Chapter 579: Coordinates

Team Lin, have you found anything?

Watching Lin An still searching in the high sky, Xiong Hanzi seized a blood corpse rushing into the army, his right fist violently burst downward, smashing the blood corpse's exoskeleton to a pulp.

「There is... but very little. 」

Inside the blood corpse transport aircraft, Lin An furrowed his brow slightly, looking at a simple screen resembling a stone tablet.

The entire transport aircraft is crudely built, like a flying metal can.

The structural design is indeed a means of technological creation, but it is clearly different from real-world technology.

It is somewhat like... a combination of flesh and machinery.

A semi-technological civilization unknown?

Doubts loom heavily.

The only useful clue found in the entire cabin is the coordinates on the 'stone tablet'.

These transport aircraft received a unified order; they seem to simply transport blood corpses from one place to another, then return to the coordinates on the stone tablet.

Southeast front line, 65 degrees, 33,200 kilometers.

Based on the information gathered over this period, this coordinate is clearly outside the borders of Greater Xia.

「These coordinates... could they be the origin of the blood corpses? 」

Muttering to himself, Lin An forcibly removed the stone tablet and stored it in his ring; after a thorough search yielded nothing, he jumped directly from the aircraft.

He felt somewhat irritated.

He felt that this secret realm world was filled with doubts.

Although he had found the secret—or method—by which ascetic practitioners could firm their faith,

but it was still insufficient to resolve this mission.

On the Greater Xia battlefield alone, there are over tens of millions of blood corpses.

Combining the coordinates just obtained, Lin An could easily imagine that there likely exists a vast number of blood corpses there.

If it weren't that this group of monsters does not mobilize en masse, the Greater Xia dynasty would have long been unable to withstand them.

However, it is also possible that the Greater Xia dynasty has its own trump card, or that stronger ascetic practitioners are secretly countering them.

The time he has spent with the human side is still too short; many secrets he has not yet had the chance to learn.

Ascetic practitioners—perhaps he could gradually eliminate them using the previous method.

But preventing the birth of the first blood corpse... he currently has no clue.

Currently, there are three main problems before him.

One, why do ascetic practitioners gain power when they firm their faith, and why is this power so similar to the Causal Sequence?

Is it the world's rule? Or something else?

Two, what is the blood seed (infant) inside the blood corpse, and what relation does it have to the giant statues present in each fortress?

Three, what exactly does the 'Shesha mystery' refer to? Is it the source of this secret realm world's strangeness?

Besides that, there are other players who have not yet been discovered, and what exactly does 'Möbius' refer to.

There are too many problems; he can only solve them bit by bit.

Wanting to obtain the limit reward, it is indeed not so easily accomplished.

With a bitter laugh, Lin An could only calm the irritation in his heart.

Without solving these problems, without finding the source,

the two kinds of tasks cannot be completed at all.

On the ground.

A large number of ascetic practitioners float in midair, forming a wall of flesh that hinders the blood corpses' long-range strikes.

A roar.

Zhang Tie smashed the blood corpse charging at the soldiers with a single punch; after nodding in response to their grateful gaze, he couldn't help but ask Lin An:

「Lin Dui, what should we do next? 」

「Didn't you previously find the secret of the ascetic practitioners? 」

「Spread the word, saying they are a bunch of madmen deceiving themselves—wouldn't that be enough to wipe them out? 」

「How does that saying go? 'Dao heart shattered'? 」

He furrowed his brows.

As they spoke, batches of blood corpses, under the barrage of heavy artillery, howled as they rushed rapidly into the cavalry unit.

Like a cutter charging into weeds, the heavily armored cavalry were utterly unable to resist the monsters.

In swaths, the cavalry were shaken to death by the immense impact, their bodies torn apart by claws.

Zhang Tie, as the sole existence on Zhang Yan's side that can match ascetic practitioners, not only had to hinder the blood corpses' charge but also intercept artillery, leaving him somewhat stretched thin.

Unable to transform, his strength is greatly limited.

「Retreat! 」

「Flank and pierce the undead! Hand the blood corpses over to the Ascetic Practitioner Lord! 」

His voice hoarse from exhaustion.

Zhang Yan raised his spear, leading the charging cavalry to change direction.

Lord Lin An being absent, he also saw that this bald, muscular man, though his physical strength was terrifyingly high, could not be split in two for use.

He simply retreated first, waiting for Lord Lin An's return.

The entire battlefield was divided into two regions.

One side is the mixed infantry and cavalry human legion fighting the undead (zombies) they speak of; the other side is the ascetic practitioners entangled with the blood corpses that launch artillery strikes.

Each side must first resolve its own situation; only then can they join together to resist the enemy.

The blood corpses entangled by the Ascetic Practitioners required a large number of soldiers to desperately create opportunities to kill them.

And ordinary humans also needed the Ascetic Practitioners to first withstand the initial wave of blood corpse attacks.

It is extremely similar to the real world.

Soldier against soldier, general against general.

