The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

"Team 3 has encountered a Tier 5 zombie, location D-2-2... Requesting backup!"

The voice in the headset was rapid and trembling, with the sounds of explosions and some kind of liquid splashing mixed in the background.

"Location D-1-9, a team is suspected of encountering six..."

Before he could finish speaking, the team leader's voice abruptly stopped.

Wu You, who was on his way to provide support in various places, felt a heavy weight in his heart.

Encountering a sixth-tier opponent, the entire team would likely be...

But he didn't have time to think. His figure left afterimages on the street as he cleared away the corpses pouring out along the way and rushed toward the location that needed support.

But it was too late.

When he arrived at the first point of distress, the scene before him froze him in place.

At the scene, a Thousand-Faced Corpse Species exuding a fifth-tier aura and with pitch-black eyes was extending its long mouthparts to suck on a corpse wearing a black trench coat.

The corpse's face was turned toward Wu You, its eyes were still open, its pupils dilated, dried blood remained at the corners of its mouth, its trench coat was covered in dust and bloodstains, and the small bronze torch badge on its chest hung crookedly, reflecting a dim light.

Beside that corpse were more than a dozen other corpses covered in wounds.

Their black trench coats were almost torn to shreds, revealing shocking wounds underneath.

Some people still held knives in their hands, the blades already chipped; others remained in a forward-falling posture, as if charging forward in their last moments.

Wu You took a deep breath, as if something inside him had been ignited.

The corpse that was eating raised its head and saw Wu You. A hint of joy flashed in its pure black eyes, and its mouth opened wide, revealing sharp, white triangular teeth.

"The black dog tastes really delicious!" It stuck out its tongue and licked its lips, a sticky liquid dripping from the corner of its mouth. "I didn't expect to get an extra meal now, truly a blessing from the God of a Thousand Faces!"

Wu You remained silent.

A dazzling sword light exploded.

After killing countless zombie species, Wu You's Star Pivot Seven Luminaries Sword finally crossed the threshold of entry and reached the minor completion stage.

But Wu You felt no joy at this moment; he just kept accelerating, accelerating, and accelerating some more.

When they arrived at the second support point at top speed, all they found were a dozen or so tattered black trench coats and—a dozen or so shriveled human skins.

The Thousand-Faced Corpse, radiating the aura of a sixth-tier being, stood beside the human skin, smacking its lips as if savoring the taste from just now.

"Finally, someone stronger has arrived—" it began.

A glint of cold, silver sword light pierced through its head.

The combination of the Tianquan Wenqu Sword and the Tianshu Pojun Sword can instantly kill!

It revealed an incredulous look in its eyes, and its gradually lifeless pupils reflected Wu You's cold face before turning into black smoke and dissipating.

Experience points +4000.

Just then, Wu You's phone beeped.

At this time of no signal, the only way to receive messages is through the bureau's internal communications. He immediately took out his phone, and there was only one message on the screen.

"If my family is still alive, could you please look after them for me, Xiaoyou?" — Lin Yuan.

Upon seeing this message, Wu You's hand holding the sword trembled slightly.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and raised his head.

He knew the meaning of this message.

The image of that always smiling person, who had always helped him so much, flashed through Wu You's mind.

Uncle Lin...

When Wu You opened his eyes again, they were bloodshot, the color that seeped from the depths of his eyes after his killing intent had been condensed to the extreme.

All he wants now is to go on a killing spree!

. . .

On the other side, Mr. and Mrs. Wu, who were originally in the office building, along with a large group of middle-aged men and women, were escorted by a team of people in black trench coats to an underground shelter.

The retirement home they worked at was originally a place under the Bureau of Investigation used to house the relatives of the torchbearers, and torchbearers were always patrolling the vicinity of the company.

If things go wrong, they will naturally be taken to a safer place.

The shelter was dimly lit, the air stifling, and filled with a mixture of disinfectant and rust. Several boxes of water and dry rations were piled in the corner, and a few men in black trench coats stood guard at the entrance, their faces grim.

Mr. and Mrs. Wu were squeezed in the crowd, their hands tightly clasped together. Mrs. Wu's nails dug into the back of Mr. Wu's hand, but he didn't utter a sound, only gently patting her hand with his other hand.

