"Roar—roar—!!!"
A roar tore through the ruins as a three-meter-tall Giant Corpse covered in Dark Gold Scale Armor shook heaven and earth with its deafening cries, the sound waves causing broken walls to vibrate and hum.
Its steel pillar-like arms swept out, the Bone Spurs on them whistling through the air as they moved.
The breath exhaled from its mouth was filled with a foul, putrid stench.
"Boom!"
Lin Chen hastily rolled aside to evade the attack.
The entire load-bearing wall behind him exploded violently, sending shattered stones flying like rain.
Even as he dodged frantically, Lin Chen's back was slashed open by a Bone Spur, revealing bone beneath, and blood instantly soaked through his patched combat uniform.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up into a half-kneeling position and shouted hoarsely, "Zhao Kai! Restrain it! Hold on a little longer!"
"Brother Chen! I really can't hold on!" Zhao Kai wailed from the flank, wildly swinging his notched alloy blade. "This monster is definitely not level six... I can't even cut through its scales!"
They had never seen a zombie covered in scales before.
Not far away, the corpse of a Mutated Giant Ape of similar size lay on the ground, its head shattered—clearly, the Crystalline Core inside had already been devoured by this monster. It had likely undergone some form of evolution.
"Thud!"
Lin Chen turned to see Li Qiang collapsed on the ground on the other side, his right leg torn open by a Bone Spur, blood continuously flowing from the gruesome wound.
He lifted his head weakly, his breath faint: "Brother Chen... I can't go on either..."
All three of them had sustained varying degrees of injuries, their combat effectiveness severely compromised. Yet, in this desperate situation, Lin Chen's gaze grew increasingly icy.
He stared intently at the zombie's dark scales and its eyes, which were shifting from red to purple.
A glint of insight flashed in his eyes: "Its eyes are turning purple... This is a Tier 7 Zombie! It swallowed the mutant beast's Crystalline Core and has evolved! But its movements are sluggish—it must be severely injured too, on its last legs! Hold on—if we take it down, we can turn our lives around!"
After shooting a fierce glare at the two, he rose, preparing to attack again.
Something felt off about these two today; they weren't performing at their usual level.
But given their years of brotherhood, he assumed they were conserving their Spiritual Power: "Stop conserving your Spiritual Power! Use your Special Abilities on it!"
A Tier 7 Crystalline Core! If they succeeded, at least one of them could break through the shackles of level six!
A blazing fire ignited in Lin Chen's eyes. Zhao Kai and Li Qiang exchanged a subtle glance, their faces lighting up with wild joy as if they had forgotten their injuries.
Although the Corpse Emperor's movements were slow, its recovery rate was astonishingly fast.
The trio's assaults didn't dare pause for a moment—Lin Chen slashed with his long blade while Li Qiang's fireballs and Zhao Kai's ice arrows bombarded the Corpse Emperor in turns.
Ignoring Lin Chen's harassing strikes, the Corpse Emperor focused its frenzied attacks solely on the weakest, Li Qiang.
Dodging left and right, Li Qiang eventually found himself cornered and was impaled through the chest by the Corpse Emperor's claw, collapsing completely.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Kai swiftly retreated into the distance.
The Corpse Emperor turned and lunged at Lin Chen—it had already learned to pick them off one by one, its intelligence likely no less than that of an ordinary human!
"I can't hold on any longer! Brother Chen, think of something!" Zhao Kai shouted while retreating, his gaze sweeping over a broken wall on one side of the ruins, his tone carrying a barely noticeable strangeness.
"Thud!"
Lin Chen kept dodging, but the Corpse Emperor's massive fists were raining down like hailstones!
Unable to evade in time, he was sent flying several meters. Though he instinctively leaned left, a rusted steel rebar still pierced through his right chest from behind.
"Gah—" A mouthful of blood sprayed out, stirring up a cloud of dust.
Excruciating pain surged like a tide, yet it ignited Lin Chen's ferocity instead.
He discarded his already chipped long blade, drew a concealed dagger from his waist, and channeled his last remaining strength into its tip, roaring, "Earth Escape · Flash!"
His figure vanished abruptly, reappearing behind the Corpse Emperor in the next instant.
A cold gleam flashed as the dagger plunged fiercely into the Corpse Emperor's skull—the severely wounded Corpse Emperor failed to react in time!
"Thwack!"
The blade sank deep. With a vicious twist from Lin Chen, the Corpse Emperor's movements ceased abruptly, its massive body crashing to the ground.
A fist-sized purple Crystalline Core rolled into the dust, emitting a crisp "clink" sound.
Exhausted, Lin Chen half-knelt, reaching for the core—
Just as his fingers closed around it, an icy chill shot through his back, followed by an explosion of agony!
"A level seven Crystalline Core!" Zhao Kai's earlier sobbing tone had vanished completely, replaced by naked greed. "It's mine! Finally in my hands!"
Lin Chen whirled around—Zhao Kai stood holding that familiar alloy blade, its edge stained with his blood!
