Chapter 96

Late at night, the college leadership office.

As an office building with few people during the apocalypse outbreak, the rooms here are among the few that are relatively well-decorated and clean.

To flatter Lin An, the college specially arranged several water-system Awakened Ones to hurriedly clean up, and also sent various foods.

There were five people in the room: Wen Ya sat on the sofa with a pale face; Zhang Tie and Jing Tian had their legs up, eating fruit; Liu Shiming cautiously sat on the spacious sofa.

Zhang Tie gulped down half an apple, rubbed his forehead, and looked toward the redwood office desk behind him, where Lin An sat on the leather chair.

"Captain Lin, you say if you didn't intervene, would that kid Huang Haitao really have slapped himself to death!?"

After Huang Haitao pleaded for Lin An and the others to stay, Lin An subsequently, as a matter of course, "was forced" to become the college's supreme controller under everyone's pleas.

Moreover, seeing his agreement, everyone in the college felt their previous despair vanish, and they partied all night.

Lin An smiled helplessly and nodded.

"That kid's nature is actually not bad, much stronger than his uncle. He's just a bit simple, but that's also good—can be useful."

Zhang Tie grinned, feeling he had found a kindred spirit.

"Captain Lin, what if that kid Huang Haitao doesn't speak up on his own? Are we really just going to leave!?"

This time, without needing Lin An to answer, Jing Tian idly played with the dagger in his hand and spoke helplessly:

"Brother Zhang, didn't you see those school leaders anxiously frothing at the mouth? If Huang Haitao hadn't spoken up so quickly, they would have all knelt before Brother Lin, weeping and begging us not to leave."

"We are determined to take over the college; Lin Brother just wants them to speak up voluntarily, making it easier for us to manage."

Zhang Tie stared blankly; he hadn't noticed those details.

"Damn it, they're all crafty people."

He smacked his lips, glanced at the office like a curious baby, and asked again:

"Captain Lin, where did Mo Ling go? I haven't seen her all afternoon; she didn't run off with the zombies, did she?"

"Also, I've been thinking: if Deng Lian hadn't released the sandworm, wouldn't we also be unable to pull off this act?"

Lin An let out a light sigh; only Zhang Tie would ask such a question.

"What was your previous sentence?"

"What?"

"The previous sentence was 'Mo Ling... where did she go?'"

Zhang Tie blinked, not seeing any connection between those two questions.

Jing Tian and Wen Ya looked at the suspicious Zhang Tie and couldn't help but let out a light laugh.

Lin An glanced at him helplessly and casually spoke over the team channel.

"Mo Ling, withdraw the gathered zombies and mutants outside the college and prepare to come back for a meal."

"Received."

"But it's not that fast; there are over seven mutants gathered and over three thousand zombies—I have to slowly crawl out."

Two kilometers outside the college, Mo Ling, forehead black-lined, watched the seven lickers above her as the surrounding zombies nearly encircled her like a beehive.

From afar, it looked as if a mountain of corpses had appeared out of nowhere.

!!?

"Holy shit!"

Zhang Tie couldn't help but widen his eyes upon hearing Mo Ling's reply; even if he were dense, he'd understand what it meant.

"Lin... Captain Lin...!?"

"If the sandworm hadn't been released, were you planning to launch a zombie siege!?"

Lin An smiled, his gaze deep and distant.

"Winning people's hearts isn't that simple; we're short on time and outsiders, so to quickly gain control of the college we had to do this—otherwise, even if our strength were greater, it would be useless."

"We're still human; we still need to eat, drink, and rest. Bloody suppression might temporarily keep them from harboring ill intent, but what about over time?"

"Poisoning, sneak attacks, scheming, conspiracies, outward compliance with inner defiance—each would bring considerable trouble."

Lin An let out a quiet sigh in his heart.

People's hearts are complex; expecting others to submit just by releasing a hegemon's aura is utterly unrealistic.

This isn't child's play; wanting others to truly submit is not that simple.

We must combine kindness and authority, having both thunder and rain.

From entering the college until now, it's only been a short dozen or so hours, yet the mental expenditure has been considerable.

He couldn't help but rub his temples; the fatigue and headache from exhausted mental power felt like it would split his head.

Not long ago, fighting the sandworm seemed easy, but in reality he had already exhausted his means.

The sandworm's immunity to mental damage is true, but it was for visual effect.

Lin An could only forcibly use the divine spur as a mental impact, purely converting spiritual energy into impact force rather than mental damage.

Fortunately, the Skull of Resentment greatly increased his mental cap, and before coming he had also made a deal with "himself" to gain an all-attribute boost.

Otherwise, with such extravagant waste of mental power, he seriously doubted that the number of divine spurs released in midair could instantly drain his mental power.

Let alone the ensuing invincible posture.

One could even say that the mental power consumed by the final divine spur threatening the sandworm came entirely from Wen Ya.

If the sandworm had even a bit of brains and sensed that he was already at the end of his strength, today's plan would likely end in failure.

Thinking of the sandworm, Lin An smiled helplessly.

There were too many things; he actually forgot to check the attributes of 【Boduoyi】.

"Demonic Beast Name: 【Boduoyi】 (Second Level High)"

"Demonic Beast Skills:"

"1. Sand‑skin: immune to elemental damage from willpower below 15 points, immune to physical damage from strength below 15 points, increases subterranean ability by 200%."

2. Earth Technique: Ignoring any terrain, you can walk within solids as if drilling into water.

3. Pounce: Gain 1.5x agility attack speed, deal 1.5x strength attack damage, inflict armor break, limb shatter, and bleeding effect on the struck unit.

4. Brainless Creature: This unit has no brain, immune to mental control, immune to illusions, greatly reduces mental power attacks.

5. Sandstone Spray: As a gastrointestinal-penetrating organism, this unit can spray any substance not exceeding 20 tons from its body within a 10-meter range.

6. Cave Builder: As a cave-dwelling creature, when constructing passages, caves, pipelines, etc., this unit gains +50% durability, +100% construction efficiency, and +20% spiritual energy amplification.

Demonic Beast Evaluation: A rare otherworldly creature possessing the bloodline of the Devourer (Fourth Rank Emperor), it is formidable in combat while also able to assist in engineering construction. It is the engineer of the *** world.

Fourth Rank Emperor bloodline!...

Lin An's heart jolted; he never expected that within the sandworm attributes never revealed in his past life, there would be such a secret.

*** world!?

【Bolai】's origin final explanation has been covered up; the original text appears as if it had been smeared.

A sudden inexplicable unease welled up in his heart.

This world seems to still have many existences that he never knew in his past life.

Black Dragon, Shen Yuan world, ** world, YiKongjian...

Lin An gave a bitter laugh; as his strength grew, he seemed to be gradually touching the secrets hidden behind this world.

Lin An?

Wen Ya looked at him somewhat wearily, her eyes showing worry that could not be concealed.

In her mental power perception, Lin An's recent mental fluctuations seemed somewhat unstable.

I'm fine.

Lin An forced a smile, indicating that Wen Ya need not worry about him.

Suppressing his thoughts, tomorrow is the most critical period. Not only must he arrange the Safe Zone construction, but also a doubt weighs on his mind like a stone.

That is.

The Past Life 【Demon Hunter】, which has yet to appear even until now!!