An Ning awakens

At his urging, Chen Na cast aside her remaining concerns and pressed the Crimson Leech Heart against Yang Feng's back.

The Weird Object activated immediately.

Countless tiny fissures split across the dark red stone's surface, and innumerable blood-red tendrils emerged, burrowing into every inch of Yang Feng's skin.

The piercing pain made his body arch violently, and he let out a muffled groan somewhere between agony and exhilaration.

The tendrils raced madly through his body, devouring the dead tissue around his wounds while releasing a stimulating, eldritch energy that drove new flesh to grow at a visible rate.

In less than three breaths, the moderately deep blade wounds on Yang Feng's body began to close.

At the same time, his face, pale from blood loss, took on an unnatural flush, as though he had taken a powerful drug.

His breathing quickened, veins bulged along his arms, and his aura surged dramatically in a matter of moments.

The Crimson Leech Heart was not a healing Weird Object.

Its ability was to draw on the user's life force, borrowing strength from the future.

But with his life hanging in the balance, Yang Feng could no longer worry about that.

He climbed to his feet and gripped his chipped Life-Bound Blade again.

Then Chen Na made a handgun gesture.

Yang Feng shook his head and replied in a very low voice, "Don't use it unless there's absolutely no other choice. Ammunition for that thing isn't easy to find."

With that, he and Zhou Zhiqiang looked at Shen Ye together.

The two Ninth-Rank Sequence Users attacked Shen Ye again, one from each side.

Yang Feng's Knife Credit Pact was still active, and every slash targeted a vital spot. Zhou Zhiqiang's Beastman form possessed astonishing strength, and each sweep of his claws whistled through the air.

The one-sided beating everyone had expected never materialized.

Instead, Shen Ye only grew fiercer as the battle went on.

Ghost Head flashed like lightning in his hand.

Intangible and Sharpness activated repeatedly.

The blade vanished into the air, making every attack difficult for his opponents to judge.

And under the fear inflicted by the Slaughter Mark, both opponents' movements always seemed half a beat slow to Shen Ye.

Most deadly of all, neither Yang Feng nor Zhou Zhiqiang knew that Shen Ye had another skill called Blood Feast.

Every time Shen Ye's blade struck them, he stole their attributes to strengthen himself.

The longer Yang Feng fought, the more alarmed he became, and the harder he struggled.

He could not understand why two Ninth-Rank Sequence Users were having such a difficult time fighting this opponent.

Especially when he had already used his trump card, the Crimson Leech Heart.

As the fight dragged on, he could feel each of his slashes growing slower, while every strike from Shen Ye grew heavier.

Zhou Zhiqiang fared even worse.

He was bearing the brunt of the attack, and even his Beastman form's superior defenses were like tofu before Shen Ye's invisible blade.

In less than two minutes, he had suffered seven or eight more blade wounds. His gray-brown hide was slashed to ribbons, and blood stained half his body red.

Everyone watching from the sidelines was dumbstruck.

Not only was it two against one, but the pair were now being overwhelmed instead.

The members of the Blood Eagle Convoy who had been sneering moments earlier were now as quiet as a nest of quails.

Some of the smarter ones had even climbed into their vehicles and started the engines, ready to hit the gas and flee without hesitation if things went wrong.

Like the members of Zhao Biao's convoy before them, these people had little loyalty to their convoy leader.

Meanwhile, hope rekindled in the eyes of the Dawn Convoy members who had already fallen into despair.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots boomed like muffled thunder.

The noisy battlefield froze in an instant.

Shen Ye dodged almost instinctively, but he was still hit.

He looked down and saw two small holes, one in his lower abdomen and the other in his left arm.

Blood welled from the thumb-sized hole, ran down his trousers, and pooled on the asphalt beneath his feet.

Somewhat disbelieving, he looked in the direction of the gunshots.

The woman in the purple dress stood beside the Rolls-Royce with a handgun in her hand.

