Chapter 54 Coercion

Putting on a pretentious show of selecting a dozen loyal followers, Director Liu led his men and followed Lei Min out to the main gate.

Lei Min walked at the very front of the procession, with Wen Ling closely following right behind her. The remaining men, led by Director Liu, dragged their feet at the very rear, clutching wooden clubs and iron shovels.

"Be careful of yourself. If things get too desperate, just find a place to hide!" Lei Min instructed Wen Ling.

Actually, bringing Wen Ling along was a huge risk, but Lei Min figured this might be a good opportunity to leave. Director Liu's gang turned cowards the moment they faced zombies; as long as she could carve a path through, she could take the opportunity to escape with Wen Ling.

"Big Sister, you be careful too. Those zombies have already spotted us. Besides the five in front, another eight are starting to head this way from behind."

Wen Ling used her ability to scout the zombies' condition for Lei Min. These zombies were not clustered together, but rather scattered loosely along the entire street.

This situation worked to Lei Min's advantage. As long as she was careful and eliminated the zombies batch by batch, there wouldn't be too much danger.

"Okay, I understand." After saying this, Lei Min drew her weapons: a slender Western chef's knife and a metal steel pipe.

This kitchen knife wasn't very long, so she had to get in close for hand-to-hand combat with the zombies. Fortunately, she had her lightning superpower to assist her; under the paralyzing effect of the electric current, the zombies were practically stripped of all ability to resist.

To eliminate the zombies with the fastest possible speed, Lei Min used the steel pipe to discharge her superpower. After the zombies were momentarily paralyzed, she used the kitchen knife to pierce through their skulls.

Just like that, the first wave of five zombies quickly fell beneath her blade.

Taking advantage of the time before the next wave of zombies arrived, Lei Min pried open the skulls of the dead zombies and dug out two crystal cores.

This action of hers completely dumbfounded the men behind her: What on earth was she doing? Did they still need to mutilate the corpses after killing the monsters? Why didn't any of them know about this procedure?

Director Liu and the others were too far away to see clearly. Though curious, no one dared to boldly walk over and ask at a time like this, so they could only resort to whispering private guesses among themselves: "What is she doing? Could there be treasures inside those monsters' brains?"

"Director Liu, do you know? Why don't you go over and ask in a minute?"

"How would I know? Who goes around cracking open monsters' heads for no reason?" Director Liu was equally puzzled.

"Do you guys think they really are sorceresses? Could it be that digging out the monsters' brains is for eating?"

"Stop talking already, that's so creepy!"

"Then what do you say they're doing? It can't just be venting their anger, right?"

"Could she be a serial killer?"

"What serial killer? Since she's a sorceress, digging out the monsters' brains must be for concocting elixirs. Once you refine the elixirs and eat them, your cultivation power will increase!"

...

The group's speculations grew increasingly absurd. Hiding off to the side like a bunch of overseers, they simply watched with wide eyes as Lei Min, a young girl, fought the zombies at the front, completely devoid of any intention to step forward and help.

The second wave of eight zombies was much harder to kill than the first. Lei Min led them in circles, killing while pondering how to run away with Wen Ling.

Just then, a scream suddenly rang out from not far behind her.

"Ah! Let me go! Sob, sob~"

Lei Min looked back, and instantly flew into a towering rage: "What are you people doing?"

"It's too dangerous up ahead, so we're helping you look after the Wen family's niece. That way, Miss Lei can also have peace of mind while killing those monsters."

Director Liu had somehow already taken control of Wen Ling. With one hand covering Wen Ling's mouth and the other twisting her arm, he spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Wen Ling tried to break free from his restraint. In the midst of her desperate struggling, she bit Director Liu hard: "Sister Lei, run away quickly by yourself, don't worry about me!"

"Shut up!"

Director Liu winced in pain and immediately raised his hand, delivering a slap. Blood welled up at the corner of Wen Ling's mouth, and she was once again subdued by the others.

"How dare you hit her? Do you believe I'll let the zombies over here tear you to pieces?!"

Seeing Wen Ling getting hit, Lei Min was instantly consumed by burning anger.

"Don't! As, as long as Miss Lei peacefully kills the monsters, of course we won't hit her anymore!"

