“So you’re saying… all of these storage cards are my doing? I killed 68 people while unconscious?” Ye Lingtian looked at Bai Qiu in disbelief.
Bai Qiu nodded and speculated, “It’s been three days since the wave ended. I think during these three days, you were completely consumed by the class curse, dragging people here and killing them.”
“As for whether any of them were innocent, or among those who betrayed you—you’ll have to verify that yourself.”
After saying that, Bai Qiu looked at Ye Lingtian, who was still embedded in the front of the train, waiting for his response.
He wanted to know what Ye Lingtian was thinking at this moment.
Ye Lingtian fell silent.
He looked at Bai Qiu seriously and asked, “So… you’re not here to kill me?”
Bai Qiu smiled and shook his head. “You once gave me the Miracle Fruit, and you unintentionally taught me spear techniques. That indirectly allowed me to defeat an otherwise unbeatable enemy.”
“I haven’t forgotten that kindness. I’m neither The Heavenly Principles nor the law—matters of justice and order should be left to others.”
Through their conversation, Bai Qiu learned that after dealing with the Hydra Serpent in Zone 2246, Ye Lingtian had waited for a while before choosing to come to Zone 2204 to assist in battle.
Unexpectedly, after he helped deal with the Hydra Serpent, some players ambushed him from behind.
At the time, he had just used his Noble Phantasm and most of his skills.
After a few exchanges with those players—who had conserved their strength and deliberately attacked him—he quickly fell into a disadvantage, coughing up blood from the blows.
With no other choice, he charged into a swarm of monsters, letting them trample over him just to find a sliver of survival…
Then, relying on his final shred of willpower, he consumed the Miracle Fruit—and completely lost consciousness, only to be awakened now by Bai Qiu.
Bai Qiu also told him about his own experience—how he had failed to conserve his strength and was betrayed at the end.
Unexpectedly, their situations were so similar that both of them sighed, while also developing an even deeper mistrust of human nature.
“In that last battle, if it weren’t for the Miracle Fruit you gave me—triggering the ‘Return to Origin’ skill automatically— I probably wouldn’t have been able to break free from those chains. At best, I might have only managed to kill whoever got close at the very end…”
Bai Qiu said, recalling the events from three days ago.
Although he ultimately broke free and killed seven people—and could have continued—it was only because ‘Return to Origin’ activated and removed his restraints.
In reality, if he didn’t have that skill—or if it had been on cooldown—the outcome might have been very different.
Ye Lingtian let out a sigh, looked at Bai Qiu, and asked, “In the future… will you still want to save people?”
“Hard to say. But Zones 2203 and 2204 are definitely blacklisted—bad luck! Even if something like the Dark King descends, I’d wait until those two zones are nearly destroyed before making a move,” Bai Qiu replied seriously.
As for those zones that respected him—and had shown him gratitude and voiced support for him previously—Bai Qiu regarded them as priority areas to assist.
Among them were Zones 2225, 2218, and 2224.
These three were classified by Bai Qiu as trustworthy safe zones, along with his own Zone 2233, and were given priority when dealing with monster waves.
At the same time, Bai Qiu set a firm bottom line for himself.
When helping other safe zones, he would no longer push himself too far.
The skill Mana Drain was powerful, but there was no way he would use it again just to help other zones.
It would only be reserved for dealing with opponents he personally found troublesome.
If his mana dropped below 80%, he had to enter a meditative recovery state until it was fully restored.
If his Noble Phantasm was on cooldown, he wouldn’t consider helping other zones either.
The premise for helping others was that he could operate at 100% combat strength—and be capable of counter-killing anyone who tried to betray him.
As for the so-called monster waves…
How many people would die, whether a safe zone would fall, or even the reward of 5 attribute points granted to all survivors if all 51 zones held out—those were not things he needed to concern himself with.
After confirming his own basic status, Ye Lingtian accepted the healing potion Bai Qiu handed him, thanked him, and drank it in one go.
“I wasn’t sent back because the one who invited me to assist… was already killed by me,” Ye Lingtian said.
From the system notifications, he had just seen all the player names he had killed—many of them unfamiliar.
But there was one he remembered clearly—the one who invited him, the one who ambushed him…
For a moment, he felt lost, unsure of what path to take next.
Looking at Bai Qiu, he asked, “What about you? After being betrayed… are you just going to let it go?”
Bai Qiu shook his head. “I was lucky. I killed the one who invited me to assist, and happened to be sent back to my own safe zone, resisting the curse’s erosion. But killing just seven people wasn’t enough for me. After that, I killed another twenty-two. As for the rest…”
Bai Qiu told him about what he had just done in Zone 2203, which drew a burst of praise from Ye Lingtian.
