Chapter 197

Dozens of blade cars gleamed in the morning light.

Their tanks were full.

Jiang Cheng was in the lead vehicle. “Let’s go,” she said.

Engines roared, and the convoy charged forth beneath the dawn glow.

Zhao Yi thought, Isn’t this just like the final battle you always see in anime?

He wanted to laugh.

Though it was hardly appropriate under the circumstances, Zhao Yi still wanted to laugh.

Because he had finally figured it all out.

Zhang Lesi asked him, “What are you laughing about?”

Zhao Yi clasped her hand tightly. “Lesi, if we end up in another world, we’ll definitely find each other, right?”

He had to hear her say it.

Zhang Lesi was utterly confident. “Whether you can find me or not, I’ll definitely find you.”

Zhao Yi was overjoyed. “All right. It’s a promise.”

What do you mean, it’s a promise? Idiot.

Zhang Lesi laughed too.

A promise, then.

Tens of thousands of zombies let out a collective roar.

Their synchronization was unnaturally perfect. It was obvious they were being controlled.

The Corpse Emperor controlling the zombie horde was probably hiding inside the palace carried on the shoulders of the giant zombies.

The zombies began to charge.

The blade cars rushed forward without fear.

Billowing clouds of dust rose on both sides.

Impact!

Heads went flying. Tentacles were severed. Claws punched through the cabins and pierced human bodies.

The cars’ window glass had all been removed and replaced with horizontal blades, allowing those with supernatural abilities to use their powers through the gaps.

Fireballs and bolts of electricity shot forth.

Insect-like zombies crawled beneath the cars and heaved them upward. The vehicles tilted, and the zombies seized the chance to swarm over them and flip them over.

The metal-type ability users immediately opened up the cabins. The metal bodies of the cars bloomed like flowers, flinging the zombies clinging to them high into the air.

The survivors took the opportunity to scatter from the cabins.

Armor and crescent shovels glinted in the sunlight.

This time, no one ran away.

Once they understood there was nowhere left in the world where they could survive, the despair somehow made them fearless.

Since death was unavoidable, they might as well kill a few zombies first. At least then, they would not have lived for nothing.

Some of those who had fled eastward began to regret it. Yesterday, they should have stayed behind and died fighting alongside Su Yu, Gao Yuxuan, and Aunt Pan.

But this was fine too.

Dying with Jiang Cheng now was just as good.

Zhao Yi truly saw familiar faces among the zombies.

He saw Nie Kuizhang.

Zhang Lesi saw the doctor who had supervised her training at the hospital.

Her mentor had died during the first zombie outbreak. Nie Kuizhang had died on August 29.

Zhang Lesi was shocked and uncertain. Turning to Zhao Yi, she asked, “What’s going on? Am I seeing things?”

Zhao Yi’s expression was remarkably calm. He did not answer her question. Instead, he reminded her once again, “You have to find me.”

Their car was caught by an octopus-like mutant zombie.

A metal-type ability user opened the cabin and turned the vehicle’s body into blades, slicing through the octopus’s tentacles.

Stone spikes burst up on every side, sending zombies flying.

Zhang Lesi gripped her crescent shovel and shouted to Zhao Yi, “Don’t worry—you won’t be able to escape the palm of my hand!”

Then she charged into the horde.

Every blade car was abandoned.

The finest creations of the metal-type ability users.

They had proven their worth countless times on the roads, slaughtering more zombies than anyone could count.

Now their time had come.

Everyone rushed out of the cabins.

Even someone like Mr. Xu, a metal-type ability user, hadn’t given himself a protective shell like a “pen holder.” Like everyone else, he wore only ordinary armor.

They had gone into this battle prepared to die together with the enemy.

Li Jiangbing slaughtered his way through the horde like a Vajra warrior in a Buddhist temple, utterly berserk.

Strictly speaking, this was Song Jingshuo’s first time taking part in a battle with his superpowers.

Thick vines burst from the ground in every direction, sweeping up zombies and hurling them into the distance, smashing their brains on impact. Or they wrapped around their necks and twisted until they snapped.

Li Feng and his comrades were terrifyingly powerful in one-on-one combat.

Yet once they were swallowed by the tide of corpses, every last one of them was overwhelmed.

“Go—Jiang Cheng! Go—” Li Feng roared, his entire body engulfed in flames.

