Chapter 45: Humanity's Self-Rescue: The Unparalleled Swordsman

"Little Qian, be careful."

Zhao Wenjun instructed the young man with glasses.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhao."

Little Qian's real name is Qian Sheng; at the gym, Zhao Wenjun was the personal trainer he hired.

He had hired him for a year, so naturally, his relationship with Zhao Wenjun was special.

Qian Sheng originally had myopia, but after his attributes were supplemented, this problem had long vanished.

However, having worn glasses for twenty years, he still felt unaccustomed, so he found a pair of frameless glasses as decoration.

Zhao Wenjun had even criticized him for this, saying it affected combat.

But Qian Sheng didn't care; he told Brother Zhao that everyone has some habits, and in the apocalypse, there was no need to say more.

"Little Qian, if something goes wrong, come back immediately; don't draw them in too far."

"Got it, got it."

After speaking, Little Qian waved his hand and walked toward the street on the other side.

This was their strategy: one person goes alone to the street to lure the Fire-Winged Birds.

The rest hide in houses far away, including Fang Shi.

Once the Fire-Winged Birds are lured over, Fang Shi will launch an offensive and kill them.

This method requires changing locations every time it is used.

Otherwise, with corpses all over the ground, the Fire-Winged Birds aren't fools; they wouldn't dare approach.

If not for the fact that killing too many Fire-Winged Birds leaves pheromone residue on one's body.

And these pheromones serve to warn other Fire-Winged Birds to stay away from this dangerous creature.

Furthermore, there is no good way to eliminate these pheromones; they can only decrease over time.

Otherwise, Fang Shi wouldn't need a decoy; couldn't he just kill a batch and change locations himself?

Nowadays, Fang Shi's strength is very great; at most, only five Fire-Winged Birds can attack him simultaneously in a siege.

The extras can only circle around on the side, and even five is the limit; generally, a siege of about three makes it very hard to find space to attack.

This means Fang Shi only needs to face about three Fire-Winged Birds at any given time.

And Fang Shi possesses the ability to kill with a single strike; no matter how many surround him, it's one sword, one kill.

He can break out at any time.

Therefore, such a siege cannot exhaust Fang Shi; instead, it forms a kind of protection for him.

Generally, once five or six Fire-Winged Birds are killed, the rest flee.

Except for the undead, every creature fears death.

Not a single Fire-Winged Bird will fight to the death, sacrificing its life entirely for the so-called power of the Laws.

Qian Sheng scanned the surroundings while looking up at the sky, advancing cautiously.

Scattered all over the street were cars involved in chain collisions, and the charred skeletons of vehicles burned to ash.

This was the tragedy that occurred immediately after the apocalypse began.

Some drivers turned into zombies, or people in the cars turned into zombies, interfering with the drivers.

On streets where traffic was slightly dense, super chain collisions happened easily.

In such situations, not to mention living humans, even the zombies died off almost completely.

Especially since the apocalypse happened at seven o'clock, which was still the commuting time period.

This further exacerbated these tragedies.

Therefore, although there were zombies on the streets, they were not as exaggerated as in movies and TV shows.

One careless mistake could form a sea of corpses drowning people.

Plus, the new lands added after the Blue Star's expansion created barriers.

This further scattered the zombies.

In theory, as long as Qian Sheng was careful and cautious, aided by obstacles formed by vehicles and other items on the road.

Even walking alone on the street would be worry-free.

But Qian Sheng's opponents were not just zombies; he was here to be a decoy, and the decoy's target was the Fire-Winged Birds.

The Fire-Winged Birds fly in the air; they don't care what obstacles you have, flying straight over them.

Therefore, the job of a decoy is actually not that easy to do.

It requires extremely strong observation skills to detect the arrival of Fire-Winged Birds immediately.

And then start running; otherwise, one might not last until Fang Shi's support arrives and would die directly.

Fortunately, the expansion of the Blue Star caused tall trees to grow on the newly appeared lands.

This limited the Fire-Winged Birds' ability to dive; as long as one's positioning was good.

The Fire-Winged Birds could not fully utilize gravitational acceleration and could only chase enemies using their own speed.

This was the decoys' thin thread of life.

Otherwise, on these streets full of obstacles and mixed with zombies, if the Fire-Winged Birds really chased at a speed of 100 meters per second.

No one could withstand it except Fang Shi.

This was Qian Sheng's first time doing this kind of job; it was impossible not to be nervous.

Previous decoys were all on rooftops, where safety was very high.

But as Fang Shi's kills increased, the range of the pheromones was expanding.

These narrow rooftop areas were no longer suitable for hunting.

As soon as the Fire-Winged Bird approached, it was scared away by the thick pheromones.

Thus, the bait location could only be placed on the street.

"This operation has cleared the Fire-Winged Birds from several nearby streets."

"Once the zombies on the streets are also cleared, we can basically gather all the survivors in the area."

"Everyone, find a tall building to concentrate in first, and eat meat and exercise every day."

"By then, even if the Fire-Winged Birds continue to pour in from the spatial rift."

"We can carve out our own territory without relying on Daoist Fang."

While Fang Shi was slaughtering the Fire-Winged Birds, Zhao Wenjun and the others were not idle.

They analyzed and summarized the operation against the Fire-Winged Birds, striving to derive a method to deal with them.

