Second Stage

The shaking beneath their feet startled the athletes, who scrambled to escape the hospital by stepping on the constantly collapsing ground.

These Cultivators were agile and narrowly escaped falling into the deep pit. Xiao Nan, the live-streaming assistant, was just an ordinary person who had been chased by monsters and witnessed Superman leaping high into the air. Before she could even react, she was swallowed up by the cracked earth...

How could this happen? I'm just a recent college graduate. I finally found a job as a live-streaming assistant, and I haven't even worked for six months yet. How did this happen...? This must be a dream. Yes, how could there really be a zombie outbreak? And those guys who can jump over ten meters with ease and punch through walls, how could they possibly be real!

This must be a dream, a hallucination. When I open my eyes again, everything will be back to normal...

Hmm? Where am I? It's so warm... It turns out, it was all a dream. I should still be in my warm bed...

Xiao Nan opened her eyes full of anticipation, only to be surprised to find herself surrounded by red fleshy tissue with twisted blood vessels!

Xiao Nan instinctively wanted to escape, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move her body at all, as if she were tightly bound!

What's going on?

Xiao Nan looked down and discovered that her body from the neck down was encased in a huge tumor, covered with terrifying blood vessels that were slowly pulsating!

Aaaaaah!

Xiao Nan screamed in despair, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a soft tentacle was pressed against her face, blocking her mouth and almost melting, sticking to her face.

"Awoooooo!"

Under the cover of night, a gigantic zombie, as tall as a seven-story building, roared with its mouth wide open!

Its body clearly shows the same twisted and chaotic style as other zombies, but unlike the decay of other monsters, this Corpse King's body is very intact, with a hard keratinous plate covering its body surface. It has a huge head, with purple Ghost Fire flashing in its eyes, sunken cheeks, a long and protruding snout, dark blue skin, and protruding fangs, making it look like a giant mandrill!

"The Source of Calamity has evolved?" Zhuge Lan exclaimed in surprise. When she arrived nearby, she only saw rampaging zombies and Mutated Monster. She thought that stopping these monsters from spreading would be enough to complete her mission. She didn't expect there to be Second Stage?

"It's less about evolution and more about this being the very Source of Calamity! I'll take care of it!"

Ling Yu smiled confidently, gazing at the monster that seemed to have sprung from the ground, picked up his spear, channeled his energy, and hurled it with a skill!

The spear struck the monster squarely on the forehead with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. The immense force caused the monster's head to snap back, but the spear failed to penetrate its skull, only going in less than a foot. The spearhead went in, but the thick shaft remained protruding.

"So tough?" The monster's defense was somewhat beyond Ling Yu's expectations. You see, his spear was Epic-level treasure. The reason he gave up the Foundation Establishment Realm and spent more points to exchange for it was because he valued its powerful attack, especially its built-in skills.

In Ling Yu's calculations, when the first Source of Calamity appeared, most people had not yet unlocked their abilities. Even those who got kills would only have a few hundred points at most, and could at most unlock the Foundation Establishment Realm. Under such circumstances, if the Source of Calamity was too powerful, there would be no way to fight against it!

Therefore, the first Source of Calamity shouldn't be too difficult to kill. Unlocking the Foundation Establishment Realm and gaining Qi can greatly improve the margin for error, but the increase in attack power is still limited. Since I have enough points anyway, I might as well directly exchange for this Epic-level spear and use its powerful attack to take down the Source of Calamity. That way, it's easier to get a high score, and I can unlock realms later!

But to his surprise, his attack, which he thought was a sure thing, failed to break through the defense!

At this moment, the monster raised its hand, stretched out two fingers, pinched the spear on its forehead, and pulled it out as if it were a toothpick. It even looked at it in front of its eyes, then opened its mouth and made a few loud noises, as if it were speaking, but no one could understand it at all.

After cursing a few times, the monster pinched the spear between its fingers, flicked it, and with a whoosh, the spear shot towards Ling Xin!

Ling Xin dodged, and the spear sank into the ground with a soft thud, leaving only half of it sticking out.

Ling Xin grabbed the spear shaft and pulled it out with her extraordinary strength, then threw it back at Ling Yu.

"Next!"

The spear clattered to the ground, and Ling Yu stood frozen in place, not even bothering to catch it.