Hearing that Lei Min was going to release the zombies upon them, Director Liu was thoroughly startled. He promised not to attack Wen Ling anymore, but still kept a tight grip on her.

Lei Min had no other choice and had to temporarily abandon her plan of escaping, continuing instead to slaughter the zombies.

"These people are truly shameless! Not a shred of humanity in them, they're simply worse than beasts!"

Lei Min felt profound remorse in her heart. She shouldn't have tried negotiating any conditions with these people in the first place; she should have just knocked them out with her superpower, and none of this would have happened!

"Damn it, that's what you get for being soft-hearted!"

Cursing herself internally, Lei Min fought fiercely against the zombies.

Before the eight zombies could even be wiped out, three more successive waves arrived from ahead. Once these three waves began moving, the zombies further back also started closing in.

After that, the zombies seemed endless, growing more and numerous. Lei Min's killing speed simply could not keep pace with their gathering speed, and gradually she began falling into a semi-encircled state.

Seeing that the situation was turning ugly, Director Liu and the others immediately turned around and tried to run, but Wen Ling grabbed him by the reverse side and refused to let him go, come hell or high water.

"You're not allowed to leave! Sister Lei is still killing zombies, you are not allowed to leave!"

"Scram!"

Director Liu wore a fierce expression, violently tearing her hands away and shoving her hard to the ground. Without even a backward glance, he fled hastily in the opposite direction.

By this time, the entire horde of zombies had been fully agitated. Like migrating beasts, one following right after another, they all surged forward.

Across the ten-meter-wide street, it was a dark, churning mass; a single glance swept across at least a hundred zombies. Realizing a zombie wave was about to form, Lei Min decisively gave up on continuing the fight.

She spun around, only to discover that Director Liu and the others had already fled far away, while Wen Ling lay motionless on the ground, her fate unknown.

"Wen Ling!"

Lei Min shouted at the top of her lungs, but the young girl gave no response whatsoever, leaving it unclear whether she was injured or...

Seeing that Wen Ling remained entirely still, Lei Min was frantic with anxiety. She wanted to go check on how Wen Ling was doing, but there were simply too many zombies, surrounding her and pinning her in place.

Realizing she was about to be completely swallowed by the encirclement, Lei Min gritted her teeth, discarded the kitchen knife, and gripped the metal steel pipe with both hands as electric sparks flickered repeatedly at the tip. Having no time to kill the zombies, she could only attempt to use her superpower to restrict their movement speed and break out of the encirclement as quickly as possible.

As a mere tier-one lightning superpower user, Lei Min exhausted almost all of her energy just to break free from the zombies' encirclement. If she abandoned Wen Ling, she could definitely make it safely back to the residential compound taking advantage of this chance, but Lei Min had never once thought of giving her up.

Just as she was about to hoist the young girl onto her back, the zombies that had briefly stiffened in place started moving again.

Looking at the tide of zombies rolling in like a massive wave, Lei Min's heart sank completely.

"I can't outrun them!"

The moment this thought popped up, she immediately forced it back down. "No, I absolutely cannot give up!"

Lei Min held the steel pipe in one hand while using the other to lift Wen Ling's body, pulling her tightly against her front.

She staggered backward step by step while holding Wen Ling, with only a single thought in her mind: She had to bring Wen Ling back! And then she would throw Director Liu into the middle of the zombies so he could experience this kind of despair firsthand!

Lei Min's superpower was already nearly depleted; there were no more electric sparks flashing at the tip of the metal pipe. She decisively discarded the pipe as well, then hugged Wen Ling and dodged frantically in every direction.

Rolling and crawling, the two of them managed with great difficulty to hide behind a billboard. Just as they caught their breath, the billboard was knocked over by the pursuing zombies.

In a desperate crisis, Lei Min shoved Wen Ling underneath a nearby car, and then rolled in right after her.

However, within moments, the zombies surrounded that car. Lei Min shielded Wen Ling beneath her, and the two of them huddled tightly together in the deepest part underneath the vehicle.

This was their final hiding place. Unless Lei Min could instantly recover all her supernatural energy right at that moment and strike down the surrounding ring of zombies in a single flash, the two of them would have no choice but to wait here for death.