    <span>"What happened?" Jiang Jin-Yuan and Zhao Meng asked when they woke from their slumber. They witnessed the yers in contorted positions that you could only find in horror movies.

    <span>"They wanted to force us into those capsules. They aren''t dangerous. One of my moves was able to knock them all down," Liu Gan shook his head regretfully. He missed his chance to fight against close to a dozen yers. If he had known that his actions would have this effect, he definitely wouldn''t have used [Psychic Shock] so early on.

    <span>"Lord Liu! Save me¡­" one of the contorted yers whispered to Liu Gan. The yer stretched his hand to reach out to Liu Gan; it seemed his ability was able to return the original soul to controlling status. It didn''t mean the new soul had been expelled, like an exorcism had been performed. No, the new soul was still contesting for its new shell. The endless torture was like they were in purgatory.

    <span>"So this¡­ is this their original self?" Zhao Meng heard the honorifics being used by the yers again.

    <span>"The new souls suffered intensive damage, so the original souls took advantage to regain control," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Oh, so does that mean they will be fine now?" Zhao Meng asked.

    <span>"Yes, seems like the original souls will maintain their foothold on the body. Except, their bodies arepletely useless now," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>"Now you know how to beg Lord Liu for help? Didn''t you say that you wanted to gang up on Lord Liu? You ingrateful inbreds! Go die!" Zhao Meng kicked the yer aside. Seeing the yer''s suffering faces, Zhao Meng felt relieved.

    <span>"What about the Second Elder?" Jiang Jin-Yuan asked Liu Gan. Before they had fainted, the Second Elder was still mumbling through the speakers. Except, it was quiet now. Very quiet.

    <span>"I don''t know, he is probably terrified," Liu Gan looked around alertly. As of now, Zhan Nan Shan hadn''t made any new moves.

    <span>"I have taken control of theboratory. Zhan Nan Shan has been captured by me," Yin He''s voice came through the speakers.

    <span>"Haha¡­ my darling, you got here quite fast!" Liu Gan had a warm feeling. He felt uneasy with the silence, but now he felt much better. Earlier, NaNa had transmitted a message to Yin He, requesting backup. He hadn''t thought she woulde to his rescue so fast. She had even charged right into the control center to capture Zhan Nan Shan.

 Chapter 411

    <span><strong>Chapter 411 - No Comment</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Yin He was able to locate NaNa''s precise location. From that information, she was able to approximate Liu Gan''s location. So she had to kill her way through to the undergroundboratory. By following the shortest route to the control center, she was able to identally find Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"I''ve locked onto your positions, wait a little before we can meet¡­ Oh, you can take the elevator now. I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to reach me," Yin He''s voice came through the speakers.

    <span>Even at this moment, the contorted yers couldn''t move their bodies. The pain was developing all over their bodies, they couldn''t even muster up strength to sit up.

    <span>The yers did their best to move to look at their wrist watches, they saw that their levels and stats were back to their original values. They didn''t reach level 10 at all! Then they saw something crucial; their health condition was dark ck in color, it was category of impending death.

    <span>"Lord Liu! Don''t leave us behind¡­" the yers continued to plead. They started crying, in hopes of being pitied.

    <span>"If we don''t leave you behind, should we wait for you to rebel against us? You TRASH! Go die!" Zhao Meng responded. When he saw their suffering, it was a joyful moment to him.

    <span>The elevator didn''t reach to the surface. It led to anotherrge room. It was just like a maze, but with Yin He''s guidance, Liu Gan and his group were able to pass through the right tunnels and rooms without wasting much time. Then they arrived at another elevator lift that led them to a dome-shaped control room.

    <span>This control room housed many different machines and arge isted area separated by a ss wall. Behind the ss wall was a twenty-meter circr area. In the center of this circr area was something very familiar to Liu Gan¡­ a broken Spatial Transfer Gate. Small spatial cracks were revolving aroundrger spatial cracks, like moons tos, while therger spatial cracks were revolving around the gate as the core.

    <span>Liu Gan was able to examine such a thing during the underwater base mission. With the appearance of another Spatial Transfer Gate, it seemed like Mr. Sheng''s map wasn''t lying. Except, this gate was also damaged and unusable.

    <span>Near the ss wall were machines withplicated functions, still functioning. Thisboratory should be quite knowledgeable in research regarding the Spatial Transfer Gate. As to their progress on such knowledge, it was still too early to tell.

    <span>Walking around the dome-shaped room twice, slowly descending on a ramp, Liu Gan and hispanions reached the ground level of the room. This was the control center of the entireboratory. It was also the location where Yin He had suppressed Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>Along the way, there were shattered ss and scientists tied-up. On the walls were metal sheets melted byser beams, all done by Yin He.

    <span>Down in the ground floor of the control center, there were a few more tied-up staff. Among the staff was Zhan Nan Shan, who had been severely beaten up by Yin He. Zhan Nan Shan had a depressed look already, but when he saw Liu Gan, he lowered his head even more. Zhan Nan Shan didn''t even say a word.

    <span>"So what were you nning?" Liu Gan walked over to greet Zhan Nan Shan with a kick.

    <span>"Winners rule, while losers are ruled. Kill me and let me retain my dignity," Zhan Nan Shan answered Liu Gan.

    <span>"What is that within thing you inject when they are within the reward capsules?" Liu Gan asked again.

    <span>"Noment," Zhan Nan Shan had a fearless look.

    <span>"I was able to find some valuable information from hacking into the system. The room with the reward capsules was a type of advanced spirit-seizing device. It was good that you didn''t enter it. If you went in the capsule, then your own soul would have been reced by a new soul. Your own soul would''ve been weakened by the gaseous drug, to make the transition faster," Yin He informed him.

    <span>"That means it was a myth about being able to get a reward. It was just another tactic to lure yers in," Liu Gan deduced.

    <span>"Those yers that reached level 10¡­ What happened with them?" Zhao Meng wasn''t quite satisfied yet. Even though he knew that it was a big conspiracy, his heart felt regret. The reward was that enticing!

    <span>Perhaps¡­ Thisboratory could have another way to help them level up to 10?

    <span>"They never reached level 10. ording to my calctions, when the reward capsule injected the new souls, the stats that followed along belonged to the new souls. Since the new souls were above level 10, it gave off the false impression of the yers leveling up to 10. From beginning to end, it was just one big conspiracy," Liu Gan red at Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"What could he be nning? Why did he need to do this?" Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan looked at Liu Gan for answers. It was difficult to find the reasons behind other people''s actions.

    <span>"Even if he won''t open his mouth, I could guess about 80 to 90 percent of his n. So most of it is just my spection, it might not be theplete truth. If you want to listen, I can tell you it," Liu Gan responded to Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan.

    <span>"Lord Liu, from what you have told us, we really want to know what is going on with this current situation," Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan spoke up. They might not understand the technicalities, but it was better than being oblivious.

    <span>"From what he said to me and his actions, I came up with my own spections. It might be wrong, but it might also be the truth," Liu Gan walked over to Zhan Nan Shan''s side. Even though Liu Gan was exining the situation, it was mainly for Zhan Nan Shan to hear.

    <span>If Liu Gan was able toe up with the right conclusion, then Zhan Nan Shan had no reason to continue hiding the reason.

    <span>"This Second Elder Zhan Nan Shan and the former Elder Leader Qiu Zi Tao were beta yers on Central Ind. They weren''t the only ones, like they had imed. There must be at least dozens of them. They both passed through the Spatial Transfer Gate to reach this ind.

    <span>"But when they crossed over, only one or two people sessfully crossed over with their body and soul still attached. For some unknown reason, every otherpanion they had failed in crossing over. Only their souls had crossed over.

    <span>"It was like Jiang Jin-Yuan''s memory data stored on the PDA. In a sense, their souls were digitized and stored in thisboratory''s database. They haven''t died yet. They just can''t move freely."

 Chapter 412

    <span><strong>Chapter 412 - All in vain</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Amongst hispanions, there is one important person to Zhan Nan Shan. It is the person whom he calls Dragon Commander."

    <span>"Since they no longer have their own bodies, they have to forcibly take over other yer''s bodies.

    <span>"Due to their previous experimental results, if the yer doesn''t have a high level, then the discrepancy between body and iing soul will cause severe damage to the body.

    <span>"So Zhan Nan Shan created the Beginner Vige in hopes of gathering talented individuals with high innate skills. By centralizing all resources, the mundane tasks can be left to others and the talented individuals can focus on leveling up as quickly as possible, at least until their bodies reach the minimum requirement,"

    <span>"If the soul and body level difference was quite minimal, then after the takeover, the original level will be retained. However, the chance of finding a yer that is close to the original level of the soul wille with a diminishing return.

    <span>"Clearly, this is a long-term n. For the fulfillment of this objective, they can selectively pick out the talented individuals from the flock. That is why they didn''t stop searching for more yers.

    <span>"I am a target that they highly value. I disyed my strength in public, so Zhan Nan Shan knew that he couldn''t force me in here. If I was like other regr yers, he would have simply ordered me toe here.

    <span>"Everything was ording to his n. He pretended to nonchntly hand the map over to me so I could find it like a treasure hunter.

    <span>"Then he came up with the idea of three trials, with the incentive of giving rewards after finishing the trials. We would''ve been so invested into working for the reward, that we would voluntarily enter into the reward capsule. At that point, we would only be thinking of what generous reward it might be.

    <span>"They were really racking their brains with all this scheming. All of it was in vain, since I wouldn''t fall for it so easily. Now their n ising apart. Second Elder, what do you say about my spection?" Liu Gan knelt beside Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"You are right. About 70 percent of it," Zhan Nan Shan sighed.

    <span>"These people have really bad intentions! To have established a vige for an evil purpose like this shady business!" Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan were shocked and resentful.

    <span>They were looking forward to reaping the generous rewards of the three trials, but now they understood that it was all a scam. They felt betrayed and lied to. It was understandable that they were in a bad mood, it was even eptable if they had intentions of killing Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"As for the remaining 30 percent, it probably rtes to establishing the vige, right? You are supporting so many yers on your payroll. Your reasoning can''t be as simple as using it to selectively choose better candidates, right?" Liu Gan guessed. He could tell that Zhan Nan Shan was a true soldier; no matter what torture was used, Zhan Nan Shan wouldn''t spill any secrets.

    <span>"I am a soldier. During the beta period, I was with over a hundred elites following a Major General. He is the one I call Dragon Commander. We were in the game to execute a crucial mission¡­" Zhan Nan Shan said to Liu Gan.

    <span>Since they entered the game rtively early, they were using a mouse and keyboard to level up to 10. Under the leadership of the Dragon Commander, he was able to reach level 15.

    <span>When catastrophe struck the Central Ind, the conditions were far worse than they could imagine. It was so dreadful that it was hard to even survive. There weren''t only zombies, monsters, and beasts. There were strange encounters with extraterrestrials and aliens with their flying saucers and androids. These strange beings had an armor that was practically imprable, most attacks were useless against them.

    <span>The majority of the beta yers were dead or severely injured, everyone had the same idea. It was to escape into the surrounding satellite inds. Without a functioning form of transportation, it was close to impossible trying to escape the city.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan''s army of soldiers was well-trained. They even had more information than the average beta yers. Their Dragon Commander was able to lead them to the Spatial Transfer Gate on Central Ind. It was there that Zhan Nan Shan captured another beta yer Qiu Zi Tao as the first guinea pig to send through to the Spatial Transfer Gate. Both Zhan Nan and Qiu Zi Tao were the first two to arrive at the secretboratory behind the College of Agriculture.

    <span>Which was their current location at theboratory.

    <span>Mr. Sheng''s map wasn''t wrong at all. Thisboratory did have a Spatial Transfer Gate, but this wasn''t the Spatial Gate that could send someone back to the real world. It was unable to send anyone through the gate. This Spatial Transfer Gate was an exit, a one way trip that received yers that had been sent to it.

    <span>This Mountain Valley secretboratory specialized in studying the transnting of human souls into new bodies, and anti-rejection drugs. A few of the instruments were connected to the Spatial Transfer Gate. After Qiu Zi Tao and Zhan Nan Shan arrived through the gate, it became unstable. The members on Central Ind followed in Zhan Nan Shan''s footstep, but only their souls were transferred over. Their bodies were torn apart in a different dimension.

    <span>At that time on the Central Ind, there were androids patrolling and closing in on the location. Even though the Spatial Transfer Gate was unstable, they were forced to pass through the gate. One by one the yers were forcibly transferred over. Zhan Nan Shan sensed the severity of the situation, but he couldn''tmunicate with the yers on the Central Ind to stop. His only option was to pressure the scientist staff in thisboratory to stabilize the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>Unfortunately, the staff of scientists didn''t have the technology to stabilize the Spatial Transfer Gate. Under Zhan Nan Shan''s coercion, they thought of apromise. They opted to use their soul storage equipment to temporary store the souls that were transferred over.

    <span>Of over a hundred soldiers, only Zhan Nan Shan was able to make it through safely. Around forty souls were stored in time, as the rest of the souls transferred before the solution was reached. Among the stored souls was the Major General, their Dragon Commander. Only their Dragon Commander was able to interact with the outside world through simplemunications.

    <span>As such, only Zhan Nan Shan could revive hispanions into appropriate shells. Then they could continue on their secret mission they had received from the real world.

    <span>It was unfortunate for them that after the server was released to public, all of the new yers in NinJing City were level 1. They couldn''t epass a level 10 soul within their bodies. Zhan Nan Shan found that out the hard way. He experimented twice with forcibly injecting a soul into a body; the result was the body exploding. After losing tworades-in-arms, he didn''t want to do any more experiments haphazardly.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan consulted with Dragon Commander on what to do. This was when Zhan Nan Shan had the idea of starting up a veryrge vige. Using his level advantage, he was able to unite most of the northern district. By recruiting yers into the Beginner Vige, he was able to provide afortable and safe environment to train and select the best candidates.

 Chapter 413

    <span><strong>Chapter 413 - To Sway</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>From the 40 lucky souls that were saved in the soul storage to the unfortunate yers whose bodies would be selected for sacrifice, it was all part of the conspiracy.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan had to supervise theboratory facility. His most important concern was increasing the soul-seizing sess rate, especially when a person''s soul became more powerful as their level rose. A powerful soul like that, when stuffed into a feeble body, the chance of it not exploding was very low. This was a mentally exhausting obstacle, which was why he chose to remain in istion from the vige. He couldn''t manage two ces at once, so he gave leadership over to Qiu Zi Tao. This was an inevitable decision since he valued the duty of a soldier.

    <span>Another factor Zhan Nan Shan had to consider¡­ With such a huge Vige, it would attract the attention of other high level beta yers or high level native yers on this ind.

    <span>This was something Zhan Nan Shan wanted to happen. If such people were to appear, then he could shorten the time he would have to nurture people. Once strong individuals appeared, he could use his scheme to lure them into the Mountain Valley Laboratory for the three trials. Afterpletion, they would willingly enter into the spirit-seizing capsules under the false promise of obtaining rewards. Then hisrade-in-arms could take over the body.

    <span>To thoroughly n this out, he even had Qiu Zi Tao cooperate beforehand. On the first trial, Qiu Zi Tao purposely killed several of hispanions and left the remains behind. This was a facade to confuse theter yers into thinking that there were three trials.

    <span>Without a doubt, this scheme was extremely borate. Even Liu Gan, when he was in the lounge of the first trial, was tricked into believing in the facade; he thought the three trials were real.

    <span>When Liu Gan first showed up to the vige, Zhan Nan Shan didn''t worry about it too much. He could measure up Liu Gan as around level 10. At most, Liu Gan would''ve been a match for one of hisrades. However, Zhan Nan Shan''s opinion of Liu Gan started to change after the battle with Qiu Zi Tao. Zhan Nan Shan had a whole new level of respect for Liu Gan. It was mainly due to Liu Gan''s ability to make prompt decisions that the vige was handed over to Liu Gan. At the same time, the map revealing the Mountain Valley Laboratory was also handed over to Liu Gan.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan knew that every strong individual would want to continue gaining experience to self-improve. These individuals would be interested in these types of secretboratories. It would only be a matter of time before they found the location once they had the map.

    <span>When Zhan Nan Shanmunicated with the Dragon Commander regarding Liu Gan, it turned out that the Dragon Commander was very interested in that person. Since Liu Gan''s performance in the three trials was outstanding, both Dragon Commander and Zhan Nan Shan were very pleased with the result.

    <span>During this period of time, theboratory had a breakthrough research in imnting souls. Now, the body of lower levels could withstand the souls of higher level yers. Through this new process, the yer''s body underwent a transformation. As long as it was a body that belonged to a level 5 yer, when injected with a level 11 or 12 soul the body would reach at least level 10 during the strengthening process.

    <span>Dragon Commander made a decision; he didn''t want to wait any longer, so he ordered Zhan Nan Shan to revive him in Liu Gan''s body. He believed that with such an outstanding shell, even if it was a lower level, it wouldn''t be a problem. It wouldn''t even take him long to return back to level 15.

    <span>As long as the Dragon Commander sessfully took Liu Gan''s body, all the other soldiers weren''t as important. To reach this goal, other soldiers were injected into the bodies of the level 5 and 6 yers. Once the new souls were injected into the body, they didn''t immediately hijack the body. This created the false impression that the original yers had obtained the reward of leveling up quickly inside the capsule, hopefully luring Liu Gan into the reward capsule so they could inject Dragon Commander''s soul into his body.

    <span>No one thought that even with such an borate n, Liu Gan would be able to see through it. Since Liu Gan wouldn''t cooperate, this situation escted to the point where anesthetic gas was used. It was something Zhan Nan Shan was hesitant to do, because an unconscious Liu Gan during the process of soul injection would cause harm to Dragon Commander''s soul. However, even after Zhan Nan Shan released the knockout gas, it was useless against Liu Gan.

    <span>In onest attempt, Zhan Nan Shan ordered the soldiers with the newly obtained bodies to suppress Liu Gan, and then force him into the capsule. What was unexpected was that Liu Gan knocked them all down with a wave of his hand. It was as if he had cast some witchcraft that caused all the soldiers to simultaneously fall to the floor without any will to fight.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan''s n was well thought out, with alternative precautions in ce. Under normal situation there wouldn''t have been any problems. His mistake was choosing the wrong target. He shouldn''t have targeted Liu Gan. In the end, he suffered a double loss instead of a gain. Now that things had gotten to this point, it was impossible to aplish the mission ordered by the Dragon Commander.

    <span>"I established this vige for another purpose. It can be used to obtain great benefits. If you allow me to continue with my mission, I will find another body suitable for my Dragon Commander. In return I will tell you the other purpose and the benefits," Zhan Nan Shan tried to persuade Liu Gan.

    <span>"Sigh, now that we have reached this point in stage, you still want to trick me. Do I look like the type of person to be so easily tricked?" Liu Gan looked coldly at Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"I''m not trying to trick you. When I was hunting by the seaside, I encountered a very strange woman. She has a high-tech Underwater Laboratory. She required a lot of yers as experimental samples. She told me that in exchange for providing her with yers, she would give me powerful weapons. Even the greataxe in your hand was exchanged for with the lives of a dozen yers," Zhan Nan Shan went on in detail.

    <span>"Underwater Laboratory?" Liu Gan furrowed his brow.

    <span>"Yes, we can cooperate. All you have to do is help me finish my mission, I can guide you to her so you can exchange for more powerful weapons. That way you can be even stronger. If you want to join us in our mission, I am sure our Dragon Commander would wee you. He would train you¡­" Zhan Nan Shan continued to sell the idea to Liu Gan.

    <span>"That woman that you have mentioned, is she the one that rides a jellyfish as she appears from the sea?" Liu Gan asked. From Zhan Nan Shan''s description, only one person came to Liu Gan''s mind - Su Nina.

    <span>"You¡­" Zhan Nan Shan starred at Liu Gan in shock.

    <span>"No wonder the Beginner Vige''s cafeteria had deep sea fishes as a dish¡­ Seems like she gave those to you as a gift?" Liu Gan continued asking Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>When Liu Gan first arrived at the Beginner Vige, he was able to eat deep sea fish. That aroused his suspicions; this ce had a hidden secret. Finally, the puzzle was solved. It was Zhan Nan Shan who used the lives of other yers asmodities to exchange with Su Nina for goods.

 Chapter 414

    <span><strong>Chapter 414 - Spirit Essence</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"You know her?" Zhan Nan Shan asked, discouraged. This was hisst remaining trump card, but it wasn''t useful at all.

    <span>"She''s my friend. I came from the south to the north, riding in her jellyfish," Liu Gan replied. Now most of his suspicions were answered.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan established this vige for two reasons. The first reason was for his Dragon Commander to find a suitable body with high innate potential. The second reason was to exchange unnecessary yers asmodities to Su Nina for use as specimens. In return, Su Nina would provide them with weapons and food.

    <span>The only thing Liu Gan didn''t know was what Zhan Nan Shan and his army were trying to do in The Trembling World. What mission could they be undertaking that could be so important? From Liu Gan''s perspective, this secret mission could be the link that tied together why The Trembling World existed and what this existence was.

    <span>"Everything that he had said so far, matches what I found in the database. However, there is one discrepancy," Yin He leaned over to whisper into Liu Gan''s ear.

    <span>"Oh? What could that be?" Liu Gan whispered back.

    <span>"In the soul storage equipment¡­ There were originally 41 souls. With the 11 souls that were just removed, there should be 30 souls remaining in storage. However, there are only 17 souls left in storage." Yin He nced at Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"So in the Beginner Vige, there are are still undercover spies." Liu Gan understood the situation immediately.

    <span>"You want to obtain the roster of those people? Besides that, I''m sure you are very curious as to what secret mission we have been ordered to do. And most importantly, the truth behind The Trembling World, right?" Zhan Nan Shan smiled wickedly again. Seemed like he had another trump card that he could use for negotiation!

    <span>"Not interested," Liu Gan ignored Zhan Nan Shan. Instead, Yin He and NaNa escorted the staff of scientists down to the ground floor of theboratory.

    <span>"I am now in charge of thisboratory. One by one, you will report your research findings to me. Most importantly, be sure to tell me what benefits I can get from here. If you don''t give me an answer that I am satisfied with, I will kill you one by one until everyone is dead," Liu Gan threatened them calmly.

    <span>Liu Gan''s threat was very effective. These scientists were threatened and intimidated by Zhan Nan Shan to work. Now that Zhan Nan Shan had been suppressed by an even fiercer person, it was natural that they obeyed thew of nature where the strongest was inmand. So when Liu Gan spoke up, these scientists quickly reported their research findings to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan definitely couldn''t understand the technical jargon and reports, but Jiang Jin-Yuan was present. Jiang Jin-Yuanmunicated on Liu Gan''s behalf and asked about the findings. Once Jiang Jin-Yuan understood it himself, he simplified the results for Liu Gan.

    <span>"I know you want to strengthen your body''s abilities and raise your level on the wristwatch. My research can help you aplish that goal," a scientist who looked around thirty-years old stepped up to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Oh? Let''s hear it," Liu Gan was very interested now.

    <span>"The soul storage equipment still holds 17 powerful souls. If we do some sort of treatment to these souls¡­ such as wiping away their memory and resistance factors, we can turn the souls into clean spirit essence. This will make it them easier for your soul to absorb, and be nutrition for your soul. During this time, your soul will be strengthened in the process and your levels will rise," the scientist continued to exin.

    <span>"You are so wicked and immoral. How could you think of something that will terminate their life!" Zhan Nan Shan shouted loudly when he heard the scientist''s n.

    <span>"Wicked? What about everything you''ve done? You don''t consider that wicked and immoral? You bait the yers to take the trials, then take over their bodies once they are suitable and you trade yers asmodities! People like you deserve to have their life terminated!" Zhao Meng walked over to kick Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"I am doing this in the name of justice! It is to save all of humanity!" Zhan Nan Shan shouted back to Zhao Meng.

    <span>"Justice my ass!" Zhao Meng continued to kick Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"Ahh, what you have said does interest me. Continue to exin it to my Brother Jiang here." Liu Gan ignored Zhao Meng and Zhan Nan Shan''s bickering. Instead he patted the scientist on the shoulder to have him continue the conversation with Jiang Jin-Yuan.

    <span>After Jiang Jin-Yuan and the scientist talked, Liu Gan was able to understand most of it. This operation still required the spirit-seizing capsules, and the method was quite simr. First the yer would enter into the capsule, without any drugs to suppress the yer''s soul. Second, the souls in the storage would have to be treated to remove memory, resistance factors, and be harmless spirit essence. This spirit essence would be used as nutrition once injected into the body of the yer.

    <span>Within the control center, there was a soul detection analyzer, it could clearly distinguish how many souls and spirits were in a body. The analyzer could also read the unique soul code for each soul. By using this instrument before and after soul injections, it could give the definitive answer for which soul was in control of the body.

    <span>After exining the whole procedure, the scientist demonstrated it to Jiang Jin-Yuan. Jiang Jin-Yuan also confirmed that this theory was feasible. Now, they needed someone to test out the experiment''s effect. Zhao Meng hesitated briefly, before volunteering himself up for this test. Jiang Jin-Yuan would have to stay behind with the scientist to monitor the operations. This was to avoid an incident where the scientist decided to y tricks.

    <span>Just to be safe, Jiang Jin-Yuan asked Yin He to directly monitor theputer mainframe and database to watch for any suspicious activities. This way the scientist wouldn''t do anything when Jiang Jin-Yuan took his eye off him.

    <span>Liu Gan and Zhao Meng walked back to the reward capsule room. All 11 yers had died on the spot. It was fortunate Liu Gan did not have to fight in that room. Otherwise, these reward capsules would''ve been destroyed in the process.

    <span>"Lord Liu, when I wake back up the next time can you ask me these questions. If any of the questions are answered incorrectly, then you know that I am no longer myself¡­ If I be like them¡­ If I''m not myself, please kill me," Zhao Meng asked before stepping into the reward capsule. He was shaking from being so nervous.

    <span>"Okay, tell me," Liu Gan nodded.

    <span>Zhao Meng continued to tell secrets about himself that took ce in the real world and only he would know. The next time he woke up, if he answered any of the questions incorrectly, it would mean the experiment had failed; his body was taken over by another soul.

 Chapter 415

    <span><strong>Chapter 415 - Spares</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>After Zhao Meng entered the reward capsule, the scientist got to work under Jiang Jin-Yuan''s supervision. From the workstation, he erased the soul''s memory and all its varied resistance factors within the soul storage equipment. Once the soul had been processed into spirit essence, it was injected into Zhao Meng,ying within the capsule.

    <span>ording to the scientist, this technology of spirit essence injection could only be performed once per person. Only one soul could be turned into spirit essence, and two souls couldn''t be mixed to form a spirit essence. This type of leveling up could only be done once; if it was done more than once, soul rupture might ur.

    <span>Just like all the the previous yers who had entered the capsule, after being injected, Zhao Meng''s stats started to increase. After ten minutes, Zhao Meng leveled up from 6 to 7, and his stats continued to increase.

    <span>Standing right by the capsule, Liu Gan didn''t know how sessful the experiment would be. Ultimately, the results would have to wait until Zhao Meng exited the capsule, and they knew if his body had been taken over.

    <span>The procedure of injecting spirit essence wasted a lot of time, so Liu Gan slept on the ergonomic chair in the meantime. After a little over four hours, the process was finallypleted.

    <span>After leaving the capsule, Zhao Meng stared at his wristwatch, and it disyed level 10! ording to the scientist''s exnation, Zhao Meng''s body could only handle one spirit essence. If they tried to forcefully inject another spirit essence into his body, his soul would rupture and his body would be severely damaged.

    <span>After exiting the capsule, Zhao Meng gave answers that matched exactly what he had told to Liu Gan previously. Even the Soul Detection Analyzer only picked up one soul within Zhao Meng''s body, which meant that the experiment was very sessful.

    <span>When Zhan Nan Shan saw this scene, he started crying. He had lost anotherrade-in-arms; he wouldn''t be able to finish his mission. Humanity had lost itsst hope. On top of that, Liu Gan didn''t care for anything other than himself.

    <span>After Zhao Meng, it was Jiang Jin-Yuan''s turn to enter the capsule to receive a spirit essence injection. Liu Gan had his worries, since Jiang Jin-Yuan technically had been through a simr procedure, so his body might not be able to ept this sort of upgrade, or weird anomalies might ur. Ultimately, Jiang Jin-Yuan was also able to ept the blessings of the spirit essence. Not only was Jiang Jin-Yuan''s procedurepleted faster, but also the effects were better than Zhao Meng''s. Everything about Jiang Jin-Yuan was slightly better than Zhao Meng, which was due to the higher innate aptitude of Jiang Jin-Yuan''s body.

    <span>Last, it was Liu Gan''s turn to enter into the capsule. However, this time it was different from when Zhan Nan Shan had set the trap. Under Yin He and Jiang Jin-Yuan''s close supervision, the scientist injected the spirit essence into Liu Gan.

    <span>"Spirit Essence can only be injected once. You can only use one person''s soul as an essence. Since your level is fairly high, the majority of the other souls wouldn''t be able to raise your level, so it would be a waste. The only remaining soul that will help you level up has to be the strongest soul. The soul of the Dragon Commander is the only suitable match," the scientist informed him unflinchingly.

    <span>"No! You can''t do that! You are heartless! You are destroying humanity''sst hope!" Zhan Nan Shan started arguing with the scientist.

    <span>"Oh? Am I now? Now, can you tell me about this secret mission you are carrying out? What is the truth behind The Trembling World? If you tell me honestly, then maybe I will reconsider for the sake of all humanity. I might even let your Dragon Commander go, but if you insist on remaining silent about it, then you have no worth to me. I will use up all the spare souls," Liu Gan threatened Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan stared at Liu Gan to see if he was speaking truthfully about carrying out that threat. He hesitated before giving an answer.

    <span>"Oh right, I have a lot more close aides down in the south. They are around level 6 or 7, too. Since there are 15 more remaining souls here, I can prep them all into nutritious spirit essences for my aides," Liu Gan continued to speak out about his n.

    <span>"The secret mission¡­ I am not high enough ranking to know the details. Only Dragon Commander himself knows. So if you kill him, then you have single-handedly ruined humanity''sst hope! You can''t do that!" Zhan Nan Shan cried loudly.

    <span>"Then, I guess for humanity''sst hope, you should consult with your Dragon Commander onest time. Tell him about your current situation, so he can decide for you. Tell him his option, to tell the truth about The Trembling World and his secret mission, or to be my essence and vanish from existence," Liu Gan told Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan immediately agreed. With Yin He escorting them, they arrived at the soul storage equipment that couldmunicate with the souls through an interface. Once Dragon Commander''s soul was called for, Zhan Nan Shan started talking.

    <span>First, Zhan Nan Shan apologized for being ipetent and unable to carry out his mission. Then, Zhan Nan Shan broke the bad news to Dragon Commander. He hoped that everything would go ording to Liu Gan''s demands, so that there would be hope for Dragon Commander to stay alive.

    <span>"You can reply to him. This matter is of the highest degree of secrecy. I can''t tell him," Dragon Commander thought about it for a long time before responding.

    <span>"Then¡­ You will be killed¡­" Zhan Nan Shan trembling as he begged his leader to reconsider.

    <span>"You have done your best already, so don''t me yourself too much. We were unable to aplish our mission, that is our fate. It also sealed the the fate of humanity. If our fate is destined to be like this, then let him do as he pleases," Dragon Commander finished his thoughts and stoppedmunicating.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Do you know what you are doing? You can''t do that! For a little benefit now, you are sacrificing all of humanity! Brother Liu, I know you are very reasonable. Let''s think this through¡­" Zhan Nan Shan continued pleas fell on deaf ears.

    <span>"Oh? I gave you a chance already. Even your leader Dragon Commander didn''t want to spill the truth, so he doesn''t seem to value the fate of humanity at all!" Liu Gan coldly spoke back.

    <span>"When we signed up for the mission, we signed confidentiality agreements. We can''t casually tell you the truth behind the mission!" Zhan Nan Shan continued to try to reason with Liu Gan.

    <span>"At this point, what is there to talk about? Now, you can carry the secret to your grave!" Liu Gan kicked Zhan Nan Shan away from him as he headed back toward the capsule room.

    <span>"No! NO! Don''t do it!" Zhan Nan Shan cried out loudly as he watched Liu Gan''s back disappear from his view. He smashed his head on the ground out of impotent fury and inability to do anything.

 Chapter 416

    <span><strong>Chapter 416 - Aura of Rage</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Over twelve hours of slow injection, the Dragon Commander''s soul was turned into essence and absorbed into Liu Gan''s body.

    <span>By the time Liu Gan stepped out of the capsule, he had jumped from level 10 to level 12. ording to the scientist, that was the current limit of Liu Gan''s leveling potential. Once his body used up the essence in his body, then he could continue epting the remaining essence so he could level up more.

    <span>Aside from that, Liu Gan discovered that he had two more abilities: one active ability, Battlecry, and a passive ability, Aura of Rage.

    <span>The active ability, Battlecry, could be activated once every 15 minutes. While fighting, Liu Gan could activate the ability with a roar. Everyone he designated as an ally would have a stat increase for up to 30% for one minute.

    <span>When the Aura of Rage affected them during battle, every ally within Liu Gan''s 50 meter range would be affected by the aura. Being in this aura would be useful for those that required rage or fury, since it would automatically increase at a steady pace. The other effect was that the recipients would be enraged and fearless; they would be brave and charge forth into battle.

    <span>ording to Liu Gan, the two abilities were definitely once the Dragon Commander''s abilities. His soul was converted to spirit essence and used to nurture Liu Gan''s soul. Aside from leveling up, Liu Gan was lucky enough to receive the two abilities.

    <span>Needless to say, the Battlecry ability was useful to everyone as a stat booster. The one especially useful to Liu Gan was the Aura of Rage; this ability could increase his own rage, in turn he would store it as fury.

    <span>After reaching level 12, when his fury counter was at maximum capacity, Liu Gan could cast up to four Enhanced Crescent de. They could be stacked onto one target, or scattered into four different directions. Combined with Aura of Rage, Liu Gan could have unlimited Crescent de ability strikes; the frequency with which he could cast Enhanced Crescent de had significantly increased.

    <span>"If you allow me to be the manager of thisboratory, then I will have more authority to provide for your needs," the scientist that had been helping out Liu Gan finally proposed.

    <span>There were two lively female scientist staff working in theboratory, so Liu Gan could understand what this scientist had in mind. Regardless of what the scientist''s intentions were, they didn''t bother Liu Gan at all. In fact, Liu Gan didn''t care who was in charge of theboratory, as long as the ultimate benefactor was himself.

    <span>This scientist was the first to turn over to a new leaf and pledge his allegiance to Liu Gan, and proved to be useful with his contributions thus far. Liu Gan immediately agreed to his request to be the new manager of theboratory.

    <span>"My surname is Li. Call me Li Bai Sen. I am d to be of use to you," the scientist introduced himself.

    <span>"Then you can refer to him as Lord Liu. You made the right decision in choosing his side. Lord Liu treats his trusted aides very well." Zhao Meng started the brainwashing technique to Li Bai Sen

    <span>" Ah, Lord Liu! I will be under your care! I will obey yourmands and do things ording to your wishes!" Li Bai Sen immediately changed the way he greeted Liu Gan.

    <span>"If you help me manage thisboratory properly, I won''t treat you badly," Liu Gan emphasized as he ced his hands on Li Bai Sen''s shoulders. Theboratory had to remain operational to reap the full benefits.

    <span>"I arranged the three trials and during one of those trials you had onepanion killed by the monster. My design of theboratory has a soul capturing containment. The technology for that is still in experimental stages, and that is a functional prototype.I could tell that Lord Liu and that person had a good rtionship¡­ if there is a suitable body, I can revive him. Is that something Lord Liu would want?" Li Bai Sen suggested out.

    <span>The three trials were something Li Bai Sen had created for Zhan Nan Shan. Li Bai Sen could tell that Liu Gan valued his fallen ally, especially with the warning shout, seconds before QiuTao had died. Li Bai Sen felt that he could use this chance to earn some brownie points with Liu Gan.

    <span>"Suitable body? You¡­ Are referring to his body?" Liu Gan followed Li Bai Sen''s gaze to Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"Yes! If we ce him within the capsule, we can inject your Ally''s soul into his body to revive," Li Bai Sen looked unapologetically into Zhan Nan Shan''s eyes. Li Bai Sen knew that his actions, starting from the suggestion of using souls as spirit essence, were a traitorous act. If Zhan Nan Shan ever regained power, then his life would be over. To prevent that revenge from happening, Li Bai Sen had to terminate that possibility once and for all; Zhan Nan Shan must die.

    <span>When Zhan Nan Shan was still in charge of theboratory, he didn''t need to force the scientists that often, since they were willing to perform their own research. Li Bai Sen''s technology was quite formidable, but he wasn''t appreciated at all. With this grudge in his heart, Li Bai Sen despised Zhan Nan Shan. Pledging his allegiance to Liu Gan by killing off Zhan Nan Shan''srades was an unforgivable action. One must die so the other could live, for neither could live while the other existed.

    <span>"You really believe that my fallenpanion''s soul won''t be held down by his soul?" Liu Gan asked skeptically.

    <span>"The idea behind that is like this¡­" Li Bai Sen continued to exin carefully to Liu Gan.

    <span>Earlier when Zhan Nan Shanrade''s souls entered into the unknowing yers, there were brief moments when those yer''s souls were still in control. Even after leaving the capsules, these yers remained in their self persona for awhile. The reason for that was to create a false impression to fool Liu Gan into entering the capsule, so the original yer''s souls weren''tpletely erased.

    <span>To inject QiuTao''s soul into Zhan Nan Shan, it would be an easier process than when Zhan Nan Shan''srades were injected into Zhao Meng and Jiang Jin-Yuan. Firstly, Li Bai Sen would boil down Zhan Nan Shan''s soul into spirit essence, then he will inject QiuTao''s soul into the empty shell. This way there wouldn''t be a conflict of interest between the old soul and the iing new soul.

    <span>"If mypanion enter into his shell, what level would he be?" Liu Gan asked Li Bai Sen, out of curiosity.

    <span>"Normally, when there is a discrepancy between the soul and body level difference then it will be averaged out. Obviously the weaker of the two would gain the most out of it. ording to my information, yourpanion was at level 7, with Zhan Nan Shan at level 13, then it should averaged out to level 10 or level 11 after the essence is consumed. However, reaching level 11 is a very small chance," Li Bai Sen responded.

    <span>"So you mean to say, if there is a difference between the soul''s level and the body''s level, then during assimtion the final level will fall in the range between the two?" Liu Gan confirmed with Li Bai Sen.

 Chapter 417

    <span><strong>Chapter 417 - We Are The Same</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Yes, that is correct. The stronger the body, the better the foundation for housing the soul. It can also work in reverse. A powerful soul can strengthen the body," Li Bai Sen corrected him.

    <span> Liu Gan thought for a little while before agreeing. "Ah, very good. Then let''s do that."

    <span>QiuTao was the first yer in the vige to submit to Liu Gan''s reign. Even though it was unnecessary, since Liu Gan didn''t have to fear the Third and Fourth Elder''s schemes it was still a good thing to have someone who would report treacherous issues like these and resolve the problem before it spread uncontrolled. Ultimately, QiuTao was very obedient and he really wanted a leader to rely on. This type of smart yer, who could adapt to the situation, was worth the extra trouble to nurture.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t believe in absolute obedience. He believed that as long as he had enough strength, then his followers wouldn''t betray him. At the same time, he had to reasonably pass down benefits so they won''t feel any grudges for doing their duty.

    <span>Reviving QiuTao had another advantage. QiuTao was very familiar with how the Vige was operated. So with Zhan Nan Shan''s body, QiuTao could still pass himself off as Zhan Nan Shan. With Zhan Nan Shan''s prestige within the vige, it will be easier for QiuTao to manage the vige.

    <span>There was also another factor to consider: Zhan Nan Shan''srades had infiltrated the vige. Who the spies were was still unknown to Liu Gan. At the same time, these infiltrators didn''t have any way ofmunicating with Zhan Nan Shan. What happened within the Mountain Valley Laboratory, stayed within theboratory. QiuTao could pretend to be Zhan Nan Shan, and these yers would voluntarily get in contact with Zhan Nan Shan to report their situation. That way, Liu Gan could catch them all at once.

    <span>"You guys are evil! You don''t have any bottom line! How could you continue to do these outrageous inhuman actions! You would allow an already dead person to take over my body!?" Zhan Nan Shan had overhead the conversation between Liu Gan and Li Bai Sen. This was when Zhan Nan Shan started to be a bit more fearful of the things they could do to him.

    <span>"That''s funny! Weren''t you doing the exact same thing to others not too long ago? Everyone is evil in their own way, no need to me one another," Liu Gan walked over tofort Zhan Nan <span>Shan, patting his shoulders reassuringly.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>After Zhan Nan Shan''s soul was processed into essence, the man called Zhan Nan Shan was no longer there. As such, all his material possessions were rendered ownerless.

    <span>Zhan Nan Shan''s weapon of choice was a pair of katanas, modeled after a certain weapon produced on a country ind. The shape of the de was long and sharp. It was made from the same materials as Liu Gan''s greataxe. The material was forged from some dense metal merged with other elements, making a high-density metal alloy.

    <span>Yin He stared at the katanas like they were long-lost friends. She was reminded of her old body with the sleeve des. Liu Gan has his greataxe already, so he handed over the katanas to Yin He. To conserve energy, Yin He was more suited for close quarterbat rather than constantly shootingsers. So, dual-wielding katanas was ideal for her needs.

    <span>Aside from the katanas, all his other possessions dropped out of his watch space. Several hand drawn maps fell out. From a first nce, they didn''t look like areas resembling Nin Jing City. Liu Gan guessed that they could be depicting Central City. There were several ess cards and keys that had unknown purposes.

    <span>After arranging for QiuTao to be revived into Zhan Nan Shan''s body, Liu Gan told Zhao Meng, Yin He, and NaNa to head back to the vige. This way Zhao Meng could switch off with Han Guangming in charge of the vige. Yin He would remain in the vige to provide backup and support. NaNa would escort Han Guangming and Young Gaosun back to theboratory. This way Li Bai Sen could feed essence into their souls.

    <span>Gao Sun was Su Nina''sboratory scientist that had ended up with Liu Gan after theboratory attack. Gao Sun was a man of few words with his reserved personality, but his performance was quite good. That was enough of a reason for Liu Gan to give him a chance to be stronger.

    <span>The Beginner Vige urgently needed useful people. Not just any people could be chosen, they had to be loyal and helpful. They would be managing and training the people within the vige. Zhang Sheng Li and Wang DeCheng were stuck in the southern prisonpound, so it would be difficult for them to reach the northern district where the vige was located. Realistically, Liu Gan could only choose from the people he trusted within the Beginner Vige.

    <span>Two hourster, "Zhan Nan Shan" left the capsule. When he saw Liu Gan and Jiang Jin-Yuan stand right outside of the capsule, he greeted Liu Gan by calling him Lord Liu with a bow that showed that he highly respected Liu Gan.

    <span>"Do you remember what happened? During the third trial, you died. Lord Liu was able to revive you," Jiang Jin-Yuan immediately exined to QiuTao.

    <span>"Yes, during that moment I briefly sensed my demise. I even saw that my body was crushed. Then, I drifted into unconsciousness. That was when I really knew I had died. Lord Liu, you were the one who revived me?" QiuTao was surprised and shocked by the answer.

    <span>"Lord Liu not only revived you, he also found you a new body. He was able to strengthen you to reach level 10," Jiang Jin-Yuan continued to exin to QiuTao.

    <span>"Oh?" QiuTao didn''t know that fact.

    <span>"Here you take a look for yourself," Jiang Jin-Yuan ced a mirror front of QiuTao. Then, he looked at the wrist watch.

    <span>"Wait¡­ That''s Second Elder¡­ Second Elder?" QiuTao scared himself with a jump. The mirror nearly fell onto the floor.

    <span>"Your body waspletely destroyed, so the only way to revive you was to put you into Second Elder''s body¡­" Jiang Jin-Yuan exined in detail to QiuTao. This phase was crucial for QiuTao to ept and absorb the information.

    <span>"Thank you Lord Liu! I will never forget your generosity!" QiuTao responded after understanding the whole procedure. At the end of the day, he was still alive after being revived on Liu Gan''s order. To top if off, he had reached level 10 and obtained new abilities. It was all thanks to Liu Gan, who made it all possible!

    <span>"If you follow Lord Liu diligently, he won''t treat you unfairly. Even after you died, he thought of ways to revive you," Jiang Jin-Yuan spoke up. Jiang Jin-Yuan could rte to the incident, as he was the first person to be revived by Liu Gan.

    <span>"Little brother here has died already. This life belongs to Lord Liu. For that reason, I will be willing to cross through the hellfire and aplish the impossible!" QiuTao started worshipping Liu Gan.

    <span>"Well, I won''t need you to cross over hellfire. I have something else that I need you to do for me¡­" Liu Gan exined to QiuTao the situation about hidden spies within the vige, and to report back about any suspicious people.

    <span>"I will help Lord Liu finish this top secret mission!" QiuTao promised Liu Gan.

    <span>By now QiuTao had familiarized himself with Zhan Nan Shan''s body. Even the two prior abilities of Zhan Nan Shan were now part of QiuTao. One of the ability was Perceive, and the other ability was Golem Summon. Perceive could determine the level of the other yers; as for survivors, it showed their equivalent level like yers.

    <span>Golem Summon would gather nearbyrge rocks in the vicinity to form a golem to assist in battle; it was more useful in the wilderness.

    <span>QiuTao''s original ability was also retained. Seems like after the soul and body assimted, the body''s properties and various stats would be averaged out, and the abilities would be preserved. As for how many abilities would be avable, that depended solely on the luck of the individual.

 Chapter 418

    <span><strong>Chapter 418 - Train System</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Once they were notified of the situation, Han GuangMing and Gao Sun spent the rest of the day rushing over. They were very excited about the given opportunity, even if they didn''tpletely trust everything Zhao Meng had said.

    <span>They were skeptical. To have survived this long, people had to develop a certain degree of skepticism. There was a good reason to be skeptical about it. Without risking your life, you could sleep there overnight and reach level 10 by the time you wake up? Could there be such a good deal without any hidden dangers attached? From what they saw on Zhao Meng''s wrist watch, that was indeed the case.

    <span>Han GuangMing and Gao Sun rushed over as quickly as they could. With NaNa as a guide, they used the shortest route. They were afraid that if they wasted any time, then this golden opportunity would disappear.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Lord Liu, there were no updates from you, so there were rumors spreading that you died in theboratory. I wasn''t able to suppress the masses, it was fortunate that Vice-captain Yin He and Zhao Meng returned in time¡­ Even Zhao Meng reached level 10?" Han GuangMing confirmed with Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes, soon you will join them as level 10 warriors," Liu Gan confirmed. At present, Han GuangMing was one of his most trusted aides. Liu Gan thought very highly of Han GuangMing. This chance to level up very quickly was definitely going to be awarded to him.

    <span>"Then¡­ that is very enticing!" Han GuangMing shouted, starting to tremble with excitement. To level up to 10, skipping levels and without danger! This was an achievement that he could only dream of! If he had to do it alone, there was no way he could aplish it. By following Liu Gan loyally, all he had to do was toy down in the capsule.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Under Li Bai Sen''s instructions, Han GuangMing and Gao Sun entered the capsule to sleep, and after a few hours they woke up. They were both level 10. Along with the level up, they both had new abilities.

    <span>"Normally, who provides the supplies to this facility?" Liu Gan asked Li Bai Sen.

    <span>"There is a train system that reaches the foot of the mountain at the secret reserve depot. The train transports the supplies from the depot back to theboratory." Li Bai Sen pulled out a map of the facility to exin to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan knew about the existence of a secret reserve depot and in fact, it wasn''t far away from the College of Agriculture. This reserve helped supply the Beginner Vige of 4000 people. No one expected that that the Mountain Valleyboratory would be connected to the reserve depot by a train system! No wonder there weren''t any signs of roads leading up to theboratory.

    <span>If he had known that information earlier, Zhao Meng and Han GuangMing would''ve taken that transport to reach theboratory faster. With the train''s easy ess, it would be much easier and faster to travel back and forth to the vige.

    <span>There were two reserve depots that were connected to the train system. Even the required ess card and keys were dropped as part of Zhan Nan Shan''s personal belongings. With this train system, Liu Gan wouldn''t have to waste a day or two of travel to reach theboratory. Ultimately, the decision was made to leave Jiang Jin-Yuan and Gao Sun behind in theboratory to monitor and understand theboratory''s day-to-day operations.

    <span>Jiang Jin-Yuan and Gao Sun both had technical backgrounds. This was especially true for Gao Sun, since he had ess to various technologies and knowledge of soul transfer procedures from when he was in the underwaterboratory. There were some differences in the techniques for soul transfer executed by bothboratories, but after understanding the theory, Gao Sun was able to pick up on the work.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>After resolving the issues at theboratory, Liu Gan led QiuTao, Han GuangMing and the others back to the Beginner Vige. Liu Gan had advanced two levels before returning there, rising from level 10 to 12. Overall, his strength had increased immensely. Even his followers had reached level 10, so they couldn''t bepared to before.

    <span>The Beginner Vige was still politically unstable. Under Zhao Meng''s control, the unrest was suppressed. By the time Liu Gan returned, there were no signs of any civil unrest.

    <span>Liu Gan''s first task was to let QiuTao continue on with the facade of ying his role of being Zhan Nan Shan, to smoke out the spies that had infiltrated the vige. Relying solely on QiuTao to finish the task was just wishful thinking. As a result, Liu Gan had QiuTao by his side constantly. After the first spy showed himself, the rest of the spies showed up one after another.

    <span>There were supposed to be 13 souls in the storage, but 2 people perished during the procedure so only 11 spies had to be sought out. Among these 11 spies, there were 2 people that had reached level 10. The other 9 people were level 8 or 9. Clearly these scientists were experimenting with soul transfer techniques during the premature stages and forced the souls into the bodies. The results were quite unfavorable.

    <span>"Dragon Commander has been revived, he is now in his body. To avoid blowing our cover, don''t speak of this to others. Continue referring him as Lord Liu! If other people know about our existence then the vige will be more chaotic," QiuTao followed Liu Gan''s instructions given to him earlier. This time QiuTao had to repeat it to the spies.

    <span>"Congrattions Dragon Commander!" upon hearing the good news, the spies were very happy.

    <span>"Attention! Salute!" QiuTao announced loudly so the soldiers could perform a military salute to Liu Gan. To pull off the full act, QiuTao had to perfect his military salute and posture by practicing nonstop. No one could see through QiuTao''s bluff.

    <span>Most of it wasn''t any real memorization, but rather from muscle memory.

    <span>"Salute!" the 11 soldiers uniformly greeted Liu Gan.

    <span>"At ease¡­" Liu Gan replied with his own salute style that he thought would match a Major General''s rank.

