Chapter 56: Killing Su Chen

Su Chen clutched his severed arm, a look of despair etched on his face as he gazed helplessly at Lin Qianshan.

A sense of bleakness washed over him: "How could it end like this? Am I destined not to survive today?"

Even with the protagonist's halo protecting him, Su Chen had only grown to a level comparable to Ye Er. With Lin Qianshan, who was stronger, joining the fight, Su Chen found himself outnumbered and covered in wounds.

His face turned pale, the color draining from it as blood continued to flow from his untreated injury, leaving him weak.

As he caught sight of Lin Qianshan charging toward him with her sword, Su Chen resignedly closed his eyes, bracing himself for death.

But then, something unexpected happened—a shadow darted in from the distance with astounding speed, even faster than Ye Zian.

"Watch out!"

The shadow changed direction mid-air, locking its target onto Lin Qianshan.

Ye Zian shouted a warning, swinging his Tang sword at the shadow.

However, the shadow abruptly altered its course, evading Ye Zian's strike.

There was no time for Ye Zian to turn back; Lin Qianshan was still focused on killing Su Chen. By the time the shadow reached her, she was unable to dodge.

Despair flooded Lin Qianshan's eyes as she stared at the shadow.

In that critical moment, Ye Er pushed Lin Qianshan aside, taking the hit for her.

"Gah!"

The shadow's claws ripped a massive gash across Ye Er's chest, nearly tearing open his torso and exposing his insides.

Ye Er was sent flying, gasping for breath as he bit down hard to stifle a scream of agony.

The system's delayed notification finally chimed in.

[Ding! Detected S-rank mutated zombie - Shadow Walker]

Skills:

- Shadow Cloak: The Shadow Walker merges into the dark corners and suddenly appears to deliver a fatal blow to its enemies.

- Bloodthirsty Claws: Delivers a gut-wrenching claw strike to enemies.

The Shadow Walker hadn't been mentioned in the plot before, and its target was not the weakest Huizi, but Lin Qianshan, second only to Ye Zian in strength.

Ye Zian suspected this was the will of the heavens trying to protect Su Chen while also eliminating Lin Qianshan, who had deviated from the plot.

Su Chen had closed his eyes, waiting for a long time. When he finally opened them, he saw the shadow not far away.

It seemed things had taken a turn. Gathering his last bit of strength, Su Chen turned and fled without looking back.

But Ye Zian would not let him escape. He steeled himself and pursued Su Chen directly.

Lin Qianshan had the protection of her space ring, and in the worst-case scenario, if the three of them died, it would still be worth it to take Su Chen down.

Ye Zian had never lacked loyal subordinates.

As Su Chen clutched his severed arm, thanking his luck for narrowly escaping, he spotted Ye Zian's figure not far away.

With a sinister smile, Ye Zian raised his Tang sword and swiftly decapitated Su Chen.

Su Chen's head flew through the air, and the system notified Ye Zian of his kill.

[Congratulations to the host for successfully eliminating Su Chen, earning points!]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Tower of Heaven level upgrade card, which can be used to directly increase one level of the Tower of Heaven!]

Looking at Su Chen's body and hearing the system notification in his mind, Ye Zian let out a sigh of relief.

However, feeling uneasy about Su Chen's body, Ye Zian pulled out a fireball spell from the system space and ignited Su Chen's corpse. (Now he's really dead; no need to worry about resurrection.)

Watching the flames engulf Su Chen's body, burning it to ashes as if he had never existed, a white light formed in the air after the body was completely consumed.

[Host, this is the protagonist's halo. If you absorb it, the villain system will unlock new functions, and you will become the only male protagonist in this world.]

As Ye Zian touched the glowing orb, a warm energy surged into his body, replenishing his depleted strength.

[Congratulations to the host for killing the male protagonist, Su Chen. The subsequent plot can now proceed by systematically courting other female leads.]

[The destined female of the Great Xia: Shangguan Yu, future city lord of the Yanjing base.]

