Chapter 67 - 64: Endure and Live, Fail and Die!

Chapter 67: Chapter 64: Endure and Live, Fail and Die!

The fragrance always remained on the hand that gave the rose. When it came to his "Good Brothers", Liu Zimo was never stingy. In fact, if not for his current lack of resources, he would have given Lou Yuchen even more! No one wanted to see the future Yu Chen Martial Saint mature early more than he did.

Meanwhile, the battle within the city raged on.

Tens of thousands of various Demon Beasts continued to pour out from mid-air teleportation points. Almost every second, hundreds to thousands of new monsters plummeted into different districts of the city. The guards and Martial Artists barely finished slaughtering the beasts in front of them before new ones landed right before their eyes. It was an endless slaughter. After nearly half an hour of continuous combat, everyone was thoroughly exhausted. However, to complete their mission and to ensure their own survival as well as that of their families, everyone gritted their teeth and held the line, swearing to fight to the death. Even so, the number of survivors in the city continued to dwindle.

Those without martial prowess to defend themselves, or whose houses were not sturdy enough, easily became bloody fodder the moment they encountered the descending Demon Beasts. Over the past half hour, blood flowed like rivers through Luozhou City amidst unending screams.

Liu Zimo continued to patrol back and forth in the sky above the city. Wherever he passed, massive piles of Demon Beast corpses were left in his wake. Grandmaster Level combat power was practically invincible in this era. Not a single beast could withstand even one blow from him. But no matter how strong he was, he was still just one man. With Luozhou City being so vast, it was impossible for him to cover every single area. Most of the time, he focused his attention on the highly dangerous Company Level and Battalion Level Demon Beasts. As for the Ordinary Soldier Level and Warrior Level beasts, the city had to rely on the guards and local factions deployed throughout the districts to jointly defend against and exterminate them.

Just like that, the battle persisted for about an hour. It wasn’t until the sky above brightened again and no new Demon Beasts fell from the void that everyone finally breathed a genuine sigh of relief.

They had finally made it through!

The anomalies dissipated, and the blazing sun reached its zenith. The darkest and most dangerous moment had passed. However, more than half of their city had been reduced to ruins. The damage was far more severe than during the first Demon Calamity.

As the sun rose high, the Beast Tide outside the defensive line seemed to lose all momentum to siege the city. The monsters gradually ceased their attacks and retreated, and even their roars grew sparse. This gave the Warriors who had been holding the walls the breathing room to turn back and help clear out the remaining Demon Beasts within the city.

Finally, after twelve noon, not a single living Demon Beast remained in Luozhou City. The two-hour-long city defense battle officially came to an end!

No one cheered, and no one celebrated. The survivors simply collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. Looking at the beast corpses littering the ground and the streets that looked as if they had been washed in blood, a trace of sorrow inevitably welled up in everyone’s hearts.

They had luckily survived this Demon Calamity, but what if there was a next time? Even if there wasn’t, when would they ever finish exterminating the endless horde of beasts covering the mountains and plains outside? All routes out of the city were completely blocked by monsters. Luozhou was now an isolated city, trapped like a turtle in a jar. The living supplies within would likely be depleted before long. Without enough food, how were these survivors supposed to keep living? Everyone was overwhelmingly worried about the future of themselves and their families. Two consecutive Demon Calamities and two narrow escapes from death had completely extinguished their hopes and expectations of quickly returning to a normal life.

At this moment, the entire city fell dead silent. Occasional low sobs echoed from the ruins and streets.

Liu Zimo was long accustomed to this sight. Every human surviving in the Post-Apocalypse inevitably had to undergo this psychological journey. Endure it and live, or fail and die! Without a powerful mental fortitude and an incredibly strong will to survive, many were destined to be eliminated by the cruel environment of the Post-Apocalypse. Oftentimes, even if they didn’t die in the jaws of a Demon Beast, they would die from their own cowardice and fear.

In his thirty years of the Post-Apocalypse, the number of humans who chose to end their own lives because they couldn’t accept reality was not small. Liu Zimo had always looked down on such people. He couldn’t understand why someone who clearly wasn’t even afraid of dying couldn’t just fight tooth and nail to live. Even dying in battle against a Demon Beast was far better than hiding in a room and slitting one’s own throat in despair!

[Your bestie Ye Feihong has survived the battle. Having gained insight, her aura erupts, and she breaks through to the mid-stage Iron Bone Realm in one fell swoop! Triggered the ’Heaven-Stealing’ Talent Attribute. The fortune is shared equally, reaping half of her cultivation enhancement. Martial Arts Cultivation +10, Spiritual Power +3, Lifespan +5.]