Currently, a train of thought has already been formed.

The most deadly aspect of the Fire-Winged Bird is actually its diving capability.

One hundred meters per second; this is simply too fast. Except for Fang Shi, basically no one can react in time.

Even Fang Shi, at the beginning, relied on the aid of high perception to cope calmly.

Therefore, the first rule is to limit speed; fortunately, the expansion of the Blue Star has led to an increase in ancient trees, providing terrain that can be utilized.

The second rule is still to continue limiting speed; even without diving, the Fire-Winged Bird's attack speed in normal state is twenty to thirty meters per second.

This speed requires some people with extremely fast reaction times to temporarily hold it off.

As long as they hold it back and block it for a moment, the rest can use fishing nets woven from fireproof materials to trap the Fire-Winged Bird.

Preventing the Fire-Winged Bird from escaping, then everyone rushes forward and hacks it to death with chaotic blades.

The third point concerns the Fire-Winged Bird's flame power; those engaging in melee must avoid prolonged battles.

The others must also act quickly, striving to kill one Fire-Winged Bird within one minute.

The ranged flame spit, because it requires charging, provides a certain amount of time to dodge.

As long as they do not stand in an absurd crowd and are not blind to the situation, basically anyone with adequate reactions can dodge it.

Of course, these are just strategies for dealing with a single Fire-Winged Bird.

There are also assumptions for various other situations.

Of course, one of the prerequisites for these operations is that everyone's base attributes meet the standard.

Only then can casualties be minimized to the greatest extent.

And the appearance of Fang Shi is what allows this condition to be reached faster.

Fierce alien creatures can catch humans off guard in a short time.

But once humans recover, they will use their wisdom to create a counterattack.

Humans never sit idly by waiting for death; no matter what, they will try to find a sliver of hope in a desperate situation.

The hallway was bustling.

If one ignored the scene outside the door, the lobby on the first floor really did look a bit like the pre-apocalypse era.

There were quite a few survivors in this building; they noticed the arrival of Zhao Wenjun and the others.

They emerged one after another from their hiding spots to converge with Zhao Wenjun and the group.

Huddling together for warmth is human instinct.

Zhao Wenjun and the others, who could still move freely outside after the first impact.

Were absolutely not ordinary people; their strength was very formidable.

Otherwise, how could they have survived under the hands of that group of beautiful creatures in the outside world?

These giant birds are far more vicious than zombies.

Most people's mental states were not very good; even with sufficient food, the mental pressure in such an environment was immense.

Fortunately, nothing bad had happened.

It was only the fifth day of the apocalypse; although human order had collapsed.

Morality and laws still bound people's hearts.

Some people even thought these disasters were merely regional.

Just like the disasters that had occurred in the Hua Country before.

Waiting for rescue from the relevant departments.

Without Fang Shi, Zhao Wenjun and the others arriving here would have been many days later.

Who knows what unfortunate things would have happened by then.

At least it would not be as harmonious as the following.

"Captain Zhao, thanks to you, we were saved."

A middle-aged woman grabbed Zhao Wenjun's hand and thanked him.

"It's nothing; this is all what we should do."

Zhao Wenjun was indeed the person who would establish the Ancheng gathering place in the future.

Facing such a scene, he was not intimidated at all, dealing with the grateful crowd with ease and humor.

When setting out this morning, someone suggested gathering survivors while going out next time.

Everyone agreed; for the sake of having a legitimate reason, and for convenience.

Zhao Wenjun suggested they simply call themselves the Militia Team, with himself as the Captain of the Militia Team.

After all, he had indeed served as a soldier.

In these urgent times, acting with expediency was not a big deal.

"There's no such thing as 'should' or 'should not.' That you could come despite such danger means you must have suffered greatly."

The middle-aged woman continued to express her gratitude; she was no fool and knew how perilous the outside world had become.

"We merely assisted; the main credit goes to my master..."

Zhao Wenjun had not finished speaking when a loud "Bang!" echoed.

Fang Shi had already rushed out the door.

That sound also startled the survivors.

In fact, the survivors had noticed Fang Shi long ago.

He seemed out of place, standing by the doorway immediately upon entering.

Clad in black training attire, he held a long sword in his arms, gazing silently into the distance.

He appeared detached from the mortal world, his expression calm and composed, his clothes spotless and dust-free.

He lacked the ferocity of Zhao Wenjun and the others who had fought for days in the apocalypse.

Nor did he show the panic and exhaustion of the survivors toward the end of the world.

He was like an ordinary person walking through a normal society.

External dangers had never touched him, as if the apocalypse did not exist in his eyes.

The survivors were all curious: what kind of person was this?

They dared not disturb him; even when actively welcoming the rest of the militia, they did not dare to touch Fang Shi.

Only after hearing from the militia that this young man was Zhao Wenjun's master.

And that his strength was unfathomable, capable of slaying a Fire-Winged Bird with a single sword strike.

Instantly, Fang Shi acquired labels in the survivors' eyes such as "heir to Hua Guo martial arts."

And "unparalleled genius swordsman."

They all sighed that Hua Guo truly was vast and rich in resources, producing all kinds of talents.

Had it not been for this apocalypse crisis, such a person might have remained hidden among the common people.

And he would never have been seen in his lifetime.

They were simply filled with envy.