The High-Vibration Particle Cutting Dagger was so sharp that it sliced downward as if sinking into tofu, pulling Zheng Zha and the other with it toward the ground. When they reached the sixth or seventh floor, the dagger's vibration finally ceased. With a sudden jolt, the dagger embedded itself deep into the thick concrete wall, the immense inertia still dragging the two figures downward, the sheer force transmitted directly to Zheng Zha’s arm.
The force was so tremendous that his arm, already three times the thickness of a normal person's, could barely withstand it. A searing pain shot up his limb, accompanied by the sounds of tearing muscle and shifting bone—everything made Zheng Zha feel as if his entire arm was about to snap. However, the moment he released the Gene Lock, specifically the Zha stage, the pain in his arm was instantly suppressed.
"Ah!" Zheng Zha violently wrenched the dagger free, then violently shook it before plunging it back into the wall. Using this momentum, he and Zhan Lan slid downward once more. They finally stopped when they reached the height of two stories from the ground. Zheng Zha pulled the dagger free and leaped down. With a crisp crack, two fissures appeared in the concrete below. Without pausing, he sprinted toward the waiting sedan.
Innumerable ghastly pale ghosts gathered around them. The nearest dozens of spirits crawled furiously toward the pair. Zheng Zha brought up his submachine gun and began firing relentlessly. By now, his right arm had returned to its normal size, but it was swollen and scarlet, with nearly all the capillaries seemingly ruptured, the entire limb filled with dark bruises from the burst blood vessels.
"Zhan Lan! Can you drive now? Are your hands and feet working?" Zheng Zha roared during a brief lull in firing.
Zhan Lan yelled back with all the strength she could muster, "I should be able to, but I don't have the strength to hit the gas pedal."
"Good! The driving is up to you!" Zheng Zha swept his fire all the way to the car, emptying the last of the submachine gun’s ammunition before scooping up Zhan Lan and tumbling into the vehicle. He instantly ripped off his bulletproof vest. Before Zhan Lan could fully comprehend what was happening, he slammed his foot onto the accelerator and yelled, "Hurry! You control the steering!" Zhan Lan quickly placed both hands on the steering wheel, and the sedan lurched forward along the road. She was currently sitting on Zheng Zha's lap, controlling the direction, held close to him like a little girl. Before she could indulge in any strange imaginings, Zheng Zha began to tremble violently—the extreme agony that inevitably followed the release of a Gene Lock.
Several tens of seconds later, Zheng Zha gradually calmed from the overwhelming pain, letting out a breath. "We were lucky. We got out of there before my Gene Lock state ended. Phew. Zhan Lan, why did you suddenly run from the plaza over to the Sunshine Hotel?" Zhan Lan shifted restlessly on his lap and replied, "I don't know. I was fast asleep, and suddenly a large door appeared before me in a dream. I pushed it open and walked in. When I woke up, I was already standing in that room."
As she spoke, she began to weep softly.
"...I'm sorry for dragging you down, for almost getting you killed in there..." Zheng Zha smiled gently, just about to offer comfort, when his expression suddenly shifted. He whipped his head around to look behind them and saw a dense swarm of ghastly pale ghosts trailing the car. Their crawling speed was actually slightly faster than the sedan, despite Zheng Zha flooring the accelerator since they got in, pushing the car to an incredible velocity. Yet, these ghosts kept pace.
"What is it? What's behind us?" Zhan Lan felt Zheng Zha’s body tense and quickly asked.
Zheng Zha hurriedly retrieved a submachine gun magazine from his Nà Jiè, swapping it out while saying, "It’s fine. Just focus on driving. We need to get back to the plaza. Zhang Jie and the others are there. Our combined firepower should be enough to wipe these ghosts out!" The foremost ghosts were closing in rapidly, and the plaza where Zhang Jie and the others waited gradually came into view. Zheng Zha urgently instructed, "Don't stop! Drive straight into the pedestrian street. Zhang Jie and the others will naturally open fire when they see these ghosts. We'll stop the car then."
It was nearly ten o'clock at night, but the plaza was deserted; even the usual patrol officers were gone. Zheng Zha finally realized that on their drive back, he hadn't seen a single vehicle on the highway either. Did it mean that once attacked by ghosts, all nearby civilians vanished? As this thought crossed Zheng Zha's mind, sharp bursts of gunfire—pa-pa-pa—erupted from the far end of the plaza. Zheng Zha looked over and saw what appeared to be a half-meter-long tongue of flame emanating from that direction. When he jumped out of the sedan, holding Zhan Lan, he saw Zhang Jie standing in the middle of the plaza, hoisting a small heavy machine gun. The half-meter tongue of fire was coming from the muzzle of that weapon.
Zhang Jie looked visibly excited. He braced the heavy machine gun and sprayed madly at the pale specters. Qi Tengyi, standing beside him, also showed a manic fervor as he fed a belt of spiritual bullets into the machine gun. Amidst the violent firing, shell casings constantly clattered onto the ground; the crisp ding-ding-dang of the brass accompanied the machine gun’s roar, lending the scene an equally frenzied quality.
"Damn, this is fantastic! We've been terrorized by these ghosts for so long; now we can finally have some fun! This is exhilarating!" Zhang Jie ground his teeth and roared as he watched the pale shadows.
The heavy machine gun's power was immense; not a single ghost managed to get close to the group. Furthermore, once the car stopped, the ghosts' speed reverted to that of an ordinary woman crawling. Consequently, under the onslaught of the heavy machine gun, by the time the spiritual ammunition ran out, only about a hundred ghosts were left crawling toward the four figures from a distance.
The four of them—Zheng Zha, Zhan Lan, Zhang Jie, and Qi Tengyi—easily dispatched the remaining hundred pale ghosts. Only then did the four figures collectively exhale in relief. Despite using the heavy machine gun, the situation they had just faced was terrifying. Just looking at so many ghosts sent shivers down their spines; without the spiritual ammunition, the four of them would likely have been overwhelmed by the hordes.
"Phew, you guys are something else. Where did you manage to attract so many monsters from?" Zhang Jie deeply exhaled and asked.
Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan could only manage bitter smiles. Before they could answer, the area before them suddenly illuminated, and the four saw a row of Japanese-style paper screens appear. Simultaneously, the sounds of men and women arguing drifted from behind the screens.
———— (Recommended new book: The Legend of the Reborn, Book ID: 112273) Click to view image link: cmfu/smenhu.cn?Bl_id=112273The Legend of the Reborn Jump to
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