    <span>"Since Dragon Commander''s soul is too powerful, if it was injected into the body all at once it would implode. There is no way for this weaker body to incorporate all of Dragon Commander''s soul. As a result, Dragon Commander''s soul suffered from partial damage and lost part of his memory. This is not only his loss, but our loss as well. This is the time that Dragon Commander needs you the most! Take this chance to show off your training and don''t embarrass yourself!" QiuTao continued to fake it as Zhan Nan Shan.

    <span>"We will obey Dragon Commander''s everymand!" The soldiers were veterans. They didn''t suspect Zhan Nan Shan at all.

    <span>"Thank you for your trouble, I will still need to rely on you men. We still have a long road ahead of us. We carry the responsibility of the fate of humanity. Remember that we are soldiers, we can only seed!" Liu Gan replied calmly as an opening statement.

    <span>"Yes sir! We will always remember that we are soldiers! For humanity, we will seed!" the soldiers replied in unison. Liu Gan''s voice was stern and confident, making it hard for anyone to say that he was a fake.

 Chapter 419

    <span><strong><u>Chapter 419 - Training Exercises</u></strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>As of now, Liu Gan had two identities. To everyone else and outsiders, he was Lord Liu. To these soldiers, they would refer to him as Dragon Commander. Within the military, ranks were strictly enforced. As a result, Dragon Commander and Zhan Nan Shan rarelymunicated with theirrades for deeper understanding, so Liu Gan and QiuTao didn''t have any fear of getting their covers blown. Even if someone found discrepancies in their statement, they could insist that it was ssified information.

    <span>These soldiers and Zhan Nan Shan still don''t know their secret mission. The soldiers were ordered to obey Dragon Commander and Zhan Nan Shan''s orders. Naturally, that meant that they had to obey Liu Gan and QiuTao''s orders now. So what Liu Gan wanted, they had to do. A obedient soldier would not question the mission or disobey a direct order.

    <span>The two months of nning by the original Dragon Commander and Zhan Nan Shan were merely for retrieving appropriate bodies and reviving the soldiers. During the most crucial moment, a sudden turn of events gave the schemers a taste of their own poison. Liu Gan and QiuTao came out as the victors by absorbing the essences of their enemies, but they had no intentions of revealing what had happened, so they continued to impersonate the dead men.

    <span>Where did the n go wrong? How did it be a tragic ending, instead of the nned oue by Zhan Nan Shan? The root of this tragic oue was because they had chosen the wrong target. They should never have provoked Liu Gan. In fact, if it had been anyone other than Liu Gan, then the scheme would''ve been wless. Any other poor soul wouldn''t have survived the temptation of the reward capsule. They had chosen the one person that could foil their ns; they had chosen Liu Gan.

    <span>With the secret of the Mountain Valley Laboratory unraveled and the condition of Brave airship still undetermined, Liu Gan still had two other tasks he had to do. First off, he had to establish a brigade. This meant training all the able-bodied vigers. The second task was to scout Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>ording to the intelligence report, Evil Dragon Gulf housed a general-ranked beast. Without anything else said, the danger level was very high. As of right now, Liu Gan hadn''t finished integrating the absorbance of the spiritual essence. Considering all other variables, Liu Gan made the executive decision to establish his brigade, then scout Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>Establishing the brigade and training them was a pressing matter. After the second urance of a catastrophic level event, there were abnormally high rates of ck-Spot Variant Zombies appearing in the wilds and city. These ck-Spot Variants were a huge threat to level 5 yers, and needless to say, if any pre-level 5 yers came upon them randomly then they would die for sure.

    <span>In the future, if there were a surge of ck-Spot Variants in a corpse tide attacking the Beginner Vige, the current defensive fortifications wouldn''t withstand the assault.

    <span>Large hordes of ck-Spot Variants could be a blessing and a curse. For low-level yers, it was a chance to level up. Prior to the second catastrophic level events, the amount of Variant zombies and beasts were limited, so it was hard for level 5 yers to progress further. With the sudden abundant supply of ck-Spot Variants, this was the golden opportunity for yers and survivors to strengthen themselves.

    <span>To the soldiers, they witnessed the actions of their leader and it fit the role of a militaristic leader. With the agenda of forming a brigade, the soldiers never had any doubts about the authenticity of the Dragon Commander; they would do their best to match Liu Gan''s agenda.

    <span>One of the best aspects of any militaristic sovereignty was the overwhelming military power. By appealing to the wishes of the people, it meant having a stronger military force. Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, QiuTao, Jiang Jin-Yuan, Gao Sun, and two of the soldiers were all level 10. Establishing this brigade would be a lot easier with capable officers.

    <span>The zombies within the city had begun to transform into ck-Spot Variants. These zombies had begun to wander outward away from the city and into the surroundings areas, which happened to include the Beginner Vige. Before arge group of Variants could gather, these small groups of wandering Variants were used as practice for upgrading squadronbat strength.

    <span>Liu Gan divided 4000 yers into 5 battalions, with Han GuangMing, Zhao Meng, QiuTao, and the two level 10 soldiers as colonels. They would lead their own battalions into battle. Each colonel was assigned their own level 8 and 9 yers to assist them. The colonels created memorable names for their own battalions, like Firestorm, Fearless, Eternal, Nightmare, and Predator.

    <span>With the higher level yers powerleveling the bottlenecked level 4 yers, they could kill a ck-Spot Variant and reach level 5. With their newfound abilities, the total tally of level 5 yers increased thebat strength of the vige. These five battalions took turns heading out for training exercises. They had to clear out any nearby wandering variants as part of the training exercises.

    <span>The importance of battalion tactics was not to be taken lightly. There were certain limitations when fighting as individual units, but when fighting with battalions it was possible to use long-term sieges. yers or survivors with defensive abilities would be on the outer ring, serving as tanks. Standing at the rear would be the offensive long-range ability users. In between the long-range users and the tanks would be the healers and supporters. When encountering enemies, the long-range users would fire the first attack. The second attack would be taken by mid-to-long range users, and the third attack by mid-to-close range users.

    <span>Lastly in close-quartersbat, the melee fighters would charge forth to meet the enemy. The moment someone got hurt, they would have to fall back while the tank stepped up to hold off the enemy. The wounded person would be escorted back to the battalion center by the supporters so healers could provide immediate medical care.

    <span>Many of these people were neers, most hadn''t had a chance to step onto a battlefield before. Initially, they were quite flustered when doing their assigned duties. After continuous days of training, even the most unskilled person became more proficient. At the very least, when encountering different scenarios, they could adopt to them better than before. Through this harsh training program, it was hard to avoid idents from uring that would shrink the battalion. The ones eliminated by natural selection were the people with wed personalities, the type of people unwilling to work in a group setting. If these people had survived, they would have been deadweights and a liability.

    <span>Following the outskirts of the city, the battalions were trimming down the ck-Spot Variant zombie poption. With the five battalions taking turns to level up as a group,petition and rivalry naturally sprouted. Liu Gan suggested a slogan, "Eliminate the weakest link". That way thepetition among the battalions wasn''t to determine which one was the strongest, but to find out which battalion was the weakest.

    <span>After countless hours of training, the numbers of pre-level 5 yers started to be extinct. Eventually, the number of level 5 yers started to decrease, too. By the time the yers with the lowest potential had reached level 6, others in the same battalion had reached level 7. While increasing the levels of individuals, their military power as a whole was now more capable ofrger-scale operations.

 Chapter 420

    Chapter 420 - Tower Crane

    TL: LifeisaJourney

    ED: RED

    A little over half a monthter, Liu Gan¡¯s legion of 4000 people had killed their way into the inner edges of the city center. The legion had totally ughtered nearly two hundred thousand ck-Spot Variants, yet the total area that they had recovered from the zombies was only a mere tenth of the city. Progressing at this speed, there would be a day when Liu Gan¡¯s legion could get rid of zombies and beasts from Nin Jing City for good.

    Then one day, themunications room in the vige received an urgent distress call from the prisonpound. It was an update on their current situation. Liu Gan received news that the prisonpound was in a dire situation. At first there were only a few lingering variants, but now there were more and more ck-Spot Variant zombies gathering nearby. It had reached the point where the prisonpound was surrounded and the variants were closing in.

    Once Liu Gan heard the news, he had to push his secondary n forward. From the five battalions, he chose the eight hundred top yers, and this would be his personal elite battalion. Yin He would be themander of this battalion. After arranging their ranks, he left with Yin He, NaNa, Han GuangMing, and the elite battalion.

    Their main mission was to cross through the northern district, and head south to help rescue the prisonpound from their dire situation. A side mission would be to escort Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, Thunder Martial, Zhang Hua, Xue Jian, Treadmill, and a few others so they could reach level 10 using the spirit essence method. There were still a few remaining spots avable for the upgrade. Zhang ShengLi and Wang DeCheng provided rmendations to use up the remaining souls in the storage.

    Once they finished the more urgent matter of picking up the people from the prisonpound, they would be incorporated into the elite battalion. This would aplish two tasks at the same time. The first task was to train and level up all the weaker units. The second task was to clear out all of Nin Jing City¡¯s beasts and zombies. In the end, the entire ind would be under his control, from the vast region of the north to the developednd in the south. If there were any more secretboratories on the ind, it would be more convenient for him to travel around and request reinforcements.

    The first time Liu Gan headed to the southern district, he had to burn down an entire bridge. So that route couldn¡¯t be used again, but it didn¡¯t affect Liu Gan¡¯s travel n.A river split the north and south regions, and it was crossed by a total of five bridges.

    In the Beginner Vige, there were a total of over two thousand survivors. Through theirbined contributions, a very detailed map of Nin Jing City was produced. Prior to departure, Liu Gan had mapped out his travel n, so even if there were any unforeseen idents he would know what the alternative routes were.

    After all preparations were made, Yin He¡¯s battalion departed in a grandiose way. They moved in one fluid motion as they rushed into the city center, into the iing corpse tide.

    ***

    By Nin Jing riverside...

    There were multiple skyscrapers, and at the top of one particr unfinished skyscraper...

    ¡°LingLing, I wouldn¡¯t be able toe out of this alive. Don¡¯t worry about me. Eat my body and live!¡± Lin ShiYa was standing at the far end of the tower crane. She looked at the ground below, close to giving up all hopes of living. There were dense clusters of ck-Spot Variants, staring back at Lin ShiYa. The ck-Spot Variants that made it to the top of the tower crane were making their way toward Lin ShiYa and LingLing.

    Lin ShiYa had killed her way through the Variant zombies deep into the Nin Jing market district. Lin ShiYa relied on LingLing¡¯s strength to survive that long. If she was by herself, she wouldn¡¯t have made it this deep in the city. Eventually, her ineptitude finally caught up with her, which was how she ended up in her desperate situation.

    Lin ShiYa had been stranded on this crane for five days and nights. She didn¡¯t have enough strength to fight her way out against a group of zombies, but she had just enough to defend her position. She even broke two of her fire axes, and was on herst weapon. Yet, the waves of ck-Spot Variants didn¡¯t seem to stop. She had run out of water and food, her body couldn¡¯t keep up anymore.

    ¡°No!¡±

    LingLing shook her head. Her body was scarred from head to toe. There were deeply wounded areas that revealed her alloy metal bones.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to eat me, that is fine too, but you have to escape! Don¡¯t stay here and die with me!¡± Lin ShiYa shouted to LingLing.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to leave you!¡± LingLing was unwilling to fold, as she remained on guard by Lin ShiYa¡¯s side. Meanwhile, the variant zombies were crawling over with intentions of ripping them both apart.

    ¡°I tried! I really can¡¯t bear with the hunger, the pain any longer! I exhausted all my strength! Dad, if you can hear me. Please forgive this unfilial daughter!¡± Lin ShiYa lifted her head to the sky as she made herst wish. Two streaks of tears rolled off her cheeks.

    ¡°You have to hold on!¡± LingLing insisted.

    ¡°LingLing, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t think I can stay with you any longer. I can¡¯t sing to you anymore. Thank you¡­ Thank you for staying with me as my guardian angel,¡± Lin ShiYa whispered to LingLing, then jumped from the crane.

    The distance from the crane to the bottom of the floor was at least a hundred meters high. The ground was riddled with ck-Spot Variants.

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t let you do that!¡±

    LingLing shouted and jumped out to grab onto Lin ShiYa¡¯s ankle. LingLing had her other hand on the crane.

    ¡°Just let go, LingLing!¡± Lin ShiYa shouted while being suspended in midair. Tears were flowing freely from Lin ShiYa¡¯s eye.

    ¡°Won¡¯t let go!¡± LingLing¡¯s grip started loosening. Eventually, her grip was only the corner of Lin ShiYa¡¯s pants. Even when two ck-Spot Variants started to chomp on LingLing¡¯s arm and body, she didn¡¯t let go.

    ¡°If you are like this, we both will fall to death¡­¡± Lin ShiYa cried. Once the first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream.

    ¡°If you want to die, we will have to die together!¡± LingLing decided.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I hurt you¡­¡± Lin ShiYa med herself.

    ¡°I want you to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for me¡­¡± LingLing begged Lin ShiYa.

    ¡°I won¡¯t sing anymore¡­ Just let go¡­¡± Lin ShiYa shook her head uncontrobly. She was full of despair.

    It was during this exchange ofst words that they heard noises in the distance. From the sounds, it seemed someone was howling loudly. It was a voice full of anger, but also familiar to Lin ShiYa.

    Lin ShiYa was upside down as she tried to make sense of the situation taking ce off in the distance. The ck-Spot Variants from the nearby surroundings charged towards all themotion. Lin ShiYa narrowed her eyes, trying to use her improved vision to see what was going on. To her surprise...

    It could be either a hallucination¡­ or it could be a thousand yers marching in a oval formation. Like an efficient meat grinder, they were fed waves of ck-Spot Variants. As the battalion marched, the zombies were swept across the floor.

    At the very front of the battalion, spearing the charge was one person wielding a greataxe¡­ It looked like the person she could only dream of being with...

    ¡°Is it really him? Did I fall asleep? Am I dreaming?¡± Lin ShiYa couldn¡¯t believe any of this. This moment was so surreal. Her eyes met that man¡¯s eyes.

    Did he really organize a rescue battalion?

    Lin ShiYa felt unparalleled remorse. If she knew that he was going toe, then she wouldn¡¯t have jumped at all, she would¡¯ve persevered for a while longer. Now that he saw her sorry figure like a monkey hanging upside down, she lost all her points in appearance!

    Lin ShiYa found just a reason to continue living again. She tried her best to reach toward her foot, to grab ahold of LingLing¡¯s hand. She wanted to return to the top of the crane, but it was at this very moment when LingLing¡¯s grip on her pants ripped away...

 Chapter 421

    <span><strong><u>Chapter 421 - Unidentifiable Object</u></strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"No way¡­"

    <span>LingLing had already done her best to try and grab ahold of Lin Shi Ya, but in the end what was left of her was only a ripped piece of cloth. She had to witness Lin Shi Ya fall from a hundred meters up.

    <span><em>Why? Why did I ever want to jump?</em><span>, Lin Shi Ya thought to herself as she fell. She felt insurmountable regret. If she had waited for just a little longer. She didn''t need it to be longer than two minutes! If she had just waited patiently for those two minutes, then she would''ve been rescued by him.

    <span>Now that he was nearby, she would end up plummeting down to her death.

    <span>The area right beneath the tower crane didn''t have any trees or soft objects to slow down her descent. There were only hard obstacles like reinforced concrete. Falling down from that height would result in death upon impact.

    <span>"I me my own stupidity! He was right to call me stupid. I''m such a pig!" Lin Shi Ya sighed regretfully. She wanted to find a ce to smash her head in to hide from embarrassment. There was no need to look for one, however. Soon, her head would be one with the ground.

    <span>Lin ShiYa opened up her arms, and closed her eyes. If she was going to fall to her death, she would at least fall in a pretty posture. That way her body wouldn''t look too terrible, after she was sprawled on the ground.

    <span>The ground wasing closer, Lin ShiYa could smell death rising towards her. There was fear. She was afraid that it would be painful if she didn''t die from the impact.

    <span>The next moment, instead of feeling pain, she felt like her body was lighter, as if someone''s arms were around her. Mistrusting her senses, she wasn''t sure what she was feeling. It could be that shended onto the ground or she had collided with the ck-Spot Variants. Either way, it wasn''t as painful as she had imagined. She was still rolling on her side in someone''s embrace.

    <span>By the time, she had stopped moving, she finally mustered up strength to see how much damage had been done. To her surprise, Lin ShiYa saw a familiar face; it was the face of the man she loved. Meanwhile, he was staring at her with a peculiar look.

    <span>Surrounding them both were countless bodies of ck-Spot Variant zombies. To describe the mess they were in, it would be like two unwed lovers kissing while embracing one another over the soft grass. However, instead of the soft grass, there were mushed up bodies of rotten flesh. Some of the variant zombies they were sitting on, were still moving.

    <span>Two of the ck-Spot Variant zombies tried to bite Lin Shi Ya, but the man intercepted and smashed them into paste.

    <span>"Did I die already? Is this heaven? Or is this¡­ hell?" Lin ShiYa stared at the man while talking to herself. She couldn''t believe that she was still alive, nor could she believe that she was in his embrace.

    <span>This must be a dream or a hallucination due to hunger. The real her must have died from the hundred-meter fall.

    <span>"Hey you, wake the hell up! Hello! Wake up!" Liu Gan smacked Lin ShiYa across her soft cheeks more than a few times. He first noticed her sorry figure expression hanging like a monkey on the tower crane. Then when she started to fall, subconsciously, he dashed toward her.

    <span>It was fortunate for her that his strength, speed, and senses were way above a normal person. By stepping on the heads of the ck-Spot Variants, he was able to reach the area where she was going to fall. Even more fortunate was when she had spread her arms apart to slow her speed of descent. All these factors made it possible to save her. At the final moment before she was about to impact, Liu Gan leapt forward eight meters to dissipate her downward force. The two continued to roll on their sides through the bodies of variant zombies. The force was dissipated through the tumbling. Otherwise, their bodies would have ended up absorbing most of the impact.

    <span>If it was anyone else without metal alloy arms, they might have shattered every bone in their arms. For Liu Gan, the special feature of his limbs allowed him to withstand the initial impact force from counteracting her fall. Liu Gan was very familiar with this rolling technique since he was an expert at parkour. This guaranteed both their safety.

    <span>The most pitiful ones were the ck-Spot Variants. They didn''t even get a bite and they were stepped on, rolled on, and most of them were crushed in the process. The zombies that were still alive, tried to surround and attack Lin ShiY a and Liu Gan. Unfortunately for them, Yin He and the battalion had arrived. They instantly cleared up the field.

    <span>"So, I''m not dead? You brought along this many people toe save me?" Lin ShiYa saw the battalion and recognized familiar faces from the vige. Then she looked back at Liu Gan as she directed her question at him.

    <span>"Nope. You are thinking too much. I''m just a passerby. I saw some unidentifiable object falling and I just happened to catch it," Liu Gan let go of Lin Shi Ya''s body. Then he turned around and walked away.

    <span>"You know, lying to me wouldn''t hurt. I''m not that hard to please! And what do you mean unidentifiable object?" Lin Shi Ya fixed her hair. She had lost all her pride and started barking her displeasure. What is so good about this guy? He wasn''t romantic at all. To call him denser than a rock, would be an insult to the rock!

    <span>"Hey you guys¡­ Who wants to catch me¡­" LingLing fell the same way as her mom. She screamed as she came falling down...except this time no one caught the falling object ,or rather, no one was able to react fast enough to catch her. This resulted in LingLing falling down onto the ground. Even her body parts became distorted.

    <span>"LingLing!" Lin ShiYa rushed over quickly.

    <span>"Sigh¡­ Parents don''t love this poor child¡­ I have a tough life¡­" LingLing sighed long and hard. Even with the sustained damage on her metal alloy body, it wasn''t fatal. After resting, all her misaligned body parts would realign themselves.

    <span>After getting updates from the others, Lin Shi Ya finally found out the strange events happening all around the vige. When Lin Shi Ya decided to leave, she wanted to find her father and not bring any more trouble for Liu Gan.

    <span>Thesest few days she was treading on a thin line between life and death. When she was cornered on the tower crane, that sealed her fate. One wrong move and she was almost dead. Coincidentally, Liu Gan happened to be nearby. By now, her heart felt deeply moved. After she met him, they went separate ways, then they met up again in the vige, and then she walked away from him. Now that they met once more, she felt as if it was destined by the will of the heavens.

    <span>So she promised herself that no matter how hurt she bes in the future, as long as she remains next to him, she will enjoy it. This feeling was a type of happiness to her.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>After a brief interlude, the battalion started cleaning the streets again. They continued south to the southern district. Even though the city center had plenty of ck-Spot Variants ambushing them, Liu Gan''s abilities made it a breeze. It wasn''t even a challenge anymore for the battalion.

    <span>Throughout this trip, many yers were able to level up. By now, there weren''t any yers below level 7.

 Chapter 422

    <span><strong>Chapter 422 - Cutting Grass</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Without a doubt, staying by Liu Gan''s side meant leveling twice as fast. It was totally unfathomable that both yers and survivors could level this fast.

    <span>It didn''t take very long for Liu Gan and Yin He''s battalion to reach the Nin Jing River. They had reached another bridge. Under Liu Gan''s fierce leadership, they quickly secured the perimeter on their side of the bridge. There was a bridge-crossing protocol that the soldiers had to adhere to,<span> it was to advance in a line formation<span>. They had to move in an orderly fashion while exterminating any threats immediately.

    <span>At the other end of this bridge was an eleven-story building, and squatting on its rooftop was a Variant zombie. This ck-armored zombie could attack anyone or anything within range of its attack. It would spread open its carapace to spit out ck acid gobs that could impossibly reach the far end of the bridge.

    <span>Thest time Liu Gan had encountered this Carapace Spitter Variant zombie was at the copsed bridge. Since it couldunch ck acid like a missile from afar, Liu Gan had been stuck on thatrge bridge unable to advance and unable to retreat. In the end, a yer was burned to death by the acid. Zhang Hua''s long distance javelin had rescued them from their desperate situation.

    <span>However, this time the Carapace Spitter Variant wasn''t able to take out anyone. It ruined the mist armor of a few yers before Liu Gan had discovered it. Without hesitation, Liu Gan charged forward at the Spitter Variant. He scaled the outside wall and with several vertical jumps, reached the rooftop. With a close-up Enhanced Crescent de, its carapace cracked into several pieces.

    <span>At one point in time, Liu Gan thought that the carapace was unbreakable, but now he could chop through it like tofu.

    <span>After gaining a huge jump in strength, the once formidable Variants were nothing but weak opponents. Along the way south, there encountered many Variant zombies. There were the Carapace Spitter Variants and the moremon Giant Colossal Variants, the same kind that Liu Gan had first encountered when he arrived at the za. Now this Variant could be handled with a swing of his axe.

    <span>Now that Liu Gan was level 12, he had capabilities that far surpassed the other yers. He had even surpassed the majority of the other Variant zombies undergoing evolution. Even if he had to face off against thousands of Variants, with his current Crescent de and Enhanced Crescent de skills, none of the zombies could reach him.

    <span>Even if the zombies were able to reach him, his Mist Armor would render any attacks useless, doing little more than tickling it. There was no way these zombies could damage him, especially when the Mist Armor increased in density as he leveled up.

    <span>Metal alloy limbs along with spirit essence, it was as if the game had removed a roadblock for Liu Gan that resulted in his fast level-ups. This once-terrifying game was as easy as if Liu Gan was cutting grass. Now, no matter where he decided to go or what he did, he could massacre without regard. He wouldn''t be able to experience that feeling of fighting with his life on the line anymore.

    <span>Due to Liu Gan''s brilliance in leading the group and all his high-levelpanions, like Yin He, NaNa, Han GuangMing and others, the battalion covered a great deal of distance while still killing all the normal and special zombies, and the wild beasts alike. If the evolution of the monsters continued at the current rate, then Liu Gan''s legion would clear up all of the threats remaining on this ind.

    <span>However, Liu Gan didn''t believe that it would remain a smooth process. Every time he had a moment of ease, it was like the calm before the storm. He would receive the full force of the storm if he acted carelessly. Now that fortune was on his side and things were going his way, he had to be careful of any surprises.

    <span>One such would be The Trembling World''s wonderful yet terrifying weather system. These few days had been rtively normal, but that didn''t mean a tornado or earthquake wasn''tpletely out of the question. Even if his legion was powerful, it was no match for Mother Nature.

    <span>If the second catastrophe was possible, then a third catastrophe was just waiting to ur. It was still questionable whether his decision to kill all the zombies would trigger a change in the game system to bnce out both sides. His actions might just stimte the arrival date of the third catastrophe.

    <span>Liu Gan and Yin He''s battalion continued to advance at a steady pace. Along the way, Lin Shi Ya had been on alert for traces of her father, as it was questionable whether he was still alive. Crossing out of the northern city district, they arrived at the outskirts of the southern district.

    <span>Once Liu Gan stepped onto familiarnd, he started to recall old memories. The first time he had walked that path, he had a few squads of over a dozen people. They were walking a thin line between life and death, and not many survived that journey. Back then, he was being chased by the corpse tide, so to Liu Gan, returning to this area was a taboo.

    <span>With his current ability and his battalion, they could kill their way into the city. It was now their territory. They didn''t need to fear the zombies anymore since they were no longer a threat.

    <span>As Liu Gan ventured deeper into the south district, he passed by the location where he had to hide in the apartment from the tornado. Not only had he been he chased down by zombies, he had to brave the harsh elements of nature.

    <span>This time the journey was smooth sailing; there was no formidable threat and the weather was normal¡­ normal being rtive in the sense that there was no huge change in climate.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>While Liu Gan was making his way to the prisonpound, the situation there was dire. The prisonpound was surrounded by over a thousand ck-Spot Variant zombies. Among the horde of ck-Spot Variants were other types of Variant zombies, tilting the battle in favor of the zombies. It was a fierce battle that initially favored the yers, but as the fight dragged out it became a race against time. The longer it took the yers to eliminate the threat, the more resources they would waste. In a war of attrition, the zombies would always win. The outer walls of the prisonpound was scorched by the burning charcoal of bodies, and fractures started to appear at the weak points. These cracks were signs that the wall could copse at any moment.

    <span>There were a few people who still had the will to fight, and these defenders were at the top of the prison wall. With their food supply depleted, many had lost the means and will to fight on. The one glimmer of hope was a message they had received from the Beginner Vige. It was simple and precise: <span><em>Lord Liu is going to the rescue</em><span>. Even knowing that rescue wasing, they thought of the several hundred thousand zombies in between the two bases and lost all hope.

    <span>They were thinking that even if Lord Liu made his way back to the southern district, it would take at least a week, or maybe up to a month. Traveling inrge groups would draw a lot of attention, making it inconvenient for a speedy trip. It was quite possible that the rescue won''t make it in time and they had epted their fate. Speaking through the transmitter, people left their wills and wishes. The original crew that had decided to follow Liu Gan felt regretful that things had turned out this way, so they left heart-touching messages to Liu Gan.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"KILL! KILL THEM ALL!"

    <span>From the distance, Liu Gan witnessed what was taking ce at the prisonpound. He evaluated the structural integrity of the building as being in critical condition, and issued the order to his battalion. By now, Liu Gan could instinctively activate his Battlecry ability with a shout. This enhanced the capabilities of the entire front line that charged fearlessly into the enemy.

    <span>Several thousand ck-Spot Variants all turned their heads to the noise of over eight hundred fresh meat arriving. Losing interest in the prisonpound, they shifted targets to the oing feast of living meat.

    <span>"It''s Lord Liu! He has returned with reinforcements!"

    <span>"We will be saved!"

    <span>"Impossible, how did he make it here so fast?"

    <span>"How many people did he bring?"

    <span>"Looks like up to a thousand yers¡­"

    <span>"It is impossible for them to hold their weight against these ck-Spot Variants! They are outnumbered by several Variants per yer!"

 Chapter 423

    <span><strong>Chapter 423 - Seeking Rtives</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Let us kill our way out and meet up with Lord Liu''s battalion!"

    <span>"NO! They are already fighting them!"

    <span>"It is definitely one-sided!"

    <span>"One-sided? Is Lord Liu in danger?"

    <span>"What? Use your eyes! Lord Liu is massacring the zombies! It looks as easy as if he was cutting grass!"

    <span>"Impossible¡­? Those are ck-Spot Variants! Not regr zombies!"

    <span>"..."

    <span>The dialogue was between the yers in the prisonpound who were on guard duty. It was a hot debate, since they couldn''t keep up with the movements of the higher-level yers. From the moment the Variants shed against the oing yers, body parts were flying. All of the limbs were from the ck-Spot Variants. The elite battalion was unstoppable, especially with Liu Gan spearheading the frontline. The golden ray trailing behind his Crescent de ability cut through the bodies of the Variants like moldy cheese.

    <span>Zhang Sheng Li and the others within the prisonpound would take hours to ughter one ck-Spot Variant. However, Liu Gan was breaking through the zombies like twigs. To describe Liu Gan as cutting through tofu with a knife wasn''t an urate depiction. It would be an injustice to Liu Gan, since that would mean the Variants were putting up some sort of resistance.

    <span>In a short half-hour, the elite battalion cleared up several thousand ck-Spot Variants surrounding the prison. Liu Gan walked up to the prisonpound, and Zhang Sheng Li ran out to greet him with wee arms.

    <span>"Lord Liu! It''s all my fault. I''m useless! I nearly lost us the prisonpound due to my ipetence!" Zhang Sheng Li rushed over to beg for mercy.

    <span>"It is nothing big, even if you lost it, that is fine. It is only one smallpound, it doesn''t amount to much. In the near future, the entire ind will be ours!" Liu Gan patted Zhang Sheng Li reassuringly on the shoulder.

    <span>After leveling up, certain priorities had to be reevaluated. Resources that were once worth dying for, like the base, were no longer so important. It wasn''t even worth mentioning after bing stronger.

    <span>During his absence, those at the prisonpound hadn''t just sat around idly. The serving leader, Zhang Sheng Li, had made it to level 8. However, of the 800 elites with Liu Gan, 200 members were at that level, too.

    <span>Over this long period of leadership, Zhang Sheng Li had conquered several bases and annexed yers and survivors from those camps. At present, the prisonpound had a poption of around 500. At most the prisonpound could hold 200 people, so the remaining 300 people were relocated to the reserve depot. Both locations were overrun by the corpse tide, so they were trapped in their own base. The people in the depot had to move deeper underground to lock themselves in.

    <span>With Han Guang Ming''s assistance, Lin Shi Ya found Treadmill and asked him about updates regarding her father, Lin Feng. Treadmill hadn''t seen Lin Feng after thatst time they had met over half a month ago.

    <span>"SISTER!" Ling Ling suddenly shouted as she ran toward ady nearby.

    <span>At this time, Zhou Jing Jing heard a familiar shout, and turned to look where it came from. To her astonishment, she saw Ling Ling racing over.

    <span>"Sister¡­" Ling Ling rushed over to hug Zhou Jing Jing.

    <span>"Get away! How are you¡­ still alive? Didn''t you die?" Zhou Jing Jing shoved Ling Ling away instinctively. She gave Ling Ling a perplexed stare.

    <span>"I¡­ I¡­" LingLing stuttered, she didn''t understand how her older sister could do that to her.

    <span>"You are an ill-omened person! How are you still alive?" Zhou Jing Jing angrily vented. She wanted to strike Ling Ling across the face, but was unable to deliver the blow.

    <span>"What are you doing?" Lin Shi Ya caught up to Ling Ling and stepped up to defend her.

    <span>"Ling Ling¡­ How is she still alive?" Hu Jun stared at Ling Ling. He was also shocked by the sudden turn of events.

    <span>"Sister¡­" Ling Ling was hiding behind Lin Shi Ya, but she stilled called for her sister Zhou Jing Jing.

    <span>Themotion caused nearby spectators to gather around to gossip on thetest scandal of their boring lives.

    <span>"You are the cause of my parents dying! You tore my happy family apart! You were the very reason I had to move out! My life was ruined because of you!" Zhou Jing Jing started bawling out with tears.

    <span>No one understood what was going on, with the exception of those personally involved.

    <span>Lin Shi Ya went through all this hardship to reach the southern district, but she still wasn''t able to find her father. Ling Ling happened to be searching for her living rtives, but from the looks of things, it didn''t seem like a happy reunion.

    <span>"Older sister¡­ I know it was my fault¡­ Can you stop crying please?" Ling Ling mustered up the courage to walk over to nudge Jing Jing.

    <span>"Don''t touch me! You are an unlucky person!" Zhou Jing Jing shoved Ling Ling away one more time. This time, Ling Ling fell backward onto the floor.

    <span>"You don''t have to shove her like that¡­" Lin Shi Ya helped Ling Ling up.

    <span>"IT''S YOU? YOU¡­ DEMON! How dare youe here?" Zhang Sheng Li was shaking from anger once he recognized Ling Ling. Zhang Sheng Li punched at Ling Ling with the intention to kill.

    <span>Lin Shi Ya intercepted the punch from Zhang Sheng Li, but not without damage. She was insistent on backing Ling Ling to the end. Unconsciously, Lin Shi Ya looked in the direction of Liu Gan, while wondering why so many people hated Ling Ling.

    <span>"Sheng Li, the Ling Ling that murdered your sister, Zhang Sheng Nan, is no longer in there¡­ She recovered her original memories and human personality¡­" Liu Gan walked over to mediate the situation with Zhang Sheng Li, since he could understand why he was angry at Ling Ling. However, Liu Gan had no idea why Zhou Jing Jing hated Ling Ling.

    <span>"I don''t know what atrocities LingLingmitted in the past, but now she is a very kind being. She is very important to me. If you want to kill her, then you will have to kill me first," Lin Shi Ya spoke out to Zhang Sheng Li.

    <span>"She¡­ She¡­ <span><em>sigh¡­"</em><span> Zhang Sheng Li red at Ling Ling, then released his anger with a long sigh. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before sighing one more time. Since Liu Gan had stepped in to intervene, he had to respect his boss''s wishes.

    <span>"So what''s up with them two?" Treadmill couldn''t resist the urge to ask Hu Jun about Ling Ling and Zhou Jing Jing.

    <span>"When Nin Jing City allowed a second pregnancy, Zhou Jing Jing''s mother gave birth to Ling Ling. This created tension between Jing Jing and her parents. Eventually, the tension caused Jing Jing to move out¡­

    <span>"Later, when Ling Ling was diagnosed with leukemia, her parents liquidated their fortune and Jing Jing''s hard-earned money to fund Ling Ling''s medical needs¡­

    <span>"Jing Jing''s parents forced her to donate bone marrow to Ling Ling. On top of that, the operation cost several hundred thousand yuan, so her parents forced her to borrow money from moneylenders¡­

    <span>"Jing Jing couldn''t borrow that much money, so she left without saying a word to a ce where no one knew her¡­

    <span>"Ling Ling ended up passing away, and her body was donated to the San Xing Corporation. Her parentsmitted suicide by jumping off a bridge¡­" Hu Jun exined to the crowd.

 Chapter 424

    <span><strong>Chapter 424 - Rtable Feeling</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>During that time on the isted Ind Lake Laboratory, Zhou Jing Jing hallucinated about the appearance of Ling Ling. She had told the members at that time about her sister Ling Ling, but no one bothered to remember the details, so no one was able to tie up the two events as rted issues.

    <span>Upon hearing Hu Jun''s exnation, it triggered the memory of those who had heard the story before, and they were able to recall the fact that Zhou Jing Jing did indeed have a sister. No one would''ve thought that a pair of sisters would be able toe across each other, and to meet under these circumstances.

    <span>The cycle of life with partings and reunions would make anyone sob.

    <span>It was a surprise to all the yers that Zhang Sheng Li had a grudge with this young girl. It could be said that this world was too small. Or perhaps it was due to Liu Gan''s presence that brought them all together.

    <span>"Sister¡­" Ling Ling walked over to Zhou Jing Jing, while whimpering in a small voice.

    <span>Zhou Jing JIng stopped crying, but was gasping for air. At this moment, she was emotionally unstable.

    <span>"Older sister¡­" Ling Ling tried again, this time she reaching out to touch Zhou Jing Jing''s hand.

    <span>"Don''t touch me!" Zhou Jing Jing snatched her hand back.

    <span>Ling Ling felt the heartache, but tears didn''t start flowing out yet. She looked at Zhou Jing Jing with a miserable expression.

    <span>"I know you must hate me¡­ when I didn''t donate my bone marrow to you, causing your death. Am I right?" Zhou Jing Jing barked loudly at Ling Ling.

    <span>"No¡­ It was my fault. I''m sorry, sister¡­" Ling Ling was shaking with fear as she answered back.

    <span>"... You don''t me me?" Zhou Jing Jing started to tremble.

    <span>"Sister¡­ I miss you. I miss mommy and daddy too¡­" Ling Ling reached out to hold Zhou Jing Jing''s hand.

    <span>"Let bygones be bygones. It doesn''t matter what has happened. It matters that you are still with your family now, and that is the most important part" Lin Shi Ya understood most of the situation. She walked over to help console Zhou Jing Jing.

    <span>"Yeah, Ling Ling never med you. It is your self-guilt burden that you''ve held onto," Hu Jun also walked over to help.

    <span>"Sister¡­" Ling Ling started tugging Zhou Jing Jing on the sleeve, while taking another step closer.

    <span>Zhou Jing Jing loathed Ling Ling for breaking up her family. But, that was not always the case. Before Ling Ling got sick, when the sisters were together, Jing Jing didn''t find Ling Ling repulsive. At times, Jing Jing would buy ytime dolls for Ling Ling, and y along with her. Even her parents would only speak about the good aspects of Jing Jing to Ling Ling; never once did the parents mention the falling out with her.

    <span>So in Ling Ling''s memory, Zhou Jing Jing was her kind and caring older sister. The days where they yed with the dolls were unforgettable events in her life. She loved her older sister. When she was in pain from her condition, she would always ask her parents when her older sister would visit her.

    <span>When Ling Ling saw Zhou Jing Jing from afar, she rushed up excitedly to greet her older sister. She couldn''tprehend why she was hated.

    <span>"You¡­ you¡­" Zhou Jing Jing tried toplete her sentence, but wasn''t able to. Years of self-guilt and heartache resurfaced in these couple of minutes.

    <span>Hu Jun was indeed correct with what he said earlier about Jing Jing, how she hated Ling Ling for breaking apart the family and her parent''s deaths. Ultimately, her biggest burden of guilt was that she didn''t donate matching bone marrow to Ling Ling, she didn''t do her best to try and save Ling Ling''s life. So in her head was the image that Ling Ling must hate her. When she saw Ling Ling again, she felt the guilt and heartache. Masking her true feelings, she became aggressive towards Ling Ling.

    <span>Regardless of what Jing Jing thought, Ling Ling didn''t have any hateful thoughts toward her sister. She still thought of Ling Ling as her good older sister.

    <span>"Sister¡­" Ling Ling pled with Zhou Jing Jing once again. This time Jing Jing didn''t reject the attempt. In fact, Jing Jing pulled Ling Ling in for a hug and then she started crying again.

    <span>Blood rtions weren''t that fragile. Even the deepest hatred could be resolved, starting with a simple hug.

    <span>Lin Shi Ya and the surrounding women, yers and survivors alike, all started tearing up. Being able to witness a reunion during these testing times brought their inner feelings to the surface. They were reminded of their past memories of family. They could rte to the situation, if only they were lucky enough to meet their family.

    <span>Lin Shi Ya was especially moved since her father was currently in this dangerous world, searching for her. He was alone, venturing around on the ind. Without any idea of his whereabouts or condition, she felt as if her heart was being stabbed.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Before nightfall, Liu Gan, Zhang Sheng Li, Yin He, and the battalion rushed over to the reserve depot. There were also several thousand ck-Spot Variants at that location. They rescued the 300 trapped people within the reserve depot.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>"Now that I''m here, it is time to bring you to the northern district to help raise your levels." Liu Gan suggested out to Zhang Sheng Li during dinner.

    <span>"I heard Han Guang Ming mention it before. He said that Lord Liu helped them reach level 10?" When Zhang Sheng Li and others overheard the topic, their eyes glistened with motivation.

    <span>It was said that once your level reached 5, you earned the right to live in this world. To continue fending for yourself, you must reach level 10. They found out this the hard way when they realize they couldn''t fend off the upgraded zombies following the second catastrophic event.

    <span>This was very true for Zhang Sheng Li and his group. When standing next to the yers from the vige, they were merely average at best. He couldn''t tell those yers that he was in a leadership position. They could pick anyone from the elite battalion and they might be higher level. It was even worse for Wang De Cheng, since he didn''t even qualify to enter the battalion with his current level.

    <span>Following Lord Liu, they could reach unimaginable heights. However, the moment they fell behind they could forget about catching up.

    <span>"Yes, I''m here to bring you guys with me. Twelve people, to be exact. At my ce, there are twelve powerful souls. I need you, Zhang Sheng Li, and Wang De Cheng to discuss who is worthy of these spots."

    <span>Earning Liu Gan''s seal of approval, those yers were so excited that they couldn''t sleep that night. The following morning, Han Guang Ming and several elite members were left behind in the southern district to guard the reserve depot and prisonpound. Liu Gan led the battalion with Zhang Sheng Li, Wang De Cheng, and others on the expedition back north.

    <span>On the return trip back to the northern district, Liu Gan chose a different path. Even without saying why, Lin Shi Ya was grateful. She felt that Liu Gan was helping her find her father, by choosing to go on a path they hadn''t been on before.

    <span>The battalion was like a sharp knife, cutting through the dense mobs of Nin Jing City. Under Liu Gan''s leadership, in just two days and one night, they returned to the vige in the north.

    <span>On the trip passing through Nin Jing City, Lin Shi Ya unfortunately still wasn''t able to find any traces of her father.

 Chapter 425

    <span><strong>Chapter 425 - Moonlight Gulf</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>When things started to settle down in the Beginner Vige, Liu Gan led Zhang Sheng Li and the chosen few over to the Mountain Valley Laboratory. They would each receive one spirit essence from the twelve remaining souls so they could reach level 10.

    <span>After thorough consideration, the twelve candidates were Zhang Sheng Li, Wang De Cheng, Thunder Martial, Zhang Hua, Xue Jian, Hu Jun, Lee Miao, Zhou Jing Jing, Treadmill, Huang Wei Tao, Yuan Hong Jun, and Liu Hao. These were the people who made up Liu Gan''s earliest crew, so they were considered trustworthy. Thest four individuals were former enemies who had shown promise after the brainwashing.

    <span>""Should we leave a spot for Miss Lin Shi Ya?" Zhang Sheng Li asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"She''s dumb like a pig, it would be a waste on her," Liu Gan shook his head.

    <span>"She''s loyal, though," Zhang Sheng Li added. Zhang Sheng Li found out that Lin Shi Ya had met Liu Gan earlier in the game than he had, and all of the incidents that followed up to the present from Han Guang Ming. In the end, Liu Gan had saved Lin Shi Ya several times, which was more than he would do for a stranger.

    <span>"Yeah, Lord Liu you should reconsider," Wang De Cheng urged. From his point of view, this woman had the potential to be Liu Gan''s partner, so how would he not save a spot for her?

    <span>"No, there''s no need to save one for her," Liu Gan firmly shook his head.

    <span>Confirming Liu Gan''s firm decision, Zhang Sheng Li and Wang De Cheng stopped trying to change his mind.

    <span>Although they had decided on twelve individuals, things didn''t go ording to n. The gender of the souls in the storage had to match the gender of the individuals receiving them. The least expected news was that in Zhan Nan Shan''s crew, there were three female souls. So aside from Lee Miao and Zhou Jing Jing receiving the souls, thest remaining essence had to be given to a woman.

    <span>However, Zhang Sheng Li and Wang De Cheng didn''t have any suitable candidates in mind after consulting with Liu Gan one more time. The essence seemed to have been destined to be left for Lin Shi Ya.

    <span>***

    <span>After two days of continuous injections of essence, Liu Gan gained twelve 10th level yers. The overallbat strength of the Beginner Vige doubled with these new powers.

    <span>With Zhang Sheng Li leading these strong yers in the Beginner Vige, Liu Gan wouldn''t have to worry about delegating tasks, especially with the mission of conquering all of Nin Jing City. Now, Liu Gan could focus on alternative missions, like an expedition to Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>Considering the danger involved at Evil Dragon Gulf, Liu Gan didn''t take along any of the level 10 members. Instead, he opened it up to publicly ept volunteers from the vige. He was going to ept several volunteers.

    <span>Following Liu Gan on his expedition came with pros and cons. As long as the volunteers listened obediently and acted diligently, then they would level up faster than anyone else. It would be a risky expedition, with them putting their lives on the line to reap the benefits. Yet, there were still a lot of yers and survivors applying for the expedition to Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>It was possible that during this expedition, they could be familiar with Liu Gan. They might be the next to receive his seal of approval and be given chances for higher levels, just like how Zhang Sheng Li and the others from the prisonpound were given a free pass to level straight to level 10 because those people had known Liu Gan earlier. If they could be like that, then their future would be set.

    <span>Even in this world, there were many types of people. Still, there were those who wouldn''t risk their life for an adventure. But with 4000 vigers, there was bound to be someone who would use their life as a token.

    <span>There were several dozen people. To fairly choose the volunteers, the positions were raffled off. The chosen ten people would follow Liu Gan to Evil Dragon Gulf. With Zhang Sheng Li taking charge in the vige, Liu Gan didn''t have to worry about any civil unrest. This time, Liu Gan also took along Yin He and NaNa.

    <span>Even if he encountered a general-ss monster, with Yin He and NaNa there, Liu Gan could contend against it.

    <span>During this time Yin He created a new and improved earpiece. This new earpiece was more energy efficient and had an improved range. The two could nowmunicate over two kilometers distance. When in actualbat, it would be more convenient to use.

    <span>After packing up their gear, Liu Gan set out with his new expedition squad. Along the way, there would be random surges of ck-Spot Variants. However, it wasn''t a threat to the current group.

    <span>The northern district was huge. On foot it took two days and before they finally arrived at Evil Dragon Gulf.

    <span>Evil Dragon Gulf wasn''t the original name, of course. Its original name was Moonlight Gulf. The name Evil Dragon Gulf was created by Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Tao to ward off others. Moonlight Gulf upied a huge region. In fact, they had already stepped into the territory. The region that Qiu Tao and Zhan Nan Shan designated it as dangerous and keep-off was the nest of the Evil Dragon.

    <span>The Evil Dragon''s nest was a former Moonlight Gulf theme park. This theme park wasprehensively constructed, with multiple resting stations and entertainment facilities. Behind the nearby hill, there was an open range safari-themed zoo that stretched for dozens and dozens of kilometers.

    <span>Thisrge type ofprehensive theme park had a grandiose front gate, but now even the gate was in ruins. The gate''s frame had cracks at several ces, with even the weeds growing rampantly through the cracks. The overgrowth gave off a feeling expected from a deste region.

    <span>Now that humanity was gone, the care that was required to tend to the infrastructure was also gone. Once it was abandoned, traces of human presence would also erode away. In this state, it wouldn''t take ten thousand years for nature to retake itsnd; it would only take thend several hundred years to be restored back to what it looked like originally.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Standing outside of the gate, looking in from the outside, there was a fog within the Moonlight Gulf. It gave off an eerie feeling. Even before they entered, they could feel a cold breeze blowing out from within.

    <span>It was quite chilly outside already, but standing by the gates, they could feel that it was colder inside.

    <span>Perhaps it was just a psychological reaction?

    <span>"Let us enter," Liu Gan said to his squad. He led the way as they walked through the front gate into the Moonlight Gulf Theme Park.

    <span>"Okay." The others didn''t have any opinions. One by one, they followed Liu Gan''s back, and walked into the theme park.

    <span>Passing through the front gate, the temperature on the inside of the gate was definitely a lot lower than the outside. The jackets they had on were suitable for the temperature outside, but not anymore. This bone-piercing chill was unbearable.

    <span>"Huh? Where did Vice-leader He go? Where did doggy NaNa go?" some members asked loudly as they looked around.

    <span>Liu Gan overheard the question and also looked around. To his surprise, Yin He and NaNa were really missing! That was strange, they were by his side when he was walking in. Where did they go?

    <span>Liu Gan retreated back to the front gate to look for Yin He and NaNa, but there were no signs of them. With his enhanced vision, he looked past the front gate to see that there was dense ck fog beyond!

 Chapter 426

    <span><strong>Chapter 426 - Haversack</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The sudden appearance of the strange ck fog surprised Liu Gan. He observed the changes in appearance as it roiled out there, as if it was concentrating on keeping something down. The ck fog surrounded the entire park, but stopped short of entering the premises as if held back by a wall. Hand-like shapes were extending out from the ck fog, looking as if something was trapped beneath the surface and trying to w its way out. At other parts were the shapes of fantastic mouths that seemed to want to swallow everything whole.

    <span>"What is that?" asked the other yers as they witnessed the phenomenon, shocked. They had witnessed countless mist-fog features before, but this was a first even for them.

    <span>Liu Gan tried to use the new earpiece to contact Yin He, but that proved to be unsessful, there was no reply. It waspletely silent, no different then being broken.

    <span>The wall of malice started slowly closing in on Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. Liu Gan sensed the danger and ordered everyone to retreat within the park. While moving backward, they monitored the actions of the ck fog. They couldn''t figure out how the cloud could take shape, or what the fog was made out of.

    <span>Could it be that the entire world outside had been consumed by this wall of malice? That didn''t make sense! Along the way, they hadn''t seen any signs of the ck fog! It wasn''t logical for it to suddenly appear in the short time that they were here.

    <span>The squad released sighs of relief. The wall of malice had stopped short of Moonlight Gulf''s front gate, and didn''t breach. It was stopped short of entering, but it continued to roil. If they move closer to it, they could hear sounds of beasts howling in pain.

    <span>"What is going on? When we entered, there was nothing of this sort!" The yers started to panic.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t say anything regarding the ck fog. This was all too abnormal, even for him. Yin He and NaNa weren''t able to pass through the gate, but everyone else was present. Wasn''t this simr to the situation on the <span><em>Serenity </em><span>airship? When they were dragged into the dreand?

    <span>Last time, Liu Gan was dragged into the dreand through an ability of the Nightmare Jellyfish, but he was woken up by Yin He''s call. Eventually, he was able toe to his senses. This time it waspletely different. Liu Gan clearly knew that he wasn''t in a dreand. It was just that Yin He and NaNa were missing, while everyone else was ounted for.

    <span>Liu Gan had his suspicions that this time it wasn''t a hallucination or a dream. Instead, he felt that this theme park was the entrance to the Evil Dragon''s nest. It could also be a portal to a different dimension, since everyone living who entered was able to pass through.

    <span>At least this portal was able to only allow biological beings to pass through. Anything else wouldn''t be able to enter. That would exin why only he and the yers were able to enter, while Yin He and NaNa were refused entry!

    <span>This portal''s exit point was separate from the entry. It was a one-way portal that started from the theme park''s grandiose gate, where they stepped into the dimensional space. It was impossible to leave this dimension through the same point they had entered. If there was an entry point, there must be an exit point. They must find this exit point, and fast.

