Chapter 71: Grand Theater Part 2

“What did you say?” Bai Chen Zhu’s pupils shrank. Following his pointing finger to the big iron cage on the opposite corridor, amid the dense crowd of people, he spotted Zhou Zhuo Hua, Bai Tao, and Tang Zhao!

Fortunately, though they looked a bit dirty, there were no signs of serious injury.

Bai Chen Zhu quickly thought about how to rescue them. “Iron cage—find the key!”

Jiang Ye shook his head. “Their cage is special.”

Bai Chen Zhu was about to ask what made it special when

At that moment, they saw an Insect Race member stand up, fly from the audience seats to the east corridor, and precisely grab a human through the iron cage bars by reaching between them.

The human whose arm was grabbed struggled wildly, but the Insect Race member lightly flapped its wings, brushed the lock with its wingtip, and the cage opened.

The human punched and kicked at it, but the Insect Race member took it all and directly choked his neck, pulling him out of the cage and dangling him in the air, inspecting him up and down, nodding with a smile—like appraising a fattened chicken ready to lay.

The short Insect Race member, too lazy to stand, amplified his voice with mental power from afar. “How’s he today?”

Clearly not out of concern for the human.

The Insect Race holding the human replied, “A bit stronger than yesterday.”

“As expected—their evolution relies on fear! Hahahaha!” The short one laughed wildly without restraint, and the others joined in.

Bai Chen Zhu pressed the translator in his ear but sensed something off. He said to Jiang Ye, “That human is an Ability User.”

Jiang Ye whipped his head around. “You sure?”

“I’m sure. His mental power doesn’t lie.” Bai Chen Zhu nodded.

This proved the Insect Race already knew about Ability Users.

The next second, amid the human’s screams, the Insect Race snapped his arm and tossed him straight to the first floor.

The Ability User yelled as he fell uncontrollably, hitting the ground with a thud.

Zombie and Ability User mental power fluctuations weren’t on the same level. The giant monster immediately locked onto that Ability User and charged.

What followed was predictable. Amid the field of black filth, fresh red was added.

Bai Chen Zhu couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He turned to Jiang Ye and saw him clenching his fists, so he grabbed his arm tightly. “Calm down! We can’t save him.”

Were they just two people going up to deliver themselves as food to the monster?

Jiang Ye’s tense body relaxed slightly. He shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not that impulsive.”

Even without Bai Chen Zhu holding him, he wouldn’t have rushed in.

“Eat! Get stronger! Become the ‘king’ of these monsters!” The short one stood, gazing excitedly below, his gray eyes burning. “Then go attack those bases for me! Kill them all! Hahaha…”

Its mental power made the monster react violently, eagerly devouring the more delicious meal, then roaring in dissatisfaction, smashing tables and chairs at the Insect Race audience’s feet, as if it wanted to devour the short Insect Race member whole.

Dozens of Insect Race members stood and went to the iron cage to pick Ability Users.

During this, Bai Chen Zhu’s heart was in his throat, afraid they’d grab Sister Zhuo Hua and the other two—he and Jiang Ye truly wouldn’t know how to save them then!

Fortunately, Bai Tao seemed to have hidden her powerful mental power well. Zhou Zhuo Hua was an ordinary person, and Tang Zhao…

An Insect Race grabbed Tang Zhao. Bai Chen Zhu gripped Jiang Ye’s clothes tight, ready to act on the moment and tell Jiang Ye to save him.

Tang Zhao scratched like a kitten, not even breaking the Insect Race’s skin. His face full of angry despair, he roared, “Let me go!”

“So weak.” The Insect Race tossed him aside.

Good thing the kid was clever. Bai Chen Zhu breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Ye said, “My clothes are all wrinkled.”

Bai Chen Zhu startled and let go of his clothes.

Jiang Ye tilted his head, eyeing Bai Chen Zhu’s expression. “Does this mean you trust me?”

Light gleamed in his eyes, smug. “Looks like you do like me quite a bit.”

Bai Chen Zhu: …

His tension suddenly vanished, leaving only an itch in his hands to hit Jiang Ye.

The Insect Race selected about twenty or thirty people and fed them all to the monster at once.

