The sound of crawling became clearer and clearer.
Rustle, rustle.
The ground outside the factory trembled very softly, yet it was not chaotic at all.
They moved in clusters, from dark alleys, from subterranean sewers, from the open ground covered in black mist.
Thuong Sinh looked toward the five soldiers lying on the ground.
The three people he had just saved were still breathing, yet their complexions were pale.
The remaining two were still suspended behind the monster's back.
He could not let it continue dragging out time.
Thuong Sinh reached out to unclip the walkie-talkie at his waist.
"Uncle Tran."
Tran Tinh Gia's voice came through immediately from the other end.
"I am here."
"Close all eastern gates. Do not let anyone out."
Tran Tinh Gia paused for a beat.
"How many are there?"
"Not clear yet." Thuong Sinh looked at the mist churning outside the factory. "But it is not a normal zombie team."
"Do you need support?"
"Prepare firepower on the city walls. Wait for my signal then fire into the black mist area outside."
"What about you?"
"I will handle the inside."
Thuong Sinh hung up.
The monster before him let out a low roar once more.
The black fluid around its legs slowly spread out, covering the entire cement floor.
The two soldiers suspended behind its back showed almost no reaction anymore.
He could not wait any longer.
Thuong Sinh slowly unwrapped the white cloth bandage around the Swamp Blood Sword.
The pitch-black blade was fully revealed.
A faint dark qi emanated from the sword body, making the whole factory feel several degrees colder.
The monster suddenly paused.
Its instinct was issuing a warning.
Yet immediately after, the black fluid on its body suddenly surged violently, as if something forced it to continue charging forward.
Thuong Sinh lowered his center of gravity.
"It is not that you yourself want to fight."
He looked into its murky white eyes.
"Someone is controlling you."
The monster roared.
It charged forward.
"Ghost Shadow Phantasm"
Thuong Sinh leaned sideways to dodge.
Sharp claws scratched through empty air, collapsing a steel pillar behind.
He did not counterattack right away.
The sword tip merely grazed past the monster's back, severing two more black fluid strands holding the people.
Two soldiers fell down.
Thuong Sinh lightly flicked his toes, his figure gliding across the ground, taking them away from the black fluid area before it could splash up.
By now, all five people had been saved down.
He no longer had to hold back.
Thuong Sinh stood up straight.
The blood qi in his dantian slowly rose up.
"Swamp Blood Corrupting Heart Technique"
Faint dark-purple veins appeared under the skin of his arms.
Yet this time, he did not allow the blood poison to spread outside unconsciously.
All the dark qi was forced into the Swamp Blood Sword.
The sword body vibrated.
Sensing danger, the monster turned its head, intending to flee toward the mist outside.
Thuong Sinh raised his hand.
"Sword Control Technique: Clear Wind Transformation"
The Swamp Blood Sword left his hand.
The sword transformed into a black streak, flying close to the ground then circling to the front of the monster, blocking its only escape route.
The monster had no time to stop.
It opened its mouth, spitting out a mouthful of black fluid, wanting to corrode the sword body.
Yet the moment the slime touched the Swamp Blood Sword, it instantly emitted a sizzling sound.
The blood poison on the sword swallowed the black fluid instead.
The monster recoiled.
Thuong Sinh had already appeared behind its back.
"Sword Edge · Blood Slay"
A line of dark-purple sword qi burst forth.
Not slashing across the neck.
Rather, stabbing straight into the swollen lump of flesh in the middle of its back.
Boom—!
The monster fell face down onto the ground.
The hard scales were broken open.
Black fluid poured out from the wound like a flood, yet no longer spread toward the soldiers.
It contracted around the lump of flesh on its back, as if attempting to protect something.
Thuong Sinh stepped forward.
He used his sword to slash open the layer of black flesh.
Inside, there was no core crystal.
Rather, it was a dark-red sphere, roughly the size of a fist, its surface overgrown with thin vein strands.
They continuously twitched, faint waves of signals transmitting from it into the mist outside.
A device used for controlling.