    <span>When Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Tao first came to the nest, they must have gone through the same entrance portal. If they had returned safely back to the vige, then that confirmed the existence of an exit point. The question was, why did they return to the theme park? There must be a reason for them to return even after suffering severe casualties.

    <span>"Oh! My haversack is over there!" a yer suddenly cried out as he ran toward the wall of malice right by the front gate. On the floor was a bag filled with food and water. That yer reached out his hand to pick it up.

    <span>"Don''t pick it up!" Liu Gan shouted, but it was toote.

    <span>The yer, turned around to look at Liu Gan, with his hand stretched out to get the bag. From the wall of malice, the shape of a beast formed, and took a bite out of the stretched-out arm.

    <span>That unfortunate yer shrieked loudly and continued to cry out from the pain, pulling back his arm. Even though the beast looked like an illusion, the bite was real. The yer''s open wound was definitely part of his flesh and skin. Certain ces even had the bone revealed, a horrifying wound.

    <span>"The pain! The pain is killing me!" the yer screamed as he rolled away from the ck fog, still shocked by what had happened.

    <span>"Don''t go near that wall! Absolutely don''t touch it!" Liu Gan moved up to pull the wounded yer away by his shirt as they retreated.

    <span>The sudden appearance of the ck fog was already an ominous sign. Liu Gan''s sixth sense of danger was going off in his head. <span><em>What is this substance? Why did it suddenly appear? What does this mean? Are we trapped? What do people on the outside see, like Yin He and NaNa, when they look in?</em>

    <span>The possibility of the outside world being swallowed up by this ck fog was low, but possible. Liu Gan personally felt that only the people within the theme park could see it.

    <span>As for the ck fog, there were too many questions and not enough answers. For instance, when they had killed zombies, it would leak out those ck orbs that would seep into the yer''s body. The orbs were a form of experience that increased the yer''s level. However, when the yer died, their wristwatch would dissipate like fog into the air and return back to the environment. These ck fogs held the key to unlocking the secrets of The Trembling World.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled the wounded yer back to the two healers in the squad. The healers immediately started to get to work. The wounded yer was level 8 already, so his Mist Armor was quite durable. The interesting surprise was that the wall of malice ignored his Mist Armor and inflicted damage directly to his body.

    <span>It was fortunate the wounded yer had retracted his arm fast, so he didn''t suffer a fatal injury. The two healers weren''t able topletely heal his wound, but they were able to alleviate his pain.

    <span>"Will we be trapped here? What will happen to us? I want to head back to the vige!" a few other yers started toin.

    <span>Following Liu Gan out on an expedition required courage. These yers weren''t weak-willed, but something strange like this was beyond even the new norm for them.

 Chapter 427

    <span><strong>Chapter 427 - Recreational Facilities</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"There''s no need to fret, this could be an instance as part of the game. The moment we took a step through the front gate, we essentially stepped through a functioning spatial crack that transferred us into this instance domain. As long as we finish this instance by fulfilling some requirement, mission, or boss, then we canplete this instance and escape," Liu Gan calmly proposed an exnation.

    <span>What Liu Gan had said wasn''t based off of blind confidence. He has evidence to back the statement. When Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Tao left the nest, they were heavily injured, but alive. All Liu Gan had to do is piece the evidence together with the facts avable.

    <span>If they could find that escape route, they would be able to leave safely. Liu Gan believed that with his capabilities and intelligence, it wouldn''t be hard to leave safely. However, his agenda wasn''t as simple as leaving the domain, he wanted to get the prize forpleting the mission first.

    <span>"Ah, this must be an instance domain, like a dungeon!" Other members epted Liu Gan''s statement as fact and calmed down.

    <span>Those who had yed online games before would understand the existence of instances in a world filled with abominations and monsters, especially if they carelessly walked through a doorway all lit up, only to find themselves in a different ce. However, this front gate didn''t have any telltale signs of being an instance. Now, they were trapped in this instance until they could beat it.

    <span>The wall of malice was an effective trap, isting the entire Moonlight Gulf Theme Park in a domain. It was no different than being trapped in an instance in a game.

    <span>"Lord Liu, what do we need to do now?" a yer asked Liu Gan.

    <span>"Act ording to n, we will head deeper into the theme park to find clues. If we encounter the so-called Evil Dragon, we will have toe up with a n to deal with it. Maybe that is what we need to do to obtain the reward and leave safely," Liu Gan instructed the yers.

    <span>"Well¡­ Vice-leader He and NaNa aren''t here. How can we deal with the Evil Dragon?" a yer stuttered hesitantly.

    <span>"What about me?" Liu Gan nced at that yer.

    <span>"Yeah! With Lord Liu here, what are you afraid of?" Another yer started bashing the stuttering yer, speaking up on behalf of Liu Gan.

    <span>The name of the yer who had defended Liu Gan was Cai Zhao Chen. He wanted to use this chance to prove himself to Liu Gan. Using this opportunity to stand out, he could show to Liu Gan that he had his back, and that he could be trusted as a loyal follower.

    <span>Liu Gan took a good look at Cai Zhao Chen. Liu Gan didn''t say anything; he didn''t need to. He has his own criteria for measuring a potential member and they were quite simple. So far, Liu Gan had a good impression of this yer. First, the yer must be willing to listen and obey orders. Second, the yer had to have some specialized capability. Needless to say, if the potential yer had a specialized ability and obeyed his rules, then Liu Gan would definitely invest his time to cultivate the yer''s growth. If even the simple first criteria wasn''t fulfilled, then Liu Gan wouldn''t waste his time on someone who wouldn''t listen.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen seemed to have fit the first criteria perfectly. Liu Gan would remember his name and pay attention to this potential yer.

    <span>"It will get dark soon. If we want to investigate the area, I suggest that we do it tomorrow morning. Investigating in the dark with limited visibility¡­ that''s definitely dangerous," the squad''s only female yer finally spoke up.

    <span>"Yes, we should find a ce to camp out for the night. We can start first thing in the morning," Liu Gan agreed with the female yer''s suggestion after looking up at the sky.

    <span>After everyone agreed on the n, Liu Gan led them deeper into the theme park. There was a small za that had arge fountain. Although the water in the fountain had dried out, there was dark brown dried blood on the concrete. The ground on the za was smooth and t. Near the fountain, there was a single kid-sized roller skate. One can imagine prior to the catastrophe, this za must have had a lot of children roller-skating on it.

    <span>Walking past the fountain, there was a wide paved road. Along both sides were stores, all lined up. These stores sold items ranging from toys to food and snacks. All the stores were deteriorated, a reminder of the park''s former glory.

    <span>At the end of the paved road were the recreational facilities. There were roller coasters, carousels, bumper cars, pirate ships, and haunted houses.

    <span>Every attraction was deteriorating, rusting at either the joints or the rides themselves. The few things that hadn''t faded away yet were the maps and warnings for each ride.

    <span>This eerie sensation of a forgotten theme park allowed people to understand the cruelty of nature after humans cease to maintain civilization.

    <span>"The haunted house is constructed fairly sturdy. Even though it isn''t warm and cozy, it is suitable for us setting up camp here" the female yer suggested to the group after examining the structural integrity of the building. The haunted house was built from brick, so it was more sturdy than all the other buildings.

    <span>"You want to set up camp in the haunted house? Only you could think of that," a concerned yer voiced his opinion.

    <span>"Really? Of all things, you are scared of haunted houses? Cowards!" the female yer was shocked by the reply.

    <span>The name of the only female yer of this group was Ana Lucia. She was a mixed-blood foreigner. There were a total of five yers and survivors who volunteered, but Ana Lucia was the only one chosen by the raffle. In Liu Gan''s honest opinion, he didn''t want to bring her. However, that was met with collective protest about Liu Gan being sexist and unjust. In the end, he took her along to quell the fierce protests.

    <span>"Using the haunted house would be a great idea. They constructed it to be really sturdy. Even the materials are top-notch. It still hasn''t copsed yet from neglect. So it is suitable for setting up camp," Liu Gan used his knuckles as a standard measuring tool of durability.

    <span>"I agree that this ce is suitable for us. The ground is elevated, and we have a wide range of vision," Cai Hao Chen agreed with Ana Lucia.

    <span>"See, what did I tell you?" Ana Lucia proudly rubbed it into the concerned yer from before.

    <span>The concerned yer''s name was Star Yu. With Liu Gan, Cai Hao Chen, and Ana Lucia in agreement, Star Yu didn''t want to voice his disagreement. Everyone in this expedition group was courageous to a certain degree. Star Yu''s weakness had to do with haunted houses. A real world incident left him traumatized when he was young.

    <span>With dusk imminent, light was fleeing while they were talking about entering the haunted house.

 Chapter 428

    <span><strong>Chapter 428 - Gathering Firewood</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Liu Gan started delegating tasks to the two group leaders after learning their names. "There are eleven of us. Let''s split into three groups. Five of you in one group with Cai Hao Chen in charge; your task is to gather firewood from nearby trees, the more firewood the better. Ana Lucia will be in charge of another group that will search the haunted house; your task is to search the ce for any potential dangers lurking here. Once both teams are finished with their task, they will focus on cooking dinner. I will scout the immediate area and expand outward to ensure our safety in this theme park."

    <span>"I will personally see to it that my group finishes the task!" Cai Hao Chen was happy that he had been personally named to head up a group.

    <span>"Leave me with the haunted house!" Ana Lucia''s face twisted into a grimace, as she was trying to imitate a ghost. This was part of her personality, showing that she was quite happy with her assigned task. As a mixed-blood foreigner, she had a tough-girl persona. She loved to y pretend in the vige, as if she had the role of being a big sister. Being upgraded to a group leader, she felt as if she really became a big sister.

    <span>After assignments were distributed, Cai Hao Chen led his group of four others toward the nearby trees to gather wood. In the theme park, there were plenty of trees. Although, majority of the trees were dried-up. It wasn''t a huge problem for the group to gather firewood. With enhanced strength, carrying bundles of firewood was easy. Other members were using axes to chop down the trees and bringing them back. Without spending too much time, there was a small hill of chopped wood right by the haunted house.

    <span>In the meantime, Ana Lucia and three other members were investigating the haunted house. They were checking the corners at every turn to see if it was just a haunted house attraction, or a real haunted house.

    <span>The design of the haunted house was very special. Aside from the foundation of the building, all the other props were cast from concrete molds. Even the window frames were narrow, with steel bars barricading them, making them good vantage points. If the front entrance was guarded, then nothing could slip in behind them.

    <span>The front entrance of the haunted house took on the form of a demon''s wide mouth. With the gates as teeth, it was locked by chains. Ana used her axe to cut away the chains and walked deeper into the throat of the demon.

    <span>The first room was almost an exact copy of the living room from the movie <span><em>The Ring</em><span>. In the middle of the room was a TV. If this attraction was still operational, then when the tourists ventured into the dark room they would be blinded by the bright light of the TV. Following up the temporary blindness will be an actor ying the role of Sadako, crawling out from the TV.

    <span>Presently, the TV was still there, but Sadako was not.

    <span>Leaving the set of ''The Ring'', the next set was a prison holding cell. As for which movie it belonged to, it was hard to pinpoint. It might have been a scene from an American film since there was a poster with a chainsaw cutting through zombies.

    <span>Going deeper in, the group saw Sadako Yamamura''s old house and the ancient vige. Once they moved deeper inside the haunted house, they discovered that it was quite vast. The amount of effort that went into designing the ce could be seen in the details. There were stairs leading up that had holes in them, forcing the tourists to be on their toes.

    <span>"I''m not afraid nor gutless. When I was younger, back in the real world, I slept overnight in a haunted house. It was a horrifying and strange encounter. That''s why I had strong adverse reaction to camping in the haunted house," Star Yu continued to exin himself to Ana.

    <span>"A coward will always be a coward, trying to exin yourself proves that you are afraid," Ana continued to voice her opinion of Star Yu.

    <span>"My friend had to undertake a security job that included a haunted house in the theme park. The night prior to the release of new attractions, he asked for help and I went over to assist. That night I slept in the haunted house¡­" Star Yu continued to tell his story as he used the shlight to light up his path. Everything he had told them was a real life experience.

    <span>"Then what happened?" Ana looked at Star Yu with interest. Her favorite hobby was listening to storytelling.

    <span>"During that time, there was only supposed to be the two of us. We were the only security on site so we checked extensively. We wereying on the sleeping bags when it was close to midnight. Halfway into the night, I heard noise like movement inside the haunted house. It was like someone was running inside¡­

    <span>"At first, I thought it was strange. I thought I had dreamt of it happening¡­ Tell me, what can there possibly be in a haunted house that you can steal from? Reluctant to wake up, I tried to shove my friend awake. I wanted him to take a look at it with me. But, he remained sleeping soundly. I couldn''t wake him, so I went alone to patrol.

    <span>"I was very brave. If you were in my shoes, I don''t think you would''ve done the same," Star Yu continued.

    <span>Ana interrupted the story. "Pause! If it was big sister me, I would''ve went! If there was a ghost, I would kick it back to the spirit realm!"

    <span>"I continued to move toward the source. The footstep sound as if it was somewhere deeper inside. It was at a set from <span><em>Grudge</em><span>. When I got there, I caught sight of a person slipping into a wardrobe, and it was wearing all white!" Star Yu stopped in his tracks as he recalled the events.

    <span>"Hey hey hey! I don''t feel like we should continue this topic. Is that okay?" A yer started protesting. Overhearing the conversation between Ana and Star was sending chilling, tingling sensations down this yer''s back.

    <span>Everyone who signed up was quite brave, but in this eerie and dark ce, anyone would be vulnerable. The tipping point was the ghost story; even if it was just a story, the idea of a ghost had been nted in his head and would manifestter.

    <span>"There''s so many people here, why are you afraid? It is just a story. It''s not like it actually happened! Another coward!" Ana stared at theining yer.

    <span>"Forget it, I don''t think I should continue," Star Yu shook his head.

    <span>"What? How can you stop just like that? You have big sister''s attention, so you must continue telling the story! Tell me what happened!" Ana with a disappointed look at Star Yu. It''s been a long time since she experienced a thrilling sensation, and this type of location was the most ideal setting for listening to these types of stories.

    <span>"That night my experience was too terrifying. If I continued, I don''t think we would be able to sleep here. Then, Lord Liu will think that I am disrupting troop morale," Star Yu shook his head in refusal.

    <span>"Continue! Even if you tell us a hundred more ghost stories, big sister will still be courageous enough to sleep here. So tell me now! Stop stalling!" Ana extended her hand out to smack Star Yu''s head as punishment for stalling.

    <span>"Yes! Continue the story," another person ushered Star Yu.

    <span>"I''m not stalling. Fine¡­ If you want to hear it, then I will tell you. Even if I had all the courage in the world. I wasn''t going to walk up to the wardrobe to find out what it was! I wanted to rush back to wake my friend up. Only if he apanied me would I check out the wardrobe," Star Yu finally continued with his tale.

 Chapter 429

    <span><strong>Chapter 429 - Psychological Barrier</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"You can continue, I will leave to join the other group!" The scared yer ran back toward the exit. It seemed that listening to the ghost story had exceeded his tolerance threshold.

    <span>This scared yer''s name was Sun Chao. He is 17 years old boy, not mature enough to be called a man yet. He had moments when he was courageous and others when he was a coward.

    <span>"What a disappointing person! You can continue now!" Ana rushed Star Yu.

    <span>"So I decided to head back the way I came. At least, I tried to. I walked and walked. Passing from one room to another. I recalled the room I was sleeping in, but after a dozen rooms I still couldn''t find it. The more rooms I ran through, the more impatient I got. I had to stop to catch my breath. I leaned on what I thought was the wall. When I shone my light on it, I realized that it was the very same wardrobe I had been running away from! Then slight vibrations from a knocking sound wereing from within. At that point, I passed out¡­" Star Yu''s pale face showed how frightened he was.

    <span>"What must have happened the next morning was that you discover it was just a dream when you woke up next to your friend! Am I right? What a boring farce of a story!" Ana Lucia interrupted Star Yu for the ending.

    <span>"Nope. The next morning, I woke up within that wardrobe. It was dark and I felt a presence. When I opened my eyes, I was staring into the bloody eyes of a ghost woman wearing white garments¡­ I was caught off guard and peed in my pants," Star Yu shook his head in embarrassment.

    <span>"Hahahaha¡­ you peed in your pants! That''s so funny!" Ana Lucia continued to bully Star Yu.

    <span>"You guys won''t understand how I felt. It was very terrifying! It felt so real! If you were me, you would pee too!" Star Yu shook his head in disagreement. He didn''t feel that he was cowardly during that time. It was just that everything happened so suddenly.

    <span>"Bullshit! I won''t pee myself! You must have been pranked by your friend. He shoved you in the wardrobe. He wanted to scare you! Only cowards like you would get scared by those tricks!" Ana Lucia conjured up an exnation.

    <span>"Definitely not. After that night, my friend went missing. In the police investigation, they doubted my statement. They suspected that I had murdered my friend and gotten rid of his body in the wilderness. After half a year of fruitless investigations, the police changed it from a murder case to a missing persons case. They still have no conclusive evidence about what happened," Star Yu frowned.

    <span>"They ended the case with just that? No way? That''s such an inconclusive ending!" Ana Lucia shouted loudly to show that she refused to ept that ending.

    <span>"It isn''t an inconclusive ending! Later in the year, I received a call from my missing friend¡­" Star Yu continued with his story.

    <span>"Oh? What did he say to you?" Ana Lucia suddenly got interested.

    <span>"He told me that he is ying a game - ''The Trembling World''. He says that it is very fun and I should join him¡­" Star Yu shook his head, with a saddened look.

    <span>"Oh? You answered him? Was that how you got transferred in here?" Ana took a guess.

    <span>"I didn''t answer. After the gamer server was released, warnings were released all over the newspapers and inte. There were warnings telling us not to answer the call. I wasn''t that dumb to answer him after he had said that. I had a feeling that it was a trap. So instead of answering, I shifted my hand over to the ''hangup'' button on my phone. However, the moment I was about to press on that button, it changed from ''hangup'' to ''enter the game''. It was toote¡­" Star Yu finished his life story.

    <span>"What a pitiful person. Just like that and he was tricked into the game?" Ana Lucia looked pitifully at Star Yu.

    <span>"Everything I experienced was so strange, right? Waking up to find myself alone in the haunted house and then the paranormal encounter! Receiving a call from my friend, only to be tricked into entering this unknown world. Then, you suggest that we sleep in this haunted ce. Now that you know my history, do you think that I won''t have any psychological problems?" Star Yu said everything at once.

    <span>"I still feel that you were dreaming that night. In reality, it isn''t possible to have things happen as you have described," Ana Lucia concluded.

    <span>"By ying this game, it transferred us to this dimension. So tell me again, which is stranger? We have been living in this world for close to half a year. I feel that on the day the server released the game, it was around the same day when my friend disappeared from the haunted house," Star Yu disagreed with Ana Lucia''s statement.

    <span>"You are right about one thing. The Trembling World isn''t normal. In reality, nothing you have said would''ve happened at all. Even if there was something suspicious, everything problematic started when the server for the game released! I bet money that you were definitely dreaming; if not, I won''t eat shit!" Ana Lucia stubbornly held onto her idea.

    <span>"Forget it, sister Ana. Is there really a need to be so serious?" another yer walked over trying to mediate the situation.

    <span>"Ah¡­ No need to be like that? I''m just telling my side of the story. As to what really happened, I don''t even know myself," Star Yu continued to advise Ana Lucia.

    <span>"Are you guys dumb? She said ''she won''t eat shit''. That means the person eating shit, isn''t her. No matter if she wins or loses, she won''t eat shit. Low IQ!" Thest person who had not spoken up yet finally couldn''t withhold the reveal from the group.

    <span>"Hey! You can''t let big sister feign it? Do you think you are smarter than big sister?" Ana Lucia smacked that yer blowing her cover.

    <span>Star Yu and the other yer shook their heads. They were speechless. This so-called big sister definitely had sass and character.

    <span>"Okay, break is over! Now that story is finished and the haunted house had been searched through. Let''s regroup with Little Cai and his group. Our next task will be to cook dinner together," Ana Lucia getting serious as she reminded them of her position as group leader. She led the group out of the ghost house.

    <span>"Sigh¡­ This type of attraction in the theme park can be truly haunted. At witching hour, it will lure in wandering spirits. Even though this is just an instance, it has been through long periods of neglect. So I still don''t support the idea that we should camp here overnight. Something bad will happen. Sister Ana, I think you should urge Lord Liu for him to find another ce to set up camp," Star Yu trailed behind Ana.

    <span>"Do you think Lord Liu will be cowardly like you?" Ana replied.

    <span>"No, it''s not about being cowardly or not. It is¡­ It is¡­" Star Yu frowned as he tried to find the right words.

 Chapter 430

    <span><strong>Chapter 430 - Wild Deer</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"What is it?" Ana slowed down as she stared down at Star Yu.

    <span>"Whether you believe it or not, but if it happens then I regret not warning you about it. If we sleep in this haunted house, something might ur like what had happened to my friend. The mysterious disappearance will take ce again. I have a strong premonition that someone will disappear tonight," Star Yu continued to whisper to Ana.

    <span>"If you are scared, then take the issue up with Lord Liu," Ana suggested. She was annoyed by his cowardice.

    <span>Ana Lucia led her group back out the way she came in. There was no phenomenon like Star Yu had described about being trapped in a loop, like the previous haunted house. Ana Lucia, Star Yu, and two other yers walked out unharmed. Both groups were supposed to meet up with each other and discuss the ns for dinner.

    <span>During this whole time, Cai Hao Chen and his group had built up a small hill of woodfire. They delegated the task efficiently among their six members. Two members were chopping the trees and firewood into thinner pieces. The other four members were stockpiling the chopped up wood in preparation for a big bonfire. Once the fire was started, the warmth of the fire attracted the nearby yers to crowd around.

    <span>The sun had set, and dusk was upon them. It was a starless and moonless sky, making it seem as if the darkness had swallowed them all¡­ truly an instance domain. This type of darkness made it hard for people to see past their fingers. Luckily for the yers, they had prepared various tools to light up their surroundings. To top it off, the big bonfire had plenty of firewood to feed into it; for now, illumination wasn''t going to be the problem.

    <span>Everyone had their own bags, filled up with food. Mainly they had dried meat cakes or crackers; non-perishable products that can help stave off hunger. Their ideal meal would be something that could be heated over a fire. For now, this would be their dinner.

    <span>They had five days worth of food, which was the maximum amount that they can carry on their backs. ording to Liu Gan''s estimation, two days worth of rations would be for the journey there, while the remaining three days would be for aplishing the mission. One major factor why they didn''t pack more was the location of Moonlight Gulf. It was located near a forest and bordered the sea. There were animals that hadn''t been infected in the mountains and forest, and non-infected fish in the sea. So even if they ran out of food, the natural resources could supplement their supplies.

    <span>"This type of dried meat cake is so nasty to eat! It is hard like a brick and nd like rubber. We''ve eaten this for two days already. I wish we could eat some fresh meat," Anained as she chewed on her meat cake.

    <span> An eighteen-year old looking yer started flirting with Ana. "Hey, hey! Sister Ana, we do have a lot of fresh meat here. You can choose any of us to try!"

    <span>"Yeah! He''s right!" Other yers started chuckling pervertedly.

    <span>"Get away! Big sister here has no interest in boys. I prefer my men like Lord Liu. Mature and bold!" Ana waved her hands like she was brushing away their ideas.

    <span>"Lord Liu''s hands are thicker than the dried-up meat cake in your hand. Even if you take your time to gnaw at them, they wouldn''t soften. You should reconsider fresh meat like us, we are very vorful. You shouldn''t be so picky, sister Ana. Hahaha¡­" the yers continued to chime their opinions in one by one.

    <span>"No matter how thick he is, big sister can withstand it! Now what do you have to say?" Ana threw away her meat cake as a statement to them. She shifted her posture with both arms holding up her back.

    <span>"Wow sister Ana, you are so wonderful¡­"

    <span>"Little Brother will never question you again¡­"

    <span>"Hahaha¡­ Sister Ana challenging Lord Liu up to three hundred rounds, it will be a spectacr fight¡­"

    <span>Nine men and one woman surrounding a bonfire without any other form of entertainment could only discuss those lewd topics.

    <span>"Stop messing around. By the way, does anyone know where Lord Liu went? Howe he still hasn''t returned yet?" Star Yu asked everyone around him in a worried tone.

    <span>Every one of the volunteers there was weak, and they knew it. None of them had reached level 10. So aside from Liu Gan, no one could protect them from harm. Without his presence, thebat strength of these volunteers could be said to be negligible when going against a formidable enemy. At least before they had entered the theme park, there was Yin He and NaNa by their sides, so they felt safer. Without any bodyguards, they felt vulnerable. For them, Liu Gan had been missing for a while. Star Yu started to panic deep down.

    <span><em>Bang!</em><span> The sound echoed in the room. A gutted-out wild deer had been tossed over to the bonfire. That startled everyone and they jumped a little. They turned to look at where it came from. From the darkness, Liu Gan walked out. Clearly, this deer had been caught and gutted by him.

    <span>"Lord Liu!"

    <span>Cai Hao Chen, Ana, Star Yu, and the others walked over to greet Liu Gan.

    <span>"The meat cakes aren''t tasty. Cut this deer into pieces and grill it on the fire," Liu Gan instructed them. Naturally, he assumed a seat by the bonfire.

    <span>"Hey! Don''t just stand there. You guys over there, move it! Didn''t you hear Lord Liu! Cut up the deer meat and set up a barbeque rack. Get a sturdy stick and pierce it through so we can roast it!" Ana started ordering the others around.

    <span>"Lord Liu, did you return before us?" Cai Hao Chen trying to start up a conversation, as he snuck a glimpse at Ana.

    <span>"I¡­ just returned," Liu Gan hesitated before answering.

    <span>Every member nced at Ana, while smirking as they worked. Even on a normal day, Liu Gan didn''t speak much. He was a stern man of few words. Otherwise, there would be yers who would try to coax Liu Gan and Ana Lucia together as a couple.

    <span>"Lord Liu, how did you manage to find a wild deer here?" Ana moved in closer to Liu Gan''s side. She blushed and her heart was racing.

    <span>"When I was looking around, a dark shadow fled in front of me. I chased after it. I didn''t expect it to be a deer. It hasn''t been infected yet. I don''t know how long we will stay in this instance, so we will have to rely on the resources supplied by the instance." Liu Gan was deep in thought as he stared at the deer.

    <span>"Ah, with plenty of food and water, and a handsome protector, I''m so happy I can die!" Ana pped her hands excitedly.

    <span>Liu Gan looked at Ana strangely, and she immediately stopped. She could be as outspoken and witty as she wanted in front of others, but she subconsciously showed a different side of herself to Liu Gan. It might be a little too early to show that to her potential lover.

    <span>Other yers just chuckled at her foolishness.

    <span>"So what is the situation in the haunted house?" Liu Gan changed the topic on Ana.

    <span>"The haunted house has been investigated, there''s nothing suspicious inside. There are two exits. One is the front entrance, the other is an emergency exit. The emergency exit door can be sealed up shut from the inside. We can have someone stationed at the back door for safety precautions. There is no problem camping here tonight," Ana said in a serious tone.

    <span>"Are both team''s members present and ounted for?" Liu Gan looked around and asked the group leaders.

    <span>"Present!" both leaders responded.

    <span>"Wait, why are there only nine others, excluding me? I thought I brought along ten people?" Liu Gan frowned as he counted.

 Chapter 431

    <span><strong>Chapter 431 - First Sign of Trouble</strong>

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>Cai Hao Chen and Ana started counting off their own groups. They were missing a person. It was from Ana''s team. It was the teenager who ran off earlier, Sun Chao.

    <span>"You guys didn''t see Sun Chao?" Ana quickly asked Cai Hao Chen, then the people in her own group.

    <span>"Nope."

    <span>"No, haven''t seen him."

    <span>Star Yu and the other yers from Ana''s group stared at each other. They shook their head in disbelief.

    <span>"Anyone else seen Sun Chao? While we were in the haunted house investigating, did anyone see him run out?" Ana continued to ask.

    <span>"No, I was working hard with my group so I didn''t notice anyone running out," Cai Hao Chen replied. At the same time all the other members in his group shook their heads.

    <span>Ana quickly ran to the haunted house entrance and screamed out Sun Chao''s name. She only heard the feedback of her own voice.

    <span>"He''s been taken away by the ghost! Just like my friend! There''s something wrong with this haunted house! It''s not suitable for camping!" Star Yu continued to shout louder and louder.

    <span>Liu Gan nced at Star Yu. That stopped Star Yu in mid-shout.

    <span>"Tell me what happened? How did you separate? Who was thest person to see Sun Chao?" Liu Gan asked Ana.

    <span>"Well¡­" Ana exined the situation in detail to Liu Gan, including Star Yu''s paranormal encounters in real life, and especially how Sun Chao had been scared off in the haunted house.

    <span>"I''m not making it up to scare people. Everything I''ve said is true. I personally experienced it," Star Yu walked over to exined to Liu Gan. He didn''t want Liu Gan to think that he was disrupting morale and had indirectly caused Sun Chao to run off.

    <span>"Could it be possible that he found a ce to take a dump?" someone suggested loudly and called for Sun Chao, but no one responded to the absurdity.

    <span>"Stop screaming!" Liu Gan halted everyone.

    <span>"Didn''t I say that someone would be disappearing? This haunted house isn''t worth the trouble to stay in¡­" Star Yu mumbled.

    <span>"I will go take a look," Liu Gan took his shlight and walked towards the haunted house. Ana and Cai Hao Chen quickly followed behind Liu Gan.

    <span>"I will go with Hao Chen, you will stay behind and watch over the other yers. Don''t let them run off," Liu Gan ordered Ana.

    <span>"I should be the one to apany Lord Liu! I am more familiar with the haunted house. I can lead the way!" Ana rushed to suggest.

    <span>"Ah, Ana is right about that. I will switch ces and stay behind," Cai Hao Chen sensed Ana''s alternative agenda.

    <span>"That''s fine too. Make sure you control them. Don''t let them shout or run around. We will be back out quick," Liu Gan said to Cai Hao Chen. Liu Gan had no qualms about who was going to apany him.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>"This haunted house definitely has a problem. We can''t stay here to set up camp. Sun Chao has been taken away already!" Star Yu said to the others and began telling his background story.

    <span>"So it''s like that? If it''s as you have said, then this is really dangerous. We can''t stay here any longer," a few yers started tensing up after hearing Star Yu.

    <span>"Please don''t continue spreading your story. Lord Liu hates it when someone disrupts the troops'' morale. You have been warned. So don''t say that I haven''t warned you if an axe flies at your neck," Cai Hao Chen gave a final warning to Star Yu.

    <span>"I''m just doing it out of good intentions! Something has happened to Sun Chao already. We don''t know who the next victim will be," Star Yu sighed as he looked at the haunted house.

    <span>The huge bonfire, its mes flickering back and forth, produced shadows that made the demonic entrance to the ghost house look more dangerous. From a distance, they stared at the building. The shadows resembled a demonying on top of the building, getting ready to eat anyone that entered.

    <span>"Wait, did anyone see that deer''s head move a little?" A yer named Liu Kang suddenly asked others. Liu Kang was the person roasting the deer on the bonfire.

    <span>"It''s dead. Why would anything dead move?" other yers asked and looked at the deer.

    <span>"That deer seems to be crying¡­ It wouldn''t be Sun Chao, right? Can you imagine, Sun Chao went missing. Then, Lord Liu encountered a strange shadow. After he killed it, he found that it was just a deer. Can you connect the dots and just think for a little? How can this strange ce have a wild deer? It must be Sun Chao transformed. Now we are cooking him! Then, we will eat the meat as if it were venison, when it is human meat!" Liu Kang spected.

    <span>"That''s too horrifying! So should we eat or not?" Star Yu took a few steps backward when he heard Liu Kang''s spection. Star Yu now had intentions of running away from this ce.

    <span>"Are you done yet? If you continue, Lord Liu will definitely kill both of you!" Cai Hao Chen said in a serious tone. Hao Chen had an important mission assigned to him by Liu Gan. If he couldn''t even stop the yers from running around and spreading rumors, then how would he be treated seriously in the future by Liu Gan.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <span>"The haunted house is a maze. There are several different branch points. When we enter it, our sequence of going through the room is this: First was the set with ''The Ring'', then it was ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', following that was ''Yamamura''s ancient vige'', after that was the ''Horrifying ancient well''..." Ana exined to Liu Gan as she walked behind him. Now that she was alone with Liu Gan, she acted calmer and with more maturity.

    <span>"When did Star Yu begin to tell his story? And when did Sun Chao decide to part with your group?" Liu Gan shined his shlight into every nook and cranny to ensure that he didn''t miss any small evidence, all the while listening to Ana tell the timeline.

    <span>The sudden disappearance of a member meant there was a potential danger lurking about. He must find the source of the danger, before deciding if it is worth the trouble to abandon this choice of location as a base.

    <span>"Star Yu started telling his story on the second floor. Sun Chao split apart from our group near the second floor, the furthest room in the back." Ana lead Liu Gan up to the exact room where Sun Chao had left the group.

    <span>"What were your positions during that time?" Liu Gan looked around at the props nearby. Then, he looked out a nearby window.

    <span>"I was standing here. Star Yu was by my side. Sun Chao was around this location there¡­" Ana pinpointed the position of every member in her group.

    <span>"There are two doors out of this room. Which one did Sun Chao exit from?" Liu Gan continued to ask.

    <span>"It should be that door," Ana replied after thinking for a while.

    <span>Liu Gan pointed his shlight on the ground and saw a series of messy footsteps.

    <span>"Lord Liu, do you feel that Star Yu''s story is possible? Will something happen to us if we continue to stay in the haunted house?" Ana whispered the question to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Even if there is something suspicious with the haunted house, it won''t matter if we don''t panic. Those who can''t keep calm in this situation, will be the ones that run at the first sight of danger. So even if there is no real danger, they will panic before realizing that," Liu Gan responded calmly.

 Chapter 432

    <span><strong>Chapter 432 - Barbecued Meat</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>While questioning Ana, Liu Gan walked back and forth across the entire set to check for clues. Finally, they stopped at the "Horrifying Ancient Well" set. After browsing for clues, they finally found the missing Sun Chao''s shlight in a corner.

    <span>"The shlight might have bounced off the wall and rolled from over there¡­" Liu Gan found fresh marks on the wall, created by the shlight.

    <span>"The well should have some sort of fence around it. Seems like either someone removed or demolished it. There are some footprints right by the side of the well. The well is a meter and half wide. If I had to specte, I would say that Sun Chao was running close to his top speed in the dark, unaware of this obstacle. His shlight didn''t illuminate his path or he wasn''t looking. Either way, he smashed his head on the inner surface of the well. Since he had his Mist Armor protecting him, he didn''t die. However, he would still have a concussion and if the force to his head was hard enough, then he would have passed out¡­"

    <span>"If all my spections are right, then he must have have fallen into the well." Liu Gan shone his light down at the bottom of the well, and there was the missing young man, Sun Chao.

    <span>Aside from Sun Chao, there were several props, ranging from skeletons and ghosts to bizarre creatures stashed at the bottom of the well. When Sun Chao fell, he didn''t hit his head too severely on the well. After he reached the bottom, he saw all the props and that was the limit his consciousness could handle.

    <span>Liu Gan leapt into the well, then slung Sun Chao over his shoulders like luggage. Parkouring off both walls, Liu Gan made it out of the well effortlessly.

    <span>"Wow! Lord Liu you are so magnificent! You found him so easily!" Ana apuded and cheered at the side.

    <span>"The Trembling World is a horrifying game, but up until now I haven''t encountered any paranormal activity or ghosts. So until proven otherwise, I will assume that people can''t just disappear without leaving any clues or evidence behind. As for the rumor that he had been taken by a ghost, that was just a fabrication of Star Yu''s imagination. If Sun Chao didn''t leave the haunted house, then he had to be here. As long as we followed the clues, we could find him," Liu Gan replied to Ana.

    <span>"I''ve heard rumors that Lord Liu was a good fighter. Who would''ve thought that Lord Liu was intelligent, too. You are perfect, Lord Liu! Equipped with the body of a warrior, intelligence of a schr, you are the embodiment of everything good from both sides!" Ana couldn''t resist praising Liu Gan. The reason was because Sun Chao was part of her group, so he was her responsibility. Now that Liu Gan had found him, her me was taken care of, hence her happy-go-lucky mood.

    <span>Even with such heart-felt praise, Liu Gan wasn''t affected. He nced at Ana briefly without saying anything, and continued to carry Sun Chao out of the haunted house. He didn''t say much as he started heading out of the building.

    <span>"Lord Liu, Star Yu didn''t tell us a ghost story to scare people. What happened to Sun Chao was an ident. Can you not punish him?" Ana pleaded on Star Yu''s behalf. ording to the rumors in the Beginner Vige, when Lord Liu gets angry, the punishment was usually death.

    <span>"He can avoid death, but he still caused trouble. His punishment will be overnight duty. If he wants to sleep, he has to stay by the bonfire. He isn''t allowed to enter the haunted house," Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Lord Liu, you are such a nice person! I knew that you weren''t a cold-blooded tyrant like they said! You are my model! I worship you!" Ana giggled.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t bother replying to Ana. He continued to speed up his walk.

    <span>"Don''t be so stern! Smiling more can help ease your mental health. Don''t be afraid of adding creases to your face! What''s good for you, is good for me!..." Ana continued to talk, while hastening to catch up to Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan had nothing to say to her. He only wanted to escape this haunted house.

    <span>"I''m not a female ghost, why are you so afraid? Lord Liu¡­ ah¡­"

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Sun Chao recovered with the help of both the both the healers. After interrogation, it was as Liu Gan had predicted. He tried to run out of the haunted house as fast as he could, but he didn''t see the well until it was toote. He hit his head in the well and passed out after that.

    <span>"Star Yu was just telling us how Sun Chao could''ve been transformed into this deer. If we ate the deer, it would be equivalent to eating human meat. He scared us into not eating the barbequed meat!" The snitching yer was named Johnny Fei.

    <span>"Hey! I didn''t do that. That was Liu Kang, okay? I only talked about this ce being haunted," Star Yu quickly defended himself.

    <span>"This is just an attraction. Do you think ghosts are thatmon? If there''s a ghost, why doesn''t it take you away? You are just scaring yourself!" Ana looked down on Star Yu.

    <span>"That¡­ well¡­" Star Yu didn''t have any words to defend against that. There was nothing he could say to that statement.

    <span>"Let''s eat barbecued deer!" Liu Gan announced. It seemed Liu Gan didn''t have any intention of punishing anyone. From the wooden rack, Liu Gan chopped off pieces of roasted venison. Then, Cai Hao Chen distributed it evenly amongst the remaining yers.

    <span>"So do you still think this is human meat, then don''t eat it! Big Sister will eat it all!" Ana shouted loudly.

    <span>"Sister Ana, eating too much can get you fat. Lord Liu wouldn''t like that figure," Johnny Fei teased Ana.

    <span>"Fat or not fat, he wouldn''t appreciate me. So what does that have to do with whether I eat or not?" Ana started chomping on the meat, without a care in the world.

    <span>Moonlight Gulf theme park, the mysterious ck fog, the haunted house, and Star Yu''s ghost story created a frightful mood... that was interrupted by the yers''ughter.

    <span>The group would sleep in the haunted house. Excluding Liu Gan, the two groups would rotate guard duty by dividing the night in half. Guard duty would also include maintaining the bonfire outside of the haunted house and in case of any emergency, they had to wake Liu Gan up.

    <span>The resting half of the group would sleep near the entrance of the haunted house, mainly so they would feel the warmth of the bonfire and could react to emergencies.

    <span>Throughout the night, Moonlight Gulf theme park was quiet. Nothing peculiar happened. Even the ghosts that Star Yu was worried about didn''t appear. There were no further incidents of people disappearing.

    <span>Around five in the morning, Liu Gan woke up. He felt rejuvenated from his sleep, so he relieved the five yers on guard duty.

    <span>Around seven or eight in the morning, the sky brightened up. Inparison, it was just a little brighter than night time. It wasn''t bright like the sun had illuminated through the thick clouds, it was just cloudy.

    <span>Being in the Trembling World, it was something Liu Gan had gotten used to. This type of cloudy weather was better than a thunderstorm. The moment it started to rain, no one wanted to leave the base.

    <span>After everyone had woken up, they moved over to the bonfire to cook and eat breakfast. This way they could follow Liu Gan deeper into the theme park to investigate.

 Chapter 433

    <span><strong>Chapter 433 - Crocodile Head</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The Moonlight Gulf Theme Park it covered a wide range ofnd. There were severalkes in the vicinity. Thesekes divided up the theme park into several districts. Some of the districts could be crossed over by bridges, but there were some bridges that had rotted away. Thergestkes had small row boats for an alternative method to cross theke.

    <span>"This ce is eerily silent! There''s no one. Not even bodies. Nothing at all!" Ana hopped off the the boat as she looked around. The group had just left their camp for another theme park district to search for clues.

    <span>"This is an instance that our group has entered. If we saw other people, then that would be strange. That would mean other people can enter into our instance. It could be spell trouble if that happened," Cai Hao Chen replied to Ana.

    <span>After being appointed a group leader by name, both Ana and Hao Chen had undergone attitude changes. Both of them were trying to do their best to be a role model leader. If they could win the hearts of their group, then they would have a chance of being recognized by Liu Gan. This chance of recognition didn''te easy or often.

    <span>Arriving at the shore, they experienced first-hand how vast the theme park was. They left from their campsite to this new district, which was mainly for resting. There was a grand central za and meadows, with shops lined up surrounding the za, and resting table and benches all around. In the za and meadows, there were recreational and exercise equipment installed. The tourists could rest in this district and enjoy the moment of serenity.

    <span>Right after arriving on the edge of theke, they saw a towering building shaped like a dove. Within the bird house, there were a few rotting carcasses of doves. Prior to the catastrophe, the theme park must have sold bird feed to the tourists. The tourists would feed the doves, which was a type of recreational entertainment.

    <span>While everyone was looking around the za, a creature with two robust hind legs, two slender forearms that had sharp ws at the end, and a head like a crocodile charged out from its hiding spot. It was very light on its feet. Hiding behind theughter of the people, it rushed forward. It chose the most vulnerable group of people closest to it. Its first target was standing right next to Liu Gan''s side - Ana! She had her back to the predator, as she was talking to her group members!

    <span>Liu Gan nearly mistook the sound of the creature racing closer as a critter. By the time Liu Gan can react to it, the Crocodile was two meters away from Ana. Due to the urgency of the matter, Liu Gan shoved Ana away. Ana felt the force from Liu Gan''s push, but she had no idea what was happening or what would''ve happened if he hadn''t done that. Like an artillery shell, she rolled away several times across the ground.

    <span>The Crocodile wasn''t sessful at ambushing Ana. Instead the creature kept charging at full-speed, and the weight of its momentum mmed onto another yer. The Crocodile missed its first prey, so it took an opportunistic chance on the second prey that was closest to its mouth. The Crocodile creature bit onto Sun Chao''s neck and snapped it clean off, tearing through his primitive Mist Armor with little to no resistance.

    <span>It all happened too fast. One moment, they were all joking, the next moment Sun Chao was dead. They couldn''t even put up defensive measures. The moment the other people realized what had happened, they started screaming. However, Liu Gan didn''t need to wait. He reacted to the ambush and attacked with his own greataxe.

    <span>The greataxe along with his Crescent de shed down on the Crocodile''s neck, creating arge gash. The Crocodile was enraged at getting wounded, and it shifted its target from Sun Chao to Liu Gan. With its mouth wide open, it was like a pair of scissors getting ready to snip Liu Gan''s body in half.

    <span>The Crocodile''s movements were very agile, and it was even quicker than Liu Gan. Liu Gan was struck by the initial attack, but he continued with evasive maneuvers. He continuously avoided its attacks, and when had the chance he would strike the Crocodile.

    <span>"Leave the area immediately! Be careful of nearby creatures!" Liu Gan halted the yers from helping.

    <span>After exchanging hits with the Crocodile creature, Liu Gan could sense that it had strength simr to a level 13 yer. Among the advanced monsters, its strength was considered the higher tier. Even Liu Gan was struggling against this opponent. Needless to say, the other yers couldn''t help. The moment they tried, it would be their own downfall.

    <span>Obeying Liu Gan''s wishes, Cai Hao Chen and Ana didn''t allow their members to move anywhere close to the battle. Even they could tell that they are not a match against this Crocodile. They were just watching Liu Gan fight for his life, while standing idly on the sidelines. It didn''t feel right to do nothing, they were eager to help.

    <span>This group of people had a better attitude than the group that apanied Liu Gan to the Mountain Valley Laboratory. At least they didn''t have any ulterior motives. These people were all trying to get recognition from Liu Gan by working diligently.

    <span>Liu Gan''s greataxe was sharp and sturdy. However, the reptile''s skin wasn''t weak at all. While it had been shed by Liu Gan''s attack, it would swipe left and right, attempting to bite Liu Gan''s neck. The attack would chip off Liu Gan''s Mist Armor. Every connected attack would create sparks on the surface.

    <span>The people watching cried out in surprise. They hadn''t seen Liu Gan truly fight, as in struggle against an opponent. When Liu Gan fought, it was always a one-hit KO. Rarely was there a zombie or beast that could put up a fight. So up until this point, there was nothing that could hurt him. Clearly this Crocodile creature was very formidable! After dozens of attacks by Liu Gan, it still didn''t go down. Blow by blow, the Crocodile and Liu Gan were exchanging attacks!

    <span>After the Crocodile closed in on Liu Gan, it was hard for him to swing the greataxe. Instead, Liu Gan used his fist; he put away his greataxe. Using techniques simr to Muay Thai, he relied on his kneecaps, fists, and shins to attack the crocodile. After getting his Mist Armor damaged and Rage Aura''s passive avability, Liu Gan''s fury counter was quickly maxed out.

    <span>The Crocodile tried another bite attack on Liu Gan. Instead of getting bit, Liu Gan used his Crescent de on the Crocodile. It was very effective! While the Crocodile was stunned into temporary paralysis, Liu Gan punched out and used Enhanced Crescent de on its neck,nding four consecutive Enhanced Crescent des on the same location on the Crocodile''s neck.

    <span>This attack was extremely effective, shing deep into the Crocodile''s thick neck. The attack shocked the Crocodile back into action; it could still move, but not as efficiently as before.

    <span>Liu Gan took advantage of the Crocodile being weakened, and pried the wound open wider. Then, he took two steps back and took out his greataxe to swing at it, since his fist didn''t reach as deep as his axe would. Having built up his fury from his Rage Aura, Liu Gan was able to use another Crescent de attack. This was enough to behead the Crocodile creature!

 Chapter 434

    <span><strong>Chapter 434 - Office Worker</strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Cutting off the Crocodile''s neck didn''t stop the body from squirming. Even with its overwhelming strength, the Crocodile onlysted five to six minutes in the fight.

    <span>"Almighty Lord Liu!" The crowd of bystanders started cheering as they released breaths of relief.

    <span>If that was all the Crocodile could do, Liu Gan was slightly disappointed. Just from the looks of the creature, it had more strength than that. In terms of raw strength, the Crocodile was a tier stronger than the yers. The biggest problem was that after it was beheaded, there were no ck experience orbs that seeped into his body. Did that mean killing these creatures provided no experience? What bullshit was that?

    <span><em>No, there must be a problem...</em>

    <span>The Crocodile head and body still remain intact; it hasn''t dissipated into ck fog yet. Liu Gan searched through the body to see if he could find something of value, but there was nothing valuable. Since it didn''t drop any treasures, it wouldn''t be one of those rare types.

    <span>After finishing up the Crocodile, Liu Gan had the healers look at Sun Chao''s wounds. It was far toote for Sun Chao. The moment the Crocodile bit down on his neck, he had died swiftly.

    <span>The yers were all saddened by the sudden turn of events. In [The Trembling World], there was a high turnover rate ofpanions. This group of volunteers were all scrambled together, so they weren''t too familiar with each other before this expedition, but they had to give a moment of silence for their fellow fallenpanion.

    <span>"If it weren''t for Lord Liu, I would''ve been the one dead!" Ana was still in shock as she stared at Sun Chao. When Liu Gan had shoved her onto the ground, she didn''t realize that Liu Gan was saving her life.

    <span>"Ana, repay him with your body!" some person cracked a joke at Ana.

    <span>"That will depend on Lord Liu, if he wants to ept," Ana teased right back.

    <span>Clearly, this yer and Ana were trying to shift the depressed mood by talking about something else. However, their efforts were in vain, since the group was still depressed. Even if they weren''t familiar with Sun Chao, they had spent time together and that made thempanions. It was inevitable that they would feel distressed.

    <span>"Lord Liu! Come here and look!" Star Yu was pointing at the Crocodile body.

    <span>Liu Gan turned to look at what was happening, just in time to see the ck fog seeping out from the Crocodile. However, the fog was just floating right above the wound. It was reconnecting the head and the body of the Crocodile! Once reconnected, it was like the creature had not been harmed before. It stood up once again!

    <span>"Fuck!" Liu Gan cursed. Could it be an undying creature?

    <span>Forced to fight again, Liu Gan picked up his greataxe to open up a gash on the neck of the Crocodile once more. Then with his fist, he smashed at the wound. This time, his Mist Armor was further damaged. After another few minutes, the Crocodile flopped over on the ground .

    <span>After beheading the Crocodile the second time, Liu Gan threw the head far away, with severalrge boulders holding it down. Then Liu Gan returned back to the body to chop it into smaller pieces. Now, Liu Gan was going to watch for the changes.

    <span>After around a minute, the Crocodile''s head and body were floating under ck orbs that forcibly glued the parts together. The head reattached to the body, and the other parts of the body were also glued back together. The Crocodile stood up, reincarnated.

    <span>"This creature can''t be killed!" the yers were getting scared. They felt that the Crocodile''s power was overwhelming, since it had killed Sun Chao in one attack. If it could continuously revive, then they had no way of winning. This is just way too cruel!

    <span>Liu Gan cursed and rushed up to battle with the Crocodile for the third time. After another few minutes, Liu Gan was victorious. This time Liu Gan told the members to run as far as possible.

    <span>These type of rewardless killing of monsters that could revive was too vile! Liu Gan had no intentions of wasting his Mist Armor to do something so pointless.

    <span>Within one minute, everyone ran as fast as they could. After a thousand meters or so, they hid inside a nearby building by theke.

    <span>"That Crocodile is an advanced creature. In terms ofbat, it is below Lord Liu. However, it is much stronger than us. We have no chance fighting against it," Cai Hao Chen spoke up first.

    <span>"If you can''t kill it, then you can''t get the experience, either. Maybe we haven''t found the right way to kill it," Cai Hao Chen continued to guess.

    <span>"What happens if we kill it a few more times to see if it gives experience?" Ana voiced her opinion.

    <span>"I don''t want to waste my time just to y with that disgusting creature!" Liu Gan shook his head. He didn''t agree that the Crocodile was weaker than him. One thing was for sure, he didn''t think that killing it a few more times would change anything.

    <span>"Wan Er! Where are you?"

