Stellar Steps

Chapter 11 - The Corpse Tide

Could it be a deliberate lure? Lu Yin squinted, hoping he was just overthinking it.

After the incident with Kang Dafu, everyone’s nerves were even more strained.

One day later, the convoy stopped near an abandoned toll station. Their task began here: this section of the road was damaged and needed repairs.

“Report: a battle was detected five miles ahead. Five Evolvers are under attack by mutant beasts,” a soldier reported.

Lu Yin ordered them to send reinforcements.

Half an hour later, the five Evolvers were brought back. They were all men, looking disheveled, their clothes tattered, and clearly starving.

Lu Yin didn’t order anyone to give them food. If they had ventured out to hunt mutant beasts, they should have been prepared to face death. Lu Yin wasn’t a saint, and food wasn’t free in the army. Besides, if they were desperate, there were mutant rats all around they could eat.

The five Evolvers were isolated outside the toll station, watching the army with longing as they set up campfires. Before long, one of the Evolvers requested to see Lu Yin.

Lu Yin stood on the roof of the toll station, scanning the area.

Below, the Evolver looked up at him with a pale face. “Sir, could you spare some food? We have information to exchange for it.”

Lu Yin looked at the Evolver. “Speak.”

“If we tell you, will you give us food?” The Evolver looked hopeful.

Lu Yin’s tone turned cold. “Are you bargaining with me?”

The Evolver’s face paled further in fear. “No, no, I wouldn’t dare,” he stammered. “We came out with enough food, but it was stolen from us yesterday by a Heavenly-level powerhouse wearing silver armor.”

Lu Yin’s gaze sharpened. “Go on.”

Swallowing hard, the Evolver continued despite his dry throat. “Around Nanjing, there’s only Lord Zhou Shan among the Heavenly-level powerhouses, but this man could fly. I suspect it was due to his armor. After he stole our food, he was going to kill us, but he started muttering to himself, acting like he was talking to someone, and then flew off to the east, looking excited.”

Lu Yin realized that they had encountered Auden. Talking to himself? It was likely his personal terminal connecting him to others. Could he have linked up with other students who’d landed? That could be a serious problem. Zhou Shan barely managed to repel Auden. If there were more students involved, Zhou Shan might not have held out.

“Give them some food,” Lu Yin ordered, then sat down, gazing at the stars.

What exactly was he worried about? Nanjing? Those survivors? After all, he was still an outsider, not truly native to Earth. In a way, he was like Astar’s people, but living here had gradually made him feel differently, as though he had a new identity.

He only had two and a half years of memories—everything before that was a blank. And in those two and a half years, most of his memories were from Earth. He could almost consider Earth his home.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. He was no supreme powerhouse who could save the entire planet, but he could do what was within his power to help some people.

With that thought, Lu Yin connected to Zhou Shan’s communicator and relayed his suspicions about Auden.

Zhou Shan replied gravely, “Got it. Finish repairing the line as soon as possible. I need to know what’s happening to others. Those students are no ordinary threat.”

Lu Yin ended the call. “The others”? Did he mean the Six Sages?

“Hope Liu Shaoge survives; otherwise, who will I get revenge on?” Lu Yin muttered coldly to himself.

That night, clouds obscured the sky, hiding the stars.

Lu Yin sighed in mild disappointment and settled down to sleep inside the armored vehicle.

In the middle of the night, a shout rang out, startling everyone awake.

“Boss, a corpse tide, there’s a corpse tide!” Xu San shouted anxiously.

Lu Yin stepped out of the armored vehicle, climbed onto the roof of the toll station, and looked out. In the dark expanse of land, countless zombies were approaching from all directions, surrounding them.

“Everyone, activate defenses and light the fires. Throw them out!” Luo Yun shouted.

Before long, the tide of zombies hit the toll station. The ground was ablaze, and burning objects were thrown out across the earth, flames spreading, bringing waves of scorching heat.

“Be careful! Don’t let the fire get too close to the station, or you’ll all burn!” Luo Yun shouted.

Machine guns roared in every direction, shattering the silence of the night with deafening noise.

Nearly ten thousand soldiers were fighting zombies on the outermost perimeter. When their machine-g*n ammunition ran out, they wielded steel knives instead. Occasionally, soldiers were scratched or even dragged into the zombie horde, disappearing within seconds. The five Evolvers who had been rescued looked around in horror; the army's battle was far more brutal than they had imagined.

