Chapter 211: Death Cycle (IX)

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Chapter 211: Death Cycle (IX)

Shang Ke climbed the nearest watchtower and stood at the top overlooking the entire base. Towers like this had once served as the city’s signal hubs, but they had long since fallen out of use. These days, only people wanting a view bothered to come up here.

Shang Ke concentrated his mental power and slowly extended his perception outward from himself. As the search radius widened, clusters of flickering soul fire appeared one after another within his senses. Ordinary people had white soul fire, most ability users had red, while Level Seven and above ability users were predominantly cyan or purple.

Low- and intermediate-rank zombies had no soul fire. High-rank zombies of the red-eyed rank or above condensed spirit crystals within their bodies, each crystal displaying a different color according to its energy attribute. They shone like brilliant stars, beautiful points of light. It was hard to imagine that such ugly, vicious creatures could nurture something so exquisite.

Within Shang Ke’s field of perception, there was no distinction between humans and zombies—only a vast expanse teeming with vitality.

He searched for a long time but never found Di Kui’s golden soul fire. Instead, he discovered a rare blue flame whose owner was currently pursuing a high-rank zombie that had infiltrated the base.

What Shang Ke did not know was that the moment he opened his perception to others, he also became visible within theirs.

Against that dark perceptual world, his own soul fire blazed like the sun, dazzlingly bright.

A figure entered the watchtower and reached the top in the blink of an eye, appearing soundlessly behind Shang Ke.

Shang Ke seemed to sense something and was just about to turn when a fierce gust swept past him. A shriek came from the little zombie hiding in the shadows as she was forced into view. Shang Ke then noticed in surprise that her shadow appeared to be pinned by some invisible force; no matter how she struggled, she could not break free.

To subdue a General-class zombie in a single move spoke volumes about the newcomer’s strength.

“Don’t come out alone at a time like this. It’s dangerous.” A deep voice sounded beside his ear, seeming both near and far away.

Shang Ke followed the voice. The moment he saw the newcomer’s face, surprise flashed through his eyes. It was… Huo Xuan?

Huo Xuan stood before him with a tall, straight bearing, an austere presence, and an aura that felt strangely familiar… Yet, just like Di Kui, that sense of familiarity was faint. The greatest difference between them was that one brimmed with vigorous life while the other radiated dense death; one was cold and keen as a blade, the other violent and savage as a volcano.

At last he was face-to-face with the man he had wanted to meet, yet Shang Ke still could not make a definitive judgment. Between Huo Xuan and Di Kui, which one was truly his lover?

Huo Xuan quietly studied the man before him. In his perception, that golden radiance seemed to merge with Shang Ke himself, becoming a golden flame that burned fiercely in his heart.

“Your name?” Huo Xuan asked.

“Shang Ke.”

Shang Ke… Huo Xuan repeated the name silently, then walked past him toward the little zombie.

Sensing danger, the little zombie let out a piercing snarl.

Huo Xuan slowly raised a hand. Several strands of silver light intertwined around his arm as razor-sharp sword energy hummed through the air, then shot toward the little zombie like lightning.

In the next instant, the sword energy froze strangely just a few centimeters from her. It shattered into fragments of silver light and abruptly dispersed.

The little zombie seized the opportunity to wrench herself free of Huo Xuan’s restraint, darted through the window, and vanished without a trace.

Huo Xuan paid her no attention. He turned toward a particular direction, a cold gleam flashing through his eyes.

Then his figure blurred, and he disappeared on the spot.

Di Kui’s presence was nearby. He had clearly been the one to save the little zombie just now, and Huo Xuan’s abrupt departure could only mean he had gone after him.

Shang Ke frowned and was about to follow when the air beside him rippled. Huo Xuan, who had already left, suddenly reappeared in front of him and held out an elegant little bottle. “This is for you.”

Puzzled, Shang Ke accepted it. Then he caught sight of the mole on Huo Xuan’s palm. His heart jolted, and he was just about to ask about it when the man vanished again.

Huo Xuan’s aura alone was not enough for Shang Ke to confirm his identity, but the mole on his palm was an important feature Di Kui did not have. Did that mean Huo Xuan was more likely to be his lover?

Shang Ke’s thoughts were a mess. He lowered his gaze to the bottle Huo Xuan had given him. The glass was crystal-clear, holding a pale pink liquid that looked almost like rose quartz.

He uncorked it, and a delicate fragrance immediately drifted into the air, refreshing his mind.

Perfume.

Strange. Why would Huo Xuan give him perfume out of nowhere?

Still puzzled, Shang Ke’s gaze happened to fall on the hand he had wrapped up like a rice dumpling. Realization dawned. Could it be because of this?

He had sprayed quite a lot of perfume on the bandages earlier to conceal the smell of blood. Sure, it was expired, but it could not possibly smell so terrible that Huo Xuan found it unbearable and felt compelled to give him a replacement bottle… right?

Their very first meeting, and the man who might be his lover was already disgusted by him? Shang Ke felt terrible.