    <span>At this moment, outside of their hiding spot, they heard an unfamiliar voice and footsteps.

    <span>"That Crocodile wouldn''t chase after us like that, right?" Star Yu''s face was pale and voice was shaky.

    <span>"That sounds more like a human walking closer and a cry for help" Ana looked at Star Yu with a judgemental expression that said this guy is a wimp. Then Ana peeked out from the corner of a window.

    <span>There was a person walking closer. It was a youngdy. Her clothes were clean and she wore a ck suit, the type you would find on an office worker. The one peculiar thing was that her eyes werepletely gray, as if she was blind. She was walking around aimlessly.

    <span>"Don''t bother her, that is definitely a ghost! Remember! Normal people can''t be here!" Star Yu whispered to Ana, as he tried to pull her away.

    <span>"Lord Liu, that is a weird person. How could they have shown up here?" Ana walked over to ask Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan was watching thedy from a safe distance. He thought that it was strange, too. He had his suspicions that thedy had something to do with the instance mission. Perhaps, he would be able to get a clue. Ultimately, he decided to go outside and ask thedy for more information.

    <span>Ana wanted to follow Liu Gan, but she was held back by Cai Hao Chen. In this kind of ce, the sudden appearance of a woman was just too strange.

    <span>"Hey you, who are you? Why are you here?" Liu Gan halted thedy.

    <span>"Lord Liu is valiant. Isn''t he afraid that it might transform into a ghost and eat him?" Whispers started floating around in the hiding spot.

    <span>"Rather than let her eat, he should just let sister Ana eat him¡­" Johnny Fei teased.

    <span>"Yeah, you are right!" most of the people chuckled loudly.

 Chapter 435

    <strong><u>Chapter 435 - Jigsaw Puzzle</u></strong>

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "You guys¡­ Quiet down!" Cai Hao Chen whispered to the other members to quiet down. How could they possiblyugh in a dire situation like this? Hao Chen was shocked by theirck of a sense of danger.

    The youngdy heard Liu Gan speak, she lifted up her head to look at Liu Gan. Her eyes werepletely gray, as if it didn''t have a soul. However, she didn''t answer Liu Gan''s question.

    Liu Gan looked around to check for any potential dangers and then asked the youngdy once more. "Who are you? And why are you here?".

    It was a huge risk to reveal himself in an open space. If Liu Gan didn''t have the strength to back himself up, he wouldn''t have engaged in such a risky behavior. No one knew who thedy was, so it was hard to say that it was not a trap. If it were any other person, they might fall victim to an ambushing Crocodile.

    "I''m looking for my daughter. Her name is Wan''er. Have you seen her?" thedy asked Liu Gan.

    "How old is she? what does she look like?" Liu Gan quickly rushed his questions. This situation felt simr to inquiring about a quest in an instance dungeon. You locate a key NPC to finish it. Once the quest was over, you could obtain the reward. Perhaps there was another way to go about killing this Crocodile abomination.

    Another possibility was that this was a useful clue to solving the mission for the instance.

    "She''s five years old. She has two space buns, she is wearing a red shirt with a white embroidered dress. Do you know where she is?" the youngdy asked Liu Gan.

    "If I find her, what benefit do I get in return?" Liu Gan asked thedy.

    "I¡­ I can give you this," the youngdy pulled out a box from the handbag around her shoulders. On the box, it seems to be a map, like the jigsaw puzzle types.

    If the jigsaw puzzle isplete, would it lead to a new clue? Since that thedy had shown him the puzzle box, Liu Gan tried to snatch it out from her hands by force.

    In any modern-day online game or RPG, there are side quests that would offer a required item toplete the main quest. Liu Gan decided he would take on the role of stealing from the NPC instead of following the rules. If he could kill this NPC, then the items belonged to him. At least, that was what he wanted to have happened. If the game was fair and just, in its own way, it wouldn''t allow Liu Gan to kill the NPC.

    Even if it was just an attempt, Liu Gan still had to try so he would know for next time.

    When Liu Gan reached out¡­ he grabbed ahold of nothing. It was as if he was touching air. Liu Gan also tried to grab the youngdy''s arm. He was definitely passing through her body like a ghost!

    The results were the same as if this was a game. Killing the NPC for the reward was impossible! Liu Gan couldn''t control his anger with this type of gamey.

    "What else can you tell me?" Liu Gan asked for more information, since he couldn''t take the prize from the NPC.

    "Wan''er!" the youngdy continued to yell without caring for Liu Gan. She ced the puzzle box back in her bag and continued zigzagging forward. Seems like her preprogrammed script was over. If Liu Gan didn''t find her daughter Wan''er, the mother won''t reveal anything more.

    "Lord Liu, what is the situation?" Ana slipped out from the hiding spot as she moved in closer to Liu Gan.

    "I''ve received a quest. Thatdy wants to find her daughter. The daughter''s name is Wan''er. So when we find that girl, we will be able to get the puzzle box that contains our next clue," Liu Gan replied to Ana.

    "Then we should hurry to find her daughter!" Ana was eager to demonstrate her skills.

    "We will need to split up our group. One set of people will look for her daughter. Two people will have to tail the mother and leave behind marks on the road. This way, even if we find the daughter, it will be useless if we can''t find the mother to get the puzzle box." Liu Gan went back to the hiding spot to divide up the workload.

    Every person there was scared and terrified. If they split off from Liu Gan now, then who would protect them in times of danger? Besides, only Liu Gan could fight on equal terms with the Crocodile. If they were ambushed by the Crocodile, wouldn''t that be a quick way to die?

    "When you are tailing her or when you are searching for the daughter, be sure to pay attention to your surroundings for the Crocodile," Liu Gan continued.

    "The main thing you have to focus on is running away when you encounter the Crocodile. The trick is to not run in a straight line. You have to learn to sidestep and zigzag as you run. The Crocodile has a heavier upper body than lower body, which makes creates an imbnce. So when it is forced to abruptly change directions sharply, it will definitely fall.

    "That is the information that I gained from fighting against it so many times. The Crocodile is most formidable when it is a close quarter attack. It can extend its neck out to attack quickly; it is a deadly attack.

    "So no matter what, don''t try to fight it. Collect your thoughts and maintain a calm demeanor. If you focus solely on running, it won''t be able to move as well as you can," Liu Gan exined the Crocodile''s weakness.

    This weakness was something Liu Gan had discovered after fighting against it three times. He noticed that whenever he sidestepped in a fight or changed direction running, the Crocodile would always fall to the ground. Even if it got up off the floor quickly, there was still a one or two second dy. To these yers, that was enough time to escape from view.

    "Talk is cheap, it might sound easy now, but actually doing it will be difficult¡­" Star Yu sighed. If he encountered the Crocodile alone, he would be so scared that he wouldn''t remember any of the techniques mentioned by Liu Gan; he would probably just run straight instead of zigzagging.

    "The Crocodile creature ising!" Johnny Fei shouted while pointing from a particr direction. Popping out from the tree line was the Crocodile, rushing toward the group.

    "Then watch how I tease it. I will try to mimic your speed to show that you can do it, too," Liu Gan shouted as he charged toward the Crocodile.

    After attracting the Crocodile''s attention, when there was only a few meters left between it and liu Gan, Liu Gan demonstrated its key weaknesses. Liu Gan ran in another direction instead of engaging in a fight. He had suppressed his speed so that it was even slower than their lowest level member''s speed.

    Originally, the Crocodile was in a position to attack, but it had to turn awkwardly to chase after Liu Gan, which resulted in an imbnced weight distribution. As Liu Gan had said earlier, the Crocodile had a heavier upper body frame, so it would fall t to the ground.

    By this time, Liu Gan was over ten meters away. He stood still, waiting for the Crocodile to regain its footing, then ran in a new direction.

 Chapter 436

    <strong><u>Chapter 436 - Not Feeling Tired</u></strong>

    TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    Liu Gan waited for the Crocodile to catch up, then a quick sidestep led to the Crocodile falling down on the floor once again.

    "See how simple that was? Are there any volunteers willing to try?" Liu Gan shouted as he sidestepped the Crocodile.

    Everyone looked at each other at least once, waiting for someone brave or stupid enough to raise their hand. This type of dangerous situation only needed one mistake to lose your life!

    "I''ll do it!" Ana shouted loudly while the others were still hesitating.

    Perhaps it was Liu Gan''s teasing that made it even angrier. The moment the Crocodile saw Ana walking closer, it lost interest in Liu Gan. Instead it tried to pick on an easier prey, one that it could catch. Was it angry that it couldn''t catch Liu Gan, or that a female human was challenging its authority?

    The moment the creature charged at Ana, she froze up. She stood in ce without moving an inch. That was when Liu Gan started producing cold sweat¡­ Over these few days of observing the Ana, he loved her personality. She had been brave from the very beginning; she was daring and active, which were much better qualities than Lin Shi Ya. He had ns to oversee her growth, so she can be a useful ally. Little did he expect that she would be the one to die from this small obstacle.

    There was a dozen meters of distance in between Liu Gan and Ana, he wouldn''t make it in time to save her from the attack.

    The remaining people shrieked. When Sun Chao died, even if they didn''t interact with him at a deeper level, they were still upset. If Ana died, they would certainly be depressed for a long time.

    The Crocodile kept charging forward. The creature opened up its mouth wide apart and aimed at the most vulnerable spot, Ana''s neck. Suddenly, Ana moved two meters to the side. The Crocodile fell over head first with a loud bang, and slid on the ground until it came to a stop. It missed Ana by half a meter, and actually fell harder than when it was chasing Liu Gan.

    "Hahaha¡­!" Ana stood outside the range of attack, while chuckling loudly. She was a quick learner from the moment she witnessed Liu Gan perform the trick.

    "Not bad! Just like that!" Liu Gan sighed a breath of relief andplimented Ana.

    "Sister Ana, you scared all of us!" the bystanders all sighed.

    "In the real world, I yed bullfighting with my friends in Spain. The feeling for it is the same. I just have to time it correctly to sidestep," Ana said proudly after being praised.

    The Crocodile got up off the floor, then chased after Ana again. By now, Ana had grasped the timing of the technique, so she was able to avoid contact. As for the Crocodile, every time it missed an attack, it would grow even angrier. No matter how hard it chased, it couldn''t catch up with Ana.

    Ana was a great starter. Since she was the only women in the group, the men felt ashamed that they had been bested by a girl. Whether it was to regain lost pride or to demonstrate who had the bigger balls, they all volunteered to tease around this Crocodile. Now that Liu Gan and Ana had demonstrated the technique to them, if they couldn''t do it then it would show how ipetent they were.

    Under Liu Gan''s arrangement, they practiced in this order: Cai Hao Chen, Liu Kang, Johnny Fei, and Star Yu. Then, it was Stratos, Song Jiu, Saffron Ma, and Xu Ji Chao, as these were the quiet and shy bunch that hadn''t yed a role yet.

    This energetic Crocodile dutifullypleted its role as a training tool, charging toward every challenger without regard. It didn''tin about long working hours or constantly falling. It definitely didn''t cry about how difficult the task was. It only knew how to continuously chase after its prey without feeling tired. In the meantime, the yers practiced their sidestepping timing.

    The aura that came off of the reptile was that of a cold-blooded abomination. Since it was simple-minded, it didn''t have higher processing capabilities. It had enough brute strength to fulfill all its needs, so there was no need to evolve further.

    Aside from Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang, the rest of the yers there yed ring around the rosie with the Crocodile. They would surround the Crocodile and p their hands to attract its attention. That would be the sign for the Crocodile to charge toward the people. Using the technique they had practiced, they would dance around the Crocodile as it fell to the floor.

    After the intense training from Liu Gan, they weren''t afraid of the creature anymore. Even if they couldn''t kill it, they wouldn''t die if they didn''t get hit.

    Even if they failed to get rid of the Crocodile, they could scream and Liu Gan woulde to the rescue, since he would be in the vicinity. At his top speed, he could reach them in half a minute to provide support.

    When the group were fed up with fooling around with the Crocodile, Liu Gan took that opportunity to lead the Crocodile somewhere several kilometers away and then abandoned it before returned to the group.

    In the meantime, Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang were tailing the young mother, while Liu Gan was telling the rest of the group key features of the daughter.

    Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang had to tail the young mother and leave behind detailed markings on the trees or buildings. The rest of the group was split up into pairs; if any of the pairs found Wan''er, the daughter, they would return back to this starting point.

    So there were a total of four pairs: Johnny Fei and Song Jiu were grouped up, while Ana and Star Yu were in another group. Then were was Saffron Ma and Xu Ji Chao, and Stratos was grouped with Liu Gan. Each of the pairs chose a cardinal direction to start their search for Wan''er. Once they found Wan''er, they would try their best to bring her back to the starting point so they could follow the markings left by Liu Kan and Cai Hao Chen.

    As an incentive, Liu Gan promised them that the first pair that found Wan''er, would receive his blessing. They would be gifted thest kill on an Advanced Zombie or Beast. This offer was equivalent to being able to reach level 10!

    Now that Liu Gan was level 12, killing one or two of the Advanced Zombies or Beasts wouldn''t help him significantly. He would need a few hundred of those kills before he could level up again. Itt was more useful to tempt the others into working harder to fulfill the mission.

    Hearing that this tempting offer was up for grabs, team morale increased dramatically. This type of opportunity didn''te often!

 Chapter 437

    <strong><u>Chapter 437 - Swinging Chair</u></strong>

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    With such a vast Theme Park, it wouldn''t be easy searching for a small lost child. ording to Liu Gan''s guess, Wan''er shouldn''t be too far away from her mother. As long as the yers did their best to search, they would definitely find the daughter.

    <span>Even while they were searching, the yers felt nervous. Now that they had to split up into pairs, they felt insecure and vulnerable. One person was responsible for looking around for the Crocodile and the other had to make marks while following the young mother. Both of them were already familiar with the side-stepping technique, but the first requirement was to not get ambushed. If they were ambushed, they couldn''t demonstrate what they had practiced.

    <span>Aside from that, they also feared that there were other type of monsters that existed in this Theme Park. If so, then all their practice would be in vain. In fact, their training wouldn''t even work since attack patterns varied between different monsters.

    <span>Only the pair of Liu Gan and Stratos were casually strolling while searching. The other pairs were carefully and nervously watching their surroundings. Once they were sure that the Crocodile wasn''t lurking in their surroundings, they would proceed with their search; the groups continuously repeated that cycle every set distance. Certainly they didn''t dare to venture intoplicated areas that had limited lines of sight. This method of searching was very inefficient.

    <span>During the search, Liu Gan realized why Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao had entered the Theme Park with a group of people and left with only the two of them.

    <span>The reason for being thest two survivors was because this ce was just too strange and dangerous. Zhan Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao must have fulfilled the mission requirements to obtain the whereabouts to the exit. If they could escape, then Liu Gan was confident that he could, too.

    <span>Even though he had split up the group into four pairs to search for Wan''er, he didn''t rely on them. He believed that the only thing he could trust in was himself.

    <span>Stratos had been with Liu Gan this whole time, but he couldn''t rx at all. He kept up his guard and paid careful attention to his surroundings. He didn''t feel that sticking with Liu Gan would mean a higher survival rate. In fact, he might die a young death going with Liu Gan on his adventures.

    <span>In terms of speed, the Crocodile had the upper hand. Once it struck, not everyone could survive it. Simply put, whoever acted first would survive. If the person detected the Crocodile first, then they had a chance of avoiding the attack. If the Crocodile surprised the person, then there was no hope for them. Even if Liu Gan was his partner, he couldn''t be everywhere at once.

    <span>Deep down, Stratos felt that if he was in the another party''s group, he could ck off or go hide off in a corner safely. That would guarantee his own safety.

    <strong>***</strong>

    <em>Meanwhile with the other pairs¡­</em>

    <span>Ana and Star Yu were traveling in a different location, both of them were very cautious. Every couple of step they walked, they would abruptly pause to see if there were any shadows resembling the shape of the Crocodile. Ana divided up the job evenly; Star Yu was responsible for keeping an eye out for Wan''er and the Crocodile. Ana led the way and scouted ahead, she choosing open-field areas.

    <span>Eventually, Ana and Star Yu found themselves walking along a small river, deeper into the theme park. It was such an oddly shaped river, some might even call it an elongatedke. They found themselves in a new district that had thick growth of trees and shrubs along the path, while the avenue was paved with stones. In between some of the trees were a few iron frames that were holding up swinging chairs. There was a worn out sign that indicated that it was ten yuan per hour to enjoy this amenity.

    <span>This type of swinging chair fit two, which appealed to couples. They could sit or cuddle on these chairs and flirt; they could even disy their affection through kissing. No one would disturb them as they enjoyed their leisure time together.

    <span>"This swinging chair is quite sturdy to have survived this environment," Ana rushed over to one of the swinging chair. She sat down and casually swung her legs back and forth. Ana felt pleased to be able to enjoy this pastime activity.

    <span>"It still swings smoothly, the feeling is quite nice! Come sit with big sister!" Ana gestured Star Yu toe forth.

    <span>"No, Sister Ana you should be careful. This swinging chair might copse if you sit on it for too long," Star Yu shook his head. He continuously was on the lookout for any suspicious creatures. All it took was just one moment of cking, and it would cost them their life.

    <span>"No need to be so nervous. Our luck isn''t that bad!" Ana startedughing loudly. Then she rocked the swinging chair even more ferociously.

    <span>¡ºI can think of the most romantic thing¡»

    <span>¡ºGrowing old slowly with you¡»

    <span>¡ºCollectingughter all along the way¡»

    <span>¡ºResting on the swinging chair to chat with you¡»

    <span>¡º...¡»

    <span>Sitting on the swinging chair, Ana started singing. She was fixated on reminiscing about her past. Who could she be thinking of sitting next to her on the swinging chair?

    <span>This type of swinging chair had rusted down to the core under the extreme weather conditions. The internal integrity of the iron had beenpromised, especially at the connecting joints. The frame would be fine if it was just resting on the joint, but violent rocking would break the screws holding it in ce. When Ana was swinging back and forth at the maximum range, the joint snapped and sent the chair flying forward with her still on it.

    <span>Star Yu only heard Ana''s terrified screech. By the time he turned around, he found her sitting on the ground with the broken chair. Embarrassed for her sorry shape, Ana cleaned up her clothes as she stood up.

    <span>"Thank goodness, I didn''t sit with you," Star Yu rejoiced in Ana''s misfortune.

    <span>"You dareugh at your Big Sister? You want to die?" Ana red at Star Yu. Reactively, Ana smacked Star Yu on the head.

    <span>"But, I told you not to sit¡­ You just had to sit on it¡­" Star Yu protested.

    <span>"It was because you jinxed it! It wasn''t going to break until you cursed it!" Ana pushed all the me onto Star Yu. That way she would feel better about what had urred.

    <span>While Star Yu and Ana were arguing, they heard aughing from behind them. Previously when Ana walked by the other previous swinging chair, there wasn''t anyone. The suddenughter caught them off guard and sent a chilling sensation down Ana''s spine.

    <span>"Sister Ana, there''s someone behind you¡­" Star Yu stuttered while pointing to the area behind Ana.

    <span>Ana quickly turned around to look at where Star Yu was pointing. Theughter wasing from another swinging chair. Suddenly a couple appeared there, wrapped in each other''s embrace.

    <span>Ana calmed down and said to Star Yu, "We really encountered an apparition! If this is an instance domain, then these two must be NPC quest-givers! From them, we can obtain some mission or clues!"

    <span>"As a matter of fact, why don''t you go and ask?" Star Yu pushed Ana forward.

    <span>"Why should I go ask? You can do that too right?" Ana sidestepped to push Star Yu forward instead.

 Chapter 438

    <strong><u>Chapter 438 - ck Tea</u></strong>

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "It is better if Sister Ana asks, you are more courageous than I am¡­" Star Yu was unwilling to submit.

    "You coward! Fine, if I want something done, I''ll just have to do it myself." Ana walked up to the apparition with her chest puffed up.

    "Sister Ana, you are the best! So brave and caring¡­" Star Yu quickly praised Ana.

    Ana walked over to greet the couple. "Hello! How are you?"

    The couple ignored her as if she had not spoken, remaining interlocked in their own world and making out with one another. Even in daytime, they had no shame in French kissing each other and other activities that should be performed behind closed doors.

    "Hey hey! This is a public space! Watch your actions! <em>Tcsh!</em> The well-fed don''t understand how the starving suffer!" Anashed out at the lovey-dovey couple.

    Yet the two still didn''t react. They continued kissing each other intimately.

    "Sister Ana, what are you shouting about?" Star Yu walked over since he was curious about themotion.

    "I only told them to pay attention to their surroundings! We are in public!" Ana shouted in reply to Star Yu.

    "Oh, I meant what did you mean about yourst sentence¡­" Star Yu chuckled connivingly. Since his starvation was something that couldn''t be replenished by eating.

    "Child! You know nothing!" Ana kicked Star Yu onto the road.

    "Ouch!¡­" Star Yu retreated a distance away.

    "Are you both dead? Did you not hear me ask you a question? Hey! Hey! HEY!" Ana getting impatient as she tried to kick the apparition. In the end, it was just her kicking the air. Seems like the lovey-dovey couple were simr to the young mother, they were both just phantoms of the instance, ''color vor'' NPCs.

    "Please, excuse me, have you seen a four-year old child? She wasst seen wearing a red jacket, with white embroidered short dress..." Star Yu attempted tomunicate with the couple.

    Star Yu was terrified of apparitions. Even though he tried not to show it, his legs were shaking inside his pants. No one knows what these apparitions were. The sudden appearance of the couple had startled Star Yu, and he was very ufortable being around them.

    "A young girl in red jacket, white short dress? I seemed to have seen her¡­" The girlfriend pushed away from her boyfriend as she responded to Star Yu.

    Ana looked at Star Yu in shock. She had been shouting at the couple, but it was useless. However, the moment Star Yu walked up, they connected just like that? Did the couple think less of Ana, was that why they didn''t speak to her? That discrimination was infuriating!

    "Well, can you tell me what direction she went in?" Star Yu asked the girlfriend.

    "I''m thirsty right now. Go buy me a drink. If you do that for me, then I will tell you where she went!" the girlfriend giggled while replying Star Yu.

    Hearing her answer, Ana had the impulse to rush up and kill them in their ce, even if they were just apparitions. There was no way for her to damage them, so she could only viciously re at them.

    "Well, may I ask, where I can find the ce to purchase the drinks?" Star Yu continued asking questions.

    "There are pavilions that sell goods. Those pavilions sell a variety of drinks too! I want to drink ck tea. It is my favorite drink. If you buy any other drink for me, I won''t ept it," the girlfriend stated primly.

    Star Yu nced in the direction of the pavilion she was pointing at. The pavilions were striped down to their skeletons, with grass and vines growing rampant throughout them. Even the counters were covered with a mossy overgrowth.

    Still, Star Yu walked into the pavilion to check the shelves and to see if there was anything worthy of taking for himself.

    "HEY! Are you still ignoring me? Do you have a problem?" Ana burned with rage.

    "Should we continue kissing? My pants are wet¡­" the girlfriend continued to flirt with her boyfriend as if Ana was nonexistent.

    "Then next time, wear disposable diapers!" the boyfriend teased back.

    "Oh? So they can be used like that?" the girlfriend was astonished.

    "Yes, I''m a doctor. I''m the expert in this field of getting girls wet," the boyfriend admitted his lewdness.

    "You really know a lot about this, and I''m inexperienced, so please be gentle" the girlfriend flushed with embarrassment as she mumbled the words.

    "Stop acting! God, I can''t keep watching this!" Ana covered her face. The next scene was too lewd for her to witness.

    "Sister Ana! Stop idling around them. I''m searching for drinks! Beware to look around for any appearance of monsters!" Star Yu shouted from afar. He had to remind Ana since he was walking away from the couple, while Ana stayed behind.

    "I KNOW!" Ana replied. Staying behind to eavesdrop on the couple''s conversation was too lewd for her. She felt chills listening in on the perverted conversation. She wasn''t going to stay and find out what happened next.

    Star Yu continued his search. There were no drinks in the pavilion, it could''ve had been emptied out by the local survivors after the catastrophe.

    Seems like this couple and the mother''s quest were rted¡­ The problem was that if they couldn''t find the ck tea drink, they couldn''t continue asking for information on Wan''er.

    While wandering aimlessly in the pavilion, Star Yu heard a voiceing from behind the building, the sound of a man talking. Star Yu followed the voice back to its source, only to find a couple salespersons, a man and a woman, promoting their product... a drink. And they were both apparitions...

    The male promoter was bald, he had a big smile on his face as he was conversing with the woman. Thedy promoter wore a green suit while holding an umbre, she looked like a reserved type of person.

    "Selling drinks?" Star Yu rushed over to them.

    "What do you want to drink?" the male promoter asked.

    "I want a bottle of ck tea. Do you sell that here?" Star Yu quickly asked the male promoter.

    "I do have that!" the male promoter pulled out from a seemingly-empty box, like a bunny being pulled out of a magic hat, a bottle of ck tea.

    Star Yu tried to grab hold of the bottle, but he ended up grasping at air.

    "Huawei is promoting these drinks for a discounted price since it is a holiday. It only costs 5 yuan per bottle," the male promoter continued talking.

    "Oh so the promoted product costs 5 yuan a bottle?" Star Yu felt in his pocket for money. He has seen many currencies within [The Trembling World], but he never thought about picking it up and pocketing it. Who would''ve known that someone would still use currency to buy products?

    "Sister Ana! Do you have any money?" Star Yu shouted to Ana.

    "Money? What are you saying?" Ana shook her head. Obviously, she wouldn''t have such useless item on her.

    "I found the product that we need, but I need five yuan to buy it!" Star Yu rushed over to Ana. These NPC were quite troublesome. Why was it so hard to find the next clue? Where was the Lei Feng spirit, the selfless act of helping out others without asking for any benefit?

 Chapter 439

    <strong><u>Chapter 439 - Reassurance</u></strong>

    TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    "She wants you to buy her a drink, then ask her for money!" Ana was pissed off as she pointed at the girlfriend.

    "Would that work?" Star Yu hesitated before ncing at the girl on the swinging chair. Even now, he still felt weird when he tried to talk with them.

    "If you don''t try, how will you know?" Ana pushed Star Yu over to the swinging chair.

    "You told me to buy the drink, but I don''t have any money. Do you have five yuan?" Star Yu asked the girlfriend.

    "How can you interrupt us like this?" The girl was clearly upset from being interrupted by Star Yu during her makeout session.

    "Here, now leave us!" The boyfriend quickly handed over five yuan to Star Yu.

    Materializing from the air was usable currency, not phantasmal. Star Yu extended out his hand to touch the money, and could touch it. However, when he tried to touch the couple, they were still apparitions. Seemed like the money was a necessary prop for fulfilling this mission.

    "Where are you trying to touch on the girl? You little pervert! You don''t have any moral integrity!" Ana kicked Star Yu on his buttocks.

    "I only wanted to see if I could touch them!" Star Yu started to justify his actions.

    "Yeah I know, did you feel her up yet? Is it a C cup or D cup?" Ana rebutted.

    "Sister Ana, you are bing more unreasonable!" Star Yu was glowing red from embarrassment.

    "Child! Leave me!" Ana kicked Star Yu in the ass again.

    Star Yu checked the bruise on his rear, then angrily ran back to the vendor. Right as he was about to purchase the drink, he heard a loud warning shout! "Star, your left! Watch out on your left side!"

    Star Yu turned to see the Crocodile creature heading in his direction, it had locked onto him as a target!

    Even as the Crocodile approached, the couple didn''t move from their seat. They didn''t even react. Their unwavering confidence stemmed from the fact that they couldn''t be injured.

    Star Yu was scared to death. He abandoned his task at hand and was able to avoid the first attack. If it weren''t for Ana''s warning, Star Yu wouldn''t have survived the ambush. Then, Star Yu ran in a different direction to safety.

    Ana''s sharp scream attracted the attention of the Crocodile, and after regaining its bnce, it focused on charging at Ana.

    Ana ran in a zigzag formation, which caused the overly eager Crocodile to fall down after it missed the mark. Aggravated from getting humiliated, it roared in anger.

    The Crocodile creature got up off the ground and continued to chase after Ana. Eventually, both of them disappeared from Star Yu''s view.

    Star Yu remained standing in ce without drawing any attention to himself. Once he felt that the dangerous situation had been averted, he sought out the bald salesman and handed over the five yuan. Once the bald salesman received the money, he examined it on both sides to confirm that it is genuine.

    "Please! Couldn''t you move faster? It is only five yuan, you don''t need to examine it for so long! Can you give me the ck tea already!" Star Yu urged the vendor. Now that Ana wasn''t by his side, there was no one he can rely on to warn him of potential dangers.

    "What''s the rush?" The bald salesman was unimpressed at being rushed. Slowly, the salesman reached into the box and pulled out a bottle of ck tea for Star Yu.

    This time it was a real bottle of ck tea, the type that you can touch and hold. It had materialized by the time it reached Star Yu''s hand. Meanwhile, Ana and the Crocodile were nowhere to be seen. Taking advantage of that, Star Yu quickly rushed over to the couple on the swing andpleted his task. Now he had to ask her for details regarding the whereabouts of Wan''er.

    "Oh, that young girl? She walked by and asked me where the bathroom was. I didn''t know where the bathroom was located so I pointed to a direction where she could find more information. She headed toward the direction of where I pointed, so you can try that direction. Maybe you will find her," the girlfriend finally revealed what information she had. She did this while sipping on her soothing ck tea.

    Meanwhile, Ana was screaming while leading the Crocodile on a wild goose chase. Just as she was worrying on how she could lose this creature, the solution to her problems ran up to her. The solution came in the form of a person; it was Liu Ganing to the rescue. Liu Gan came in with his axe waving, and quickly injured the Crocodile at several joints. He had the Crocodile''s full attention, now he needed to lure it away from Ana.

    "Lord Liu, you came at the right time!" Ana catching her breath and gestured a thumbs up.

    Even though she had mastered the technique of sidestepping, without Liu Gan''s supervision she couldn''t perform it to the fullest extent. Not to mention that she was doing extra wasteful movements, which exhausted her. Only when she saw Liu Gan''s face was she able to rx.

    Only this type of man could provide her the necessary feeling of safety and reassurance. Without a doubt, he was definitely her type!

    Liu Gan didn''t kill the Crocodile, he merely led it to a different area. As it was chasing after Liu Gan, they maintained the same distance throughout since the creature''s top speed matched Liu Gan''s top speed. Liu Gan had to keep on running as fast as he could.

    Both man and creature ran several kilometers from their initial encounter. After passing through several buildings, Liu Gan made his great escape. After Liu Gan disappeared from the creature''s view, it would wander around aimlessly.

    Liu Gan parkoured his way around the building by taking sharp turns. Then he avoided the creature and headed back to Ana. By the time Liu Gan got back to the location, he saw that Stratos was apanying Ana.

    "Lord Liu, Star Yu and I have found clues regarding Wan''er!" Ana quickly reported and exined the situation to Liu Gan.

    While the three were discussing possibilities of Wan''er''s location, they proceeded in the direction Ana had left, the area of trees with swinging chairs. Star Yu was still waiting there, just as nervous as before. The apparitions of the couple and the sales people were no longer there.

    "Lord Liu!" Star Yu ran over to greet them. He was overly excited since he didn''t feel safe being partnered with Ana.

    "What is the current situation now?" Liu Gan asked.

    "When I arrived with Ana, there was an apparition of a couple. I asked them if they had any information regarding Wan''er. They had information, but they wanted me to buy her a drink at the pavilion¡­" Star Yu started to exin.

    "I told Lord Liu about that already. Just update him with what happened after I left you!" Ana interrupted, as she was bing more impatient.

 Chapter 440

    <strong><u>Chapter 440 - Padded Floor</u></strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "Okay, so I found information regarding Wan''er. The girlfriend of the couple said Wan''er was searching for the restroom. Wan''er was pointed in that direction," Star Yu reported quickly.

    <span>"Okay, then we should maintain traveling in that direction to see if we can find anymore new clues!" Liu Gan nodded. The four of them were now a team, and they headed in the direction pointed out by the girlfriend. The new path led them out of the forest.

    <span>Following the path, it led them to a yground area of small eco-friendly equipment. Most of the yground equipment was constructed from recycled stics, and the padding on the ground was interlocked with different colors and shapes.

    <span>Liu Gan warned others to be aware of their surroundings before letting them wander off to look for clues. They were looking for the symbol of a public restroom. As of now, their only clue was that Wan''er should be heading to the restroom.

    <span>After a short period of searching, Liu Gan found the symbol for the public restroom on an eroded metal pole. The white paint for the arrowhead was peeling off, but even if it was faint, it was still possible to distinguish the direction.

    <span>Liu Gan led the three people to where the arrowhead was pointing. After leaving the padded yground, the path headed north, covered now in moss and weeds. By now, it was hard to figure out what the original path had looked like. They only knew which way to go because of the rows of trees on both sides that served as guidance. The weeds in between the trees atop the buried concrete path were rtively shorter than the weeds growing by the tree.

    <span>These weeds are resilient to the cold, and it didn''t require much sunlight. The sunlight rarely reached the weeds, so most of them had dried up. Only a small portion of the weeds were still struggling to survive and there were no signs of new nts growing. It seemed the weeds wouldn''t survive much longer.

    <span>At the end of the pathy the public restroom. Liu Gan led the way with the other three tailing behind. While walking, they were looking for any clues about Wan''er along the route. When they reached the end of the path, they found a well-camouged restroom.

    <span>The public restroom wasn''t eye-catching. The walls were covered in all types of vines and moss. Perhaps, it is due to theck of sunlight in the area, that benefited the growth of moss over nts.

    <span>Walking up to the restroom door, it was hard to tell which side was for male or female at first nce. The task of searching inside the female restroom was assigned to Ana. If it was performed by any other gender, that would be immoral.

    <span>"Wan''er! Wan''er!" Ana shouted as she propped open the restroom door. No response so she was forced to check every stall. A slight push was enough to make stall doorse crashing down.

    <span>After every stall was checked out, Ana was able to confirm that Wan''er wasn''t there. There were no traces of Wan''er having been there at all.

    <span>When Ana was done searching through the women''s restroom, Liu Gan had also finished with his search through the men''s restroom, just in case the young girl had mistaken the symbol for men with women, due to urgency.

    <span>Where could the problem have stemmed from? Could there be more than one public restroom? The whole way there, it felt as if this was the closest public restroom to the swinging chairs. If Wan''er had asked for directions from anyone, they would all point her to this restroom.

    <span>So what went wrong? Was she given wrong information by a third party? If so, then they had to find the third party and get more information.

    <span>Returning empty-handed, Liu Gan and the other three people returned along the path they came from. They went all the way back to the recycled yground for children. They hadn''t searched the area when they walked by, so now they took the time to search through the nearby deteriorated buildings. Just like before, their search was fruitless. They couldn''t find any new NPC.

    <span>Where could this young girl be? Once again they had to return to square one! What a depressing day...

    <span>Liu Gan was thoroughly disappointed. As they were about to leave, they heard a child''s giggleing from behind them.

    <span>Liu Gan and the others turned around to look. To their surprise, it was the smile of a naive young girl. Her hair was tied up into two space buns, she wore a red jacket and white embroidered dress, and a white pair of shoes to match the dress. Her clothes matched the exact description of whom they were searching for.

    <span>"Haha! Seems like this mission isn''t hard at all! It was hardly any work at all. It was a walk in the park!" Anaughed loudly.

    <span>Wan''er was prancing around the broken stic paddings, it was as if she had no idea the paddings were ripped. They were unaware of how this apparition appeared or why she had appeared, but that wasn''t important now.

    <span>"Uncle! Uncle!" Wan''er ran over to greet Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan was about to receive her with open arms, but Wan''er stopped herself just in time.

    <span>"Wait, you''re not my uncle. My uncle is bald," Wan''er retreated back in a corner, mumbling to herself.

    <span>"Wan''er, why are you ying here by yourself? You mother is searching all over the ce for you! Uncle is very familiar with your mom. Don''t you remember uncle?" Liu Gan smiled naturally and warmly at Wan''er.

    <span>"Lord Liu seems like a strange uncle1. How could he trick a young girl¡­" Ana almost vomited as she overheard the shameless wordsing out from Liu Gan''s mouth.

    <span>"Girls like sister Ana receive a lot of essence. Bad uncles like Liu Gan, will always change their personality for girls like you," Stratos whispered the words loud enough for Ana to hear. Even though Ana acted like a big sister, there might not be a big difference in their ages. He still had to pay her respect, since she was the acting squad leader.

    <span>"I have essence? How do I have essence? Do exin yourself!" Stratos answer did not sit well with Ana. From his tone, ''energetic'' had an underlying degrading meaning.

    <span>"You will receive a lot of sperm essence," Stratos chuckled loudly.

    <span>Ana kicked Stratos away and snarled, "Fuck off!"

    <span>"Uncle, do you know where the restroom is?" Wan''er believed everything Liu Gan had said to her. She didn''t question Liu Gan''s integrity.

    <span>"I will take you to see your mother," Liu Gan replied instead.

    <span>"No! I want to go to the restroom!" Wan''er threw a tantrum as she shook her head.

    <span>"Okay, if you want to go to the restroom, I will take you there, okay?" Liu Gan gave up on his original thought. He wanted to hand the young girl over to the mother and obtain the reward, but he had toplete a side quest first, and apany her to the restroom. What an annoying task!

    <span>"Oh goodie! Uncle you are the best! Take me, take me!" Wan''er pped her hands as she cheerfully skipped around the yground.

 Chapter 441

    <strong><u>Chapter 441 - Pliable</u></strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Liu Gan gestured for the others to start walking.

    <span>"Aren''t you afraid that I''m a bad uncle, that I might kidnap you to sell? How can you just trust me like that?" Liu Gan started asking after he walked with Wan''er for some distance.

    <span>"You do look like a bad uncle," Wan''erughed at Liu Gan''s rhetorical question.

    <span>"I don''t think I look like a bad uncle?" Liu Gan answered indifferently. He kept an eye out for Wan''er. He was leading the way, but he couldn''t lose this important NPC. All their efforts would be in vain if they lost sight of her now.

    <span>"It is because you are handsome!" Wan''er giggled at Liu Gan.

    <span>"You are a young child, how do you know who is handsome or not?" Liu Gan was surprised by her answer.

    <span>"Young pervert!" Ana had a disdainful expression.

    <span>"Who would''ve thought that our Lord Liu would have a gentle side!" Stratos interjected.

    <span>"Haven''t you heard of the song lyric, ''even those with hearts of steel can be refined to be pliable''? Do you understand what that means?" Ana started to hammer down on Stratos.

    <span>"What does that song lyric mean? I don''t believe I''ve heard of it before," Stratos shot back at Ana.

    <span>"You don''t even understand that? Let me exin the technology behind the process of metal refinement in ancient China. Start with melting raw material in the furnace. Afterwards the melted material is called a bloom, the cksmith would hammer the bloom into bars. This step of forging requires constant hammering and then immediate quenching in water. By heating and hammering out the impurities, the metal will be pliable and durable. Assassins can wrap their swords around their bodies. The most flexible sword could be wrapped around a finger. That is what it means to be pliable!" Ana started exining.

    <span>"So that''s what it means to be pliable? I thought you meant that moment when the man and the woman melt into each other''s embrace," Stratos continued to jeer, nitpicking the words.

    <span>"Tch! Is that the only thing you can think of in that small brain of yours? So after I exined it to you, do you know the song''s lyric now? It was about how a man''s heart of steel can be refined through repeated obstacles and changes, until the heart bes like a treasured sword, both flexible and durable. I definitely don''t mean the general public like you. The man who has the heart of steel is definitely Lord Liu!" Ana finished her spiel. She nced over at Liu Gan to see his reaction.

    <span>Men and women were not that different on how they handle love. Ana thought she was different from other women. As a strong-willed woman, she still had a crush on that type of bold man.

    <span>"Ah¡­ even if you worship Lord Liu, no need to belittle us?" Stratosined.

    <span>"Yeah! He''s right!" Star Yu chimed in on the protest.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t lower his guard listening to this casual conversation. Beyond the loud voices nearby, Liu Gan''s ear picked up a distinct rhythmic footstep. It was as faint as the first time he had heard it. It was charging in from the distance, but Liu Gan frowned at the unwee guest. It didn''t take long for Star Yu to notice the Crocodile rushing in, and shout to alert the other two. It seems that there was only one Crocodile appearing in the park.

    <span>This Crocodile creature appeared at the most inappropriate times. Right as he was about toplete this side task of taking Wan''er to the bathroom, it showed up and interrupted them.

    <span>Liu Gan figured that it was pointless to continue fighting against the Crocodile. There was no way to bring true death to the creature, so it was just a waste of stamina and aura energy. Yet Liu Gan had to kill it, so he could have more time. Except it wouldn''t take even a minute for it to regenerate back to life after it had been killed. Liu Gan led Wan''er closer to the bathroom destination. Once again, Liu Gan had to kill the creature.

    <span>"Forget this, you guys can continue with this side quest. I will be responsible for luring the Crocodile away!" Liu Gan ordered, before he charged intobat against the creature.

    <span>"Lord Liu, just rx and go in peace!" Ana shouted loudly enough for Liu Gan to hear.

    <span>"How could you say that? How could you tell him to go in peace? Is this how you bid farewell? Lord Liu won''t be happy to hear that!" Stratos couldn''t help but tease Ana.

    <span>"I''m saying that for you to go in peace! You vulgar swine!" Ana kicked Stratos over onto the floor.

    <span>Star Yu was rejoicing over Stratos'' abuse, since he had been the one taking the brunt of all the mistreatment. With someone else ying the scapegoat, Star Yu didn''t want to be in the spotlight. Surprisingly, Stratos didn''t seemed to be mad after being beaten by Ana, since he continued to seek attention by provoking her.

    <span>Stratos'' original game y style in [The Trembling World] was simr to how Liu Gan was demonstrating now. Like a hero, upon this destend, he would be stand at the peak of all the corpses. With the wave of his hand, the horrors in this universe would be under his control...

    <span>Stratos dered while posing in a idiotic way. "Three thousand years of bowing down to the Demon Lord, I would rather be a mortal than a celestial being!" He imagined his voice resounding through the skies, that was the realm he wanted to achieve.

    <span>There was always a discrepancy with his ideal self and true self. The moment heid his eyes on beautiful women, his despicable personality surfaced. It was evident in the way he pestered women. Even if they hit him to drive him off, he believed that he was making progress!

    <span>After the brief interlude, the three clowns remembered their assigned tasks. They quickly ran back to Wan''er so they could lead her to the restroom, which was a short distance away.

    <span>Wan''er was prancing around without any worries, as every young children should. In the end, she was an apparition that would only interact with whomever she pleased. So, regardless of what the three clowns did to attract her attention, Wan''er wouldn''t yield. Eventually, Wan''er stopped to look around for Liu Gan. Without Liu Gan nearby, Wan''er started heading back in the direction of the yground. Even if the three clowns stood in her way, she walked right through them.

    <span>In the meantime, Liu Gan had led the Crocodile in a huge detour several kilometers away from the location of the encounter. When he returned to the spot where he had left them, the group was nowhere to be seen. The natural assumption would be that Wan''er and them had reached the restroom. So Liu Gan sprinted toward the restroom, only to find it empty.

    <em>Now this was strange. Where could they have gone? This doesn''t make sense...</em>

    <span>In the short time that he was away, could Wan''er have gone to the bathroom and left for her mom? That seems a little bit of a stretch, right? How could they resolve it that fast?

    <span>Thinking hard on what his next course of action was, Liu Gan decided to backtrack his steps all the way to the padded yground. Just as expected, Wan''er was back at the initial location, where she was prancing around without a care in the world. The other three yers were trying their hardest to get her attention, but Wan''er was minding her own business.

    <span>"Uncle, uncle!" Wan''er shouted to Liu Gan. She voluntarily walked over to greet him.

    <span>"She won''t respond to our requests to go to the bathroom. No matter what we say, she doesn''t react to it. Seems like she can only respond to those who interact with her first," Stratos told Liu Gan.

    <span>"Wan''er, why didn''t you go with them to the bathroom? Howe you came back to this area alone! You need to be more obedient!" Liu Gan scolded Wan''er.

    <span>"But, uncle, you disappeared! I couldn''t find you, so I walked back here to wait for you!" Wan''er responded to Liu Gan.

 Chapter 442

    <strong><u>Chapter 442 - No Rush</u></strong>

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"It would be just the same if she brought you there!" Liu Gan whined.

    <span>"Uncle, uncle! Take me to the restroom! Quickly!" Wan''er started jumping excitedly. Shepletely ignored what Liu Gan had said.

    <span>There was nothing Liu Gan could do. He couldn''t grab the girl and force her to go along with him. He definitely couldn''t punish her. As long as he needed the puzzle map from her mom, he could only patiently wait.

    <span>Whether it was effective or not, Liu Gan still lectured her. Then, Liu Gan and the other three people headed for the restroom once again. The difference between this time was that Wan''er was moving very slowly. In fact, she was even more distracted this time around, so her pace was slower. She kept looking around as if she was sightseeing and jumping left and right. asionally, her inquisitive nature would lead her to squat down on the floor to look at the wildlife.

    <span>Liu Gan tried to usher her to move faster. It didn''t work at all. Contrarily, the more he yelled for her to move, the more she rebelled. She wouldugh in his face and run in circles.

    <span>"If you don''t go to the restroom, you will pee in your pants!" Liu Gan was getting impatient as he vented his anger. If he could, he would''ve grabbed Wan''er, tossed her over his shoulder, and then run to the restroom. The quicker he could get it done, the sooner the puzzle map would be his. Frustrated with the fact that Wan''er was an apparition, Liu Gan had no power over her.

    <span>"Lord Liu, she is just a child, they are all like that. The more you rush them, the more they be disobedient. Don''t y her game. If you don''t urge her to do anything, she will take the initiative and walk to the restroom with you," Stratos couldn''t stay quiet any longer. He spoke up as if he was an expert on these types of issues. The only help he could offer was to verbally guide Liu Gan, since the apparition didn''t seem to interact with anyone other than Liu Gan.

    <span>"Lord Liu must be inexperienced when dealing with young children," Ana spoke up.

    <span>"Yes, I can tell," Star Yu agreed.

    <span>Liu Gan was so enraged over the situation, they could see that his face was turning ck. If he knew beforehand that this was going to happen, he would''ve let Ana or Stratos interact with Wan''er so they could finish escorting her. He would just protect them from the sidelines. If the Crocodile creature appeared again, he would be responsible for leading it away.

    <span>Now that the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Liu Gan could only y with the hand he had been dealt.

    <span>Just like that, the four humans and one apparition slowly headed toward the bathroom. Every couple of minutes, Wan''er would wander off several meters away. Just when they least expected it, the Crocodile charged over at Liu Gan.

    <span>"Lord Liu, I will take away its attention! You continue focusing on the mission!" Ana shouted to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Sounds good! Be careful!" Liu Gan replied.

    <span>"Come this way!" Ana shriek loudly to capture the creature''s attention. She also threw a rock for extra emphasis.

    <span>What happened next waspletely unexpected. The Crocodile creature had to be purposely assigned to sabotage their mission. Even with shouts, screams, and objects thrown at it, the creature had one target in mind. It focused on interrupting Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan was disheartened by the fact that the Crocodile was there to sabotage them. Putting into consideration that the creature was there, he doubted that he couldplete the task. Ultimately, he decided to lead the Crocodile even further away.

    <span>This time, he led the Crocodile to the forest on the outskirts of the Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. By the time he returned, Wan''er was right back at the beginning - the padded yground. Just likest time, Wan''er ignored the other yers, waiting patiently for Liu Gan.

    <span>Her actions confirmed one important point. Whoever interacted with the NPC first would be responsible for finishing the mission. Outsiders couldn''t help in any way. Recalling this, Liu Gan didn''t interact with the young girl. However, she seemed to have mistaken him for her uncle and walked right up to him.

    <span>This was so depressing, having to start all over again...

    <span>But, then again, if Liu Gan wasn''t the one who had epted the mission, the other yers wouldn''t be able to handle the Crocodile''s harassment. In other words, if the Crocodile was solely focused on targeting the mission holder, no one but Liu Gan could control the situation. Either way, whether it was Liu Gan or the other people, the mission would''ve been interrupted.

    <span>For the third time, Liu Gan walked silently along with Wan''er. Needless to say, her pace was once again very slow, with no urgency at all. Even if he wanted to rush, he silently tailed behind her. Instead he took a different approach and remained silent. After all, his lectures were useless against her.

    <span>Around the same location, the Crocodile naturally returned once again.

    <span>It seemed like no matter how far Liu Gan led it away, it would return back here. Like a homing missile, it woulde back and interrupt the mission. The Crocodile''s actionpletely disregarded logic. It was like it was born to add to Liu Gan''s troubles.

    <span>"Go to hell, you vile creature!" Liu Gan finally snapped. He started fighting against the Crocodile.

    <span>The Crocodile''s close quarter attacks were very fast, especially when it snapped forward and bit at Liu Gan. The greataxe couldn''t prate through its skin from range. His only solution was to rely on close quartersbat. It was inevitable that his Mist Armor took on most of the damage he incurred.

    <span>After suffering a certain degree of damage, Liu Gan could use Enhanced Crescent de several times. Soon after, the Crocodile would be killed. That was when Liu Gan would take rush Wan''er to walk ahead faster. But, Wan''er wouldn''t listen to his pleas. Within a minute, the Crocodile would recover and charge in from behind them. As an undying creature, it was quite formidable.

    <span>Liu Gan would have to stop what he was doing to fight against the Crocodile, wasting his precious time to kill the creature. After the Crocodile died, the other yers would take the body parts to somewhere far away. That also proved to be ineffective. The moment it was time to recover, the creature glued its body parts back together and charged back at Liu Gan.

    <span>Because of this, Liu Gan''s escorting service was as slow as a turtle. While walking with Wan''er, he would have to stop and kill the Crocodile. This task was slowly breaking Liu Gan down. However, now that he had reached this far, he didn''t want to give up.

    <span>The majority of the distance was covered when the Crocodile was regenerating, which took around a minute. Then, they would have to stop for Liu Gan to kill the creature before they started moving again. Every time Liu Gan had to fight, it would take several more minutes.

    <span>The distance to the restroom was quite short. However, for Liu Gan''s group, even after thirty minutes, they still hadn''t reached their destination. After the Crocodile''s eighth death, it stood up, but its coloration changed. It was now a dark maroon color!

 Chapter 443

    <span>Chapter 443 - Weed

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    What could be happening? Could it be that after killing it eight times, a second stage would emerge?

    <span>Astonishing. So was it now possible to kill the creature?

    <span>Just as predicted, the enraged Crocodile was more formidable. Its stats for speed and strength were at least twice what they were before. It really took a toll on Liu Gan keeping up with the fight.

    <span>Previous attacks that he dodged suddenly became impossible to evade. Almost every attack from the Crocodile would sh against his Mist Armor, sparks would fly. Every bite thatnded on the Mist Armor would cause serious damage to it. As a byproduct, Liu Gan''s fury counter was at maximum after a few attacks. Instantly, Liu Gan used his Enhanced Crescent de ability on the Crocodile''s head.