"This is impossible!" Ling Yu's eyes remained fixed on the enormous monster as he shook his head and backed away in shock. "It can withstand attacks like that? We can't possibly kill it!"

Her mentality has already collapsed? Ling Xin was speechless. Is it really that easy to join the imperial family now?

Just then, a figure rushed over and slapped Ling Yu across the face. "Calm down! You're a Ling Family clan. How can you panic like this over such a small matter? What kind of behavior is this!"

Ling Yu was spun around by the slap, finally regaining his senses. He raised his hand to recall the spear, his face filled with shame. "Fei Shu was right..."

"But what this kid said makes sense..." The bald woman, Qian Qing, sneered, "That gun in his hand is indeed our strongest weapon. If even that can't break through our defenses, then this monster is really tough to deal with."

"There must be a weakness, right?" Lu Gaoen gritted his teeth and said, "If we can find the weakness of such a huge monster, we might be able to defeat it outright!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the monster roared again, and the gaps in its carapace opened, spraying out a large amount of viscous black liquid that indiscriminately covered an area of several hundred meters around.

The group didn't know what the black liquid was, but they sensed the danger and quickly dodged. Although they weren't hit, the liquid wriggled upon landing, and moments later, Flandre Monster sprouted from it, writhing and lunging at the group.

One giant monster is troublesome enough, but it can also spawn baby zombies?

The group immediately retreated, fighting their way through the horde of zombies to escape the monster. Fortunately, the monster didn't seem intent on pursuing them. Seeing them flee, it lingered for a while, roaring and flailing its arms, occasionally spewing black liquid to create more zombies... "It seems if we don't kill this guy, the zombies will only multiply..." Qian Qing frowned. "If they spread and kill a lot of ordinary people, we're all doomed!"

"Kill it? It's not that easy!" Zhuge Lan kicked a zombie to death, gritting her teeth, "These zombies don't give points no matter how many you kill. If I could unlock my abilities, maybe I'd have a chance!"

No points to unlock abilities?

The group was taken aback by her words. Ling Fei suddenly said, "Look at the number of survivors now!"

Everyone looked and saw that they now had thirty-two survivors on their side and thirty-one on the enemy side... No, in the short time they were looking, each side lost another person!

So many people died!

Just hours before the disaster struck, the number of survivors had remained constant; at least before the Source of Calamity appeared, the numbers on both sides were 36 and 38 respectively. How could more than ten have died in such a short time?

"They're all nearby!" Ling Xin realized. "The contestants who were originally scattered throughout the city have all been attracted here!"

Ling Yu was slightly taken aback. Relying on his abundant points, he immediately activated the Enemy Detection ability, and a map of the surrounding one kilometer appeared in his field of vision, covered with red dots!

"There are at least a dozen Polluter nearby!" Ling Yu exclaimed in shock!

So many? The group was taken aback. These were just the enemies; one could imagine that their own teammates numbered about the same. Including them, there were probably nearly thirty people gathered in this area!

Keep in mind, less than half an hour has passed since the location of the Source of Calamity was announced, yet so many people have gathered so quickly?

"Everyone is very proactive!"

"Don't underestimate Cultivators!" Zhuge Lan shouted, "Even without unlocking abilities, our physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people. Ten hours has passed; finding a means of transportation shouldn't be difficult. I came from over ten kilometers away; the roads were perfectly clear at midnight!"

"So this is the solution to the Source of Calamity!" Ling Fei shouted. "To prevent the disaster from spreading and increasing casualties, the contestants must gather at the Source of Calamity. So here, we can not only fight the monsters, but also kill the Polluter that have gathered here!"

"Even if we can't eliminate the Source of Calamity for now, as long as we kill people and score points, we can quickly increase our strength!" Ling Yu also realized. "So right now, our top priority should be to eliminate those Polluter nearby!"

"Damn it, my detector has reached its time limit! Anyone else want to activate a detector and show us the way?!"

The error-free version can be read at 69 Book Bar! 6=9+shuba is the first site to publish this novel.

"We're short on points..." Qian Qing shouted, "Where were all the red dots just now? Ping, try to find them from memory."

"Memory..." Ling Yu looked troubled. "Those red dots were scattered and kept moving, I didn't remember their exact locations..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than an explosion suddenly erupted from the construction site not far away!

