Chapter 29: Master...

The squad leader was deeply concerned about the vanguard team, yet he was too worried to leave Lu Li alone, pacing back and forth in a state of agitation.

Shen Bing walked up to Lu Li and extended his hands. In the darkness, the tips of his ears were subtly flushed. "Piggyback or carry, you choose."

Lu Li looked up at his open arms and said decisively, "Piggyback!"

She straightened her spine, moved behind him, and warned, "Get ready." With that, she hopped onto his back.

Shen Bing caught her with perfect tacit understanding, his hands balled into fists to support her thighs. Her body pressed against his, carrying the lingering heat and ragged breaths from their recent exertion.

Lu Li adjusted her position, patted his shoulder twice, and said, "Let's go."

At that moment, Shen Bing felt like an ox or a horse carrying its master, and if his master were to lash him with a whip and bark at him to get moving, it would be only natural.

Shen Bing was stunned by his own thought, yet inexplicably, he found himself wishing that Lu Li would whip him, scold him, or berate him—the fiercer, the better. Just the thought alone sent a thrill through him.

"Are we moving or not?" Lu Li patted his shoulder again. Why was this person spacing out? She really couldn't understand how someone could be so icy to the touch.

He was like a block of ice. For the sake of her own warmth, Lu Li straightened her upper body, leaning slightly away from him.

Shen Bing snapped back to reality, his ear tips now burning red. With her leaning on him, her warm breath occasionally brushed against his neck, making the skin itch.

He tilted his head, looked at the squad leader, and mimicked her tone of urgency. "Let's go." With that, he suddenly accelerated, sprinting in the direction they had agreed upon.

Lu Li’s upper body jolted backward from the inertia, and she hurriedly grabbed his collar and wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself.

She reached out and gave his shoulder a light pinch, fuming, "Shen Bing, are you trying to scare me to death!"

Shen Bing didn't speak; the corners of his mouth simply twitched upward, beyond his control.

Without Lu Li acting as a "little drag," their speed increased dramatically, and they soon arrived at the location of the green light.

As they neared, Shen Bing stopped and set Lu Li on the ground.

She shook her head, one hand on her hip, the other bracing against his arm. "You guy, ugh—" The speed had been so fast that she felt dizzy, nearly vomiting up the boxed meal she had eaten earlier.

Shen Bing stood motionless, acting as a post for her to lean on, having momentarily forgotten that she was just an ordinary human.

The squad leader, trailing slightly behind, arrived just then. He looked around anxiously. "Where are Captain Wang and the others?"

Lu Li pointed in a direction. Having recovered slightly, the three of them walked toward it quietly.

Not far ahead stood a single-story house, surrounded by overgrown weeds, with Boston ivy winding tightly around the outer walls, leaving no gap.

As the wind blew, the leaves swayed in unison, rising and falling like a green ocean.

The three walked along the wall, instinctively softening their footsteps and holding their breath.

Soon, Lu Li heard the sounds of fighting from behind the house. She pressed her palms against the wall and poked her head out, peering cautiously.

She saw three zombies. They were swift, tall, and even wore intact shirts and trousers, appearing indistinguishable from humans at a glance.

Only their scarlet eyes, long, sharp nails, and sparse hair betrayed their identity.

The vanguard team had only five members left with the strength to fight; the other four were wounded or crippled.

They were all clinging to life, leaning or lying in the corner, cursing their own weakness, their eyes following their comrades who were still fighting.

Shen Bing ignored any talk of tactics. At a single glance, he discerned the level of the three zombies.

Two were Tier 5, and one was Tier 6—the latter likely being the leader of these seven zombies and the strongest of them all.

He stepped out directly. Lu Li tried to grab him but missed, and the squad leader followed closely behind, anxious to the point of desperation.

Now that he could see his comrades being besieged by zombies, there was no way he could remain hidden and simply watch.

"Wow..." Lu Li’s eyes widened as she took in the scene, the word slipping out instinctively.

With every step Shen Bing took, a small patch of ice formed beneath his feet, gradually creating an icy path.

Then, Shen Bing raised his hand slightly, and an ice pillar as thick as a grown man's thigh appeared beside him.

In an instant, countless ice pillars materialized, hovering around him. They bobbed up and down slightly, as if possessed by a life of their own.

Being too far away, Lu Li couldn't hear what Shen Bing said, only catching a glimpse of his lips moving.

The next second, the swarm of ice pillars shot out, hurtling toward the Tier 6 zombie with incredible speed.

The Tier 6 zombie caught sight of the pillars out of the corner of its eye and tried to flee, but Wang Zhendong and another team member blocked its path.

The two humans and the zombie fought fiercely; Wang Zhendong knew that he could not let this Tier 6 zombie escape at any cost.

They were far too vengeful; if it got away, it would inevitably return with overwhelming retaliation.

The ice pillars arrived in an instant, striking with pinpoint accuracy, targeting only the Tier 6 zombie.

Though they looked like brittle ice, radiating a bone-chilling cold, they were sharper and more lethal than any steel blade.

The final ice pillar pierced into the Tier 6 zombie’s body. It let out an angry roar toward the heavens, and the ice shattered within its body, scattering all over the ground.

That roar summoned the other two Tier 5 zombies; the squad leader and the other three team members were unable to stop them.

Shen Bing turned, closed his eyes for a split second, and in the moment he opened them, the two Tier 5 zombies had become ice sculptures.

Taking advantage of this, Wang Zhendong stepped up his offensive, pouring every ounce of strength into attacking the Tier 6 zombie with his comrade, successfully hacking off both of its arms.

Less than five seconds later, the Tier 5 zombies shattered their icy prisons and let out another earth-shaking roar.

Lu Li covered her ears. Just as she was about to complain about the noise, she remembered something and looked down at her tactical console.

In the bottom right corner of the screen, where there had originally been only three green lights, there were now hundreds of red dots moving toward their position.

These shameless zombies—they couldn't win, so they were calling for backup. They were truly, completely shameless!

Lu Li didn't care anymore. She stepped out from behind the cover of the wall and shouted, "Finish them off quickly! They’re shameless enough to call for reinforcements!"

After shouting, she immediately ducked back—there was a sense of security in having a wall to hide behind.

The others heard the voice and looked around, but they couldn't see Lu Li, only Shen Bing, who was focused on the battle.

A massive block of ice suddenly appeared, hovering above the three zombies like a thick wall, blotting out the sky.

While the zombies were distracted looking for Lu Li, the ice block dropped instantly, smashing heavily onto them.

Lu Li happened to poke her head out and saw the scene; she could clearly see the zombies being crushed into paste, their remains splattering everywhere.

It was truly brutal.

Throughout the entire process, Shen Bing stood in place, his movements limited to raising his hands and closing his eyes, yet he remained perfectly spotless.

He let out a breath and flicked his fingers; the three massive blocks of ice vanished. The squad leader, showing great initiative, went to retrieve the energy cores.

After digging them out, he trotted over to present them to Shen Bing, who stored them into his spatial storage as a matter of course.

This was the unwritten rule of the apocalypse: the energy core belonged to whoever killed the zombie, unless otherwise agreed upon beforehand.