    <span>What happened next was unexpected, Liu Gan''s consecutive Enhanced Crescent de attacks were avoided by the Crocodile! His ultimate attack resulting in several missed attacks was frustrating and depressing. After tanking another round of attacks, Liu Gan had his fury counter maxed out. This time, hebined his Psychic Shock ability first, so the Crocodile was rigid during his next attack. He counter-attacked the same spot on the Crocodile''s neck,nding four Enhanced Crescent des in that position. The creature was finally almost half-dead now.

    <span>The enraged Crocodile''s movements were exceedingly fast. Liu Gan couldn''t catch up with its movements. Nine out of ten of his attacks were misses. Only when hebined his attacks with Psychic Shock would his attacks hit the mark.

    <span>For the next fifteen minutes of his fight, Liu Gan focused solely on dodging. He avoided any confrontation, at least until his fury counter was at maximum. That way he could use another round of Psychic Shock with his Enhanced Crescent debination attack.

    <span>Following the second round of thebination attack, the Crocodile''s head was nearly chopped off. Its body fell to the ground in its final struggle.

    <span>"Ana,e over here." Liu Gan handed over his greataxe to Ana.

    <span>"Ah¡­" Ana hesitated about moving closer, but she woke up from her daze. She grabbed the greataxe and hacked downward on the neck several times. Finally, she severed the Crocodile''s head.

    <span>A dense ck orb leaked out from the Crocodile''s body. Ana the was sole recipient of this experience orb. It didn''t take long for the Crocodile''s body to dissipate away like mist. Left behind on the floor was a shiny metallic object.

    <span>From the looks of it, the metallic object was a coin. The words engraved on the coin were something Liu Gan had not encountered before. It was not an apparition that passed through his hands. Perhaps the coin would be useful in the future. Liu Gan ced the foreign coin into his dimensional storage space.

    <span>"Did you level up?" Liu Gan turned around to ask Ana.

    <span>"Le¡­ Level¡­ I leveled up¡­" Ana stuttered as she checked her wristwatch.

    <span>"What happened? Did you give birth or something?" Stratos peeked over her shoulder.

    <span>"The hell! Lord Liu! I am now level 10! Thank you, Lord Liu!" Ana embraced the feeling of her body heating up. She stared at the wristwatch with the number 10. She was very happy with her results.

    <span>Now that she had reached level 10, she could really be a big sister. She could smack anyone on the back of head and they couldn''t talk back to her. She really wanted to see who would dare say "no" back to her.

    <span>"You were right about what you said earlier. If we kill it over and over again, we can get the experience points," Liu Gan nodded at her. Thest kill on the Crocodile was given over to Ana, fulfilling his promise of whoever found Wan''er first would be given a level boost.

    <span>Ana being the first member of their expedition group to reap the benefit of leveling up was a good sign. As long as the other members didn''t die, they would have a chance to reach level 10 too!

    <span>Knowing that the Crocodile could be killed took a lot of pressure off of Liu Gan''s shoulders. He felt better about himself knowing that he didn''t waste his time and effort fighting against it. Even if his equipment was wearing down, he was still able to kill this boss figure. He was experiencing that refreshing feeling of being able to obtain rewards from heavy investments.

    <span>If they couldn''t get any experience points from killing the Crocodile, it would make anyone feel hopeless about their situation. However, that was not the case here. Now, Liu Gan wished that more Crocodiles woulde bother him. That way, every member here could reach level 10! That way, more capable people could help him finish his mission, and they would be fine additions to strengthen the elite battalion.

    <span>Even if Liu Gan wished for more intruders, his desires were not granted. They sessfully took Wan''er to the public restroom without any further mishap. After Wan''er was finished with her business with the toilet, she agreed to go back to her mother.

    <span>The group ventured off to where Wan''er''s mother had started the quest for Liu Gan, but the ghost was not there.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang were responsible for tailing the mother. They left behind arrows designating the direction of travel. The pair did amendable job; there were so many symbols tagged, it was hard to lose track. Liu Gan and the other three followed the trail without any problems.

    <span>It didn''t take long before another Crocodile spawned. This time, Liu Gan knew that it would take nine deaths to truly kill the creature. From the beginning to the end of that process, it would take an hour of continuous fighting.

    <span>The next question was, who should the experience go to?

    <span>Star Yu was responsible for stirring up troop morale. It left a bad taste in Liu Gan''s mouth, so he didn''t let Star Yu reap the reward. It would serve as a punishment so he wouldn''t act out again. In the end, Stratos ended up taking the free experience points by getting the kill on the Crocodile. Just like that, he increased his level to 10.

    <span>"At the end of the path to be an immortal, who is at the peak? All heavenly signs point to me! If it is destined to be mine, it will be mine! If it''s not for me, then no one else can have it!" Stratos jumped onto a rock and started a monologue as an Elder of a cultivating sect.

    <span>"Are you ready to wake up from your daydream?" Ana kicked Stratos in the buttocks. He fell onto the grass on all fours.

    <span>"What¡­ I, Stratos, am undefeated across the universe! How could I lose to a woman! Despicable! Unbelievable!" Stratos spat out the weeds he ate and sighed theatrically.

    <span>Ana kicked him again before he got up. This time Stratos slid across the grass. He ended up with another mouthful of grass.

    <span>Star Yu was standing on the sidelines, discontent and disappointed with the current situation. If he hadn''t told anyone of his terrible past, then Sun Chao wouldn''t have gotten scared and fallen into the well. He wouldn''t have been punished for disrupting troop morale. It should''ve been him who leveled up! He lost such a precious opportunity, just like that!

 Chapter 444

    <span>Chapter 444 - Vast Lake

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Taking opportunity of this time frame before the next Crocodile spawned, Liu Gan and the other three yers started walking faster along the markings created by Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang. After a certain distance, they saw scuff marks indicating Crocodile had showed up to the party. Liu Kang and Cai Hao Chen hade across the creature and escaped in a different direction.

    <span>Perhaps Liu Gan had killed the Crocodile which had scared off the pair. They might have ran too far away and gotten lost. It was strange that Liu Gan didn''t hear any cries for rescue. Did theye across other creatures?

    <span>Without any additional marks, the trail had gone cold. Liu Gan and his group decided to continue forward ording to thest marker. The path seemed to be leading toward a building nearby. Even though it was highly unlikely that Liu Gan would find her within the building, he still had to search through it.

    <span>In a stroke of luck, Liu Gan walked into the building and discovered Wan''er''s mother lingering in a corridor. Wan''er shouted loudly at her mother the moment she saw her. The young mother turned around immediately.

    <span>"Wan''er, where did you go? I searched everywhere for you! You scared me to death!" the young mother ran over to wrap her arms around Wan''er.

    <span>"I saw uncle! I chased after him, but i couldn''t catch up to him. Then, I wanted to go to the restroom. I tried to find the restroom myself!" Wan''er exined.

    <span>"Uncle is working, so don''t bother uncle anymore. Definitely don''t run off again!" the young mother continue to scold her. Liu Gan waltzed around the young mother a few times so he can get their attention without interrupting. The young mother definitely noticed since she quickly pulled the jigsaw puzzle out from her bag to hand over to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Moonlight Gulf Theme Park has a side door for you to leave. It is in that direction. If you are done ying, then you can leave through that door," the young mother pointed in a certain direction while speaking to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Oh?" Liu Gan understood her intentions immediately. She gave him a major clue. She meant that if he didn''t want to do anymore quests, he could leave through the side door to leave this instance.

    <span>But¡­ Liu Gan had done so much for the quest already, he didn''t want to give up now and start overter.

    <span>Prior to epting the quest, Liu Gan had tried to steal the jigsaw puzzle from the young mother''s hand, but only grasped air. This time the puzzle materialized in his hand.

    <span>Upon receiving the puzzle, the quest was over. As such, the mother and daughter dissolved into ck fog and scattered into the environment. Their role of being a NPC was over, they didn''t serve any more purpose.

    <span>Liu Gan quickly opened the puzzle to take a closer look. It was really a map. Once all four jigsaw pieces were present, then the map would beplete and reveal important clues.

    <span>That must mean there were three more quests that needed to be aplished. Where would he find clues to those quests? Liu Gan had no choice, he made the decision to continue with these quests. He wouldl order the teams to search for clues further out in the theme park .

    <span>***

    <span>It was certainly true that Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang were interrupted by the Crocodile. They couldn''t continue tailing the young mother together, so they had to split up. Cai Hao Chen would distract the Crocodile, while Liu Kang would continue tailing the young mother. After a short while the Crocodile returned and threatened Liu Kang. Without any partner, Liu Kang had to run away.

    <span>Coincidentally, Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang met up with one another again by ake. They had one job, and they couldn''t aplish it. They didn''t want Lord Liu to know how useless they were. Instead of crying for help, they decided to work together to lure the Crocodile in another direction. After that, they returned on the path to try and track down the young mother. However, they stopped once they found their redemption... a new quest!

    <span>Theke they were right next to wasn''t deep, but it wasrge enough to have recreational boats. However, those boats were now capsized. It must have been an attraction catering to parents with children.

    <span>Theke was already a shadow of its former glory; it was deteriorating and rotting corpses were floating on theke.

    <span>Liu Kang and Cai Hao Chen were walking back along the path, when they met an elderly man on a wheelchair. The senior was struggling to move his wheelchair around theke. He kept staring into theke while mumbling to himself. He seemed to be searching for something.

    <span>The biggest hint was on the back of the wheelchair; there was a bag holding a jigsaw puzzle case.

    <span>Without a doubt, this was a quest-giving NPC, just like the young mother from earlier. As long as they fulfilled his request, then his puzzle box would be handed over.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen had a decision to make. Who would finish their original task of tailing the young mother? In the end, Liu Kang had the honor of going back to tail the mother, Cai Hao Chen was going to ept the quest from the senior.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen had negotiated it with Liu Kang; if he finished the quest and received the puzzle box, then the reward would be split evenly. That way both of them would be motivated to do their task.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen took a long time to evaluate the quest difficulty. He knew that it wouldn''t be easy. During this time, he might encounter the Crocodile while doing the task, so he was putting his life on the line.

    <span>The moment he decided to follow Lord Liu, Cai Hao Chen had promised himself that he wouldn''t be overwhelmed by fear. As long as he had courage, then he would be acknowledged and appreciated. So no matter how hard this trial was going to be, he would do his best to finish it.

    <span>"Old-timer, what are you searching for?" Cai Hao Chen asked loudly to the senior sitting in the wheelchair.

    <span>"My partner, Nizi, she brought me a wrist watch that I lost in theke. It is an important memento. I really hope I can I can get it back, but I can''t swim. Even if I could swim, I don''t have the stamina to search for it. Young man, do you think you can do this old man a favor and find it for me?" the old man in the wheelchair requested.

    <span>"You lost it in theke? Which part of theke do you think you dropped it in?" Cai Hao Chen stared at the bigke, shaking at the thought of searching it.

    <span>"It is thiske," the wheelchair senior replied.

    <span>"Yeah, but specifically where would that be? Which side of theke were you closest when you realize you lost it?" Cai Hao Chen asked again.

    <span>"I can''t remember, but I was with my partner rowing the boat when the watch fell in. It should still be in theke. I can''t remember which location it was closest to," the old man continued absently, yet vigorously.

 Chapter 445

    <span>Chapter 445 - Needle in a Haystack

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Your watch fell into theke, but you have no idea which part of theke. Then you have the audacity to request this impossible task from me?! Are you crazy?! <span>Cai Hao Chen was screaming an internal monologue. This was such a bigke, where did he even begin the search? Such nonsense! It was a chilly day too...

    <span>"Young man, if you can find me that watch, I have something I can reward you with," the wheelchair senior took out the puzzle box from his bag. Clearly, he was baiting Cai Hao Chen with temptation.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen reached out to grab it for a closer look. Just like Liu Gan before him, his action was pointless, he just whiffed through it. This wheelchair senior had a piece of the puzzle in his possession. Cai Hao Chen had no choice but to fulfill the senior''s request.

    <span>"How about my watch? Are you interested in this? I can give it to you instead, how about it?" Cai Hao Chen disyed his own wrist watch for the senior to see.

    <span>"I don''t want your watch, I only want the watch given to me by my partner. That watch has a lot of meaning to me, so I get it back!" the senior insisted.

    <span>Tch, I offer you a better watch, but you don''t want it!<span>, Cai Hao Chen cursed internally. He turned to look at theke one more time and sighed.

    <span>Seems like he had no choice, but to dive into theke if he wanted toplete the task. Moonlight Gulf Theme Park was so cold that on the surface of theke, there was a thinyer of ice. The temperature had to be close to 0 degrees celsius. <span>That''s so cold!<span> He would have to do multiple quick trips underwater for short periods of time. Otherwise, hypothermia would set in before he could find anything.

    <span>For the sake of helping Lord Liu aplish his quest, for the sake of getting the puzzle map... Cai Hao Chen still quivered at the thought of dipping in ice cold water. Eventually, he warmed his body up by stretching before stripping down and stepping into the water.

    <span>"Ow! Damn! Damn! Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn!"

    <span>Jumping into the ice-cold water, Cai Hao Chen felt as if his heart was going crazy; it was beating like an alpaca galloping through the pastures. It was very cold! Like a heart-piercing cold! This was all while he was standing in the water, imagine if he had to submerge his whole body into the water! What a torturous way of suffering!...

    <span>Trying to find a watch in such a bigke was no different than searching for a needle in a haystack. Should he wait for Lord Liu first? If he had to do it by himself, it sounded impossible!

    <span>No¡­ If his reason for not diving into theke was because it was too cold, then he might be looked down upon. Real men like Lord Liu would face the challenge head on; they wouldn''t push the task over onto someone else.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen grit his teeth and dove deeper into theke. He was using his years of swimming experiences to help him search through theke debris.

    <span>The underwater conditions were very bad; it was murky, making it hard to see through the debris hebed up from thekebed. If Cai Hao Chen wasn''t level 9, then his vision wouldn''t have been enhanced to multiple degrees stronger. If his vision was still normal at level 1, the cloudy water would have made it impossible to see.

    <span>After searching for awhile, Cai Hao Chen felt that he was at his limit, and he was unable to continue the search. He was on the borderline of going unconscious from hypothermia, so he resurfaced and swam toward the shore.

    <span>"Did you find my watch yet?" The wheelchair-bound old man rolled his wheelchair over to where Cai Hao Chen had appeared.

    <span>"No, old-timer, the area you gave me is just too big! Where do I even start searching for it?" Cai Hao Chen wiped the water off his face.

    <span>"Oh, my watch is special! When the watch strikes twelve, it will y a song. It is a song that my partner recorded herself. If you hear her song, you can pinpoint my watch. There is almost ten minutes left before it strikes twelve again," the wheelchair senior finally gave more clues.

    <span>"Oh? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?! Are there any more clues? Can you tell me any more details about it?" Cai Hao Chen quickly urged the old man.

    <span>"That is all I can remember for now," the senior shook his head. After that, no matter what Cai Hao Chen asked, the senior didn''t reply.

    <span>With this new clue, Cai Hao Chen had around ten minutes before the watch would start ying the song. Using his body to break through the iceyer, he swam toward the center of theke. After less than ten minutes of swimming, he reached the center of theke. The watch would start sounding off the song soon, so he had to listen closely to home in on the sound.

    <span>It was still uncertain how long ago the watch fell into theke, so it was a possibility that the watch wouldn''t be able to produce anything audible if it was buried in the mud. Perhaps this instance would ignore all sorts of logic and the watch would produce noise regardless of the surrounding debris.

    <span>Thankfully sound waves were louder and faster underwater, so Cai Hao Chen would still be able to hear the song. He would able to determine the general direction of the source, which was better than searching blindly.

    <span>Through concentration, yers were capable of using their senses to their maximum potential.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen took a deep breath and submerged himself. While submerged, his ears were muffled. Cai Hao Chen tried his best to concentrate while ignoring the unnecessary noises and chilling temperature.

    <span>Initially, Cai Hao Chen heard useless noises like his heartbeat and water currents. There was too much interference, so differentiating the song over other noises wasn''t an easy task.

    <span>With the watch striking twelve, it was showtime for Cai Hao Chen. He ceased all unnecessary movement and focused.

    <span>¡ºYou know that I missed you, I loved you¡»

    <span>¡ºMy love for you won''t change¡»

    <span>¡ºHave you never thought about it¡»

    <span>¡ºThat day''s oath¡»1

    <span>The sound of a gentle song were mixed into the background noise from a certain direction. Cai Hao Chen heard it, but wasn''t able to figure out where it was, because the song was too faint.

    <span>Exerting himself to his utmost, Cai Hao Chen headed in the designated direction. He would swim, stop to listen, then repeat the cycle. Every time he swam, he would be adding noise of his own.

    <span>The song was over as quickly as it began. Cai Hao Chen wasn''t able to figure out where the watch was, but he knew the general direction.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen had been in the water for a long period of time, and his body temperature had fallen rapidly. Hypothermia caused him to be drowsy, and by the time he realized, it was toote. He wanted to swim ashore, but his rigid body wouldn''t obey hismands.

 Chapter 446

    <span>Chapter 446 - Point

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Cai Hao Chen was able to sense something wasn''t right. He did his best to resurface and swim to the closest shore. With his body temperature dropping rapidly, he started hallucinating. He thought he was swimming hard, but in actuality, he was merely floating in the water.

    At this time, he heard sshing noise and felt an arm wrap around his body. Someone was pulling him toward the shore and rubbing his back so that he could regain his body heat.

    That person was Lord Liu!

    "Hey! Are you crazy? Why did you jump into the ice-cold water?" Ana shouted.

    Cai Hao Chen head cleared up once he was warmer. He wasn''t hallucinating about being rescued by Lord Liu! Ana, Liu Kang, Stratos and Star Yu were also there.

    Liu Kang showed up in the nick of time, as Liu Gan and the three others were about to split up to look for him. Liu Kang told them about finding a new quest by theke. As a result, the five of them rushed toward theke. They saw the elder, but Cai Hao Chen wasn''t around.

    Liu Gan''s vision was better than everyone else''s, so he saw Cai Hao Chen floating in theke in the distance. He didn''t hesitate to take action and immediately swam out to fetch the unresponsive Cai Hao Chen.

    "Quest¡­ find the watch. Watch strikes twelve, will produce a song¡­ I think it is in that area underneath the ice. Song sounds like¡­" Cai Hao Chen started mumbling, but halted by Liu Gan.

    "You did great, rx now. I will take over now," Liu Gan patted Cai Hao Chen on the shoulders.

    Then, Liu Gan jumped right into theke.

    Liu Gan''s cold resistance was much higher than Cai Hao Chen''s. To top if off, he also had the Dermal Respiration ability. He wouldn''t need to resurface for air, so his searching efficiency was much higher.

    Liu Gan had to confirm the area Cai Hao Chen had pointed out before heading down to thekebed. Junk in theke was kicked up as Liu Gan was moving around. Liu Gan jumped into the water, created unnecessary sshes which made the water be even murkier. Now it was impossible to see underwater.

    These quests had an increasing difficulty after each sessivepletion. Now that they hadpleted the first quest, it would be a waste if they didn''tplete the second quest. So, regardless of difficulty, Liu Gan felt that he had invested a lot of time and effort in this instance. Giving up was not an option for Liu Gan.

    It didn''t take long for Liu Gan to realize that he wasn''t alone in theke. A Crocodile had crawled in from another shore, but was heading towards Liu Gan. The Crocodile was faster in water than onnd; it truly was an amphibious creature!

    Liu Gan was at a disadvantage in the water, he expended a lot more stamina by staying there. Without any good means of fighting, Liu Gan chose to evade the Crocodile''s assaults as best as he could, while slowly retreating back to shore.

    Once Liu Gan was on the sandy shore, the Crocodile followed suit. Both man and creature started fighting on the beach. Liu Gan spent the next half an hour killing the creature over and over again, right up until the ninth time, when the Crocodile became enraged.

    With the earlier chain of fightssting up to an hour, this fight took only half an hour since Liu Gan was getting used to the way the Crocodile attacked. It was such a primitive creature that it didn''t have a lot of variety behind those assaults; it merely had the strength to overwhelm its prey. Liu Gan decided that the reward would go to Cai Hao Chen, for demonstrating unrelenting bravery.

    Cai Hao Chen said that he had a pact with Liu Kang to split the reward, so he wanted to hand over this level-up reward to Liu Kang. While it was a honorable gesture by Cai Hao Chen, Liu Kang didn''t feel right about iming it. Under Liu Gan''s direct order, Cai Hao Chen ended up picking up the greataxe to kill the Crocodile.

    Within this expedition group, Ana, Stratos, and Cai Hao Chen had now reached level 10! Even if these members hadn''t obtain the watch or map quest items, they were still rewarded. This Moonlight Gulf Theme Park was a great ce for power-leveling yers!

    "Oh, old-timer I beg of you to think harder. Aside from the song, was there any characteristic about the watch? Talk about the distinctions, it will help us find your watch faster if we know more!" Cai Hao Chen shouted at the elder.

    "No special distinction. It is just an old-fashioned watch," the elder shook his head.

    There''s nothing that could be done now. Liu Gan jumped into the icy-cold waters once again. He went about his way with thekebed. Thest battle wasted most of the time until the watch struck twelve again.

    Thest time it struck, Cai Hao Chen was at the center of theke, swimming toward the source.

    Liu Gan dove into the area where he had found Cai Hao Chen unconscious. Cai Hao Chen had narrowed down the search area for Liu Gan; his hearing was several times better than Cai Hao Chen''s, so if the song yed again then he should be able to pinpoint it.

    ¡ºLike a dream¡»

    ¡ºOur time was short and sweet¡»

    ¡ºLike a wind¡»

    ¡ºGently blowing into my heart¡»

    Liu Gan concentrated and focused on his hearing. He was able to pick up on the faint lyrics of song, and the direction it came from.

    Liu Gan swam quickly toward the source, trying to get to a better location before the song stopped ying. He swam for quite a distance, then stopped to listen again, ensuring that he didn''t swim pass the source. By the time the song stopped ying, Liu Gan started searching thekebed directly below.

    Another half an hour went by, but Liu Gan was still empty-handed from his search. He could only wait for the next song to y. However, his search radius had gotten even smaller. Since he had some time, Liu Gan went back to shore to recover his body heat and stamina. Cai Hao Chen tried to fish out more clues from the elder, but that was a dead end. It seemed like the only thing Liu Gan could do is proactively search for it.

    ¡ºEven if you leave me behind¡»

    ¡ºLike a beautiful narcissus¡»

    ¡ºForget that I am trapped in a lonely ravine¡»

    ¡ºWild lily also have spring¡»

    The next time the watch struck twelve, Liu Gan was already waiting at thekebed. Once the song lyrics started, Liu Gan heard it loud and clear.

    This time Liu Gan could hear the singer''s grievances and sorrow. That elder must have been a fickle lover when he was younger. The singer sounded quite frustrated in her lyrics, which made the song even more touching.

    Following the song, Liu Gan finally found the source. It was stuck in the mud between tworge rocks. The watch had been covered in debris, and would''ve been impossible to find if not for the song.

 Chapter 447

    <span>Chapter 447 - Foreign Token

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Moving closer, Liu Gan used brute strength to push apart the two rocks. Then he reached in the mud between the rocks, with one sweep of his hand, grabbed onto a round object. This made Liu Gan very happy!

    <span>Liu Gan wanted to take a closer look at the object he had grabbed hold of, but danger approached. Yet another Crocodile had been quietly swimming over toward him. It got the first attack on Liu Gan, mping down on Liu Gan''s arm. Liu Gan reacted by punching the creature repeatedly.

    <span>Even while Liu Gan was beating down the Crocodile, he didn''t lose his grip on the watch still in his captured hand, not daring to let it go. There was no way for him to win an underwater battle against the Crocodile in its territory. Liu Gan had to lure the Crocodile ontond to have a chance at winning!

    <span>The Crocodile''s habits and order of attack haven''t changed at all. Liu Gan practically had it down as muscle memory now. He could predict some of the Crocodile''s movements, which made the fight progress faster. When the Crocodile died its first death, Liu Gan finally got to look at what he had in his hand.

    <span>It was just a rounded pebble! Not the watch that he had wanted. Furiated, Liu Gan tossed the pebble back. <span>That Crocodilees at the most inappropriate times!<span> It had distracted Liu Gan, which caused him to grab hold of the wrong item.

    <span>Liu Gan realized that it was pointless to rush, he had to kill the Crocodile several more times before he could continue searching thekebed. Liu Gan spent another half an hour fighting against the Crocodile before it was enraged. This time, the reward was given over to Liu Kang.

    <span>After every Crocodile kill, the corpse would dissipate as ck fog, but it would also leave behind a foreign coin. <span>What could this token be used for?<span>It will probably be usefulter on,<span> Liu Gan thought, so he stashed it in his dimensional storage.

    <span>With the threat removed, Liu Gan ventured back into the ice-coldkebed. He had broken apart the rocks as a coteral damage during their fight.

    <span>The aftermath in the underwater was a lot worse than it seemed, as the fight had broken up thekebed. This made it harder for Liu Gan to find the original spot where he suspected the watch was. Every ce he looked seemed like it was the right one. Unable to find it after a few attempts, Liu Gan opted to wait for the next time the watch sang again.

    <span>***

    <span>When it came time for the watch to strike twelve, Liu Gan was submerged and ready for the song to ring out. When it did sing, it wasn''t located too far from Liu Gan. Liu Gan swam toward the source several meters away. He finally found the spot where he initially encountered the Crocodile.

    <span>While the song was still ying, Liu Gan shifted his hands through the mud and rocks. This time he didn''t have any interference so he took his time. Finally, he was able to grab hold of the wrist watch while it was still singing.

    <span>Liu Gan was surprised it was found so quickly! He held the watch tightly as he swam back toward shore. Once onnd, he ran toward the elder.

    <span>"Here is your watch! See if this is the one you wanted?" Liu Gan shouted at the elder. Except, the elder was nonresponsive toward him.

    <span>The quest wielder was Cai Hao Chen, so naturally, to turn in the quest had to be Cai Hao Chen himself. Through an exchange of hands, it was eventually turned over to the senior and the quest waspleted!

    <span>The senior epted the watch with gratitude. He pressed a button and the song was yed. Once he heard the song, he realized how much he missed his wife. Tears started streaming down his cheeks as he thought about his younger days.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen waltzed around the senior a few times to get his attention. When it was ineffective, he forced a cough.

    <span>"Ah thank you, young man. This watch holds a lot of meaning for me," the teary-eyed senior replied.

    <span>"My surname is Thunder. It is something righteous that we ought to do," Cai Hao Chen kindly responded. He shouldn''t have rushed the old-timer for the reward, in case he got angry over something trivial, then their efforts would''ve been for naught.

    <span>"Oh right, young man. This is my way of thanking you for your hard work." The old man took out the puzzle box and handed over to Cai Hao Chen.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen opened up the box to confirm there was a puzzle piece. Now Liu Gan had half the puzzle map! However, it was still hard to tell what the map was for...

    <span>Nevertheless, this was a good start. As long as they continued their search, then the other two pieces wouldplete the puzzle. Liu Gan knew for sure that the quest difficulty would increase significantly. As for how he could get thest two pieces, it was still a mystery. One thing was certain, he didn''t want to leave the instance.

    <span>"If you are tired of ying in the Theme Park, you can walk in that direction, and past the bridge there will be a rock garden. Walking past the rock garden will be a path that leads to the Theme Park''s exit. You can leave through the exit anytime," the old man said to Cai Hao Chen afterward. Then, he dissipated into ck fog.

    <span>Now that they had reached this stage of the quest, if they didn''t continue then they could leave anytime. Both NPC''s had matching statements, even the direction they pointed to matched the same destination - the exit!

    <span>"Are there any of you that want to leave the instance first?" Liu Gan asked the yers around him.

    <span>"I will apany Lord Liu to the end!" Cai Hao Chen immediately shouted.

    <span>"Of course, I will apany Lord Liu!" Ana expressed her loyalty.

    <span>"I, Stratos, pledge my services to you. I will do my best to protect you¡­ Ana, stop kicking my butt! I''m warning you¡­ Ouch!" Stratos continued acting out.

    <span>***

    <span>While their groups were looking for Wan''er or helping the senior look for his watch, the other teams weren''t cking off. Even if they didn''t encounter any trouble with the Crocodile, they didn''t have any progress to show for it.

    <span>¡ºYou are my tiny little red apple¡»

    <span>¡ºJust like the beautiful clouds near horizon¡»

    <span>¡ºSpring ising for flowers on mountain slope¡»

    <span>¡ºnt the seed of hope and you will harvest¡»

    <span>Johnny Fei and Song Jiu haven''t found anyone in the meantime, but they heard a song, a familiar song called ''Little Apple'' that seemed to have been popr on the radio in the real world.

    <span>The two yers heard the song and raised their eyebrows. This song couldn''t be ying suddenly for no reason. It must be a clue, leading to a new quest!

 Chapter 448

    <span>Chapter 448 - Square Dancing

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Since they couldn''t find Wan''er, Johnny Fei and Song Jiu opted in for the new clue. They could request a reward from Lord Liu as long as they had something to prove their usefulness. As a result, the pair rushed toward the broadcast point of the song.

    The area they walked up to was a public square, all leveled and smooth. A neen year-old teenage girl was bncing herself on a single-wheel electric scooter while doing donuts. She kept giggling to herself, and even without sunlight to illuminate her face, her cheeks were blushing like a ripe little apples. If there was a symbol of hope, her cheerful face represented it.

    Suddenly, the teenaged girl started to lose her bnce. The more she panicked, the wilder her movements got. She shrieked as she fell off of the electric scooter. Johnny Fei and Song Jiu tried to be white knights, but the teenage girl was an apparition. She fell heavily onto the ground.

    The teenage girl swept the dust off her clothes as she stood up to try her luck on the electric scooter again.

    The music wasing from a loudspeaker in the public square. Johnny Fei was lured in by the loudspeaker, and that was where he noticed a unique puzzle box. He had seen the same thing when Wan''er''s mother pulled one out to show Liu Gan.

    That was a quest reward!

    Johnny Fei rushed over to confirm if that was the same puzzle box. If by chance he could snatch the box right off the loudspeaker, then that would be an easy win! s, things weren''t that easy in life. Johnny Fei''s hand passed through the phantom image.

    "You want that puzzle box?" the teenage girl came to a stop right by Johnny Fei''s side.

    "Yes I do, gorgeous. Do you want me to do something for you?" Johnny Fei asked.

    "I want to organize a square dance, but I don''t know where I can find enough aunties. If you can find me ten aunties who can dance with me, then I will hand over the puzzle to you!" the teenage girl dered her terms.

    "The hell. Where am I going to find ten aunties? Where do I even start?" Song Jiu rolled his eyes. They couldn''t even find that young girl Wan''er. Where would they find ten aunties!? This ce was so stupidly big, where could they even find aunties?

    "The aunties are scattered around the Theme Park, you should find some that are willing to join the cause," the teenager exined, then went back to ying on her electric scooter.

    Johnny Fei and Song Jiu had no choice. They walked around to search for aunties. Slowly darkness had encroached on the sky, and after wandering aimlessly for a while they heard Liu Gan''s voice shouting for everyone to gather up. It was time for them to report their findings.

    <span>***

    Liu Gan and the others have arrived back at the campsite and started up a bonfire. After hearing the report from Johnny Fei and Song Jiu, he wanted to head back to the public square to investigate with the whole expedition group. Everyone ate a quick meal before venturing out.

    Public square was located a good distance from the camp. The evening wind started kicking up, tingling the senses of everyone in the group. They were using their shlights to light up the surrounding without missing any gaps, the possibility of the Crocodile ambushing them was too high. The three level 10 yers and Liu Gan were stationed on the outsides surrounding the lower level yers.

    Even though the level 10 yers were capable, they weren''t enough to handle the Crocodile by themselves. Nevertheless, they wouldn''t die from the first strike due to their Mist Armor having improved.

    The whole way along, the lower level yers were quite nervous. Fortunately for them, they didn''t encounter a dangerous situation. By the time Liu Gan and the group arrived, the teenaged girl was still there and the music hadn''t stopped broadcasting. They were there as if forever stuck in time.

    "Oh did you find the aunties already?" the teenage girl walked over to ask.

    "No¡­ I brought a lot of friends with me. I asked them to help me look for the aunties," Johnny Fei exined.

    "Okay, then you can continue on with your search!" The teenage girl went back to her scooter.

    "Ten aunties¡­ Can you ask her if we fulfill that requirement? It is only square dancing right?" Ana urged Johnny Fei.

    "Hey gorgeous! Do you think we meet those requirement?" Johnny Fei ran up to the teenage girl to ask.

    "No way, don''t you know that square dancing requires aunties?" the girl shook her head.

    "Do I count?" Ana ran up to ask.

    "You¡­ barely made the cut" the teenage girl looked Ana up and down before deciding.

    "Ana the auntie¡­" the rest of the yers teased.

    "<span>Sigh¡­ If we had known that earlier, we should''ve brought ten women along instead," Johnny Fei breathed. He knew this quest wouldn''t be so simple.

    "Seems like this quest will have to wait until tomorrow. We should find a safe ce nearby to set up camp. The first thing tomorrow, we will split up to find the so-called ''aunties''," Liu Gan displeased with the situation.

    "This quest is totally bullshit! How could we even find aunties for a square dance¡­" the other yers shook their heads in agreement.

    "Hey you guys,e over here!" Ana waved to the group. She proceeded to walk to a half-copsed building for cover. It seemed she hade up with some cunning idea.

    No one had any clue about what Ana had in store, they could only follow along.

    Once hidden from view of the teenage girl, Ana pulled something out from her pocket. Then she beckons Strato over, with instructions for him not to move. She pulled out her lipstick and applied it on his lips.

    "HEY! Auntie Ana, what are you doing to me?" Stratos started to retreat once he saw the lipstick.

    "She said ten aunties, so I''m going to make you up until you look like an auntie. That way, if Johnny Fei introduces you as one, then you are one. She has no way to tell, what is she going to do? Pull down your pants to check?" Ana cunningly announced.

    "Stupid! Can''t she tell that we are fakes? She might find it weird that all these aunties are muscrly built and ugly!" Stratos disagreed vehemently with Ana''s n.

    "I think it might work, let''s just test it out. Let Ana finish putting on the makeup. Then, Johnny will introduce you. If this works, then we don''t have to waste time!" Liu Gan''s eyes lit up with hope.

 Chapter 449

    <span>Chapter 449 - Demonic Dance

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Receiving Liu Gan''s support was like Ana had been granted the throne, and a conniving smile lit up her face. Stratos had to give up his pride and ept his fate; his expression said "I have no choice" helplessly.

    <span>Ana had cosmetic products in her backpack, but she was able to give Stratos a makeover fairly quickly. She applied eyeliner and lipstick.

    <span>"Hahaha¡­ How does it feel to be a Thai boy? Must feel like you are in Thand, right?" the bystanders started chiming in. They were all making fun of Stratos'' looks.

    <span>"You areughing too early, you think you guys can escape your turn?" Stratos countered. You think that he who will be an immortal, stands at the peak, will lose? Especially when all heavenly signs pointed towards him as the hero! How could he be a transvestite when he was destined for greatness!

    <span>Soon all eight of them became transvestites, they did a lineup in front of Liu Gan.

    <span>"So that should be the right amount? No need to include me right?" Liu Gan backed away from Ana.

    <span>"If we count him, then that is just nine people. Did Lord Liu forget that Sun Chao had perished¡­" Ana reminded Liu Gan.

    <span>"Oh?" Liu Ganpletely forgot that he was missing a member. He thought that he could avoid having makeup applied, but that didn''t seem possible.

    <span>If it was impossible to avoid, then for the sake of the quest, he would ept his fate.

    <span>After the exaggerated makeup session was over, they looked at one another. They didn''t look like aunties at all; they looked more likedyboys. Someone suggested that they look more of the role by adding some additional physical attributes to the chest and buttocks. Ana was enjoying this the most since she watched them transform into figures that didn''t look like a man or woman.

    <span>***

    <span>"Hey gorgeous, I found ten aunties for you. Can we practice the square dance yet?" Johnny Fei asked while bringing his voice to an octave higher and maintaining orchid hand gesture. He had returned back to the public square with his ''sister'' group

    <span>"You are¡­ you¡­" the teenage girl was traumatized. Never had she seen these type of aunties before.

    <span>"When we were younger, we were part of the women''s varsity basketball team. So that''s why we are especially tall and bulky. We are really aunties, if you don''t believe us you can examine us," Johnny Fei continued to y the role of how he imagined aunties would act. In the teenage girl''s eye, she witnessed ''her'' swing the hips left and right.

    <span>The teenage girl was either traumatized or stunned, she only stared without making a sound.

    <span>"Young girl, let''s dance already! What''s the dy?" Ana urged while taking on a northern ent.

    <span>"Okay, let us begin," the teenage girl hesitated for a while before agreeing to ept them.

    <span>"So just like that?"

    <span>"Damn! It actually worked!"

    <span>"Sister Ana, your bluff worked!"

    <span>"Hahahaha¡­"

    <span>Thesedyboy felt relieved, they high-fived each other. They couldn''t believe that their white lie satisfied the requirement. It was better than looking for aunties that will want to participate, and they still don''t even know if it was possible to find them at all. Looking for Wan''er wasted the majority of their day. If they had to look for ten aunties, that would be a utter waste of time.

    <span>There was also the possibility of these aunties, refusing toply. What wuold happen then?

    <span>"Hey gorgeous, I found ten aunties. Shouldn''t you hand over the puzzle map to me?" Johnny Fei walked up to the teenage girl.

    <span>The puzzle map was the most important, nothing else mattered. The teenager was naive enough to ept these weird aunties, so might she hand over the puzzle map as down payment? If she handed it over, then they might not even have to square dance!

    <span>"If you can get these aunties to dance out the routine that I approve, then I will hand it over to you," the teenage girl replied.

    <span>"Could you let us see it first?" Johnny Fei tried to barter.

    <span>"No," the teenage girl shook her head firmly.

    <span>"Okay then!" Now that things have reached to this point, Johnny Fei has no choice. Everyone had to follow the teenage girl''s choreography.

    <span>The teenage girl stood at the front of the public square, she was the lead choreographer.

    <span>Originally, everyone thought that this quest was going to be easy. After learning part one of a multi-part choreography, Liu Gan wanted to curse at someone. This type of dance was too hard to learn, right? This should just be a regr square dance! Every beat had up to ten dance movements. Even if it was an elegant dance, for someone like Liu Gan, who had no dancing talent, it was a type of torture.

    <span>In this area, those that had dance talent or understood basic fundamentals, like Ana, Saffron Ma, and Xu Ji Chao were outstanding. All the other yers dancing could be described as demonic dancers.

    <span>What an eyesore!

    <span>The teenage girl''s movements were so fast that only those who had enhanced vision could see the dance moves. The problem was all those moves were problematic for amateurs. Executing this dance like a professional dancer was impossible.

    <span>The worst part was that even though she had her back facing them, if anyone made a mistake, she would know. She would not ept that failure and they would have to start from the beginning.

    <span>While they were learning, the Crocodile woulde and disrupt them. In the half hour of disruption, Liu Gan didn''t get injured. It was also a chance for Johnny Fei to reap the reward of reaching level 10. Liu Gan also gained another foreign token.

    <span>After many hours, with the repeated process of starting it over and over from the beginning, the teenage girl still wouldn''t ept the results. She was driving Liu Gan and others crazy. Without a doubt, they hated theposers of the song<span> Little Apple.<span> If they had a chance to return back to the real world, they might have the urge to beat them up.

    <span>"Today is gettingte, let''s continue tomorrow night!" the teenager announced.

    <span>"Miss gorgeous, no need to be so serious? You should just let us pass with our result!" some members started pleading loudly.

    <span>"Yeah, why don''t you hand over the puzzle to us first¡­"

    <span>"No way, how can you treat art so carelessly?" was thest thing the teenage girl said, before she dissipated into ck fog.

    <span>"Art! Screw art! Go to Hell!" the yers cursed at her.

 Chapter 450

    <span>Chapter 450 - Evil Dragon

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Any frustrations will have to stay verbal, as they had to focus on their dance routine. They could onlyfort themselves by saying it was for the quest.

    <span>The prior night they had found a nearby building that had not copsed yet to be their camp. It wasn''t worth the trip back to their original base camp. In the middle of the night, they scouted the area for firewood, as they still had to be wary of the vile creatures that might ambush them. They had six piles of bonfires surrounding them to illuminate their surroundings. Only when that wasplete were they able to rx.

    <span>Bonfires were a necessity. In this instance, it was especially cold at night. If they didn''t want to sumb to hypothermia in their sleep, then they would have to put in the extra effort.

    <span>Aside from Liu Gan, the other nine yers were split up into two teams, with Ana and Cai Hao Chen as the team leaders. One team had the first half of the night, while the other team had the second half of the night. They had to watch on their surrounding and keep the bonfires from going out.

    <span>***

    <span>It was around 1 AM, as Cai Hao Chen and Ana were switching off their shifts, that they heard a sound¡­ a growl that seemed to carry quite a distance in their quiet environment. Their hair stood up, and shivers went down their spines. The creature sounded like it was far away, but they could hear it clearly.

    <span>They felt slight tremorsing from the ground. It was a rhythmic pace, stopping for a brief moment before moving again. As the tremors intensified, they could tell that their camp was in its path.

    <span>Right as Cai Hao Chen and Ana wanted to wake Liu Gan up, he had already risen. They found him with his ear to the ground. Hisplexion changed, he ordered everyone to remain silent and head towards thekeside.

    <span>Nobody knew what Liu Gan had heard that made him panic like that, but it made everyone tense. No one said anything, quietly following behind Liu Gan. They descended to thekeside, which was just along the shallow waters by the rocks. After walking a hundred meters downstream, they came upon a silt-rich area by thekeside.

    <span>This silt-rich mud contained a lot of rotting bodies. Some were recognizable, others were undeterminable due to the amount of dposing they had been through. A simple step would kick up the stench.

    <span>They were trembling from being in the cold water for so long, yet they didn''t question why they had to tread through the water, or even why they had ended up in the muddy section. Liu Gan''sst order was to not speak or produce any loud noise. No one asked anything, they just followed orders.

    <span>"Cover your body with mud, don''t move too much." Liu Gan shoved his hands in a thick pile of mud and smeared it his face and body.

    <span>Reluctantly, they smeared their faces regardless of how they felt about it. Since it was his order, everyone followed obediently, wiping the stinking mud all over themselves. The good news is that they exceeded their previous tolerance for filth, mostly from killing zombies and gore being sshed onto them. Their sense of cleanliness was almost nonexistent if youpared it to their former selves from the real world.

    <span>Liu Gan had to check every member to ensure that their scent had been masked by the foul stench. Those who didn''t have enough mud had more applied by Liu Gan. This step was necessary for them to hide their scent.

    <span>The rhythmic tremors drew closer, then came an ear-splitting roar. Needless to say, everyone tensed up and their hearts were racing with adrenaline.

    <span>"Crouch down, don''t move at all and don''t talk!" Liu Gan whispered just loud enough for the furthest person to hear. Then he crouched down along thekeside, while applying more mud to cover his head. He stared in the direction of the camp, still illuminated by the bonfires.

    <span>What Liu Gan did, all other yers imitated. They also observed the situation over at the camp. The intensity of the tremors increased. Every time the ground shook, the yer''s scalps would go numb. With the mes lighting up the area, they soon witnessed a thirty-meter tall King Crocodile sniffing the camp. Its head alone exceeded ten meters!

    <span>This King Crocodile was surrounded by ayer of thick ck fog. When the mes flickered, it would cast a shadow as if it wasn''t real, like this creature was just a phantom of the past. The moment of truth came when it breathed; the gust of wind blew out the fires and scattered the objects on the ground. That was enough to prove that it wasn''t a mirage, but it actually existed.

    <span>Upon seeing a King Crocodile appear in the middle of their camp, the yers were terrified. They were lucky that Liu Gan had made such a quick decision, and led them to hide in theke. If they hadn''t had such a great leader, then the King Crocodile would''ve discovered them. Just from the sheer size of the creature, they knew that no one would''ve survived its attack.

    <span>Perhaps, when Zhao Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao first saw the Crocodile, it wasn''t an exaggeration to name it Evil Dragon. Based on Zhao Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao''s levels, they could''ve easily aplished all the quests. It must have been this King Crocodile that disrupted their progress. They must have lost all hope of aplishing this instance, and decided to restrict ess to this area in the vige.

    <span>The King Crocodile followed the scent of the yers. It followed all the way down to thekeside and didn''t continue further. With every step it took, it would leave behind a giant footprint and the ground would tremble.

    <span>Seeing it so close by, the yers were scared pale. No one dared to make a sound, they sank deeper into the mud to avoid being discovered.

    <span>The King Crocodile reached thekeside, and became irritable as it roared at theke. The shockwave from the roar produced a meter-high wave that nearlynded on the yers in the mud.

    <span>Clearly, the King Crocodile couldn''t continue any further once it lost the scent of the yers, exining why it was so angry.

    <span>Now the yers understood why Liu Gan ordered them to follow quickly behind, and then made them walk downstream for a hundred meters. It was all to eliminate their scent! If Lord Liu hadn''t had this foresight, then everyone would''ve fallen victim to the Crocodile''s ws.

    <span>The King Crocodile paced back and forth onnd for quite some time, asionally roaring futilely. Eventually it departed, heading off into the distance until it could no longer be seen or heard.

 Chapter 451

    <span>Chapter 451 - Final Quest

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>After ten minutes, the tremors started weakening, and the King Crocodile''s roars were fainter. Without a doubt, they had unknowingly ventured into its territory, and crossed the border of its zone. It was also a possibility that the bonfires had yed a part in luring the monster so close. It was still very dark out, so the bonfires would''ve been like beacons.

    <span>Half an hourter, the tremors of its footsteps had ceased, and even its roars could no longer be heard. That was when Liu Gan finally stood up from the mud bank. He headed in a direction away from the King Crocodile, while still moving quietly. It was no longer viable to stay near the public square. The camp that they had set up for the night had to be abandoned.

    <span>After two more hours of quietly trudging through the mud, Liu Gan felt that he was far enough away from the monster that he could re-establish a new campsite.

    <span>The air was so cold that the liquid from the mud had started to turn to ice. Even if it was dangerous to start a fire, they had to take the risk. Once Liu Gan found a good campsite, he had everyone gather firewood. They created multiple bonfires, with them sitting around the central bonfire to stay warm. Aside from staying warm, it was also used to dry their clothes.

    <span>"Who would''ve thought that Evil Dragon Gulf actually contained an Evil Dragon!" Cai Hao Chen sighed.

    <span>"Yeah! A creature of that size is ridiculous right? It''s just terrifying to think about!" Liu Kang responded.

    <span>"I''m afraid only Lord Liu could handle it." Ana nced over at Liu Gan.

    <span>"I don''t think I can handle it," Liu Gan disagreed. He barely managed to fight against the smaller version of the King Crocodile, there was no way he can put up a fight against that monstrosity. Liu Gan felt that this monster was Nin Jing City''s final BOSS. It could be possible that he would need ten to fifteen level 15 yers to work together to take it down.

    <span>As a level 12, the level discrepancy was too high. On top of that, Yin He couldn''t even enter the instance. First things first, he must reach level 15. After that, he could foster the growth of several other yers to level 15. Maybe then, he would have a chance atpeting against the final BOSS.

    <span>"So does this mean that we can''tplete this instance?" Star Yu whispered.

    <span>"Wait until the square dancing quest is finished, then if anyone of you want to leave, I won''t force you to stay. That final BOSS is here, so this instance just increased in difficulty. Regardless, I still want to stay a while longer," Liu Gan said to the yers.

    <span>"I''ve already decided to follow Lord Liu!" Cai Hao Chen spoke up quickly.

    <span>"I won''t leave," Liu Kang also chimed in.

    <span>"I will also follow Lord Liu to fight against the Evil Dragon!" Ana clenched her fist, stating that she had no intention of escaping.

    <span>"They say that those who are favored will be struck by lightning. I, Stratos, am not afraid of lightning! I will be the electricity that empowers you! I will continue to work for Lord Liu! So I must stay behind!" Stratos continued with his theatrical nonsense.

    <span>"The dance isn''tplete yet, so no one can leave right? There is still the fourth puzzle piece, it might require everyone," Johnny Fei spoke up.

    <span>"These few days, I''ve learned a lot from following Lord Liu. I don''t enjoy speaking up, but I feel like we''ve been through life and death as a group. I love this group, so as long as you guys are still here, I will stick with you to the end," Saffron Ma stated gravely.

    <span>"I will also stay with you to the end," Xu Ji Chao and Song Jiu both promised.

    <span>"I¡­ I will follow Ana," Star Yu had thoughts about retreating, but he still hadn''t been able to reap any benefits. He was reluctant, but he would stay, so he used Ana as a way out.

    <span>No one spoke about leaving, so even if someone wanted to leave it would be embarrassing to be the first person to speak up. Even if they were terrified of their situation, they didn''t feel like they had the option to go under the pressure of their peers. As a result, everyone said that they wanted to stay.

    <span>"Then, everyone should rest up for the remainder of the night! Tomorrow we will finish that dancing quest. At that time, if anyone wants to leave, they can do so. I won''t me anyone. This instance difficulty has increased by too much, it has exceeded my expectations. This instance could be Nin Jing City''s final mission, it is something that we can''tplete with our current abilities. I chose to remain because I want to see how difficult it can get. Even if we don''t have any chance ofpleting it, I want to get as much information as I can so I can prepare for next time," Liu Gan exined to them all.

    <span>Everyone was feeling nervous, worried that the King Crocodile would wander over again. They were even more worried that another type of creature would appear. After hustling and bustling for thesest few days, they were truly tired and sleepy. If they didn''t rest, they couldn''t focus toplete tomorrow''s quest.

    <span>Without saying anything extra, aside from those on guard duty, all other yers fell deeply asleep next to the bonfire.

    <span>***

    <span>Luck was on their side, as their new camp was far away from the King Crocodile''s territory. Thetter half of the night was peaceful, and there weren''t any more appearances of creatures to disturb them.

    <span>Liu Gan woke up around 7 AM, and took over guard duty so Cai Hao Chen''s group could rest. They had all lost two hours of sleep fromst night''s disturbance, so everyone needed more rest. They all slept until 10 AM, so it was actually fairly light out before he woke them up for breakfast.

    <span>After breakfast, Liu Gan arranged it so that the best dancers, Ana, Saffron Ma, and Xu Ji Chao, would help train the others. Even without the teenage girl to lead them, they had all memorized the basic moves by now.

    <span>For the sake of one piece of puzzle the whole group of men kept practicing. Aside from eating, drinking, and stretching out, all other time was allotted for dancing. Everyone had a serious expression on, and they danced remarkably well.

    <span>To them, this dance was a life and death situation. The sooner they learned the dance, the faster they could finish the quest. Getting their third piece of the puzzle map was very important, but once they had the four pieces together they would understand the purpose of this instance.

