Chapter Sixty-Eight: Entering Zone C

"Yao Ling, run!" Cao Xiaosen carried Ye Bai on his back, dashing through an underground passage whose destination was unknown. Yao Ling followed close behind, her gray clothing already marked with claw scratches.

Having leapt into the hidden passage of the underground laboratory, Yao Ling and Cao Xiaosen had barely escaped before a commotion sounded behind them—the corpse bats, after feasting on the bodies in the basement, were once again in pursuit.

At first, Yao Ling carried Ye Bai while Cao Xiaosen fought off the bats that swooped from behind. The bats' claws and fangs were razor-sharp, yet their bodies were fragile; the finger guards in Cao Xiaosen’s hands, devoid even of any special properties, could shatter a corpse bat using sheer physical strength alone.

But the bats, born from the bodies of the dead, existed in a state between life and death. Every time Cao Xiaosen smashed one to pieces, it would revive after a short while—just like the sand mummies in the ruins.

The passage was no wider than five people abreast, and it was a mystery how such a vast laboratory could simply vanish. The cramped tunnel limited Cao Xiaosen’s movements—his ghostlike agility was useless here, and even if he could dodge the bats, what of Yao Ling and the still-unconscious Ye Bai behind him?

After a while, Yao Ling suddenly said, "Monk, I’m too slow. You take Ye Bai and go ahead. I’ll hold the bats back."

Before Cao Xiaosen could react, Yao Ling shoved Ye Bai onto his back as if she were stowing away cargo, drew her sword, and turned to face the bats.

Yao Ling’s approach was unlike Cao Xiaosen’s brute force or Ye Bai’s sweeping, momentum-driven blade work. Instead, her sword traced precise arcs through the air; every thrust, flick, slash, and sweep was executed with absolute accuracy—a skill honed by her upbringing, where every dose of medicine had to be measured to the tiniest fraction. This pursuit of perfection had become her habit.

Any bat struck by her sword would lose its wings and crash to the ground, unable to fly for at least a minute or two. In the process of fighting, Yao Ling realized that when a bat’s entire body was shattered, it would revive within twenty or thirty seconds, but if only the wings were destroyed, their regrowth took much longer.

Though the bats made no audible sound, Yao Ling could sense something churning inside her head, a pain that grew more intense the longer she fought, dulling her reactions.

A tearing sound reached her ears—another rip in her clothing. She knew a fresh wound had opened on her arm. She’d lost count of how many times she’d heard that sound. Her arms and body bore several slashes, all from the bats’ claws.

At the start of term, the academy issued every student a combat suit, linked to their smart brain, able to monitor physical condition and provide protection against low-level attacks. Only the privileged few made it to the academy, and almost all first-years wore these suits. Though there were only four colors—white, gray, black, and red—their greatest advantage was that as long as the smart brain remained intact, the suit was virtually indestructible, and any damage would be repaired in moments.

The suits worn by Yao Ling, Cao Xiaosen, and Ye Bai were gray, meaning the environment’s hazards had reached the threshold to trigger their protective systems. When Ye Bai’s arm had been shattered and then reformed, her suit had already restored itself.

Now, her sleeve was torn open, and three bloody gashes marred her pale arm. Blood seeped from the wounds as the bats broke through her defense and flew toward Cao Xiaosen and Ye Bai. Yao Ling pivoted, striking down the stragglers and severing their wings.

But in that brief moment, several bats had already wounded her abdomen. She grunted, whirled around, and charged back into the fray.

"Yao Ling, hold on a bit longer! I see the exit—we’re almost there!" Cao Xiaosen’s voice rang in her ears, sounding like heavenly music. She had no idea how much blood she’d lost; her head was spinning from both the blood loss and the bats’ psychic interference.

"Mhm, hurry!" Yao Ling replied, mouth open, not caring if Cao Xiaosen actually heard her. She was completely spent; every swing of her sword was a trial of body and will.

Suddenly, as she backed away, Yao Ling felt herself bump into something—Cao Xiaosen.

"Go over there first," he said, gesturing toward Ye Bai at the mouth of the tunnel. "Leave these things to me. After chasing us for so long, it’s time we fought back."

There was a killing intent in Cao Xiaosen’s words that startled Yao Ling, for in her memory, he had always been an earnest boy, never before showing such murderous intent in his eyes.

