Chapter 8: Things That Should Not Be Taken

“Baby!?”

At the sound of that word, Xia Tong’s ears pricked up, and her gaze sharpened.

“…What baby?”

Sure enough, the origin of this chaotic battle was not without reason. The purpose, it seemed, was a treasure found in the wilderness.

It appeared to be quite significant. What rare treasure could possibly be worth such a fierce conflict, even to the point of turning an entire wanderers’ camp against each other?

This revelation thoroughly piqued Xia Tong’s curiosity. What kind of treasure could make a high-level psychic, seemingly capable of controlling zombies, covet it so desperately as to launch such a terrifying attack in the dead of night?

…

Inside the camp’s main building, Lu Qiyou unleashed furious flames against the charging zombies while cursing inwardly.

“How did that guy find out I picked up that thing?!”

He could never have imagined that the strange artifact he stumbled upon deep in the wilderness would attract an assault from Feng Ming, this lunatic. He had hidden the treasure carefully, never revealing even a hint of it. So where did Feng Ming get the information?

“This is just…” Lu Qiyou felt a wave of frustration.

Amidst the fierce battle, a figure covered in frost leapt out from the side, continuously releasing sharp, high-frequency ice shards from her hands.

She came straight to Lu Qiyou’s side and, taking advantage of a brief lull, asked, “Boss, what do we do now?”

Hearing this, Lu Qiyou’s eyes darkened. He forced down his anger and began to calculate their next move.

Now was not the time for rash decisions.

From the looks of it, they could no longer hold out in this camp building. That damned Feng Ming was relentless; they probably couldn’t stay in this ruined city much longer either.

It seemed they had no choice but to abandon this place and head back to the wasteland to find a new stronghold.

Thoughts flickered through Lu Qiyou’s mind, but in the end, he had to accept this grim reality, grinding his teeth as he ordered, “Retreat!”

He sneered coldly, “Feng Ming, you’ll pay for this sooner or later.”

“Mm,” the frost-covered woman nodded silently. As for the ‘weaklings’ in the camp, the two never cared about them from the start. At this point, they were utterly worthless.

Their fate was to wander again—and then… to die.

…

“They won’t last long…” Xia Tong judged. Once the building was breached, the wanderers inside would face total annihilation.

“Boom!”

At that moment, a deafening explosion erupted. A towering fireball burst from the stairwell, engulfing wave after wave of mutated zombies, incinerating them into ashes.

Meanwhile, the massive, grotesque zombie leader seemed to receive some signal. It charged at the camp wildly, fearlessly, as if aware that those inside might try to escape amidst the chaos.

Countless zombies surged forward, each impact shaking the entire ruined camp building as if it could collapse at any second.

“We can’t stay here; we’ll get caught in the crossfire,” Xia Tong licked her lips, her cat-like azure eyes reflecting the blazing firelight as she pondered her next move.

Survival was paramount now. At least she had gained some useless information—something to hold onto.

Silently, she slipped out from the shadows where she had been hiding, ready to quietly leave this danger zone under the cover of night and chaos.

Yet, just as she took a step, about to dissolve into a flowing stream and slip away unnoticed…

“Roar…”

A piercing, terrifying shriek suddenly erupted from the gaping maw of the towering, twisted zombie!

The sound seemed to carry a strange wave, instantly cutting through all noise and directly assaulting the minds of living beings.

Xia Tong felt a sharp pain in her head, her body stiffening abruptly.

Then, a chilling scene unfolded.

The mutated zombies, which had been relentlessly attacking the camp, suddenly froze upon hearing that shriek.

The crimson glow in their eyes rapidly faded, replaced by a cold, dead, and murky haze. Then, without exception, they ceased attacking the building and all turned simultaneously, their hollow eye sockets fixed on the direction where Lu Qiyou stood!

“Heh, finally found you.”

Several miles away, atop a tall building, a man clad in a strange black explorer’s suit stood silently in the night wind, murmuring,

“Those who take what they shouldn’t must pay the price.”

…

“Damn it!” Inside the building, Lu Qiyou’s face darkened as he prepared to break through the wall at the rear with the frost woman and a few companions.

That feeling of being targeted was ice-cold, like the flick of a serpent’s tongue at the back of his neck.

There was no mistake—it was a “psychic ability.”

He could clearly sense that the zombies downstairs, which had been attacking indiscriminately, had now focused all their malice solely on him!

“Damn it!” Lu Qiyou cursed under his breath.

“Move!” Without hesitation, Lu Qiyou stomped his foot. The wall behind him exploded, creating a large hole. Like an arrow released from a bow, he burst through the gap and sprinted madly toward the city’s ruins.

His companions quickly followed, each utilizing their strengths to flee deeper into the wasteland.

Almost the moment they escaped, “rumble rumble…” the entire decrepit gray building could no longer withstand the onslaught of zombies. With a deafening roar, it began to collapse in a massive heap of dust and debris.

But those zombies, reawakened by the shriek, paid no heed to the crumbling building or the remaining wanderers inside. Like sharks sensing blood, they advanced with heavy, eerie steps, precisely chasing after Lu Qiyou and his group’s escape route!

The massive zombie leader let out a low growl, crashing through broken walls and following close behind.

Hidden in the distance, Xia Tong observed everything with grave intensity reflected in her azure cat-like eyes.

“Psychic lock-on… truly a strange and terrifying ability,” Xia Tong thought, seizing the opportunity to escape as water, her heart pounding with unease.

Even in her previous life at the base, humans who could awaken “psychic abilities” were extremely rare. She had only heard of their terror and strangeness, never witnessed it up close before.

Now she had seen it firsthand—it was utterly bizarre.

But… what exactly was that “treasure”? To provoke such a ruthless struggle, it must be extraordinary.

Her curiosity clawed at her heart like a cat’s sharp paw. With her current first-tier, two-star strength, recklessly involving herself in such a high-level conflict would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

After some thought, Xia Tong decided to abandon that unrealistic and foolish notion.

Without hesitation, her body once again transformed into a clear stream of water, silently merging into the shadows at the ground and corners, cautiously sliding away in the opposite direction of the zombie pursuit.

Along the way, she encountered a few other fleeing wanderers…

She suppressed her presence to the utmost, becoming as inconspicuous as the smallest drop of water in the night.