Energy Source

"Ahead, move ahead!"

Lu Chengchuan wasn't the only one who saw the ball of light; everyone in front saw it too.

The ball of light floated in mid-air, the only light in the Black Mist, visible to anyone who wasn't blind. Lu Chengchuan felt an even stronger pull. He emptied the last magazine in his gun, threw the gun on the ground, drew his newly acquired longsword, and charged forward.

Inner energy surged wildly within him, making him feel like he had endless energy waiting to be unleashed.

"Don't rush too fast, we can't keep up with you!"

Lu Chengchuan charged ahead, his longsword a blur of motion. None of the Monsters blocking his path were a match for him. Each time his sword fell, a Monster collapsed to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Chengchuan had advanced several meters, and the Monsters surged forward, instantly separating him from the team behind him.

He didn't feel much up front, but he scared the people behind him half to death.

Zhou Yaning quickly called him back. Lu Chengchuan only glanced back for a moment before the Monsters swarmed him, several pairs of claws grabbing at him.

His clothes were torn by the Monsters with a ripping sound, but the sharp claws only left a white mark on his skin.

With the Eagle Claw Iron Body Skill at its peak, his skin was harder than iron armor, and the Monsters couldn't hurt him even if they clawed at him for a minute.

He had wanted to charge straight through, but Zhou Yaning kept shouting from behind. Helpless, he had to stop and wait for the others to catch up.

"What is that thing?!"

Zhou Yaning walked to his side, firing her gun as she asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's related to the mist." Lu Chengchuan didn't know either. He had received the call of the light ball, but he had no idea what it was or what it was for.

The team approached the ball of light step by step, and the surrounding Monsters grew in number. Most of the Monsters in the mist were low-level Zombies and Ghouls, and even with their strong vitality, they couldn't withstand too many bullets.

The team still had over a hundred people left, and with over a hundred guns spraying bullets, only a few Monsters could get close.

Lu Chengchuan continuously swung his sword, killing the Monsters in front of him. Zhou Yaning and a few others fired on both sides. With them clearing the way, even the Monsters' desperate interception couldn't stop the team.

A few minutes later, they fought their way to the ball of light.

The ball of light was over a meter in diameter, floating in front of them. In stark contrast to the dark mist, the ball of light emitted a soft, warm glow, and everyone standing around it could feel the warmth.

[Sensing pure energy, absorbing.]

Feeling the warmth, a prompt suddenly appeared in Lu Chengchuan's mind from the System.

The System was absorbing the energy of the light ball. He didn't know what the mist would become after the light ball was absorbed, but he figured it couldn't be worse than it was now.

"Did you guys see that? The ball of light is getting smaller."

The soldiers formed a circular formation to block the Monsters, while the Investigation Bureau members observed the light ball in the center. As she watched, Zhou Yaning noticed that the light ball was shrinking at a visible rate.

Zhou Yaning's mind was in a mess. They hadn't done anything, yet the light ball was automatically shrinking.

Looking at Lu Chengchuan standing next to her, she suddenly thought of a possibility.

"Mr. Lu, do you know why it's getting smaller?"

He was the one who said there was something here in the first place, and they did see the light ball when they came, proving that Lu Chengchuan was right.

She didn't have time to think about it before because they had to deal with the Monsters, but now she realized that Lu Chengchuan might have known about the light ball all along, and that the reason it was shrinking was because of him.

"I don't know what you mean." Lu Chengchuan naturally denied it.

There was no reason to take responsibility for something like this. The shrinking of the light ball was indeed related to him, but he wouldn't admit it.

His current strength wasn't enough to contend with the country. If he admitted it, even if he wasn't captured for research, he would have too few free days in the future.

He had been lying in bed for several years and didn't want to spend a few more years in another place.

Lu Chengchuan didn't admit it, and Zhou Yaning couldn't do anything about it, so she could only turn her head away.

In just two minutes, the light ball had shrunk to the size of a fist, and it was still shrinking. As they waited, the gunfire around them stopped.

The Monsters in the mist weren't endless. Relying on their guns, the soldiers killed all the Monsters that rushed forward, and until the light ball disappeared from Zhou Yaning's sight, no Monsters attacked.

[Successfully absorbed energy, gained 20 years of life.]

The light ball disappeared, and the System's voice rang in Lu Chengchuan's mind. Absorbing the light ball had given him 20 years of life, which was a pleasant surprise.

He had killed many Monsters along the way, and adding that to his previous remaining lifespan, he now had 41 years to squander.

With a lifespan of forty-one years, he could live to be in his sixties even if he did nothing from today onward.

Just a few days ago, he was a person lying in bed waiting to die, needing help even to drink a cup of hot water. Now, he had become a powerful martial artist who could easily kill people with a wave of his hand.

But Lu Chengchuan wasn't satisfied with this. He wanted to become stronger and live longer.

Just as he was happy, the mist was also changing. With the light ball gone, the strange mist surged towards where they were standing. Countless wisps of mist gathered, blocking everyone's vision and making it impossible to see the people next to them.

"Stand your ground, don't panic!"

Fortunately, the mist couldn't block sound. Zhou Yaning's shout cut through the Black Mist, echoing in everyone's ears, and then the army officers followed with orders.

The mist surged wildly, being sucked into an invisible place.

The boundless mist poured into an unknown space. Before they knew it, the scene before them brightened, and all the mist disappeared. The lights of the mall shone on them, and everyone didn't react for a moment.

Lu Chengchuan looked left and right and found that they were standing in a corner on the first floor of the mall, all one hundred of them crammed together.

"What's going on now?" Zhou Yaning couldn't help but ask again.

She was asking Lu Chengchuan what exactly he had done, and why the mist had suddenly disappeared.

"I really don't know. That ball of light was probably the energy source of the mist. When the ball of light disappeared, the mist dissipated with it. That should be it."

The disappearance of the light orb and the mist were definitely closely linked. Lu Chengchuan told her the answer, but he wouldn't say why the light orb disappeared.

"Energy source... energy source."

Zhou Yaning knew that the mist had disappeared because the light orb was gone. What she couldn't understand was why the light orb had disappeared.

She vaguely knew it had something to do with Lu Chengchuan, but she had no evidence.

"Hurry up and tell them the news. As long as the energy source is destroyed, the mist will dissipate." Lu Chengchuan reminded her to quickly report this information.

Lu Chengchuan knew that Zhou Yaning suspected him, but it was just suspicion, and she couldn't do anything to him.

Compared to Lu Chengchuan alone, the matter of the Black Mist was the most important. Finding a way to solve the Black Mist problem was paramount, and Zhou Yaning didn't want to delay. "Battalion Commander Chen, let's go back and report the situation to the leaders."

The group of over a hundred people left the mall to report the situation to their superiors, so that other cities would also know how to solve the Black Mist problem.