Pattern

Lu Chengchuan grabbed the wood, putting immense force into it, yet he could not damage it. Gritting his teeth, he unleashed his Inner Energy. Invisible Inner Energy coated his fingernails, and with a hard pull, he finally tore through the zombie's skin and flesh.

With its neck injured, the zombie instinctively tried to retreat.

But it was weaker than Lu Chengchuan. He seized the zombie with one hand, preventing it from escaping. The hand clamped around its neck continued to press down until most of his fingers sank in. Then Lu Chengchuan yanked hard, tearing open the zombie's throat.

Its throat ripped apart, Tainted Qi gushed madly from its neck. The zombie struggled even more fiercely, covering its throat with one hand in an attempt to stop the leaking Tainted Qi.

But the Tainted Qi kept spilling out. Lu Chengchuan raised his foot and kicked the zombie hard, easily knocking it to the ground.

The fallen zombie kept struggling desperately. Every time it tried to get up, Lu Chengchuan stepped forward and kicked it back down, ensuring it could never rise.

It took two minutes for the Black Zombie to completely die after its Tainted Qi had leaked out.

This was how zombies had to be dealt with. Otherwise, fighting one until nightfall would accomplish nothing.

Killed an Ironclad Zombie. Obtained 5 years of lifespan.

The system's voice rang out, signifying that the zombie had completely died. This thing had been an Ironclad Zombie, stronger than both those low-level zombies and ordinary zombies, and it granted more lifespan as well.

One Ironclad Zombie gave him five years of lifespan. He now had fifty-five years left.

Seeing that the zombie had stopped struggling, Zhou Yaning and the others slowly approached. They looked at the zombie on the ground, then at Lu Chengchuan, who had killed it.

Just how powerful was he?

Everyone present, whether they knew him or not, was thinking the same thing.

Lu Chengchuan turned to look at them. More than forty people had entered, but only seventeen remained. They looked terrible. After one glance, Lu Chengchuan swallowed the question, "Are you all right?"

So many people had died. Saying something like that now would only sound insensitive and rude.

"Why did they stay here?" Lu Chengchuan asked another question.

The monsters had vanished together with the fog before. Why had these zombies remained in reality?

Zhou Yaning shook her head silently. She could not understand why either, but that was simply how things were. There was no use in dwelling on what she could not understand. Whether it was good or bad, all she could do was accept reality.

Fortunately, there were both gains and losses. More than twenty people had died, but the monsters had also been eliminated. At least those brave soldiers had not sacrificed themselves for nothing.

With the monsters gone, the soldiers waiting outside rushed over to bandage their comrades' wounds.

The remaining survivors were no longer in danger. Once their wounds had been treated, Zhou Yaning prepared to enter the village again to investigate.

She only called for Lu Chengchuan and a few others to go into the village with her, telling everyone else to wait for them outside.

At the center of Little Stone Village's square, there were no living people left besides Lu Chengchuan's group. Zhou Yaning walked up to the pile of corpses and examined the bodies stacked together.

The stench of decay was overpowering. They could only get close while wearing gas masks.

"Those are... military uniforms. They belonged to the soldiers who came to investigate earlier."

After examining the pile for a while, Zhou Yaning found several corpses dressed in military uniforms. The uniforms had been soaked in blood and were almost black. If Zhou Yaning had not been so sharp-eyed, the others would not have recognized them at all.

"What is this? Who drew it?"

Zhou Yaning crouched down and discovered strange patterns beneath the pile of corpses, as though someone had drawn something on the ground beforehand and then placed the bodies on top.

Lu Chengchuan and the others stepped closer and found that there really were strange markings there.

"Move the bodies!" After looking for a while, Zhou Yaning decided to clear away the corpses on top.

She stood and used telekinesis to move the bodies aside. The others stepped in to help, and before long, the corpses had been shifted away, fully revealing the patterns on the ground.

It was a circular design filled with numerous complex lines, incomprehensible to the eye.

This pattern could not have formed naturally. It was definitely man-made. But who would create such a pattern within the black fog? Could the zombies have drawn it?

That was impossible. Those zombies did not look like artists...

"Something is wrong. Very wrong." Zhou Yaning took out her camera and photographed the entire pattern.

After taking more than a dozen photos, Zhou Yaning got up and continued searching for clues.

"Come take a look. These people were killed with knives and swords, not by the monsters."

Lu Chengchuan noticed that many of the corpses were strange. Their wounds were not the bite marks and scratches zombies should have left behind. Instead, they looked as though someone had hacked them to death with weapons.

Hearing this, Zhou Yaning hurried over to inspect them. She found that the victims' wounds were exactly as Lu Chengchuan had described. They had not been killed by zombies. Someone had deliberately murdered them.

"Who killed them?"

Zhou Yaning could hardly believe it. There were more than just monsters involved here. She did not believe zombies could kill people with swords and knives.

Lu Chengchuan did not know. The truth was not as simple as it appeared, but it would be difficult to uncover.

"Let's go back first. We need to report this to the director..." Zhou Yaning understood that this was no simple matter. It was getting late, and there were no more clues in the village. She wanted to return and report as soon as possible.

Before leaving, they destroyed the pattern on the ground and burned the villagers' corpses to prevent anything strange from happening again.

Filled with doubts, they returned to the vehicle camp. The wounded soldiers had been settled, while the others were carrying their comrades' bodies. They could not simply leave the corpses behind in a place like this.

Once they had loaded the bodies onto the vehicles, Zhou Yaning immediately gave the order to return to Anyang City.

Everyone left in a hurry. Several minutes after the vehicles departed, several eerie figures appeared in the small village.

"Divine Envoy, the Ironclad Zombie and those zombies are all dead. What should we do?"

"Who was that man? Even the Ironclad Zombie was no match for him. Was he an Esper?"

Several people hid in the shadows, chattering away. The leader, dressed in a black robe and hood, raised an arm to stop them from continuing.

"Don't panic. God was not wrong. He will grant us power..."

The man raised his arm. Veins bulged across it, while his muscles slowly writhed. He was savoring that power, power no ordinary person could possess.

The people around him did not dare speak. Their gazes all fell upon his arm, the burning fervor in their eyes nearly overflowing.

"There is no value left here. Go to the next place."

The furtive figures headed out of the village, and the village returned to deathly silence.

By evening, they had made it back to Anyang City before dark. Lu Chengchuan returned to the Armed Forces Department with them. After washing up and changing clothes, he left.

He would not be involved in what followed, and the Investigation Bureau did not want him involved in those confidential matters either.

Lu Chengchuan left the Armed Forces Department and took the subway home.

After getting off the subway, he walked home. When he returned to his rented apartment, he suddenly heard someone upstairs smashing things and cursing. Listening closely, Lu Chengchuan realized the sounds seemed to be coming from his floor.

A sense of dread immediately rose in Lu Chengchuan's heart. He quickly opened the door and ran upstairs. Before long, he reached his apartment door, which stood wide open. Inside were three people he did not recognize.

"Who are you?"