Chapter 384: Third Level

Astonished, shocked.

Lin An sprang up from the ground, incredulously staring at the empty teleportation array.

Outside the Black Tower were hundreds of millions of second-level zombies.

Zhang Tie, what are you trying to do?!

Are you trying to die?!

Why let Ke Lai En close the teleportation array?!

In an instant, after regaining his senses, Lin An let out an angry shout:

"Ke Lai En! What exactly did you say to him?!"

Damn it!

Lin An stared at the closed teleportation array with bloodshot eyes, unable to believe Xiong Hanzi would grab the key and rush to his death.

The questioning and answer sounded at the same time:

"I didn't say anything to him."

"On the contrary, he once asked me whether the teleportation array could be shut down from inside."

On the stairs, Ke Lai En walked down as if he had just thought of something.

「Whoosh」

The wall of the first-level high tower instantly turned into a pane of transparent glass.

"Actually, I'm also curious about what he's trying to do."

Ke Lai En quickly walked to Lin An's side, looking with interest at the scenery outside the Black Tower.

"He seems..."

"Found a way to deal with the amoeba worms."

A solution?!

Lin An looked out, his whole body icy cold.

Swarming, endless corpse horde surrounded a silver giant bear.

The bear's thick paws protected its head, blocking the zombies' attacks.

As if one could see his gaze.

Zhang Tie stiffly turned his head, looking at Lin An with eyes full of sorrow.

"Captain Lin..."

Zombies tore and bit, frenziedly attacking.

Surrounding the giant bear, the zombies' second-level attacks struck him, causing him to spit blood.

Tearing and gnawing, chunks of flesh were ripped from the black bear's body.

「Ah!! 」

Roaring in pain.

A pair of bear paws violently slammed outward, flattening the nearest zombies' heads.

To no avail.

The hundreds of zombies clinging closest to his body continuously launched attacks.

Unable to resist, he could only barely cover his head to protect his vital spots.

In the team channel, Xiong Hanzi's voice trembled with pain.

"Captain Lin, I'm sorry..."

"Actually, I guessed Colonel Chu's intention."

"He and I have talked about some things..."

"But I was afraid... and never said anything..."

The zombies' sharp fingers grabbed his back; even with the Iron Body defense activated, they could not block this level of attack.

Thick back muscles were torn out, causing the giant bear to roar in pain repeatedly.

"Earthquake!"

Within just two seconds, Zhang Tie was near death.

Under the instantaneous outbreak of the earthquake skill, the earth trembled like a wave, briefly controlling the surrounding zombies for one second.

Taking advantage of the gap.

His chest rose and fell rapidly.

The black bear lay on the transparent outer wall of the high tower, gazing sorrowfully at Lin An, who stood there with bloodshot eyes.

"Captain Lin, I'm actually especially afraid of dying."

"I'm afraid that if I die, no one will look after Youwei..."

"I'm afraid that if I die, no one will take care of the group that escaped with me..."

"But I'm more afraid..."

"More afraid that Captain Lin, you will die."

"Captain Lin!"

His spine deformed.

The zombies' rotting hands seized the black bear's head, their sharp fingertips digging into his eye sockets.

"You must survive!! Ahhh!!"

With a piercing, unbearable scream, Zhang Tie had his right eye gouged out.

Gao Tian and Mo Ling stared in incomprehension at Xiong Hanzi's gruesome state, the two of them frantically slapping the outer wall.

Come in already! Zhang Tie! What the hell are you doing!?

Bang bang bang!

The glass gave a dull thud when struck.

Lin An stared blankly at Xiong Hanzi's only remaining left eye, and his heart felt a dull pain as if being stirred by a knife.

He panted heavily, feeling his mind go completely blank.

Come in! Get your ass in here!

What did Chu An say to you!?

I want you all to survive! Not to go die!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Overwhelmed by fury and grief, Lin An went berserk, pounding his fists against the black tower's wall.

The inner wall, made of some unknown material, remained unyielding; the wall that had become transparent glass was like an unbreakable rule.

The black bear clinging to the outer wall of the black tower silently shook its head.

Signaling Lin An to stop.

His figure flashed.

Lin An, eyes blood-red, seized Cleyne's throat, fresh blood seeping from his fist from the recoil:

Open the teleportation array!

I'm telling you to open the teleportation array! Let my brother in!

Immense force erupted.

Extreme fear and anger nearly destroyed his sanity.

Lin An could not accept Zhang Tie dying before his eyes.

As if being toyed with, he could not understand why Zhang Tie had to go that way.

Cough-cough...

Cleyne's limbs flailed wildly in midair, his face flushed red:

No... meaning...

Turn around and look...

He seems to have actually found a way to break the deadlock...

Upon hearing it, he froze.

Lin An turned his head back, only to see the heavily wounded giant bear slowly inserting the key into its chest.

A bitter laugh.

Zhang Tie, with his sole remaining left eye, looked at Lin An and the others inside the tower, his eyes full of deep reluctance:

Captain Lin.

Haha.

You say... do I count as the world's first Fourth Rank?

The key... I've gone ahead and used it for you...

His laughter coughed up fragments of his organs, his back nearly hollowed out.

As the key went into his chest, a surge of unmatched power burst from his chest in a blinding white light.

Body strengthening! Unlock the Fourth Rank body seal!

The power seemed boundless.

Roar!!!

The giant bear, originally gravely wounded and near death, suddenly surged in size.

Ten meters... twenty meters... thirty...

In less than a breath, the three-meter-tall giant bear suddenly swelled to nearly thirty meters high.

Like a building.

Muscles exploded, and the fur, flashing with metallic luster, turned into sharp iron spears.

Rich spiritual energy enveloped his whole body.

In an instant, everyone felt they had seen a mythic giant deity.

Boom!!!

One strike cleared the field.

With pure physical strength, the black bear that briefly possessed Fourth Rank power smashed the surrounding zombies with a single palm.

Each strike felt like an earthquake.

Under such exaggerated power, the zombies upgraded to Second Level had no ability to resist.

The slaughter began.

Dense swarms of zombies, like locusts, filled the gaps.

Carnage ensued, flesh and blood turned to mud.

Within just two seconds, the fully unleashed Fourth Rank giant bear slaughtered wave after wave of Second Level zombies in one go.

However.

Lin An only felt his whole body turn icy cold.

It was meaningless.

The body of Xiong Hanzi, forcibly promoted to Fourth Rank, kept collapsing.

The price of using the key was high.

While gaining power, the body also constantly collapses due to forced breakthrough.

Moreover, as the dead zombies melt into a pool of black water, a thick and domineering aura begins to rapidly stack and spread.

Hundreds of millions of the corpse horde begin to strengthen in unison.

Second Level Intermediate...

Second Level Advanced...

Until the black bear slapped to death a batch of zombies that had jumped onto its chest, the air seemed to stop flowing.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The brutal howl echoed across the land.

Crimson eyes spread across the land.

The zombies collectively broke through to the Third Level.

In an instant, over hundreds of millions of Third Level auras merged together, like an invincible pressure distorting space.

The world seemed to be screaming.

700 million Third Level.

The next second.

The endless corpse tide began to float.

Shocking.

Each zombie strengthened to the Third Level, then took to the air and launched a heaven‑shattering, earth‑destroying charge at the giant bear.