Chapter 208: Chapter 125: Monster
The officials at the city gate saw Zhou Xing and hurriedly saluted. "Zhou Shouzheng."
Zhou Xing nodded and was about to speak...
BOOM!!!
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed from within the city.
Qin Fang’s head snapped around in an instant.
But he saw nothing.
Yet, he immediately realized something was wrong.
’Because that explosion... it’s too familiar!’
After a moment of shock, Zhou Xing reacted, his voice low. "Open the city gate."
The other officials were also distracted by the explosion. A few Soldiers had already rushed off to see what was happening. The two guards at the gate, however, just stared blankly, instinctively looking at Zhou Xing. "Huh?"
"Open the city gate,"
Zhou Xing repeated.
The men exchanged glances. ’That explosion clearly means trouble. Isn’t Zhou Shouzheng going to check it out?’
But despite their thoughts, they didn’t dare disobey... after all, the order to move the corpses out of the city came from the County Magistrate.
"Yes."
The officials guarding the gate scrambled to open it.
The Soldiers atop the Haiman raised their bows, aiming them outward...
...Outside the North City Gate, the expelled people were gathered.
Qin Fang saw the gate open. People were already beginning to move toward it, pushing their carts.
Qin Fang whispered, "Let’s go."
He pulled the cart. The four people behind him rested their hands on it, but they hardly needed to push. Moving quickly, they blended into the crowd and passed smoothly out of the city.
"There’s a monster!!!"
At last, the faint shouts of a Soldier carried from the distance.
As an Anjin master, Zhou Xing heard it clearly. His expression changed instantly. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned his head to look at Qin Fang and his group, who had already passed through the gate...
His gaze wavered for a second, but then he pressed his lips together and suddenly commanded in a low voice, "Close the gate."
At the same time, he turned and drew the saber at his waist.
"Zhou Shouzheng?"
The gate guards were stunned, not understanding what Zhou Shouzheng was doing. They had heard the commotion but couldn’t make out the words.
"Close the gate!"
Zhou Xing roared again.
Zhou Xing’s sudden outburst made the officials jump. They didn’t dare hesitate this time, shouting, "Move it, move it! We’re closing the gate! Closing the gate!"
The corpse-hauling procession was still confused. These people weren’t all officials... where would they even find that many?
In truth, most of them were just ordinary citizens who had been forcibly conscripted.
But these conscripts were almost all middle-aged or elderly, over forty or fifty years old. Their eyes were lifeless, their expressions vacant.
Zhou Xing paid no mind to the situation behind him, his eyes fixed dead ahead.
A moment later, a shrill scream pierced the air as a Soldier, covered in blood, stumbled toward the gate.
"There’s... a monster!!!"
he screamed, then fell to the ground with a THUD, unable to rise.
The area around the gate devolved into a brief panic. Then, they saw two bounding figures rapidly approaching.
Zhou Xing’s expression was grim, his right hand tightening on his long saber.
The bouncing figures moved with incredible speed, arriving before them in the blink of an eye.
And then, the people saw them clearly...
They were two monsters that looked like fleshy tumors.
Their bodies were completely hairless, covered in a disgusting, greasy slime. A network of brown, vein-like structures was visible all over them.
They had no limbs, no eyes—only a single, massive mouth filled with sharp fangs. Opening their maws revealed an astonishingly long tongue within.
Their open mouths dripped with a crimson liquid...
The sight alone was enough to make one physically ill.
"AHHH!!!!"
Everyone panicked at the sight of these disgusting creatures, letting out terrified screams.
The crowd instantly descended into chaos. People scrambled backward, falling over each other as a cacophony of noise erupted. Fear spread like wildfire...
Suddenly, a furious roar cut through the noise.
"All of you, shut the fuck up!"
The sudden voice was so loud it completely drowned out the panicked din. The crowd instinctively fell silent, turning blankly toward the source of the sound.
There stood Zhou Xing, clad in Armor, his posture as straight as a spear.
His face twisted into a ferocious snarl as he stared down the two monsters.
"Fuck you, you monsters!!"
Without a moment’s hesitation, he burst into motion, saber in hand, and charged the two monsters!
...
Qin Fang’s group, focused on the path ahead, didn’t notice that Zhou Xing hadn’t followed. As soon as they were out of the city, their attention was captured by the crowd outside...
These were the people who had eaten the Qi Blood Pills.
When they saw the city gate suddenly open, these people, who had been sitting or lying numbly on the ground, all instinctively rose to their feet.
They froze when they saw corpse carts emerging.
That, combined with the Soldiers on the Haiman watching them predatorily with nocked arrows, made them afraid to get any closer.
Qin Fang moved as if on wings, pulling the cart with a dozen or so corpses. He quickly went from the back of the line to the front... His master’s wife and Monkey’s sister couldn’t possibly keep up.
Luckily, his master was there.
The master simply placed a hand on each of their shoulders, and they practically floated along to keep pace.
...Only Monkey was left panting, but at least he managed to keep up.
Soon, they were a hundred meters from the city.
Qin Fang dropped the corpse cart and said quietly to his master, "Master, let’s go."
His master nodded, leading the group onto a mountain path to the side.
Before long, they were deep into the mountain trail, and the chaotic sounds from behind began to fade.
Only then did Qin Fang let out a long sigh of relief.
A smile spread across his face...
’We made it out.’
’It was easier than I thought it would be.’
But as he glanced around, the smile on Qin Fang’s face suddenly froze.
"Where’s Senior Brother?!"
His master’s eyes narrowed, and he too looked back.
And when they looked...
...the North City Gate, hundreds of meters away, was closed once more.
"He... didn’t make it out,"
his master murmured.
Qin Fang’s pupils contracted violently!