    <span>The earlier they assembled the four puzzle pieces together, the faster they could leave. Even if Liu Gan said they could leave anytime, those who had reached level 10 felt obligated to stay behind to repay his kindness.

    <span>Those who hadn''t reached level 10 all wanted an opportunity to level up, so they didn''t have any intention of leaving!

 Chapter 452

    <span>Chapter 452 - Uniformity

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Greed is always a motivator. Once reached level 10, when they return to the Beginner Vige, they would instantly jump tier into upper management. Not to mention that it would increase their ability to protect themselves. Weighing between the risk and advantage, the pre-level 10 yers would feel that it is worth to stay behind.

    <span>Prior to arriving to meet with the teenage girl, they had spent the whole day practicing. At night time, they returned back to the public square. They saw a freshly created depression several meters wide caused by the King Crocodile. Even the thought of such a monster made everyone tremble.

    <span>The main cause of the fear of King Crocodile was because of its size. Even a simple step would make the ground tremble. Once they felt the vibrations, they would need to quickly move away from it, while also looking for an opportunity to erase their scent, so it wouldn''t be as dangerous.

    <span>Around the same time every night, the song ''Little Apple'' would start ying in the loudspeaker. Then the teenage girl would reappear, acting like she was there this whole time.

    <span>Liu Gan and everyone had their makeup done by Ana. They had transformed into auntiedyboys.

    <span>Every yer was working hard to seed, but with this many people, it would be hard to finish aplete dance. Any mistake was pointed out by the teenage girl and they would have to restart. However, the amount of mistakes were decreasing. Right as they were about to seed, the ground started shaking and a roar could be heard.

    <span>Liu Gan halted the group, then lead them over to a nearbyke. Once again, they hid a hundred meters downstream of theke in the mud. Mud was immediately applied to their bodies.

    <span>They narrowly avoided the ambush in time. After the King Crocodile approached the public square, it followed their scent down to thekeside. Once again, it angrily bellowed when it realized that it had lost track of its prey.

    <span>This predator was quite intelligent. It would walk around theke and at every step it took it would sniff the border. Only a few stepster, it was very close to where the group was hiding. The King Crocodile''s nose produced a great stench before it inhaled.

    <span>The immense pressure and fear caused some of the less courageous people to pee their pants. It was good for them that thekeside mud had a stronger odor than the pee, it was enough to mask the odor. The King Crocodile didn''t discover the group of humans hiding in the mud, continuing with its patrol before leaving.

    <span>The group stayed crouching in the mud for another half an hour, until the ground shaking had stopped. Once Liu Gan couldn''t sense any sign of the King Crocodile, one by one they waded ashore.

    <span>By the time they returned to the public square, the teenage girl had already disappeared. Since there was nothing they can do about it, they had to continue the next day.

    <span>***

    <span>Liu Gan remembered his lesson from yesterday night, that this area was the King Crocodile''s territory. He didn''t set up his camp in his territory anymore.

    <span>Liu Gan led the group back to the campsite that they had slept at for thetter half of the night. They gathered firewood and started up the bonfire, then decided who would stand guard for the first half of the night shift.

    <span>About midnight, one of the smaller Crocodile creatures appeared from somewhere in the dark, while Cai Hao Chen and Liu Kang were on guard duty. Lucky for their group, they were already level 10. They withstood the Crocodile''s first ambush so no one died unnecessarily. Liu Gan sensed the danger and didn''t need anyone to wake him up. He picked up his greataxe to finish off the Crocodile.

    <span>This time the chance to reach level 10, was handed over to Song Jiu. There were six people that were level 10 now: Ana, Stratos, Cai Hao Chen, Liu Kang, Johnny Fei, and Song Jiu. There were only three people left that weren''t level 10: Saffron Ma, Xu Ji Chao, and Star Yu.

    <span>***

    <span>Aside from that smaller Crocodile appearing, nothing interesting happened that night. Liu Gan woke up early to eat breakfast and practice his dance routine. He had to ensure that they got that teenage girl''s approval.

    <span>Perhaps it was the King Crocodile''s pressure, but the yers were working extra hard. Those that were stuck, received extra attention. This extra day of practicing helped them get down the basic moves, especially Saffron Ma. Xu Ji Chao couldn''t find anything wrong with the other yer''s moves.

    <span>From inept dancers, they were now organized into a dance group. Even though it looked strange, as long as they didn''t make any mistakes then it would be fine.

    <span>"We have to pass this time!" Ana shouted to rally the team spirit.

    <span>"With Auntie Ana leading us, we will seed," Stratos shouted out to ''help'' Ana. What he received back was a kick in the buttocks from her!

    <span>***

    <span>Later that night, they arrived early to wait for the teenage girl. Their morale was high. They passed the test on the first try, and were so moved that they cried. They pped and cheered in celebration. They were happier than when they had killed a BOSS. They had worked together diligently to achieve this result, so the feeling wasn''t all that different.

    <span>Passing the teenage girl''s trial, Johnny Fei received the third puzzle box. Inside was the puzzle that he handed over to Liu Gan. Now they were just missing one piece of the puzzle, but they still couldn''t figure out what the puzzle resembled.

    <span>"I will also give you a map of the Theme Park, if you feel tired you can leave through the side exit." The teenage girl handed over the map to Johnny Fei, before disappearing into ck fog.

    <span>At first look, the three tasks looked like they were easy to do, but when they got started they weren''t easy at all. If it wasn''t for Ana''s suggestion to dress up as aunties, they wouldn''t even know where to find these so called ''aunties'' to get their help. On top of that, the dance moves were difficult even for more-than-human yers, but to have the routine down with two days of practice was amendable job. Everyone had to match their movements like mirror images!

    <span>***

    <span>With thepletion of the third quest, they had the whole night to rest as their reward. By the next morning, after breakfast was over, they split up to search for the fourth quest. It was a necessary piece toplete the map.

    <span>Liu Gan split up the remaining nine people into three teams. The team leaders were Ana, Cai Hao Chen, and Johnny Fei. The three teams would head in different directions away from the King Crocodile''s nest, while Liu Gan would head toward the nest alone.

 Chapter 453

    <span>Chapter 453 - Side Exit

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    The King Crocodile had the habit of ambushing at night, or it liked to wander off to different sections of its territory. Liu Gan searched as much as he could the whole morning, but he didn''t encounter the monstrosity. There were no signs of ground tremors or ear-deafening roars, either.

    <span>There were plenty of locations that they could see therge footprints. Obstacles like houses and trees in its path were all destroyed. They were warning signs for everyone to stay out of the territory.

    <span>At the set time, everyone returned back to the agreed-upon meeting location. The three teams had caught some wild chickens, rabbit and fish to contribute to dinner. As for their task to look for clues, they had nothing to show for it. Aside from that, they reported that from Ana''s team, Star Yu had gone missing.

    <span>"It wasn''t sister Ana''s responsibility. Star Yu said he wanted to pee, but he wouldn''t let me apany him. After awhile, he still hadn''t return so we went to look for him. He was nowhere to be found. It is hard for him to get lost in this ce¡­" Stratos continue to exin to Liu Gan.

    <span>"He must have been scared, and left by himself through the side exit," Johnny Fei exined.

    <span>"With such a cowardly attitude, he shouldn''t have signed up," Cai Hao Chen sighed, depressed. After yesterday''s spectacr group performance, everyone felt proud of theirbined effort. They didn''t expect someone to quit so soon, it was such a frustrating thing. He didn''t even say goodbye.

    <span>"Lord Liu, I found the fourth quest!" a shout came from afar.

    <span>As everyone was debating loudly, Star Yu popped up and shouted out to Liu Gan.

    <span>***

    <span>Star Yu had been holding a grudge this whole time about not being able to advance to level 10. He really believed that Liu Gan was angry with his performance in the haunted house. So after the dance was over, he didn''t feel like there was any purpose to remaining behind, especially when it would only get more dangerouster on. He didn''t want to be dispensable cannon fodder. Even if he wasn''t cannon fodder, the entire group might get wiped out by a freak ident, and by that time it would be toote to regret.

    <span>So he thought up a n. By using going to the bathroom as an excuse to separate from Ana and Stratos in the team, he would use his memory of the map and head towards the exit pointed out by the teenage girl.

    <span>If there truly was a way to leave this forsaken Theme Park, it would be through the side exit.

    <span>The exit didn''t have a wall of malice blocking it off, but there was an apparition of a workman standing near the exit,ying down bricks, although what he was building was indeterminable. Right as Star Yu was walking up to the worker, a woman appeared to deliver lunch to him. The two appeared to be quite familiar with one another.

    <span>Star Yu knew that these apparition appearances weren''t normal, so he walked closer to have a better look. That was when he noticed the puzzle box next to the worker''s lunch¡­ it was the exact same style as the previous three boxes!

    <span>Originally, Star Yu was going to leave the instance, but his curiosity got the best of him. If he could turn in this important clue, he could redeem himself and earn a chance to reach level 10. Once he leveled up, then this expedition would be worth it. Weighing both the pros and the cons out, Star Yu decided to try and learn what was required to trade for the puzzle box.

    <span>Star Yu asked the male worker how he could get the puzzle box. The male worker generously said that if he wanted it, he could have it.

    <span>To Star Yu''s surprise, just as he was about to receive the puzzle box so easily. Just as he was reaching for the puzzle box, the woman objected, and snatched it back.

    <span>"This is mine! I found it on the floor, how can you give away something that''s not yours?" the woman scolded the workman.

    <span>"This puzzle box is mine, I dropped it!" Star Yu quickly lied.

    <span>"How do I know if it is really yours? Unless you can prove that you dropped it. Since I found it, it is now mine," the woman stubbornly held on to it.

    <span>"Picking up other people''s stuff, doesn''t mean it is yours. Quit ying!" the male worker scolded the woman.

    <span>"Well how can he prove that it is his? Where''s the proof?" The woman was relentless.

    <span>"My friend has the remaining three puzzle piece, ites from a set. I will find them to bring it over. If it can be assembled together, then that would mean it is my missing piece. Okay?" Star Yu asked.

    <span>"Okay, if you can assemble the other missing pieces to connect with this one, then that is enough for me to believe that this piece belongs to you!" the woman agreed.

    <span>Star Yu departed from the side exit. While on his way back he was contemting whether he should''ve exited the instance, or return to the team and earn his reward. He noticed that it was close to the scheduled time for meeting up, so he ran to the meeting ce. He was going to use the excuse that he got lost and separated from Ana and Stratos, and in the process of looking for his teammates, he found to the fourth quest.

    <span>Liu Gan had announced that the yers who didn''t want to continue the instance could leave anytime. Even Star Yu had done his best to finish the dance, so Liu Gan didn''t pry too deeply in the story about being lost. Instead, he chose to believe Yu''s story and followed him all the way to the side exit.

    <span>Both Liu Gan and Star Yu arrived to the side exit, the workman was stillying down bricks. However, the puzzle box was missing!

    <span>"Hey brother, where is the puzzle box?" Star Yu walked up to ask him.

    <span>"Oh, the puzzle box?" The workman looked around for it.

    <span>"Not here?" Star Yu disappointedly sighed.

    <span>"It must have been taken away by Yi Yi," the workman apologized to Star Yu.

    <span>"So¡­ was thatdy from before¡­ your wife?" Star Yu asked urgently.

    <span>"Well, she¡­ we aren''t married yet. She''s just my girlfriend," the workman replied.

    <span>"Oh, where did she take the puzzle box to?" Star Yu continued asking.

    <span>"She must have returned home with it," the workman guessed.

    <span>"Where is your home located?"

    <span>"Walk out the door, turn right. Walk around a hundred meters, and you should find it. Thendscape isn''t thatplicated, if you can''t find it thene back to me. After I am done with work, you can follow me home," the workman told him.

    <span>As Star Yu was about to dash out the side exit, he was held back by Liu Gan. If they believed the words of this worker, then there was a chance that they couldn''t return to the Theme Park. There was also the possibility that they would need to start over in a new instance.

    <span>"When will shee back here?" Star Yu asked under Liu Gan''s guidance.

    <span>"I will be here working, shees around noon and evening to deliver my meals. You could wait for her toe tomorrow afternoon or evening, shees around my meal times. If the puzzle box really belongs to you, I will talk her into giving it back." The workman started packing up his tools and ced them on his bike. He was preparing to leave for the night.

    <span>"Many thanks!" Star Yu expressed his gratitude. .

    <span>"It''s no problem. If you lost it, then it should be returned when found," the workman back smiled at Star Yu, and then pedaled away.

 Chapter 454

    <span>Chapter 454 - Tycoon

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: RED

    <span>It seemed this quest would have to wait for tomorrow afternoon. The worker had left through the side exit and disappeared. Liu Gan led Star Yu back to the new temporary campsite. By the time they returned, there were multiple bonfires already set up.

    <span>Now that he had the clue to the fourth quest, no matter what, he was going to finish the puzzle map. It didn''t seem like it was a very hard quest. Their current location was a safe distance from the King Crocodile''s territory, and the regr Crocodiles doesn''t pose a threat to the team. Liu Gan was in a great mood, so he epted the suggestion of hosting a feast. The feaststed all day, until evening came.

    <span>***

    <span>The very next day in the afternoon, the whole group arrived at the workerying down brick, watching him from a polite distance. Shortly after, a woman carrying a small backpack that walked in through side exit. She was delivering the lunch box into the Theme Park. From her backpack, she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe off the sweat of her boyfriend. She also had a basin of water so the worker could clean his hands. Lastly, she pulled out the lunch box for him from the backpack.

    <span>These NPC''s had their routine lifestyle, and they had personalities too! Liu Gan made sure nobody disrupted the woman unpacking her stuff, waiting until the worker started eating. He waited until the woman was resting, then he walked up with Star Yu.

    <span>"Hello, these are the other three puzzle box pieces. You can tell that the design matches exactly with the puzzle box in your possession. We had four boxes, but one was lost and you picked it up," Star Yu said those exact words, following Liu Gan''s instruction.

    <span>"Yi Yi, just return the stuff back to the owner!," the worker attempted to convince his girlfriend.

    <span>"Fine! I''ll return it to you!" The girlfriend pulled out the puzzle box from her bag to hand over to Star Yu.

    <span>Star Yu was surprised, but he grasped the puzzle box, only to find he was just holding onto air.

    <span>"You don''t want? Then I''ll keep it," the girlfriend snickered. It seemed she never wanted to give away the puzzle in the first ce.

    <span>"You picked up my lost puzzle, so we are grateful that you found it. What would be an appropriatepensation to show our gratitude for finding it?" Liu Gan walked up to see if he couldmunicate with the woman. Since Star Yu couldn''t touch the box, then that meant there was a requirement to be filled. So rather than y her game, Liu Gan took the initiative to ask for her demands.

    <span>"This handsome gentleman definitely knows what a girl desires. I like you, so direct," the girlfriend responded directly to Liu Gan. Ahhhh¡­ not every quest requires an intermediary tomunicate with the requester!

    <span>"Tell us what you desire. If it is within our capability, we will aplish it," Liu Gan promised the girlfriend.

    <span>"A few days from now is my birthday. In my house, I am bored just sitting around idly. I want to buy myself an iPAD as birthday present. If you want to thank me you can gift me an iPAD or¡­ give me the money to buy one for myself," as she stated her terms.

    <span>"Yi Yi, you are bing unreasonable!" The boyfriend was displeased with his girlfriend''s behavior.

    <span>"Can''t you tell? This handsome gentleman is a wealthy tycoon. He wouldn''t be bothered by this chump change," the girlfriend pouted.

    <span>"You¡­ can''t be rectified." The boyfriend released a hopeless sigh.

    <span>"An iPAD is something we don''t have. As for money¡­ how much are you asking for?" Liu Gan testing the waters.

    <span>"To buy an iPAD is very cheap! Cost around three thousand yuan," the girlfriend quickly responded.

    <span>"Lord Liu, where will we find money in this ghastly ce?" Star Yu frowned.

    <span>"Does this money work?" Liu Gan pulled out the foreign token from his dimensional storage space. He flipped the coin on both sides in front of the girlfriend. Liu Gan had his suspicions on the purpose of the foreign token in his procession. It seemed like it did hold value for some people.

    <span>"Oh? That is the good stuff!" The girlfriend''s eyes lit up. She reached out to take a bite on the edge of the coin.

    <span>"This token should be worth around three thousand yuan right? Can you give me the map now?" Liu Gan tested his luck.

    <span>"Do you think that little of me? This isn''t a tinum coin. It is a silver coin. At most it is valued at 30 yuan. You still need 3000 yuan! To buy an iPAD, I would need at least a hundred silver coins," the girlfriend continued,

    <span>"A hundred silver coins? Can''t you make it less?" Liu Gan scratched his head. To get one foreign token was a long process of killing a Crocodile. The troublesome issue wasn''t killing the creatures, but how to find enough of them to kill.

    <span>"How about you head to Apple iPAD and convince them to sell it cheaper to me?" The girlfriend wasn''t budging on the price.

    <span>"Yi Yi, don''t be like that!" the worker boyfriend continued to plead.

    <span>"I said that I don''t want the map, and I was ready to hand it over to them! They were the one who want to repay my kindness with money. What would you have me do? Should I expect an iPAD from you on my birthday?" Her expression turned sour.

    <span>"If I bought the iPAD, where would we sleep? On the street because we don''t have enough money to pay the rent?" The worker shook his head and stopped talking after that.

    <span>Liu Gan was internally agitated. He wanted to teach the girl a lesson, but his attack would be ineffective. He could only curse her from the bottom of his heart.

    <span>Killing a Crocodile would take around 40 minutes. To kill a hundred Crocodiles would take 4000 minutes. That was around 66 hours. It would take a week to do so just in twelve hour shifts. And that was not counting the time searching for the Crocodile and the spawn time in between the Crocodiles. It could take up to a month or two to finish thisst quest!

    <span>This quest was totally fucked.

    <span>The problem is, now that they had reached this stage, it would be a waste not to finish!

    <span>As Liu Gan and Star Yu were about to leave, Liu Gan noticed something stand out. His eyes met with the worker''s eyes a few times. However, since the worker didn''t speak up, it was quite suspicious to Liu Gan. <span>Something was wrong!

    <span>Liu Gan and Star Yu hid in the nearby shrubbery and observed the worker. They waited until he was done eating and the girlfriend had packed up the containers to leave through the side exit.

    <span>"Brother, I felt that you might have something to say to us?" Liu Gan walked up to the worker.

    <span>"My girlfriend loves taking advantage of others, her bad deeds will catch up to her sooner orter¡­ This 2000 yuan is my personal savings. I''ve saved it up for the whole year. You can take it. <span>Sigh<span>¡­ I''m so sorry that my girlfriend has made it difficult for you¡­" The worker pulled out a ck bag from a brick mold. Inside the bag were twenty hundred yuan bills.

    <span>"Thank you, brother!" Liu Gan gratefully epted his generosity.

    <span>"No problem," the worker brushed it off nonchntly. He returned back to his neverending bricying job.

 Chapter 455

    <span>Chapter 455 - Vandalize!

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    With 2000 Yuan as startup money, Liu Gan had saved two-thirds of his time. There were a lot of minor details that they would have to catch if they wanted to finish the quests. If Liu Gan had just walked away, then he wouldn''t have received help from the worker. Liu Gan would''ve had to work to death just to make up for that money.

    For the rest of the day, Liu Gan focused on killing regr Crocodiles. He killed four of those creatures and the experience was split between Star Yu and Cai Hao Chen. One set of experience points from the kill was given to Star Yu, and the remaining three sets were given to Cai Hao Chen. Star Yu was able to reach level 10 and Cai Hao Chen reached level 11.

    Liu Gan had his reason for his actions. From the moment he had to calcte how long it would take to finish the mission under ideal conditions, he realized it wouldn''t be anytime soon. Instead, he wrote a letter and used the earpiece as a symbol of proof; Cai Hao Chen would carry out this mission and leave through the side exit.

    Cai Hao Chen would reassure Yin He with this letter and item, so she wouldn''t have to worry so much about his situation.

    "My Lord, why don''t you arrange someone else to do this task? I still want to stay behind to fight by your side," Cai Hao Chen sighed unwillingly. He knew that it would be even more dangerous as time went by. As a man of pride, it didn''t sit right with him to give up on the team.

    "Due to the importance of this assigned task, I wanted to guarantee that the letter falls into the right hands. Currently, the person I trust the most is you, so only you can fulfill this mission for me," Liu Gan told Cai Hao Chen seriously.

    "Okay, I will guarantee that the mission will be a sess," Cai Hao Chen promised after hearing the reason behind Liu Gan''smand.

    Prior to departing, Cai Hao Chen gave everyone a goodbye hug. They had grown familiar with one another after going through life and death situations. Through these few days of interactions, their bonds were much deeper than before.

    Even though the instance hadn''t ended yet, no one knew when they would need to put up a brave front again.

    <span>***

    Cai Hao Chen took his first big step out of the exit. When he stepped through the doorway to Moonlight Gulf Theme Park, he turned back to look and the group had disappeared from view.

    Regardless of the reason or how the instance worked, Cai Hao Chen acknowledged his ownck of understanding, so he didn''t linger around to investigate. Following the directions he had received from the worker, after exiting the door, he turned right at the corner and walked around a hundred meters. These were the instructions to the worker''s house. To Cai Hao Chen''s surprise, when he arrived at the designated location, it was just a pasture that happened to be close to the front gates of the Theme Park. It was where they had first lost sight of Yin He and NaNa, who were now nowhere to be found.

    Right as Cai Hao Chen was about to take a better look at the tracks to see where they could''ve gone to, he felt the chill of a de resting on his neck. It was Yin He''s katana.

    "Vice leader, I''ve brought out Lord Liu''s personal letter and item as proof for you." Cai Hao Chen slowly and very carefully pulled out the items for her.

    Yin He''s suspicions were removed once she finished reading the letter. Then, she asked in detail about the events inside the instance.

    <span>***

    Meanwhile, as Liu Gan and his group were working hard to conquer the instance, the Beginner Vige had trouble stirring up.

    "Tell your vige chief toe out and meet me!"

    A yer around twenty years old, with all white clothes, was the leader of the intruding party. This leader was shouting at the vige gatekeepers. He was apanied by two others dressed in all ck.

    "Please calm down, what is your name? And what is your purpose here?" The gatekeepers tried to defuse the situation calmly.

    "Tell your vige chief, I''m Cao Yi! I expect him to get here in five minutes to see me. If I don''t see him in five minutes, I will destroy this ce," the arrogant man told the gatekeepers.

    "Okay, please wait. I will report that in," the gatekeepers said quickly. From the looks of this intruding party, they don''t seem to be a friendly bunch, and their arrogant behavior said that they were high level yers.

    Currently stationed in the vige were Wang De Cheng and Thunder Martial as interim leaders, and they were out on patrol while the intruder was by the front gates. So the gatekeepers weren''t able to find their leaders. After the time was up, Cao Yi started getting aggressive. With his long sword, he swung it into the concrete reinforced metal gates. The sword had a cyan glow that cut through the heavy gate like it was butter. The gate fell into pieces and dust particles were kicked up into the air.

    Even without anyone reporting in on the situation, Wang De Cheng and Thunder Martial heard the ruckus by the front gates. They both rushed over, but it was toote. Cao Yi had begun his killing spree. Several of the nearby vige yers gathered around to check out the source of the noise, but they were cut apart by Cao Yi.

    "Who are you? Why did youe here to vandalize and start a fight?" Wang De Cheng rushed over to Cao Yi.

    "So are you the leader of this vige?" Cao Yi beckoned his allies to pause the attacks.

    "My name is Wang, people here call me Wang De Cheng. I''m the Third Elder here. Since our leader is out hunting, I''m in charge. If you have any problems, then you could''ve just asked me. No need to get physical with others," Wang De Cheng replied calmly.

    "Hey dogshit! I am such a gentleman. I gave you five minutes toe out and meet me, but you didn''te out to greet me. So how can you me me for taking action?" Cao Yi scolded him mockingly.

    "What? What kind of trash talk is that? What gentleman would have such twisted logic?" Thunder Martial shouted at Cao Yi.

    "You want to die?" Cao Yi pointed his sword at Thunder Martial.

    "Hey, let''s talk it out! We have no rivalries between us, so there''s no need to fight to the death. So tell me, what is the purpose for your visit?" Wang De Cheng blocked Thunder Martial from acting out.

    "I''m here to deliver a warning to you. This city district is our territory! You have to cease all zombie hunting activities within Nin Jing City! If you enter the city district after today, don''t me us for taking action against your crimes!" Cao Yi''s choice of words were extremely arrogant.

    "When¡­ did this city district became your territory? We are clearing out the zombies in the city to restore order and peace. You are human too, so our goal should be the same. Why would you try to stop us? It doesn''t make any sense!" Wang De Cheng was surprised by the warning.

 Chapter 456

    <span>Chapter 456 - Empty Threats

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>"Hey! Did you not hear what I just said? I told you what you to do, so you should just obey! Do you know that disobedience is the first step to death?" Cao Yi swung his sword at Wang De Cheng.

    <span>Wang De Cheng couldn''t dodge the attack at all. The sword shed against his Mist Armor and cyan sparks fractured off. The Mist Armor couldn''t hold out against the attack, and was destroyed in the process. Wang De Cheng was shocked by this! He was already level 10, so to have the Mist Armor shattered in one attack meant the opponent must be stronger than Liu Gan!

    <span>Thunder Martial sensed the urgency and stood in front of Wang De Cheng before the next attack. If Wang De Cheng suffered another attack, he would definitely die.

    <span>"Okay, let''s just talk about it. No need to get aggressive. As for the things you have requested of us, I will convey that to our leader. We will do our best to amodate your request," Wang De Cheng saw the sword swing in his direction and quickly shouted over Thunder Martial.

    <span>The power of the sword was too great for them, both Elders were not a challenge to the intruder. There was no point in aggravating the enemy even more. The tactic now is to survive and buy time for reinforcements.

    <span>"A pair of idiots! If you don''t want me to kill you idiots, then kneel!" Cao Yi sheathed his sword.

    <span>"No need to push people so far! Your terms, we will agree to them. Why must you continue to harass us?" Thunder Martial protested.

    <span>If Lord Liu was here, they wouldn''t have to suffer this disgrace. It was unfortunate that Liu Gan had left a few days prior to do his mission. Any sort ofmunication had ceased between the expedition team and the vige, so it was doubtful that Liu Gan would return anytime soon. They were following preset orders to train the battalions.

    <span>Now all of a sudden, a strong intruder showed up at their front gates. No one could''ve predicted that this party would break down the gate and injure the interim leaders.

    <span>"Okay, we willply with your request, so let''s just resolve this verbally," Wang De Cheng was a prideful person. There is gold beneath a man''s knee, so he wouldn''t easily bend his knee.

    <span>"So you rather die than bend a knee? I will let you die a prideful death!" Cao Yi shed onto Thunder Martial''s body. This time he broke Thunder Martial''s Mist Armor.

    <span>The opponent had the strength to back his words, it was too much for the Elders. If Cao Yi struck again, if would mean the end of the road for Thunder Martial and Wang De Cheng.

    <span>"Okay, I surrender! I give up! I''ll kneel" Wang De Cheng blurted out as he dropped to his knees. For the sake of the vige, if he didn''t kneel now, then there would be more casualties.

    <span>"I won''t kneel! You should just kill me!" Thunder Martial red at Cao Yi.

    <span>"Oh? So you won''t kneel. Let me see if you won''t kneel!" Cao Yi sliced through Thunder Martial''s kneecap. The shin separated from his thigh and Thunder Martial copsed onto the ground. Barely able to hold himself up, he used his upper body to prop himself up.

    <span>Cao Yi wasn''t done. He swung his sword through Wang De Cheng''s arm. The pain was surging through his head and he was writhing in pain.

    <span>"Remember who I am now?" Cao Yi used the sharp end of the sword to lift up Wang De Cheng''s chin.

    <span>"I remember. You are Cao Yi," Wang De Cheng said through the gaps of his teeth.

    <span>"Correct! I am Cao Yi. Now you will understand that I am not someone with empty threats. I love showing you overconfident people your ce in the world! You are nothing to me!" Cao Yi and his two ck clothedckeys started snickering.

    <span>"If there are any more of you idiots who dare to resist mymands, I will do my best to kill you all! Starting from now on, all of you shall remain in this vige and live an honest life. Don''t you dare go into Nin Jing City again! That ce isn''t for you ants to train at!"

    <span>"If it weren''t for my master''s order to leave your lives intact, I would''ve wiped this ce off the map! Let this be a lesson that I''ve drilled in your head. If you resist my orders next time, your limbs aren''t the only thing I''ll be taking. Next time it will be your life!"

    <span>Those were the shouts that echoed throughout the vige as Cao Yi had walked away. His voice was very threatening, and half the vige heard him.

    <span>"What a baffling person!"

    <span>Wang De Cheng and Thunder Martial were in agony as they held onto their severed limbs. Nearby yers quickly called over the healers to try reattaching the severed limbs.

    <span>The battalion that been training in the city, returned to the vige earlier than nned. The reason was that they had been ambushed by the same three intruders. The same self-proimed gentleman named Cao Yi was quite vulgar in his choice of words andshed out childishly. His party had blocked off the battalion''s advances into the city and wouldn''t exin the reason why.

    <span>Cao Yi''s strength was overwhelming. ording to the yer''s estimate, he was at least level 13. Zhang Sheng Li and others couldn''t exchange more than a couple of blows. They also had their limbs severed as punishment for disobedience. Then, they were warned to never hunt within Nin Jing City again. Otherwise, they were gambling with their lives if they were caught trespassing.

    <span>Fortunately for these yers, Cao Yi was following someone''s orders. If he had it his way, then every person in a leadership position would''ve been humiliated in front of their followers. Ultimately, anyone in his path would''ve been killed or disabled.

    <span>Cao Yi''s overwhelming strength resulted in his tyrannical way of ruling. He didn''t think there was any need to exin his reasoning to anyone weaker than him. As for the defeated, they were left with a mix of rage and humiliation. They couldn''t beat him in a fight, and they had to suffer this degradation.

    <span>As for the source of these people, Zhang Sheng Li guessed that they were beta yersing in from Central City. If this was true, then only Liu Gan could put up a fight against these beta yers.

    <span>***

    <span>Within the same week, Zhang Sheng Li didn''t ept his defeat. He led his battalion into Nin Jing City for the second time, and he was caught by Cao Yi. This time, Zhang Sheng Li cut off all his limbs. He was humiliated at Cao Yi''s feet, without any way to free himself from the situation.

    <span>The brigade didn''t serve the purpose which it was created for. The following days after the incident, everyone gave up on the idea of getting into Nin Jing City, staying within the confines of Beginner Vige. Since the path to Moonlight Gulf crossed Nin Jing City, they needed to alert Liu Gan. Zhang Sheng Li tried to sneak a few people out from the vige to look for Liu Gan, but was unsessful. Cao Yi''s crew caught the people who had trespassed and heavily wounded them.

    <span>From the looks of it, Cao Yi''s crew had far more than two men in ck clothing. Each and every one of them seemed to be at least level 12 or above. They probably had the Beginner Vige under surveince. As for their true goals, no one knew.

 Chapter 457

    <span>Chapter 457 - Shop

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Meanwhile at Moonlight Gulf Theme Park...

    <span>This fourth quest was very challenging. It required more time to finish than Liu Gan had suspected.

    <span>It wasn''t difficult to kill the regr small Crocodiles anymore. The challengey in finding the Crocodile. Earlier, when Liu Gan was doing his first few quests, he hated being disturbed by the creatures. He didn''t feel the same anymore. In fact, he missed them a lot. All the Crocodiles seemed to be ying hide and seek. That whole day and Liu Gan was only able to find one!

    <span>Beating this fourth quest didn''t require any fancy tactics, all it required was time and persistence. This quest tested the quest taker''s patience.

    <span>***

    <span>A little over half a monthter, Liu Gan and the other members had killed over thirty regr Crocodiles. Gathering all the money together, Liu Gan handed it over to Yi Yi. She traded the money for thest piece of the puzzle.

    <span>Liu Gan assembled the four puzzle pieces together, and it started to automatically rearrange itself. It was nothing that they had imagined. What they believed was a puzzle map reassembled itself into apletely new entity.

    <span>When looking at the puzzle pieces, the markings and symbols didn''t have any particr purpose. Individually, the pieces don''t have any meaning. When ced next to one another, they reformed into a PDA. The screen lit up, showing that it was fully functional.

    <span>The PDA screen disyed an image. Liu Gan was able to recognize the digital map of Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. It was an interactive map, just like a handheld console! Liu Gan tested out the features and found he could zoom in and out.

    <span>There were green dots in the shape of a triangle designating the position of Liu Gan and his team. It also showed the direction they are facing. Also on the map, there was bright red dot. These seemed to be the Crocodiles that they had been hunting for the past month. Since they were located off of the King Crocodile''s territory, they couldn''t be the King Crocodile itself.

    <span>Moving around on the map were multiple yellow dots, these were wildlife that they could hunt and eat. There were two particr symbols that stood out. One of those symbols seems to be used for a shop. The other symbol was for the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>As for the King Crocodile, there weren''t any dots that designated this creature. However, the symbol for the Spatial Transfer Gate was located within the King Crocodiles territory. It was actually moving! Liu Gan guessed that the Spatial Transfer Gate was located on the King Crocodile''s body!

    <span>Even if there was a Spatial Transfer Gate, a key was still necessary to ess the gate. There was a possibility that this new PDA could be the key to that Spatial Transfer Gate. If they went through the gate, would they end up at the other end of Central City''s Spatial Transfer Gate>

    <span>To try and get this reward, Liu Gan would have to kill the King Crocodile first. This sounded like an impossible mission already!

    <span>The other mystery symbol was the shop. There might be something useful there that could defeat the King Crocodile. Like a treasure weapon, or something else? Their next target location was definitely the shop. Now that they hadpleted the map, it would be a waste to not resolve all the mysteries!

    <span>***

    <span>Liu Gan followed the map on the PDA all the way to the shop, moving with the whole team. The shop area was far away from the King Crocodile''s territory, located right at the border of Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. There were multiple copsed buildings near the shop. Without the digital map, Liu Gan would''ve brushed past this ce off as unimportant. No one would''ve found this hidden shop!

    <span>Walking into the building to the shop, it was just a normal looking room. Looking closely, they could see the wear and tear on the structural framework. There were no products for sale on the ground floor. Perhaps the shop was located on a different level?

    <span>Liu Gan tapped on every tile on the ground. It didn''t take him long to find the special tile that was different from the other ones. Movingthe tile aside, they found a subterranean tunnel.

    <span>This tunnel was a hole leading straight down, with a metaldder that assisted in going up and down it. Liu Gan was very familiar with these types of tunnels by now. However, it was a new experience for the other members.

    <span>When everyone had reached the bottom of the tunnel, they were facing an alloy cabin door.

    <span>This alloy door had an electronic lock. The lock had a port that fit with the connector extending out from the PDA. Once they were linked, a question popped up on the PDA''s screen, asking, "<span>Open the shop door?<span>". Liu Gan didn''t hesitate to press confirm.

    <span>There followed crisp echoing sounds of bolts unlocking, and the heavy cabin door opened. Dim lights illuminated the contents within; it turned out to be a veryrge enclosed chamber. The futuristic designs of the room delivered an eerie feeling, like that of a science fiction movie.

    <span>The enclosed chamber had many counters, and on these counters there were all sorts of weapons. The most eye-catching were the hot weapons: handguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, hand grenades, explosive packs, remote explosives, rocketunchers, and even bulletproof vests and helmets.

    <span>Right next to the hot weapons were the cold weapons: daggers, short swords, long swords, battle-axes, spiked maces, and the remaining eighteen arms of martial arts. There was also something unexpected. There were magic weapons like staves, magic swords, magic knives, magic shields, magic robes, and armor!

    <span>Aside from those weapons, next to the counter were models of armored vehicles, tanks, military helicopters, spacecraft, and space battleships lined up next to each other. These models were extremely intricate in design and detailed. A nearby instruction manual said that once paid for, the machines would appear on the ground surface outside.

    <span>Every piece of merchandise had a price tag on it. It epted the strange token as payment. There was a coin chest below every piece of merchandise. Upon sliding open the ss door on the counter to inspect the merchandise, they were unable to touch them. All the items were phantom images until it they were paid for.

    <span>"Damn! With such strong weapons, killing King Crocodile wouldn''t be a problem!" Liu Kang and Stratos started examining the merchandise.

    <span>"I''ve decided to buy a magic staff, I want to be a magician!" Stratos tried to grasp the phantom staff.

    <span>"Oh? I don''t want to be a magician. I want to be a knight! That magic armor and sword are so cool! I definitely want them," Song Jiu chimed in.

    <span>"I want that space battleship, then I will be invincible. Haha¡­" Johnny Fei walked over to the models.

    <span>"Don''t get happy so soon. Look at the price tags first," Ana discouraged their unrealistic dreams.

 Chapter 458

    <span>Chapter 458 - The Hill

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Immediately after hearing Ana''s wise words, they checked the price tags of the desired items and the instruction manuals. There was no limit to how many times they could exchange, as long as they had the tokens to do so.

    <span>So if they wanted to get a hand grenade, it would require 5 foreign tokens. After the tokens were been inserted into the coin chest, then it would dispense the hand grenade.

    <span>The merchandise instruction manual clearly stated that these items could only be used within the confines of Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. The moment they left the instance, then all the merchandise would automatically disappear.

    <span>"Damn! So it is only effective within the instance. What use is that?" Several yers expressed their disbelief. They started mouthing off curses at the unfortunate turn of events.

    <span>"Even if it is in the instance, you guys can''t afford it!" Ana continued to bash the other yers.

    <span>Liu Gan had noticed the price tags a lot earlier. Aside from the hand grenades, explosive packs, and remote explosives that erre on promotion, all the other merchandise was extremely expensive. The hand grenades, explosive packs, and remote explosives were priced at 5, 8, and 10 foreign tokens, respectively.

    <span>A sniper rifle would cost 1800 foreign tokens, and that is without ammunition. Each bullet would cost 5 tokens!. The rocketuncher would cost 5000 tokens, and each rocket would cost up to 200 tokens!

    <span>Even the tank, airne, spacecraft, and battleship cost so much that the amount of money would discourage anyone.

    <span>There was no need to exchange hand grenades, since Liu Gan had a few stocked in his Dimensional Storage Space. Aside from that, the destructive power from explosive packs and remote explosives were quite average, so they wouldn''t be enough to defeat the King Crocodile.

    <span>Using the King Crocodile as a reference was pointless, since the explosives wouldn''t even harm Liu Gan. Needless to say, it would be useless against King Crocodile. If Liu Gan had to pin a rank on the King Crocodile, it would be a General rank. Its ck fog was armor, it had a denseyer that flowed out. In short, if it couldn''t harm Liu Gan, then it definitely wouldn''t be able to harm the King Crocodile.

    <span>As for the other weapons¡­ Liu Gan thought of the 30 tokens that he had spent over half a month to save up¡­ The weapons that had three digit costs were still possible for consideration. Anything that cost more than three digits was out of the question.

    <span>The problem was that even the weapons that had three digit price tags, there was nothing with two digit price tags worth exchanging.

    <span>To obtain the fourth piece of puzzle, Liu Gan handed over all his tokens to Yi Yi. So him and his crew were penniless. They came to the shop, but walked out empty-handed.

    <span>***

    <span>Thoroughly disappointed in not being able to buy anything, Liu Gan has nowhere else to go. Thest ce he hadn''t checked out was the symbol for the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>This Spatial Transfer Gate must be special. Could there be a heavenly purpose for the gate to be located in this instance? If not, then this would''ve been aplete waste of time! [The Trembling World] was a cruel ce, but ording to Liu Gan''s prior experience, all his hard work would reap some reward. This time shouldn''t be an exception!

    <span>With the PDA''s map function, locating the Spatial Transfer Gate became easier.

    <span>The symbol for that was located in the King Crocodile''s territory. Liu Gan led his group to navigate quietly toward the symbol. After spending more than half the day to get close, they entered the forest. ording to the PDA, they were very close to the symbol. As they looked in the direction the gate should be, the ground rumbled with tremors. It was as Liu Gan had suspected...

    <span>The supposed location of the gate was where the King Crocodile was currently sleeping. From afar, they saw that it was several dozen meters high; it was like a small hill.

    <span>Since the King Crocodile was sleeping, it didn''t make any big movements. The symbol on the map didn''t move either. That must mean the Spatial Transfer Gate was located somewhere on King Crocodile''s body. As long as they could kill the King Crocodile, then they could monopolize the treasure.

    <span>Right now, Liu Gan was level 12. The majority of the yers in the group were level 10, several of them were level 11. Even with his group, it felt like a death sentence if he ordered them to challenge a General rank creature.

    <span>All this wasted time in the instance, if he couldn''tplete this final task, it would be disappointing. Liu Gan was unwilling to simply give up. He must take on the risk to assassinate the King Crocodile. If only he had some information on the creature''s weakness?

    <span>Even now, Liu Gan didn''t understand the depths of King Crocodile''s true strength. The guess for now is that it is a General rank creature. To put it into perspective, the creature would be above a level 15 yer. This is all spection, since a creature''s capability can''t be measured with just level. Only through an actual fight could Liu Gan judge the enemy''s strength.

    <span>"Lord Liu, please reconsider!" Stratos finally opened his mouth to dissuade Liu Gan.

    <span>"Yes! Lord Liu, it''s too dangerous!" Liu Kang also chimed in.

    <span>"How about you give up that thought and wait until we have reached level 15, then we cane back and work on killing it," Johnny Fei brought up a reason to help persuade Liu Gan.

    <span>"No, I must test out it''s fighting ability. If I can find the weakness, then I might be able to defeat it," Liu Gan shook his head. He set his eyes confidently on the King Crocodile.

    <span>"Lord Liu, your life doesn''t only belong to yourself. There''s also vice leader Yin He, and everyone that worships you. Why must you stake your life on this risk?" Ana said in a serious tone.

    <span>"It is exactly because this is my life''s purpose," Liu Gan replied to Ana, then he quickly ran ahead and disappeared from their view.

    <span>"<span>Sigh¡­<span> Lord Liu is someone who chases after their dream. I''m just like the clouds in the stratosphere. I''m nothing like Lord Liu, working as hard as a bull!" Stratos shrugged hopelessly.

    <span>"What a worrisome person!" Ana''s eyes were tearing up.

    <span>"Sister Ana fell in love with Lord Liu!" Liu Kang handed over a issue to Ana gleefully.

    <span>"Delinquent! This is just pure friendship! Lord Liu is my idol, I just don''t want my idol to get hurt!" Ana kicked Liu Kang aside.

 Chapter 459

    <span>Chapter 459 - Live Broadcast

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    When the King Crocodile was awake, it''s active search through smell was very sensitive. However, when it was sleeping, its senses were inferior.

    <span>Liu Gan circled around the sleepy creature. The King Crocodile had no reaction; it was in deep slumber. Liu Gan took this opportunity to look around for any weak spots. Where would its weakness be?

    <span>The King Crocodile slept like a cat, forming a circr shape with its tail touching its head. Once he got closer, Liu Gan could see the intensity of the ck fog shrouding the creature as it flowed out. Applying this theory, if he reached level 15, then his own Mist Armor should have a whole newyer of protection applied on top. It might even produce the same effect as this King Crocodile.

    <span>Another possibility was that his level 15 Mist Armor might not be able to reproduce the same effect, since Liu Gan''s Mist Armor was special.

    <span>The destructive power of Liu Gan''s Enhanced Crescent de far surpassed that of a hand grenade, so using hand grenades against the creature was a pointless move. If he wanted to measure how much burst damage he could do, then he should use his Enhanced Crescent de.

    <span>Scouting through the forest once, Liu Gan marked out all possible escape routes. Then he returned back to a spot near the sleeping creature.

    <span>Deeply breathing several times, Liu Gan filled up his rage counter. Once all preparations wereplete, it was time to challenge the King Croc. His Enhanced Crescent de ability released four consecutive attacks thatnded on the same spot on the creature''s ck Fog. Liu Gan''s attacks were unable to prate it. Instead, sparks were produced, as if metal was striking metal.

    <span>The Enhanced Crescent de attack never reached the skin of the creature. That was Liu Gan''s best attack! Like being pricked by a needle, the King Crocodile woke up, and angrily turned around to the spot of agitation, swinging its ws at Liu Gan.

    <span>Liu Gan expected that he would be targeted, so he tried his best to evade. The King Crocodile''s speed wasn''t something he could look down upon. It moved around like an electric current. Liu Gan wasunched a dozen meters back by the creature''s swipe.

    <span>"Hey! The fight started!" Saffron Ma shouted to hisrades, since he had climbed to the top of a tree for better vantage point. He had activated his new ability Far Sight. He could convey what he was witnessing from a safe distance.

    <span>"What''s happening with the fight?" the other yers asked. No one had a simr ability, they could only ask Saffron for details.

    <span>"Lord Liu was sent flying backward by the Crocodile''s w swipe. He was knocked back a dozen meters. I don''t know his condition," Saffron updated the yers like a live broadcast.

    <span>"No way¡­ did Lord Liu die?"

    <span>"Stop! Don''t jinx it! His condition is still unknown¡­"

    <span>Liu Gan kicked off the ground into a somersault, rolling with the force of the attack. Sensing that the situation was more dangerous than he had anticipated, he ran. The King Crocodile pursued him relentlessly, jaws gaping wide. Unable to reach him with a bite, it unleashed a deafening roar.

    <span>After the King Crocodile''s roar, Liu Gan felt his body became extremely heavy. It was as if he was carrying a ten ton weight on his shoulders. It was impossible to move!

    <span>Liu Gan could only watch the Crocodile raise its w high above its head and m it down on him. The force of the attack destroyed a fourth of Liu Gan''s Mist Armor. It was a direct attack, so Liu Gan could only withstand four or five more times of ms like that!

    <span>Judging from its massive size, Liu Gan believed that the m was several times stronger than the swipe. If his Mist Armor was shattered, and he was caught in the m, then he would definitely be a meat patty.

    <span>The problem now was that Liu Gan''s body had been debuffed by the Crocodile''s roar. His body was couldn''t move. He watched helplessly as it continued to try and stomp on him!

    <span>So this is the benefit of being almighty!

    <span>"Lord Liu didn''t die yet, he tried to escape! The King Crocodile has its foot on Lord Liu! Ah! Lord Liu seems to be paralyzed. He stopped moving¡­" Saffron Ma continued with his live broadcast. At the same time, they felt the ground shake from the King Crocodile''s m attack.

    <span>"What''s Lord Liu''s condition? Did he die from the attack?" the others continued asking.

    <span>"I don''t know. The battlefield stirred up quite a lot of dust¡­" Saffron Ma spoke up.

    <span>"Find out quickly! Is Lord Liu still alive?" Everyone wanted to know. These past few days, they had all received some sort of benefit from Liu Gan, so they were grateful towards him. They wanted to know the condition of their benefactor.

    <span>"I need to concentrate to use my ability, stop interrupting me!" Saffron Ma shouted.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t get stomped on by the next attack. Right as the King Crocodile was preparing the next m, Liu Gan looked at the Crocodile''s head and used Psychic Shock. To his disbelief, the feeling weight was removed. Liu Gan reacted quickly and rolled aside to avoid the attack.

    <span>During the brief moment the King Crocodile hesitated, Liu Gan escaped. The power m still followed through, but it missed its mark by five meters, creating a depression on the ground. Liu Gan rushed toward the forest for cover.

    <span>Now that he had gauged the King Crocodile''s attack power, he knows that his attacks were useless. On top of that, he couldn''t find any weakness. The next best thing he could do was escape.

    <span>Once the King Crocodile saw that Liu Gan hadn''t been crushed, it unleashed another loud roar. Due to its gigantic size, in one stride, it closed the distance its prey. It swiped its ws left and right, breaking through the trees, trying to catch the annoying mouse called Liu Gan!

 Chapter 460

    <span>Chapter 460 - Falling

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    "Lord Liu is okay! He is still alive! He''s trying to escape! The creature is in pursuit!" Saffron Ma continued with the updates to hisrades.

    <span>"Lord Liu is unbelievable! He was able to escape alive even in that situation!" The yers sighed in relief. They couldn''t rx yet, the battle was still ongoing. One mistake and Lord Liu would die there!

    <span>Liu Gan was in a dangerous situation, if he hadn''t nned out the possible escape routes then he would''ve died. The routes that he chosen had trees with plentiful leaves that would provide cover from his pursuer. Even with all this nning, Liu Gan still suffered several w attacks to his back.

    <span>Every chance he could, Liu Gan would turn back around and use Enhanced Crescent de. Since his target was gigantic, it was hard to miss. No visible damage was done to the creature''s body since its ck Fog shield was still active. Instead, sparks were produced when the attack connected with the shield.

    <span>Counter-attacking, the King Crocodile swung its w, and Liu Gan was sent flying like a golf ball. This attack shaved off another quarter of durability from his Mist Armor. Less than half now remained.

    <span>Only two or three more attacks and his Mist Armor would be destroyed. Even if Liu Gan''s fist and legs were indestructible, his body was still flesh. Once the Mist Armor was gone, he would be at his most vulnerable state.

    <span>Still, Liu Gan had no other choice, he could only continue running. The moment he stood up, he had to reconfirm his direction and keep running. His tactic? Leave the King Crocodile''s territory.

    <span>Prior to battle, Liu Gan investigated the vicinity thoroughly. He knew which directions would lead him out of the territory. So Liu Gan had a rough idea of which way he was going, it was unlikely that he would get lost in the forest.

    <span>Like a cat and mouse, the King Crocodile kept chasing after Liu Gan with ws outstretched. The majority of its attacks were blocked by the trees. Only two attacks got through andnded on Liu Gan''s back, grinding down his Mist armor. It could block only one more attack before it was destroyed.

    <span>Liu Gan''s Mist Armor was at least ten times thicker than yers of the same level due to it being his passive skill. After every level up, his Mist Armor would increase in durability. Otherwise, he would have been reduced to a meat patty by now.

    <span>Even as the fight dragged on, the other yers couldn''t provide any support. The moment they got involved, they couldn''t even keep up with the pace.

    <span>As he kept running, Liu Gan noticed that the ground up ahead was more stone than dirt. He had left the forest! Up ahead he could smell the distinct smell of salt water. He squinted his eyes to see that it was the sea! With the King Crocodile in hot pursuit, Liu Gan had no other choice. He dashed forward without hesitation.

    <span>He ran all the way to the end of the road, it was a precipice waiting for him. A steep drop of a hundred meters! Down below was a beach that was only several meters wide, with reefs along the shoreline.

    <span>Of the few possible scenarios, if hended on the beach, it might result in death upon impact. If he jumped a little further, he mightnd on the rocky reefs. He had to jump, there was no other choice. With the King Crocodile right behind him, the next attack would definitely result in his death.

    <span>"Lord Liu was chased all the way to the seaside! It''s a dead end! There doesn''t seem to be any other way out!" Saffron Ma continued to exin to the others.

