"Ah, shibal! That damn baldy! Next time I see him, I'll make him pay," Sang-hwa cursed.
"What do we do?" his wife Seong-kyeong asked anxiously, her pregnant belly protruding.
Watching the crowd still rushing toward the other carriages, Sang-hwa could do nothing either. His wife had trouble moving, so there was no way they could squeeze through the crowd now.
"Rooar..." Beastlike howls mingled with screams were already close at hand. Everyone except Ling Yi began to grow anxious. They seemed trapped here, with no way to escape now.
"Daddy!" Su-an gripped Seok-woo's hand tightly. His face covered in sweat, Seok-woo stared fixedly ahead, while Sang-hwa assumed a fighting stance, ready to strike at any moment.
Just then, Ling Yi walked in front of them, shielding everyone behind him.
Sang-hwa was just about to say something when Ling Yi flicked both hands, and two Tang sabers gleaming with cold light appeared in his grasp.
"Don't leave this spot. Stay as far back as you can." Ling Yi swung the Tang sabers twice and spoke to them with a faint smile.
"Hey, kid, can you handle this?" Sang-hwa was somewhat worried, but clearly, the two Tang sabers in Ling Yi's hands gave him a little confidence in him. After all, having weapons was better than fighting those monsters with his fists, though he had no idea how those two sabers had appeared.
Oppa is from that ancient Eastern country. He must know the legendary kung fu, Su-an thought.
By then, the first batch of zombies had appeared.
Seok-woo tried to cover Su-an's eyes, but she shook her head and dodged his hand.
Sang-hwa shielded his wife behind him and stood behind Ling Yi, ready to intervene at any moment.
"Roar!"
Several zombies howled, moving extremely fast, and were about to charge through the aisle...
"Dual saber style, wind!" Ling Yi shouted under his breath, crossing his sabers and slashing forward several times in succession.
"Whoosh, whoosh..." A succession of sounds cut through the air as several translucent wind blades appeared out of nowhere, visible to the naked eye, and curved toward the zombies.
The wind blades were incomparably sharp, slicing through the zombies' necks without resistance. Carried by their momentum, the headless bodies toppled sideways, tumbled to the floor, and lay motionless.
Sang-hwa and the others were dumbstruck. At that moment, they all had the same thought: they were saved.
After killing several zombies, Ling Yi's eyes lit up. There really were Law Fragments, and they were fragments of laws he did not currently possess.
For a cheat user like Ling Yi, fragments were enough. He did not need complete laws; the Passive Cultivation Aura could deduce the complete laws in their entirety.
If he could fully analyze this world's laws, he could merge this world into his Ling Realm as well, allowing it to undergo a further sublimation.
While Ling Yi thought this, his hands never stopped moving. As his Tang sabers danced, wind blades shot out endlessly as though they cost nothing, cutting down swathes of zombies wherever they passed.
This was Ling Yi's first time killing monsters this way, and it actually brought back the feeling of charging headlong at enemies with his brothers in his previous life.
The more Ling Yi slashed, the smoother his movements became, and the more he got into his stride. Soon, he had fought his way out of the corner, hacking onward into the zombies behind the first wave.
Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, and the others exchanged glances, involuntarily swallowed, then followed Ling Yi out.
Waiting here was no good choice. Who knew whether anyone who had run past earlier had been bitten or scratched by a zombie? If so, those people would probably soon become zombies too.
Following Ling Yi, on the other hand, was safer.
Throughout the carriage, the smell of blood mingled with the zombies' distinctive stench, making them nauseous. Especially with assorted bits flying everywhere and flesh and blood filling the air, even a burly man like Sang-hwa could barely stomach it, let alone the others.
They vomited as they walked and walked as they vomited, but gradually adapted. Of everyone, Seok-woo's daughter Su-an actually handled it best. She soon calmed down and even picked up a baseball bat from somewhere and handed it to her father.
At the speed Ling Yi killed monsters, no number of zombies would be enough. He fought all the way from the middle carriages to the rear of the train, saving a group of people along the way. But when he returned from the rear, those he had saved had become zombies too.
In the end, they too became souls claimed by Ling Yi's blades, supplying him with a large number of Law Fragments.
In fact, Ling Yi had far better ways to save the others aboard the train. Or rather, for him, it would have taken nothing more than a snap of his fingers.
Even all the zombies in this world put together would only take a snap of his fingers, if he wanted.
But Ling Yi had probably gotten into his stride, storming ahead and cutting straight through the entire carriage.
By the time all the zombies had been cleared out, fewer than thirty people remained alive.
