Millennium Witch.

Chapter 128-127- Escape
Click, click, click.

Inside the dimly lit sewer, water droplets seeping from the ceiling pattered against the steps of the irrigation canal. The beam of a flashlight fell, illuminating the damp, greasy floor. Liana followed behind Firefly, proceeding cautiously. The air was thick with the pungent, acrid stench of decaying organic matter, causing one to unconsciously frown.

Not long after, Liana felt Zero move slightly in her arms. She looked down and saw Zero's dark red pupils staring at her hazily, as if waking from a dream, seemingly not yet understanding what had happened.

"Sleep a little longer?" Liana suggested.

Zero shook his head, released her body, stood on the stone slab of the sewer, looked around, then wrinkled his nose and showed a disgusted expression.

"This is where?"

“The sewers,” Liana said.

Why are we here?

"They're escaping; this is the planned route."

"She made the order?"

"We all booked it together, are you sleeping?"

"Oh~"

Zero yawned lazily, seemingly completely detached from the atmosphere of escaping for his life, as if he were just playing a game.

"Yvette, do you want to join the battle?" Firefly turned her head and asked. She was using an old housekeeping puppet body. Although she had a gun, she was still not very confident about the possible battle that was about to take place.

Since escaping the Abyss Base, Zero has been in charge of handling all the dangers. Firefly and Liana have combat power but almost no combat experience. They cannot remain calm and composed or handle situations with ease like Zero.

Zero was about to nod when Liana said, "No, you should continue resting."

Zero looked at her and saw Liana meet her gaze firmly. She said gently and earnestly, "You're not feeling well. We'll take care of it."

During her time in Fusjiang, or more precisely, during her last few days in New Eden, Zero has inexplicably become extremely lethargic. Liana has asked her whether this is due to overuse of her abilities or illness, but the answer she receives is always "it's nothing."

Liana certainly didn't believe that nothing was wrong, but even if something was, she was helpless. So the only thing she could do was to let Zero consume as little energy as possible and rest as much as possible, while she and Firefly would share the rest of the work.

In the dim light, Zero chuckled, clearly understanding her meaning, and nodded, saying, "Okay, I won't intervene unless absolutely necessary."

Liana smiled slightly and said confidently, "Just watch!"

The group continued forward. Firefly, with her steel frame, powerful firearms, and flashlight, led the way. Liana followed, like a lurking tabby cat, ready to strike any enemy that might appear with her Shadow Touch. Zero was the laziest, squinting and dozing off as he walked, his eyelids constantly drooping.

A few minutes later, the first group of enemies appeared around the corner.

That was an outlet of the sewer system. The wet canal reflected the orange light. Three priests in white robes stood guard there. One held a long staff, another held a glowing shield, and the last held a gun, forming a three-person team that was good at both offense and defense.

Although their helmets were fully reflective, obscuring their faces, their voices echoed back, seemingly expressing their dissatisfaction with guarding the sewers and grumbling about it.

"Should we fire?" Firefly asked. Its gun was stolen from somewhere by Zero; it was a high-end model, the kind that used enchanted bullets, infused with a powerful pulse spell and a metal bullet, capable of penetrating steel plates and ordinary magic barriers.

As long as the three priests don't have time to raise their shields, with Firefly's superhuman aiming ability, he could potentially get three headshots and wipe out the enemy team instantly.

"I'll go first!" Liana shook her head. From beneath her black cloak, the Shadow Touch emerged, like three black snakes, silently approaching the three guardians against the black stone walls and cast iron pipes of the sewers.

Immediately afterwards, muffled groans rang out, and the three white-robed guardians fell straight to the ground. They too had undergone semi-mechanical cybernetic modifications, even their hearts were artificial, but the Shadow Touch possessed terrifying penetrating power, piercing directly through their helmets, killing them instantly without even a chance to scream.

"Wow, Liana, if your abilities grow, you'll be just like your sister, right?" Firefly exclaimed in amazement. "Maybe even more powerful than Yvette."

"I wish that day would really come," Liana said wistfully.

Zero kicked Firefly and said irritably, "Lead the way."

"Oh..." The firefly hurried forward.

The three continued onward, and each time they encountered a squad of guardians on duty, Liana would silently carry out an assassination. The communication equipment they dropped would be hacked by Firefly to maintain contact for the deceased.

In this way, in the eyes of the commander of the Guardian Order, these areas remained perfectly harmonious, and every call received a precise and rapid response. This journey through the sewers lasted for several tens of minutes, and when the group finally emerged from a crack in the fence of an abandoned sewage treatment plant, the rush of cold air invigorated Liana—although the smell here wasn't pleasant either, it was still better than the sewers.

"Where is this?" Zero looked around curiously.

"The old factory area is now abandoned. It used to be a gathering place for homeless people in Fusijiang, but since the start of martial law, everyone here has been cleared out."