Right, Lin Qianshan and the others were still in the cafeteria.

With that thought, Ye Zian hurried back to the cafeteria.

Not far away, Lin Qianshan activated the protective shield of her space ring to defend against the attacks of the Shadow Walker.

Upon seeing Ye Zian return, the Shadow Walker immediately blended into the darkness.

But Ye Zian knew well that the Shadow Walker was lurking in the shadows, waiting for another chance to strike.

Time passed slowly. Ye Zian remained calm but focused, scanning for potential locations where the Shadow Walker might emerge.

The Shadow Walker was also content to remain hidden, the chilling wind swirling around Ye Er, slowly draining his life force.

Suddenly, Ye Zian sensed something was off. Raising his Tang sword, he moved swiftly, striking toward a dark corner not far away.

To Lin Qianshan and Huizi, it appeared empty.

With a clang of metal, a few drops of black blood splattered onto the floor.

The shadow then flashed away to a distance.

"Take this!"

From afar, Anna swung her golden hammer down heavily at the spot where the shadow had landed.

"Boom!"

The deafening crash shattered the surrounding glass, and the shockwave forced both the Shadow Walker and Anna to stagger back.

Hearing reports from the fleeing girls that there was fighting in the cafeteria, Anna, a war enthusiast, immediately grabbed her golden hammer and rushed to provide support.

After retreating a few steps, the shadow vanished into the night once more.

After a while, Ye Zian felt the chilling aura dissipate, and distant cries of survivors echoed, indicating that the Shadow Walker had left to hunt down other students on campus.

Seeing this, Ye Zian approached Ye Er to examine his injuries closely.

"Uncle Er."

Ye Er's breathing was shallow, but he looked at Ye Zian with unwavering determination, as if he had something to say.

Ye Zian searched through the system store, but regrettably, today's refresh only included attribute potions, which wouldn't help Ye Er's injuries at all.

Before Ye Er could speak, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, along with parts of his shattered insides, causing a mixture of blood and organs to clog his throat. He began to cough uncontrollably.

His internal organs shook violently with each cough, yet despite the excruciating pain, Ye Er didn't let out a sound, only gripping Ye Zian's hand tightly.

Understanding the heartache of a parent, Ye Zian recognized what his loyal servant wanted to convey.

"Ye Yu is now with me, serving as the captain of the patrol team in the fortress. I will take good care of her."

Just these few words brought some comfort to Ye Er.

As the fortress was Ye Zian's greatest support in the apocalypse, having the captain of the patrol team as his most trusted confidant meant Ye Yu wouldn't need to venture out into danger.

After saying this, a look of relief spread across Ye Er's face, his gaze gradually losing focus, and his already faint breath finally extinguished.

Lin Qianshan's eyes turned red, and she felt guilty for her negligence leading to Ye Er's death. Although she had never met Ye Er, thinking of the smile on Ye Yu's face when she mentioned her father made Lin Qianshan unsure how to face Ye Yu upon returning.

Huizi and Anna sighed, mourning the decline of the once-mighty mercenary veteran. This damned apocalypse had taken its toll.

They finally understood why Ye Zian had faced the raging Beast King alone before; this level of mutated zombie was simply not something an ordinary person could contend with.

Ye Zian took the golden hammer from Anna and smashed it down onto the ground.

The hard concrete floor cracked like a spider web, forming a large pit. Ye Zian buried Ye Er in the pit.

"Uncle Er, rest in peace. Su Chen is dead, and I will take down the Shadow Walker to avenge you."

The four of them composed themselves and set off to return to the cafeteria.

However, shortly after they left, the few drops of black blood that had fallen to the ground began to seep into the earth, landing perfectly on Ye Er's chest wound.

•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁: '𝗕𝗼𝗴𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀𝗰𝘂' 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 $5 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿.

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁: '𝗝𝗰1202' 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 $5 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿.

𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 35+ 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:

𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣.𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝗚𝗼𝗱𝗢𝗳𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