2026-08-23 12:26:06Whoosh!
The rusty sword sliced through the night air at an impossible speed. Wu Chen barely managed to pull his head back a few milliseconds before the iron blade slammed into the stone pillar beside him, shattering it into pieces. "Fuck! That's fast!" Wu Chen shouted instinctively, his eyes widening as he stared at the fragments of stone flying before him. "Big brother! Watch out!" Xiao Yu screamed from behind him in terror. "Back off, Xiao Yu! Find somewhere to hide behind that pile of wood! Don't come out until I tell you!" Wu Chen ordered loudly, pushing the small girl toward a corner of the alley covered by rubble. The cultivator zombie twisted its body in jerky movements. Although the Meridian Plague had completely destroyed its sanity, the muscles in its body still remembered the fundamentals of Awakening-stage combat techniques. It raised its sword again, a thin, unstable red aura radiating from the blade. "Krrrggghhh..." The creature growled as it prepared for another rapid assault. "Shit... if I fight this thing head-on, one slash will be enough to split this useless body in half," Wu Chen muttered, his mind racing desperately for a way out. "The system completely locked my meridians. Damn it! Think, Wu Chen! Think!" Wu Chen's eyes swept across the narrow passage behind him. There, the remains of the tea shop's collapsed roof had left behind a massive wooden beam with a sharpened end, hanging at an angle and suspended by a network of rotten ropes used to secure merchant goods. "Rope... sharpened beam... okay, I can use this," Wu Chen whispered, a cunning smile slowly forming on his pale lips, the familiar expression of a mafia boss. "Come on, flat-face! Fight me if you've got the guts!" Wu Chen deliberately waved his hand provocatively before staggering into the narrow passage filled with wooden debris. "KRAAAAA!" The cultivator zombie roared furiously and immediately shot after Wu Chen with its sword swinging. The zombie's speed far exceeded the physical coordination of Li Jian Nan's body. Within seconds, the creature's massive shadow was already directly above Wu Chen's head. "Shit! I really can't match its speed!" Wu Chen screamed internally. "If I keep dodging, that sword is going to split my back open from behind!" Wu Chen made the most extreme decision of his life. Rather than allow the sword to slice through a vital organ, he chose to sacrifice a less immediately lethal part of his body to lock down his opponent's movement. He spun around to face the zombie, deliberately presenting his already wounded left shoulder as the target. SLASH! "ARRRGGGHHH! You bastard! That fucking hurts!" Wu Chen screamed hysterically, the tremendous pain tearing through his consciousness until he nearly collapsed to his knees. The rusty blade sank deep into his left shoulder, cutting through muscle before striking his shoulder blade. But the depth of the wound caused the zombie's sword to become lodged between the crushed bone and flesh of his shoulder. "Big brother! You're bleeding so much!" Xiao Yu screamed hysterically from her hiding place. "Stay there, Xiao Yu! Don't come here!" Wu Chen barked with what remained of his hoarse voice. The cultivator zombie tried to violently pull its sword free, but Wu Chen acted faster. Ignoring the pain that suddenly turned his vision white, he grabbed the zombie's wrist tightly with his right hand, locking it in place so it could not pull away. "I've got you, bastard!" Wu Chen hissed, immediately spitting fresh blood directly into the zombie's face. "You think you're the only one who can play dirty, huh?!" With his left hand, which he could still move slightly, Wu Chen reached for the end of the rotten rope holding the massive wooden beam suspended above their heads. "Have a taste of mafia tactics!" Wu Chen roared at the top of his lungs. He yanked the rope with all his strength until it snapped. KREEEKKK... BOOM! The massive wooden beam, its broken end sharpened into a deadly point, immediately came crashing down at tremendous speed. THUD! The human-sized wooden beam slammed through the cultivator zombie's chest and burst out through its back, pinning the massive creature directly to the dirt floor of the alley. The force of the impact was so great that the zombie was forced to release its grip on the sword. "Krrr... gghhh..." The zombie convulsed violently against the muddy ground, its glowing red eyes flickering erratically. Wu Chen collapsed into a sitting position beside it. With one brutal yank, he pulled the rusty sword still embedded in his left shoulder free. "Arghhh! Fuck!" he cursed, throwing the sword onto the ground. Fresh blood poured from the wound, soaking his clothes. "Hah... hah... damn... you're dead now, aren't you?" Xiao Yu ran out from behind the rubble in tears and immediately wrapped her arms around Wu Chen's waist. "Big brother! Your shoulder... your shoulder is torn wide open! There's so much blood... h-hic..." "I'm... fine, kid," Wu Chen whispered hoarsely, trying to force a faint smile despite his face having gone as white as paper. "I told you... brains can always beat brute strength." However, their victory did not last long. Just before the Awakening-level zombie completely lost the last of its life force, its glowing red eyes suddenly flashed with blinding intensity. Its shattered mouth opened as wide as it could, revealing a throat filled with black mucus. "B-big brother... what is it doing?" Xiao Yu asked fearfully. "Shit... don't tell me it's going to..." KRAAAAAAAASSHHH! The cultivator zombie unleashed an extremely high-pitched roar. The deafening scream vibrated so violently that it shattered the remaining window glass in the buildings surrounding the alley. The cry sounded like the desperate screams of thousands of tormented souls, echoing throughout the entire Common's District. Whoosh... The roar finally stopped as the zombie's head drooped limply, its life extinguished completely. But the echo did not die with it. From the distance, deep within the darkness of the silent, filthy alleys of the Common's District, came the answering growls of countless creatures. One... two... ten... Then hundreds of hungry growls began answering the death call. "Fuck... it called its friends," Wu Chen whispered, staring blankly into the darkness of the alley as glowing red silhouettes began filling the shadows, moving rapidly toward them.
