Chapter 123: The Opening of Humanity’s Counteroffensive!

“Now what are we going to do?” Chu Yunxi had sunk into anxiety.

At first, both she and Chen Yi had believed that with strict, impenetrable defense they could definitely solve the zombie crisis. They had never expected a new twist to appear. Now it seemed the partially frozen zombies had intelligence far beyond that of ordinary humans, and if they were to reverse the current decline, they would have to exert much greater effort.

Chen Yi, too, felt a measure of unease in his heart, but now the Newborn Squad was already down to very few. If he lost his composure at such a moment, it would only create more trouble. So he spoke again.

“We still go to see the Xisilian side first, as planned. I don’t trust the schemers in Organization X. Even if more than ten thousand of them have died, if the survivors are manipulated, they can still cause a huge mess.”

At his words, the Xisilian man’s eyes filled with tears.

“Thank you—truly. For you to help us is a blessing beyond measure. I… I can hardly say what I’m feeling.”

“Enough,” Chen Yi said calmly, lifting his hand.

“At a moment like this, don’t speak that way. I can understand your terror. The Xisilian people were once a free and unbound folk; this is not by your own choosing.”

Though he despised the Xisilian schemes, in truth he had no way of knowing whether others had not made similar mistakes.

So Chen Yi chose to take a gamble. Even if the road ahead was dangerous, at least he knew one possible outcome, and that made this life worthwhile. He drew a long breath and spoke at once.

“Prepare to turn immediately. Head for Xisilia.”

“Fine, I’ll make the arrangements now.”

He returned at once to the cockpit and shifted the autopilot into a route toward Xisilia. He had done so to avoid being alone in the cockpit and relying on Chen Yi’s people for survival; in this situation, who knew what unforeseeable trouble one person might meet. It was a small precaution, prompted by his assessment of risk. Chen Yi saw through it immediately.

He understood that Xisilians were born with plots in their bones, and any other explanation would be a mere screen. For a moment, a cool hardness entered his gaze.

When the warship entered Xisilian territory, the sight before them made the Xisilian man’s legs nearly give way. Even Chen Yi and his people felt their blood run cold.

The island was strewn with corpses. A vast horde of red-skinned zombies wandered at will, and even more frighteningly, mutated flesh-eating flowers raged across the ground, tearing at human flesh.

“My people,” the Xisilian man groaned, clutching his hair in agony and unable to restrain his fury. “How did it become like this?”

“Because you never arranged things properly!”

Chen Yi glanced at him without expression, as if nothing had happened at all, and spoke again.

“Had you chosen honesty from the beginning and spoken plainly, I would not have troubled you. But you chose betrayal.”

The Xisilian man clutched his clothing, yet he could not truly blame Chen Yi. His words were true. The Newborn Squad had continuously made concessions, but the delusion-blinded Xisilian had chosen to hurt Chen Yi and those beside him. In such a state, Chen Yi could not, of course, allow anyone near him to be wounded again.

He spoke coldly.

“I’ll give you one chance: fight with me. If you have no courage to fight, then spend your life as a useless helmsman!”

“I am going.”

“I am no useless wreck,” the Xisilian shouted. “In a moment like this, I will not let matters become irretrievable!”

“Then show some manliness!”

Chen Yi roared again. At that instant he truly despised this type of hypocrisy—grand words in daylight, secret plots in the dark.

Without waiting, he spread his wings and flew straight into the savage cluster of zombies.

“What are you doing just standing there?”

Chu Yunxi watched the pathetic Xisilian man and gave a derisive laugh.

“Can’t you start preparing to fire the warship’s bombs? No matter how ferocious that pack is, I won’t believe they can’t be blasted apart.”

At that, Vilo turned pale.

“Not exactly. If you fire those bombs, won’t innocent people be caught up in it too?”

“Innocent?”

Chu Yunxi gave him a cold smile.

“Look around. How many living people remain untouched by this melee? Right now, to reduce losses, all we can do is lower the risk as far as possible.”

Though her argument was sound, Vilo could hardly bear it. He had always fancied himself a kind of saint. How could he strike at his own companions?

“Reluctant?”

Chu Yunxi drew her pistol and aimed it at him, her eyes like ice.

“I can kill you. So don’t push me until I have to actually do it. My hands are already stained enough with blood.”

Fear ran through Vilo then. She did not seem to be lying; from the cold, killing gaze, he could sense it clearly. If the argument continued, matters would only grow worse. So Vilo drew his dagger, ready to force a resolution with steel.

“Are you an idiot?”

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and shook her head.

“You really want to act like this? Are you trying to throw your life away?”

“Why would I be throwing it away?”

Vilo snorted with disdain, though he knew in his heart that Chu Yunxi hoped to blast away the horde and the infected ones to help Chen Yi. But as a Xisilian, he could not bear to see his own people wounded so badly.

So Vilo leapt off the warship.

The speed with which he slashed down zombies startled Chen Yi. Compared to before, this was a completely different man.

“Don’t look to me for it, boss. I don’t have the power to heal. I can only stall their movements with rapid attacks.”

As soon as Vilo’s words left his mouth, Chen Yi moved to his side. The two worked in practiced coordination, striking with precise finishing blows and quickly clearing a group of zombies.

Gasping in heavy breaths, Vilo thought that fighting these half-human, half-zombie creatures was grueling beyond measure; even with professional training, he was near his limit.

“Careful!”

Chen Yi lifted his twin blades and swiftly severed the zombie that was about to bite Vilo, his face grim.

“Concentrate. If you slip, you’ll be badly hurt. A normal person bitten by a zombie has no cure.”