The wind whistled softly with the trees on the side of the road.

Houses lined the sides of the road, one practically next to the other. Although some were in perfect condition, several of them had their windows destroyed. At the same time, several pieces of glass were scattered all over the ground in a disorderly fashion along with empty ammunition casings.

Except for this sight, everything seemed normal. However, if one wandered around the streets a bit, one would see bloodstains everywhere, most of which were dried up; proof that it had been a while since a disaster had swept through the place.

Moreover, not far away, a bloody and terrifying battlefield broke the peace of the usually silent area devoid of signs of life.

Puddles of blood, corpses, bone parts and limbs were flying everywhere; a hell on sight.

Approximately five minutes had passed since the battle between the soldiers of the Beginning Village against the men dressed as police brought in by Kang Hong had broken out. During these five minutes, a total of ten soldiers from the village fell lifeless.

Some of the men received a fatal gunshot wound, while others were killed with earth spikes, claws, sharp objects, and so on. These were the consequences of facing a group of evolved people who had learned powerful active skills.

However, these powerful evolved humans had to pay the price for their arrogance. At first they were confident, not believing that a group of normal people with junk statistics could pose a threat to them. But reality was cruel, so they were forced to suffer the consequences of living in a fantasy world.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bullets thundered noisily as Kang Hong flashed for cover. He was the only survivor of his group and it was all thanks to his superior Agility coupled with a good use of his passive skill Danger Sense. Unfortunately, even for him it was impossible to defy a hail of bullets so he currently had several wounds all over his body and although he had avoided being hit in critical areas, the blood loss was beginning to take its toll as the world before his eyes began to cloud over.

Kang Hong could not help but deeply regret his earlier decision. Maybe, just maybe, if he hadn't let his arrogance go to his head and cloud his thoughts, things could have been very different.

A soldier from the Beginning Village pulled the trigger of the Type 53 heavy machine gun viciously. His eyes bloodshot at the loss of so many fellow soldiers.

"Die! Damn beast!" The soldier bellowed.

The thick tree that Kang Hong was using as cover was torn apart without being able to do anything against the flood of .50 caliber bullets and due to his wounds, he failed to react in time as a series of bullets tore through his legs, cutting them off completely.

"Argh!!!"

The pain of losing both legs in such a raw manner made his senses become clear for a moment as he let out a pitiful and terrifying scream capable of scaring ghosts. Fortunate or not, thanks to his legs being chopped off and his body falling abruptly to the floor, he avoided becoming a sieve riddled with holes.

"CEASE FIRE! STOP THE FUCKING FIRE!" Xiao Ming shouted furiously as he saw the last enemy fall.

Gradually, the surviving soldiers numbering just over ten stopped firing. All of them had bloodthirsty expressions rather than fear on their pale faces. This group had been fighting together side by side against the zombies for several days, many had even been rescued from the jaws of Death by members who now lay in a pool of their own blood.

They wanted nothing more than to rush to eat the flesh of their enemies and drink their blood!

However, although they had only been receiving military training from Chen He for about a week, training that was intensified and upgraded with the addition of an experienced veteran like Fu Qigang, all these soldiers-in-training knew that they could not get carried away by emotions at this time.

Holding on to their weapons tightly, the machine guns and rifles were now directed toward the car where the Nangong siblings were. Even the heavy machine guns on both sides of the roadblock and the guns mounted on the military jeeps were no exception!

"Don't shoot! We are not your enemies!" Nangong Yi shouted with a pale face hurriedly.

At this point, Nangong Yi had already deactivated his skill. At the first moment of pandemonium he had wisely chosen to seek protection behind his younger sister Nangong Lingxin's magic barrier.

What a joke! Defying heavy weaponry? No thanks! Nangong Yi wasn't as crazy as Kang Hong and his gang!

"Don't shoot! Old Luo, take five men and surround that pickup. If the passengers move even a hair just kill them all." Xiao Ming ordered as he stepped out from behind cover. Although he was furious at losing so many men, he maintained his rationality.

Old Luo nodded and quickly gestured as he took five soldiers armed to the teeth with him. They slowly advanced while surrounding the vehicle.

"This is Xiao Ming! I repeat, this is Xiao Ming!" He brought the intercom to his mouth as he communicated with the command center in the village. "We are requesting backup and Lady Kang Lan's support!"

Xiao Ming began to explain the situation to the other side.

Inside the vehicle, Nangong Lingxin's beautiful face was pale as if she had seen an entity in broad daylight. All traces of blood had disappeared from her face and her lips were constantly trembling as if she was suffering a disease of some sort.

"Big brother... I ran out of Mana..."

Nangong Lingxin's outstretched hand fell at the same time as the energy barrier that had been able to deflect even errant bullets from the Type 53 heavy machine guns vanished in mid-air.

Nangong Yi's face turned pale but he still maintained his composure.

