“Captain Zhou, holy shit!”
“Is he even human?!”
“We’re all ability users, so why can’t I do that?!”
Quite a few of the people Zhou Jinshi had brought with him were seeing the high pressure water blade for the first time. The fierce attacks that slashed through the air and struck directly at vital points, combined with his meteor-like speed, once again refreshed their understanding of Zhou Jinshi. If Zhou Jinshi changed into a short martial outfit and put on a straw hat, he would be no different from the wandering swordsmen in old television dramas. Or perhaps he looked even more like a disciple from a cultivation novel.
After all, aside from Zhou Jinshi, the strongest people in the camp were only Level 2 ability users. Although abilities all had different uses and should not be judged as better or worse, no one besides Zhou Jinshi could wield their powers with such complete ease.
Hu Zeyu and Lu Xiaowu were the ones who most often went out with Zhou Jinshi, so they had long since grown accustomed to this.
After panting as he dealt with the two zombies before him, Lu Xiaowu relaxed and even had the spare energy to shout to Hu Zeyu from afar:
“This is nothing. Captain Zhou hasn’t even used his truly awesome move yet.”
That move, they had only seen once.
It was also because of that one time that they finally understood why Zhou Jinshi never let the divine blade leave his side no matter where he went.
The secret martial technique of the ancient saber, Divine Art, had flashed into existence for a brief moment on the night when a zombie tide surrounded the camp.
The entire blade of Divine Art had been covered in a layer of cold frost, clear and hazy like moonlight.
In Zhou Jinshi’s hands, it was no longer merely a razor-sharp blade. It seemed to have developed a will of its own, following its master and releasing an aura as overwhelming as mountains collapsing and seas surging, as mighty as thunder itself.
With that blade in hand, even if Zhou Jinshi had been an ordinary person without abilities, he still would have been able to move freely through the zombie tide.
In that battle where they had been surrounded, the only loss their camp suffered had been a pig tied to the camp gate, one that had run over from who knew where.
The poor pig had been gnawed by the zombies until it let out miserable, shrill screams, warning the people in the camp in the dead of night and allowing Zhou Jinshi to seize the initiative in time.
Because Zhou Jinshi had been there, everyone else had suffered at most minor injuries or exhaustion. Not a single person had been torn apart or bitten by zombies.
Everyone had been preserved, and that night had completely won their heartfelt admiration for Zhou Jinshi.
Whether they were men in their forties and fifties or children in their teens, every one of them called him “Captain Zhou” with complete sincerity and conviction.
A person who possessed such terrifying combat power, who was intelligent and fair, and who had principles of his own, almost felt unreal to some people in this apocalypse.
Only Hu Zeyu, Lu Xiaowu, and Jiang Cong had once seen Zhou Jinshi during night watch. He should have been resting, yet instead he stood with his back to them, gazing at the stars and smoking.
Zhou Jinshi had looked at the stars while smoking one cigarette after another. The lonely sparks glimmered on and off in the darkness.
When even the last cigarette in the pack was gone, he had patted his pocket and taken out a lollipop, stuffing it into his mouth.
That was when they knew that Zhou Jinshi was also just a person.
And now, Zhou Jinshi’s record had once again reached a new height in their eyes.
They could already see the hope of following Zhou Jinshi south to the military fortress and beginning a new life.
By following the right person, they would not walk down the wrong path.
…
With the explosives Lu Xiaowu had provided, Hao Ming’s group of three had worked together to kill at least a hundred zombies lingering in the building as they made their way upward, spending quite a bit of time in the process.
Aside from their abilities being nearly exhausted and their physical strength almost depleted, the three man rescue team had still reached the seventh floor safely and without injury.
Hao Ming had exchanged a distant glance with Li Qiu from below earlier. He knew which room Li Qiu had hidden in.
The little girl placed her hand on the doorknob and pushed open the half-open door before she even had time to catch her breath.
No one was there.
The bad news was that their benefactor was no longer here, and the scene still bore many traces left behind by zombies. Whether it was the room filled with the stench of decay or the footprints stained with dried blood, everything told them just how many zombies had once crowded into this place.
The good news was that their benefactor’s corpse was not here either.
Earlier, they had all seen through the window how Li Qiu had silently arrived at the hotel, how she had waved her hand and made an entire row of zombies collapse, and how she had crossed through the impenetrable zombie horde to reach the seventh floor and save them.
Their benefactor was very strong and definitely had her own means of preserving her life.
Perhaps she was merely hiding in another room right now, waiting for an opportunity to escape.
It was precisely because they had described this “benefactor” in such miraculous terms that Zhou Jinshi’s group had become greatly interested. That was why they had agreed to let Hao Ming’s group come along.
“Let’s search the other rooms,” Hao Ming’s roommate said.
The three of them moved again.
They searched room by room throughout the floor. Whenever they encountered a closed room, they knocked. Whenever they found an open one, they barged right in. Their train of thought was exactly the same as Li Qiu’s when she had brought Li Dong along to search for supplies.
