16: Chapter 14: Saving Lives 16: Chapter 14: Saving Lives In the middle of the night, a gunshot rang out, particularly startling in the silent darkness.
Lu Chen’s tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open, and Su Mo was also awakened by the gunshot; she sat up with a start, looking at him with questioning eyes.
The man shook his head, placing a finger on his lips to signal silence.
He extinguished the candle with one breath and gently parted the curtain to peek outside the window.
The shadows flitted across the paths of the compound outside.
Two men and a woman were surrounded by a horde of zombies; he counted roughly more than 20.
The gunshots continued sporadically, attracting more and more zombies that closed in on them without cease.
A burly man dressed in special forces attire shattered the head of a zombie in front of him with a punch, then hefted up the short-haired woman who had fallen on the ground beside him, and yelled angrily at the man standing not far away, “Ye Lei!
Have you gone mad firing that gun?”
In Ye Lei’s hand, the pistol was still smoking.
He tossed the gun to the ground and swung the long blade in his hand towards the zombies nearby, blood splashing on his face as he spoke indifferently and without fear, “I’m down to my last bullet, what’s there to be scared of?
It’s just a moving target.”
“Enough, let’s get moving!” The large man threw off a zombie that nearly bit him and charged forward, with Ye Lei quickly following suit.
Although the zombies were not fast, their sheer numbers were slowly forming an encirclement, trapping them inside.
“Look at the mess you’ve made!” His words were explosive, aimed directly at Ye Lei, but his hands didn’t stop moving.
Only then did the arrogant man finally realize that things had taken a turn for the worse.
Fear appeared on his face as he argued, “If I hadn’t fired, Xiwen would have been bitten!”
“Enough, Ah Lei, shut up!” The woman carried on his shoulder glared at him and tapped Jianxiong’s shoulder in despair, “Put me down to buy some time.
“No way,” Jianxiong tightened his hold on the woman’s waist: “Where’s the logic in letting a woman sacrifice herself?” The two of them put all their effort into trying to break through the encirclement, their movements getting slower and the circle getting smaller.
Lu Chen remembered these people, special forces employed by the Jiang Residence.
He drew the curtains closed and after instructing Su Mo, he prepared to go downstairs, “I’ll be right back.”
Guessing that he was going to rescue someone, she hastily got out of bed, grabbed the Tang Blade, and said urgently, “I’m coming with you.”
“Stay here,” he pushed her back into the room without explanation and closed the door behind him.
Clenching the Tang Blade, Su Mo stared at the door for a moment.
A smile suddenly appeared on her small face.
He didn’t want her to go?
Well, she would go anyway.
Lu Chen had already hurried down the stairs, quickly moving towards the people trapped within the encirclement.
His fingers, pale as jade, gathered up sharp Ice Blades, shooting them rapidly at the zombies not far away.
The blades, precise in their trajectory, penetrated the zombies’ heads.
He then drew a knife from Space and joined the battle, his superpower coupled with agile movements quickly clearing the zombies.
Suddenly, with the addition of a formidable fighter from outside the circle, a group of zombies split off and surged towards him, numbering no less than ten.
The situation took an instantaneous turn.
The trapped trio got a moment to breathe.
Jianxiong, vaguely making out the identity of their savior, shouted excitedly, “Admiral Lu!?” He delivered an elbow strike to push back a nearby zombie and tried desperately to move toward the man.
Zhao Xiwen, prepared to meet her end on Jianxiong’s shoulder, struggled to lift her head and upon seeing the tall, athletic figure in the distance, her heart surged.
Although his hair color had changed, that handsome face was unmistakably him!
Once outside, Su Mo headed straight for Lu Chen, who was facing an increasing number of zombies.
He sensed the zombie reaching for him from behind and was about to turn and unleash his superpower when a Tang Blade came slicing down, chopping into the zombie’s neck.
Without the power boost, Su Mo had to use all her strength just to half-sever the zombie’s neck.
She pulled out the blade and struck again, finally killing the zombie completely.