Everyone was carving a path for Jiang Cheng.

They wanted Jiang Cheng to go ask that bastard Corpse Emperor exactly what he intended to do in this world.

Mo Li transformed into a giant cat and carried Jiang Cheng toward the palace in the distance.

Anything that dared to stand in their way was bitten to death, trampled flat, or torn to pieces!

Jiang Cheng glanced back and saw her companions sinking into the tide of corpses.

She turned her head forward again and refused to look back.

The giant zombies set the palace down, sending clouds of dust billowing into the sky.

Then they charged at Mo Li, the earth trembling beneath their feet.

【Jiang Cheng, get down!】 Mo Li said. 【Jiang Cheng, go!】

After setting Jiang Cheng down, Mo Li’s body swelled once more!

The enormous beast charged forward and tangled with the giant zombies.

Jiang Cheng ran toward the palace, with Mo Li’s cries echoing behind her.

Jiang Cheng looked back.

There were too many giant zombies. They tore into Mo Li’s flesh.

Jiang Cheng turned her head forward again. The palace was right in front of her.

Her feet never stopped.

Zombies surged forward to intercept her. Massive chunks of concrete appeared in midair one after another, crashing down and flattening swaths of them.

Jiang Cheng ran with every ounce of strength left in her life.

She refused to look at her companions behind her. At that moment, there was only one thing on her mind: charge into that palace, see the true face of the Corpse Emperor, and chop off his dog’s head.

A horde of large mutant zombies appeared ahead. Jiang Cheng released an enormous block of concrete.

These were remnants of buildings she had collected during the earthquake. They had been construction materials for the earth-type users during reconstruction, but in battle, they were ready-made weapons of mass destruction.

Although Jiang Cheng could release the materials and reclaim them at the same time, the limitations of her control range meant that she kept losing usable material as she sprinted forward.

Until she reached the end of the road.

Her space was empty.

Her strength was gone, too.

Jiang Cheng fell to the ground.

Once again, Jiang Cheng felt anger rising inside her.

They had thrown her into a world like this, yet hadn’t given her any combat ability.

Using objects from her space as weapons was nothing but a cheap trick! In truth, she had never gained any real fighting power.

Not fire, not lightning, not metal, not earth—not even wood!

All she had was a space and a whole assortment of safety protocols!

To hell with these safety protocols!

Jiang Cheng was so furious that her brain exploded once more.

【Safety protocols disengaged.】

An interface like a black hole opened before her eyes, resembling a mirror of pure darkness.

Using the last of her strength, Jiang Cheng drove her crescent shovel into the face of the nearest zombie.

She released the weapon, sprang into the air, and leaped into the black hole.

The black hole vanished in an instant, leaving no one on the ground.

Only the zombies remained, staring around in confusion.

At that exact instant, a black hole opened. Jiang Cheng leaped through space, emerged from it, and hit the ground hard.

Jiang Cheng rolled, then pushed herself up awkwardly and looked ahead.

At last, she saw the Corpse Emperor.

Jiang Cheng had broken the safety protocol, crossed through space, and entered the Corpse Emperor’s palace.

It looked terrifying from the outside, but inside it was remarkably plain—there was nothing there.

The vast hall contained only enormous marble pillars that took two people to encircle, and a marble floor.

Straight ahead, where a throne would normally stand, was a platform raised above the ground.

That “platform” was probably the equivalent of a throne.

Because the Corpse Emperor had no ass to sit on.

“You’re here,” said the Corpse Emperor.

It was the voice of the mysterious man.

The Corpse Emperor looked very old—an elderly man with an almost kindly face.

His upper body was human, but from the waist down, he had a spider’s body and a scorpion’s tail.

Jiang Cheng found the “Corpse Emperor” before her utterly ridiculous.

What was ridiculous was that he looked like such a cheap patchwork creation, like the villain from a low-budget horror movie with disastrously bad design.

He simply didn’t deserve the life-or-death struggle everyone outside had endured.

If Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan saw him, they would be disappointed too. The Corpse Emperor they had imagined was far cooler than this one.

“So it’s you?” Jiang Cheng said.

She wanted to move closer, but one of her ankles was injured. Pain shot through it, and she nearly stumbled.

Dragging her injured foot, Jiang Cheng moved forward one step at a time.

“Were you the one who dropped me into this world?”

