Surging

Zhou Kai finished checking the second floor without a hitch.

The windows in the two remaining bedrooms were both securely boarded up. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

In the basement, the Moonlight Orchid had grown to about the length of a finger. It glowed with a faint blue light, allowing him to see, albeit dimly, even without an oil lamp.

"If I can transplant it reliably, I could plant Moonlight Orchids in other parts of the house. Then I wouldn't need the oil lamp."

Zhou Kai carefully plucked a Moonlight Orchid sprout from the Nursery and tucked it inside his clothes.

The plant could ward off evil and keep him alert, allowing him to last longer outside.

He extinguished the oil lamp and took off his coat, wrapping it around the brand-new sword in several layers to conceal its conspicuous, icy gleam.

Once he had made all his preparations, he took a deep breath and gently opened the Sanctuary's front door.

A wave of rancid stench swept over him with the rain.

The rain outside seemed to have eased a little. For him, it was a good opportunity.

Zhou Kai's heart began to race. This was the first time he had deliberately ventured into the nightmare town of Soraka in the truest sense of the word.

He had already planned a relatively safe way to explore.

Monsters infested every corner of Soraka Town: the streets, the houses, everywhere.

Compared to fighting in the open streets, dealing with them inside enclosed buildings would help him avoid attracting more enemies.

Tonight, Zhou Kai's goal was to explore one or two nearby buildings as thoroughly as possible, search for useful supplies, and hunt down any monsters that had strayed from the pack.

The darkness and rain were cover for him, but they also concealed the monsters.

In an environment like this, moving quickly without worrying about the noise was a wiser choice than creeping around cautiously.

Zhou Kai crouched in the Sanctuary's shadow like a leopard ready to pounce, eyes wide as he adjusted to the darkness.

He already knew the surrounding buildings by heart. At the five o'clock position, seventy meters away, stood a detached two-story house.

The only thing he needed to check was whether there were any unfriendly "roadblocks" along the way.

"I'll wait for a flash of lightning."

Zhou Kai rubbed the oil lamp at his waist, calmed his mind, and listened closely to everything amid the rain.

A bolt of lightning split the sky. For a fraction of a second, the whole town was as bright as day.

Zhou Kai's pupils contracted. He took in everything along his route.

As the world plunged back into darkness, he sprang to his feet. His body coiled like a fully drawn bow, then unleashed all its power in an instant as he sprinted toward the house seventy meters away!

A collapsed flower bed, a wide patch of mud, and a few scattered odds and ends—nothing lay between him and the house.

Go!

Zhou Kai reached top speed, his legs flying over the muddy ground. He covered more than seventy meters in just eight seconds.

Crack!

Just as he reached the door, Zhou Kai thrust out a hand and seized the handle. He braced his abdomen and yanked with all his strength, tearing the entire latch out of the rotten wooden door!

He tossed the latch aside, pushed the door open, and rolled straight into the room.

Another bolt of lightning flashed just then, revealing two faintly glowing windows in the living room and giving him a glimpse of the room's general layout.

His mind raced, and he instantly worked out what to do next.

Without pausing, he rushed to a wooden cabinet nearby and shoved it with both arms until it blocked the door from behind.

Then he quickly propped up a wooden board beneath the windows, covering the two glass panes.

Only after all that did Zhou Kai let out a long breath. He took a lighter from his pocket, flicked it on with a click, lit the oil lamp, and began cautiously searching the room.

This house was built with inferior materials compared to No. 777. The rain outside was clearly audible; the walls offered no soundproofing at all.

He would have to pay extra attention to any unusual noises inside the house.

When he came in, he had caught a glimpse of the number on the door in the flash of lightning. This was No. 653.

So the house numbers weren't in any particular order...

As Zhou Kai frowned and pondered this, he adjusted the oil lamp so it gave him just enough light to see without illuminating too far ahead.

Holding his sword, he walked toward the rooms connected to the living room.

When he searched the kitchen, he found that something had shattered the floorboards from beneath. Rotten planks littered the ground. The floor of the entire room was more than ten centimeters lower than the living room's. He nudged the boards aside with the tip of his sword, revealing damp soil beneath.

"Dirt..."

Zhou Kai suddenly remembered that the ground beneath his feet had felt strange when he ran over earlier.

Prompted by his subconscious, he spent some extra time turning over the soil, but found nothing. An inexplicable unease stirred within him.

The kitchen was in terrible shape. The utensils were rusted, and all sorts of junk had piled up until the room looked like a dump.

Nothing worth paying attention to.

Frowning, Zhou Kai turned and headed for the next room.

"Could I really come up empty on my very first exploration?"

Just as he stepped out of the kitchen, a strange rustling sound came from behind him.

Zhou Kai spun around instinctively, his eyes widening!

The soft soil, which had been perfectly still moments ago, was now churning, bubbling like boiling water.

Zhou Kai backed away several steps, staring fixedly at the soil.

A few seconds later, black beetles about the length of a finger began crawling out of the dirt, layer upon layer, swarming in a dense mass!

The soil was full of bugs!

Could those hard clumps beneath his feet as he ran over have been these wretched insects?

A powerful wave of nausea surged up his throat!

Zhou Kai's trypophobia was kicking in. He cursed several times, then hurried out of the kitchen and charged up the stairs.

When it rains, it pours.

The instant Zhou Kai reached the second floor, a shadow suddenly leaped out from the darkness around the corner and pounced straight at his face, nearly crashing into him.

He instinctively raised his blade and strained to hold off the monster's snapping jaws and clawing hands.

In the wildly wavering lamplight, Zhou Kai saw what it looked like.

Its body was that of an ordinary human, but severely swollen, showing signs of advanced decomposition. Its head, meanwhile, was a lumpy squid's, and it frantically flailed tentacle-like tendrils...

Diablo Parasitic Corpse!

"Get lost!"

Zhou Kai was no longer the man he had been.

This monster was stronger than the previous "Lan Ze," but Zhou Kai's efforts over the past few days hadn't been for nothing!

He grunted as the muscles in his arms tensed. He steadied himself, then shoved forward with all his might, sending the Parasitic Corpse flying backward!

The Parasitic Corpse tried to grab Zhou Kai's Two-Handed Sword with its sharp claws, but only tore away the clothing wrapped around it, revealing the chilling gleam of the blade beneath.

"Die!"

The sword flashed. Zhou Kai surged forward and brought it down in a fierce vertical slash at the Parasitic Corpse's head!

Crack!

With a horrifying succession of snaps and breaks, the incredibly sharp greatsword cleaved down to the Parasitic Corpse's waist.

Its head, shoulders, and chest had all been cleanly split in two by that single strike!