Chapter 71: Chapter 71: To Become Human Again

The zombie stared daggers at Li Xingye. "You... what do you know?!"

Li Xingye smiled. "Just a guess. Ever since I broke through to the Ninth Rank—no, ever since the day I awakened my superpower—I’ve been wondering about one thing: what’s the connection between the appearance of zombies and the awakening of superpowers."

"If there’s no connection, then why can superpowers be evolved using Zombie Crystal Cores? I don’t know the details of your evolution process, but I imagine it’s inextricably linked to superpower users." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"So, you’ve been trying so hard to hide... is it because you received some kind of revelation when you evolved to the Eighth Rank?"

With every word Li Xingye spoke, the zombie’s expression grew uglier. When it heard that last sentence, it even subconsciously took two steps back.

As the zombie retreated, it stared at Li Xingye as if he were a monster. "You received it too... So, you want to expand the sequence you carry..."

Before it could even finish its sentence, it turned to make a desperate escape!

But there was no way Li Xingye would let it get its wish.

Watching the man and the zombie locked in combat, Chi Wan, who was inside her space, was utterly baffled by their cryptic conversation.

’What on earth are they talking about?’

’What revelation? And what in the world is a "sequence"?’

Before Chi Wan could figure it out, Li Xingye, who had gained the upper hand, taunted the zombie, "Since you know about sequences, why are you hiding? Don’t you want to obtain the sequence I carry?"

As expected of a zombie that had reached the Eighth Rank, although it was struggling under Li Xingye’s assault, it wasn’t as easily defeated as other zombies. It even had the strength to fight back.

It dodged the phantom-like vines, and upon realizing Li Xingye wouldn’t let it go, its face twisted into a snarl. "I don’t know what you’re talking about! If you want the truth so badly, then give me your life! Once I eat you, I’ll naturally understand the meaning of the sequence—"

Pushed to its limit by Li Xingye, dark, bluish-black veins suddenly appeared on the zombie’s pale face, and its white pupils instantly turned completely black.

"URRGH AHHH—"

A small, pure black, diamond-shaped crystal slowly emerged from the zombie’s forehead. As the crystal appeared, it flicked its hand, and several wind blades shot toward Li Xingye with the force of a thunderbolt!

The once incredibly tough vines couldn’t withstand the assault of the wind blades and snapped one after another.

But it wasn’t over.

The moment the wind blades appeared, the zombie vanished from right in front of Li Xingye!

"Behind you! Watch out!"

Seeing the zombie suddenly appear behind Li Xingye, Chi Wan couldn’t stop herself from shouting a warning.

Although Li Xingye was a little surprised to hear Chi Wan’s voice, it didn’t slow down his actions.

He casually sidestepped to dodge the wind blades. Without even turning his head, a swarm of thin, dodder-like vines wove an inescapable net behind him, surging toward the zombie.

At the same time, the mutated plants growing on the roadside became his allies. Their sharp, pollution-tainted leaves spun into the surging zombie horde, reaping a harvest of heads.

In the midst of this, Li Xingye even had the leisure to ask, "Wanwan, are you done with your business?"

His sense of priority was about to drive Chi Wan insane. "Focus on your own fight! Isn’t it a zombie?! Why does it have a superpower?! And two of them, at that!"

And just as she said, the moment the zombie reappeared behind Li Xingye, countless sharp stone spikes materialized around it, hurtling toward him like an overwhelming tide!

However, Chi Wan was wrong about one thing. That so-called Eighth-tier Zombie didn’t just have superpowers—it had three!

In addition to the stone spikes, it could also teleport.

It jumped around like a flea, constantly changing positions. Each time it reappeared, the stone spikes it created were a bit smaller, but their speed and sharpness had doubled!

Eventually, their trajectories became impossible to follow with the naked eye.

Chi Wan didn’t dare make another sound to distract him, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that compared to the zombie’s strained efforts, Li Xingye remained completely at ease.

Hearing Chi Wan’s outburst, Li Xingye just smiled, but his assault visibly grew more ferocious.

The endless variety of plants under Li Xingye’s control became a veritable army, a force of thousands. Not to mention those phantom-like vines, which could wrap around the zombie’s neck in a single moment of carelessness.

But the Eighth-tier Zombie clashing with Li Xingye grew more desperate the longer it fought. "Impossible... No matter how powerful a superpower user is, they can’t possibly have an endless supply of superpower after using it so frequently! What in the world are you!"

Li Xingye didn’t answer. But as he predicted the zombie’s location, the next time it teleported, thin vines instantly entangled its hands, feet, and even its neck.

"THUD—"

The zombie was violently dragged down by the vines, slamming onto the ground at Li Xingye’s feet.

Feeling its power draining away in terror, it screamed itself hoarse, "Don’t kill me! You said you wouldn’t kill me! I—I can tell you the truth about the sequence! When I ascended to the Eighth Rank, I felt the sequence’s existence. It told me that if my sequence becomes whole again, I can turn back into a human!!"

"I... I was just testing you. I only wanted to know what makes you different from the others! You want the central area? It’s all yours! I’ll leave and stay far away, I promise I’ll never bother you again!"

"I have special sources of information, I know many things you don’t! The Imperial City—yes, the Imperial City! Don’t you want to know why those people in the Imperial City changed the direction of their experiments? I know! As long as you don’t kill me, I can be your informant!"

Li Xingye looked down at the pleading zombie, which had rattled off a long tirade in a single breath, and repeated in a low voice, "Turn back into a human?"

The zombie hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, yes, I just want to become human again! Li Xingye, I never intended to be your enemy! I never even showed myself to you voluntarily!"

Seeing that Li Xingye remained unmoved, the zombie gritted its teeth and played its trump card. "Did you know that the experiments over in the Imperial City have already developed a way to modify a normal person’s sequence using Crystal Cores? But it’s not always successful."

"It’s true that some normal people became superpower users, but far more turned into zombies! Someone in the Imperial City must have broken through to the Ninth Rank, otherwise they wouldn’t know about the sequence’s existence and start such an experiment."

"Li Xingye, do you think I’m the only one who has noticed your anomaly? No, you’ve been on the Imperial City’s radar for a long time! They say the way you acquire energy is different from everyone else... that it’s more like us."

"They’ll come for you sooner or later. I can help cover for you! You know, the stronger you appear, the more they’ll target you. You might be able to escape on your own, but what about the people in your base? Are you just going to abandon them?"

"Li Xingye, they’re not wrong, you know. Compared to superpower users, the way you acquire energy is much more... like ours..."