Chapter 397: Forest of the Dead

“Grrr…”

The engine gave a muffled roar, straining like desperate breaths before surging forward at full throttle.

Having determined that charging through was the only way and deciding to commit to it, Lu Xin felt no further hesitation.

He had no time to waste, nor did he want any unrelated emotions affecting him, so he just charged straight ahead.

Whatever strangeness lay within that forest, he had to ram through it first.

“Splash splash splash…”

The tires flung mud as the truck gained speed, hurtling forward like an enraged beast. It charged with a brutal, almost irrational ferocity, straight towards the lifeless figures piled woodenly on the road.

Still, whether dead or alive, they retained some semblance of humanity. Just plowing through them felt… wrong.

So Lu Xin gave them due respect.

He honked the horn.

“Beep beep beep…”

The loud honking and the engine’s roar shattered the quiet of the rainy night.

The headlights cut through the darkness like swords, scanning straight ahead.

Honking meant ‘I’m coming through, get out of the way if you can.’

But the forest remained motionless. Only a few desiccated, gaunt humanoid creatures at the very front seemed bothered by the headlights, slowly turning their heads towards the truck. Their movements were stiff and clumsy, the imagined sound of cracking bones echoing in the silence.

Their mouths also began to open slowly, as if trying to let out some kind of scream.

If they wouldn’t move, Lu Xin wouldn’t be polite.

As these monsters slowly opened their mouths, before any sound could escape, the front of the truck smashed directly into them.

“Boom…”

These creatures’ bodies seemed quite fragile, about as strong as an average person’s.

Under the truck’s momentum, the outermost few were instantly shattered into pieces.

A pile of severed limbs flew out, many getting sucked directly under the vehicle. Some incredibly viscous substance splattered onto the front windshield like abstract graffiti. An arm even slapped right onto the glass…

“Is that all…”

Lu Xin’s heart tightened slightly as he pressed harder on the throttle, continuing forward.

The headlights illuminated more and more heads, slowly stirring like a tide.

“Crack crack…”

A muffled chorus arose as the wheels rolled over bones.

It seemed easy at first, but as the truck drove deeper, Lu Xin suddenly realized something was wrong.

This Forest of the Dead was stirring, becoming more active.

The ‘trees’ deeper in the forest were more agile; they even started climbing up before the truck reached them.

Clawing wildly, some seeming to mouth curses, they scrambled rapidly onto the approaching truck.

Even the arm on the windshield twitched its fingers a few times, then began crawling towards the cab.

“Bang bang bang…”

In the back compartment, Captain Li Jian and the others had already started shooting without hesitation.

Through the rearview mirror, Lu Xin could see quite a few ‘human trees’ had already climbed into the back.

Although their movements were still slow, their sheer numbers created a terrifying scene.

“Give me a gun, give me a gun…”

Even Researcher Wang Song yelled, swatting at the hands reaching in with his tablet computer while shouting.

“Crash…”

The window on Lu Xin’s side shattered. Several withered, emaciated hands with long, sharp fingernails due to muscle atrophy reached for him. Lu Xin kept one hand on the steering wheel and grabbed with the other, instantly tearing off several arms at once.

Then he reached down, pulled out a gun, and tossed it to Researcher Wang Song.

He grabbed another, stuck it out the window, and shot a desiccated corpse that was climbing onto the hood, sending it flying.

“This isn’t working…”

From the back compartment, Captain Li Jian, having shot down a few corpses, suddenly shouted to the front.

Lu Xin understood what he meant.

The lens display showed they were less than two hundred meters from the forty-fifth transmitter.

But the truck’s progress was slowing down considerably.

The surrounding corpses weren’t just climbing onto the truck.

Some had been dragged underneath, getting caught somewhere, piling up and creating immense friction. Others got caught under the wheels, their viscous fluids making the tires skid, losing grip on the wet ground.

At this point, they truly felt like they had plunged into a forest, caught and slowed by countless vines and deadwood.

In that case, they had to abandon the truck…

But…

Lu Xin subconsciously turned to glance at Researcher Wang Song, Captain Li Jian, and the others.

Once they abandoned the truck, they would be besieged by the dead.

…

“Heh… Mr. Lone Soldier, didn’t you say we didn’t need protecting?”

Researcher Wang Song had just shot a corpse crawling towards him in the chest, which seemed to make him feel quite pleased.

Smiling, he turned to look at Lu Xin, saying, “Mr. Lone Soldier, efficiency is paramount for this mission. Based on current observations, we can still maintain our reason and thought. The other teams out in the wasteland removing stabilizers have also proven we are capable of executing missions independently. So, I suggest we split up.”

“We will go remove the forty-fifth set of stabilizers, while you go directly to clean up the forty-sixth set.”

…

His voice was rational, logical, even relaxed.

But Lu Xin knew what his words represented.

Agreeing directly was the best, most efficient choice now, but Lu Xin couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“Mr. Lone Soldier, leave this task to us.”