"Zhao Kai... you?" Lin Chen's voice trembled.
Zhao Kai sneered, kicking him onto his back and stomping hard on his right hand.
The sound of cracking bones echoed clearly: "Brother Chen, don't look at me like that. Blame yourself for being too trusting."
"Why?" Lin Chen coughed up dark blood. "Five years fighting side by side! I was the one who found food for you, searched for shelters, uncovered the armory..."
"Fighting side by side?" Zhao Kai laughed mockingly. "You think you deserve that? I'm older than you, yet I have to call you 'Brother' all day? I've had enough! You're just my miner, my meat shield! If not for your Earth Escape being somewhat useful for digging things up, I'd have fed you to the zombies long ago! Now that supplies are exhausted, you—are useless."
He leaned closer, his voice dripping with malice: "Black Dragon said if I offer your corpse, I'll become deputy leader of the Black Dragon Legion. From now on, I'll wield power across Ming City!"
Lin Chen struggled to turn his head toward Li Qiang: "You knew all along too?"
The latter's eyes were hollow, his chest already pierced: "Brother Chen... I'm sorry... You hadn't found food for too long... Brother Kai promised me ten cans... I didn't want to starve..."
"Ten cans?" Lin Chen laughed bitterly. "My life is worth ten cans of food."
Zhao Kai rose impatiently, grabbing for the core in Lin Chen's hand: "Enough nonsense! Die peacefully. I'll take good care of your achievements!"—He intended to swallow the core before Black Dragon's arrival, monopolizing this heaven-sent opportunity.
"Clap... clap..."
A slow, deliberate applause drifted from the shadows of the ruins.
Four figures emerged steadily.
The leader wore black armor, stood at medium height, with bulging muscles. His face was ordinary, not particularly menacing.
Zhao Kai froze mid-action, forcing an obsequious smile: "Brother Dragon! You're here! The core is right here, and the person's dealt with. As agreed—"
"Agreed? What agreement?" Black Dragon sneered, advancing steadily without hurry. "Have you forgotten what I hate most?"
"Brother Dragon, I... I don't understand..."
"Traitor." Black Dragon's voice was as cold as ice. "Especially a dog who betrays his brothers."
"Brother Dragon! You can't burn the bridge after crossing it!" Zhao Kai's face turned deathly pale as he staggered backward.
Before his words faded, an armored warrior behind Black Dragon flashed like a ghost to Zhao Kai's back, a dagger piercing precisely through his heart.
"You... you played me?" Zhao Kai looked down at the blade tip protruding from his chest, his pupils dilating.
"What else?" Black Dragon strode forward, his lips curling in mockery. "You three repeatedly rejected my recruitment—you've long been thorns in my side. Especially Lin Chen, who stole my supplies multiple times. His earth escape special ability would only bring trouble if left alive."
He scanned the surroundings, his smile deepening. "This setup made you fight the Corpse King first—you kill Lin Chen, then I kill you. Not only do I eliminate the threats, but I also get the Corpse King Crystalline Core—oh, now it's the 'Corpse Emperor Crystalline Core'."
He threw his head back with a loud laugh. "Isn't this scheme brilliant?"
"You... I'll haunt you even as a ghost!" Zhao Kai vomited blood in rage before collapsing, dying before Lin Chen.
Li Qiang was also on his last breath, his eyes vacant and spirit broken.
Lin Chen lay in a pool of blood, glanced at Zhao Kai, then turned to Black Dragon, his lips twisting into a bitter smile. "Heh, Zhao Kai actually trusted your words? And I actually fell because of such a fool."
Black Dragon laughed triumphantly. "That guy was indeed stupid enough, haha..."
Lin Chen's consciousness began to fade, unaware that the white pearl he had picked up from the nameless Taoist temple in his chest pocket was quietly absorbing his blood, emitting a faint red glow.
"Black Dragon! Zhao Kai! Li Qiang!" Lin Chen mustered his last breath to roar. "If there is an afterlife—I will make you pay in blood!"
"Bzzz—!!!"
The white pearl suddenly erupted with a blinding red light! Radiant beams burst forth, churning the surrounding blood mist into a crimson rainbow that shot straight between Lin Chen's eyebrows.
The ground split open into a massive vortex, howling winds whipping up flying debris!
"What the hell is this?!" Black Dragon roared, his eyes twitching wildly. "Grab the crystalline core!"
An armored warrior lunged for the core, but the moment his fingertips touched the vortex's edge—his entire arm instantly shattered like glass!
"Ah—!" His scream was cut short as his body turned to dust, scattering across the ground.
Black Dragon's face turned ashen as he stumbled backward. "What... what kind of power is this?!"
Within the red light, Lin Chen's body gradually turned translucent.
With one last glance at Zhao Kai and Li Qiang's corpses, his eyes filled with venom. "To hell with brothers! To hell with loyalty!"
Crimson mist swirled, the light dissipated, and the vortex vanished without a trace.
Amid the ruins, only the purple crystalline core remained, lying quietly in the blood.
And Lin Chen—was gone without a trace.