Among these thirty, besides Sang-hwa, Seok-woo, and their family members, were the girl Ling Yi had encountered in the women's restroom earlier and her three companions, as well as a train attendant, the train driver, and a collection of other extras.
Everyone was looking at Ling Yi now. His formidable fighting ability had astounded them, and they had tacitly accepted him as their guardian deity and spiritual leader.
"Can you get in touch with Busan?" Ling Yi asked the train driver.
"Still no response." The train driver looked grim, and everyone's expressions were solemn. They knew that failing to make contact meant something must have gone wrong in Busan too, and the situation was terrible.
"What's the next stop?"
"Seokjeon, in fifteen minutes!"
"Try contacting every higher-up you can reach. Get as much information about the outside as possible. I need to rest and recover some strength. Wake me in ten minutes."
With that, Ling Yi walked straight to a reasonably clean seat nearby, sat down, and closed his eyes.
No one spoke again. In unspoken agreement, they quietly left the carriage.
Ling Yi opened the system panel:
Host: Ling Yi Laws controlled: 791 (Law of Space, Law of Time, Law of Wind, Law of Water, Law of Thunder, Law of Souls, Law of Life... Law of Darkness... Law of Light... Law of Samsara, Law of Destruction...) Law analysis: The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (65%), Resident Evil (100%), The Myth (12%), Train to Busan (63%) Points: 7.54 million. Plot progress: The Smiling, Proud Wanderer (35%), Xia Luo's Special Troubles (50%), Seven Dragon Balls Z (29%), Avengers 1 (51%), The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (98%), Resident Evil (100%), The Myth (85%), Train to Busan (45%). (Other entries omitted...)
Looking at the 791 laws, Ling Yi was very satisfied.
Sure enough, only special worlds like this could yield things like Law Fragments.
Ling Yi could not help thinking of other zombie movies. If he traveled through a few more worlds like this, the number of laws he controlled would become quite considerable.
Laws represented a world's source code. Controlling its laws was equivalent to controlling that world's core program.
Ling Yi did not intend to miss a single law in this world, so his next task was simple: kill zombies.
Moreover, he had to kill zombies at close range to absorb Law Fragments more effectively. Alternatively, whenever zombies died within five hundred meters of Ling Yi, he could absorb their Law Fragments, whether he had killed them or not.
There was one more point: he could not use laws directly to kill zombies.
It could roughly be understood as direct attacks using laws destroying the Law Fragments.
For instance, directly using the Law of Lightning or the Law of Fire would not work.
But attacks released through skills and techniques would not destroy the Law Fragments.
For example, the wind blades Ling Yi had slashed out with his Tang sabers earlier were a martial arts technique.
That was also why Ling Yi had insisted on slashing zombies with blades despite having more effective methods available.
As time passed, this world's laws became increasingly active.
Ling Yi knew very well that this world was performing its own "virus removal." Once the "virus removal" ended, this world's power level would inevitably rise.
And what exactly the "virus" being removed was went without saying.
As Ling Yi continued to gain control of more laws, the changes in the Ling Realm became ever more apparent.
First, living things were evolving faster. Humanlike Wisdom had already emerged, and although it was still primitive, he believed it would not be long before truly intelligent races appeared.
Ling Yi eagerly awaited the birth of his first batch of intelligent life. This would be a milestone for the Ling Realm, as well as a sign that it could enter its next stage.
In the neighboring carriage, everyone's expressions were grim.
"We've tried every means of contact. It's as though this world has died." The train driver's voice trembled, his expression dull and wooden, as though he had already broken down.
"There's no phone signal either. I can't reach anyone." Seok-woo also put down his phone. He was very worried about his wife in Busan, but there was no news at all now, leaving him unable to sit still.
Beside him, Su-an was already crying. Sang-hwa and Seong-kyeong also clutched their phones in silence.
"It spread too fast. It's only been an hour since the zombies appeared. This isn't normal," Seok-woo continued to analyze.
"Half an hour ago, we could still get online, but we didn't find any related reports."
"Mr. Ling said earlier that he'd read news about Seokjeon online, but soon afterward, all news about Seokjeon disappeared."
"In other words, the higher-ups knew about this terrible incident long ago, but hid it from everyone. By now, it's probably beyond their control."
"In other words, we can only rely on ourselves," Sang-hwa added.
"We still have Mr. Ling Yi. He's our hope now, our savior."
"I'm not a savior. I just want to survive, then kill every last zombie." Ling Yi's voice came from the carriage doorway...