"Looks like we don't need to probe anymore!" Ling Xin rushed towards the direction of the explosion first, followed closely by Ling Fei. The others exchanged glances and then followed.

In a construction site, the ground was littered with the mangled remains of zombies and construction workers. A Cultivators wielding a gun was hiding behind cover, occasionally peeking out to fire a few shots at the second floor of a half-built building across the way.

The East Suburbs used to be a large area of shantytowns and old buildings. In recent years, there has been a lot of demolition and reconstruction, so there are many construction sites nearby. Only a few residential areas have been completed and people have moved in. Overall, the population density is not high. Because of this, the rampant zombies and monsters have not caused many casualties... It's just that these innocent construction workers have suffered. They were caught in the crossfire between the monsters and the players, and some died and some fled.

Two more points deducted... Chu Xin checked his dwindling score, gritted his teeth, and peeked out again to observe the opposite side. Suddenly, he saw a ball of flame fly out of the building, exceptionally conspicuous in the darkness. The Cultivators was startled and hurriedly fled from his cover. The ball of flame landed right where he had just been hiding, exploding into a burst of fire with a loud bang!

The Polluter on the other side is very cunning. Not only does he have a gun just like me and is skilled at stealth in the dark, but he also carries a lot of homemade bombs made of chemicals. He's really not easy to deal with!

Chu Xin had only intended to visit the Source of Calamity to see if he could rack up some points, but he unexpectedly ran into a Polluter from the [Savage Wilderness]. Taking advantage of his gun, he managed to kill him. Before he could even celebrate getting the points, he encountered this bomb maniac...

This guy seems to have some throwing ability. Even with his energy sealed, his throws are incredibly accurate, blasting me so much that I have to dodge and run, completely unable to fight back!

Chu Xin was fleeing across the empty construction site when another burst of bullets came from the building. He didn't have time to find cover, and this time he couldn't dodge them all. He was shot in the calf and shoulder!

Chu Xin screamed and fell to the ground, but his will to survive unleashed astonishing strength. He fired a few shots haphazardly into the Black Hole second floor, then, enduring the pain, he used his hands and feet to leap and hide behind some concrete pipes.

But just as he hid himself, before he could even check his wound, another homemade bomb with its fuse lit flew towards him!

No... I have to get out of here!

Chu Xin endured the pain and tried to escape, but the gunshot wound caused him to stumble and fall to the ground, leaving him only able to watch helplessly as the bomb flew towards him!

At this critical moment, a tall and strong figure suddenly flashed by, kicking the bomb back the way it came. With a loud bang, the bomb exploded on the second floor, and the number of local survivors decreased by one.

"Lu Gaoen?" Chu Xin clearly recognized the person. "You're here too?"

"If we hadn't come, you would have died here, kid!" Qian Qing's voice came from behind. Chu Xin was overjoyed to hear this. "With you guys here, this mission is definitely a sure thing!"

As he spoke, he stood up despite the pain and asked Lu Gaoen, who was standing beside him, "So? How many points did that bomb-wielding monster get?"

The burly man curled his lip. "Tch, I didn't kill him... someone beat me to it..."

"Not just you guys came?" Chu Xin was taken aback. "There are also experts?"

"Three members of the Ling Family's clan have come..." Qian Qing laughed, "And there's the girl from the Zhuge Family. Although she's young, judging by her skills, she's no ordinary person. No matter how hard we Rogue Cultivator try, we can never compare to these chosen ones from prestigious families..." As he spoke, Qian Qing took out a small knife. "Want me to help you dig out the bullet?"

"No need, I can do it myself." Chu Xin took the knife and, while enduring the pain to treat his wound, smiled and said, "Don't underestimate yourselves. You are among the best of the Rogue Cultivator. The Yuan Cultivation Society has visited you several times already. Isn't it because you don't like constraints that you've been refusing?"

"Even if you join the Yuan Cultivation Society, you'll just be a high-level employee. The resources you get won't compare to those of the Ling Family and Zhuge Family..." Qian Qing shook his head. "Forget about that... Do you have any extra points? Could you help us activate Enemy Detection? There should be quite a few Polluter around here. We can give you one when we catch one..."

"Puff!"

Before she could finish speaking, Qian Qing suddenly froze as a sharp long knife pierced through her heart!

(End of this chapter)