Yue Hengyi reminded Qin Kewei, then instantly unleashed his ability. A triple gravity zone appeared, pinning over thirty corpse kings who hadn't escaped to the ground. Corpse kings with weaker bodies were instantly crushed by their tripled weight, while those with stronger physiques still crawled towards the dog hole. Even now, the corpse kings desired to live. Life is precious, and the corpse kings understood this.
Under triple gravity, the corpse kings found it difficult to move. Even crawling was incredibly slow. Unless a corpse king was in a berserk state, their physical condition was actually quite ordinary. Their internal organs would burst under such gravity, and corpse kings with osteoporosis would even suffer bone fractures on the spot.
Just then, Xiao Sheng jumped down with his people. He hadn't expected the triple gravity zone in the room below. He fell like a stone, landing heavily on the ground. If not for his good physique, he would have been seriously injured. With a thud, Xiao Sheng landed on the ground, covered in dust.
The gravity zone was a spherical space. Within a certain range, gravity was tripled. When Xiao Sheng first fell, he didn't feel anything amiss. But once he entered the gravity zone, his body accelerated its descent uncontrollably.
"Yue Hengyi, you brat, retract your ability! You're trying to kill me!" Xiao Sheng cursed angrily.
Yue Hengyi smiled awkwardly and was about to retract his ability when Jin Zijue descended. He also hadn't expected the triple gravity zone below. After falling, his speed suddenly increased, and he landed a foot on Xiao Sheng's back, nearly suffocating him.
"Damn it, a bunch of pig teammates!" Xiao Sheng weakly exclaimed.
At this moment, Yue Hengyi quickly retracted his ability. Jin Zijue, without time for further words, unleashed over a dozen bolts of lightning that tore through the air, electrocuting all the corpse kings in the room.
Qin Kewei reopened the passage and said to those who had descended, "Hurry up and chase them! Several corpse kings escaped from here. You must kill them!"
Xiao Sheng said nothing, got up, and rushed out. A faint blue flame burned fiercely on his body. As he exited the room, mutated zombies from the third underground level blocked the passage and were rushing towards Xiao Sheng.
Xiao Sheng was not intimidated. He charged forward and unleashed countless flames, "Starfire Spreads Across the Plains"!
In an instant, Xiao Sheng broke through, burning all the mutated zombies in the passage. The air was filled with a scorched smell. Upon closer inspection, one could see that all the zombies on the ground were charred. Xiao Sheng also spotted several corpse kings fleeing in the passage and quickly pursued them.
Jin Zijue also pursued towards the other end of the passage. Chai Kefu could pinpoint their direction at any time underground; the closer he was to the corpse kings, the stronger his senses became.
Almost all the ability users rushed into the passage to hunt the corpse kings. They hadn't forgotten the purpose of this mission. As long as they could kill the corpse kings, they would undoubtedly earn immense merit. Just thinking about the benefits of fame made them excited. No matter where they went in the future, people would give them a thumbs-up, praising them as heroes and brave men who captured the king by capturing the thieves first.
However, Yang Chang and Lu Xian, after a brief discussion, squatted down in the room and began to cut off the heads of the corpse kings. Qin Kewei saw this and couldn't help but reprimand them, "What are you two doing? Go up and fight! Are you already snatching spoils of war at this time?"
Qin Kewei genuinely couldn't understand. Were Yang Chang and Lu Xian truly indifferent to worldly desires? For such a good opportunity to earn merit, who wouldn't rush forward to seize it? Yet, these two were squatting down and grabbing spoils.
Yang Chang looked up and smiled, saying, "Don't worry, we won't take all the credit. If it were according to your plan, all these corpse king heads would be handed over to our superiors, which would bring you no benefit. Instead, if we give these things to the City Lord, we can receive ample rewards! Fame is useless. We want tangible benefits!"
Yang Chang and Lu Xian were also very clear that they were subordinates of Shen Feng, not members of the headquarters. They didn't need to be so loyal to the headquarters. It was better to bring these tangible benefits back to Yuzhou. Shen Feng had always been generous to his subordinates; as long as they earned merit, there were always rewards. These rewards were more appealing than empty fame.
In the end, Yang Chang and Lu Xian each had five corpse king heads strapped to their waists. Their belts were of good quality, made of genuine leather and sturdy material, allowing them to move with ease even when carrying dozens of pounds.
On Xiao Sheng's side, he caught up with Ma Jingshuang and immediately unleashed a move, "Beacon Fires Connect the Heavens." Infinite flames erupted from his body, engulfing Ma Jingshuang. Ma Jingshuang dodged towards a side passage, but he didn't expect Xiao Sheng's move to be an area-of-effect attack. Wherever there was an opening, tongues of fire would extend. Ma Jingshuang was instantly burned to death in a side path.
Jin Zijue was also incredibly swift. Lightning flashed around him, forming a defense of arcs of electricity. This was his ultimate move, "Counterattack Electric Net." Any zombie that approached would be instantly repelled. Jin Zijue, spotting two corpse kings at the end of the passage, shot out lightning and electrocuted them.
Once upon a time, corpse kings were majestic. The appearance of any single corpse king would trigger a zombie tide of hundreds of thousands. Under the threat of the zombie tide, people lived in constant fear, worrying about their safety, lest they be overwhelmed by a zombie tide led by a corpse king at any moment. But now, the arrogant corpse kings were being hunted and killed by over twenty ability users.
Many corpse kings had escaped through the tunnels, but under Chai Kefu's senses, no corpse king could hide. He led his comrades to find the corpse kings and ended their sinful lives with a single strike. After half an hour of fighting, all the corpse kings in the western region were killed.
