Descent

Zhong Mountain had been hollowed out, revealing a vast space inside, filled with modern facilities that left hundreds of evolvers astonished.

Squads of evolver soldiers marched past with regulation steel sabers on their backs. They seemed like a strange blend of the modern and the ancient.

As evolvers grew stronger, ordinary firearms became less useful than cold weapons. On top of that, many armories had been destroyed. The fact that the Punishment Camp could equip its soldiers with regulation steel sabers proved it was no ordinary force.

Lu Yin and the others were escorted to a huge plaza. Evolver soldiers stood in a ring around it, along with quite a few female soldiers watching them with solemn expressions.

A layer of transparent glass covered the space more than ten meters above the plaza. Beyond it was another vast area.

At that moment, several men and women stood near the glass, laughing as they looked down.

"I wonder if we'll find anyone useful this time. Even if they can't reach Human Level, I hope they're not too far off," a middle-aged man said in a booming voice.

"Don't get your hopes up. Reaching Human Level isn't easy. Saint of Punishment already assigned the Human Level captains in this group, and neither of us got a single one," said a displeased woman beside him, her expression alluring.

"It's not impossible. Bringing tens of thousands of survivors all the way to the Jinling Gathering Place must've been tough. I think highly of them. You can leave them all to me," a Young Man said with a smile from the other side.

"Keep dreaming. We'll see how Feng Hong arranges things. He's the instructor this time, so he'll definitely get the lion's share," the middle-aged man said.

They were all Commanders of Ten Thousand in the Punishment Camp. The camp had eighty thousand registered evolvers, and only those who reached Earthshaker Level could become Commanders of Ten Thousand. Once they attained that rank, they were absolute rulers in Jinling, second only to Saint of Punishment, Zhou Shan.

To the millions of survivors in Jinling, Saint of Punishment was rarely seen. The Commanders of Ten Thousand were the heavens themselves.

"I heard Snow Maiden, under Luo Saint, is coming to Jinling. She'll be sparring with us. Who's planning to take her on?" the alluring woman suddenly asked, smiling at the others.

They fell silent, making no move to respond.

The woman chuckled. "Word is, Luo Saint declared Snow Maiden invincible at Earthshaker Level. You're really not interested in seeing for yourselves?"

They still said nothing.

The woman smiled, pressed her lips together, and said no more.

Luo Saint Bai Xue stood atop a snowy mountain and founded the Blue Camp. Though she stood alongside Saint of Punishment Zhou Shan among the Seven Saints of Huaxia, her status was even higher than his.

To outsiders, the Seven Saints of Huaxia held equal status. In truth, only a select few knew that the Seven Saints were divided into the Upper Three Saints and the Lower Four Saints. Luo Saint Bai Xue was one of the Upper Three Saints, while Zhou Shan ranked among the Lower Four Saints.

On the plaza, the evolvers were examined one by one. Since the apocalypse, many viruses had mutated, especially the zombie virus, which was difficult to treat. The Punishment Camp had to make sure none of the evolvers were infected. Otherwise, it could be dangerous.

Soon, it was Lu Yin's turn.

As the nurse set aside the sample vial containing his blood and began filling out his personal information, Lu Yin's eyes flickered. He tensed his legs, and his figure abruptly blurred before returning to normal the next instant. No one saw what happened. Only the blood in the vial had changed color ever so slightly, seeming to take on a hint of purple before quickly returning to normal.

"Lu Yin, right? Sorry to keep you waiting. It'll just be a moment," the young nurse said with a smile.

Lu Yin nodded. "Thanks." Then he walked to the other side.

After a while, nearly five hundred evolvers had been tested. There were no problems.

Before long, a middle-aged man in a dark military uniform approached. As he drew near, an oppressive presence rose around him, and all the evolvers stared at him in astonishment.

Crack!

The ground split open, and a surge of force swept across it, shocking every evolver.

"E-Earth Level, an Earthshaker Level Expert!" someone cried. All the evolvers looked at the middle-aged man with a mix of fear and envy.

