Liang Zhi hesitated for a moment before saying frankly, “If you mean uninfected by the virus, then yes. We’re all the ones who didn’t get sick after the Ancient City fell.”
“A city with just over a hundred ability users—that’s quite a number,” Jiang Ye remarked as he counted heads, then asked further, “Do you know where this cage came from?”
Chittering voices rose again.
“They conjured it out of thin air!”
“No, the iron cage was made by them!”
“Those bugs can make stuff out of nowhere? Clearly, they carried it in from outside.”
…
“Quiet down! It’s too noisy! If you want to get out, don’t interrupt the city lord talking with them!” Tang Zhao seized the moment, blending in as one of them and shouting to hold back the agitated crowd.
Liang Zhi strained against the immovable iron cage and sighed.
According to Jiang Ye, they were all ability users here, yet the cage was so sturdy it trapped them.
“It didn’t appear out of thin air.” Liang Zhi thought for a moment before saying slowly, “We were among the first batch captured. Back then, this place was empty. They brought back a lot of iron tools—including the weapons we had on us—melted them down with some unknown stuff, and forged this cage to trap us. They replaced it with some unknown lock too. This iron cage is incredibly hard; even the strongest guy among us couldn’t bend it.”
“So what do we do now?” Bai Chen Zhu stood with arms crossed, unhurried as he tossed the question back.
They had only two people outside, while Zhou Zhuo Hua and the others were inside. The iron cage wouldn’t budge, and it seemed they needed wings to unlock it, but they knew nothing about the insect race here.
It was better to hear what ideas Liang Zhi, who had been trapped here for so long, might have.
Liang Zhi observed their expressions and saw no intent to flee—they really meant to save them—so he probed, “Do you two know where those guys went? They usually don’t bring food back until at least evening.”
Jiang Ye replied, “They flew far away; no idea where.”
Instead of suggesting a plan, Liang Zhi asked, “You two—are you from out of town, just passing through?”
Bai Chen Zhu’s gaze quickly swept over the people in the cage. He knew humans were naturally suspicious. If they pushed too hard, they might link them to the newly captured trio including Zhou Zhuo Hua.
That would put those three in danger.
No matter what, they couldn’t seem too eager to save them.
Jiang Ye paused. “Worried we’ll run?”
Liang Zhi admitted, “You two aren’t kin to us; I don’t know how far you’ll go.”
Jiang Ye sneered. “Of course, as long as it doesn’t cost us our lives.”
He made sure everyone heard, raising his voice. “We passed through here, but our gear got smashed by that big monster. The whole city’s crawling with zombies—we can’t get out, and inside we see weird guys like you. So tell me, what should we do?”
His words were half-true, half-fabricated, but convincing enough.
Or rather, they had no choice but to believe.
They could only pin their hopes on Jiang Ye and the other.
And Jiang Ye wanted them obedient.
“If we bust our asses to save you and you all scatter, why bother saving you at all? Might as well let you be monster chow!” Jiang Ye said.
His crude words drew curses from a few and murmurs of agreement from most—they all just wanted to keep him steady for now.
Having played the bad cop, Bai Chen Zhu played the good one. “Don’t say it like that. There’s strength in numbers; with just us two, our odds of escaping are too low. Everyone, we came from another base and know how vital ability users are. If you’re willing, over a hundred of us can totally take down those dozens of little bugs!”
The pale-faced people in the cage lifted their eyelids. Confined for days, they were listless, but Bai Chen Zhu’s words caught their attention.
Tang Zhao, amid the crowd, immediately raised his arm. “Right! I came from outside too! We ability users might not lose to those winged freaks!”
Bai Tao was suppressing her excitement as she stared at Jiang Ye and the others when her shoulder sank—Zhou Zhuo Hua leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Tao Tao.”
Bai Tao looked at her blankly.
Zhou Zhuo Hua’s eyes fixed on the two outside as she spoke to Bai Tao. “No insect race now; they’re worn out. Have them ‘perk up.’”
Bai Tao was momentarily stunned, then understood instantly.
She jumped up, shouting at the top of her lungs to spread her mental power—voice even cracking—to avoid suspicion. “Right! I’ve seen the strongest ones take down two bugs barehanded! Bugs are nothing! We’re ability users who can lift tripods!”
Her power, spread over a hundred people, wasn’t strong, but the slight stinging in their foreheads was enough to snap the weary, dozing, or indifferent ones awake. They opened their eyes wide and looked toward the commotion.
What were they arguing about? Getting out? Real or fake?
Blending into the crowd, Zhou Zhuo Hua seized the moment and stood, shouting loudly, “Everyone, we’ve got no way out! It’s die or risk it all!”
“Right!”
“Fight them!”
“I don’t wanna be food; I wanna get out!”
…
With one voice leading the chorus, the mood ignited before Liang Zhi could speak. The crowd surged with fervor, their voices loud enough to lift the ceiling, momentum building as if they’d tear the enemy apart the next second.
Liang Zhi was speechless, even shocked at how the two had roused everyone with just a few words.
He threw cold water on it. “So, do you have a way to unlock it?”
Jiang Ye asked, “Can all insect race wings unlock it?”
Liang Zhi said earnestly, “From what I’ve observed, yes. I’d stake my life on it.”
Jiang Ye said lightly, “Then just grab one at random and chop off its wings.”
Liang Zhi gaped, looking the two tall figures up and down. “Never mind that there’s only two of you—even if the door opens, there’s that big monster below. What then?”
