Chapter 10: Astral-10 (1/2)
Lu Yin did not know just how far Vesta’s scanner could cover, but he knew that ten miles was at least a good possibility. He quickly chased after where he believed the zombie king to be, quickly heading further and further away from the toll station. The zombie horde that had been left behind slowly regained a hint of calmness, most wandering around aimlessly once more. Xu San and the others heaved a sigh of relief.
The stinking trenches meandered into the distance, green eyes occasionally flashing within the patches of grass. Lu Yin constantly checked his watch as he sped along; if he didn’t get rid of the zombie king, any troops from Nanjing who passed through this place would be in grave danger in the future. The creature could even spell disaster for all of Nanjing.
He soon started hearing crunches in the distance and followed the source of the sound, coming across a ditch that was emanating a dark red glow. A crimson mist wafted into the moonlight, its red sparkle illuminating the night. Lu Yin soon saw two scarlet eyes, but he had to look away for a moment. Fire crystals! The zombie king was eating fire crystals!
Roar! The long-haired zombie leapt into the sky, clawing towards him with a dark red glow on its arm. The hand radiated a scorching glow, forcing Lu Yin to dodge. The excess energy from the attack burnt a large patch of grass, and moments later a few fire crystals dropped behind the zombie king and shattered to pieces on the ground. The flames quickly started spreading everywhere.
Lu Yin utilized the Roving Step to flash behind the zombie king’s back, extracting his rod from its flesh and piercing it into the creature’s head. The zombie went rigid for a moment, its body eventually shaking and collapsing to the ground. A dark red glow burst out from within its body, the flames consuming it from the inside out.
Lu Yin would never have expected a zombie to be able to unlock abilities by consuming energy crystals. Only one in ten thousand humans had any endowments at all, but the zombie could just swallow fire crystals and use their energy. Just who was the higher life form?
The zombie king quickly burned down to ashes, the flames slowly dying out. It was only then that he walked over to the ditch where it had been swallowing the crystals, finding a hole at the bottom. He was shocked at a red glow that appeared when he shone a torch down there, but that shock quickly turned to excitement, “A fire crystal deposit!”
Energy crystals were always in demand in the universe. Astral crystals, fire crystals, water crystals, they were all extremely valuable. Lu Yin had never expected to come across a deposit here; even though he didn’t know how big it was, it was certainly a treasure trove. He definitely hadn’t expected such a reward for killing the zombie king.
Just as Lu Yin was about to leave, he noticed another dark red glow under his feet. He bent down and started to dig at the dirt, finding a pair of scarlet eyes. He felt a chill run down his spine as he realized these were artificially constructed, and digging further he found that it was a human head with a sinister smile that seemed like it could pierce his very soul. He felt goosebumps rise up as he almost threw the thing away immediately, but he managed to calm himself down and put the thing in his cosmic ring. It took a while for him to regain his calm; just what the hell was it and why was it here? It was clearly manmade, so someone had to have been here before. It also clearly wasn’t just a random piece of craft; it definitely had a purpose.
Exhaling loudly, Lu Yin quickly left. Most of the zombie horde had dispersed by the time he returned, and his soldiers were now holding steadily. An hour later, all of the zombies that still remained had run away. Corpses were piled up outside the toll station, filling the building with a pungent odor that attracted a flood of rats to the area. It was a horrifying sight.
“Brother Lu, where had you gone?” Luo Yi asked in annoyance when she saw him.
Lu Yin replied seriously, “I found a zombie king that was sentient. It was what had brought this horde.”
“What? Are you for real?” Luo Yi asked in shock.
“Mm. Report this to the Executioner immediately, the zombies are no longer just a numeric threat. There can be powerhouses amongst them as well; that king killed more than fifty of our troops tonight.”
Understanding the gravity of the situation, Luo Yi immediately went away to report.
“Boss, how are you?” Xu San asked. This wasn’t out of concern, however, at least not for Lu Yin. Without Lu Yin’s presence, Xu San simply had no status in the camp.
“Take care of things for me, I need some rest,” Lu Yin waved him off.
“Yes, Boss.”
The zombie horde had caused almost a hundred casualties, but everyone had already gotten used to such cruel scenes. An uncountable number of people had perished since the Apocalypse, and most soldiers had been through so many comrades that it barely fazed them. Lying on the roof of the toll station, Lu Yin couldn’t help but touch his cosmic ring. The head within left him unable to relax; the materials clearly weren’t from Earth. Was it brought along by those students? What kind of student would bring such a thing?