Zheng Zha was utterly spent, possessing neither strength nor speed. Had it not been for Zhan Lan’s lingering acceleration spell, his pace would have been no faster than a jog. Only now did he grasp how precious that spell truly was; it had forcibly elevated his jogging pace to a full sprint. This boost didn't increase his speed by a percentage, but added a fixed velocity value. While insignificant during his previous high-speed dash, this added speed proved vital in his current state of exhaustion.

With this surplus velocity, Zheng Zha managed to reach the belfry entrance just before the specters, the Guimai Jiayezis, could swarm him from the square's perimeter. He shook the High Vibration Particle Cutting Dagger in his hand, sliced through the belfry door, and rushed inside without a backward glance.

By this time, the enormous Guimai Jiayezis had fully recovered. She slowly hauled herself up from the ground and began shuffling toward the belfry. Zheng Zha, besides panting heavily, noticed the air growing intensely cold. The Vampire energy still suffused his body, painting the world before his eyes in shades of bloody crimson. He vaguely perceived pale, bluish-white shadows emerging from the roofline, and his accurate sense of danger confirmed that spirits were waiting for him overhead.

Unable to muster the internal power needed to activate the Storage Ring’s field, Zheng Zha quickly slipped the dagger into the ring and drew his submachine gun. With only one arm, he had no chance of reloading in the critical timeframe. The gun held half a magazine’s worth of ammunition—meaning this remaining half-clip was all he had to sustain him until he reached the tower's apex. The Vampire energy was his final resort, one he absolutely would not deplete unless absolutely forced to.

“Aargh!” A final, desperate roar broke from him as Zheng Zha faced the pale, bluish-white spirits descending the stairs and pulled the trigger on the remaining bullets in his submachine gun… Far from the square, on a distant high-rise building, Zero Point collapsed limply onto the ground, utterly spent. Before him lay a long, slender, silvery-white piece of high-tech weaponry: the Gauss sniper rifle. But now, no one could wield it. Beside Zero Point, Zhao Yingkong was rapidly manipulating her fingers, slicing through the countless specters crawling toward them.

Zhao Yingkong was not proficient with firearms, but having unlocked her Gene Lock, coupled with her specialized close-quarters assassination training, her melee capabilities were arguably on par with Zheng Zha’s. No one knew how the young girl had conceived of the method: she had removed the gunpowder from several spiritual bullets, then slipped five of the empty casings onto her fingertips. As she swung her hands, these fingertips brutally tore the approaching spirits apart.

The two of them were also besieged. Endless spirits emerged from all directions. They were on the rooftop, and the ghosts were swarming up from every edge of the structure. If not for the sharpness of Zhao Yingkong’s attacks after releasing her Gene Lock, they would surely have been buried by the horde by now.

“How is it? How much strength have you recovered? Can you aim for a shot?” After tearing apart two close spirits, Zhao Yingkong asked urgently without turning her head.

Zero Point struggled to rise from the floor, murmuring, “No good. Everything’s blurry, and I desperately want to sleep. I can’t snipe in this state… Give me another minute or two…” Zhao Yingkong paused, then resumed her frantic finger movements. Gradually, her actions also grew stiff, losing the fluidity of her initial onslaught… Zhang Jie and Qi Tengyi were not faring much better than the other three. Since they were positioned at the edge of the square, they were the first to engage the surrounding spirits. Fortunately, Zhang Jie reacted quickly, unleashing a burst from his submachine gun, while Qi Tengyi, flustered, grabbed his pistol and started taking sporadic shots.

“Are we going to die? Are we going to die, Zhang Jie? Are we going to die?” Qi Tengyi kept shouting hysterically while firing.

Zhang Jie suddenly whipped around and swung a punch, knocking Qi Tengyi flat onto the ground. He roared, “Damn your mother! Aren’t we still alive? If you want to die, go run out there and die by yourself! Stop *** babbling in my ear!” With that, he turned back and resumed spraying bullets into the spirits.

Qi Tengyi froze for a moment, then snapped back to awareness, raising his pistol to resume his sporadic firing. Facing away from Zhang Jie, he said, “Zhang Jie, if we make it out alive, I swear I’m going to punch you back for that. Damn your mother… My tooth is still loose from it.”

Zhang Jie let out a rough laugh, continuing his sweep as he spoke, “If we manage to survive… if we all manage to survive, what’s stopping me from letting you land that punch? Just survive, you hear me…” “Zheng Zha… our lives are in your hands now. You have to succeed!” Zheng Zha had no idea how many more stairs lay above, or how many more spirits awaited. All he knew was that turning back was impossible. Behind him, the entire staircase was filled with spirits climbing upward. The only recourse was to push upward, desperately, higher and higher, until he broke through this nightmare hell… If he didn’t want to die, he had to charge upward with all his might! “Aargh!” Zheng Zha, clutching the submachine gun, fired continuously as he scrambled up. His legs were utterly incapable of supporting such intense uphill running; only the final dregs of his willpower kept him going. If not for that, he might not even have the strength to lift one foot. His unlocked Gene Lock state had persisted for a long time—the longest duration he had ever experienced. Just like that time in the Alien horror film, his genetics were reaching a critical collapse point. He had… no retreat left! Finally, just as the submachine gun’s ammunition neared depletion, Zheng Zha burst onto the belfry’s apex, an outer platform where spirits were constantly crawling in. He emptied the rest of his magazine in a frantic burst, kicked open the iron-locked gate leading to the platform, and found the colossal spirit staring directly at him. He could even see its hand reaching out to seize him.

“Die for me, damn you!” Zheng Zha channeled every bit of his remaining Vampire energy and recklessly charged off the platform, plunging straight toward the colossal spirit’s chest… toward the location of the main Juon entity, Kayako…——————(Friendly Recommendation: Dragon Group Ace, Book ID: 114070) Click to view image link: cmfu/smenhu.cn?bl_id=114070 Dragon Group Ace Jump to

For more novels, visit storyread.net.