The feeling of suffocation swept over her entire body, her face turning ashen. Grasping Bai Ye's wrist, she struggled relentlessly, her eyes filled with terror and a hint of disbelief.
"Why?" she rasped.
Why?
This was of course thanks to the T-virus enhancement, which had transformed Bai Ye's already exceptional mental attributes into something more terrifying—his so-called mental pollution ability.
Then...
*Crack!*
Bai Ye's palm tightened again. A crisp bone-snapping sound echoed as the woman's pupils constricted. Her head lolled to the side, and she died.
"I am under no obligation to satisfy your curiosity."
Bai Ye dropped the woman's corpse and scanned his surroundings.
After the woman's death, the twelve individuals sent to the tomb entrance had all become corpses. Bai Ye cautiously examined each one, confirming there were no survivors before picking up his gun and forcefully pushing open the tomb door.
As the tomb door swung open, Bai Ye immediately felt the temperature plummet.
Before him lay a narrow, winding passage. The moment the door opened, the oil lamps on either side flickered to life. However, the flames were eerily green, exuding a sense of mystery.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye slung his gun over his shoulder and stepped into the passage, walking forward. Suddenly...
*Creak!*
A piercing sound echoed, followed by a loud *bang* as the tomb door slammed shut on its own.
The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, but Bai Ye paid it little mind.
Ghosts? So what!
When the King of Huai Nan died, he had many living people buried with him as escorts. These individuals, upon death, became Yin soldiers, tasked with guarding the King's tomb.
In fact, the first of the three restricted area missions in the King of Huai Nan's tomb was to kill fifteen tomb-guarding spiritual monsters.
This was why Bai Ye had intercepted at the tomb door and eliminated everyone sent to the entrance.
The number of tomb-guarding spiritual monsters on each route was limited. If there were a crowd competing, killing fifteen wouldn't be easy.
However, with only Bai Ye on this route, all the spiritual monsters were his for the taking, making it a simple matter to reach the target number.
He continued forward and soon reached the end of the passage, where an open jade door stood before him.
Beyond the jade door was a square stone chamber, roughly a hundred square meters in size. In the center sat a jade coffin, and nothing else.
The moment Bai Ye stepped into the stone chamber...
Black mist materialized around him. Within the mist, human-like silhouettes began to appear. Soon, small corpses, only a meter tall, emerged from the fog, staggering as they moved. These were the remains of young children, about seven to nine years old, around five or six in number.
Bai Ye didn't hesitate. He raised his Aug assault rifle and pulled the trigger.
The bullets flew forward but had little effect on the corpse children. They struck them like steel plates, emitting metallic *clangs*.
Zombies were different from corpses. Zombies were not difficult to deal with; a shot to the head would suffice. But corpses were different. They had no obvious weak points. Bullets weren't useless, but they simply didn't inflict enough damage.
"So, foreign stuff is unreliable. Even dead ghosts, domestic products are tougher!"
Bai Ye muttered, then quickly ejected the spent magazine, retreated to create distance, and reloaded.
Just then...
*Puff!*
The corpse children suddenly opened their small mouths and spewed a cloud of purplish-black mist.
Bai Ye dared not delay, quickly dodging backward.
That purple smoke was corpse poison. Contact with it would be fatal in a short time.
After evading the purple mist, Bai Ye finished reloading and raised his rifle again. However, two corpse children used the black smoke as cover, flanking Bai Ye and suddenly leaping forward, their hands reaching straight for his throat.
Bai Ye swiftly swung his rifle like a club, smashing one corpse child's head and knocking it aside. He then followed up with a sweeping kick that connected with the other.
"Ningshuang, control sword!"
The Ningshuang sword, suspended by Bai Ye's side, transformed into a streak of light and shot forward.
*Clang, clang...*
The Ningshuang sword's brilliance was blindingly fast, repeatedly striking the neck of a corpse child, producing crisp ringing sounds.
But on the third strike...
*Puff!*
The corpse child's neck finally succumbed to the sword's assault. A thin line of blood appeared, its head flew off, and its body fell stiffly backward.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Ye loaded a grenade into his launcher and aimed forward.
*Boom!*
Accompanied by an explosion, flames surged.
A massive fireball erupted, sending the surrounding corpse children flying, their bodies spewing black smoke and emitting a burnt odor.
At this moment...
*Chirp, chirp!*
A grinding sound suddenly echoed, and Bai Ye felt a strong gust of wind.
The jade coffin in the center began to tremble, and then its lid suddenly flew up, spinning through the air towards Bai Ye.
Bai Ye quickly dodged to the side. The coffin lid smashed into the wall, shattering a piece.
Simultaneously...
A chilling wind swept through the area, accompanied by ghostly wails.
From within the white jade coffin, a corpse child suddenly sat upright, its hands extended straight forward, its crimson eyes locked onto Bai Ye.
This corpse child appeared slightly larger than the others, and its clothing was different. Though tattered, it was clearly more luxurious than that of ordinary corpse children.
Bai Ye immediately raised his rifle, aiming at the corpse child, preparing to pull the trigger. But at that moment...
Bai Ye found that when he pulled the trigger, there was no reaction. The body of the Aug assault rifle was gradually becoming translucent, then vanishing completely.
Bai Ye was speechless. The twenty-four-hour usage limit on the gacha item had expired.
"Ah!"
At this point, the corpse child suddenly opened its mouth and let out a spectral howl, spewing a cloud of black smoke.
Bai Ye quickly executed a diving roll to the side, using one hand to push off the ground and tumble away. The moment the smoke hit the wall, a *sizzling* sound erupted. When the smoke cleared, a section of the stone slab in the corner had been corroded, a truly shocking sight.
Bai Ye got to his feet and winced as he looked at the damaged wall, imagining the consequences of that black smoke landing on him.
Then...
Bai Ye quickly lifted his shirt, revealing two boxes of poker cards in his hands.
...