“You were the ones who captured us in the first place, and now you’re abandoning us to fend for ourselves!? Is this your so-called justice? For humanity!?” Yang Chengxi’s temper exploded. He now saw through Xinghu’s hypocrisy. This organization, waving the banner of justice, had long since become corrupt internally.

“No matter what you say, now, throughout the entire Lunar-Earth system, only the strongest Yi Nation has people who can stop the remaining fragments of the Shadow Dragon. If you stay here, you will undoubtedly die,” Aya said in a deep voice. “So…escape. Escape as far as you can.”

“Why not just kill us now?” Karan asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Killing you will instantly accelerate your mutation, turning you into Shadow Dragon bloodline mutants. That would be even more troublesome,” Aya sighed.

The four of them fell silent.

At this time, the mutants on the surrounding islands had been reduced significantly under the sweeps of the force field powerhouses.

The entire island, which originally had a scale of about several thousand people, had now seen its numbers halved after this battle.

But the expressions of the high-level personnel sweeping through remained largely unchanged.

It seemed that the lives and deaths of these low-level soldiers were not in their hearts.

Soon, as the last few mutants were dealt with.

The ground of Xuanming Island slowly opened up one underground black hole after another.

A row of naked young men and women quickly walked out of the cave openings.

Their faces were calm as they began to pick up the armor and weapons from the corpses and put them on themselves.

“Clones!?! You…” Barton recognized the identities of these people.

That identical appearance and figure, even the blind could see that they were clones.

No wonder most of the people in Xinghu were modified humans, and their faces had also undergone modifications and adjustments.

"Go. It's time for you to leave." Aya waved her hand, and a team of red-armored modified humans stepped forward, sandwiching the four in the middle.

Barton looked at the other party's calm and indifferent face.

He didn't know if the Shadow Dragon bloodline was real or not, but if it was real, then their days ahead…were simply unimaginable.

"Go!" Barton roared in a low voice, turned around, and walked toward the gap in the encirclement.

*

*

*

Li Cheng Yi slowly walked on the streets of Suiyang.

He wanted to go home and see his parents again, but he wasn’t sure when he would enter the dead zone.

According to his estimation, he could enter it anytime, anywhere now.

It was night, and a drizzle was falling, the kind that was so light it wouldn’t quickly wet your clothes.

Some rainwater had already accumulated in the gaps of the yellow tactile paving lines on the ground.

The raindrops created tiny ripples in the water.

The roadside saplings, pruned into dandelion shapes, had tangled strings of colored lights hanging between their branches, as if they had been used for some festival before.

Now they were all extinguished.

One after another, pedestrians with umbrellas passed by Li Cheng Yi on the sidewalk.

Also passing by were cars on the road.

Through the car windows, one could see drivers talking on wireless headsets on their way home from work.

A group of middle school students who had just finished school, wearing blue and white striped school uniforms, passed by Li Cheng Yi with constant laughter.

Their chattering voices were like a flock of chicks heading home.

As he passed a revolving pastry shop, Li Cheng Yi suddenly stopped. He saw someone sitting at a table near the floor-to-ceiling glass who looked somewhat familiar.

“Li Cheng Yi!” The man at the table looked over in surprise, obviously seeing Li Cheng Yi as well.

The man quickly got up and came out of the shop.

“Li Cheng Yi, where are you going?” He walked over quickly and patted Li Cheng Yi on the shoulder.

“Chen Xudong.” Li Cheng Yi recognized the man.

He was one of the original owner's close friends.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Where have you been lately? What’s with this getup? It’s kind of cool. I almost didn’t recognize you!” Chen Xudong was still the same as before, wearing a blue sequined t-shirt and jeans. He was a bit stockier than before, but his temperament was still that of a child who hadn’t grown up.

Clearly, he was still well protected by his father.

“Lately, I’ve been a little busy, with work stuff…” Li Cheng Yi, now two meters tall, was much taller than Chen Xudong, and his temperament was also much more mature.

Even though only a year had passed, he had experienced things that many people would never encounter in their lives.

Experience is the key to maturity, not just age.

“Let’s go in and hang out. I happen to be accompanying a few clients, all beautiful ladies~~” Chen Xudong was obviously still working at his father’s gym.

Li Cheng Yi followed his gaze to the table.

Two stylishly dressed women in short skirts, one young and pure, the other mature and voluptuous, were both looking over at him.

When they saw him looking at them, both women smiled and raised their glasses in a toast. Just looking at the AR glasses casually placed on the table, one could tell they were two rich women.

Looking at this scene, Chen Xudong, and the two women, were all immersed in the ordinary daily life and peace of ordinary people, day after day, year after year.

While he had to struggle and fight in the dead zone, to carve out a glimmer of hope for future survival.

Looking at Chen Xudong's sunny smile, Li Cheng Yi suddenly felt a huge sense of separation in his heart.

This world.

The high-ranking nobles, aristocratic families, Fei Yi Masters, modified humans, and so on.

And ordinary people who live ordinary lives, work honestly, fall in love, get married, and go through birth, old age, sickness, and death.

They were completely two different worlds.

"No, you go have fun, I have something to do." Looking at Chen Xudong's expectant eyes, Li Cheng Yi refused.

"I'm saying, you're not getting any younger, aren't you considering finding a girlfriend?" Chen Xudong was a little helpless.

