Chapter 48: The Never-Sleeping Imperial City 10

Long before the Heaven's Will agents began their assassination attempt on the Night Emperor, Xia Qi had suspected that their mission was to kill the zombies in Nightless City. He never expected it to be true.

"They might have weapons capable of killing zombies on a large scale; we need to be cautious."

The commotion caused by the Heaven's Will agents suggested they had some backing.

Xia Qi and Sister Hong followed the Helplessness River until they finally reached the scene of the incident.

The two hid nearby, crouching behind two trees, looking toward the source of the thick smoke.

Unexpectedly, the origin of the smoke turned out to be the spot where the old man was dragged into the river by the schoolgirl.

On the river where the old man had sunk, a black whirlpool the size of an iron pot appeared. The whirlpool was pitch-black, and the choking smoke was rising from it.

Strangely, the water of the Helplessness River was unaffected by the whirlpool, flowing steadily downstream without entering it.

Xia Qi frowned, wondering what the Heaven's Will agents were up to by creating such a large hole spewing black smoke.

Just as Xia Qi was pondering, a familiar woman's scream echoed not far away. She shouted, "Who are you? What do you want with me?!"

Xia Qi was taken aback. He recognized the voice immediately—it was Li Ming's side mission target, the female zombie.

Since it was night, the female zombie had transformed back into human form, her appearance now resembling a normal woman, about 1.6 meters tall.

Having returned to her human form and being pregnant, the female zombie looked very frail, showing no signs of her daytime zombie state. No wonder Li Ming had been deceived.

One of the Heaven's Will agents was holding the female zombie's arm, dragging her towards the river.

At that moment, another agent approached and asked his companion, "Is this woman the target of the Extinguisher's mission?"

"That's right. I've been staking out near their house for days, and finally caught her alone," the agent holding the female zombie replied with a laugh.

"Hurry up and throw her in to purify her. The purification points will be ours." The agent sneered at the female zombie, pointing at the shrinking whirlpool on the river, "We need to act quickly; the formation won't last much longer."

Although yellow talismans could also purify, they were not as efficient or effective as the formation. They planned to throw the female zombie into the formation to gain high purification points.

Hearing their conversation, the female zombie was confused but sensed danger from their expressions and words. She screamed, "What are you going to do to me?!"

"Of course, we're sending you to the afterlife. Behave, and there won't be any pain," the agent said with a cold smile, then pushed her towards the river.

As the female zombie was pushed closer to the shore, she suddenly started struggling, shouting, "Li Ming! Li Ming! Come save me!"

She pleaded while wriggling her hands, but the agent ignored her and kicked her harshly.

"Ahh!"

After being kicked to the ground, the female zombie screamed again. As she was about to fall into the water, a figure suddenly rushed out and kicked the agent into the river. Then, the figure swiftly picked up the female zombie and ran towards the corner.

Still dazed, the female zombie looked up and exclaimed, "Li Ming? How is it you?"

The person who appeared by the river to rescue the female zombie was none other than Li Ming, whom she despised deeply.

Li Ming was running at full speed, ignoring her question.

He knew the Heaven's Will agents were formidable and zigzagged to dodge the chalk brush thrown by another agent.

"Help! Someone is interfering with our mission!" The remaining agent chased after Li Ming, shouting threats, "Stop right now, or don't blame me for being ruthless!"

This was the first time the Heaven's Will agents and the Extinguishers had encountered each other face-to-face. As a high-level player, Li Ming was well aware of the danger.

He didn't dare look back, carrying the female zombie through the streets, evading the attacks from the pursuing agent.

Meanwhile, Xia Qi and Sister Hong followed the Heaven's Will agents, refraining from intervening since more agents had yet to appear.

Sure enough, when Li Ming reached a street corner, another agent appeared, throwing a smoking chalk brush at him.

Xia Qi couldn't help but twitch his eye. Another chalk brush!

If he hadn't seen these chalk brushes in the Rose Baron instance, he would have thought they were standard equipment.

Xia Qi wondered why Cha Gong had so many mass-produced chalk brushes. Who gave them to him?