The monster’s attention shifted, no longer fixating on the unreachable short Insect Race member, and instead chased humans around the arena. The humans’ terrified, despairing faces fleeing everywhere provided the greatest entertainment for these Insect Race members.

Bai Chen Zhu somewhat didn’t want to watch anymore but had to keep watching.

—

As dawn neared, the stage was covered in zombie and human remains. The monster, full, lounged lazily on the stage.

The play had ended, and the Insect Race opened the door on the first floor before flying out of the theater one after another.

Bai Chen Zhu and Jiang Ye hid away and watched as they flew toward the mountains like a swarm of moths. They flew far enough that they soon vanished from sight.

Not long after they left, the giant monster staggered to its feet and chased after them—or more precisely, after the mental power of the short Male Insect.

Jiang Ye turned to Bai Chen Zhu and asked, “Can you still sense them?”

The short Male Insect had the strongest mental power among the swarm, and Bai Chen Zhu carefully checked. “They’re beyond my sensing range.”

That meant they had traveled at least half an Ancient City away.

Seeing that Jiang Ye was about to head inside, Bai Chen Zhu quickly pulled out a mask. “Put this on, just in case.”

These humans were indeed in a miserable state, but they had to protect themselves too.

The two of them opened the balcony door and boldly stepped into the corridor.

The voices—some cursing, some wailing—fell silent the moment they entered.

“Humans! They’re humans!”

“Quick, come save us!”

“You should leave quickly; they’ll be back by evening!”

…

A cacophony of voices erupted, with over a hundred mouths shouting different things. All sorts of dialects came bursting out, and they even argued among themselves.

Bai Chen Zhu and Jiang Ye had a clear goal and walked straight to the cage where Zhou Zhuo Hua was. She watched them with flickering eyes and held back the excited Tang Zhao and Bai Tao, who wanted to rush forward. She hesitated about approaching.

Bai Chen Zhu shook his head at her almost imperceptibly.

Revealing their relationship at this moment would only get Zhou Zhuo Hua and the others held hostage by this crowd. People would do anything to survive. Besides, they weren’t that noble; they couldn’t pat their chests and claim they could save everyone.

Bai Chen Zhu examined the lock. There was a smooth panel on it, and he had seen the Insect Race open the door last night by pressing their wings against it.

In other words, without wings, they couldn’t open it normally.

Jiang Ye touched the bars. “Too noisy. Send someone out to talk to us.”

The crowd chattered noisily for a moment before one person stepped forward.

It wasn’t Zhou Zhuo Hua’s group but someone pushed out by the crowd. He was around forty, tall and sturdy, with a serious face and deep furrows between his brows. His clothes were wrinkled, but a few people subtly flanked him protectively.

He must have held some authority in the crowd, as those around him quieted when he spoke.

“Hello, you two. I’m the administrator of Ancient City, Liang Zhi.”

“Liang Zhi? Didn’t you abandon the city and flee long ago?” Bai Chen Zhu sensed something off. He remembered the men at the gas station complaining that the Ancient City administrator had run away first, and that if not for him fleeing, Ancient City wouldn’t have fallen to become a zombie city so quickly.

He wore a mask that covered his sharp jawline, revealing only a pair of phoenix eyes. His voice was muffled, and with his pale skin, Jiang Ye had been throwing a tantrum on the ground that evening, demanding to braid a side fishtail braid for him.

As a result, Liang Zhi looked at the long-haired tall figure before him and shook his head. “It’s not like that! This young lady has misunderstood. We were captured by this gang of arrogant thugs back then.”

Bai Chen Zhu: ‘…’

“Cough, cough!” Jiang Ye chuckled muffledly and raised his hand to block Bai Chen Zhu, who was about to flare up.

Bai Chen Zhu glanced at him, then gripped his wrist hard enough to nearly break the bone—but at the last moment, he eased off and merely pushed his arm away coldly.

Jiang Ye withdrew his hand and looked back at Bai Chen Zhu innocently, though his pitch-black eyes clearly held a gleeful, watching-the-show amusement.

The next second, as he turned to Liang Zhi, the amusement vanished from his eyes, and he got back to business. “Alright then. Tell me, are all the people here Ability Users?”