Chapter 60: "Tyrant" Jiang Yi

Jiang Yi did not have everyone killed just to let Seito open the doors directly; rather, by the time morning came, the combination of a whole night's passing and the scent emitted by the survivors who had turned into zombies had already caused the zombies outside to disperse!

From the second floor, Jiang Yi could clearly see that there were fewer than twenty zombies gathered outside the door. If the group could not even handle this handful of zombies, Jiang Yi would seriously have to consider abandoning these people!

Sure enough, after the initial panic, when Dongfang Tian realized that there were not nearly as many zombies breaking in as they had imagined, he immediately commanded everyone to start attacking the horde!

With the help of Seito and the others, those twenty-odd zombies were quickly dispatched on the spot.

Aside from a bit of fear, strangely enough, not a single person was injured. The surviving members were thrilled by this outcome, but Jiang Yi knew this was only natural. After all, they were students from the gymnasium—either possessing good physical fitness or having practiced martial arts. Facing slow-moving zombies, once the fear in their hearts was conquered, there would be no problem at all.

After the initial joy wore off, several people glared angrily at Jiang Yi, clearly remembering his reckless decision to have the door opened! Dongfang Tian and his companions had no intention of offering any explanations, but it was evident that the group trusted Jiang Yi's side even less now, closely following behind Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun as they left the supermarket!

Li Huiyu followed behind, sneering as he glanced at Jiang Yi. Seito, however, was quite indignant, failing to understand why they were harboring hostility toward them. Guo Hansue slapped her forehead and groaned, "Jiang Yi, couldn't you have been a bit more tactful? Look at this now, you've gone and offended everyone!"

Jiang Yi shrugged indifferently and smiled, "I'm not their parent; I don't need to coddle them. I agreed to let them tag along, but I never said I'd protect them all the way. If I did that, I'd drop dead from exhaustion before ever reaching the cafeteria! Only by forcing them to kill zombies themselves can they survive properly, right?"

Guo Hansue rolled her eyes. "I can't argue with you, but don't regret it later. Look at Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun—everyone treats them like gods, while you're treated like dirt! At this rate, when on earth are we going to recruit more people?"

Ignoring her nagging, Jiang Yi noticed more zombies gathering ahead, so he immediately drew his saber and dashed forward. These were all precious experience points; killing monsters to level up—wasn't that wonderful?

Why bother listening to a woman buzzing in his ear like a drone?

Seeing Jiang Yi run off before she finished speaking, Guo Hansue stamped her feet in frustration. "Jiang Yi, I wasn't finished talking!"

Seito charged out after him as well. Extremely exasperated, Guo Hansue turned to glare at Li Huiyu, who immediately shrugged with a helpless grin. "Don't look at me, I never agreed to join your group!" With that, he hefted his blade and bolted away.

The road to the medical building was far from peaceful. Small groups of zombies frequently rushed out from the buildings, frantically charging at Jiang Yi's party!

However, this time, since everyone had been forced to pick up weapons and slay zombies, their fear of the slow-moving creatures gradually diminished significantly. Even when a few scattered zombies appeared, before Jiang Yi and his group could make a move, ordinary survivors would already club one to the ground and beat its head until it was smashed to a pulp before stopping!

Realizing that zombies were not so terrifying after all, morale within the group instantly surged!

The desire to survive, coupled with the excitement of drawing blood, drove everyone's emotions to an unprecedented high. Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun took note of every single change happening within the ranks.

Realizing that all of this was the result of Jiang Yi's actions, they became even more guarded against him. It wasn't that they hadn't wanted everyone to go out and fight; rather, they had previously displayed magnanimity to maintain an image of fairness and democracy, allowing those who were too cowardly to fight to stay behind in the gymnasium to fend for themselves. No matter how high they raised the privileges of those who went out to fight, over time, dissenting voices would inevitably arise: those fighting would envy the safety of those staying behind, while those who stayed behind would envy the food and perks enjoyed by the fighters!

They were not unaware of this issue, but they had chosen to turn a blind eye. As time passed, the internal rift within the team had grown deeper and deeper! Yet Jiang Yi, through a single act of ruthless coercion, had instantly coalesced everyone's combat strength!

Of course, alongside that coalesced strength came hostility toward the "tyrant" Jiang Yi! For their part, Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun were quite happy to see this happen.

After clearing out the zombies in front of them, Jiang Yi took a moment during a lull in the fighting to take stock. There were now a total of twenty-three people in the entire group. Excluding the four from his own side, ten remained with Dongfang Tian, while only seven stayed around Zhu Caijun!

Although Dongfang Tian's side appeared stronger in numbers, in reality, aside from Li Gang—a semi-crippled ability user—Dongfang Tian was the only other ability user on his side. On the other hand, Zhu Caijun had both a vision-enhanced and a speed-enhanced subordinate at his flanks!

Furthermore, Zhu Caijun himself was not someone who only relied on his brain; when it came to slaughtering zombies, he was just as merciless!

As for the four people on Jiang Yi's side, they were absolute freaks. In an era where ability users were exceedingly rare, all four of them turned out to be ability users without exception!

Leaving himself and Guo Hansue aside, Li Huiyu had given Jiang Yi a massive surprise: he was not a speed-enhanced user at all, but rather possessed the extremely rare space-attribute ability!

