Bai Long glanced at the three backpacks weighing him down, then at Ye Chen and Ye Zhu, the siblings who carried nothing but their weapons, and couldn't help but feel like he’d boarded a pirate ship. It seemed he’d been cast as the team’s beast of burden...

He couldn't help but offer a wry smile internally, wondering what madness had possessed him to agree to leave the hotel with these two lunatics and venture into such a dangerous place outside. Wasn't this asking for an early grave?

Yi!

Bai Long murmured the name internally, then let out a soft sigh. The flash of pain and confusion in his eyes was quickly masked. He stood behind Ye Chen as if nothing were amiss, casually remarking, "Why the rush to leave the hotel? Wouldn't it be better to wait until we’ve grown a bit stronger?"

Ye Chen replied swiftly, "I have my reasons."

Bai Long pursed his lips.

"15th floor!"

"12th floor!"

"7th floor!"

The elevator descended continuously. The three exchanged no further chatter, each gripping their weapons tightly, fully alert. They knew that the ground floor, the lowest level, was where the largest concentration of zombies would be!

Perhaps even powerful mutated beasts might be waiting there!

Ding!

The elevator stabilized with a soft chime and slowly opened. The scene before them gradually unveiled itself to Ye Chen and the others: an immensely spacious lobby, adorned with exquisitely beautiful chandeliers, radiating opulence and grandeur on all sides.

However, this magnificent hall was populated by numerous zombies, standing stiffly on the polished floor, an incongruous and chilling sight!

Ye Chen’s gaze swept the area, instantly assessing the situation: exactly 82 zombies! They were dressed in varied attire—security uniforms, suits, casual wear—some even wore glasses, suggesting they had been nearsighted in life.

Roar!

The elevator's slight sound stirred the hungry undead. The closest one, a female zombie who appeared to have been hotel staff, had a mangled chest where the bite marks had dried, and her eyes burned with greedy, bloodthirsty ferocity as she lunged toward Ye Chen with wide jaws.

Roar! Roar!

All the zombies in the hall snarled and charged toward the elevator, surging forward like a tide.

Ye Chen's eyes turned icy. Ye Zhu, standing behind him, paled slightly, while Bai Long’s face was rigid, as if suffocating.

"Get lost!"

Ye Chen stepped out of the elevator, spun, and lashed out with a reverse kick, slamming into the female zombie's abdomen. The explosive force sent her flying backward, crashing into another zombie rushing behind her. Both tumbled to the ground. The female zombie’s stomach was utterly caved in, her internal organs visibly shattered, yet she seemed completely unfazed, struggling to rise and lunge at Ye Chen again.

Ye Chen snatched the cleaver from Bai Long's hand, taking his stance at the elevator entrance like a God of War. He wielded the blade in his left hand and an axe in his right. His dark hair whipped without wind, and his eyes held a chilling, merciless glint.

"Blood Wind Art, Fourth Stance!"

"Twin Blade Massacre!"

The cleaver and the fire axe in Ye Chen's hands moved like two gracefully dancing butterflies, carving swift, beautiful, elegant arcs that enveloped him completely. Any zombie that approached within three feet of Ye Chen instantly accrued a dozen new gashes!

The Blood Wind Art comprised nine stances in total!

Each stance required a specific tactical scenario for execution!

First Stance: Struck from Front and Back! Used when attacking from behind the target. Second Stance: Soaring Dragon Strike! Used when attacking from beneath the target! Third Stance: Phantom Blade! Used when attacking the target head-on! Fourth Stance: Twin Blade Massacre! Used for crowd control; it is a group attack technique! The Fifth, Sixth Stances, and so on, all had distinct applications!

Though there were only nine stances, they encompassed everything. Take the Third Stance, Phantom Blade!

Phantom Blade was divided into four tiers: Ten Phantom Slashes! Hundred Phantom Slashes! Thousand Phantom Slashes! Ten Thousand Phantom Slashes!

With his current strength, Ye Chen could barely manage Ten Phantom Slashes. Forcibly executing Hundred Phantom Slashes would result only in his arms being snapped.

Fourth Stance, Twin Blade Massacre.

Previously, without sufficient strength, Ye Chen avoided using this stance because the required power was too immense. Lacking the necessary force, his arms simply couldn't sustain such high-speed movement.

At this moment, more and more zombies were converging on the lobby, wave after wave. For every few he cut down, more would surge forward. In the blink of an eye, piles of corpses stacked high, narrowing Ye Chen's space to maneuver, causing his swordplay to lose some of its former ease.

"Die!" Yet, Ye Chen showed no panic. His eyes grew colder. The axe and cleaver in his hands suddenly accelerated. He shifted his footing, moving his feet forward and back, spun his body, and unleashed a veritable tempest with his weapons!

"Cyclone Dragon Slash!"

This was the second form of "Twin Blade Massacre," equivalent in complexity to the second form of Phantom Blade, "Hundred Phantom Slashes." However, group attack techniques demanded less raw power than single-target moves; they relied more heavily on technique, requiring faster swing speeds than "Twin Blade Massacre," coupled with essential footwork for smooth execution.

While group attacks covered a wider area, their destructive power never matched single-target strikes. For example, in Phantom Blade, moving from Ten Slashes to Hundred Slashes merely involved continuously increasing power to achieve faster swings—a demanding requirement on raw strength!

But group attacks were different; they prioritized technique, with power as secondary.

Ye Zhu and Bai Long, watching from within the elevator, stared at Ye Chen in astonishment. A gale rushed toward them, blowing their hair backward, leaving only the roaring wind in their ears.

Outside the elevator, amidst the monsters' shrieks, all they could see was a blurred figure, entirely shrouded in a shimmering curtain of blade light. Any zombie that dared approach this light was instantly flung aside.

The corpses already piled around Ye Chen were caught in the blade light as well and tossed away, instantly clearing the space around Ye Chen, making it wide enough for him to execute any technique.

While using "Cyclone Dragon Slash," Ye Chen gradually felt a dull ache in his arms, causing him to frown slightly. It had been less than ten seconds, and his limbs were already straining under the load. It seemed his current physical condition couldn't yet sustain such a violent technique, or it risked paralyzing his muscles. He gradually stopped, reverting to the "Twin Blade Massacre."

Mid-fight, Ye Chen glanced outside. The street was swarming with aimlessly wandering zombies—a scene reminiscent of hell on earth that sent a chill down one's spine.

The only relief was that no mutated monsters were present in the lobby. Otherwise, despite his strength, Ye Chen could barely ensure his own survival, let alone protect his sister Ye Zhu and Bai Long.

This, however, was not surprising.

Mutated monsters were a newly evolved life form; their blood was fresh and bright crimson, unlike the rotten, inky black blood found in zombies.

If zombies represented a life that had died, then monsters were a life that was still living.

Therefore, zombies would also crave the fresh blood within these monsters and attack them. In this regard, monsters were no different from pre-zombified humans—they were both food in the eyes of the undead!

...

Recommendation tickets, bookmarks, clicks—will you let Brother Bai grow plump? These are the three virtues of the righteous!