They exchanged a glance, their eyes overflowing with worry: not for themselves, but for their two children.

. . .

Lanhe No.1 Middle School.

Wu Jing and Lin Xinmai followed the main group and, under the guidance of their teacher and a group of people wearing black trench coats, ran into the nearest air-raid shelter.

The corridor was full of people; footsteps, cries, and shouts mingled together like a pot of boiling porridge.

The shelter doors slowly closed, cutting off the last ray of light, leaving only the stark white glow of the emergency lights.

Wu Jing and Lin Xinmai crouched in the corner, hugging each other tightly, their whole bodies trembling. They had just witnessed the zombies devouring people—a classmate was suddenly caught by a monster, which extended its mouthparts and stabbed into his body, after which his skin began to shrivel up, like an empty water bag.

That wasn't a movie, that wasn't a game; it was real, bloody death.

. . .

Lanhe No.5 Middle School.

Hua Linlin followed the main group and, under the command of a team of people in black trench coats, moved to a nearby shelter.

The line stretched out long, and the students stumbled and staggered through the dimly lit streets.

A loud crash came from behind as buildings collapsed. Someone turned around, glanced back, and screamed.

A zombie emerged from the dust and smoke of the collapsed building.

Its neck was ridiculously long, like a twisted snake, its head swayed in mid-air, its pure black eyes swept over the panicked students on the street, and its mouth was split to the roots of its ears, revealing sharp, white triangular teeth.

The aura emanating from it was cold, sticky, and nauseating.

Fourth order.

The next moment, seven people dressed in black trench coats rushed out from the front of the group and stood between the zombies and the students.

This is a logistics team responsible for escorting residents to evacuation points. It is not a combat group engaged in direct combat. The strongest member of the team, the captain, is only a Tier 3 Torchbearer.

The seven men looked grave, but none of them backed down.

The corpse seemed to have caught a whiff of something; it flicked its neck and its head shot towards the group.

The seven moved simultaneously, and the silver beams of their psionic pistols shot towards the corpses' bodies from different directions, weaving together a net of fire.

But the light that fell on the corpse didn't even leave a faint burn mark; it just made it tilt its head slightly.

The captain conjured an ice spike and aimed it at the zombie's eye—the only seemingly weak spot.

The ice spike shot through the air with a sharp whistling sound. The black-eyed corpse didn't even dodge, letting the ice spike hit its eye socket and shatter into a cloud of ice crystal powder.

The gap is too big.

The corpse seemed to be enraged as well. Its neck suddenly shrank back, and then it sprang out like a spring, so fast that it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.

The captain had no time to dodge and was bitten on the right shoulder by that gaping maw.

"Click—"

The sound of bones cracking was clearly audible.

His right shoulder and entire right arm were swallowed whole by the corpse, and blood gushed out from the severed area, staining half of his body red.

He gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound. He conjured frost with his left hand and froze the wound below his right shoulder.

The corpse chewed twice, spitting out the pieces of white bone, then stuck out its tongue and licked its lips, a hint of satisfaction flashing in its pure black eyes.

The logistics captain's face was as white as paper, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat, but his eyes remained sharp. He stood at the front of the team, like a wall that was about to collapse but did not fall down.

"Keep the attack." His voice was hoarse but steady. "We need to stall for time!"

Without hesitation, the six men raised their sidearms again.

The silver light shone again, this time more intensely and wildly.

Some rushed in for close-quarters combat, some circled around to the sides and used their abilities to hold the enemy back, and some retreated to the rear to provide support with their sidearms. They knew they couldn't win, they knew they might die, but not one of them ran away. They were fulfilling the torchbearer's oath with their lives!

The corpse's neck swung back and forth like a nimble giant python.

It slapped away a torchbearer who rushed up, sending him rolling seven or eight times on the ground. He struggled a few times but couldn't get up, and then swallowed a black trench coat whole, the chewing sound particularly grating.

But it was indeed held back!

Hua Linlin stood at the back of the line, trembling all over.

She looked at the captain, whose body was almost half gone and who was only able to continue fighting by being frozen, and at the black trench coats that fell one after another.