Moreover, his spatial ability wasn't just for storage!

He could actually utilize his spatial ability to perform brief spatial jumps!

This was his ultimate trump card for surviving until now. One could see him constantly blinking back and forth within the horde of zombies. Every single strike he delivered to a zombie came from the most bizarre angles—a sudden, thunderous blow out of nowhere. Regardless of whether it hit or missed, he would flash away like lightning!

Seeing his flamboyant footwork, both Jiang Yi and Guo Hansue couldn't help their eyes lighting up. Wasn't this a natural-born assassin?

Dongfang Tian naturally witnessed Li Huiyu's stunning performance as well. Gnashing his teeth in fury, he froze the zombie in front of him into an ice block and smashed it into several pieces against the ground!

Li Huiyu was supposed to be his subordinate. Had he known the guy was this powerful, he would never have let him walk away even if it killed him!

Zhu Caijun felt the same intense craving upon seeing Li Huiyu. With such formidable strength, having him follow him would truly be like adding wings to a tiger! However, both Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun mistakenly believed that Li Huiyu had already joined Jiang Yi. Little did they know that Jiang Yi was currently staring at him and drooling incessantly!

What a flashy ability! Compared to him, his own power looked downright "trashy"!

Too bad that while he recognized Li Huiyu's worth, Li Huiyu clearly had no intention of joining his group. Otherwise, after fighting together for so long, his team system couldn't possibly have ignored such a powerful teammate without any reaction!

Somewhat disappointed, Jiang Yi vented all his depression onto the horde of zombies right in front of him! His black saber slashed wildly, making him look imposing and fierce. Yet little did he know, as they watched Jiang Yi fight, the countless people behind him were mentally rolling their eyes...

"That is so ugly to watch!"

Jiang Yi probably had no idea that in the eyes of these people who had practiced martial arts for years, his frantic hacking and slashing at the zombies was full of flaws!

Watching the way he used his blade, they couldn't help feeling that a fine weapon had been given to the wrong master!

Given Jiang Yi's brute-force style of use, it only worked because his skull-cleaving knife was indestructible; if he had been using any other blade, the edge would have long since rolled and snapped in half.

Dongfang Tian narrowed his eyes, carefully studying Jiang Yi's combat style. Although Jiang Yi's fighting style completely lacked formal techniques, his speed was very high, and his reflexes were a step faster than ordinary people's. Thus, even when engulfed in a horde of zombies, he moved through them with ease!

Yet Dongfang Tian was entirely certain that Jiang Yi was not a speed-enhanced user! Because the other speed-enhanced person in the team felt completely different from Jiang Yi!

Just looking at the other speed user: his running speed was terrifyingly fast, and when running at full tilt, he left nothing more than a blur. Jiang Yi, however, was not like that. While his speed was fast, it did not reach the level where ordinary people couldn't track him with their eyes. Moreover, what was fast about him wasn't just his running speed—his dodging and attacking speeds were equally swift!

Although he didn't seem as fast as a dedicated speed-enhanced user, an all-around boost in speed allowed Jiang Yi to navigate close-combat encounters with greater ease, keeping his accelerated pace completely under control.

With a single slash, Jiang Yi knocked an oncoming zombie flying, frowning slightly. Although these were still ordinary zombies, he could clearly feel that they were growing stronger!

Their skin had also become tougher. Heads that used to be severed with a single stroke now required his full strength to cut through successfully!

"Roar!" An evolved zombie suddenly bolted out from a building, its massive physique standing out conspicuously! Jiang Yi's eyes lit up, and he immediately charged forward—he had been eager to kill an evolved zombie for a long time!

Seeing someone actually running straight toward it, the evolved zombie roared and swung a massive palm viciously! Noticing its sluggish speed, a trace of disdain flashed in Jiang Yi's eyes. Dodging nimbly, he raised his blade and struck!

The sharp black saber sliced into the giant zombie's arm, but it did nothing more than graze the skin!

"So tough!" Grimacing, Jiang Yi leaped out of the combat circle and shook his stiff wrists!

*Looks like a defense-type zombie.* Through multiple battles with evolved zombies, Jiang Yi had figured out a few patterns: evolved zombies, much like awakened humans, possessed specific traits. For instance, some had extremely high speed, some possessed tremendous strength, and the one before him clearly belonged to the category of having exceptionally tough skin!

This type of zombie was exceptionally difficult to kill because blades couldn't cut deep and axes couldn't cleave through. At least for Jiang Yi right now, it gave him the sad feeling of a dog trying to bite a hedgehog—no place to sink its teeth!

However, dealing with this kind of zombie also had an advantage: while defense-type zombies possessed immense strength, their speed was abysmal—only marginally faster than an ordinary zombie!

Such a turtle-like evolved zombie could not be easily killed, but neither could it ever manage to injure him!

"Captain Jiang, I'll help you!" Seeing the evolved zombie, Dongfang Tian's eyes lit up as well. Ever since they learned the importance of crystal cores, no one could remain indifferent to them! Zhu Caijun also signaled the speed-enhanced subordinate beside him, and that man excitedly brandished a solid copper rod and charged forward!

Though he was a few steps slower than Dongfang Tian, his attack landed on the zombie's head first!

*Thud!* With a muffled sound, the solid copper rod struck the defensive zombie squarely on the skull!