Upon reaching the wilderness zone, Ye Chen spread out the map he had procured from the Information Department before leaving. Only maps of China were sold at the common stalls, but for an organization that had successfully raided numerous ruined cities and gathered scholars from prestigious universities like Tsinghua, Peking, and Cambridge who had returned to the mainland, producing a map of Russia was as simple as breathing.

Ye Chen maintained his unfamiliar, ordinary appearance; he seemed so accustomed to it that he paid it no mind, swiftly tracing a shortcut toward Russia... This so-called shortcut merely involved drawing a straight line between their current location and the direction of Russia. Whatever hardships lay along that path, the key was to just walk it!

Not long after, the group of six exited the Shennongjia region and headed along the route passing through Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, and Hohhot. Following this recent siege, Ye Chen realized he had unintentionally broken the trajectory of his past life. In his previous existence, the most powerful individual at this time was Yun Shaojing, who had obtained divine blood and reputedly possessed a physical constitution level of 500—already beyond human.

The rest of the world, by the first year of the Dark Era, had only just reached an average level of 100. That was when the monsters also established factions, and everything began developing into a three-way standoff...

But now, the tens of thousands of fighters from the Brightness Base City had seen their strength significantly boosted following the spoils of the last siege. Coupled with the Earth Spirit Spring, the average combat member in the Brightness Base City hovered around Level 60, and this level was poised to skyrocket further with the excavation of more ruins in a short span!

The sky was a dull grey, obscured by heavy clouds, occasionally pierced by a sharp shriek, followed by the sight of a mangled, black-feathered bird-monster sweeping overhead. The street below was desolate, newspapers fluttered aimlessly, and there was not a trace of human life.

Ye Chen and his companions were all clad in Level 1500 Flood Dragon Armor, their headscarves billowing, the scale mail gleaming with phosphorescence, weapons strapped to their backs, and silver-white energy pistols holstered at their waists. They moved with deceptive speed down the street, each stride covering several dozen meters, appearing quite uncanny. Even the occasional zombie they passed, lying dormant on the ground, was instantly vaporized into dust by a burst of qi energy!

Travel!

Ever since leaving the Base City, they had been traveling at breakneck speed, day and night, leaving the lookouts who had been shadowing them stunned into abandoning their pursuit. They certainly did not possess Ye Chen’s strength, capable of sprinting through the wilderness and city streets late into the night without a care.

After three continuous days of relentless travel, Ye Chen’s group traversed over ten cities, finally arriving in Taiyuan. Exhausted from the non-stop journey and the countless zombies they had slain along the way, their spirits were somewhat frayed. Upon reaching Taiyuan, they located a suitable place to rest for the night.

The night was deep.

The dark sky was overcast, devoid of stars or moon. Ye Chen and the others hadn't bothered with night-vision goggles; their formidable eyesight alone allowed them to perceive movement within a thousand-mile radius. With a faint creak, Ye Chen pushed open the glass of a skyscraper entrance and swept his gaze inside. The building was eerily silent, with only a few pools of blood on the floor and streak-like trails of blood, suggesting, from Ye Chen’s extensive experience, the drag marks of internal organs.

He scanned the vicinity and noticed several corpses sprawled nearby. Their skin was ripped open; some had their eyes closed, completely coated in gore, while others stared wide-eyed in frozen terror, their pupils vanished, leaving only the whites—a truly gruesome sight. Ye Chen and his group were veterans of immense slaughter; confronted with this horrifying scene, they remained unperturbed, strolling as if on a leisurely walk. They bypassed the immediate mess and selected a room further inside, heading towards it.

Just as Ye Chen and his companions turned toward that room, the zombie whose eyes had turned entirely white twitched suddenly. Its slightly parted mouth shifted, and then, it straightened up slowly, its blood-smeared face fixed with a savage, bloodthirsty stare on Ye Chen’s group, utterly silent...

Bang!

The zombie’s head exploded without warning. A small, black qi sword shot out, landing neatly in Ye Chen’s palm before vanishing. He did not look back but reached out and pushed open the door before him, glancing inside to see a large, pitch-black space containing some office desks and other furnishings.

Ye Chen stepped in, already catching the faint scent of necrotic energy.

Zhuge Fan tapped a finger, and a concentrated strand of golden light coalesced at the tip, brightly illuminating the room. They could see seven or eight corpses lying inside, along with copious amounts of bloodstains. As the light flared, something underneath an office desk stirred faintly. Immediately, a savagely grinning zombie sprang out and lunged at Ye Chen.

A beam of light flashed from Ye Chen’s left eye, spitting out a sword of fire that struck the zombie’s head, blowing it apart. As fire engulfed the body, it was instantly incinerated to ash, much like an ice cube dropped into lava.

Ye Chen casually walked to the wall. Bai Long and Zhuge Fan, clearly familiar with the routine, dismantled the office desks, moved them aside to clear an open space, and stacked the resulting wooden splinters nearby. With another flash of light from his left eye, Ye Chen sent down a small flame. The wood caught fire instantly. Perhaps due to the extreme temperature, the room’s heat spiked immediately. This fire was potent enough to kill Level 1000 monsters in mere seconds; igniting firewood was trivial. The planks were instantly reduced to ash, and the floor beneath cracked and melted into molten slag. The surrounding stacks of wood spontaneously ignited under the intense heat, bursting into roaring flames.