Luo Yun swung her steel knife. As an Earth-level powerhouse, she was not comparable to ordinary Evolvers; with each strike, the force of her blade could rip through over a dozen zombies. Though she was a bit timid, she fought with fierce courage.

Lu Yin also swung his iron rod, charging into the zombie crowd, often clearing an entire area with a single swing.

Against a zombie tide like this, the best method was hot weapons. Unfortunately, Nanjing had few such weapons left. If the armories hadn’t been destroyed, they could wipe out countless zombies with waves of missiles.

As Lu Yin slaughtered zombies, an urgent voice came through his radio, "Boss, the southwest side is close to collapsing."

Startled, Lu Yin leaped up, stepping on zombie heads as he rushed toward the southwest. Sure enough, countless soldiers were being slaughtered there. What was happening?

“Boss, there’s a strange, powerful zombie here, and even a human-level captain can’t stop it,” Xu San reported from his vantage point.

Landing on the ground, Lu Yin aimed at the intersection where soldiers and zombies clashed and swung his iron rod down hard. A visible s***h cut through the air, tearing the ground and slicing through dozens of zombies, creating a clear demarcation line on the earth.

Inside this line, countless soldiers retreated, fearfully watching ahead. In just a few moments, more than fifty of them had died.

With a loud *clang*, the iron rod in Lu Yin’s hand snapped in two.

As Lu Yin's strength grew, the iron rod couldn’t withstand even a single strike.

“Be careful, Commander!” someone shouted.

Around them, waves of zombies surged, their numbers impossible to count—at least a hundred thousand, covering the hills as far as the eye could see.

Lu Yin’s Heavenly Star Technique activated, and star energy emanated from his body, creating a shockwave in a ten-meter radius, forcing all zombies back. Only one long-haired zombie withstood the energy shock, standing firm and staring fixedly at Lu Yin.

“That’s him, Boss. He’s killed a lot of soldiers,” Xu San’s voice came through the radio.

Lu Yin stared in surprise at the zombie in front of him. This was no ordinary zombie—it was intelligent.

A zombie with intelligence was unheard of, yet here it was.

He looked into the zombie’s blood-red eyes just two meters away, sensing not mindlessness but thought. This zombie was thinking.

Before Lu Yin could ponder further, the long-haired zombie charged, reaching out with its claws to grab him.

He dodged, the claw’s force ripping through zombies within a ten-meter radius.

This zombie was Earth-level in strength, even stronger than Kang Dafu and Luo Yun, comparable to Zhao Yu.

Lu Yin focused on the zombie’s attack pattern. Its moves had a strange method, chaotic yet tightly packed. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed a zombie could attack like this.

After several failed attacks, the long-haired zombie growled and turned to flee.

Lu Yin spotted a white thread on the zombie’s back. Webbing? Suddenly, he recalled his daytime theory: this zombie must have lured Kang Dafu to that building. This zombie was truly intelligent.

Wasting no time, he hurled the broken iron rod, piercing the zombie’s abdomen. The long-haired zombie roared, glanced back at Lu Yin, then fled south.

Suddenly, the surrounding zombie tide roared, as if enraged, forming a wall of bodies blocking Lu Yin’s path.

“Xu San, give me that zombie’s location,” Lu Yin shouted.

Xu San’s voice came through the radio. “Boss, it’s a hundred meters ahead, turning west, heading down the road we came on.”

Lu Yin tensed his leg muscles and vanished, leaving only an afterimage that was quickly consumed by the surrounding zombies.

Xu San watched in shock. Was that some kind of battle technique? It looked almost magical.

Lu Yin broke free from the zombie tide’s encirclement, following the road they’d come on, but the long-haired zombie had already disappeared.

“Boss, I’ve lost sight of it,” Xu San reported.

Lu Yin halted, went back to the toll station, and took out his personal terminal to check for any strong power signals. The terminal flashed continuously, detecting nearby power sources, mostly from mutant beasts. Yet one signal was very strong—990, reaching the peak of Earth-level strength. It had to be the long-haired zombie.

Following the terminal’s direction, Lu Yin gave chase. If he could take down the long-haired zombie, the zombie tide would likely be quelled. If he was right, that zombie was the "Zombie King," commanding the horde and targeting his army—Kang Dafu was merely the first.

(End of Chapter)