“Are you the one who wants to wipe out humanity?”

“You’ve been playing us in the palm of your hand. Is that fun?”

The sight of the Corpse Emperor’s cheap, ridiculous, utterly uninspired appearance sent her anger surging to its peak.

“Tell me—what is your purpose?”

“Is it this world, or is it me?”

“Tell me. Are the people outside suffering all this because of me?”

The Corpse Emperor actually smiled. “Do you hope they are, or do you hope they aren’t?”

The old bastard even had the nerve to press further. “Are these people important to you?”

Her lips were split, and blood seeped from her teeth.

Jiang Cheng spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

“I didn’t come here to listen to your jokes. I want the truth!”

“The truth...” said the Corpse Emperor.

His enormous scorpion tail reached forward and fired a beam of light, which spread into a doorway of light.

“Walk through this door, and you will see the truth.”

“But you will never be able to turn back.”

“Jiang Cheng,” the old man asked, “is the truth really that important?”

Jiang Cheng spat out blood again, then wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her grimy hand.

“If I’m going to die anyway, I want to die knowing why.”

Without hesitation, she stepped into the light.

...

...

...Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng.

Someone was calling her.

Who was it?

Faces flashed before her eyes, one after another.

First Peng Ze, then Master Luo, Wu Jiancheng, He Tian, Guo Jun, Aunt Pan, Zeng Qiang, Yang Xinyan, Little Fang, Manager Wang, and the aunties.

Little Huang, Xiao Dan, Uncle Eighty, Auntie Xue, Auntie Qian, Mr. Xu, Director Yu, Brother Dong—even Zhou Wang and Nie Kuizhang.

Jiangbing, Jingshuo, Su Yu, Lesi, Zhao Yi, Yuxuan, Haiyang.

There were too many. Far too many.

Every one of them was ordinary and imperfect. Every one of them had flaws—some were even full of bad habits.

But every one of them was alive.

Jiang Cheng even felt as though she had never been surrounded by so many living people in her entire life.

Each of them had left an imprint on her soul, layer upon layer, shaping who she was.

【Mental power source link safely disconnected.】

【Memory block removed.】

【Mental power readings normal.】

【Vital signs normal.】

“Jiang Cheng.”

“Young Mistress.”

“Executor.”

All her memories came rushing back. Jiang Cheng knew that these were all names by which she had been called.

The voices sounded distant and indistinct, as though coming from the other side of something.

The probes embedded in her head detached one by one and retracted automatically, causing a faint ache.

She opened her eyes.

The world warped and blurred through the liquid.

The nutrient solution was highly oxygenated. Its nutrients seeped through the skin, while the liquid entered the lungs and exchanged oxygen atoms directly.

A pair of hands after another reached into the fluid, carefully supporting her head, neck, shoulders, and back as they lifted her from the tank.

Jiang Cheng sat up and coughed the liquid from her nose and mouth.

The nutrient solution settled and was recovered. The tank unfolded and contracted, transforming into a platform.

The people around her helped lower her legs.

Afraid that her body had grown numb from lying in the tank for too long, they massaged her from neck to calves.

They were all handsome, physically fit young men—each one a stunning beauty in his own right.

They knew her body and habits intimately, and knew exactly how to make her comfortable.

Their hands were endlessly gentle.

“Executor.” An old man’s voice rang out.

It was a familiar voice—the mysterious man’s, only older and more weathered. Yet it was still unmistakable.

It was the Corpse Emperor.

The young men stepped aside, revealing an old man behind them.

He wore an extremely old-fashioned uniform with a bow tie.

From head to toe, he embodied every clichéd image of a butler.

He truly was Jiang Cheng’s old butler.

That kindly, deeply wrinkled face belonged to the Corpse Emperor.

He was Uncle Jiang—Uncle Jiang himself.

He asked, “Executor, did you have fun?”

Jiang Cheng found it utterly hilarious.

She couldn’t help covering her forehead and laughing.

Jiang Cheng had been consumed by hatred and fury. Her murderous intent had cut to the bone as she trampled over the sacrifices of her comrades in search of the truth.

Now that the memory block had been removed, she remembered everything.

That detestable, infuriating mastermind who controlled the world, toyed with human lives, and regarded everyone as nothing more than ants—

It turned out...

Jiang Cheng raised her eyes.

It turned out that person was me.