After hiding underground for a winter, the corpse kings had become complacent. They believed that by hiding underground, with the complex tunnel system, Yan Jing would never be able to accurately attack them. Moreover, they could use their special electromagnetic waves to communicate battle situations, making them foolproof.
However, the corpse kings hadn't expected that their attackers would be a small number of ability users. These ability users were few in number, less than thirty, but their explosive combat power was unparalleled. It was a pipe dream for mutated zombies to stop them; they were no match for the ability users.
Ultimately, the corpse kings in the western direction lost their lives due to their arrogance.
When the battle ended, everyone gathered, but they felt a bit dizzy.
Lu Xian thought of something, and his expression changed drastically. He immediately asked Xiao Sheng, "Did you use your ability just now?"
Xiao Sheng nodded seriously and smiled, "You figured it out. It's just a small matter. Killing a few corpse kings is just a matter of convenience, nothing to mention. Of course, if you want to praise me, I'll accept it."
"I'll praise your brother-in-law! You used your ability underground, directly consuming the oxygen in the cave. We're dizzy because of you. We're already suffering from oxygen deprivation!" Lu Xian couldn't help but curse. Xiao Sheng's ability was fire, and while his combat power was indeed formidable, it had a corresponding drawback: fire consumed oxygen when fighting underground.
"Damn it, you bastard, you're going to get us killed!" Once Lu Xian pointed out the situation, the others also became anxious. Who would have thought that after the battle was over, they would be brought to the brink of death by Xiao Sheng?
A group of people scrambled towards the passage above, quickly reaching the outside of the cave, gasping for breath, feeling a sense of having survived a disaster.
Lu Xian pointed to the heads on his belt and said to the group of ability users, "Corpse king heads are good stuff. Ten of them are enough for us. As for how you distribute the rest of the corpse king heads, that's not my concern."
If possible, Lu Xian wanted to keep all the corpse king heads for himself, but it was obvious that with so many people watching, being too greedy would lead to criticism.
Qin Kewei stepped forward and said sternly, "How else can we handle it? Of course, we'll hand them all over to the laboratory. I believe that after seeing our results, headquarters will look at us with new eyes."
Qin Kewei's statement was echoed by the other members of the Ability Administration Bureau, but their expressions varied. The reason was simple: the attitude of the superiors towards the Ability Administration Bureau was strange. They were supporting the Heavenly Chosen Bureau to replace them. If these corpse king heads were handed over, and the ability potions fell into the hands of the Heavenly Chosen Bureau, wouldn't that strengthen their competitor's strength?
Unfortunately, Qin Kewei's statement was official, and no one could find fault with her words.
Xiao Sheng looked around at everyone. As the副队长 (fù duìzhǎng - deputy captain), he had something unpleasant to say, "Sister Qin, I heard you used to work in a private company. Then you must have heard this saying: 'Work diligently, the boss drives a Mercedes; slack off at work, the boss rides a Qingju.' What do you think of these words?"
Xiao Sheng began to probe, trying to understand Qin Kewei's true thoughts.
"Uh, what do you want to say?" Qin Kewei was not a bookworm. Xiao Sheng's hint was so obvious that she understood his meaning. At a time when they were being suspected by their superiors, loyalty might not be the best choice.
Xiao Sheng glanced at Lu Xian and Yang Chang beside him and said nothing.
The other members of the Ability Administration Bureau also looked at Yang Chang and Lu Xian, their meaning clear: with outsiders present, some things were not appropriate to say.
Yang Chang, with his keen understanding, stood up and walked away, calling out to Lu Xian, "Let's go, let's go relieve ourselves, and also give these people some privacy. This way, everyone will be convenient in the future."
Lu Xian followed Yang Chang. He knew that this was a time for others to discuss confidential matters. It would be disloyal to eavesdrop. It was better to pretend to know nothing, so everyone could save face.
After the two left, Xiao Sheng said in a low voice to Qin Kewei, "Sister, it's not that I'm stingy, but we have to consider ourselves. We've gone through fire and water, and how have we been repaid by headquarters? They gave all the ability potions to those spoiled second-generation heirs. Is that fair? Is that reasonable? If we don't consider ourselves and loyally complete the tasks assigned by our superiors, wouldn't our skills be too cheap?"
Qin Kewei looked at her companions, only to find them all looking at her with anticipation.
"Then what are your intentions?" Qin Kewei quickly asked.
Jin Zijue pointed at Yue Hengyi and gave him a look. Yue Hengyi immediately went to stand guard, while Jin Zijue began to explain, "Sister, ability potions are very precious. They are priceless in the black market! What's more, people will ambush ability users to transfer their abilities through surgery. Some are even willing to pay a ton of gold for an ability potion, but even at such a high price, they can't buy it."
"With ability potions, we won't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of our lives. Moreover, even if we don't want to sell them, we can keep them for ourselves. We are still young, but we will have descendants, won't we? Who wants their son and daughter to have no ability to protect themselves? Isn't this the best gift for the next generation?"
The group began to persuade Qin Kewei. Qin Kewei was not a pedant who only knew loyalty to her superiors; she also had her own selfish desires. At this moment, they chose their own interests. For the sake of the future, the distribution of corpse king heads had to be considered.
It can only be said that in the apocalypse, the ugliness of human nature was fully exposed. Perhaps in public, these people could hide well, but given an opportunity, an opportunity that required careful decision-making, greed and loyalty would erupt into a struggle, and greed was often the winning side.
Ability users were glamorous, especially those from the Ability Administration Bureau. In the apocalypse, they gained unparalleled power, exuding an aura of strength with every gesture. Wherever they went, they were admired, as if they had surpassed the normal level of humanity, becoming beings superior to humans.
However, when tested, faced with immense benefits, these ability users reacted no differently from ordinary people, all thinking about how to seize benefits for themselves. As for the collective, unless it was their own collective, who would care?