Bai Long and the others managed wry smiles at the sight.

Ye Chen swept his hand, opening his Rune Space, and drew out the carcass of a Level 800 Fissure Leopard he had collected. Dark black qi energy condensed into a demonic blade, and he sliced off the leopard's two massive hind legs. Since the creature had been dead for some time, no blood flowed from the wounds.

Closing the Rune Space, Ye Chen held the two legs, each the size of an adult's torso. His left eye sent forth a tongue of flame, igniting both pieces. For some unknown reason, though the flame’s temperature was scorching, it could not harm Ye Chen himself; even when he intentionally scorched his own palm, the fire seemed sentient, automatically diverting around his skin.

Holding the two roasting legs, they quickly blackened under the flames. Bai Long, sensing the time was right, tapped his finger, and a blast of blue ice qi shot out, enveloping the legs like mist. The already faint flames atop the meat were swiftly suppressed. Normally, the fire from Ye Chen’s left eye would not be so easily extinguished by Bai Long’s qi, but Ye Chen had only released a mere spark while roasting the meat, using the leopard’s flesh itself as the primary fuel, thus it died down quickly.

“One piece each!” Ye Chen slashed down. His qi condensed into a solid, jet-black knife, slicing through the meat as easily as cutting tofu—far sharper than his Blood-Red Battle Saber. After all, the Blood-Red Battle Saber was merely a ‘toy’ used by the children of the Green Talisman faction, possessing a sharpness level of only 800, insufficient even to cleanly cleave a Level 1000 monster, whereas his own physical strength had reached the Second Stage of Qi Mastery, equivalent to Level 2000! These Fissure Leopard carcasses had been killed and collected along the way; there were many more aboard the airship, stored as rations rather than having their life essence absorbed.

“Come, come...”

“A shame there’s no spicy sauce!” Bai Long said, taking a roasted piece, a hint of regret in his voice as he remembered others who didn't even have bread. Mo Feng stated coolly, “I can mix something.” Bai Long shuddered slightly, forcing a smile. “Forget it, this is excellent enough as it is.”

Each of them took a palm-sized piece of roast. This Level 800 flesh was immensely nutritious for them; a small chunk was enough to fill them. For Ye Chen, however, it was quite insufficient, so he increased the quantity he consumed.

Just then— Ye Chen’s ears twitched. He heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching from the distance, seemingly split into two distinct waves, one ahead of the other. His brow furrowed slightly as he realized the sounds were heading directly towards their location. Bai Long and the others noticed as well, their expressions showing a degree of resignation. Soon enough, as expected, the skyscraper’s glass was pushed open, and two sets of hurried footsteps rushed in.

Ye Chen looked up but saw no one outside. After a moment, two figures slowly materialized from the surrounding darkness—a man and a woman, both panting heavily. Seeing that Ye Chen’s group hadn't aimed weapons at them, they visibly relaxed before urgently stating, “Zombies and monsters are chasing us from behind! Let’s fight them together!”

In their estimation, anyone brave enough to light a fire in such a desolate area was either an idiotic rookie or someone supremely confident in their own power. Thus, upon being caught by the horde, they bolted toward the light source. It was impossible for the pair to confront the zombies alone; if the others were a group of novices, they would all perish together, but if they encountered masters, there might be salvation.

Ye Chen exchanged a look with Bai Long, who understood instantly, nodded, and stood up, a look of relaxed mockery on his face. He appraised the woman: standing at 1.7 meters tall, perfectly proportioned, with a delicate oval face and long black hair tied in a ponytail. Her black leather armor accentuated her proud curves. Despite years spent foraging for food and slaying monsters, her skin remained soft and fair.

Bai Long deliberately ignored the man beside her, offering the woman a gentle smile. “My name is Bai Long—B-A-I, L-O-N-G.” What a terribly lame joke.

The girl’s face was pale, sweat beading on her forehead. Hearing Bai Long spout nonsense at such a critical juncture nearly made her faint from exasperation. She urgently said, “That horde of zombies is right behind us! We still have time to prepare for the fight.” Saying this, she turned and looked earnestly at each member of Ye Chen’s group, seemingly hoping her pretty face alone would earn their trust.

When her eyes fell upon the two leopard legs in Ye Chen’s hands, the girl froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up with a greedy and fervent light. For someone who hadn't eaten in three days and had not had a drop of water, the sight of the fragrant, sizzling meat instantly obliterated all reserve!

Bai Long noticed her lack of interest in him but didn't take offense. He was always patient with women. He smiled faintly. “Don't worry. I’ll take care of these scene-ruining pests.” With a grand sweep of his sleeve, he strode outside, adopting the heroic posture of a warrior marching to his doom. In reality, he earned a look of utter contempt from the man beside the girl, who clearly viewed him as an idiot.

...

A slight complication arose, making things even later. My apologies; the next update will be before 12 o'clock.