Since Su Xiaoxuan agreed to go to Hope City, everyone immediately packed their bags and prepared to leave.
Although Qin Shilei repeatedly assured them that Hope City had everything, Su Xiaoxuan still packed five large boxes.
Three of these boxes contained various medicinal herbs, and two contained her clothes and daily necessities.
Qin Shilei had to place the three large boxes of medicinal herbs into his Qiankun Ring. As for the clothes, they were put into the armored vehicle's cargo compartment.
Basking in the setting sun, the group left the clinic and began their journey back.
Su Xiaoxuan sat in the back compartment, carefully asking Qin Shilei about the situation in Hope City.
"Does Hope City really have high city walls and a city-wide power supply?"
"Yes, the city walls are twenty kilometers long and twenty meters high. The entire city has twenty-four-hour power."
"Are there still zombies within and around Hope City?"
"The zombies in the city and within a ten-kilometer radius have basically been cleared out."
Bang!
As the two were chatting, a loud impact sent Su Xiaoxuan tumbling towards Qin Shilei.
Qin Shilei, with quick reflexes, caught her and also steadied Kong Qingshu, who was about to roll off the bed.
"You stay here. I'll get out and check."
After speaking, Qin Shilei opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.
As soon as he got out, he saw that the armored vehicle had veered off the road and crashed into a nearby shop.
It had knocked down a wall of the shop, with half of the vehicle's front end submerged inside.
Walking to the driver's cabin, he saw Yin Xiaoxue just recovering from the impact, while the driver, Dong Qi, was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious.
Yin Xiaoxue said anxiously, "City Lord, a phantom suddenly emerged from a person lying unconscious on the ground and lunged into Brother Dong's body."
Qin Shilei frowned and instantly activated his Broken Illusory Violet Eyes to look at Dong Qi.
He saw two blurry phantoms struggling within Dong Qi's body.
"Can I bring this Soul Devouring Demon into the illusion created by my Broken Illusory Violet Eyes?"
A thought flashed through Qin Shilei's mind, and he instantly created an illusion filled with lightning.
The Soul Devouring Demon was immediately dragged into this illusion.
Countless lightning bolts struck the Soul Devouring Demon like a torrential downpour, engulfing it in a flash of electricity.
A terrible scream suddenly erupted, then abruptly ceased.
In less than ten seconds, the Soul Devouring Demon vanished without a trace.
Qin Shilei looked up at Dong Qi. A phantom emerged from Dong Qi's forehead and then dissipated like a bubble, leaving behind a bronze treasure chest.
After a short while, Dong Qi also slowly woke up.
Qin Shilei briefly inspected the armored vehicle and said, "Xiaoxue, you sit in the back. Dong Qi, you take the co-pilot's seat, and I'll drive."
Dong Qi shook his head and replied, "City Lord, I'm fine. Let me drive."
Seeing that Dong Qi was indeed alright, Qin Shilei got into the co-pilot's seat.
The armored vehicle slowly backed out of the shop and continued forward.
However, after driving for only about ten minutes, they found the road ahead blocked by over a dozen crashed vehicles.
Qin Shilei said, "You all stay safe. I'll get out and check. If any more Soul Devouring Demons appear, use your abilities to attack them."
With that, he jumped out of the vehicle and walked forward.
As he walked, he activated his Broken Illusory Violet Eyes.
As Qin Shilei's eyes turned a bewitching purple, he saw that a Soul Devouring Demon was hidden within twenty to thirty unconscious humans ahead.
He once again created an illusion filled with lightning and dragged all the Soul Devouring Demons into it.
After a while, he finally managed to exterminate all the Soul Devouring Demons.
Qin Shilei moved the blocking cars aside and was about to turn back to the armored vehicle.
Suddenly, a powerful pressure swept towards him from afar, causing his heart to race and his hair to stand on end.
"Go, we need to leave here immediately." Qin Shilei's mind was filled with only this thought.
In an underground garage about a kilometer away from here.
Xiao Zi'ang sat on the ground, with a large circle of various crystal cores arranged in a mysterious formation around him. At the formation's core were five Level 3 crystal cores.
Above a spatial rift, a phantom that had appeared before was forming hand seals and shooting a black light towards the crystal cores on the ground.
The formation on the ground was instantly activated, a white light connecting each crystal core, which then transformed into a dense spiritual energy that surged into Xiao Zi'ang's body.
Xiao Zi'ang, who had no prior experience with cultivation techniques, began to stir. He slowly approached the critical point.
"Heh heh!"
The phantom let out two sinister chuckles and then suddenly lunged into Xiao Zi'ang's body.
Xiao Zi'ang's mouth opened, and two different voices emerged.
"What do you want? Get out of me!"
"Heh heh, don't you want power? I'll give you invincible power now."
"So you've always wanted to possess my body. You're despicable, get out!"
"If it weren't for the fact that you're a perfect match and can allow my projection to possess you, do you think I would have gone to so much trouble to help you improve your strength?"
"Then why didn't you take my body from the beginning?"
"Who told you you were so pathetically weak? You couldn't even withstand my projection at first. This formation on the ground not only enhances your strength but also helps my projection descend into this world more easily."
"You bastard!"
Xiao Zi'ang's voice gradually faded, while his aura continued to climb.
He soon advanced to the Silver realm, and his strength continued to increase until it reached the peak of the Silver realm before stopping.
By this time, Xiao Zi'ang's appearance had changed drastically.
A dark, pointed horn grew from the top of his forehead, and his fair complexion turned purplish-black.
"As long as I devour all the people in this city, I'll be able to unleash the power of the Gold realm." The Xiao Zi'ang possessed by the demon spoke with wild arrogance, "I'll start with the person you met yesterday."
At this moment, Qin Shilei had instructed Dong Qi to drive the armored vehicle in a circle, away from the tall building that had made him feel threatened, and was about to leave Lingquan City.
Dong Qi glanced at the rearview mirror and suddenly said, "City Lord, there's a car behind us that seems to have been following us."
There were too many vehicles on the road earlier, so he hadn't noticed they were being followed.
Later, when he changed lanes, he realized the white sedan was still tailing him, and he knew they were being tracked.
"Stop ahead for a moment. I'll get out and deal with them," Qin Shilei ordered.
The armored vehicle immediately pulled over to the roadside. Just as Qin Shilei was about to get out, he felt a sudden jolt in his heart.
Bang!
With a loud crash, the back of the armored vehicle shook.
Qin Shilei turned and looked through the glass partition in the middle. He saw that someone had appeared inside the cargo compartment.
The person was currently holding Yin Xiaoxue by the neck with one hand, a cruel smile on their face.
Teleport!
Qin Shilei instantly appeared in the rear compartment, Blood Soul in hand, and thrust his sword towards the person.
He intended to force the assailant to release Yin Xiaoxue by employing a feint attack.
"Heh heh!"
The person chuckled twice and then, with a forceful twist of their right hand, snapped Yin Xiaoxue's neck.
Following that, their right hand, glowing with black light, slammed towards Blood Soul.
With a single blow, Blood Soul was violently flung to the side, narrowly missing Su Xiaoxuan.
Qin Shilei's heart trembled, and he immediately activated his teleportation again.
Holding Kong Qingshu with his left hand and Su Xiaoxuan with his right, he instantly moved out of the cargo compartment and appeared dozens of meters outside the vehicle.