"Everyone, get out of the vehicle with your hands behind your heads!" Old Man Luo ordered in a deep voice as he narrowed his eyes. His hand on his waist ready to throw his grenade that had not yet been used during the previous battle.

Nangong Yi slowly opened the door of the vehicle and got out for the second time. Very carefully to avoid being massacred by gunfire.

"Don't shoot! My younger sister is in the vehicle and my father is bullet wounded! We are not part of the group you fought against a moment ago!" he hastily explained even before the other side said anything. While he might not be afraid of normal bullets with his Barbarian Strength skill active, high caliber bullets could tear him apart in a matter of seconds and a single grenade was all it took to send him straight to hell with no chance of coming back.

"Back away from the vehicle slowly and get down on your knees! Don't put your hands down!"

Nangong Yi hesitated for a moment but knowing he had no choice opted to obey.

Soon, a soldier approached the vehicle and confirmed, "Old Luo, a woman of about 25 years old with a sickly appearance and a man of about 65 with a bullet wound!"

Old Luo relaxed a little upon hearing this. With his younger sister weak and his father wounded, it was unlikely that the man before him would dare to play funny tricks.

As the wounded soldiers groaned in pain and their comrades supported them using some bandages and applied simple medical treatment, many mourned for the dead but at the same time rejoiced that those who were wounded were not in danger of dying; arm or leg wounds at most, but thanks to being well covered, they had escaped being hit in the upper body and critical areas.

Nangong Yi observed the surroundings carefully with lingering fear. Previously, he was arrogant and believed that he was God's chosen one. However, the battle that unfolded before his eyes earlier made him realize that such arrogance would one day lead him to his deathbed if he did not change his way of thinking.

Suddenly, he noticed a strange movement behind the fallen tree and his eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed in shock, "That bastard is still alive!"

The men guarding him unconsciously brought their fingers to the trigger, ready to open fire. Fortunately they were stopped before or Nangong Yi might have been killed by his carelessness.

Realizing this, he quickly closed his mouth with a pale face.

Xiao Ming approached the fallen tree slowly and sure enough, although the man had lost his legs and was badly damaged, he was still alive. Still, it was obvious from his injuries that if he did not receive magical treatment even if the best doctor in the world arrived with the necessary tools he would definitely not be able to avoid the Grim Reaper's embrace.

Kang Hong stopped his movements as he felt footsteps and unconsciously wanted to find his gun only to realize that when he lost his legs, his grip had loosened and the gun had gone flying more than four meters away. In the past, he would be able to cover four meters in the blink of an eye, but now, those four meters were like an insurmountable abyss.

Xiao Ming had a deathly cold expression and slowly raised his rifle.

"Team captain!"

"Xiao Ming! Wait! You're crazy!"

The soldiers tried to stop him as they understood his intentions. They were all equally furious and wanted their enemies dead, but they knew that the leaders might not like the idea of killing a person from whom they could get valuable information.

"Stop? If I stop, this little bitch will consume some of Lady Kang Lan's Mana and the already limited amount of healing will be even less." Xiao Ming's cold voice was the only thing heard amidst the bloody battlefield.

The soldiers closed their mouths and a hesitant expression appeared on everyone's face. They knew that Kang Lan could only heal two people a day. It would be a lie to say that they didn't want one or even both of those valuable healings to be wasted on an enemy and their hearts would definitely feel uncomfortable if something like that happened.

On one hand, they knew that the right thing to do was to get information so that the enemies would pay the price they had already paid a hundred times more.

However, on the other hand, they did not want their enemies to take priority over them even if they knew it was for the overall benefit in the long run.

Under such complicated feelings, Xiao Ming's cold voice rang out again.

"I will take full responsibility. You guys don't need to worry."

No one said anything again. However, they had secretly decided to bear the consequences together with their team leader.

Just as Xiao Ming was about to pull the trigger, an idea flashed in his mind and his movements stalled as a cold smile appeared on his face.

Seeing the expression on the face of the man in front of him, Kang Hong forgot the pain that was constantly lashing his body. Fear flashed in his eyes and just as he wanted to say something, he saw his enemy pull out a tactical dagger from his waist.

"Since you're going to die anyway, I might as well evolve and steal everything you've obtained so far, you little bitch!"

"Wai-"

Xiao Ming didn't wait for hell and directly plunged the dagger into Kang Hong's chest. Not satisfied, he raised the dagger and this time directly pierced his enemy's forehead.

A spurt of hot blood spurted out from the heart and hit him in the chest while another spurt of blood hit his face. But Xiao Ming did not seem bothered by this as he instead focused on the messages that flashed in his retina.

[You have absorbed the Soul Power of Kang Hong level 18. You have gained Agility +7, Strength +5, Stamina +2.]

[You have reached level 1. You have received 2 status points to distribute freely.]

[You have reached level 2.]

[You have reached level...]

[You have reached...]

[You have reached level 5. You have received 2 status points to distribute freely.]

* * * * * * *

Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3