Captain Li Jian spoke up from the back, his voice deep, “At the very least, we want to do something useful with the time we have left.”

As he spoke, the few soldiers beside him had already grabbed their backpacks.

They were checking their weapons, especially the few black bombs among them.

“Huuu…”

Lu Xin took a deep breath, pushed open the side door, and kicked away a head that had gotten inside, shattering it.

“I’m not very good with words.”

Lu Xin turned, looking at these individuals, and said softly, “And I rarely cooperate with people. But at least, this cooperation with you…”

“I enjoyed it…”

…

Researcher Wang Song and Captain Li Jian quietly looked at Lu Xin, just like when they first met.

It was an expression of trust.

“I will do my job!”

Lu Xin gave them his assurance, then grabbed his bag. Borrowing his sister’s power, he suddenly slipped out of the compartment. His figure became exceptionally agile and nimble, stepping on head after head as he dashed forward.

“Vrooom…”

As Lu Xin charged out of the compartment, someone took the wheel, and the truck accelerated again.

With a sharp fishtail, it veered off the main road into a wild field covered in weeds.

The engine whined as it charged towards the location of the forty-fifth set of stabilizers.

Normally, the truck couldn’t leave the road; in this muddy wasteland, the tires would easily sink into the soft earth. But now, the ubiquitous Forest of the Dead ironically helped solve this problem.

Compared to the nearly impassable road, the wild fields on either side were actually easier to drive on.

The truck’s speed increased slightly, its wheels rolling over countless white bones as it charged straight ahead for several dozen meters.

The truck’s roar and bright lights also, to some extent, drew the attention of the Forest of the Dead. Large waves of the black tide surged towards the truck. Lu Xin plunged alone into the Forest of the Dead, but the pressure around him actually lessened somewhat.

He should have been focused solely on charging forward.

But subconsciously, while still in mid-air, he turned his head to look back.

BOOM…

He saw the truck suddenly stop as it reached the location of the forty-fifth set of stabilizers.

In the next moment, blue electric arcs shot skyward, scattering fragments of limbs and bones.

On his lens display, the forty-fifth set of stabilizers disappeared. Lu Xin’s heart gave a heavy thud.

In truth, the soldiers’ actions weren’t the only option, nor did they save him much time.

But they did it anyway. Firstly, because at this point, it was the only way they could contribute even slightly. Secondly, they knew their fate, so they chose this method to clean up the pollution.

He stopped abruptly, looking deeply in the direction the explosion came from.

…

…

“Being human is just that simple, isn’t it?”

“Just doing your own job well is already something truly good…”

Turning back around, Lu Xin’s body tensed abruptly, his speed increasing.

Now, everywhere he looked, there were pale, decaying faces.

Row upon row of faces with the distinct, stiff, broken expressions of the dead flickered before him.

A putrid, strange smell relentlessly drilled into his brain through his nostrils.

But he felt numb to it.

He’d forgotten to be scared.

It was just annoying.

As his figure vanished into the surrounding darkness, it instantly became strangely agile.

He swiftly wove through the gaunt, foul-smelling figures of the Forest of the Dead. Everything around him seemed wooden and clumsy. He could even run directly over the heads of these corpses, like a nimble spider, treading on their skulls as he dashed forward.

“Whoosh…”

A dense, agile group of corpses rushed towards him, but Lu Xin didn’t even dodge.

It was impossible to see clearly what he did in the darkness, only that the corpses rushing towards him suddenly shattered into pieces.

…

“What’s going on?”

Deep within the Forest of the Dead, someone saw Lu Xin quickly passing through, their face instantly filled with astonishment.

She roared into her headset: “What kind of monster is that?”

Clearly, someone on the other end of the channel was also watching Lu Xin through other means, their voice remaining quite calm:

“Looks like Spider-type, but definitely not just Spider-type. He seems completely unaffected inside the pollution field, possessing a powerful and unknown offensive ability. Could it be… Qinggang has Ability Users stronger than the Second Stage?”

…

“Heh… I don’t know if Qinggang has Ability Users stronger than the Second Stage.”

Another voice cut in: “But this person, I can guarantee, is definitely not comparable to an ordinary Second Stage.”

“Rose, don’t approach this person for now.”

A voice, punctuated by heavy breaths with every word, spoke up: “I suspect you are not his opponent.”

Hearing this, the woman was greatly startled: “If I don’t intervene, he’ll destroy the field soon!”

“Let him.”

The very tired, panting voice said: “It’s just a matter of reconstructing a few stabilizers, not troublesome.”

The woman suddenly thought of something and said gravely: “What’s your plan?”

“Let him break into the core of the field.”

The voice rested for a moment before continuing:

“We’ll use this time to rendezvous with you, and then invite him to admire… the Flower of Death.”

“Now?”

After a moment’s pause, the woman instantly became wary: “This was originally the weapon we prepared to deal with Qinggang’s army.”

The tired voice slowly replied: “In my eyes, he *is* Qinggang’s army.”