She couldn't help but think of the boy who was also wearing a black trench coat.

Are all the monsters you fight these kinds of?

She tried to run, but her feet were rooted to the ground and she couldn't move.

She wanted to cry, her eyes were full of tears, but they wouldn't fall.

Then she saw the captain stand up again. His left arm had also been bitten off, the cut covered with ice, emanating a chilling aura.

With his last remaining strength, he condensed a final ice spike and shot it towards the corpse. The ice spike flew less than two meters before hitting the ground and shattering into pieces.

But he is still trying.

Human beings...

Humans!!!

Hua Linlin felt something explode in her mind.

A warm power surged up from deep within the body, spreading along the spine to every part of the body.

At her feet, several cracks appeared in the cement ground, and a few emerald green vines sprouted from the cracks, thin and tender, like newly sprouted bean seedlings.

The vines climbed forward and wrapped around the hind leg of the corpse-like creature. The creature glanced down, then gently lifted its foot, snapping several vines in two.

Hua Linlin gritted her teeth and channeled her inner power, causing more vines to surge from the ground. This time, they were thicker and tougher, wrapping around the zombie's ankles and calves.

The corpse-like creature frowned, lifted its leg, and the vines creaked but didn't break. It looked down at the green things, a hint of surprise flashing in its pure black eyes.

But it only lasted a moment. With a little force, the vines crumbled into dust like paper.

It's simply impossible for a newly awakened Tier 1 ability user to bind a Tier 4 corpse.

But Hua Linlin didn't stop. A faint green light appeared in her palm, and she raised it slightly forward. The green light floated towards the captain's direction.

The green light emanated a warm feeling, like a spring breeze or a newly sprouted bud.

The ice on the captain's body, who was lying on the ground, trembled slightly, and new granulation tissue began to grow slowly from his wounds.

At this moment, the corpse also noticed the green light.

It turned its head, its pure black eyes fixed on Hua Linlin, and then it moved—no longer with the teasing posture of before, but with a real, deadly attack.

Its neck stretched out, its head ejected, and its gaping maw flew straight toward Hua Linlin.

Upon seeing this, the captain tried to get up, but his broken body wouldn't obey him!

As Hua Linlin watched the mouth getting closer and closer, and saw those sharp, white, triangular teeth, her pupils suddenly contracted.

There's no escaping it!

Just when Hua Linlin was about to be swallowed whole...

A silver-gray sword light cleaved down from the sky, like a bolt of lightning, precisely striking the corpse's outstretched neck.

Where the sword flashed, the neck was severed in two.

The head was still flying in mid-air, its mouth still opening and closing, and its eyes still held a bloodthirsty excitement, but the body had stopped. A large amount of black smoke poured out from the severed part, and like a tower whose foundation had been dug out, it swayed and fell down.

Wu You fell from mid-air, his black trench coat fluttering in the wind.

His feet were not on the ground, but suspended half a meter in the air, and the silver-gray afterglow still lingered on the four-colored crystal longsword in his hand.

Lanhe No. 5 Middle School belongs to District D-1-9. Wu You, who was passing by, sensed the aura of a fourth-tier corpse and immediately rushed over to deal with it.

Wu You glanced at the logistics team leader, then at Hua Linlin, without saying a word.

He pulled his psionic pistol from his waist and casually tossed it into Hua Linlin's arms.

"Use it for self-defense, then use your abilities to heal him," he said.

Then his figure disappeared, leaving only a faint silver starlight that slowly dissipated in the wind.

Hua Linlin held the pistol, staring blankly in the direction he had left.

The students behind him erupted in commotion. Some were calling out Wu You's name, while others were asking who that person was.

She simply lowered her head, looking at the gun in her hand. A line of small characters was engraved on the gun—"LH-36".

She didn't know what it meant, but she knew that the gun was left to her by that person.

She gripped the gun tightly, turned around and knelt beside the captain, her palm glowing green again.

Wu You chased and killed his way through the enemy lines, his sword never stopping.

But human resources are sometimes limited, and Wu You was all alone.

Tens of thousands of Lanhe residents died, and the remains of the black trench coat were scattered in every corner of the city. The entire Lanhe was filled with the fear of death.