While Xia Qi was thinking, Li Ming was hit by the sneak attack with the chalk brush. Due to the dense dust, he accidentally inhaled some of the smoke.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Li Ming coughed loudly, unable to continue running, and knelt down while still holding the female zombie.

The pursuing agent, panting heavily, caught up and kicked Li Ming in the back, sending him into a nearby pile of garbage.

"Ahh!" Li Ming's head hit the wall, and he cried out in pain.

Despite being kicked into the garbage, Li Ming didn't let go of the female zombie, still holding her tightly.

Seeing Li Ming lying there like a dead dog, the agent spat and cursed, "This instance has activated slaughter mode. Aren't you afraid we'll kill you?"

Li Ming, weakened by the chalk brush's smoke and the blow to his head, struggled to stay alert. He sniffed and grunted, "Why should I be afraid? I've already drunk the red soup. Do I fear death?"

That morning, he had been forced to drink a bowl of red soup containing his child's corpse.

Having devoured the remnants of his offspring, Li Ming was enveloped in sheer despair, yearning for the end within the replica. Why would he dread being dispatched by the agents of the Heavenly Will?

After Li Ming spoke, the female zombie in his arms trembled and weakly called out, "Li Ming?"

Li Ming held her tightly and whispered, "You'll be fine."

"Ha, ha, ha..." Hearing the "touching" exchange between Li Ming and the female zombie, the agent burst into laughter and kicked Li Ming again, urging, "Don't waste time. Hand over the female zombie, or don't blame us for being merciless."

After all, Li Ming was a real person and not a zombie. Although many high-level players had killed ghosts, there were still very few who had actually killed living people in instances.

"I won't let go." Li Ming still clung tightly to the female zombie, shielding her entire body with his own.

"Then you're asking for death!" The Tianjizhe finally lost patience and growled fiercely.

The Tianjizhe thought that if Scarface were here, it would be better since Scarface had truly killed before and wouldn't hesitate when facing enemy players.

Another Tianjizhe immediately grew impatient and said, "Stop talking and kill him quickly."

After reaching an agreement, the Tianjizhe suddenly produced a dagger and walked towards Li Ming.

Xia Qi and Sister Hong exchanged a glance and stepped out from the corner of the street.

Xia Qi pulled out his trident, while Sister Hong held a whip crackling with electric sparks. They intended to rescue the female zombie and Li Ming.

Although Li Ming wasn't a good person, the female zombie was the target of the Extinguisher's mission, so they couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Die, Extinguisher!"

The Tianjizhe approached Li Ming, raised his gleaming dagger, and as he was about to stab Li Ming, the temperature on the street suddenly dropped sharply.

"Rustle—"

Sharp cold winds rushed into every corner of the street, whistling fiercely and stirring up countless fragments of zombie bodies.

Seeing this, Xia Qi and Sister Hong felt something was wrong and paused.

"What is that?"

The Tianjizhe blinked, suddenly noticing that the shadow on the wall was off.

At that moment, a dark shadow covered his own shadow on the wall. The shadow was as tall as a mountain, resembling the mouth of a giant beast. Although the shadow remained motionless, the Tianjizhe felt like he was being swallowed.

The Tianjizhe swallowed hard, fear rising in his heart.

"Who...?" Before he could finish speaking, a sudden sharp pain pierced his back.

"Ahh!"

The Tianjizhe only managed to scream once before collapsing instantly.

Night Emperor stood behind the Tianjizhe, coldly pulling out his blood-soaked hand.

His eyes, dark as ink, were like icy pools, glaring fiercely. He said to the other Tianjizhe, "Outsiders, you're asking for death."

Unlike last time, after extracting the Tianjizhe's heart, Night Emperor didn't throw it away but squeezed it with a little force, crushing it directly.

With a "pop," the heart exploded like a balloon, splattering hot blood onto the face of the other Tianjizhe.

The watching Tianjizhe hadn't expected the BOSS to appear and crush his teammate's heart right in front of him; he was so scared that he wet himself.

"Ahhh!"

The deep-seated fear of the BOSS was imprinted in every survivor's heart. The Tianjizhe didn't even bother to drop his chalk brush, screaming as he ran away in another direction.