Ever since that chance encounter with Li Qingpeng and the others during an activity, this friend of his had become increasingly mysterious, and his image had also changed drastically.

After that, he was busy helping his father open chain branches of the gym, so he didn't have time to pay attention here.

As a result, in just a short time, his young and tender-faced friend had moved toward the style of a burly, long-haired uncle.

"You're trying to separate yourself from the masses, aren't you!?" Chen Xudong slapped Li Cheng Yi on the waist, but his palm was stung by the hard, alloy-like skin and muscles.

"Hiss…no wonder you and your sister are so strong when you fight… Forget it, I kindly gave you the opportunity, but if you don't want to go, then don't. I just haven't seen you in a while, let's hang out sometime."

He said a little helplessly.

"Yeah. But I might be very busy, I have to find the time. If you have any difficulties, call me." Li Cheng Yi said softly.

He didn't want to lose his friend, but unfortunately, he was no longer at a level that ordinary people could reach.

"Sigh…I know you're successful now, and your family has moved into a big villa…" Chen Xudong sighed, seeming to also sense the distance between his friend.

"I'm leaving. Don't forget to call me." Li Cheng Yi patted his head, like stroking a puppy.

"Damn it, what are you doing!? You're ruining my image!!" Chen Xudong immediately panicked.

Waving his hand to knock Li Cheng Yi's hand away, he quickly turned around to chase.

But he found that Li Cheng Yi had already walked several meters away, and with a turn, disappeared around the street corner.

He took a few steps forward, walked to the street corner, but found that the place where he had turned was empty, with only the neon lights of the shops flashing.

"Running so fast?"

*

*

*

Death Angel City.

In the gray and desolate city.

A burly figure in a black windbreaker quickly solidified in an open space.

Long hair, black eyes, and a burly physique - it was Li Cheng Yi who had just entered here.

Among the gray and white ruined buildings around him were scattered a few trapezoidal stone platforms.

The stone platforms had stone steps on all sides, some looking like they were stacked together with three layers of giant stone slabs, and some with four layers of giant stone slabs.

At the very top, were all the same simple altars.

Hiss, hiss…

Suddenly, a rustling sound wafted from the surroundings.

Li Cheng Yi looked around.

Gray and white dust, like a fog, obscured everything more than a hundred meters away.

The weather this time was much worse than the last time he came in.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

Suddenly, dense footsteps approached quickly from all around.

The first to rush out of the dust were gray and white skeletons.

They were of varying heights, draped in messy robes, some holding knives, some holding spears, and some even holding rusty muskets!

The dense skeletons, as far as the eye could see, were like an ocean. There were at least a thousand within Li Cheng Yi's field of vision alone.

They filled all the visible open space, like a tide, charging toward Li Cheng Yi.

Further away were interspersed floating gray and white wraiths.

‘Might as well try it out, the new Flower Utterance.’

Li Cheng Yi had just left Chen Xudong, and he hadn't sorted out his mood yet.

Seeing these dense skeletons, a sense of unreality arose in his heart for no reason.

"1+1=2. Who objects?"

His hand lit up with a faint purple light as he said loudly to the skeletons that were approaching within ten meters.

No one objected.

Because everyone had no mouths, only bones.

In an instant, dazzling purple light erupted from the back of Li Cheng Yi's hand.

Buzz!

A circle of invisible fluctuations, with him as the center, instantly covered all the skeletons and wraiths within a radius of twenty meters.

Silence.

In an instant, everything around seemed to fall silent.

Li Cheng Yi could feel that his mental power was reduced by one-twentieth in that instant.

And in its place, was every skeleton within a twenty-meter radius.

With a bang, their legs planted firmly into the ground, their weapons drooping, forming a circle of human walls, perfectly protecting Li Cheng Yi in the very center.

As the ground was pierced, patches of gray and white dust blew in the wind.

Li Cheng Yi looked at the scene before him and finally truly confirmed that the power of Flower Utterance language also had an effect on the monsters of the dead zone.

‘Next is to find the Ring of Whispers…then find the Gate of Mystery…’

He looked around.

“May I ask if anyone has the Ring of Whispers?”

With a rustling sound, the skeletons moved slightly but didn't react any further.

Li Cheng Yi paused, not surprised, and continued.

“Then, who can take me to the Gate of Mystery? It’s a gate that can take me out of here.”

There was no movement around him.

Li Cheng Yi thought for a while and said again.

“You better take me to find the Gate of Mystery, or don’t blame me for taking action!”

His voice slowly spread.

Suddenly, all the controlled skeletons simultaneously lifted their legs, neatly squeezing in one direction of the city.

Li Cheng Yi followed them, cutting through the sea of skeletons, and in less than ten minutes, he arrived at a somewhat dilapidated and lonely stone gate.

The stone gate had no buildings connected to it in front or behind, just standing alone on a piece of ruins.

At the center of the gate, faint silver light flickered in the air.

“…”

Li Cheng Yi was speechless, looking at the skeletons protecting him, he felt for the first time the terrifying effect of this language power on low-level individuals.

It must be peace, forced peace, that is the key.

Because that means, if the other party is unwilling, Li Cheng Yi can completely threaten the other party, if you don't listen to me, I will attack you, and that way we can't have peace.

The other party has no choice, and in order to maintain peace, they have to do as he says.

(End of chapter)