Yinghuo explained, "There are many abandoned factory buildings here. My sister has arranged a lot of living supplies for us here in advance, which can last for at least half a month."

Liana was also visiting this place for the first time, her gaze falling on the old factory buildings beside the river. Their outlines were faintly visible in the darkness, reminiscent of old school buildings that are often used as adventure locations in horror movies.

“Our safe house is inside,” Firefly said, guiding the two toward a huge factory nearby.

As she got closer, with the help of starlight and moonlight, Liana could see the factory more clearly.

This appears to be a steel mill, with huge blast furnaces, but it has been abandoned for a long time. The area around the factory is just overgrown with weeds, and further away, you can see city streets and rows of neon lights.

Besides, there's a river on one side of the wasteland, connected to an abandoned sewage treatment plant. Large swaths of multicolored fluorescent light permeate the river, seemingly caused by some kind of magical potion pollution; it looks both disgusting and strange.

"Should I signal my sister to retreat..." Firefly muttered as she walked, but just then, a fleeting figure in the shadows caught her attention, and she cried out, "Who?!"

The newcomer stood in the shadows of the building, moving slowly. But when he was less than 100 meters away from the three, he suddenly accelerated and charged straight at them! Once inside the flashlight beam, Liana could see clearly what the other person looked like: a man with eerily pale skin and green eyes.

—Zombies!
The same words flashed through the minds of Liana and Firefly.

As expected, the Holy Spirit Sect could not have missed this place. The reason why they did not send a cult, police or army to guard this place is because there are spirits of the dead wandering here... Doesn't that mean that there is at least one necromancer hiding in this place?
Instinctively, Firefly pulled the trigger, and an enchanted bullet with a powerful pulse shot out of the barrel, sending the zombie flying. But unexpectedly, its head didn't explode; it just twisted and deformed, and quickly scrambled to its feet.

Firefly fired several shots in quick succession, finally blowing the zombie's head off and splattering juices everywhere.

Then it lowered its gun and said nervously, "Liana, the necromancers here seem really powerful!"

"Why?" Liana asked.

"The gun I'm using is a high-end weapon from Black Tower Pharmacy. It should be an instant headshot kill for ordinary zombies, but that zombie just now took three headshots. That just shows the necromancer behind it is very skilled." Firefly calmly analyzed, then her tone quickly turned cowardly. "Uh, how about we go back to the sewers? It doesn't seem safe here either..."

"Don't be nervous!" Liana said firmly. "My sister said that the necromancer's true form is very weak. As long as I find the true form, I can defeat it."

Just then, Zero suddenly patted Liana's arm, and when Liana looked over, she pointed to the weeds next to her.

Then, Liana noticed that the ground there had been moving in a strange, creeping motion, as if countless field mice were scurrying about underneath. After a while, pale human hands emerged from the soil, looking terrifying in the moonlight.

"Go!" Liana grabbed Zero's wrist and rushed into the depths of the steel plant, intending to cross the entire abandoned factory and escape from the other side.

Firefly followed behind the two little girls, providing cover fire as they retreated, repelling the zombies charging at the front.

"There are so many!!" A dozen seconds later, seeing the dense horde of corpses surging towards her from behind, Firefly put away her gun and shouted as she ran, "Do you think they eat the puppets?"

"I don't know..." Liana was also quite frightened. She was just a 10-year-old girl. Even if she had fighting power, how could she not be terrified when she saw ghosts and monsters?
She immediately started running as fast as she could, leaving only a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zero was being pulled by the wrist, his feet off the ground, floating behind her like a flag. His smile remained unchanged, as if he was enjoying the feeling of being carried away.

A few seconds later, from the shadows of the steel mill building directly ahead, another group of zombies emerged, their eyes glowing green as they blocked her path. Left with no other choice, Liana activated Shadow Touch, her three whips lashing out fiercely, sending the zombies flying and clearing a path.

"Charge!" Liana breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost ordered Zero to make a move, but now it seemed the situation hadn't reached that point yet.

Passing through the narrow gaps between the buildings, a relatively open meadow appeared ahead, and the abandoned wall could be seen further away.

Just when they were about to escape, a giant zombie, over three meters tall, suddenly leaped from the top of the abandoned steel mill's blast furnace, landing in front of the three and kicking up thick clouds of dust. At the same time, the surrounding zombies changed their behavior; instead of rushing forward, they stopped at a certain distance and circled around the perimeter at least a hundred meters away.

Liana was confused about what was going on. She looked over cautiously and found that although the zombie giant's eyes were glowing, its expression was not dull. In fact, it was quite expressive and clearly showed intelligence.

"Who are you?" Liana asked coldly.

"Hi, everyone, cute little mice, and that iron lump over there. My name is 'Ducha Bessmai,' and my rank in the Holy Church is 'High Priest of Reincarnation.' It's a pleasure to meet you all," the giant zombie said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)