Finally, someone said it. This guy was more cautious than those in Luozhou City. Bai Chen Zhu thought, eyeing Liang Zhi’s honest face.
Bai Chen Zhu touched his mask, not planning to reveal his superpower. “I have a way to make that monster chase the insect race. But once they’re dealt with, we still need to handle that monster. Its weakness is the throat. If we focus fire on the weak point, we can definitely take it down.”
If not for that fragment on the collar around the monster’s neck, it wouldn’t be so tough, Bai Chen Zhu thought. Another case like before—another zombie king.
While they didn’t know the zombie king’s truth, Jiang Ye half-truthed, “It’s the Ancient City’s zombie king. If we don’t deal with it, we won’t even step out of the Ancient City before its corpse tide drowns us.”
This pinned down any escape plans. Ignore the zombie king, and the corpse tide would kill them all.
Zombie king? Corpse tide? The crowd exchanged glances, stunned by his words.
So after unlocking, they’d face not just the alien race, but the zombie king too?
Was there really a way out?
“Don’t doubt it; I have a way to make you strong enough to fight them,” Jiang Ye asked them one question. “Do you dare take a gamble?”
Did they even need to ask!
Liang Zhi gritted his teeth. “Let’s do it!”
Uplifting voices rose one after another.
Jiang Ye suddenly glanced at Bai Chen Zhu, who looked back puzzled.
Jiang Ye was silent for a long time before making a decision. “Since you trust me, I’ll entrust everyone with something precious as a sign of my trust.”
He reached toward Bai Tao in the cage. “Tao Tao, my little sister, come here.”
Bai Chen Zhu tugged Jiang Ye’s clothes, hesitating to speak.
Why expose Bai Tao? She’d become a hostage.
The crowd was shocked. They parted along his outstretched arm like the Red Sea until the end, where the disheveled Bai Tao stood.
“She’s my blood sister,” Jiang Ye said without blinking. “We came here to save her, actually. Everyone, she has a special superpower.”
“She can boost ability users’ superpowers.”
Aside from Jiang Ye, everyone stared at Bai Tao in shock—even she herself was stunned.
Bai Chen Zhu’s mind filled with questions.
Hadn’t Jiang Ye said ability users could only level up on their own?
When did Bai Tao gain the ability to raise ability user levels?!
Bai Tao stepped forward. Though she didn’t know why Jiang Ye was exposing her, with so many eyes on her, she held back from looking at Zhou Zhuo Hua and Tang Zhao. Stammering cooperatively, she looked weak and pitiful but obedient. “B-bro!”
Jiang Ye reached through the cage to hold her hand and pat her head affectionately.
Bai Chen Zhu’s gaze drifted vaguely over them, thinking one thing: Jiang Ye’s acting was too good.
Jiang Ye’s expression was resolute as he gripped Bai Tao’s hand and told the crowd, “She’s loved singing since she was little. Her voice can quickly boost people’s superpowers, but it also easily draws insect race attention. So, she’s our hope!”
Countless who had hesitated to risk it all now lifted their heads, eyes alight with new light.
In despair, just a spark of hope or light would draw people like moths to flame, making them grasp at it with all their might.
Only shared hope and new conviction could counter the tendency to scatter in crisis.
And now, Jiang Ye was making Bai Tao the most inspiring “hope,” forcing this group to unite for self-rescue.
Bai Tao knew her superpower best and quickly realized what was happening. Without hesitation, she thumped her chest firmly. “That’s right! Trust me, and we’ll all get out alive!”
—
After roughly hashing out a plan with them, Jiang Ye and Bai Chen Zhu left the Grand Theater to find weapons for over a hundred people. Even something like kitchen knives or sticks was better than nothing.
Once out of the Grand Theater’s range, Bai Chen Zhu caught up to Jiang Ye. “Jiang Ye! You didn’t tell me about a lot of this beforehand.”
Jiang Ye’s back was to him as he sighed and turned sideways. “What do you think got Bai Tao the city lord position in Luozhou City? Her superpower isn’t that simple.”
“Her superpower isn’t attacking zombies’ brains and catalyzing their mutations…” Here, Bai Chen Zhu froze.
Catalyzing mutations?
That meant her superpower worked on zombies and could affect ability users too—by extension…
He quickly grabbed Jiang Ye. “You’re crazy!”
That was over a hundred people! Overstimulate, and crazy ability users were no different from zombies.
Jiang Ye pried his hand off and shrugged. “I’m not crazy. Shortcuts have costs, but in the face of life or death, they’re nothing.”
“So let her sing in the Grand Theater. Our job is to find weapons.” Jiang Ye slung an arm around his shoulder.
Bai Chen Zhu looked at him silently.
Jiang Ye lifted his chin. “Mad? At those people?”
“I’m mad at myself.” Bai Chen Zhu turned his head, avoiding the touch.
With the mask on, Jiang Ye couldn’t see his expression clearly, but those phoenix eyes curved with a cool, detached smile.
“I just realized I’m no good person either.”
“Either?” Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes. “You’re lumping me in.”
“No, just a plain statement.”
Bai Chen Zhu couldn’t match Jiang Ye’s decisiveness yet, but he didn’t think it bad. To him, living meant surviving, and sacrificing some things was necessary.
It was conscience, morals, and ingrained notions that trapped them in conflict, making them less bold and resolute.
He stopped dwelling, pushed Jiang Ye away, and stood straight like pine or cypress, voice cold. “Let’s go. Time’s precious; we need a lot of stuff.”