Its dark muzzle pointed straight at him, a wisp of smoke still rising from it.

Her finger rested steadily on the trigger without the slightest tremor.

After the shots rang out, the entire battlefield fell silent.

The hope that had just kindled among the Dawn Convoy members was shattered by the gunfire.

Even before the apocalypse, firearms had been called "the great equalizer."

Even if you had awakened a sequence, even if you possessed a powerful physique, you were still a carbon-based lifeform. A bullet would still make you bleed, and it could still kill you.

Shen Ye felt his body growing cold.

The bullet had not remained inside him. It had passed straight out through his lower back, draining a great deal of blood and strength.

He tried to step forward and finish off Zhou Zhiqiang.

But his legs felt as though enormous stones were tied to them, and he could not lift them at all.

Seeing that Shen Ye was certain to die, Chen Na finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Just then, a beam of white light fell over him.

The light was gentle and soft, covering his wounds like a thin film of water.

Bathed in the white light, the bullet hole began to slowly contract, and a warm power poured into his body, replenishing his lost vitality.

It was nowhere near enough to heal the wound, but at least it stopped the fatal bleeding.

Shen Ye turned his head slightly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Song Shiya in the Volvo's passenger seat, raising her right hand toward him.

The same white light shone in her palm.

Chen Na saw it too.

Only then did she remember that the earlier intelligence had mentioned someone like her.

As Yang Feng's woman, she reacted quickly, raising the gun to aim at Shen Ye again.

Bang!

Another bullet flew from the barrel.

But Shen Ye was faster, darting aside and evading it outright.

Chen Na did not keep firing. Once she confirmed that Shen Ye was no longer critically wounded, she immediately swung the muzzle toward Song Shiya, who was less than three meters away.

The woman only had a support sequence. Chen Na did not believe she could be faster than that young man.

As long as she got this woman under control, she would have a chance to turn things around.

"Don't move. Make one move and I'll blow your head open."

She hurried toward the Volvo in her high heels, keeping the gun trained on Song Shiya.

Sure enough, this woman lacked the young man's combat instincts.

Once she reached the car, she yanked the door open, dragged Song Shiya out of the passenger seat, and pressed the muzzle against her temple.

Faced with the dark muzzle, Song Shiya's instinctive fear left her unable to even consider resisting.

Especially at such close range.

She did not believe she could do it.

"Stop!"

Once Chen Na had the healing sequence user under her control, she immediately turned toward Shen Ye, who was approaching her.

Her voice was shrill and decisive. "Drop your blade, or I'll blow her brains out."

Thanks to Song Shiya's healing, Shen Ye had recovered considerably.

At the shout, he stopped, his crimson eyes fixed on Chen Na.

His stare made Chen Na's heart tighten, but she did not move the gun away.

She knew Shen Ye cared about this woman.

As long as he cared, she still had leverage.

At that critical moment, something happened.

A bank of white mist descended over Song Shiya's head, enveloping her.

The mist appeared without warning, as though it had materialized out of thin air.

Faint glimmers shone along its edges, giving it a cool, gentle feel.

In the Volvo's back seat, An Ning, who had been asleep for several days, had opened her eyes at some point.

A faint gray-white glow now shone in her eyes.

"Shen Ye!"

An Ning opened the car door and stepped out, looking toward him.

"Do it! Dr. Song will be fine!"

Though he did not understand, Shen Ye trusted her. Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his blade and charged at Chen Na.

Chen Na's expression changed drastically. Even from over ten meters away, she could feel the murderous intent in Shen Ye's eyes.

In her panic, she emptied the magazine without hesitation.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Five bullets flew straight toward Song Shiya's head.

At such close range, no shooter could possibly miss.

But the bullets never pierced her skull.

They disappeared the moment they touched the edge of the white mist.

They were not deflected or blocked. Instead, like drops of water falling into the sea, they dissolved silently into the mist.

The white mist did not so much as ripple.