    <span>"Lord Liu is powerful, he was able to escape from the creature''s grasp!" Xu Ji Cao spoke up.

    <span>"Lord Liu is in danger, if we don''t help, then how can we call ourselves asrades! I, Stratos, will be the first to rush over to help!" Stratos tried to rally up others.

    <span>"You want to go? One w and one stomp, you will be pancake!" Liu Kang responded.

    <span>"But, we can''t just stand here idly!" Stratos was emotionally stirred.

    <span>"Lord Liu jumped! No! The King Crocodile knocked him over¡­" Saffron Ma corrected himself.

    <span>Saffron Ma was correct with his assessment. Liu Gan didn''t jump down willingly. The King Crocodile had swung its ws at him. The attack was enough to clip him over the edge. Liu Gan was still hesitating over his decision. A blue colored spark was seen by Saffron Ma, and Liu Gan''s body went spinning away like a gyroscope. He was heading straight down into the shoreline.

    <span>Liu Gan nced at where he was going tond, it was the reefs. The jagged rocks were all along the shoreline. If he continued to fall there, he would shatter all his bones even if he didn''t die. He was looking around for things along the cliff to slow his descent.

    <span>Unfortunately for Liu Gan, from the precipice to his position was over ten meters. In mid air, there was nothing he could grab ahold of. Liu Gan was free falling down onto the reef.

    <span>If he continued with his trajectory, Liu Gan wouldnd on arge coral bank in a high-speed collision. His limbs would still be intact, but his body would be smeared all over it.

    <span>In a moment of desperation, Liu Gan pulled off his clothes and spread out limbs. Recalling his previous experience with a winged fly suit, he wanted to glide out toward the open sea.

    <span>A hundred meter fall. It didn''t allow for much time to maneuver. Now that he was semi-nude, he drifted a few degrees further. That small amount of motion was enough of a deviation for Liu Gan to evade death upon impact on the reef.

    <span>Liu Gannded in the sea, instantly plunging two meters over his head. There was nothing to slow down his descent but the water itself, which was almost like hitting something solid after such a long drop. Underwater, his body mmed violently onto the submerged mass of the coral reef.

 Chapter 461

    <span>Chapter 461 - Collective Opinion

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    There was a wide range of angles in the reef protruding through the water surface. The moment Liu Gan broke the surface tension, his hands and feet were facing the water. Spreading out his body, he dispersed the momentum from his fall. Regardless, the force of his fall sent Liu Gan straight down onto the seabed. He flipped several times beforeing to a halt.

    <span>His alloy limbs were undamaged, and he still had the remaining portion of his Mist Armor still intact. Liu Gan sank down to the seabed andid there motionless. He could feel that his bones were fractured at multiple points from the impact of his fall. Aside from his leg bones and skull, all the other bones were fractured. Even his organs were internally bleeding. The pain was enough for him to nearly lose consciousness.

    <span>Laying down on the seabed, Liu Gan could tell he was heavily injured. Luckily for him, he had the Dermal Respiration passive skill that allowed him to breathe underwater. If it weren''t for that skill, he would''ve drowned!

    <span>Escaping from one problem, another grim issue arose¡­ It was the problem of underwater temperature. The temperature was close to 0 degrees celsius. It would be all over if Liu Gan decided toy down on the seabed. Hypothermia would set in and he would freeze to death. Even his Dermal Respiration ability wouldn''t be enough to save his life.

    <span>Liu Gan tried to move his limbs. One of his arm was in bad shape, but both his legs were still moveable. It was evident that his vertebrae had been injured, especially his spinal nerve. He was still fortunate to have a functioning arm. Liu Gan clenched his teeth and bore with the pain while pulling himself forward. Every move and struggle brought great pain. Even so, he had to pull himself along any way he could. Grasping on the rocks embedded into the soil, he inched closer to shore.

    <span>Liu Gan pulled himself up onto a reef that had breached through the surface. That was his limit. He passed out on the rocky reefs.

    <span>***

    <span>King Crocodile had chased Liu Gan along the cliff, but it didn''t take the leap like Liu Gan had. Instead, it peaked over the edge and released a frustrated roar.

    <span>After continuously roaring for ten minutes, the King Crocodile noticed the wall of malice on the ocean''s horizon. It decided to retreat back toward the forest. The wall of malice was the border of the Theme Park. The King Crocodile had sustained an injury earlier when it touched the wall, and had learned from its mistake since that ident.

    <span>***

    <span>By the time Liu Gan came to his senses, he found himselfying down on the beach. He was sleeping on someone''s thighs, a soft andfortable leg pillow. Who''s legs could it be?

    <span>"Lord Liu, you woke up?" Ana''s concerned voice gradually increased in volume.

    <span>Liu Gan''s ears were echoing. "Ah, yes" Liu Gan sat up after he realized he was sleeping on someone''s leg.

    <span>"Lord Liu!" Stratos and a few others rushed over to check on his condition.

    <span>Saffron Ma used his Far Sight to watch what happened after Liu Gan was knocked off the cliff. Even though they didn''t know Liu Gan''s condition, specifically whether he was alive or dead, they started preparing for a rescue mission. They wouldn''t leave until they had confirmation on his condition.

    <span>A few members were in charge of watching King Crocodile''s movement from afar. While other yers were intertwining vines to make a rope. Thest set of yers were looking over the edge to try and spot Liu Gan.

    <span>Once they confirmed that King Crocodile had gone back to sleep, they started their rescue mission. Using the ropes they had made, they lowered themselves down to the beach. One by one, they rappelled down a hundred meters to search for Liu Gan. Then someone spotted Liu Ganying on a reef. He was still breathing!

    <span>The two healers, Song Jiu and Xu Ji Chao, rushed up to treat Liu Gan. They were the ones who had confirmed that Liu Gan was still alive, but he was heavily injured. They exhausted their healing energy to bring Liu Gan back from the brink of death.

    <span>As a result, everyone rappelled down the cliff to set up camp on the beach. Once the healers had restored their energy, they started to treat Liu Gan again. After a full day of treatment, Liu Gan woke up the next day. By the time he regained his senses, Liu Gan''s Mist Armor was nearly fully restored.

    <span>"Lord Liu, don''t be so reckless! You nearly lost your life! If you die here, how do we tell Vice-Leader He?" Ana continued toin to Liu Gan.

    <span>"As long as it can''t kill me in one hit, I will have a chance to kill it. If you don''t want to stay here, then you can leave first!" Liu Gan refused to give up.

    <span>The rest of the yers had already benefited by reaching level 10 or 11. However, the same couldn''t be said of Liu Gan. He still had yet to earn anything from doing all these missions. If he left now, he would leave empty-handed. That wasn''t his style.

    <span>"Lord Liu, if you won''t leave, we won''t leave!" Stratos replied to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Lord Liu, I feel that at the right moment, people should learn to let go. This instance isn''t for someone at our level to conquer. We should wait until we reached a higher level first," Liu Kang spoke up cautiously.

    <span>"Yes! Sister Ana and Liu Kang are right. Lord Liu, we don''t have the capability to handle such a monster. Lord Liu, you were lucky to have escaped. But, you won''t be lucky every time," Song Jiu agreed.

    <span>From the yers points of view, if they didn''t leave, then what else could they do? The King Crocodile''s battle prowess was equivalent to above level 15, or even level 16 and 17 yers. Liu Gan was only level 12! The rest of the other yers were level 10 and 11, the level difference was too big of a gap!

    <span>If only Yin He and NaNa could get into the instance, then, with theirbined strength they could battle on equal footing against the King Crocodile. Since Liu Gan was fighting this battle alone, he didn''t have any chance of winning when facing off against the monster.

    <span>Putting aside any chance of winning, if he hadn''t jumped off the cliff, then the King Crocodile would''ve eventually caught up to and killed him. Either he would''ve ended up as a meat patty or been eaten like dim sum.

    <span>Liu Gan''s mindset meant he was unwilling to leave. Even if he couldn''t defeat it, he wanted to stay.

    <span>"It is meaningless to try and convince me. I''m determined to stay behind. If you want to leave, then go ahead. I won''t me any of you if you go. It will be pointless for you if you don''t want to stay behind. However, if you do stay and help, then let''s brainstorm on how we can dethrone the King," Liu Gan spoke up once more.

    <span>With Liu Gan''s resolute announcement, they knew they couldn''t persuade him. They decided that since they couldn''t persuade him, they could only join him. This stirred up a group debate on strategy. The ultimate question was, whose bright idea would be the best one to eliminate the threat?

 Chapter 462

    <span>Chapter 462 - Imagination

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "I don''t think we can face off against the creature with brute force. We must rely on intelligence. We can abuse Moonlight Gulf Theme Park''s rule card bug. If we work together as a team, along with everyone''sbined ability, then we might be able to beat the King Crocodile," Stratos started off with his theory.

    <span>"Card bug? What do you think you can achieve with the bug?" Saffron Ma disapproved of Stratos strategy.

    <span>"That shop! The shop is the bug! I sensed that the shop is the key factor in winning against the creature. We have to rely on the shop''s strongest weapon!" Stratos replied.

    <span>"Continue!" Liu Gan was highly interested in this chain of thought.

    <span>"The store has so many powerful weapons, the price on the models are a markup. They have an unrealistic price tag. It must have considered the fact that the customers can''t afford the products. Therefore, there must be some sort of hidden trick that we haven''t noticed," Stratos continued to specte.

    <span>"Other ways to earn foreign tokens?" Ana pursed her lips thoughtfully.

    <span>"I feel there are other ways to earn foreign tokens, such as looking for crocodile eggs or locating the nest of the small Crocodiles that might possess a treasure chest. Perhaps, there might other hidden quests that have high rewards¡­"

    <span>"Once we get these tokens, we can trade them for powerful weapons. We will be able to bomb the creature to smithereens!" Stratos ended his thoughts on a high note.

    <span>"I feel that the tokens wouldn''t be limited to just within Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. Should we save up years of tokens just to exchange it in one go for high-tech weapons? There''s also a concern with how long this instance will be avable for. It might even unlock more quests for us when we reach higher levels," Song Jiu expanded on Stratos theory.

    <span>"Ah, I also feel that way would work. Once we have enough tokens, we can exchange it for a space battleship¡­" Johnny Fei chimed in after bing interested.

    <span>"Hey hey! You''re all off topic," Ana reminded Song Jiu and Johnny Fei.

    <span>"Ah¡­" The two tried tough off their embarrassment. The idea was to brainstorm how to kill the King Crocodile, but they had ventured into flights of fancy now.

    <span>"I feel that the weak points would be natural orifices like the anus, stomach, or genital area. There wouldn''t be a fourth spot. We should think of a way to hold it in ce and have Lord Liu blow open the weak points," Xu Ji Chao suggested.

    <span>"Ah, finding a way to hold it in ce!" Liu Gan felt inspired by that thought.

    <span>"You said hold it in ce, as in getting it stuck in a narrow area. I don''t think there is anywhere around here that it could get ensnared in. With its strength it could copse the entire mountain," Saffron Ma disagreed with the earlier suggestion.

    <span>"Well what do you have to offer?" Xu Ji Chao countered Saffron Ma.

    <span>"I don''t have any good suggestions, but I feel that your suggestion was unrealistic. What you said to me, gave me another thought¡­ for instance, why don''t we shove hand grenades in its mouth? If it swallowed them, then they would explode, bang! It would blow apart its stomach and solve all our problems." Saffron Ma ventured.

    <span>"That does sound like a n, but how do we get the grenades to its mouth?" Ana asked.

    <span>"Well¡­ we would have to rely on our brave Lord!" Saffron Maughed.

    <span>"Well¡­ I guess we could try that¡­" Liu Gan nodded. Even though it wouldn''t be as easy as described, he shouldn''t discourage them from providing new ideas.

    <span>"I have an idea¡­ It was specifically thought up for Lord Liu! Like a shovel, next time Lord Liu encounters the King Crocodile, don''t escape. Instead charge right at it! Especially, when it opens up its mouth to roar. Charge into its mouth and toss in hand grenades and use your ability. Even if the shroud of ck Fog will protect it from external damages, I don''t think it will apply to internal damage. You could defeat it in one go!" Johnny Fei threw out his idea.

    <span>"That idea isn''t too shabby. Let''s have Lord Liu reenact the fight against Princess Iron Fan as the Monkey King. Once inside King Crocodile''s stomach, then start wreaking havoc. Left hook, right kick, axe swingsbination. You can resolve the situation in a matter of minutes!" Song Jiu borated on Johnny''s idea.

    <span>"I don''t think that sticking it in the mouth is too realistic. Why don''t we stick it in the anus when it''s asleep¡­" Stratos upped the stakes.

    <span>"You want it to rain shit? Shoving it in the anus isn''t a glorious job, so our Lord shouldn''t have to do it. You should do the task!" Several other members pointed at Stratos foring up with the idea.

    <span>"How are you so sure that it isn''t a female? If it is female, then there is no need to stick it in the anus, we could stick it ''there''," Song Jiu interrupted with his superb imagination.

    <span>"Vulgar!"

    <span>"So perverted!"

    <span>"..."

    <span>Song Jiu was kicked down by Ana and several members for his lewd suggestions.

    <span>"I was only contributing my thoughts, it isn''t as perverted as it sounds¡­" Song Jiu protested.

    <span>"Don''t you think that that wall of malice is quite formidable? Why don''t we use Lord Liu as bait and lure the creature into the wall of malice? That would do the trick!" Saffron Ma suggested loudly.

    <span>"I feel that normal creatures would fear the wall. The wall of malice seems to contain creatures of its own," Xu Ji Chao disagreed with Saffron Ma''s suggestion.

    <span>"Yeah! Even the King Crocodile has its own simr ck Fog overflowing out from its'' body. It looks simr inposition to the wall of malice, so it might not be possible?" Johnny Fei also disagreed with Saffron Ma.

    <span>"That might not be necessarily true. That defensive ck Fog serving as a shield might not serve the same purpose as the wall of malice. I feel that the wall of malice is the ultimate authority in this area. It serves as a executioner to both the yers and the creatures trapped within the instance," Ana shook her head.

    <span>"Then how about we lead it to the edge of the cliff, and rope it over with these vines. Then let it fall to its death?" Saffron Ma proposed.

    <span>Brainstorming the ideas was a very good decision. Now he had a lot of choices to pick from. Regardless of which would or wouldn''t work, Liu Gan would try them all out. He had a lot of preparation that needed to be done. He couldy out more ropes along the cliff so he could rappel down. In case his n fell through, he could jump off the cliff again. The next time, he would use the ropes instead of free falling over a hundred meters.

    <span>He haddy luck on his sidest time. It was hard to say if he would be so lucky the second time around. If he had to redo the free fall jump, Liu Gan doubted that he would be able to survive the fall.

    <span>Once everyone ate and was well rested, they returned to the top of the cliff.

 Chapter 463

    <span>Chapter 463 - Starting Over

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Once again Liu Gan opened up his dimensional storage space to check on his new PDA. Specifically, he wanted to check on the whereabouts of the King Crocodile. The King Crocodile was still quite far away, it hadn''t moved since it had returned to sleep.

    <span>It seemed the King Crocodile was a nocturnal creature, active during the night, and asleep by day. This gave time for Liu Gan to think of ways to kill it. The first step was to n escape routes.

    <span>Scaling the cliff was hard work, and they all had to rest after reaching the top. Liu Gan confirmed their next destination as the forest outside the King Crocodile''s territory. Then he would start nning for the next step in his borate n.

    <span>ording to the group''s collective brainstorming, Liu Gan pulled out his special nanite rope from the dimensional storage space. He wrapped it around a tree trunk eight meters above the ground. Even if the King Crocodile was chasing after him, he could grab the rope with ease and jump off. If the King Crocodile got entangled, it would even be better.

    <span>After hustling and bustling, Liu Gan nced in the direction of the creature. Prior to receiving the new PDA, Liu Gan would feel nervous since potential enemies could be lurking at every corner. With the minimap, he could urately pinpoint the dangers before they struck. There would no longer be any worries about any unwee encounters.

    <span>After trudging through mud and dirt, Liu Gan was covered in filth. He wiped the stink off his body as he checked the PDA once again. No one knew when the King Crocodile would wake up from its slumber. Constantly checking the PDA was a precautionary measure, just in case it did wake up. It was a formidable foe, they couldn''t lower their guards.

    <span>From the earlier fight, Liu Gan could summarize the King Crocodile''s two main types of attack. Once was the w swipe, the other was the roar. The roar was a type of mental attack, it was the roar that had kept him from moving.

    <span>Since it was a mental attack, it was highly effective against yers. The moment they were caught in the attack, they were doomed. It wasn''t as useful against Liu Gan, once he figured out how to counter the attack. Happily, the King Crocodile couldn''t use the suppression roar in session. The ability had a cooldown time and whenever it was used, Liu Gan would use his ability to counter it.

    <span>The King Crocodile''s w swipe was the worrisome issue. There was a chance that Liu Gan wouldn''t be able dodge all the attacks. Every attack would take off a fourth of his Mist Armor''s durability. Those prating attacks were overwhelming. However, Liu Gan''s Enhanced Crescent de couldn''t prate through the ck Fog shield. It was a one-sided battle from beginning to end.

    <span>Without a doubt, the overflowing ck Fog shield was an improved version of his Mist Armor. All of his attacks were rendered useless against this shield, it was like all the attacks were disced. The shield was equivalent to Yin He''s Spatial Armor. Liu Gan spected that unless the ck Fog shield was destroyed, he had no chance of harming its flesh.

    <span>This was an especially worrisome situation. Needless to say, Liu Gan''s shield was far weaker than the King Crocodile''s shield. Liu Gan didn''t have any long-distance attacks, he relied purely on close-quartersbat. No matter what happened, he would lose first in a battle of attrition.

    <span>Liu Gan had to leave the King Crocodile''s territory quietly and quickly. After he spent a whole day regenerating his Mist Armor, the King Crocodile would also fully regenerate its shield. Everything was rtive to level, so the King Crocodile''s recovery speed would be faster than Liu Gan''s. It took everything Liu Gan had to cast his Enhanced Crescent de, but it didn''t even put a dent in the King Crocodile. Now that the Croc''s shield had regenerated, he would have to start over from beginning.

    <span>All the effort he had invested seemed pointless, there was no viable method of defeating the creature.

    <span>From an outsider''s perspective of the dire situation, it was very likely this mission was possible only for level 15 and above yers. Liu Gan epted this mission a tad too early. When Zhao Nan Shan and Qiu Zi Tao took on this mission and encountered the same situation, they chose to give up.

    <span>The other people''s suggestions were right. Fighting head-on against the King Crocodile was not feasible, they would have to rely on using their wits.

    <span>The shop was so well hidden that it took them quite a while to find it, so it would be pointless to set up any additional tricks. One major hint was that it took four separate quests to unlock this final mission. There must be a clue or method during this whole process that they had overlooked. Otherwise¡­ they would have to resort to the most foolish method, such as the yers saving up for the tokens by ying by the rules. They might have to save up for several hundreds or thousands of years; they might even take ten thousand years since it depended on uncertain factors like Crocodiles'' spawn rate. Then, if the yers were still alive, they would be able to exchange their tokens for the most expensive product, the battleship. They could maneuver the battleship, wherever and however they liked. Every weapon aboard the battleship, like aser cannon, antimatter cannon, or gravity gun, would be avable to the owner. The King Crocodile would be at the mercy of the battleship''s bombardment!

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t believe that he would survive the millenium, nor did he have the patience to save every token earned. This stupid method was something he definitely wouldn''t consider. If he had to put some thought into it, then it would be a short term method for earning the most tokens.

    <span>Unfortunately, Liu Gan had to walk close to the King Crocodile to exit the territory. As he drew close to the creature, the King Crocodile unexpectedly woke up. It stood up slowly, but Liu Gan moved just as slow to avoid unnecessary attention. Liu Gan grabbed a handful of mud and smeared it on his body and face, just to throw off his scent. There was less than a hundred meters between him and the King Crocodile. It haven''t noticed him yet, but it walked around its sleeping spot in a circle while sniffing deeply.

    <span>Liu Gan didn''t dare to charge forward. Instead, he chose to observe. Like a monkey, he climbed to the crown of a tree to scope out his enemy. For now, he needed to go into surveince mode to see if he can find any weakness.

    <span>The King Crocodile was shrouded with the ck Fog shield from head to tail, even its mouth and anal orifice were covered. As a whole, the shield enveloped every inch of skin. There were no visible weaknesses at all. <span>What a pain...

    <span>As Liu Gan was watching gloomily, the King Crocodile started to feed. It lowered its head and started chewing on a luscious shrub.

    <span>This creature is a herbivore? <span>Liu Gan was shocked by what he was seeing. So what if it was a nt eater? What could he do with this new knowledge?

    <span>In actuality, the King Crocodile wasn''t really trying to eat the nt, it was tearing away at the shrub. Then, in the motion of lifting up its head, it looked in the direction he was hiding.

 Chapter 464

    <span>Chapter 464 - Good Morning

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    Liu Gan held his breath. He didn''t dare move. It seemed the King Crocodile hadn''t noticed his presence yet. Liu Gan escaped imminent death by the skin of his teeth.

    <span>Contrary to his earlier belief, the King Crocodile wasn''t eating the shrubbery at all. It was tearing it apart, then regurgitate it back out. The one peculiar thing was that it would look in Liu Gan''s direction every once in a while. Finally, after it was finished with its suspicious activity, the King Crocodile stood up and headed back in the direction of itsir. The King Crocodile was trampling over any obstacles in its path as it prepared to go to sleep.

    <span>What methods could Liu Gan take to assure his victory? Was it possible to poison the shrubs? Would it even sumb to poison? Once the idea popped into Liu Gan''s head, he started thinking of all possibilities. The ultimate question was, <span>Where will I get this poison? <span>These types of mutant monstrosities should have a decent poison resistance, so all the normal types of poison wouldn''t be effective.

    <span>Should he try out the tactic suggested by Stratos? Use a hand grenade and shove it up the anus? Or any other orifices? It might produce a giant crater. Actually, it might even be effective if he had more hand grenades or explosives packs to produce an amplified effect.

    <span>Even though Liu Gan believed that the tactic was ludicrous, he didn''t want to ban the idea before testing it. He wasn''t in a rush to experiment, since the King Crocodile was asleep by now.

    <span>***

    <span>Half an hour passed, Liu Gan waiting patiently for the King Crocodile in case it woke up. He climbed gently down the tree, then went in a roundabout way to circle the creature. He couldn''t find the anal opening. It must be sitting on it when it was sleeping...

    <span>Even though the anal orifice was covered, the nasal cavity was wide open. Liu Gan could toss a grenade into the opening while it was still asleep! It might produce some favorable result, if the ck fog wasn''t overflowing from the shield. Liu Gan doubted any foreign object would be able to pass through the shield...

    <span>Instead of wasting a hand grenade, Liu Gan decided to use a rock. If the rock could pass through the shield andnd inside the nose, then the grenade would work. If a rock wasn''t able to go through, then he had just saved a valuable resource.

    <span>Liu Gan picked up a fist-sized rock. With his full strength, he threw it at the King Crocodile''s gaping nostril...

    <span>Boom!

    <span>The rock didn''t make it very far. It bounced off the invisible shield more than a dozen centimeters above the surface of the King Crocodile''s skin. It sounded like the rock had came in contact with metal te.

    <span>The King Crocodile''s eyes fluttered. However, it wasn''t enough of a disturbance to wake up. In fact the King Crocodile had gotten used to having falling branches or fruits fall on it.

    <span>Liu Gan inched closer. This time he tried to shove the rock up the nose. As he got closer, he found out that the shield was acting like a force field that wouldn''t allow anything closer than ten centimeters. No matter how hard he pushed, he was repelled. This meant that the King Crocodile had a shield ten centimeters thick...

    <span>As Liu Gan decided to change his method, he felt the hair on his neck stand up. Something was wrong. Liu Gan looked up, and his gaze connected with the King Crocodile''s cold re.

    <span>"Oh! You''re awake? Good morning!" Liu Gan chuckled nervously as he slowly backed off. First he inched backwards, then it turned into wide strides, and finally became a sprint. He ran toward the dense forest for cover.

    <span>As the King Crocodile propped its body up, it unleashed a deafening roar at Liu Gan. It had thought Liu Gan was far away by now, but Liu Gan had faked retreat. He turned back and pulled the pin off the hand grenade...

    <span>Even with a thick shield, let''s see if you take damage from having your mouth open! We shall see who has thestugh!

    <span>Unfortunately, the hand grenade was another failed experiment. To Liu Gan''s disappointment, the King Crocodile''s shield acted like an all-around force field. Even with its mouth wide open, the King Crocodile was still protected. The grenade bounced off the shield andnded on the floor, then blew open a small crater. Aside from the temporary scare, the King Crocodile was unharmed.

    <span>It looked like any strategy involving an opening like mouth or anus would have to be disregarded. Until Liu Gan had a way topletely shatter the shield, there was nothing he could do to harm the King Crocodile.

    <span>Taking advantage of the diversion, Liu Gan had retreated more than thirty meters. He didn''t need to stay put to witness the damage. The moment he saw the grenade bounce off like the rock, he knew the oue. Due to the sheer size of the King Crocodile, one of its steps would span dozens of his own.

    <span>Even with a head start, Liu Gan was struck twice on the back. He had set up traps earlier, solely meant to slow down the King Crocodile. The special nanite rope had been knit into a. Both ends of the were anchored to the base of several trees. Once the King Crocodile tripped into the, it pulled down several trees with it as it fell.

    <span>Even though it had tripped, the King Crocodile was more formidable than anyone could have imagined. Once it fell into the trap, it released an angry roar, and then with sheer force ripped apart all thes!

    <span>Liu Gan was shocked. That rope was something he had relied on for a very long time, and it had gotten him out of many sticky situations. However, when it was used on the King Crocodile, it was pulled apart like string cheese!

    <span>The rope''s sacrifice bought Liu Gan enough time to reach the cliffside. With the vinesid out there in advance, he chose the closest one and rappelled off.

    <span>The King Crocodile stretched out its front jaw, trying to snap Liu Gan in half, but Liu Gan was out of its attack range. By the time it reached the cliff, it cried out in frustration. It hesitated above him, deciding whether it should keep chasing.

    <span>It red at the wall of malice hovering above the seawater. It decided that Liu Gan was not worth the chase, and retreated back into the forest.

    <span>At the bottom of the cliff, Liu Gan also took notice of the wall of malice that was close to the cliff. An idea sprouted in his head.

    <span>He finally realized why the King Crocodile hadn''t jumped down to attack him. It must be afraid of the boundary! The wall of malice might be the only thing that could inflict pain on the creature.

    <span>What could he do to lure the creature into the boundary? Could he take advantage of his environment to obtain victory? Just like that time when he used the broken Spatial Crack to kill off Peng Xue Tao in the underwater base...

 Chapter 465

    <span>Chapter 465 - All Prepared

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney

    <span>ED: RED

    <span>So the million dor question was, how could he bait the monster into the wall of malice?

    <span>How could he entice it to jump off the cliff?

    <span>It wasn''t going to go in willingly, that was certain.

    <span>Even if it had jumped off the cliff, there were still over a hundred meters from the base of the cliff to the wall of malice hovering above the seawater. If it jumped straight down without taking a running head start, then there was enough room for it to safely avoid hitting the wall of malice.

    <span>That was when Liu Gan had a sudden thought...

    <span>If this Moonlight Gulf Theme Park instance waspletely surrounded by the wall of malice, which was an oval shape, then there would be a point where the malice and seashore intersected. Two points to be exact; one on the left, and one on the right of his current position.

    <span>Ideally, he would prefer a situation where the cliffs reached the seashore and the wall of malice was immediately below. Then even a simple push could inflict massive damage. If the King Crocodile got stuck, then even if it was minute damage, it would still umte.

    <span>Liu Gan needed to time it correctly. After the ck Fog Shield waspletely shattered, Liu Gan would use his Enhanced Crescent de to im credit for the kill. After all, in this situation, only the contribution matters.

    <span>The question was if it was possible to find such a junction...

    <span>Liu Gan looked left and right, unable to decide which side would have the higher chance of finding such ideal conditions. Instead of wasting more time, Liu Gan chose one of the two directions and started walking.

    <span>***

    <span>Over half an hourter, he stopped. He had reached the junction and was thoroughly disappointed by what he had discovered. The geography of thend had tapered right down to sea level from a cliff''s height. There was nothing here that could provide the geographic advantage he was hoping for.

    <span>Specifically, Liu Gan was looking for a narrow crevice to pin the King Crocodile down. If the other side of the ind didn''t have anything simr, then he would have toe up with an alternative n¡­

    <span>***

    <span>After another half an hour of walking along the beach, Liu Gan walked past the way he had originally came from and headed to the other end of the seashore.

    <span>To his surprise, he was able to find what he was looking for. This dungeon instance had a wide variety of geography, and this cage suddenly became a blessing for him. If all pieces fell into ce, then the King Crocodile would die!

    <span>The seashore was meandering, with the wall of malice running parallel alongside the shore. There were still four meters of water between the wall of malice and thend. The wall of malice formed a narrow elongated shape on the beach that was no more than eight meters long.

    <span>Right above this natural entrapment was the cliff. If by chance the King Crocodile fell into the crevice, then it would be trapped between the cliff wall and wall of malice. Slowly, but surely the wall would damage the ck Fog Shield.

    <span>Liu Gan focused on the possible oues based on his observations of the cliff above and theyout of thend below. Slowly, he was able toe up with a detailed n.

    <span>It seemed like the secret store would prove to be useful! In the end, he still had to gather more tokens. With the aid of the map, they could cut down the time needed to search for the regr Crocodiles.

    <span>Liu Gan brought his team out to the narrow junction to exin his n as well as to hear the collective thoughts of the others. With the refined n, most of the small details were hammered out, which raised the troop morale as well as the sess rate of the n.

    <span>The following days were preparation for the final battle. Liu Gan and others were able to locate and kill off Crocodiles more quickly. Their efficiency for farming tokens was three times faster with the PDA''s map detection function.

    <span>***

    <span>Over half a monthter, on a particr day they had been waiting for...

    <span>While Liu Gan was in the middle of farming the regr Crocodile creatures for the loot, he noticed the slight change in breeze. At first the wind blew in a new direction weakly, but it started to gain force. The wind was blowing in the direction of the narrow junction! A smile formed on Liu Gan''s face.

    <span>He had the preparations already set up, all he was waiting on was the weather to be in his favor.

    <span>Now that the wind was blowing in the right direction, he could execute his n.

    <span>If everything went ordingly to n, then the King Crocodile would fall. Then the reward and experience would go to him.

    <span>The first crucial step was to lure the King Crocodile all the way over to the narrow junction. There were at least several kilometers of distance from the nest to the destination. If Liu Gan had to y the role of being bait, it would be the equivalent of a suicide mission. His Mist Armor couldn''t withstand the endless attacks over such a long distance. It would be destroyed by the time he made it halfway.

    <span>To force the King Crocodile closer to the narrow junction, the group thought about it for a long time. They came up with the strategy half a month ago.

    <span>It was a strategy based off the Battle of the Red Cliffs, when strategist Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu had to cut down the enemy forces. They borrowed the natural elements of the wind to burn up the enemy. Liu Gan''s tactic was to use fire!

    <span>Liu Gan assigned a location to everyone. To ensure their safety, he kept tabs on the current location of the King Crocodile. Everyone held a torch as they dispersed to their designated area. The mountain forest had a lot of dry wood, which made it perfect for starting a forest fire. Once the twigs and branches ignited, the gusts of wind fanned the mes until it was an uncontroble wildfire. The smoke covered the horizon downwind, which smoked out the creatures and primed the woods for burning.

    <span>It didn''t take long for the gust to blow the smoke over to the King Crocodile''s nest. It abruptly woke up from inhaling thick smoke. It reacted based on instinct and charged downwind of the fire.

    <span>It wasn''t afraid of the mes, but bathing in an inferno would wither down the ck Fog Armor. So it wasn''t a surprise when it decided to retreat to an area without any mes.

    <span>Since the fire was ignited at multiple points surrounding it, the King Crocodile had one direction it could escape to for fresh air. It was running right towards the narrow junction.

    <span>Even though the King Crocodile escaped out of the wildfire, there was still a distance of a few hundred meters of open space until the cliff. The King Crocodile nced at the wall of malice and came to an abrupt halt. It turned around to look back at the wildfire behind it.

 Chapter 466

    <span>Chapter 466 - Explosives

    TL: LifeisaJourney, xDh20<hr>

    Clearly, the King Crocodile was evaluating the danger level between retreating or advancing. The pain from the fire was nothingpared to the wall of malice. It was only a slight hesitation, but the King Crocodile retreated back toward the mes. It looked as if it was preparing to run pass the wildfire and into the areas that had been burned down.

    This was the time for Liu Gan to take action.

    Liu Gan was hiding himself nearby when he charged forth and used his ability, Enhanced Crescent de all over the King Crocodile. As expected, only sparks were produced when the ability collided against the shield.

    King Crocodile took notice of the prickling attacks. It recognized Liu Gan as the annoying mouse and unleashed a thundering roar before it charged at Liu Gan.

    With the open field still a few hundred meters away before the cliff, the King Crocodile was still cautious as it charged toward Liu Gan. It was afraid of not being able to slow down with its momentum. It was consciously suppressing its speed.

    Even if it was a few hundred meters, to the King Crocodile, it was only a few wide steps. As such, even with a careful state the King Crocodile and Liu Gan were closing on the junction quickly.

    The King Crocodile stopped itself from attacking Liu Gan. It stood in ce just a hundred meters away from the cliff, roaring angrily. It had definitely noticed the wall of malice behind Liu Gan.

    "Dog shit! Come over here!" Liu Gan threw arge rock at the King Crocodile.

    Triggered by the provocation, the King Crocodile took one step and swiped its paw at Liu Gan. Luckily, Liu Gan was prepared for this. He jumped backward toward the cliff, then held onto the dangling vines.

    Thatst attack, if it connected then Liu Gan would''ve been smashed right into the wall of malice. His n would''ve been all for naught.

    It was still hard to say if the n would seed, but as long as there was a one percent chance, then Liu Gan would attempt it.

    The King Crocodile''s sixth sense registered the danger as it cautiously advanced in small steps. It really hated the annoying mouse that had been pestering it. Now that it had the pest cornered, it just needed one more step topletely crush the rodent!

    This was all going ording to n... Liu Gan''s n, that is!

    Liu Gan waited until he saw the Crocodile''s head peek above the cliff, then he snickered. Quickly, Liu Gan rappelled down to the beach.

    <span>***

    Liu Gan had ced ten remote explosives. The n that his group had spent half a month nning for was to save enough tokens for these explosives. Every member had to hunt down the normal crocodiles relentlessly for the tokens.

    It was beneficial to the other members, since they could umte a lot of experience points, so they were quite zealous towards this hunt. With the help of the map on the PDA, he could gain up to a dozen tokens daily.

    After half a month, Liu Gan was able to save up for a dozen remote explosives with the amount of tokens that they had collected. He ran to the shop to trade them all at once.

    In real life, Xu Ji Chao was a mine proprietor, as well as a licensed explosives specialist. He was often out in the field opening up mines. His knowledge of explosives used to reshape the earth, was second to none.

    Moments prior to the wildfire, these remote explosives were nted all along the edges of the cliff. Liu Gan had punched into the bedrock to produce holes wide enough for the explosives. This part of the project was led by the explosives specialist, Xu Ji Chao!

    Finally, with the wildfire and Liu Gan''s provocation, the King Crocodile walked into the range of the explosives. It stood there hanging over the cliff, trying to extend its neck to reach Liu Gan.

    Cold-blooded reptiles were really ferocious. Most of the time, it was idly waiting for prey to show up. Only when it was enraged, would it ignore its other senses.

    Standing on the edge, the King Crocodile was moving carefully so that it wouldn''t touch the wall of malice. It had around ten meters before it made contact It only saw red from the rage it had built up from chasing after the little mouse. It was one step away from victory forever!

    However¡­ this time, the King Crocodile wasn''t going to be so lucky. It had fallen prey to Liu Gan''s trap!

    "Team One, detonate!"

    Liu Gan signaled the explosives team when he saw the timing was right. Team One all pressed their remote detonators simultaneously, and the rock beneath the King Crocodile''s feet started toe apart as thebination of massive weight and explosives did their thing, loudly. It couldn''t find its footing, and stumbled.

    The King Crocodile sensed the danger, trying to turn back around and retreat to safety, but Liu Gan wasn''t going to let it escape so easily.

    "Team Two, detonate!"

    At Liu Gan''s order, the second team pressed the detonators. Once again, the foundation copsed, and this time the King Crocodile took a misstep and fell backward towards the ground below.

    The King Crocodile tried totch onto whatever grip it could find. It tried to find leverage on the exploded rock, and get back up onto the cliff.

    Liu Gan had considered that possibility, so he signaled Team Three to detonate their explosives. A few more explosions on the cliff loosened the King Crocodile''s grip, and its weight did the rest. Without anything secure to hold onto, it slid all the way down to the bottom.

    There were only eight meters of safe space at its widest point. The King Crocodile''s body was thirty meters tall, and its head was a dozen meters long. Once it fell down, the majority of its body was in contact with the wall of malice!

 Chapter 467

    <span>Chapter 467 - Eternal Life

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>If the King Crocodile had calmed down and pressed its body along the edge of the cliff, then the majority of its body wouldn''t have been damaged at all. The moment it fell, it was taking damage from the wall of malice. Surprised by the misstep and stunned by the damage from the fall, the King Crocodile kept squirming in pain. It was roaring as loud as it could, while trying to escape. It was a simple-minded creature that couldn''t haveprehended sticking close to the wall to minimize damage.

    <span>By this time, Liu Gan had escaped through the five-meter wide gap on the beach. From a safe distance, he was watching the King Crocodile wither in pain. It wasn''t intelligent enough to stick close to the cliff edge. Liu Gan could rx for a bit knowing that his work was being done.

    <span>The next step was to just wait, patiently wait for the King Crocodile to struggle more!

    <span>***

    <span>Liu Gan''s worries were unnecessary. The wall of malice was a high viscosity substance that adhered to whatever fell in. With the majority of the King Crocodile''s body deep in the wall of malice, unless it abandoned that half of its body, it couldn''t escape... but if it abandoned half of its body, then it couldn''t live!

    <span>It seemed that it wasn''t that the King Crocodile couldn''t remain calm, but it was that it couldn''t pull itself off of the wall. Its ck Fog Shield was shining brightly as it was withered down by the wall. The result was a bright blue spark that could be seen from far away.

    <span>***

    <span>Once the ck Fog Shield was gone, the King Crocodile started roaring in pain. Now that the shield was gone, there were tentacles stretching out from the wall of malice, with twisted faces appearing there. Mouths started eating away at parts of the King Crocodile. After half an hour of eating, the King Crocodile was close to bing lifeless. Its head was down and it had stopped roaring. Liu Gan moved closer to the King Crocodile and aimed at its brain.

    <span>Even with the shield gone, it took some time to prate the thickyer of scales. Liu Gan''s continuous ability broke through the reptile''s skull, and the dark red contents of its brain mush leaked out. Liu Gan didn''t stop there, he kept on going until the King Crocodile was motionless.

    <span>Here is where the mystery started. Normally, when the creature is dead, then ck Orbs would float into Liu Gan''s body as experience points. However, nothing of that sort had happened yet. It didn''t drop tokens, nor weapons. The King Crocodile was still there, but just motionless. Its brain matter had leaked out, so surely it was dead. Right?

    <span>Could it be that this wasn''t the right way to kill it? Or was thest hit stolen away by someone else? Or something else like the wall of malice? Suddenly, Liu Gan felt a chill down his spine at the endless possibilities.

    <span>There was also another theory.

    <span>His theory was that the King Crocodile had a simr trait to the smaller version of Crocodiles. It was their undying aspect! After a minute of dying, it would revive! All the body parts and even the shield would regenerate!

    <span>If it had nine lives, Liu Gan believed that this broken BOSS would be the ace amongst General ranked creatures. If he didn''t use cheap tactics like this, then a fair fight would''ve required over a hundred level 18 or 19 yers.

    <span>***

    <span>And of course, that was the theory that proved to be true.

    <span>Even after the King Crocodile revived, its body was still ensnared by the wall of malice. It was like an endless rey of what had happened prior. From nonstop struggling, to shattering its shield, deafening roars, then lifelessness, and finally death.

    <span>After dying eight times, Liu Gan was surprised. The King Crocodile''s skin didn''t change color. A skin color change meant that it was on itsst legs. He thought that it was going to be nine lives since the regr Crocodiles had to die nine times. After dying nine times, Liu Gan still didn''t get his reward.

    <span>***

    <span>It died for the tenth time. Then it died for the fifteenth time, and then the twentieth time.

    <span>Liu Gan repeated his actions as many times as it revived. Even he was getting numb from this repetitive action.

    <span>Every time the King Crocodile would die, and then revive briefly after. Liu Gan was starting to suspect that it had eternal life.

    <span>Perhaps, this wasn''t the right way to kill it? What other way was there to kill it?

    <span>This BOSS was such a bullshit creature. If this method couldn''t kill the King Crocodile, then Liu Gan would have to give up.

    <span>***

    <span>Like a broken record of endless cycle of death and rebirth, two days had passed by. During these two days, Liu Gan didn''t rest or sleep. The King Crocodile had revived close to fifty times. Liu Gan was exhausted. His blood-shot eyes showed that capiries were ruptured from staying awake. The King Crocodile continued to die and revive. There were no signs of the rebirth cycle breaking.

    <span>"How could this be?" one of the two members who were sleeping on the beach started to ask.

    <span>"It''s useless, this BOSS is impossible to kill!" Another yer started to lose confidence.

    <span>"Elder Liu, let''s just give up. We were fooled by this dungeon," someone spoke up. If Liu Gan continued, he would die of exhaustion!

    <span>Under Ana''s suggestion, every time the King Crocodile died, Liu Gan could sleep and rest for a while. Once the shield shattered, someone would wake Liu Gan up. Through this method, Liu Gan''s health started to slowly recover.

    <span>***

    <span>Another two days had passed. By now, the King Crocodile had died close to eighty times. There were some signs that the skin was changing colors. It was simr to when the regr Crocodiles had died eight times. Its skin turned blood red, with the Fog Shield taking on a new color, red. It was struggling even more ferociously than before. It was in its enraged mode!

    <span>Liu Gan roused himself. This time, he didn''t take a break. He focused his attention on the King Crocodile''s every move.

    <span>Now that the enraged King Crocodile had extra protection from its shield, it was wriggling itself out from the wall of malice with its newfound strength. Even though it was moving slowly, there were signs of it freeing itself!

    <span>If it was able to escape, then it could cling close to the cliffs to survive. If it seeded, everything that they had done would be wasted!

    <span>Liu Gan couldn''t let that happen. He moved close to the King Crocodile and use his best abilities. From Enhanced Crescent de to Psychic Shock, he used whatever he could. He would do anything just to stop it from wiggling out of the wall of malice!

    <span>Liu Gan''s strategy had some effect. With his proactive interference, the King Crocodile lost focus on wiggling out of the trap and directed its anger at him!

 Chapter 468

    <span>Chapter 468 - Absolutely Safe

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>The King Crocodile was trying to shake itself free from the wall of malice. After it was enraged, its strength output has increased several fold. It has also be quite intelligent, as if it had gained stats in wisdom.

    <span>The group members with long range abilities started their assault on the King Crocodile. The members with close range abilities contributed in their own way. They picked up rocks and threw them at the King Crocodile. This was the final push, they had to make the time they spent in this dungeon instance worthwhile!

    <span>After two hours, the King Crocodile had shifted more than a third of its'' body out of wall. The remaining body parts still stuck within the wall were a leg and the tail. The King Crocodile was held in ce and was swinging its ws ferociously at Liu Gan''s group, irritated by the small creatures that had caused it so much pain. If there was one thing it wanted the most, it was to crush these mice to paste!

    <span>Every once in awhile, the King Crocodile would use the Suppression Roar, but it would be countered by Liu Gan''s Psychic Shock. Its ability was the only way it could damage them. With physical and psychic attacksing in, unable to reach Liu Gan and his group, this aggravated the creature even more.

    <span>The remaining body parts still had the protection of the shield, so it was still being damaged. Suddenly there was a breakthrough; a bright red sh like ss being shattered. It was a sign that the ck, no, Red Fog Shield had been shattered!

    <span>The shield was gone, but its body parts remained deeply embedded in the wall. The King Crocodile unleashed a painful roar, tugging on its leg and tail. It was relying on one of the legs to pull itself up. That was when Liu Gan started using his ability on the reliant foot,bined with physical attacks using his greataxe.

    <span>Without any protection, the King Crocodile''s leg ruptured with wounds. It wasn''t going down without a fight, it kept trying to swat Liu Gan like a fly whenever he got close. Liu Gan made a mistake and nearly died for it. He ended up very close to the wall of malice.

    <span>Even if the King Crocodile was like a cornered dog, it was still ferocious. Liu Gan was the annoying pest that it couldn''t get rid of. he had caused the King Crocodile great pain and it was aggravated. It did the only thing it could do, it roared in anguish.

    <span>"No more protection, and yet you dare open your mouth! Die!" Liu Gan had prepped a hand grenade earlier. He timed it and pulled the pin when the opportunity presented itself, he threw it down.

    <span>Like a small rock it ricocheted down the creature''s throat. It wasn''t bothered by the impact, since it didn''t have any immediate effect. The King Crocodile continued to roar. A few secondster, a dulled out explosion echoed out of the creature''s throat. It tore its insides apart, charring the surface on contact. ck blood started overflowing from its mouth.

    <span>A hand grenade might not have much effect when it detonated on the outside, and was even less effective than the Enhanced Crescent de. However, it was not the same when it detonated on the inside. Even the strongest creature couldn''t train its innards to withstand attacks.

    <span>The explosion did quite a lot of damage to the King Crocodile. Afterwards, it couldn''t even roar anymore. With the pain growing on its leg and tail, and now its throat, the struggle to pull its leg free had lessened.

    <span>"Now that you are weakened, I will take your life!"

    <span>Liu Gan used another round of Psychic Shock. Now that the Crocodile was weaker, it was stunned rigid. Liu Gan took the opportunity to charge up in front of the creature''s head. Liu Gan shoved another unpinned hand grenade down its throat.

    <span>The King Crocodile tried everything in its'' power to swing Liu Gan away. Under its weakened state, its speed had lowered significantly, so Liu Gan was able to dodge it easily. Liu Gan retreated to a safe distance outside the range of its attack.

    <span>Bang!

    <span>The hand grenade exploded in the King Crocodile''s throat again. Originally, the creature''s head was lifted up, but after the second explosion, its head fell t on the ground. The only things that were moving were the eyes ring at Liu Gan. From the angry looks, it couldn''t roar at all. It didn''t even have the strength to open its mouth!

    <span>"Go die! Die!"

    <span>For the sake of this dungeon instance, Liu Gan had wasted a month of his time to prep for this King Crocodile. By now, he was exhausted physically and mentally. Powered by extreme rage, Liu Gan kept using his Enhanced Crescent de on the Crocodile''s head constantly when it was avable.

    <span>Going with his previous encounters, his go-to strategy for killing creatures usually involved beheading them, or smashing in their brains. So the sure way of ensuring something was dead usually ended with their brain matter spread across the floor in patterns that would signify a violent beating.

    <span>Until this fight was over, everything was crucial. Up until the deciding moment, he couldn''t rx. Until the experience orbs had entered his body, it was still a gamble between the wall of malice and him. It might mean that he gained nothing from all this wasted effort.

    <span>So Liu Gan had to act before it was toote. Liu Gan focused solely on doing everything he could that would maximize damage.

    <span>Now that the King Crocodile was near death, it wouldn''t even budge. In its enraged condition, the morphology was different. Its bone density was several times denser, yet Liu Gan continued to hack away at its skull.

    <span>"Damn! I don''t believe that I can''t kill you!"

    <span>Liu Gan climbed onto the King Crocodile''s head, as he assumed a position like he was riding a horse. He was enraged. His greataxe wasn''t able to produce the result he was looking for. Instead he opted for using his fist and then using the Enhanced Crescent de. After a few minutes, Liu Gan''s fist did more damage than his greataxe did. His fist pounded a depression into and through the surface of the reptile''s cranium!

    <span>From that depression, Liu Gan shoved another hand grenade underneath the bone, into the soft brain matter of its skull!

 Chapter 469

    <span>Chapter 469 - Scepter

    <span>TL: Lifeisajourney<hr>

    <span>There was a loud bang. The King Crocodile''s cranium was split apart, and the brain matter revealed itself like a treasure chest.

    <span>Under Liu Gan''s heavy-handed assault and the persistent damage from the wall of malice, the King Crocodile died for the 81st time!

    <span>If it revived even after this, then Liu Gan would lose his mind.

    <span>Thest hit was from Liu Gan''s fist as he struck deep into its brain matter. The confirmation of the kill were the dense ck experience orbs that floated into Liu Gan''s body.

    <span>The painful scorching sensation of every cell burning rendered Liu Gan immobile. Whether it was the pain or the exhaustion, Liu Gan nearly fell unconscious once he had confirmed that he obtained the experience points!

    <span>The painful burning sensation increased with every level up. Liu Gan had leveled up from 12 to 14. With two levels skipped, his Mist Armor is at least five or six centimeters thick and it hovered right above his skin.

    <span>To produce the same side effect as his Mist Armor, other yers would have to be level 17. Due to Liu Gan''s passive ability, he could enjoy the same benefits as those level 17 yers.

    <span>Liu Gan realized that his rewards didn''t end there. He noticed that he could now control and divert the Mist Armor back into his body. That way, no one could tell that he was a threat. Only when he is inbat would he use it to shroud his body from harm. Since he had the ability to manipte his own Mist Armor, it didn''t take long for him to figure out that he could shift the coverage areas of the Mist Armor.

    <span>That meant he could control his Mist Armor to only protect his important body parts like organs and head. There was no need to protect his alloy limbs. The Mist Armor diverted away from his limbs was added to other areas, which increased its thickness by a centimeter. This meant that his defense was almost imprable to peers at his level.

    <span>Even now, Liu Gan couldn''t find any information about what could damage his alloy limbs, so there was no need for him to waste the Mist Armor on them. After practicing manipting the Mist Armor a few times, Liu Gan''s protective shield could be on par with a level 18 yer.

    <span>A few secondster, the King Crocodile''s body started to dissipate in the form of orbs. At the same time as the body was disintegrating, it dropped several items of various sizes. They were shining vibrantly, like it was a BOSS drop.

    <span>"The drops fell behind the wall of malice. I don''t want to die, trying to find out what it does," Liu Gan sighed hopelessly at the items. If he stuck out his hand to grab it, he would be glued onto the wall of malice just like the King Crocodile.

    <span>Was there a way to brute force his way in...?

    <span>After a while of Liu Gan cursing his bad luck, the wall of malice started to recede deeper into the ocean. The drops were all on the beach, ready for the picking. Slowly, the wall of malice disappeared from view. It seemed to symbolize that this dungeon instance was beaten, and it would remain that way forever.