Thuong Sinh looked at that sphere.
"As expected."
He raised his hand.
Dark qi flooded out from his palm, enveloping the dark-red sphere.
The thing inside instantly trembled violently.
An ear-piercing shriek resonated within his head.
Not a spoken voice.
Rather, countless chaotic thoughts forced and stacked upon one another.
Hungry.
Enter.
Devour.
Thuong Sinh tightened his hand slightly.
The "Swamp Blood Corrupting Heart Technique" operated to its limit.
The dark-red sphere gradually withered in his hand.
The black vein strands turned to ash, dissolving into the mist.
Outside, the sound of crawling suddenly stopped.
A terrifying silence descended.
Afterward, from the direction of Beitian City, the sound of alarm sirens rang out.
Long.
Ear-piercing.
Piercing through even the black mist.
Thuong Sinh raised his head.
The walkie-talkie at his waist chimed continuously.
Tran Tinh Gia's voice came through, this time no longer able to maintain composure.
"Thuong Sinh! Black fluid has also appeared in the northwest!"
"Not just the east!"
"They are crawling along the foot of the city wall. The numbers are far too many!"
Thuong Sinh looked toward the monster's corpse.
His eyes gradually turned cold.
This one was not the commander.
It was merely a bait.
A bait used to attract his attention, while other things silently encircled Beitian from multiple directions.
Thuong Sinh turned to those soldiers.
"Can you still walk?"
One person among them struggled, supporting himself with his hands to sit up, his voice raspy.
"Yes... we can."
"Take them back to the guard post."
"What about you?"
Thuong Sinh did not answer.
He looked toward the distant Beitian City.
Even through the layer of mist, he could still see the beams of light from the searchlights on the city wall sweeping wildly in the night.
The blood qi in Thuong Sinh's body suddenly and slowly turned cold.
He raised his hand.
The Swamp Blood Sword flew back under his feet.
Thuong Sinh's figure turned into a black streak, breaking through the mist, charging straight toward Beitian City.
Down below, within the cracks of the ground, countless murky white eyes slowly opened.
By the time Thuong Sinh returned near Beitian City, the battle in the east had already begun.
Yet it was not as chaotic as he had imagined.
The alarm sirens still sounded repeatedly, yet the city gate had not been breached at all.
Upon the high wall, searchlights had been turned on simultaneously, sweeping across the wasteland outside the city.
Squads of soldiers took turns firing cover, the rhythm of gunfire dense yet not at all disorderly.
Thuong Sinh descended onto a section of the eastern city wall.
Just as his feet touched the ground, he saw more than thirty black shadows charging through the mist down below.
Most were creatures covered in black slime similar to the one he met in the factory, yet much smaller.
They ran along the foot of the wall, making no attempt to climb up.
They merely searched continuously for the weakest points along the fence.
"Team two, retreat three steps!"
A female soldier's voice echoed clearly over the watchtower.
Immediately after, a man standing near the edge of the wall raised his hand.
The ground outside abruptly trembled lightly, sharp stone pillars thrusting up from beneath the earth, blocking the advancing path of the creatures.
The horde of monsters crashed into the stone pillars, black fluid splashing everywhere.
Yet before they could corrode the stone, a volley of fireballs fell down from atop the city wall.
Boom!
Fire burned fiercely.
The light of flames dyed the entire eastern mist layer red.
Thuong Sinh stood still, observing.
The person launching the fireballs was a very young girl, standing beside two armed soldiers.
Every time she unleashed her ability, those two people would immediately shoot at those not yet covered in fire.
At another wall section, a wind-attribute ability user created spiraling gusts of wind, pushing the splashing black fluid back toward the outside.
A tall, heavily built man stood guarding before the frontline soldier group, both arms coated in a layer of gray, stone-like skin.
A monster charged forward.
He did not dodge.
The opponent's claws scratched across his arms, emitting a sharp clanking sound, yet failing to pierce through that hard skin layer.
Immediately after, two special armor-piercing bullets penetrated through the monster's eye sockets.
