"Want to give it a try?"
"No."
Zhu Jian released him, "Then I'll go?"
Zhong Yan thought for a moment and said, "I'll go instead. Lend him to me."
This bad guy had almost let that little monster grab his face before; he was determined to get revenge.
Hmph!
A little monster burrowed into the Rolls-Royce carrying the Zhu family. The people hiding inside immediately scrambled out. With nothing blocking them, the strange birds began to attack indiscriminately.
To protect his family, Zhu Yu Jue couldn't hide his abilities anymore. However, they weren't very obvious in the daylight, so others didn't know what his power was yet.
Several ability users were also fiercely fighting the monsters. Two soldiers and a few bodyguards used handguns, but they found that the bullets had very little effect on these monsters.
Unless they could lock onto a target and fire multiple times, their efforts were almost in vain.
Zhong Yan emerged with his long sword. The first strange bird that charged at him had half its wing sliced off by his sword. It lost its balance and plummeted to the ground. Zhong Yan seized the opportunity to finish it off, decapitating it like a chicken.
He took a few running steps, his body lightened, and he soared into the air, slaughtering the flock of strange birds. If not for the fact that they had no feathers, but rather a wrinkled, moss-like green skin, it would have looked like a scene of feathers flying everywhere.
The people on the ground got a moment to breathe, quickly killing the monsters in the car and then hiding inside.
Zhu Yu Jue was pushing his father into the car when a strange bird swooped directly at him. He no longer had the energy to kill it, and dodging would injure his father. He could only block it with his body.
Then he was slammed to the ground.
Zhu Xing Chen fired two shots at the strange bird, missing both. One shot ricocheted off somewhere and almost hit him.
A bodyguard quickly pulled him away.
"Stop firing randomly."
This was an alleyway. Three cars were parked behind them. The people were in disarray. Firing wildly wouldn't hit the monsters and was more likely to injure their own people.
Zhu Yu Jue got up, enduring the pain, and shoved him into the car. Another strange bird dived down. Before it could touch him, it was pinned to the ground by a sword.
He looked up.
The spoiled teenager slightly raised his hand, and just like in a wuxia movie, the sword was drawn back into his hand. With a seemingly casual swing, another strange bird fell.
The others fired into the sky, hitting some of the birds. Those that fell to the ground were swarmed and beaten half to death by the others, their wings broken, unable to fly again.
About twenty minutes later, more than half of the strange birds were dead. Some that fell to the ground struggled to fly, but were quickly stopped by others. Their momentum was lost, and they finally circled and flew away.
Everyone collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.
Zhong Yan jumped down from the car. He was used to flying around and had his long sword with him, so he leaped with confidence. Then, he face-planted.
Everyone watched him lying motionless on the ground, feeling worried and amused.
Zhu Jian got out of the car. Zhong Yan lay on the ground, craning his neck to look at her, his lips pouting as if he were about to cry, "He bullied me again."
"Didn't you get your revenge?"
His long sword was beneath him, likely not having fared any better from the fall.
Zhu Jian reached out a hand to him. Zhong Yan gave her his hand and was gently pulled up by her. The long sword remained on the ground, battered and disoriented.
It was clearly a case of hurting the enemy by eight hundred and damaging oneself by a thousand.
"You're being foolish again."
The long sword felt dejected and refused to get up. In the end, Zhong Yan picked it up, scolding it fiercely, "Serves you right."
The others checked the damage. Four people in the group were injured. Besides the bodyguard who was bitten at the beginning, Zhu Yu Jue, who was bitten and then slammed to the ground, an ability user who was picked up by a strange bird and then dropped, now needing assistance to walk, and another bodyguard whose eye was pecked, crying out in pain while clutching it.
The others frantically tended to the wounds. Zhu Yu Jue didn't know that his ability had healing properties. They were all worried about the strange birds carrying viruses, so after bandaging the wounds, they disinfected them and even suggested that the injured travel in a separate vehicle.
The others collected the bodies of the strange birds. Some wondered about eating them, but were hesitant due to fear of poison.
Zhu Jian found it all a headache and told Zhong Yan to store them in his space, intending to have the researchers in the team examine them upon their return.
Jiang Xiao Shu also took the opportunity to collect many strange birds. The snakes in her space had eaten some that morning, and this was a good supplement.
In the setting, her space needed to upgrade to expand. The upgrade process consumed a lot of resources, and higher levels required even more. The book stated that her space eventually reached the highest level, and the resources consumed throughout the process were enough for all survivors to eat for several years.
From this perspective, she was even more willing to spend than the original heroine.
What a waste.
Zhu Jian couldn't afford such an appetite, but Zhong Yan could.
Zhong Yan, having fallen earlier, dejectedly got into the car after collecting the strange birds, burrowing into Zhu Jian's embrace. "I'm so tired."
"Where does it hurt? I'll rub it for you."
"My hand." He thrust his hand in front of Zhu Jian, looking at her with anticipation.
Zhu Jian took his hand and gently massaged the acupoints on it. He hummed with comfort, his voice whiny with a strange intonation that made everyone else feel extremely awkward.
The four injured people occupied one car. Their seating arrangements had to be adjusted again. Two more people joined them: the uninjured Zhu siblings.
Zhu Xue Wei witnessed Zhong Yan's prowess again and treated him a little better. Zhong Yan, however, continued to ignore her.
They followed the trail left by the main group. As afternoon approached, they finally caught up. People in the group were distributing food, and everyone was eager. The scene was a bit chaotic.
They bypassed the crowd and went to the front of the group. As expected, Zhou Chuan had found the missing people and brought back even more. The food being distributed was what they had brought back.
The injured individuals did not turn into zombies as they had feared. However, no one was at ease. The team's researcher and doctor took them away for examination, while others met to organize their findings.
Zhen Jie said with mixed emotions, "Little Zhou brought back several hundred people, the majority of whom are soldiers. They were from two regiments of the XX Military Region. Most of them died, and the survivors were reorganized. There are also about a dozen ability users."
"That's good. These people have a stronger survival capacity than ordinary people."
"Indeed, they are more capable than ordinary people, but our team is growing larger, which makes management difficult. Those people are demanding power-sharing after joining. If there's a conflict, it will be hard to control."
Zhu Jian frowned and said, "If it's hard to manage, then don't take them in. Since they're so capable, they can survive on their own if they leave."
Zhen Jie gave a wry smile. "If only it were that easy. It's easier to invite gods than to send them away."