    <span>Unable to contain his excitement, Liu Gan rushed over to his drops. He had to examine every treasure item.

    <span>There were three items of different sizes. The smallest item was a dark ring. It was ck, like it was made from vantack material. The material was simr to the Spatial Transfer Gate in the way that light was absorbed and not reflected.

    <span>The medium-sized item was a scepter half a meter long, emitting a dark gray glow. On the surface of the scepter, strange runes were circting nonstop. They were characters that Liu Gan had never seen before.

    <span>Aside from the ring and the scepter, there was also a pair of ck-colored ws. Those looked like an equippable weapon! The weapon shape was modeled after the King Crocodile''s ws and paws, but proportioned down to fit a human hand.

    <span>Right after initial contact with the items, Liu Gan realized that he could stash the items within the dimensional space. These items were now bound to him, so he was able to assess the item properties and descriptions.

    <span>The vantack ring had an evenrger dimensional space than his existing ring''s dimensional space. Surprisingly, the dimensional space was holding an undamaged Spatial Transfer Gate! When Liu Gan focused his conscious on this special Spatial Transfer Gate, he got the information he needed. Once activated, the Gate would remain open for ten minutes. Any lifeforms that went through the Gate would appear at a randomly chosen Gate somewhere else.

    <span>On top of that, after three months time, the lifeforms that had been transferred over would be automatically transferred back to their original location, as long as they were still alive. Due to the technology behind transferring lifeforms, it would temporarily reset the yer''s stats and skills. It would take from ten days or up to a month, before the Stats would be recovered.

    <span>From a first glimpse at this description, Liu Gan was hesitant. With the dangers of not knowing where the Gate might lead, would it be worth the risk? To top it off, his Stats and skills wouldn''t be avable immediately. So if he encountered danger the moment he crossed through the Gate, it would mean imminent death.

    <span>This¡­ was such nonsense.

    <span>Time to check on the other two items. Liu Gan could only hope that it didn''t have a deceptive description like the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>Liu Gan held the scepter in his hand. He was able to see the instructions for the scepter in his mind.

    <span>"<span>Congrattions, you have conquered Nin Jing City''s final mission. You have obtained the Scepter to Nin Jing City, the key to ruling this ind. You can store the Scepter away in your wrist watch, or you can wield it. With the Scepter in your care, you will receive bonuses. The Scepter''s power will grant you a level higher than your existing level. When your level has a single digit ending with 4 or 9, like level 14 or 19, the scepter will only grant half the level power up.

    <span>"Using this Scepter, you can disperse the tumultuous clouds right above Nin Jing City. This should revive the sunshine and clear weather for the ind, so extreme weather conditions will be a thing of the past.

    <span>"With the Nin Jing City Scepter, you can enter into certain dungeon instances that other yers aren''t allowed inside.

    <span>"With the authority given by the Scepter, you can keep the Stats on your wrist watch hidden. Only those that you want to be able to see your Stats will be able to see them.

    <span>Through the Scepter, you can use very basic magic spells. However, if you want to use the ability, the precondition is that you have to have certain parts of your brain domain activate. This is only possible through operations in a Neuroscience Research Facility. The activated domain will be able to store specific elemental energy¡­

    <span>"Damn! This is what I was longing for! This is a god-tier weapon!" Liu Gan shouted loudly in astonishment.

 Chapter 470

    <span>Chapter 470 - Cage

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    From now on, even when he gained a higher level, his wrist watch would keep the Stats hidden. The surprising part of the reward was being able to return normal weather conditions to Nin Jing City. If he was able to find a Neuroscience Research Facility, it could unlock more hidden potential. He could unleash magical spells! Everything so far had been very useful!

    <span>If there was a Scepter for Nin Jing City, then the other five surrounding inds, including Central Ind, might also have a Scepter of Authority? What sort of magic would he awaken? Would it be something theoretical, like Comprehension, or would it be a fighting Qi, like Vindictive?

    <span>Forget it, it''s useless pondering on issues that aren''t helpful<span>. Since he had no insight on where to find a Neuroscience Research Facility, it was pointless to overthink. Instead, Liu Gan decided to check on thest treasure item.

    <span>The set of ck-colored ws had a threatening aura. Liu Gan equipped the ws on both his hands, and the instructions appeared in his head. By equipping the Champsosaurus ws, they would increase his body strength and attack speed by 20%!

    <span>Liu Gan finally got the official name of the King Crocodile he had defeated. Seems like Zhao Nan Shan came quite close in naming it correctly. They named it Evil Dragon, which wasn''t too far off from Champsosaurus, in a sense that both were a form of reptile.

    <span>Aside from the damage output and agility benefits of equipping the w, there was another feature. Once Liu Gan''s Mist Armor was shattered during a yer versus yer situation, he could undergo a limited time secondary transformation. He can transform into the form of a Champsosaurus for one minute.

    <span>However, taking the form of the Champsosaurus has its restrictions. During the transformation phase, it could only be used to attack humans. Attacking anything other than humans, like zombies or mutated variants, would end the transformation immediately, and it would disappear in smoke like it was an illusion all along.

    <span>"These ws are the best gift so far! A perfect PVP item! I can fight without care! Once my defense is broken, I can transform into a Champsosaurus and crush them underneath the weight of my foot!" Liu Gan started daydreaming about what it would be like when he transformed.

    <span>A minute of transformation was too short. If it had a longer duration, that would be fantastic. The restriction of limiting it to only humans was a slight disappointment. Otherwise he would''ve ttened the zombie-filled city in a few moves.

    <span>Disregarding that slight disappointment, the 20% gain in strength and agility would give him a level advantage over other yers. With the Scepter in his care, he can gain another level of Stat advantage. With a two-level advantage over his peers, he shouldn''t have any problem taking them head on.

    <span>Even if he met apetitor who was overpowering, he could transform into the Crocodile Form and defeat them. With a one minute turnaround time, he was confident in overturning the battle.

    <span>"Congrattions, Lord Liu!"

    <span>"Mighty Lord Liu!"

    <span>"..."

    <span>The members closed in to congratte Liu Gan on his sess. This dungeon instance was thebined effort of all of them, and everyone walked out having gained something from it. They would have felt terrible if Liu Gan was the only one who didn''t gain anything from this time-consuming expedition.

    <span>With Liu Gan''s strength raised to new heights, he was the strongest yer under level 15. Even level 16 yers wouldn''t be his opponent. yers that followed by his side felt proud to have a leader they could depend on.

    <span>With the Wall of Malice fading away from existence, the expedition group walked out through the front gates of Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. The first thing they saw was Cai Hao Chen''s face. Everyone was surprised to see him.

    <span>From the moment Cai Hao Chen had left the Theme Park through the side exit, he had handed the letter over to Yin He, but didn''t return back to the Vige. He sat outside waiting for any sign of Liu Gan''s group. After waiting for weeks, he started to wonder if the group had died within the dungeon instance.

    <span>Fighting alongside them through life and death situations, Cai Hao Chen had friends inside the dungeon instance, he felt heart-aching pain when he wondered if they died.

    <span>With the death toll being 1, Sun Chao, everyone else had remained unharmed. Cai Hao Chen ran up to everyone with a hug and started questioning them about everything that had taken ce when he was gone.

    <span>"The King Crocodile had been killed! The dungeon instance has been beaten! The wall of malice disappeared, too! That''s how we could walk out through the front gates!" Stratos started with the good news.

    <span>"Really? The King Crocodile was defeated? Lord Liu is really powerful!" Cai Hao Chen couldn''t imagine how Liu Gan could''ve aplished the impossible.

    <span>With the King Crocodile killed, the dungeon instance was conquered. From that point on, whenever anyone entered through the front gates of Moonlight Gulf Theme Park, they wouldn''t be transferred into the dungeon.

    <span>Right as Liu Gan was about to ask Cai Hao Chen for the whereabouts of Yin He and NaNa, he was pounced on by NaNa. She came running out from a hidden corner and started licking Liu Gan''s face.

    <span>Soon after, Yin He appeared, chasing after NaNa.

    <span>Now that she has seen Liu Gan return safely, Yin He could finally smile. She greeted Liu Gan with open arms.

    <span>"I''m sorry that I made you worry!" Liu Gan felt Yin He''s cheeks as he apologized. He hadn''t thought that he would remain in the dungeon instance that long. It had been around two months since they hadst met!

    <span>"I wasn''t worried, I know you are strong so you woulde back alive," Lin He replied back to him.

    <span>Liu Gan was speechless, continuing to hold Yin He in his embrace.

    <span>"Lord Liu and vice-leader He are so enviable!" Ana stared at the scene with admiration.

    <span>"We can be like that, too. We would also look just as happy as they are!" Stratos started to flirt with Ana.

    <span>"Vulgar!" Ana kicked Stratos in the rear.

    <span>"Ana, do you have some sort of ability? How could you kick me from behind when I''m standing in front of you?" Stratos got up from the ground.

    <span>"My secret skill is Unparalleled Buttocks Kick!" Ana raised her foot up.

    <span>"HELP!" Stratos started scurrying away.

    <span><strong>***</strong>

    <span>Meanwhile ,in the Beginner Vige...

    <span>During Liu Gan''s absence, Cao Yi had taken on the position as the new leader.

    <span>However, this twisted man had no intentions of running the vige properly. He wanted the entire vige to be a cage, his personal yground. He wouldn''t allow anyone to leave.

    <span>Every week, Cao Yi would pick twenty to fifty vigers, escorted by hisckeys wearing ck uniform. Strangely, theckeys never spoke a word, they had their faces covered and only their eyes were showing. The vigers would never be seen again after being escorted away. At this point, three hundred vigers escorted away.

    <span>This included Zhang Sheng Li, Martial Thunder, Zhao Meng, Xue Jian, and the other leaders.

    <span>Any rebel forces were met with fierce oppression. Cao Yi would break their arms and legs. The vigers knew that Cao Yi was over level 14, they knew they couldn''t fight back. In the Trembling World, every level higher meant it was met with an overwhelming power. Cao Yi was at least 4 levels higher than their strongest ally. Even if everyonebined forces in the vige, they weren''t Cao Yi''s opponent!

 Chapter 471

    <span>Chapter 471 - Primordial Chaos

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    Speaking of the puppet-likeckeys wearing ck uniforms, they were all at least level 12 or 13.

    As for the vigers who were taken away, it was hard to know whether or not they were still alive. This type of feeling of being at the mercy of others would make anyone feel despair.

    With this dreadful situation, they could only hope for Lord Liu toe and rescue them. The problem was, it had been over two months since he had left for the Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. Without any further updates, they felt that there was a high chance of he was dead by now.

    From the looks of it, there was no one else capable of saving them from their dire situation.

    "From what these two have said, there is a viger here called Lin Shi Ya. She is the Fifth Elder here. I heard that she is very beautiful. Call her here toe service me tonight," Cao Yi said to hisckeys, as he embraced two female vigers.

    "Okay, we will go find her," the twockeys replied in a monotone voice to Cao Yi. It was hard to tell if their voices were male or female.

    "Fifth Elder is the vige''s most beautiful woman. I heard that she is still young and inexperienced. Lord Cao would definitely like her," the two women continued to offer up sacrifices for reward.

    "Hahahaha! I don''t like to speak nonsense with people! If she is truly beautiful, she would be appropriate for me. I will reward you graciously! Each of you will receive ten thousand reward points!" Cao Yi continued speaking as if he was a king.

    "Thank you Lord Cao!" The women traitors enjoyed the reward points, it was their livelihood. They sought to continue selling out others so they could enjoy their life and disregard others. It was always a better choice for Cao Yi to defile others rather than them!.

    <span>***

    That very same night, Lin Shi Ya was pacing back and forth as she was talked with Chen Qi. That was when her courtyard gate was broken down. Walking in were two uniformedckeys that were definitely up to no good.

    Ling Ling ran up in an attempt to bite the two intruders, but she was held down by the neck by one of the puppetckeys. She couldn''t resist after that. She had to watch Lin Shi Ya forcefully escorted out of her mansion by the second puppetckey.

    "Where are you taking me?" Lin Shi Ya shouted at the kidnapper.

    "You caught Lord Cao''s attention! He wants you to spend the night, so you better service him happily if you care for your life!" the puppetckey replied in its unnerving unisex voice.

    "Why is he so shameless?" Lin Shi Ya started to curse at Cao Yi''s sick intentions.

    If Liu Gan was more passionate about her, then her body would have belonged to him. However, Liu Gan was simply not interested in her. She never would''ve thought that her body would be vited by scum like Cao Yi.

    "How dare you! You dare speak badly about Lord Cao! Are you trying to die here and now!" The puppetckey pped Lin Shi Ya across the face.

    "Trouble at the front gates, Lord Cao wants you to go check the perimeter. I will take over and escort her to Lord Cao!" a third puppetckey announced as it approached.

    "What happened at the front gates?" the curiousckey questioned.

    "You dare question, Lord Cao''s order? Do you want to die?" The approachingckey snapped back. He grabbed ahold of Lin Shi Ya.

    "Okay, then you have to make sure she arrives at Lord Cao. If there is any mistakes, you will be held ountable," the secondckey shouted while heading towards the front gates.

    Once the secondckey had disappeared from view, the thirdckey pulled Lin Shi Ya toward the side exit.

    "Who are you? Where are you taking me?" Lin Shi Ya couldn''t resist.

    "I can only control my body for this short timeframe. After awhile, I can''t control it anymore! There''s this side exit that I''m responsible for overseeing. Don''t ask any more questions. Just rush out of the side exit and keep running! Don''t let me catch up to you! You won''t outrun me if I catch up!" the thirdckey pushed Lin Shi Ya out the door and then tied himself to a tree.

    Even though the thirdckeys voice was unisex, Lin Shi Ya felt that she could recognize the voice. However, she didn''t have any time to inquire more. She just ran for her life in a straight line.

    Right when the patrolling ck-uniformckeys disappeared from sight, Lin Shi Ya darted out the side exit. She ran north into the wilderness. She didn''t even know which direction the Evil Dragon Gulf was in, she simply went in the direction that she thought it was.

    After several more minutes, a ck-uniformedckey ran out from the direction of the side exit. It was the very sameckey who had let her go. His pupils had turned to a swirling chaotic color from dark brown. He ran around the perimeter a few times, then resumed his patrol after he wasn''t able to find Lin Shi Ya.

    Little did Lin Shi Ya know, but if the maskedckey didn''t have the face mask, she would''ve recognized him as the one she wanted to see the most - her father!

    <span>***

    The next morning, Cao Yi arrived at the za center. He called for the remaining ranked squad leaders. He ordered them to bring him a hundred youths of both genders, no older than 18 years old. If there weren''t enough people, then the age limit was increased to 20 years old and younger.

    As for the purpose of gathering these youths, Wang De Cheng and the other ranked officers didn''t dare question Cao Yi''s intentions. They''d tried before and had their limbs cut off.

    A few weeks earlier, a dozen people had been taken away. After they had left, they were never seen again. The requested amount had never reached a hundred people before. It must have had to do with Cao Yi and the secret mastermind supporting him. They must have a sphemous secret agenda. This vige was starting to be more like a livestock farm.

    Right now the mood in the vige was very depressed. Once Wang De Cheng chose a hundred youths, right as he was about to present them to Cao Yi, a familiar tall figure showed up in the distance. He was leading nine other people. There was also Yin He and NaNa among the group. They were dragging two severely crippled uniformedckeys. They all followed Liu Gan back to the entrance of the Beginner Vige za center.

    "IT''S LORD LIU! Lord Liu is back!"

    "Lord Liu, you have finally returned!"

    "Lord Liu, help us!"

    "..."

    Wang De Cheng and the vigers couldn''t believe their eyes. They had given up hope on being able to overturn their dire situation. They all believed that their Lord had died at Evil Dragon Gulf. Little did they expect him to return on this very day!

    <span>Is that really Lord Liu? Am I dreaming?

 Chapter 472

    <span>Chapter 472 - Champsosaurus w

    TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    First, they rubbed their eyes to check if it was an illusion. Then, it was pinching their cheeks to see if they were dreaming. Once both results came back positive, it was the real deal. Wang De Cheng and most vigers started tearing up and calling for their leader.

    "What is the matter?" Liu Gan starred at stage where Cao Yi and his two bodyguards stood in ck uniforms.

    It seemed like during his absence, someone dared to take the throne out from under him, and they dared to bully his vigers?

    "Lord Liu, so this is what happened¡­" Wang De Cheng was updating Liu Gan briefly on the situation the moment he left the vige. He couldn''t hold in the tears as he exined the embarrassment of having his dignity stripped away from him whenever he tried to oppose their oppressor.

    "Lord Liu, don''t be hasty. That person is already level 14. If you go against him head on, you will get the worst of it," Wang De Cheng whispered to Liu Gan.

    Even though Wang De Cheng knew that Yin He and NaNa were unbeatable, the same couldn''t be said of Liu Gan. He was afraid that with that temper of his, Liu Gan might rush up and lose more than just a limb.

    "Who are you? Are you their so-called leader?" Cao Yi walked slowly over to Liu Gan.

    During his stay here, Cao Yi had heard of the vige''s former leader, Liu Gan, who was supposedly only level 12. Since he was level 14, any level below that number was trivial to him. It would be like Liu Gan was an ant, one misstep could essentially kill him.

    "That is correct, I am the leader here. Now who might you be? How dare youe here and disrupt the peace!" Liu Gan was slightly agitated after what he had heard from Wang De Cheng.

    "I am Cao, as in Cao Yi! Are you scared by my name yet? If you obediently kneel before me, I will forgive you!" Cao Yi shouted at Liu Gan.

    "Oh? Just hearing your idiotic name, does make my legs weak! " Liu Gan used his Psychic Shock skill on Cao Yi, whose body instantly became rigid.

    Liu Gan lunged forth and pped him hard on the face. Left, right, left, right, a rotation of smacks, until Cao Yi fell t on the ground. Then, Liu Gan stepped on Cao Yi''s face so that his nose was buried in the dirt.

    This shocked Wang De Cheng and other vigers. They knew that Cao Yi was level 14, and Liu Gan was still level 12 when theyst met. To their bewilderment, Liu Gan was overwhelmingly suppressing Cao Yi with smacks and even had him pinned under his feet.

    With such strong physical attributes, was it possible that Lord Liu has raised his level at the Evil Dragon Gulf?

    "Excellent!"

    "Wreck him!"

    "Humiliate the clown!"

    "The clown called Cao Yi"

    "Cao Yi is definitely an idiot!"

    "..."

    Witnessing this scene, the vigers felt as if their anger had been alleviated ever so slightly. They started cheering and apuding loudly. These days of living hell were over. Now that their true leader, Liu Gan was back, and Cao Yi was suppressed, they could rejoice.

    "Lord Liu is the best!"

    Without their true leader, they were nothing more than livestock. With Liu Gan back, no one could punish them!

    Cao Yi was only level 14. He had his guard down from the moment he had walked up, which was the opening that Liu Gan needed. Even if he had his guard up, he was too slow. In the end, Liu Gan was able to take advantage of that.

    Once Cao Yi had came to his senses, he forcefully broke free from Liu Gan''s foot. He then wiped the footprint off of his face. Embarrassed, he retreated a few steps back before pulling out his long sword.

    "I thought someone was going to be capable of putting up a fight, but it seems like they are all theatrical! Just another clown!"

    Liu Gan had tested it out already. Fighting against Cao Yi wouldn''t even require the Champsosaurus ws. However, he still wanted to find someone to test his new equipment on. Since Cao Yi wanted to offer himself up, Liu Gan would use him as the first sacrifice to his virgin ws.

    "You dare call me a clown? You are all idiots!" Cao Yi started cursing at everyone around him. After that brief introduction, he had his guard up. He definitely acknowledged that it was possible that Liu Gan was a level above him.

    "Cao Yi is such a clown!"

    "Idiotic clown Cao!"

    Everyone started to jeer at Cao Yi all at once.

    "I was so kind to everyone here. Seems like my generosity has been mistaken for weakness. You people don''t understand how powerful I can be! I will kill you all!" Cao Yi started screaming, and swung his long sword at Liu Gan. The long sword was a special type of double-edged sword, it was thick in structure and had a glowing cyan shadow when swung.

    Liu Gan couldn''t dodge in time, so instead he countered it with his own move on Cao Yi. He used his Eight Consecutive Enhanced Crescent de, while taking Cao Yi''s attack head-on.

    Right as the long sword was about tond on Liu Gan''s body, his body was shrouded with his Mist Armor. The sword stopped short of Liu Gan''s real body. There were several centimeters of Mist Armor that were protecting him. Instead, sparks were produced as byproduct effect.

    After reaching level 14, Liu Gan could use sixteen consecutive Enhanced Crescent de. It could be sixteen individual des, orbined into four or eight des. Liu Gan had equipped his Champsosaurus ws, so it was used in conjunction with his skill. There were eight ws, which matched the eight des, with each w releasing a de.

    Since each w had an outlet, the eight Enhanced Crescent des wereunched simultaneously. The speed of it being used was faster than Cao Yi''s sword making contact with Liu Gan''s Mist Armor. As a result, the Enhanced Crescent de striked Cao Yi''s body first.

    Cao Yi''s thick long swordnded on Liu Gan''s Mist Armor. It only destroyed around five percent of his Mist Armor. Liu Gan''s Mist Armor could be manipted to hover centimeters above his body, so there was no rebound force or damage from any kic energy behind the attack.

    However, Liu Gan''s attack instantly destroyed Cao Yi''s Mist Armor. A familiar blue shattering effect could be seen, signifying the copse of the Mist Armor! As a byproduct, Cao Yi suffered the rebound force since his Mist Armor was still attached right above his skin.

    Both the same level, but one of them had their Mist Armor instantly shattered!

    "You! YOU!... are already level 17!"

    Cao Yi was spitting out the blood gushing from his mouth as he muttered those words. He had witnessed the ability of manipting Mist Armor, which was possible for any yer above level 17. That was when he started to be afraid, he had met a strong foe.

 Chapter 473

    <span>Chapter 473 - Three Days Three Nights

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>Did these vigers lie to him? They said their leader was only level 12! With such powerful offense and defense, was this possible if he was only level 12? What a farce! He was at least level 17, right?

    <span>With his Mist Armor destroyed, Cao Yi knew that he couldn''t fight anymore. He didn''t dare to be as arrogant as before. Standing up, he called forth his uniformedckey, and prepared his escape.

    <span>"Now you want to leave? Do you think my Vige is like a motel, that you cane and go as you please?" Liu Gan shouted as he darted forward and kicked Cao Yi in the ass. Cao Yi tumbled a few times and was suppressed by Liu Gan''s foot.

    <span>Even after the fight, Liu Gan''s Mist Armor was still shrouding him all over. From a distance it had a very sinister look. So when the vigers saw it, they were quite scared.

    <span>"A level 17 Mist Armor Maniption¡­"

    <span>"Lord Liu is already level 17?"

    <span>"No way, right? Wasn''t he level 12 when he left the vige?"

    <span>"..."

    <span>Wang De Cheng was just as afraid as the other vigers. He also thought that Liu Gan was level 12, so how could he be level 17? However, from the moment Cao Yi had been beaten down in one hit, the only reasonable answer was that he was level 17.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen, Ana, Stratos and the other members from the expedition group didn''t rify the situation. Things like Liu Gan''s level were considered top-secret information. It was on a need-to-know basis, and not everyone needed to know.

    <span>"What are you doing standing there? Come save me!"

    <span>Cao Yi pulled out a whistle and blew on it numerous times. Now that he knew Liu Gan had reached level 17, he was uneasy. In addition, he tried to signal his patrollingckeys around toe back to the Vige to rescue him from his dire situation.

    <span>In an instant, a dozen uniformedckeys rushed in from all directions toward the za center. Yin He didn''t hold back, she pulled out her pair of des and started her assault. NaNa followed up and joined in on the attack on them.

    <span>The expedition members,ing back from the Evil Dragon Gulf, were all level 11. While collecting tokens, they had perfected their tag teambination of attacks. They also contributed in attacking a few of those level 12ckeys.

    <span>The asional enemies that slipped through were able to reach Cao Yi, but Liu Gan took care of them with a single Crescent de skill. He didn''t kill them, but severely incapacitated them. Among the dozens ofckeys, one of them was able to release a wireless signal re. The re reached great heights in the sky,and a signal was transmitted.

    <span>Theckey responsible for releasing the wireless signal was suppressed immediately. Once they were all captured, they were handed off to Wang De Cheng as prisoners. Even Cao Yi was escorted away.

    <span>"Bastard!"

    <span>"Look at the clown now!"

    <span>"Let''s kill him!"

    <span>"No, let''s toy with him first, then cripple him!"

    <span>"Let''s torture him for three days and three nights!"

    <span>"..."

    <span>Suffering through days without end of humiliation, Wang De Cheng and other vigers hated Cao Yi. Now that Cao Yi was secured in the prison cell, they could start thinking of cruel tortures like pulling teeth, nails, ying him, whips, and other unspoken methods on open orifices.

    <span>Once all the forey tortures had been done, Wang De Cheng pulled out an alloy metal chain on both sides of Cao Yi''s vicles and strung him up in the cell. Cao Yi enjoyed the full pleasures of being beaten around the clock, so that his Mist Armor didn''t have time to regenerate. Interrogation was also a key process, mainly to extract information about the whereabouts of the abducted vigers.

    <span>As for Cao Yi''s long sword, Liu Gan felt that he didn''t need it, so he awarded it to Cai Hao Chen, who had demonstrated his usefulness throughout.

    <span>***

    <span>"My Lord, I have something to report to you." Wang De Cheng walked into Liu Gan''s mansion.

    <span>"What''s the matter? Speak up." Liu Gan wasn''t in a good mood. All his former allies were taken away, and their condition was still unknown. Torturing Cao Yi didn''t result in any new information, so Liu Gan was quite agitated.

    <span>"Those uniformed soldiers have suspicious nces, as if their mental state is controlled," Wang De Cheng continued to exin his observations.

    <span>"Yeah, I also noticed that. They might be controlled by the organization supporting Cao Yi from the shadows. Their organization seems to specialize in manufacturing humanoid puppets," Liu Gan nodded in agreement. He also felt that something was fishy about the uniformed soldiers.

    <span>"So¡­ among the dozen of uniformed soldiers that we captured, one of them isdy Lin''s father, Lin Feng. However, he isn''t acting like himself," Wang De Cheng continued.

    <span>"Lady Lin? You mean Lin Shi Ya? One of them is her father?" Liu Gan frowned. This father and daughter pair had such a hard life. When one arrived, the other disappeared.

    <span>"Lord Liu, sorry, but I have more bad news. I investigateddy Lin''s disappearance, it seems that she might have been murdered. I heard rumors that Cao Yi sent people tody Lin''s household the prior night. However, there was no mention of her returning from the visit. This is all because I''m so useless! I couldn''t even protect Fifth Elder!" Wang De Cheng started pping himself as punishment.

    <span>During Cao Yi''s interrogation, when asked about Lin Shi Ya, he said that he had vited her and then fed her to the dogs, then continued on with a falsified testimony of what vulgar things he had done to her.

    <span>If fact, Lin Shi Ya had escaped out of the Vige. She ran in the one direction that she thought was toward Evil Dragon Gulf, but since she wasn''t too familiar with the route, she was lost. Due to fate, she had passed by Liu Gan''s group when they were returning to the Vige.

    <span>The other vigers didn''t know about Lin Shi Ya''s whereabouts, so they were forced to believe Cao Yi''s lies. From Wang De Cheng''s perspective, since Lin Shi Ya was Liu Gan''s woman, if she suffered from any reputation damage it would be like he had suffered through the same insults. From the moment he had lost contact with Lin Shi Ya, he knew that he had to report it to Liu Gan.

    <span>"No, this matter was out of your hands. Don''t me yourself too harshly. Right, let''s get back to business. What about theboratory? What is the situation there?" Liu Gan held Wang De Cheng''s hand from pping himself further.

    <span>"From the moment the Vige had trouble, I used our transmitter to contact them. I ordered them to maintain radio silence and shut off all routes leading into theboratory, until they have new orders to open up. So until they receive updates to our current situation, they won''t open up the secret passage. Before I came to report to you, I updated them on our situation and theboratory was running ording to schedule." Wang De Cheng told Liu Gan.

 Chapter 474

    <span>Chapter 474 - All-Out Effort

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    <span>"Good job! Come with me, De Cheng. Let''s go take a walk to ourboratory. In addition, we will escort Lin Shi Ya''s father and the other mind-controlled puppets to theboratory. Maybe Jin Yuan will have a way to help dispel the parasites living on their souls. The idea situation would be if they revive their consciousness and we can get some intel from them," Liu Gan exined.

    <span>"Okay, I will arrange for that to happen," Wang De Cheng nodded and stood up from his seat.

    <span>Wang De Cheng was off to handle this matter with the uniformed soldiers, while Liu Gan called for Cai Hao Chen.

    <span>"Hao Chen, there is a very important matter that I need you to personally handle¡­" Liu Gan whispered the task into his ear.

    <span>"Okay, my lord, I will do as asked. Please be assured that I will do it properly!" Cai Hao Chen promised.

    <span>"Presently, we have a lot of vigers that the enemy has abducted. They might be hostages. Weck information on them. We don''t even know where their base is, nor do we know their tactics. They are in the shadow, while we are in the light. We came back toote, so we can only passively wait for them to make the first move," Liu Gan frowned.

    <span>"Is our opponent strong?" Cai Hao Chen asked.

    <span>"Yes, this uing battle will be a fierce fight. Presently, our situation isn''t too optimistic. That is why I need you to do that task for me. Our sess depends on you carrying out that task," Liu Gan stated grimly.

    <span>"I understand!" Cai Hao Chen nodded several times.

    <span>"This matter is only between us two. No one else needs to know. Inside the Vige, there might be spies in the mix. Even if only a small portion of them have betrayed us, that is enough to ruin our n. So make sure your actions are of the utmost secrecy." Liu Gan reminded Cai Hao Chen.

    <span>***

    <span>After returning to the vige, Liu Gan could easily tell that Cao Yi was just a clown. He was ust a pawn for some organization. Nothing important would be conveyed to a pawn like him.

    <span>The enemy organization was very powerful. They had knowledge of advanced soul technology at their disposal. To request so many vigers at once, must mean that they were nning something for some time. Liu Gan''s actions today had disrupted their ns temporarily. In the end, Cao Yi was a disposable pawn, so losing him wasn''t a huge hindrance to the organization''s n.

    <span>With a pawn at level 14, and all the other uniformed puppets at level 12, meant that the organization leader would be above level 15. The strangest request was that they had demanded the battalions killing off the zombies. That was the first clue, revealing the secret behind the organization''s n.

    <span>Liu Gan had to make an all-out effort if he wanted to break through this situation. He had a few things has to worry about. First, he had to stop the enemy organization''s n. Then, he had to rescue Zhang Sheng Li and other vigers. Also, he had to find out the reason for their actions. Their purpose as an organization on this ind would be an obstacle to the Vige''s prosperity.

    <span>Originally Liu Gan thought that he could rx for a little while after beating the dungeon instance. He even had time to ponder whether or not to use the Spatial Transfer Gate.

    <span>He set the issue with Spatial Transfer Gate to the back of his mind, until he had free time.

    <span>***

    <span>Safely escorting Lin Feng and other prisoners to theboratory, Liu Gan ordered aprehensive examination on their bodies. It didn''t take long for theb results toe back positive for their souls being abnormal. The diagnosis indicated their bodies were housing another parasitic energy, but it was still undetermined if the energy was hostile in nature. The best course of action was to avoid contact.

    <span>Jiang Jin Yuan and Gao Sun examined Wang De Cheng closely. Once they were able to confirm that Wang De Cheng hadn''t been infected by that parasitic energy, they had to get checked themselves. It was a simple precaution to ease everyone else''s mind when working together.

    <span>There was too little information to determine what technology or skill was used to control souls like puppets. As the saying went, better safe than sorry.

    <span>"The energies stationed in their bodies are very peculiar. It seems that the puppet master can control their bodies through the energy as a medium. Once the energy has fused with the existing soul, it isn''t easy to split it. We would needrge quantity of test subjects to experiment o" Jiang Jin Yuan exined to Liu Gan.

    <span>"As long as you protect that person, then you can use the rest as test subjects," Liu Gan pointed at Lin Feng. Liu Gan was very impressed with Lin Feng''s willpower. Lin Feng had entered the game willingly, knowing that dying was very likely, just to search for his daughter.

    <span>"Alright, I will do my best to save him," Jiang Jin Yuan nodded.

    <span>"Oh! Also, find out as much as you can about the parasitic energy. It is possible that Sheng Li and the others have been turned into puppets. Once I rescue them, I would need you to reverse the process with their souls!" Liu Gan finished grimly.

    <span>"Rx, Lord Liu ! I will pause every project at hand and get all our personnel on this project! We will find you the solution!" Jiang Jin Yuan promised Liu Gan.

    <span>For the past these two months, the scientists had obtained and analyzed data rted to souls. However, the situation with the uniformed puppets, was apletely different research topic. With the advanced equipment at his disposal and his brilliant mind, Jiang Jin Yuan believed that he could tackle the problems head-on.

    <span>***

    <span>"I warn you to release me. When my Teacheres, he will kill you all!" Cao Yi refused to submit to the torturer and kept up with the threats, even through the pain of being beaten.

    <span>"Who is your Teacher? Where is he? What level is he? Tell me now so I can feel scared! Idiot!" Wang De Cheng kept on with the verbal abuse. It was all mind games now.

    <span>It wasn''t in Wang De Cheng''s personality to be vulgar, but against viins like Cao Yi, it was hard to contain his anger.

    <span>"You better release me, otherwise you will regretter on!" Cao Yi continued to maintain his earlier attitude. Even now, he would let loose any more information.

    <span>"With his type of IQ, it is hard to get anything useful from him. We might be asking him for an answer he might not even know," Wang De Cheng helplessly replied back to Liu Gan.

    <span>"Then continue on with the torture. If you can''t find any more answers, then no need to continue with the farce. Just kill him when you see fit." Liu Gan pretended that he had lost interest.

 Chapter 475

    <span>Chapter 475 - Cloud Canal

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "You dare to kill me? If I die, everyone here will die! You best believe that! You will regret it!" Cao Yi shouted arrogantly.

    "So, how do you want to die? Do you want to be in one shape, or many pieces?" Wang De Cheng started another round of torture.

    Killing him would be an easy way out for Cao Yi. He had to suffer through all the pain that he had brought to the vigers. In secret, Liu Gan had said to leave Cao Yi alive. In public, Liu Gan had to put up an act.

    "Lord Liu, if they sent out an SOS call, would anything happen to the vige since they have been alerted?" Wang De Cheng slipped in his question.

    "With me here, the vige won''t have any more problems. Don''t be worried," Liu Gan replied nonchntly. Even saying that took some effort, since he could sense that his enemy was overwhelmingly powerful. Even the tactics were a grade higher than his usual encounters, but Liu Gan was confident in his abilities to ovee this challenge.

    Even the King Crocodile had been killed at his hands, so what could be more of a challenge than that? He must take care of this pest before he can try something else!

    From gathering all the intel on what Cao Yi has said before, there was one clue about his organization: they are hiding within the city. As for Cao Yi''s teacher, it is very possible he was above level 15.

    Wang De Cheng''s worries were not without reason. Liu Gan was only level 14. If Liu Gan was fighting against same level peers, then there wasn''t a problem. The problem began if Cao Yi''s Teacher was level 15 or above. The level differences between 14 and 15 were simr to a level 4 and 5 power gap. There would always be one side that had the advantage.

    It was good for Liu Gan that he had Yin He and NaNa by his side. He could still handle yers above level 15. The big issue is that Cao Yi wouldn''t provide any information no matter how many times they tortured him. With limited information, they didn''t have much to work with.

    What a tricky situation! With the enemy in the shadows, they would be difficult to handle.

    <span>***

    The very next day in the afternoon, the newly assembled battalion under the name Gxy Battalion was prepping for an expedition. That was when Liu Gan decided to test out his scepter abilities. Specifically, it was the weather aspect he wanted to change.

    A bright round white light shot out from the scepter. The round shape started to expand and formed a column that prated into the clouds. The column of light expanded horizontally, and covered the entire Beginner Vige and everyone else in it. The light wasn''t harmful, and in fact, it felt warm andfortable.

    When the bright white light started to dim down, the clouds that once roiled in turmoil above their heads had disappeared. In there ce was arge cloud canal. Liu Gan had seen this situation before! It was during the time he was in the northern region of the ind. Sunlight prated through the sky, and shone right down on the Beginner Vige and surrounding areas.

    Now Liu Gan understood how the cloud canal had been formed. However, with one question answered, another two questions came up. Was there someone testing the scepter''s ability? Who was the one testing it in the northern region?

    Once again, the truth of the matter was limited by hisck of information.

    Liu Gan tried to form another column of light in a different area, but in his head a notification popped up. It says that the scepter didn''t have enough energy.

    Energy¡­ Energy...

    What was this energy?

    What type of energy could power this scepter? There was no inlet for taking in electrical energy. There was no inlet anywhere on the scepter! So how was it recharged? If there was no way to charge the scepter, then did that mean it is just a useless wooden stick?

    Liu Gan stashed his scepter away. He would have to worry about recharging the staff at another time.

    After the Gxy Battalion was ready, Liu Gan didn''t want to sit idly for the enemy to strike. Instead, he wanted to get the pre-emptive strike first. He would personally lead this massive battalion. Just like before, their mission objective was to continue killing all types of zombies within Nin Jing City.

    Cao Yi and his organization were very dissatisfied with the vige doing the cleaning, so Liu Gan would do exactly that to piss them off. This would force the enemy organization to reveal themselves!

    <span>***

    With Liu Gan''s leadership and his strengthened Rage Aura and Battlecry, the entire battalion''s morale and damage output had increased. They were unstoppable, cleaning several streets within a day. So far, they hadn''t encountered any resistance from the enemy organization.

    Even though the enemy organization didn''t reveal themselves, Liu Gan had an unexpected gain. Through the deaths of the zombies, his scepter absorbed all the ck orbs that were floating around.

    Regardless of whether it was regr or variant type zombies, they didn''t supply Liu Gan with any experience anymore, but they could be used to feed into the scepter. As long as Liu Gan was holding the scepter, it would capture all the ck experience orbs. The scepter was slowly charging up on the energy!

    Once Liu Gan realized what was happening, he was so excited. He could finally repurpose his waste kills. Killing lower-level zombies didn''t give him any experience, so he always had a few new members escorting him and fed them the kills. He didn''t want to waste the experience points.

    Now, he could venture out alone and it wouldn''t be wasteful to kill the regr zombies. All the energy would be stored within the scepter!

    The energy in the scepter could be used to create more cloud canals. It could also be used to cast magic spells, if Liu Gan could find a Neuroscience Research Facility to activate the mental domain.

    If he could cast a fireball or freeze enemies with ice shards or snipe enemies with lightning, it would feel so cool!

    Liu Gan had already decided his next course of action once he knew how to recharge the scepter. He would get rid of the enemies lurking on this ind, then he would have to find a way to reach a Neuroscience Research Facility. He needed the ability to use long-range magic to increase his damage output.

    If Nin Jing Ind didn''t have a Neuroscience Research Facility, then he would have to take his chances with the Spatial Transfer Gate. Otherwise, why would the scepter and the Transfer Gate be awarded together?

 Chapter 476

    <span>Chapter 476 - Social Gathering

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    During the following two days, Cao Yi was getting tortured by everyone who had the opportunity. Even under distress, Cao Yi didn''t say anything. If it was any normal person, they would''ve gone crazy.

    <span>Liu Gan continued advancing with the Gxy battalion through Nin Jing City. This whole time while the others were fighting, the scepter was just collecting energy. The battalion was uninterrupted the whole time. There were no signs of any enemies.

    <span>The fact that they were uninterrupted surprised Liu Gan. Which district was the organization headquarters located in? What was their purpose behind stopping the battalion from clearing the city in the first ce? Why weren''t they showing up now? The organization must have received the distress signal, so when would they strike back?

    <span>Even if he didn''t want to think about the root of the problem, it didn''t halt the progress of the battalion. He believed that as long as he can show that he can clear the remaining zombies then the organization would be forced to show up. That is when he would fight against them!

    <span>***

    <span>Meanwhile, Lin Sui Ya arrived at Moonlight Gulf Theme Park. Since she couldn''t find Liu Gan, she chose to slip back into the Vige secretly. However, a patrol group with familiar faces made her change her decision and return along with them.

    <span>She was very emotional when she saw that Liu Gan was still alive, but Liu Gan was nonchnt about it. He only thought of her as a friend. Naturally, she was angry about his apathetic expression.

    <span>It was Liu Gan''s order to keep the situation regarding Lin Feng a secret, especially since theboratory didn''t have any good results to show yet. If Lin Shi Ya saw her father now, she would feel needlessly guilty. So rather than have that situation y out, Liu Gan opted to have Lin Feng get treated first.

    <span>***

    <span>Meanwhile, in the torture chamber...

    <span>That same night, there was loud music ying outside, and even the sound of firecrackers.

    <span>"You two are on guard duty tonight! Watch him carefully! He is your responsibility! If anything happens to him, then I will take it out on you!" The intoxicated Cai Hao Chen slurred his words from all the alcohol he had consumed. He locked up the gates, but not before threatening the guards.

    <span>"Rx, leader, with both of us here, nothing can go wrong!" the two guards reassured Cai Hao Chen.

    <span>Cai Hao Chen quickly disappeared from view, wandering off to the distant sound of music and firecrackers.

    <span>"They are all celebrating, enjoying luscious meat and sweet wine, while we are here eating cold nd food. This is too depressing!"

    <span>"Yeah, you are right! Why don''t they send some food our way!?"

    <span>"I wouldn''t mind a couple of girls apanying us on this long night..."

    <span>After Cai Hao Chen left, the two guardsmented over the fact that they couldn''t join the celebration. They walked over to the prison door and looked over in the direction of the social gathering. There were plenty of women dancing on the stage.

    <span>"So, I have something I need to discuss with you," said the bald guard.

    <span>"Well, what''s the matter?"

    <span>"You know that I wasn''t supposed to be on duty tonight. I was forced to take this shift since Brother Wang got sick. I had prior arrangements with my girlfriend, and I haven''t told her yet. She will get mad at me if I don''t tell her about my situation," the bald guard exined.

    <span>"How can you do that? Our supervisors wanted two guards minimum, he is a very important prisoner! If he escapes, do you want to take on the responsibility?" The other prison guard shook his head.

    <span>"He has chains piercing through his body, he definitely can''t escape. Brother Lee, do me this favor! I will pay you back in the future!" The bald guard shoved a pack of cigarettes into the other prison guard;s hands.

    <span>"I will only cover for your ass for twenty minutes! If someonees and asks me about it, I will say you went to the restroom to relieve yourself. You have to return back within that time frame!" The prison guard quickly pocketed the cigarettes. The cigarettes were a luxury good, something that money couldn''t buy anymore in this world.

    <span>"Thank you, Brother Lee!" The bald guard ran out the prison door and disappeared from view.

    <span>The lonely prison guard lit up one of his new cigarettes to enjoy. As he was walking back toward the inside of the prisonpound, he heard a strange noise. It wasing from a different direction, away from Cao Yi. The prison guard called out several times loudly, before walking towards the source of the noise.

    <span>''Who is it?''

    <span>Cao Yi edged as close as he could to hear the sounds from outside. Once he heard the guards leave his vicinity, he was very happy. Day after day, the security was tight. Now was the window of opportunity he had been waiting for. He couldn''t pull out the chains while the guards were watching him closely.

    <span>Earlier, when the drunken Cai Hao Chen was beating him up aggressively, the keys fell out of his pants. Cao Yi noticed it and immediately stepped on top of the keys. Even when Cai Hao Chen walked away, he didn''t notice the missing set of keys.

    <span>As soon as Cai Hao Chen was gone from view, Cao Yi worked on picking up the keys without making any noise. He removed his shoes and strained his toes to hold the key in the right position to insert into the lock.

    <span>Click...

    <span>The lock holding the chains tight was open!

    <span>Cao Yi looked around for the prison guards, and noticed that they weren''t paying attention to him at all. By timing the firecrackers exploding, he was able to remove the chains from his body, the sound masked by the louder noise.

    <span>In this slow, methodical way, Cao Yi was able to slowly remove all the chains from his body. The chains had been pierced through him, so it was both a painful andplicated process.

    <span>The set of keys that Cai Hao Chen had dropped also contained the keys to doors to the prisonpound. Once Cao Yi was free of his shackles, he snuck out through the back door, and quickly slipped into the darkness of the nearby buildings.

    <span>Even if there were patrols on duty, their security wasx. Tonight was a big night of celebration, so not everyone was paying attention with so many distractions of light and noise. It was a great opportunity for Cao Yi to slip through the gaps in security. In little to no time, he escaped from the Vige!

    <span>"Wait until I report back to my teacher! We will kill you all! Then, you will see who is the idiotic one!" Cao Yi cursed in a whisper.

    <span>Unbeknownst to Cao Yi, following closely behind him was a small ck dog. It was silent and could track Cao Yi by his scent. It would be nearly impossible him for him to lose this tracker, especially since he didn''t know it was there...

 Chapter 477

    <span>Chapter 477 - Supreme One

    <span>TL: LifeisaJourney<hr>

    "Master, I''ve returned." Cao Yi shouted towards a vacant room.

    <span>"Oh? How did you escape? Why would they let you free?" an unhappy voice echoed back.

    <span>Judging from the shadows, the unknown Master was like a Sect leader from a Xianxia novel. His voice sounded old enough to match that persona. Surprisingly, Cao Yi had never seen his Master before.

    <span>Cao Yi was a beta yer. During his daily routine before being transferred, he loved to read xianxia novels online. He would often daydream about casting himself as the immortal protagonist in those novels. Before the disaster event in game, Cao Yi had obtained a mysteriousmunication device. He spoke with the person on the other end of the device to find his current Master. The Master introduced himself as a Sect leader and to prove that point, he exinedplex knowledge of achieving immortality. Cao Yi believed what his Master had said and worshipped him.

    <span>Under his Master''s guidance, Cao Yi found several secret missions that other Beta yers couldn''t find. This resulted in Cao Yi leveling up more quickly and solidifying the importance of his Master in his heart. Cao Yi never second-guessed his Master after that.

    <span>Also under his Master''s guidance, Cao Yi climbed on an airship and traversed the seas onto one of the inds. During this period, Nin Jing City had not been released as a game feature yet. Cao Yi had to search for his Master''s location, and tracked the location to the current secret hideout. Even during that initial meeting, Cao Yi only saw the bony shadow of his Master.

    <span>Now that Cao Yi and his Master were on the same ind, it was easier for Cao Yi to carry out different missions. The Master promised that if Cao Yi could continue with his good performance, he could be transferred into the game. That way he could be the true protagonist of The Trembling World.

    <span>At that time, Cao Yi didn''t believe the promise of being transferred from his monitor into the game. He took the promise lightly, as if it was a joke. Three days after that promise, on the fateful day of open servers, Cao Yi was transferred into the game. From that point forward, Cao Yi had no doubt that his Master was very knowledgeable.

    <span>During those days within the game, Cao Yi was doing tasks for his Master sect leader. These tasks included capturing yers and local survivors as specimens for theboratory. As reward for the effort, his Master would hand out ''medicinal pills'' that would increase his level. This positive reinforcement made Cao Yi work even harder. The captured specimens were turned into puppets and dressed in ck uniforms. With the addition ofckeys, Cao Yi could carry out his tasks more easily.

    <span>The Master Sect leader had fulfilled his first promise, so when he promised more rewards, Cao Yi had no reason to not believe it. The second promise was that he would help Cao Yi build his Foundation stage, with the potential to reach past Jindan stage and Yuanying stage.

    <span>This was until one fateful day when Cao Yi received the order to suppress the foreign group that had been invading the city; that group was Sheng Li''s battalion, killing off all the remaining zombies within the city. The Master Sect leader required the energy given off by the zombies. Indirectly, Sheng Li''s battalion was an hindrance to their future development. Upon further investigation, Cao Yi reported the situation back to his Master. Ultimately, Cao Yi was ordered to refrain from needless killing, since every person in the Vige could be useful as a specimen.

    <span>That was when Cao Yi decided to demonstrate his prowess in the Beginner Vige. Apanying him were a dozen uniformedckeys, their purpose being to suppress the vigers and pick out the highest potential specimens. From that point forward, the vige would have to offer up 10 vigers as tribute.

    <span>Once Cao Yi seized control of the Vige, he bought information from those who were willing to betray others. He obtained information that the leader was only level 12, and was on a mission at Moonlight Gulf. The vigers haven''t heard back from their leader ever since the day of departure.

    <span>When the information was passed back to the Sect leader, he disregarded it. From his perspective, a level 12 yer was seeking death at Moonlight Gulf. So Cao Yi was only given instructions to take over the vige. More importantly, they couldn''t allow any vigers to escape. By alluring to Cao Yi''s desire to be an immortal, his Master said the vigers were necessary sacrifices for the Foundation Stage on the path of bing a Supreme Being.

    <span>Cao Yi was even more motivated to watch the vigers like a shepherd. He would report back to his Master in a timely fashion. Thest thing he had ever expected was to be captured by an overwhelming foe.

    <span>Before everyone was captured, one of hisckeys had released a wireless distress call. The signal had information on what had taken ce. Once the Sect leader knew that Cao Yi had been defeated and captured, he had little hopes of Cao Yi escaping. So when Cao Yi returned back to the secret hideout, it surprised him.

    <span>***

    <span>"No, they didn''t release me. I relied on my intelligence and courage to escape!" Cao Yi insisted.

    <span>"You escaped alone? From your pig brain, you were able to escape their watch? I suspect they purposely allowed you to escape. Then, they could track you, leading back to me!" the Sect leader inferred through Cao Yi''s words.

    <span>"I¡­ I thought about that possibility. So along the way back, I''ve been very careful. I purposely took the long route and backtracked on my steps. I took precautionary steps to avoid being followed," Cao Yi continued to reassure his Master.

    <span>Cao Yi had never felt so embarrassed before. Of all the missions he had done before, he had never failed so utterly. His encounter with Liu Gan was a total loss. It was a stain on his perfect track record. He would do whatever he could to take revenge on Liu Gan.

    <span>"ording to my radar life detector that I''ve ced within the perimeter, you weren''t being followed. Well, it doesn''t matter. Even if they were able to reach this location, they can''t enter ourpound. This ce is my immortal chamber! I''ve ced high-level restrictions and heavy firepower weapons to restrict any invader. If it''s a human they will perish, if it''s a ghost they will evaporate! No one will be able to enter my immortal chamber!" the Sect leader promised.

    <span>"That''s a given! My Master is very capable. If you want rain, you will get rain. The flick of your fingers will turn all those rebels into ashes!" Cao Yi continued to praise his Master.

    <span>"Hahahaha¡­ My Apprentice, you are right. However, I am preparing to ascend to Yuanying stage, so I need time. It isn''t a convenient time for me to handle them myself. So let them do as they please for now!" the Master Sect leader instructed Cao Yi.

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