It fell down.
In Yangnan, transcendent individuals mostly fought in small groups.
Coming to Liushui or Iron City, powerful factions were numerous, yet human hearts were far too complex.
Whereas in Beitian, ability users and soldiers had truly been organized into a unified system.
Those with defensive capabilities stood on the front line.
Those with offensive abilities were responsible for eliminating targets.
Soldiers used firearms to apply long-range pressure.
Those possessing sensing abilities continuously reported positions.
"You are back."
Tran Tinh Gia's voice echoed from behind.
Thuong Sinh turned his head.
Tran Tinh Gia was standing beside a temporary command table, next to several officers and ability users whose auras were by no means weak.
Lam Tich Khanh was not here, but had clearly delegated full authority over the scene to him.
"How many are outside?" Thuong Sinh asked.
"Not many." Tran Tinh Gia replied. "About forty to fifty. They are not attacking the city directly, feeling more like testing our reaction."
"I think so too."
Thuong Sinh looked down at the battlefield.
The black fluid creatures had no clear objective.
They always retreated the moment they were surrounded, merely intentionally dragging defensive forces askew toward different positions.
"Someone is commanding them." He said.
Tran Tinh Gia's face darkened.
"What did you see?"
"The thing I encountered outside the factory was merely bait." Thuong Sinh replied.
Right at that moment, a loud explosion echoed at the western side of the wall section.
A monster larger than the rest unexpectedly burrowed up from beneath the ground.
Half its body was wrapped in thick black fluid, a dark-red lump of flesh on its back continuously twitching.
It did not charge toward the soldiers.
Rather, it rammed straight into the base of the watchtower.
"To the left!"
A lightning-attribute ability user raised his hand.
Blue-white arcs of electricity struck down, covering the monster's body.
It trembled violently, the black fluid on its skin exploding into patches.
Immediately after, a metal spear flew down from atop the wall.
The spear thrower was a man clad in black armor.
The spear pierced straight through the lump of flesh on the monster's back, pinning it to the ground.
Several soldiers immediately switched ammo types.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The monster's head was shot to pieces.
The entire process lasted less than ten seconds.
Thuong Sinh looked at the spear still embedded in the corpse, his expression shifting slightly.
It was merely that they had never faced this specific type of foul qi before, so they were slightly caught off guard initially.
Yet after seeing clearly how it fought, they adapted very rapidly.
Suddenly, at the edge of the battlefield, a soldier was struck in the shoulder by splashing black fluid.
He did not fall down, but his arm immediately began smoking, his armor starting to melt.
A comrade beside him wanted to drag him away, yet dared not touch the wound.
Thuong Sinh stepped forward.
"Let me."
He placed his hand wearing the Black Star Glove onto the soldier's shoulder.
The "Swamp Blood Corrupting Heart Technique" operated.
The foul qi within the wound was quickly pulled out, turning into a strand of black smoke entering his palm.
The soldier gritted his teeth tightly in pain, yet when the black fluid layer vanished, his breathing had stabilized significantly.
"Thank you..." The soldier said raspy-voiced.
Thuong Sinh withdrew his hand.
"Take him to the rear."
He did not continue staying.
Toward this battlefield, he was not the sole blade.
He merely handled the part that others were not yet able to handle.
After about half an hour, the black fluid creatures began retreating.
Not running in disarray.
Rather, splitting into several small groups, slipping into the mist and disappearing.
The Beitian squads did not pursue.
Tran Tinh Gia commanded soldiers to check casualties, clear monster corpses, and rebuild corroded defense points.
No one died.
There were only six injured, among whom three were struck by black fluid.
For Beitian, this was considered a neatly handled raid.
"You worked hard as well, go back and rest." After finishing organizing the battlefield, Tran Tinh Gia turned to speak to Thuong Sinh, who was looking toward the dark area where those monsters had retreated.
Thuong Sinh nodded and turned to leave.
Behind him, searchlights continued sweeping across the eastern wasteland.
This night could only be a greeting; the true raider had yet to appear.