While he was still agonizing over it, the ground suddenly shook violently. A tremendous wave of energy followed, sweeping outward like a tidal surge. Walls cracked one after another, every ability user below Level Eight was forced to their knees, and ordinary soldiers began bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

The humans inside the base were not the only ones affected. The zombies outside suffered as well. Those nearest the walls collapsed in swaths, while the ones farther away dropped flat to the ground and stopped advancing.

The energy wave vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, but the battle seemed to end in that single instant. Humans and zombies alike had taken a devastating blow and were temporarily incapable of continuing the fight.

Shang Ke, however, was barely affected atop the watchtower. Given his constitution, an impact of that magnitude should have left him with one foot in the grave, yet he remained completely unharmed.

Could it be that only physical attacks could injure him, while abilities had no effect?

Thinking back, every time he had been “killed,” it had been through Di Kui’s brute strength. When Di Kui lost his temper the previous night, the energy he released had cracked walls, tables, and chairs, yet Shang Ke had not been hurt at all. If so, perhaps he really was immune to every ability.

He had wondered before: all three of them had obtained a world-essence shard, so why had Di Kui and Huo Xuan received almost godlike boosts in strength while he seemed unchanged apart from repeatedly dying and reviving?

So it was not that he had failed to change. He simply had never noticed his own special ability—immunity to abilities.

Shang Ke fell silent. Immunity to abilities… what the hell was that good for?

Could it save him from being torn apart? Could it protect him from a certain Zombie King’s palm? Could it turn him into some peerless expert capable of killing from a thousand miles away?

No!

Di Kui could slap him to death without using an ability at all. Zombies still coveted his flesh, and his own combat strength was only impressive compared with ordinary people.

Shang Ke finally understood, just a little, why “he” had been designated “Passerby A”…

Di Kui and Huo Xuan had not even met face-to-face. A single clash from a distance had already produced this much destruction. If it happened a few more times, there probably would not be many people in the base who could walk away unscathed.

Although the zombie horde had temporarily withdrawn, the shock caused by those two tremendous forces had yet to fade. Some guessed that one of them had been Huo Xuan, but no one knew who the other was. No one would have imagined that it was a Zombie King—a Zombie King who had spent the entire previous night sleeping peacefully inside the same base as them…

Shang Ke came down from the watchtower and found the base in ruins. Mercenaries passed him in twos and threes; some had blood covering their faces, others staggered as they walked, and nearly everyone bore some degree of injury. Only a handful of experts appeared untouched. So when Shang Ke, neat and spotless, stepped into the crowd, he immediately drew a great many awed looks.

They all took him for a peerless expert. Combined with his looks, he had practically become the base’s newest male idol overnight. Everyone began asking who he was, eventually managing to pry a little information from Song Bin and his companions.

When Shang Ke returned to his room, Di Kui was already back. He was crouched on the windowsill with a baby bottle between his teeth, his tattered clothes hanging from his body, looking for all the world like an old monk deep in meditation.

At the sight of Shang Ke, Di Kui turned his head and said, “I met ‘him.’ He’s nothing special.”

The remark came completely out of nowhere, yet Shang Ke somehow understood exactly what he meant.

He hesitated before asking, “Why are you interested in him?”

Throughout their travels together, Di Kui had never once mentioned Huo Xuan’s name. He clearly had not cared about the so-called Human King’s existence. That made his sudden provocation today all the more puzzling.

“Don’t know. Just want to kill him.” Di Kui unconsciously chewed on the nipple of the bottle as he spoke in a muffled voice.

Shang Ke: …I already knew you were a simple, straightforward, violence-loving Zombie King, but could we perhaps be just a tiny bit more civilized?

Seeing that Di Kui’s bottle was empty, Shang Ke handed him a full one.

Di Kui passed Shang Ke the empty bottle, accepted the replacement, and smoothly put it in his mouth.

Only then did Shang Ke notice that the nipple on the empty bottle had already been bitten clean off, leaving behind nothing but a ragged hole.

Shang Ke had always regarded the Zombie King’s stomach with profound respect.

He tossed the abused bottle into the trash and began thinking about how to make Di Kui abandon the idea of killing Huo Xuan. Today had only been a probe. Next time, they would probably fight for real.

Shang Ke could kill Di Kui, while Di Kui could kill Huo Xuan. Once Huo Xuan died, then if Shang Ke wanted to complete his mission, he would have no choice but to kill Di Kui himself.

In truth, deep down he had already chosen the route in which Huo Xuan killed him. That way, he would no longer have to be caught between the two options.

Then another thought occurred to him. If that was already his choice, why bother confirming which man was truly his lover? This world’s mission differed from all the others: no matter how much he struggled, he would ultimately have to choose one death. Rather than wait until feelings developed and then kill the other person—or be killed by him—it would be better to settle everything while there were still no feelings involved.

As he was thinking, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

“Shang Ke.”

The moment he heard that voice, Shang Ke went blank. Why was it Huo Xuan?! The entire base was in chaos. Instead of handling the situation as its leader, what was he doing here?

Shang Ke instinctively looked at Di Kui. The Zombie King’s expression had not changed in the slightest, but the bottle in his hand had already been crushed to fragments, white liquid running between his fingers. Then he lightly hopped down from the windowsill and began walking toward the door.

Shang Ke lunged forward in one stride, wrapped both arms around his waist, and said gently, “Don’t go out.”

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