Images flashed through Cao Xiaosen’s mind: a woman walking through a thicket, shielding a boy in her arms. She endured the brambles’ cuts to protect the boy from harm—just as Yao Ling was doing now.

Reflected in his clear eyes, the bats swirled. The finger guards on his hands turned to golden gauntlets, looking from afar like twin suns.

The golden light from his hands began to shimmer, and then blue, flame-like energy enveloped the gloves, flooding them with azure brilliance.

A soft "pop" sounded in the air, then more and more, rhythmic as a plucked zither.

Crystals appeared beside Cao Xiaosen’s ears, pale and almost like ice. With each soft sound, another icy crystal materialized, until the air was thick with them.

"Shatter," Cao Xiaosen breathed.

In an instant, the crystals shot toward the bats, their force greater than the hail of bullets from the machine guns on the Intelligence Entity’s arms. Every airborne bat was struck—wings pierced, bodies drenched in water, all without exception.

"Pierce." At his next word, all the crystals became needles, stabbing into the bats.

"Yao Ling, let’s go." Cao Xiaosen hoisted Ye Bai onto his back again, and Yao Ling followed them out of the underground passage.

The moment they stepped out, their suits abruptly shifted to black—Ye Bai’s included.

"This is Zone C?" Yao Ling asked in disbelief.

Cao Xiaosen took in their surroundings and nodded. "Yes, we’ve entered Zone C. The weakest thing here is at the entry-level. We must be careful."

"Let’s find a place to wait for Ye Bai to wake up. Now we’re in Zone C, the two of us alone can’t survive." Cao Xiaosen headed toward some ruins in the distance, then said, "We gave Ye Bai all the seeds, but there’s been no reaction. Could it be…?"

Every step Yao Ling took was fraught with fear, for the ground in Zone C was covered with black imprints—humanoid shapes, shadows left by people vaporized instantly in the nuclear blast, nothing left but their silhouettes.

"I don’t know what’s going on," Yao Ling replied. "This method was recorded in my clan’s books. They shouldn’t be wrong—my father personally verified every book before it was placed in the library."

Back in the underground passage, the bats Cao Xiaosen had smashed were strewn in pieces across the floor. But they did not die; after ten seconds, twenty, a minute, two minutes, the first bat revived, then dozens more took flight toward the exit.

Their jaws opened wide, yet no sound came forth. Then, all the bats scattered, each seeking out the scent of fresh blood and flesh.

Though Zones C and D were adjacent, they were worlds apart. In Zone D, derelict buildings, vehicles, and relics of the previous era abounded. Zone C was different—it wasn’t the edge of the radiation zone, but the area caught in the blast. All structures had been destroyed. The land was yellow and withered, and on the rare occasion a yellowish weed poked through, it was a cause for joy.

This place was truly desolate, Yao Ling thought. Zone D was so silent it made the heart uneasy, but in Zone C, there was only the yellow earth and a few scattered ruins—a land of death and barrenness.

"Can aberrants survive in a place like this?" Yao Ling broke the silence. She simply could not fathom how, in a place devoid of resources, creatures as powerful as the Three Kings could arise.

Cao Xiaosen shook his head, scanning the surroundings. Danger was often invisible, lurking, waiting to strike when one was most off-guard.

Many people who ventured out of the city were bitten by Enchanting Flower Serpents—mutant beasts barely the length of a finger, yet their venom could easily kill even advanced body refiners. These serpents hid beneath leaves or herbs, never attacking unless their territory was crossed.

That’s precisely the feeling Cao Xiaosen had now. The place seemed safe, but it was like a serpent hidden beneath a leaf—one would not realize the danger until it was too late.

What he feared most was that he and Yao Ling might have already stumbled into the territory of a powerful aberrant, where a single lapse could mean death for all three of them.

Yao Ling, hearing no answer, said nothing more. Cao Xiaosen was always full of energy in battle, but outside of it, he returned to his drowsy state.

She had grown up in the main city, rarely stepping outside the gates of the Yao family, spending nearly every day with medicines—identifying herbs, memorizing prescriptions, even dreaming of medical concoctions in her sleep.

Thus, every member of the Yao family had to eventually experience the world, to learn survival, to understand people’s hearts. The Yao family was safe—so safe, in fact, that Yao Ling believed that if she could not perceive danger, it simply did not exist.

Entering the world and learning—Yao Ling was learning, Cao Xiaosen was learning, and so was Ye Bai. Regardless of whether one entered the world, learning the way of dealing with others was essential.