“Hey! Isn’t this big sister’s clothing?” Compared to the word benefactor, the ten year old preferred to call Li Qiu big sister.
Aside from the pair of eyes peering at them through the crack in the door, they had never seen Li Qiu’s true appearance.
Li Qiu really was like a light-fearing vampire, wrapping herself up tightly from head to toe.
Fortunately, they had all seen what she wore.
The light coffee colored sun hat, scarf, shirt, jeans… and a huge hiking backpack.
Now the three of them stared at the bloodstained shirt and hat on the bed and fell into a long silence.
The bloodied clothes were all here, their benefactor had been killed!
“Ah-choo!” Li Qiu had never expected that she still retained the ability to sneeze.
“Did I catch a cold? Or is someone cursing me?” Those should be the only two possibilities for sneezing. Li Qiu sniffed and said to Li Dong.
Li Dong raised his head and looked as though he was about to imitate Li Qiu’s sneeze. Li Qiu hurriedly grabbed him.
“Find the way quickly. Don’t imitate everything.” Li Qiu was mainly afraid that Li Dong would fail to control the volume and, if he sneezed too loudly, the people outside would discover them and they would be done for.
She tightened the windbreaker around herself and led Li Dong through the underground sewer.
She had only seen sewers in television dramas and movies before. The one that had left the deepest impression on her had been Mermaid in a Manhole. The multicolored abscesses and the pale white maggots in the scenes had once made her lose her appetite and lose at least two taels.
The sewer before her contained none of those things. There were only all kinds of pipes, domestic wastewater and sewage, and some rats that had eaten themselves into glossy fur and fat bodies. Although it was pitch black, Li Qiu could see clearly and had no problems with her vision.
The rats living in the sewer were unusually bold. Not only were they unafraid when they saw people approaching, they even came closer. Li Qiu lowered her head and met the eyes of a fat rat. She bared her teeth in displeasure. She had the distinct feeling that the fat rat was evaluating whether she could become its food.
Li Dong stood half a step behind Li Qiu. Li Qiu did not see the expression on his face. His face could only be described with the words difficult to explain. He truly could not understand why Li Qiu ignored the fresh and delicious food outside and instead had her eyes on this sort of thing from the gutter.
However, if she really wanted to eat it, he would catch it for her. A fierce light appeared in Li Dong’s eyes as he stared at the fat rat.
The fat rat’s body suddenly trembled.
Animals possessed a very strong instinct for sensing danger, an exceptionally strong one. It did not dare remain before these two large creatures any longer and immediately darted into the shadows.
Li Qiu sighed regretfully. “Our presence must be too overwhelming. We scared it away.”
They had already walked a long way and could barely hear the loud sounds of fighting above the hotel anymore. Li Qiu estimated that they might soon find another exit.
Even if they could not find one, it was not a major problem. After all, there were rats in the sewers. If she hid down here until she was starving to death, she would not end up gnawing on Li Dong. She could just catch a few rats and eat them first.
Coat them in breadcrumbs, fry them until both sides are golden, and even the zombies next door would cry from envy… Those ability users above definitely could not kill all ten thousand zombies. They would probably fight for a while and then leave. Li Qiu thought seriously and had already prepared Plan B for herself in her mind.
The facts proved that she should not have let her imagination run wild.
Li Qiu felt as though she had walked for a lifetime and taken detours for a lifetime, only to find a large iron door welded shut inside the passage. A sign hung on the door, and on it were written the words, “Sewage Outlet Ahead, No Entry.”
The large iron door looked rather old, but someone seemed to reinforce it every year. Li Qiu pushed and even kicked it several times. Aside from producing loud banging sounds, the iron door did not budge in the slightest.
However, her strength really was tremendous. The sounds of her punching and kicking the iron door underground traveled through the pipes and were heard by an auditory ability user.
Hao Ming, who had been dejectedly regrouping with Zhou Jinshi, immediately perked up and said seriously, “There may still be zombies in the sewers.” To produce such loud noises, it might not even be a D-rank zombie anymore.
Everyone, who had already been exhausted, had no choice but to gather their spirits again.
Zhou Jinshi took it all in as he swept his gaze around the surroundings. It was about to grow dark again, but they had only killed roughly two thousand zombies. The night belonged to the zombies. Perhaps the zombies from the other two islands would also come running over after hearing the commotion. They could not continue staying here.
“I’ll give you half an hour to clean up. The moment half an hour is up, we leave immediately,” Zhou Jinshi ordered.
Everyone knew exactly what cleaning up meant, moving supplies and collecting crystal cores!
Zhou Jinshi wiped his blade clean and strapped it back onto his back. He lowered his eyes silently. Just a little more. He was only a little short of becoming a Level 4 ability user. He did not know what exactly he was lacking.
As everyone busied themselves gathering things, Zhou Jinshi turned his gaze toward the underground.