Watching the Tianjizhe flee, Night Emperor's lips curled into a sneer, his eyes filled with disdain, as if he saw a prey running. With a slight flash, he leisurely chased after him. After Night Emperor and the Tianjizhe left, Li Ming and the female zombie crawled out of the pile of garbage.

The female zombie's expression was complex as she tried to say, "Li Ming, shall we go home?"

"...Okay." Li Ming nodded and slowly stood up with her help.

As they started walking forward, a sharp sound of wind suddenly came from above.

"Be careful!"

Due to years of fleeing in instances, Li Ming's reaction was faster than the female zombie's. Hearing the sound, he instinctively turned sideways, shielding her with his body.

"Pfft."

The sound of an arrow piercing flesh echoed, and Li Ming's eyes widened as he fell straight down.

At that moment, a metal-tipped arrow wrapped with yellow talismans was embedded in his back.

"Li Ming?!" The female zombie stared in disbelief as Li Ming slowly knelt down in front of her.

"How could this be?!" Xia Qi and Sister Hong had just rushed out to clean up the mess but were shocked to see Li Ming hit by an arrow.

Just then, another arrow shot towards the female zombie. Xia Qi swung his trident, knocking the arrow out of the air.

"Tianjizhe, don't go too far!" Xia Qi shouted coldly.

Sister Hong quickly shielded the female zombie, glaring warily at the buildings around her, stomping and yelling, "You bunch of dogs, hiding and shooting arrows! Come out and fight me one-on-one if you dare!"

"Li Ming! Li Ming!" The female zombie hugged Li Ming, whose lips were twitching, and looked at him in confusion, "Why did you shield me from the arrow?"

Li Ming shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "They want to kill you."

"Kill me? Why do they want to kill me?" The female zombie murmured, then looked at him with a puzzled expression, her demeanor slowly turning manic, "But if you die, how can I kill you?"

Seeing the female zombie's lips moving, Li Ming's eyes welled up with tears of regret.

If it weren't for his fault, his wife wouldn't have died, wouldn't have harbored resentment towards him, and wouldn't have become a female zombie living in the instance.

She was now neither human nor ghost, an unknown entity.

"It's all my fault."

Li Ming trembled as he lifted his hand, touched the female zombie's face, and whispered, "Wife, I'm sorry."

As his words faded, the familiar system announcement echoed in the ears of all the lamp extinguishers.

" Ding! Lamp extinguisher redemption points: +100, total redemption points: 200."

After hearing this system announcement, Li Ming's pupils gradually became unfocused. He slowly tilted his head back and fell, but his eyes remained fixed on Xia Qi and Sister Hong.

In his final moments, Xia Qi clearly saw Li Ming's lips moving, as if he was saying: "Help her."

Before Xia Qi could react, the female zombie suddenly collapsed backward. She grabbed her face with both hands and let out a roar like that of a wild beast.

"Ahhh—!!!"

The female zombie's body suddenly swelled up. Her legs grew blood-red muscles, her arms lengthened, and her fingertips sprouted sharp black nails. Moreover, her face twisted, revealing green fangs from the corners of her mouth, transforming her back into her daytime zombie form.

She frantically clawed at her face, leaving deep bloody scratches, and cried out in despair, "Who am I? What should I do? Where is my child?"

After speaking, the female zombie howled in agony, then rose to her feet on all fours and crawled around aimlessly for a while.

"Why are you doing this to me!" With a furious scream, the female zombie picked up Li Ming's corpse with her mouth and charged out of the street like a madwoman.

After the female zombie left, Cha Gong on a nearby watchtower slowly released his grip, intending to put away his bowstring.

"The target is no longer useful. Let's call it a day," Cha Gong said helplessly.

At that moment, his hand was suddenly pressed down by the scarred man. The scarred man grabbed Cha Gong's hand that was pulling the bowstring, drawing it taut, and then aimed the sharp arrow tip at Xia Qi's back.

The scarred man sneered, "Don't forget the task Lin gave you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the arrow shot off the bow and flew toward Xia Qi's back!