Hearing the system prompt about Feihong’s breakthrough by his ear, Liu Zimo’s spirits lifted. This was definitely a nice piece of good news. Swiftly refining and integrating the surge of cultivation power that suddenly swelled in his Dantian, Liu Zimo willed it and teleported to a residential area in the east of the city.

Feihong and his father, Liu Yi, had been exterminating Demon Beasts in this sector. Seeing the mountains of beast corpses piled up on the ground, Liu Zimo knew that the majority of this was undoubtedly Feihong’s doing. This much could easily be guessed from the awe-struck expressions on his father’s face, as well as the faces of the three Superpower team members beside him, as they looked at the girl. Feihong’s extraordinary martial prowess and her swift, decisive, yet incredibly brutal combat style seemed to have thoroughly terrified these four adults!

"Master Zimo!" Feihong was the first to notice Liu Zimo’s arrival. With a cheer, she trotted over and threw herself at him.

Liu Zimo chuckled and opened his arms, lifting the little girl whose frame had clearly grown almost twice as heavy. After her cultivation broke through to the mid-stage Iron Bone Realm, not only had her weight doubled, but she had also grown taller by a full twenty centimeters. She now looked like a five or six-year-old child.

"Your cultivation broke through again. You did a great job, very worthy of praise!" Liu Zimo raised a hand and lightly tapped the tip of the little girl’s nose, declaring loudly, "Let’s go, I’m taking you out for something delicious!"

With a flash, he vanished from the spot, taking Feihong with him.

The four people present were utterly dumbfounded. Had their little savior just been kidnapped?!

When Liu Yi snapped out of it, he stomped his feet in anger. "That little bastard! He completely forgets his own dad the moment he gets a student! When there’s good food, he only thinks of his disciple. He doesn’t even bother to ask his old man?! I’m so mad! Just watch me teach him a lesson when I get back!"

Hmm?!

Hearing Liu Yi’s complaints, the three team members’ eyes lit up. They eagerly trotted over to him.

"Group Leader Liu, was that really your son just now? He looks incredibly powerful. Could you introduce us?"

"Yeah, exactly! Group Leader Liu, is your son looking for more disciples? I have a little brother at home who’s very clever. Do you think he could learn under your son?"

"Me too! Do you think it’s too late for me if I start practicing martial arts right now?"

None of the three were fools. If a mere disciple like Feihong was already this absurdly strong, wouldn’t her master be even more godlike? If they could cling to the coattails of such a Martial Arts Powerhouse in the Post-Apocalypse, how could their future days possibly be bad?

"Hmph, so now you know to call me Group Leader Liu?" Liu Yi puffed out his chest, immediately putting on airs. Looking down at the three team members smiling ingratiatingly at him, he said haughtily, "Weren’t you three completely dissatisfied with me before? You complained that my Invisibility Superpower was useless and even wanted to compete with me for the group leader position. Well, I’m not afraid to tell you that my son personally taught me my martial arts too. If it really came down to a fight, the three of you combined wouldn’t even be enough for me to slap away!"

The three of them twitched their lips in unison. What a brag! If they hadn’t seen with their own eyes during the battle just now how Liu Yi was headbutted onto his ass by a Cyan Bull Demon, they might have actually believed him.

"Compete for the leader position? Never happened!" one of them exclaimed.

"That’s right! Group Leader Liu, you must have misunderstood. We’ve never been dissatisfied with you!" another chimed in.

"From the very first time I laid eyes on you, Group Leader Liu, I knew you were destined for greatness. If you weren’t the leader of this Superpower group, I, Yang Tian, would be the first to object!"

"Yeah, absolutely! Group Leader Liu, you’re wise, heroic, and incredibly dignified. You taking the position as our leader is completely well-deserved. No one would dare object to it."

Faced with this barrage of flattery, Liu Yi beamed with joy. In a fantastic mood, he waved his hand grandly. "Alright, alright. Seeing how sensible you all are, I’ll find a chance to introduce you to my son later on. But let’s be clear first—I can give you the opportunity, but whether you can catch my son’s eye will depend entirely on your own skills and luck!"

The three immediately nodded repeatedly, overjoyed. Just getting an opportunity was enough. Even if they couldn’t successfully become disciples in the end, simply getting acquainted with him ahead of time was a great outcome!