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Ch 11. The Candle That Nearly Went Out in Lantern Sector
Screeech! Screeech! A dozen steel spearheads sliced through the cold night air before pressing tightly against Wu Chen's neck. The chill of the metal was so tangible that it nearly cut through the grime and sewer mud coating his skin. "Don't move! Keep your hands away from that filthy robe, or you'll have a hole in your neck!" one of the guards shouted, his voice thick with panic. He wore thick black leather armor. Wu Chen stood there, his entire body trembling violently. The high fever caused by the infected, torn wound on his left shoulder made his head feel as though it were being hammered by an iron maul. His consciousness kept flickering in and out, leaving his field of vision increasingly narrow and blurred under the system's merciless penalty. Beneath his robe, soaked through with sewage, he could feel little Xiao Yu curled up and trembling, clinging tightly to his waist without making a sound. "Damn it... surrounded again," Wu Chen groaned inwardly, suppress
Ch 10. A New Dawn in the Merchant District
"Cough! Cough! Ugh... fuck, I almost drowned," Wu Chen groaned, coughing up the filthy sewer water that had filled his lungs. He had washed up along the edge of a rocky canal that flowed directly into the Merchant District. His entire body was covered in dark blue-black bruises, his broken ribs shifting painfully every time he drew breath, while the remaining poison in his body caused his consciousness to constantly drift in and out. "B-Big Brother! Are you awake? You're not dead..." Xiao Yu's crying voice came from beside him. The little girl was soaked to the bone and trembling violently. With what little strength she had left, she had apparently managed to drag Wu Chen out of the rushing canal using a floating wooden merchant's board, placing him on the dry ground of an empty logistics dock. "Yeah, you're noisy, kid. Stop crying so much. You're making my head hurt even more," Wu Chen rasped, trying to sit up against a stack of wet cargo crates. He stared at his thin, trem
Ch 09. Duel in the Sewer of Death
Woof! Woof! Woof! The barking of military tracking dogs echoed loudly, reverberating off the slippery stone walls of the vast sewage tunnel. The splashing of water beneath the charging footsteps of a small squad of soldiers grew closer by the second. From the darkness of the tunnel, a man in polished silver armor stepped into the main drainage chamber. Lieutenant Zhao. He was personally leading his small unit, holding a burning torch in his left hand and a slender sword wreathed in blue energy in his right. His sharp eyes immediately locked onto Wu Chen, who was weakly leaning against the sewer wall. "So you're really still alive, Little Rat," Lieutenant Zhao said in a calm but deeply intimidating voice. "Fucking Lieutenant... You really went through all this trouble just to find me in a sewer?" Wu Chen rasped sarcastically, trying to mask the excruciating pain coursing through his entire body with the cynical laugh of a mafia boss. "I don't like leaving anomalies unreso
Ch 08. The Consort Lan’s Remaining Memories
FWOOOSH! The flaming torch thrown by Lieutenant Zhao landed directly on the pool of kerosene. The fire immediately surged into the night sky like a gigantic, ravenous dragon, devouring the entire area in front of the iron gate within seconds. The hysterical screams of dozens of people being burned alive shook the suffocating night air. "Shit! It's fucking hot!" Wu Chen shouted as the heat of the flames began singeing the tips of his hair. "B-Big Brother! The fire... it's getting closer!" Xiao Yu screamed in terror, trying to curl up against Wu Chen's legs. "There’s no other way! Xiao Yu, hold on tight! Jump!" Wu Chen shouted at the top of his lungs. Without thinking twice, Wu Chen swept Xiao Yu's small body into his arms and jumped into the filthy, foul-smelling sewage channel directly beneath the barrier gate. SPLASH! The two of them crashed into the thick, freezing black sewage. Fortunately, the depth of the filthy water was enough to cushion their fall while also shie
Ch 07. The Trap Behind the Mist
"Open the gate, you bastards! Open it!" Wu Chen screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming his right hand against the cold iron bars of the gate. Behind the sturdy iron bars, a group of wealthy merchants in luxurious silk robes screamed hysterically from behind a barricade of mounted soldiers. Their faces were twisted with disgusting fear. "Don't open it! Never open it!" shrieked a fat merchant with a thin mustache. "They're all plague carriers! If even one of those filth gets inside, our businesses in the Merchant District will be ruined! Lieutenant! Fire your arrows at all of them! Quickly!" "Yeah! Kill anyone who approaches the gate! Our lives are worth more than those plague-ridden rats!" another merchant shouted beside him, further inciting the soldiers. Wu Chen spat harshly onto the ground. "You fucking cowards! You're only brave enough to scream from behind an iron fence!" "B-Big Brother... they're... they're pointing their bows at us!" Xiao Yu cried, her voice trembling v
Ch 06. The Red Path to the Merchant District
Krrrggghhh... KRAAAAA! The chorus of hungry growls drew closer, echoing from every corner of the narrow alleys in the Common’s District. The muddy ground of Tingzhou seemed to tremble as hundreds of black silhouettes with glowing red eyes began moving rapidly, pouring out of shabby houses and dark passageways toward them. "We don't have time to rest! Run, Xiao Yu!" Wu Chen shouted, immediately yanking the little girl's hand. "B-big brother! But your shoulder... you're bleeding even more!" Xiao Yu cried in panic, staring in horror at Wu Chen's robe, which was now soaked with fresh blood and rainwater. "Shut up! As long as my heart is still beating, I'm not dying in this dump!" Wu Chen barked, ignoring the stabbing pain that seemed to tear through his left shoulder with every step. "Run!" They shot through the maze of filthy alleys, which were rapidly filling with thick smoke. In the distance, flames began rising high into the night sky. The kerosene torches dropped by the panicked
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