Chapter 3: Arrival (2/2)
“Who has a map?” Lu Yin asked into the crowd, garnering the attention of a beady-eyed cultivator who approached immediately and glared at the surrounding hawkers to shoo them away. He then carefully took a map out of his pockets, “Here, only ten crystals.”
“Ten? For a map?” Lu Yin’s brows shot up, “You do know that a single energy crystal is enough for a normal person to become a cultivator?”
The man whispered in response, “Brother, this isn’t just any map. It marks out the places where powerful monsters and zombies gather outside Zhongshan. You wouldn’t want to be surrounded the moment you leave, right? This is your life. Are you telling me your own life isn’t worth ten crystals?”
Lu Yin laughed, “Three is the best you’ll get. I don’t have any more.”
“Deal. Take the map, my new friend.”
Lu Yin suspected he’d been conned since the cultivator had agreed way too easily, but he didn’t really mind. He took three grain-sized crystals and passed them to the cultivator who grabbed them excitedly. He then leaned in closer and whispered, “Here’s a little extra for you since you were so easy to do business with. No need to thank me.”
With that, the man pushed a round pill into Lu Yin’s palm and left. Lu Yin recognized it immediately, but that actually prompted a confused look. This was an aphrodisiac, and a powerful one at that. While numerous plant mutations had rendered many older medicines obsolete, products from the new vegetation were more effective than anything humans had before. Lu Yin had seen people who’d used these pills before, and knew just how effective they were, but they were also in high demand and extremely expensive. No matter what, a single one was certainly worth more than the three energy crystals he’d paid for this map. Who was this guy?
Lu Yin ignored his own question and tossed the aphrodisiac before looking around and heading towards the outer city. Studying the map along the way, he headed towards a barren hilly region to the south. ‘I hope I’ll find some clues there.’
……
At the highest point in Zhongshan, a gathering mostly comprised of captains sat in a meeting room. On the left of the empty seat at the head of the table was a man in a military uniform with a scar on his face. On the right sat a lovely young woman with glasses.
The captains spent a long time waiting before Zhou Shan walked into the room and casually sat at the head of the table. His gaze swept over everyone in the room before resting on the young woman with glasses, “How’s the plan proceeding?”
The girl adjusted her glasses, “The initial plan to expand Nanjing's base will take at least two months, and we could lose up to two or three thousand people in battle. If you want to expand Nanjing to its peacetime borders, we’ll likely see three times those casualties.”
Zhou Shan frowned, “We need to expand the base. The northern expansion has been going well, and in a few months we’ll link to the capital city. At that point, the whole country will be reconnected and reclaiming our country’s land will be easy. Showing weakness here will be a joke.”
“Executioner, we just received word that the Tianzhu Monk has entered the Realm of Sky,” the man with a scarred face reported. The room broke out in discussions at the news. The whole of China only had seven Realm of Sky cultivators, showing the difficulty in reaching that level. For the Tianzhu Monk to reach that realm was a huge surprise.
Zhou Shan’s gaze cooled, “Ku Sen? Investigate him. It’s impossible for anyone to reach the Realm of Sky within a year.”
“Got it.”
“Anything else?”
The scar-faced man had finished and a cultivator stood to speak up, but suddenly froze as he stared outside the window. Everyone followed suit and made similar dazed faces. Zhou Shan spun around to look, his eyes narrowing as he peered outside.
Dozens of meteors streaked across the sky, leaving fiery trails in their wakes. One of them flew in the direction of Nanjing before landing to the south of the gathering point, shaking the earth. These meteors were more dazzling than fireworks, drawing the attention of countless survivors.
……
Lu Yin had watched the scene with the meteors as well, and from a vantage point much closer than any of the other observers. Having followed his new map to the hills south of Zhongshan, he wasn’t far from the landing zone when violent shockwaves blew away the clouds. He watched as the earth cracked and debris flew through the air, having to kick away a piece of metal that shot toward him before looking further south. After a brief moment of contemplation, he dashed in the direction of the crash.
Back within Nanjing, the Executioner soared into the sky. He was just about to charge south before he was stopped by a report, “Sir, a horde of zombies is charging at the walls!”
Zhou Shan turned to the east, finding a black mass of zombies heading towards Zhongshan. The city itself had been sealed off in a quick response, but quite a few survivors were left outside, crying out in despair. He grabbed his axe and flew outside the city, striking the ground and destroying a number of zombies with his attack, “Open the gates and let the survivors in. I’ll defend the city”
To the south, smoke billowed into the sky from the site of the meteor crash. The crater spread a thousand meters with a white ball at the center only two meters or so in diameter. Equally white smoke was wafting off it, filling the distorted air all around.