Disarming

Two plumes of black smoke rose from the rooftops, one near and one far, crudely smearing the pale dawn sky and making the whole scene look like the apocalypse had arrived.

Once they confirmed that the smoke wasn't caused by a zombie attack, most people still chose to stay away from the Research Center. But there were always a few daring souls who cautiously watched from a safe distance.

None of the deathmatchers went after these bold onlookers. They all held back, waiting.

Every deathmatcher believed that the real bloodbath would begin only when the "Node" left the building.

However, not long after Lu Bai had left, the situation changed slightly.

"Why's someone coming out?"

"Who's that guy?"

"Is he a deathmatcher?"

A flood of confused voices rose from the shadows.

Agu emerged from the Research Center's entrance in a lab coat, looking thoroughly disheveled.

He looked around in a panic, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where are the guards? Where are they?!"

Was he one of the Research Center's lab staff?

As soon as that thought occurred to them, several figures rushed toward Agu, evidently intending to question him about what was happening inside.

"Damn it, just what kind of people are these guys?"

Zhou Zongming's face was as black as coal.

At first, he'd thought that some nervous civilians had gotten into a minor scuffle.

He hadn't expected that the moment he arrived with his soldiers, they'd be attacked by more than ten armed thugs.

Six or seven of his men went down in the first volley.

There were only tents all around them. At best, they could block the view; they were no kind of cover.

That had also worked in the Survey Corps deathmatchers' favor. Once they'd taken control of the situation, they'd realized Zhou Zongming's men were still armed. So they'd only fired when they could ensure their own safety, and the gunfight had dragged on until now.

Even so, only two soldiers remained by Zhou Zongming's side, fighting as they fell back.

The Survey Corps deathmatchers had blocked the route back to the Administrative Building. Charging through would be suicide.

Besides, Zhou Zongming and his men had heard those successive explosions. The situation there couldn't be good either.

Their only option now was to join up with the main force holding back the zombies. At least there were two companies and the Rapid Response Force on the "front line."

The thinner of the two soldiers changed magazines, then turned and crouched with his rifle raised. "Company Commander, go on ahead."

"Don't you die on me, kid."

Zhou Zongming knew better than to argue. He left those words behind and kept sprinting through the gaps between the tents.

The soldier who'd volunteered to cover their retreat watched the way ahead warily, his finger never leaving the trigger.

Unfortunately, he never saw the enemy. A single bullet came from his front left.

Bang!

His head burst open like an overripe watermelon struck by a pebble.

Less than half a minute after the soldier's body fell, four men arrived from different directions.

If you ignored the automatic rifles in their hands, their clothes and appearance made them look like ordinary programmers.

"Let's get everyone on the same page."

"Osas, prioritize the critical path and reuse the playbook."

"How many are left?"

"Two."

"Then let's keep refining the process. Brother Hui left us here specifically to empower the cleanup operation, didn't he?"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Lu Bai tapped his Eight-Sided Han Sword against the ground as he approached the programmers. Only after the four deathmatchers' attention shifted to him did he speak with a faint smile.

"What's the underlying logic behind what you're saying? Where's the top-level design? What's the value of the final deliverable? What are the key process controls? How will you ensure the results are properly closed out?"

"Who are you?" asked the deathmatcher who looked like the leader, judging by his hair.

As he spoke, he gave his companions a subtle look.

There was no need to hesitate. In a situation like this, someone carrying a sword was almost certainly a deathmatcher.

These programmers had a certain rapport with one another. The one in the red plaid shirt reacted quickly, raising his rifle to fire a burst at Lu Bai.

As far as they were concerned, killing him on the spot would be best. At the very least, they had to stop the uninvited stranger from wherever he'd come from.

But it was already too late.

While speaking, Lu Bai had closed the distance between them to the point where one dash would put his sword within reach.

He moved, appearing before them like a ghost, then swept his sword sideways.

Shick~

Thud!

The two severed hands still gripped their guns even after they hit the ground.

The deathmatcher in the red plaid shirt stared at his wrist, blood gushing from the wound. He hadn't even felt the pain yet; he was simply frozen in shock.

Lu Bai had expected that. He didn't stop moving. The Eight-Sided Han Sword fluttered through the air in his hand like a butterfly among flowers. A flick of his wrist was enough to physically "disarm" all four deathmatchers in turn.

The Survey Corps deathmatchers tried to fight back or flee, but the vast gap in strength left no time to put any of their ideas into action. Every attempt was nipped in the bud.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that after the Zombie Virus had strengthened Lu Bai's physique, dealing with ordinary people was as easy as an adult beating a child.

And now, he'd also gained the boost from [Outstanding Among the Crowd].

He didn't even need to activate [Blood Rage]. His speed and the sharpness of the Eight-Sided Han Sword alone were enough to end the fight.

With any chance of retaliation eliminated, Lu Bai stood with his sword in hand. The scene fell silent.

About ten seconds passed before two of the deathmatchers doubled over and cried out in pain.

The leader didn't look quite so pathetic. He was hunched over slightly too, but he stubbornly held back his cries.

He glared viciously at Lu Bai, as if he wanted to memorize his face forever.

Seeing that, Lu Bai made no attempt to be polite. He reversed his grip and sent the man packing with a single slash.

Throughout it all, a warm smile remained on his face.

It was like the pure, sincere joy he'd felt as a child, gleefully taking a stick he'd found and whacking the roadside rapeseed flowers—not for any particular reason, but simply for the pleasure of it.

The deathmatcher in the red plaid shirt looked startled, then began to curse. "You're so damn dead. Do you even know who we—"

Squelch~

Another thrust, straight through the heart.

[Ping!]

[Points +2, Current Points: 19, Current Rank: 1/104]

Lu Bai had indeed planned to get some information out of them.

But he knew that no matter how thoroughly their corpses were chopped up, the worst that could happen to a deathmatcher was elimination.

Under those circumstances, interrogation methods like threats, intimidation, and torture were pointless.

So whenever he ran into a stubborn deathmatcher, whether they were genuinely tough or just pretending, it was better to cut them down first.