“I see… I understand now. Bai Qiu, I’ve decided that after this, I’ll return to Zone 2246 and try to compete for the [Guardian] class slot,” Ye Lingtian said.
His situation wasn’t as extreme—only six or seven people had tried to kill him.
He had basically counter-killed all of them, though he had also ended up killing many innocent people in the process.
But he wouldn’t admit fault, nor would he feel regret.
He had also gained a clear understanding of his own strength.
He knew he could never be like Bai Qiu—becoming a hero who repelled monster waves across multiple zones.
So instead, he chose to improve himself and simply protect his own zone.
“Right—speaking of which, weren’t you ranked ninth in wave points? There are only three and a half days left before the points shop closes. I suggest you hurry back and exchange them,” Bai Qiu said.
“What??” Ye Lingtian exclaimed, startled.
He struggled to stand, but stumbled and nearly fell.
Fortunately, Bai Qiu reacted quickly and caught him before he could hit the ground.
“Cough… cough… why do I feel so weak, and my whole body aches?” Ye Lingtian asked in confusion.
Logically, after drinking the healing potion, his injuries should have mostly recovered.
“You just fought me for over half an hour. You practically tore this subway station apart—of course you’re tired.”
Hearing this, Ye Lingtian let out an awkward laugh, a bit embarrassed.
Supporting Ye Lingtian, Bai Qiu led him through twists and turns for more than ten minutes until they reached the subway exit.
Standing in the late-night air, with the bleak cold wind blowing against them, both of them felt a sense of relief.
After all, the winding underground subway had been rather stifling.
…..
“I should get going,” Bai Qiu said, looking toward the direction of Zone 2201, a trace of melancholy in his eyes.
“Mm. Thank you for this, truly. I’ll definitely come visit you another day—when that time comes, we’ll have a proper talk!” Ye Lingtian nodded in response.
The two were heading in completely different directions, so it was time to part ways.
After consuming multiple potions, Ye Lingtian’s attributes were gradually recovering.
Next, he only needed to head to Zone 2205 to unlock the teleportation device, then return to Zone 2246.
Bai Qiu disappeared into the night. Using his wind-riding ability to fly, and with his cloaking cape concealing him, even when dragonfang soldiers passed right by him, they failed to notice his presence.
Of course, Bai Qiu didn’t pass up such easy experience points—just a slap or a kick was enough.
Flying with his wind-riding skill, it took him about twenty minutes to reach Zone 2201.
The straight-line distance was within 80 kilometers, though his flight speed was still slower than running on the ground.
Upon arriving at Zone 2201, Bai Qiu canceled the invisibility effect of his cloak.
His sudden appearance startled the sentry soldier.
Just as the soldier was about to call for backup, Bai Qiu quickly identified himself and explained his purpose.
“So you’re Bai Qiu! I’ll inform the commander immediately—please wait a moment!” The sentry soldier was visibly excited upon recognizing him.
This wasn’t Bai Qiu’s first visit to Zone 2201, but previously, he had always used the teleportation device—arriving, trading, and leaving immediately.
Very few people had actually seen him in person.
Soon, Li Zhongjun, Li Qingshan, and the others hurried over and escorted Bai Qiu inside.
Bai Qiu glanced around the layout of Zone 2201 again.
Judging by the strength and range of the Sanctuary barrier, it had likely been upgraded to Level 4.
And in just a few days—it had to be said, the military’s execution and efficiency were truly impressive.
Around the Sanctuary’s perimeter, watchtowers had sprung up one after another.
The level of vigilance could truly be described as guards every few steps.
Moving further inward, heavily guarded areas came into view, along with pre-apocalypse military equipment…
Tanks, mortars, armored vehicles, howitzers—everything was there.
Even now, such firepower could still kill extraordinary creatures that lacked high agility, if they were hit enough times.
However, against someone like Bai Qiu—with high agility, fast reactions, long-range vision, and ranged attack capabilities—these weapons would have a hard time harming him.
Still, these had now become the ultimate trump cards—only to be used in the most critical situations.
To put it simply, such artillery coverage could easily kill something like the Hydra Serpent—but it would also mean losing out on 100,000 wave points.
And what did 100,000 wave points mean?
Converted into basic food alone, it could feed 100,000 people for an entire day—not to mention the various rare materials and items it could be exchanged for.
Modern firearms were still devastating weapons of war, but on the other hand, every wild monster had now become a valuable resource—there were even signs of humans beginning to suppress them instead.
So these “last-resort” weapons could only remain as last resorts for now.
Zone 2201 was strong enough that these weapons had little practical use…
As for infrastructure, Zone 2201’s construction efficiency was also extremely high—in Bai Qiu’s view, second only to the “infrastructure fanatic” Zone 2229…
— The end of the Chapter–
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