Chapter 544

Standing before three corpses, Zhang Tie blankly held the Apocalypse Ring.

As the Storage Ring that Lin An threw out last, the equipment and props inside were worth a fortune.

But at this moment, he didn't even have the slightest thought of opening the ring.

His eye sockets were red, his whole body trembling.

In a state of extreme panic and grief, a person will freeze up, unable to react at all.

What happened in just a few seconds almost crashed his thoughts.

He could not accept it, nor dare to believe it.

Captain Lin...

He just died like that?

It feels fake, really fake.

For a moment he couldn't tell whether this was reality or an illusion.

"It must be fake... it must be fake..."

"I'm definitely too stupid... I was tricked by Yuan Ying..."

In his heart, Lin An was almost a symbol of invincibility.

As long as Lin An is still alive, there is hope for everything.

All he needed to do was keep moving forward, forward, forward!

Even if he died, Captain Lin could still bring him back.

But now, the Apocalypse Ring in his hand constantly reminds him.

This thing is extremely light in weight, yet as heavy as Mount Tai.

The icy touch and the system prompt repeatedly asking "Equip?" pulled him back to reality.

Lin An, he really died.

"I have to rely on myself now..."

"Only I am left...?"

Dazed and distraught, he burst into loud sobs.

The burly, bald man as solid as an iron tower now grieved like a helpless child.

Even at the moment of fighting to the death in the Amoeba Worm dungeon, he had never been afraid.

But now, he is truly terrified.

After a long while.

Zhang Tie wiped away his tears and snot, clenched the ring in his hand, and gusts of cold wind blew from all directions, kicking up the ashes of the shattered pagoda.

His expression was resolute, almost mad.

"I have to save Captain Lin... I have to bring Captain Lin back!... I want to bring Captain Lin back!!"

As if possessed.

Xiong Hanzi looked at the blank captain position in the team interface, and he was nearly on the verge of collapse.

Lin An's final instructions still echoed in his mind, and together with that system prompt, his sanity was stirred into a mess.

Swaying, he plopped down onto the ground.

Everything happened too fast, too fast for him to accept.

"Pull yourself together! Zhang Tie, you need to pull yourself together!"

"What did Captain Lin say at the end?!"

"Did Colonel Chu leave any instructions?!"

"Think fast!!"

"Causal Sequence, replay history? Replay whom?"

"Who did Captain Lin want me to kill in the village again?"

Like a clumsy bear.

Zhang Tie racked his brains, for the first time in his life actually using his mind to try to understand Lin An's meaning.

He repeated it over and over, afraid of forgetting Lin An's last words.

"There must be a way... there must be a way!!"

"If Captain Lin had no way, he wouldn't have handed the ring to me nor said those things!"

He regained his confidence.

With absolute trust in Lin An, he awkwardly began trying to figure out his current situation.

I should start from the killer who murdered Captain Lin!

Who was the ghost that appeared last?

Is it Chu Renmei?

Recalling how Chu Renmei suddenly appeared after Lin An resolved the Yuan Ying incident, even the dim-witted Zhang Tie realized that the Chu Renmei he feared most had been possessing Captain Lin's back all along.

Just.

Why did that monster only strike at the end?

Why did she want to eat Captain Lin and even control his corpse to walk into the river?

I... why didn't I die? Why didn't she attack me?

Xiong Hanzi tried to imitate Lin An's way of thinking, constantly asking himself in his heart.

After a long while, he painfully rubbed his brow, his gaze thoughtful.

"Is it because... after resolving the Yuan Ying incident, that Chu Renmei appeared?"

"Before Yingying disappears, this damn monster won't appear? Or maybe it's not that strong!!"

After racking his brains, Zhang Tie tried to first give an explanation for these answers.

"Eating Lin Dui... must be to restore his strength."

"I can feel that Chu Renmei's strength is gradually increasing."

"As for me not dying... or rather, Chu Renmei ignored me..."

"Is it because I'm not tasty?"

Xiong Hanzi thought for a long time but couldn't come up with the final answer, so he could only conclude that he himself was not tasty, thick-skinned and muscular, or perhaps a combination of Immortal Asura and Stitcher.

Maybe it's just like zombies, having no interest in the Stitcher's left hand at all.

But this time, the female ghost had no interest in his whole body!

And Lin An's final words left behind gave him some direction.

Damn it, no need to worry about all that!

Head back to the village first!

Lin Dui said he wanted to kill the people in the village, although he didn't say who...

Then damn it, just kill them all!

As for reenacting history?

Screw it, let's go back and think it over first!

Thinking makes his head hurt.

Zhang Tie took a deep breath, solemnly put the Apocalypse Ring on his finger, and strode toward the village.

The night was dark and vast.

You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Fortunately, the Awakened Ones have excellent vision, able to catch pupils even in weak light.

Just that.

Zhang Tie, running with his head down, felt increasingly uneasy the farther he ran.

Although the village was right before his eyes, it always felt unreal.

On the way back, he keenly noticed the footprints from when they came.

On the muddy road, he only now discovered that Lin An's and his footprints were of the same depth.

Same weight?

He himself was much heavier than Lin Dui...

This was the first time he had been so careful.

His heart sank.

It seems that when they came to the pagoda, Chu Renmei was right behind Lin Dui?

He cast aside the chilling thought.

As his pace gradually quickened, under the high-speed sprint Zhang Tie soon saw the fence of the wasteland village.

The village was lit up, appearing quite lively.

What were these villagers gathering for after he and Lin Dui left?

Were they holding a bonfire feast?

"Boom!"

He charged into the village.

Originally still excitedly celebrating and discussing the division of so much treasure, the villagers suddenly froze in place.

All that could be seen was a burly man with a bloodthirsty expression, staring fixedly at them.

"Big... big... person?"

"You're back?"

A somewhat braver middle-aged man stammered as he looked at the fence that had been knocked over, cautiously sizing him up.

"What about that adult in armor?"

"What about Village Chief Huang?"

They were doubtful.

They thought Lin An had taken Village Chief Huang to investigate the matter of Yingying, but they didn't know how he had come back so quickly.

Moreover, that man in armor, who was practically a monster, was nowhere to be seen.

Xiong Hanzi didn't join the conversation, merely staring fixedly at everyone present.

Who should I kill?!

Lin Dui wants me to kill whom? How to kill!

The urge to kill surged, and he no longer cared at all whether these people were innocent.

Looking left and right, the bright bonfire could not dispel the chill in Zhang Tie's heart.

"Pat—"

The gravel underfoot was crushed into powder.

In an instant, Xiong Hanzi's gaze was caught by a village woman.

Or rather, by the bracelet she wore on her hand.

His heart jolted!

Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the bracelet seen in the old corpse of the mountain village.

This person... the bracelet in his hand...

Is it the one she previously asked Lin Dui for?!

Unthinkable.

He instantly felt a chill rise from behind his back.

Back then, Lin Dui and I... how did we not notice this?!

Chu Ren Mei's bracelet, was given by Lin Dui?!

Stared at by a pair of copper-bell giant eyes, the village woman who had been complacently showing off her bracelet suddenly panicked.

Is he looking at me? No, is he looking at the bracelet?

She liked this bracelet very much; amidst Lin An throwing out piles of jewelry, she secretly pocketed the bracelet in the chaos.

She had originally intended to keep it as a family heirloom.

But now, she only felt that she seemed to have done something mistaken.

That person's gaze... it seemed like he wanted to kill me!