The middle-aged man stopped a dozen meters from Lu Yin and the others, then called out, "My name is Feng Hong. I'm a Commander of Ten Thousand in the Punishment Camp. I'll ask you once: anyone among you who doesn't want to join the Punishment Camp may leave."

The hundreds of evolvers looked at one another. Then several stepped forward.

The Punishment Camp was powerful, but joining meant accepting its discipline. Many had never served in the military, so it was natural that they didn't want to join. Lu Yin was one of them.

Nearly two hundred people didn't want to join—almost half the group.

Feng Hong looked at them and said calmly, "If you join the Punishment Camp, not only will you be protected, you'll also be able to bring your family to the area around Zhong Mountain. You'll receive Energy Crystals every month for cultivation, and Saint of Punishment will teach you combat techniques."

"What are combat techniques?" someone asked curiously.

Feng Hong said coldly, "Skills that let you unleash two hundred percent of your strength. That's what combat techniques are. Saint of Punishment's technique is Storm Slash. Few in the world can withstand a single strike. You should've seen it."

The evolvers' eyes lit up with excitement. Of course they had seen it: one slash had wiped out the Mutant Vine and split the earth, changing the skies. It had been astonishingly powerful.

"Can we learn Storm Slash?" someone asked eagerly.

Feng Hong replied coolly, "Anyone can learn it, as long as Saint of Punishment approves."

At that, the evolvers who had planned to leave hesitated and gradually returned to their original group. Fewer than fifty were truly intent on leaving. Lu Yin was among them.

Feng Hong waved his hand. "Take them away."

Soon, nearly fifty evolvers were escorted out of Zhong Mountain.

Lu Yin looked back. This place would soon be anything but peaceful.

Quite a few survivors and even evolvers had gathered outside Zhong Mountain. When Lu Yin and the others emerged, they all crowded around.

"Brother, want to buy a place? Come to me. I'll give you a fair price."

"Brother, need a guide? Don't look at me like that. There are too many zombies and monsters outside Jinling. Without a guide, you could easily get surrounded."

"Brother, need weapons? Sharp war sabers, sturdy spears—we've got it all. We even have firearms. Buy a few grenades to protect yourself."

"Do you have a map?" Lu Yin asked.

A shifty-eyed evolver immediately came over. He first swept a fierce look around, scaring off his competitors, then carefully took out a map. "Brother, this map will cost you ten crystals."

Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. "Ten? Are you crazy? Ten Energy Crystals for a map? Do you know that one Energy Crystal can make an ordinary person evolve?"

The shifty-eyed evolver lowered his voice. "Brother, this isn't an ordinary map. It marks where the powerful monsters and zombies are concentrated outside Jinling. You don't want to get surrounded as soon as you leave, do you? Your life's at stake here. Surely it's worth ten crystals?"

Lu Yin laughed. "Three at most. Take it or leave it."

The shifty-eyed evolver readily agreed. "Sure. I'll take you as a friend. Here, the map's yours."

Lu Yin felt like he'd been cheated. The man had agreed far too readily, but he didn't mind. He reached into his clothes, took out three rice-grain-sized white crystals, and handed them over. The shifty-eyed evolver accepted them, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Then he leaned close to Lu Yin and whispered, "Brother, since you're so straightforward, I'll give you something. No need to thank me." He pressed a round pill into Lu Yin's hand, then turned and left.

Lu Yin looked at the pill, his expression strange. He knew what it was: an aphrodisiac.

Many plants had mutated after the apocalypse, and the medicines from the peaceful era were long outdated. Medicines made from mutated plants worked better. Lu Yin had seen others use this kind of aphrodisiac before, and its effects were undeniably potent. But pills like this were valuable; sold on the open market, it would fetch far more than three crystals. Where had the guy gotten it?

Lu Yin didn't dwell on it. He tossed the aphrodisiac aside and looked around before heading toward the outer city.

Lu Yin studied the map carefully, scanning it before finally stopping at the barren hills south of the city. "I hope there are some clues here."