Awakened Ones fought mutants, while ordinary people wielding technological weapons fought vast numbers of zombies.

Under such war conditions.

Any side's collapse would cause a devastating blow.

Perhaps because there were too many blood corpses in this attack, the ground battle was extremely brutal.

The spear legion formed in square formations constantly thrust forward, trying to block the undead.

But whenever artillery that broke through the Ascetic Practitioners' interception fell, it exploded among the crowd.

The formation collapsed, and taking advantage of the legion's chaos, vast numbers of undead madly stared at the spear thrusts, grabbing at the outermost soldiers.

Miserable screams, wails.

Soldiers dragged into the corpse tide were instantly gnawed into a pile of fragments.

The cavalry tasked with piercing through also struggled to maintain formation amidst the earth-shaking, repeatedly piercing through weak points in the corpse tide.

The effect was not ideal.

Lacking Ascetic Practitioners to hold back the blood corpses, a small number of blood corpses actually joined the vast undead in a surprise assault.

"Quick, charge out! Give up piercing through!"

"Close in! Come toward me!"

The silver-helmeted commander deep in the corpse tide hastily directed soldiers to gather toward himself.

"Number 1001 Sir! Quickly intercept the blood corpses!!"

Half a day passed with no response.

The silver-helmeted commander embroiled in the bitter battle looked in surprise at his own Ascetic Practitioner, and shockingly discovered that the other side was even worse off than him.

Previously habitual tactics became ineffective once the balance of strength was broken.

And the first to lose their position were actually the Ascetic Practitioners in their legion.

Surrounded by blood corpses.

After having his head crushed and revived by a blood corpse, Ascetic Practitioner Number 1001 somewhat panickily began to dodge attacks.

For some reason, he received the battle simulation result, which clearly indicated an easy victory.

Completely trusting the simulation result, he actually found himself surrounded by four blood corpses.

Clearly his simulation result predicted victory, but in the current situation he couldn't even flee.

He couldn't understand why this happened.

But he simply didn't know.

The simulated victory was for his team, not for him personally.

In his blind spot, he completely failed to notice a bald, muscular man who occasionally threw blood corpses near him.

The silver-helmeted commander noticed his own team's Ascetic Practitioner was near death, and a chill ran through his heart.

If his team's Ascetic Practitioner died in battle, it would mean that in the ensuing prolonged melee, his squad would likely be wiped out.

No!

Even if they waited for the Ascetic Practitioners to die first, those suddenly appearing extra blood corpses would join the undead to tear them to shreds.

Not caring about losing face, he panic-strickenly sought help from the nearest unit.

"Who? Is anyone still near me!?"

Zhang Yan!

Looking at Zhang Yan's unit, which easily faced enemies relying on a bald, muscular man, the silver-helmeted commander couldn't help but flash a hint of jealousy and shock in his eyes.

Lin An didn't come down, but where did this bald, muscular man come from?

"How could his strength be so strong!?"

No time to think further.

"Brother Zhang! Save me!!"

Pair after pair of rotting corpse hands grabbed his body from under the horse, the grating sound of teeth gnawing armor made his scalp go numb.

The cavalry was trapped, losing mobility, he was almost at death's door.

Looking at the terrifying combat power of the bald, muscular man, he held great hope in his heart and desperately pleaded.

"Save me! Please support us!!"

"I was mistaken! I shouldn't have spoken like that!"

"Quick, make a move!!"

Not far away, Zhang Tie punched and exploded a blood corpse, then scratched his ear, looking at Zhang Yan with a surprised face.

"What?"

"Is someone calling you?"

Zhang Yan looked at the blood-soaked Xiong Hanzi and couldn't help thinking to himself... "You're out of luck."

He was right beside Zhang Tie, unaware where those extra blood corpses came from.

This bald, muscular man looks brutish and schemeless, but in action he is truly sly.

Tsk, poor the soldiers following the silver-helmeted commander.

Acting on a momentary quick tongue, the result was killing himself.

Just as the silver-helmeted commander struggled being dragged by the undead into the corpse horde, the remaining soldiers, seeing their commander fall, fell into chaos.

Seeing the whole team being engulfed by the corpse tide.

Almost at the same moment, a piercing whistle came from high above.

Bang!!

Boom!!

Flames mixed with smoke and dust rose, and the ground sank.

Falling from the sky, Lin An cut the incoming cannonball to pieces with one sword strike, then let the landing impact shatter the blood corpses around him.

The Blood Abyss that flew from his hand tore through the corpse horde surrounding the cavalry like a scythe through grass.

As he fell from the sky, he noticed that the humans here could barely hold on any longer.

He might as well take care of it casually.

The corpse tide instantly cleared most of it, and the soldiers originally under the Silver Helmet Commander stared blankly at Lin An descending from the sky.

A surge of joy from surviving the disaster left them dazed, then they couldn't help but burst into cheers.

They thought they were doomed, but unexpectedly this mysterious Ascetic Practitioner saved them.

Just...

Their leader and Ascetic Practitioner #1001 didn't make it to the end... it seems... they died?