Lu Chen pulled her to his side, frowning as he said coldly, “Didn’t I tell you to stay inside?”
“I won’t be a bother,” Su Mo made a face at him and quickly slashed away another incoming claw.
He, needing to continue the rescue, compromised, “Stay behind me.” Superpower surged in his hands as he attacked the throng of zombies once more.
Su Mo gripped the blade tightly, following close behind him, occasionally helping him deal with the zombies trailing them.
Alerts from her system echoed in her mind, one after another incessantly.
She was so annoyed by the sound that after she had finished off a zombie, she couldn’t help but ask in her mind, “Is there a way to put it on mute?”
“Muting notifications”.
The incessant beeping noise instantly disappeared, and her mind finally stopped buzzing so she could focus on hacking away at the zombies.
At first, Lu Chen was paying close attention to her movements, but once he saw that she could protect herself and kill the zombies effectively, he stopped watching her and sped up his own actions.
After the last zombie had been killed, the road was littered with their corpses, emitting waves of foul stench.
Su Mo’s clothes and face were already smeared with a lot of blood, the pungent smell making her entire body uncomfortable.
Just as she was about to speak to the man beside her, her forehead was harshly flicked, and a cold, accusing voice came from above her head, “Did my words go in one ear and out the other?”
She covered her forehead and muttered resentfully at him, “You were the one who wanted me to kill the zombies, and now you’re also the one telling me not to.
Why are you so troublesome?”
The man was at a loss for words, his face set in a cold expression as he uttered, “Go clean up first, you’re filthy.”
“Hmph,” Su Mo snorted, pursing her lips and snorting through her nose.
As soon as they finished dealing with the zombies, Jianxiong put down the woman on his shoulders and threw a punch at Ye Lei’s face, forcing the latter to stagger back with fresh blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
Ye Lei, refusing to show weakness, was about to strike back when a knife was suddenly thrust into the ground, a few centimeters deep, between them.
Upon seeing who had arrived, Jianxiong immediately stopped and stood up straight, saluting crisply, “Admiral Lu.”
Ye Lei wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and followed suit with a reluctant salute.
He was tall and lean, with hair long enough to nearly hide his slender eyes.
Lu Chen pulled out the knife and, with a nod of his head, coldly asked the woman sitting on the ground, “Bite wound?”
Zhao Xiweng, with her short hair cut to her ears and a handsome face, shook her head, her eyes greedily fixated on the tall, handsome man in front of her as if she couldn’t get enough of looking at him.
“It’s just a sprain.”
“Come with me first,” Lu Chen said as he pulled Su Mo from behind him and stepped over the others to lead the way.
Only then did Zhao Xiweng notice the shorter girl standing next to the man referred to as War God, the two walking away shoulder to shoulder.
She was suddenly stunned— who was this girl?
Jianxiong glared at Ye Lei with his wide eyes, waved his large fist in front of him, and followed behind the two.
Ye Lei picked up the woman from the ground, taking in her expression and showing a hint of disdain.
This was also his first time seeing the man known as War God up close, and aside from his good looks that drew women’s gazes, he seemed unremarkable.
He selectively forgot who it was that had broken through the encirclement to rescue them.
The group returned to their temporary shelter, barricaded the first floor, and crossed over a mass of corpses to return to their rooms.
Su Mo threw her knife to Lu Chen and clung to the large block of ice he had formed to wash the blood off her body.
He relit the candles, and the dim, yellow candlelight illuminated the room.
Jianxiong slumped against the door, while Ye Lei helped Zhao Xiweng to sit at the table.
When Su Mo came back, she tidied up the luggage on the bed and handed it to Lu Chen, who casually stored it away in the Space.
“You should sit on the bed,” she said, patting the bed, indicating for Ye Lei to put the woman there.
After Ye Lei helped Zhao Xiweng lie down on the bed and sat on the edge, he assessed the now refreshed-looking girl.
She was young, with clear skin and adorable features.
Suddenly, he spoke flippantly to her, “The little sister with Admiral Lu is quite cute.”