Chapter 396: Counter-Search

On the ring-city highway, an inconspicuous silver-white off-road vehicle startled the birds along the road.

Lush branches and leaves climbed up the guardrails on both sides of the road.

After the apocalypse, everything thrives.

Except humans.

In the passenger seat, Lin An calmly glanced at the in-car display.

Today is Tuesday, the forty-second day after the apocalypse.

There are still 39 hours and 59 minutes until the zombie tide attacks.

Zhang Tie's arm had been handed over to Colonel Chu for safekeeping.

The amoeba worm virus on the arm needed to be extracted, reconstituted, or in other words, subjected to a test.

According to Chu An, if the plan goes smoothly, this will be a powerful trump card no inferior to a meme doll, and one that can be used indefinitely.

Of course, the risk is also high.

Massively breeding the amoeba worms is tantamount to dancing on the tip of a blade.

Once the extracted amoeba worm virus leaks, the entire real world will suffer an irresistible massive disaster.

As for how to extract the trait whereby the amoeba worm grows stronger by absorbing spiritual energy, Colonel Chu merely said mysteriously that he would figure it out.

"Lord Lin An..."

"Are you all right?"

"We estimate that in half an hour we'll be able to reach the vicinity of the Wangjiang Military Region scouts."

"The scouts our base sent out have been keeping an eye on them."

The driver, Liang Shaoguang, nervously glanced at Lin An in the passenger seat.

Although Lin An appeared normal, his beastly instinct made him feel as if he were sitting beside a man-eating ferocious beast.

"Nothing much; we'll get out when we're three kilometers from the Wangjiang scouting team."

After a faint reply, Lin An turned his head to look at the guardrail flashing by outside the window.

He felt irritable.

At the place where the ability core of the Undying Shura was stored, Colonel Chu unexpectedly told him:

Zhang Tie could now be revived, and at the earliest, right after the zombie tide ends.

The cost is consuming a large amount of one's own spiritual energy.

Of course, the revived Xiong Hanzi would completely lose his status as an Awakened One and a player, reviving with strength even inferior to that of an ordinary person.

Without a reversal of the Causal Sequence, his strength would remain permanently stuck before awakening.

Even with the amoeba worm as a carrier, his strength could not be enhanced.

The reason is simple.

Without massive spiritual power to support him, Xiong Hanzi cannot resist assimilation by the Undying Shura.

It's like a shoddy rebuilt car body—he cannot handle the Undying Shura, that powerful engine.

Once injured, under the stimulus of power enhancement, he would quickly become a new Undying Shura.

There are two options: one is to revive Zhang Tie now, but he would spend his life confined to the Safe Zone, reduced to weakness.

The other is for me to go to the Secret Realm to seek ownerless spiritual power, bring it back, and then revive Xiong Hanzi.

Of course, I could also wait until I reach the Third Rank before using the Causal Sequence.

Likewise, this second method of revival is just as Chu An previously described.

Reviving Zhang Tie this way would perfectly overcome the Third Rank limit; once revived, he could quickly rise to the Third Rank in a short time.

Moreover, with the Undying Shura as a carrier, his strength among Third Rank beings would be unmatched, making him a powerful aid for me.

After much thought.

Lin An still chose to delay the revival.

It was not out of selfishness, nor did he necessarily need Zhang Tie's help.

During this time together, Lin An came to understand Xiong Hanzi's personality all too well.

He had long suffered from an inferiority complex due to lack of strength; if he revived and found himself powerless, he would probably find it hard to accept.

In the apocalypse, Lin An himself had experienced the pain of being powerless.

That was a kind of panicked, uneasy despair.

Zhang Tie had always longed to grow stronger, longing to protect Youwei with his own hands.

If he "awoke" and found himself reduced to uselessness, he would probably wish he were dead.

Therefore.

As brothers, Lin An still forcibly suppressed the urge to revive Zhang Tie right now.

"Ding-ling-ding"

The vehicle body shook, and the bell chimed.

Lin An gave a wry smile and glanced at the little bell on his wrist.

The item was given to him by Youwei.

When the little girl saw her return, she secretly handed him the handmade gift she had made.

The little brass bell was full of the little girl's small thoughts hoping for safety.

Of course, there was also Zhang Tie's share.

When Youwei looked at him with some worry and anticipation, asking why his brother hadn't come back yet, Lin An felt a pang of heartache.

No one dared tell Youwei the truth; those in the know all chose to deceive her.

Looking at those anxious, clear eyes, he seemed to see Anxia on the night before he left.

After telling Youwei that Zhang Tie was still out on a mission, the little girl merely lowered her head in disappointment and left.

The patrol team member told himself, since the days of heading to the Amoeba Worm dungeon, Youwei would come over and ask repeatedly:

"Have big brother and Brother Lin An returned?"

Not receiving the answer she hoped for, Youwei would then sit listlessly on the swing built for the children beside the core fortress.

She was small-statured, and her little feet on the swing swayed back and forth.

She would always sit there, then stare blankly in the direction her brother might return from.

Once seated, she would stay that way the whole day.

She would become lost in thought.

When recalling the base members' description of Youwei, Lin An flashed to the scene An Jing Tian had once spoken of.

When he left, during the ten days they waited there.

AnXia also stood by the window every day, repeatedly looking in the direction he had left.

Like a helpless little beast, she would always be frightened by the zombies' howls and startled awake by distant explosions.

Each time, after covering her ears in fear and crouching down.

No matter what An Jing Tian said, AnXia would stubbornly stand at the window again, hopefully looking outside.

AnXia...

Lin An murmured silently.

If there is still anything deep within his heart helping him resist the assimilation of the Fearful Body, it is probably only his sense of responsibility toward his companions, and AnXia.

Since the Fearful Body rose to 21%, the desire for slaughter has constantly filled his mind.

Even his thought processes have been affected.

The leaking emotions could even be felt by Liang Shaoguang.

Chu An was right; he could no longer remain in the real world.

There are too many stimulating factors here, and the system has also taken notice of him.

Like a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, all it takes is a slight anger, and the igniting desire will blast him and everything around him to pieces.

Like a truck stalled on a downhill slope, once the fragile balance is broken, the Fearful Body's progress will increase rapidly.

Lin An could imagine what he would become if he lost himself in desire.

With his current strength, if he unleashes his full power without restraint, at this stage there is hardly any Awakened One who could oppose him.

The Fearful Body's powerful regenerative ability is enough for him to embody a moving natural disaster.

The more he fights, the stronger he becomes.

The more people he kills, the stronger the regenerative ability granted by the Fearful Body becomes.

When he is completely lost in the desire for slaughter, he becomes equivalent to a fusion of the Amoeba Worm and the Indestructible Asura.

The Meme runs out of control, the black dragon goes berserk, and even Mo Ling will die at his hands.

When all disasters erupt.

The real world then seems like the Amoeba Worm world, and he, Lin An, is the beginning of this new round of apocalypse.

Apocalypse, and catastrophe.

Therefore.

Only by going to the Secret Realm and breaking through three Fourth Rank can there be hope to maintain this fragile balance.