On the top floor inside Zhong Mountain, a huge conference room was filled with people. The seat at the head of the table was empty. At the first seat to its lower left sat a man with a scar on his face, dressed in military uniform. At the first seat to its lower right sat a beautiful young woman wearing glasses. Most of those gathered there were Commanders of Ten Thousand in the Punishment Camp.

After a while, Zhou Shan entered the conference room and naturally took the seat at the head of the table. He swept his gaze over everyone, then looked at the young woman with glasses. "How's the plan coming along?"

The young woman pushed up her glasses. "Our preliminary estimate is that expanding the Jinling Gathering Place will take at least two months. We could lose between two and three thousand fighters. If we want to bring all of Jinling's territory from the peaceful era inside the gathering place, the losses will triple."

Zhou Shan frowned. "The gathering place has to expand. Our push north is going smoothly enough, and in a few months at most, we'll be connected to the Capital City. Once the whole country is connected, reclaiming our territory will be easy. We can't fall behind or let anyone laugh at us."

"Saint of Punishment, we've just received word that a Heavenly Rank Expert has emerged in Tian Zhu: Ku Seng," the scar-faced man suddenly said.

Everyone burst into an uproar. There were only seven Heavenly Rank Experts in all of Huaxia, which showed how difficult it was to reach that level. No one had expected one to emerge in Tian Zhu.

Zhou Shan's gaze sharpened. "Ku Seng? Look into him. In theory, no one else should be able to break through to Heavenly Rank within a year."

"Yes."

"Anything else?" Zhou Shan continued.

At the scar-faced man's signal, an evolver below him was just about to speak when his gaze suddenly turned vacant as he stared out the window. The others followed suit, all staring blankly outside.

Zhou Shan whirled around to look out the window, his eyes narrowing.

Dozens of shooting stars streaked across the sky, trailing long tongues of flame. One of them hurtled toward Jinling, eventually crashing south of the Jinling Gathering Place and making the earth tremble.

At that moment, countless survivors and evolvers witnessed the scene. The shooting stars blazed across the sky like fireworks, then vanished in an instant.

Outside Jinling, Lu Yin was following the map toward the barren hills south of the city when he saw it too. The star that had crashed outside Jinling had landed not far from him.

A violent shock wave swept through the sky, scattering the clouds as the earth cracked apart.

Lu Yin kicked away a steel frame that had crashed toward him, stared south, and thought for a moment before rushing toward the impact site.

Inside Jinling, Zhou Shan soared into the air, intending to head south, but someone stopped him. "Saint of Punishment, countless zombies are attacking the city wall!"

Zhou Shan turned east. A vast black mass of zombies was shambling toward them, and Jinling's gates had been sealed. Many survivors were still trapped outside the city, crying out in despair.

Holding the Mountain-splitting Great Axe, Zhou Shan flew outside the city and struck the ground with a single blow, cutting down countless zombies. "Open the gates and let them in. I'll hold them off."

South of Jinling, smoke billowed skyward from the place where the star had crashed. A huge crater stretched a thousand meters across, shaped like a cone. At its bottom lay a white sphere, two meters in diameter, trailing White Smoke as the air around it warped.

Lu Yin approached the crater, then hid inside an abandoned factory not far away. Through the wooden boards, he watched the white sphere, his expression shifting. He had suspected as much, but the sight still caught him off guard. "I didn't expect it to arrive earlier than I predicted. A spaceship."

With a soft click, the white spaceship's hatch opened. A hand reached out and paused. Then a Young Man stepped out. He had short hair, wore light white armor and combat boots, and slowly emerged from the spaceship. He looked up, stretched, and said, "I'm exhausted. It's one thing to make us take a trial, but choosing somewhere this far away and making us fly here ourselves? Disgusting."

After speaking, the Young Man took a short blade from the ship, then pulled out an object like a wristwatch and fastened it around his left wrist. He tapped it, and a series of beeps rang out. His gaze sharpened as he looked toward Lu Yin. "Who's there?" As he spoke, he leaped into the air, drew his short blade, and slashed sideways. A massive blade of energy swept across the factory, cleaving it in two.