Chapter 114: The Whale Horde

Someone in the distance saw the state of Zone 3 and was likewise struck speechless by the magnificent sight.

The 14,000-square-kilometer Zone 3 rose from the earth, hovering 500 meters above the ground, like a giant from ancient legend awakening from eternal slumber, shaking the heavens and earth upon waking, blotting out the sky and sun.

That person suddenly remembered, before the apocalypse, watching an anime called Castle in the Sky—an ancient, massive city driven by steam, flying through the sky, with treasure hidden within, fought over by countless people.

“Haven’t watched anime in so long… really want to watch that one again…” the man drifted into nostalgia, then suddenly realized something.

“Wait a minute, Zone 3 flew away—where do I go?” he yelled in panic.

This man was a second-tier Enhancer. Without trustworthy teammates, he explored the ruined city solo, hunting zombies.

He’d just left Zone 3 a few days ago, planning to gather some brain cores before heading back—just when he was about to return, Zone 3 flew off?!

He started to panic. No matter how bad Zone 3 was, it was still Zone 3—it was a place to resupply. Now that it was gone, his only fate as a lone wolf would be to starve or die of thirst, or be eaten by zombies.

Just as he was drowning in fear, he suddenly found himself—just like Zone 3—floating, drifting back toward it.

“Eh? Eh, eh——”

Completely confused, he returned to Zone 3, discovering that the people here were vastly different from when he’d left. Not quite beaming with smiles, but at least everyone’s eyes looked more alive.

He asked around about what had happened in Zone 3 and learned that the corporations exploiting them and Long Tu were dead.

As for why the city was flying—someone pointed upward at the figure in the sky.

Who else but that mysterious powerhouse?

The news of the entire city taking off quickly spread throughout Zone 3. No one could believe it. Aside from the initial vibration, they hadn’t felt a thing. They’d heard planes cause ear ringing during takeoff—yet they’d felt none of that.

If the whole city had really flown up, wasn’t the flight way too smooth?

But with Enhancers from outside the city returning and repeatedly confirming the news, people became half-convinced and headed to the city gate. Seeing the scenery pulling away on both sides—they finally believed.

Ye Du heard that the entire city had flown into the air and was stunned, his mouth open for a long time.

He’d heard Boss say “It is a bit of trouble” with his own ears—so this was just a bit of trouble?!

Being in the air didn’t mean it was safe. Never mind the mutated birds—on the way to Zone 1, Jiang Li encountered the zombie whales Ye Wu had mentioned before. Countless zombie fish crawled in and out of their bodies, like maggots on bread.

The zombie whale paid no mind to the fish on it. It flapped its massive fleshy wings, stirring up a foul wind that made people want to vomit.

The zombie whale was also a high-level zombie, possessing a certain degree of intelligence. But when it saw the sky city, it couldn’t figure out how such a place could even fly.

Regardless, it knew one thing: there must be a lot of food inside the city. Facing such a massive temptation—it wasn’t going to pass it up.

It let out a long, ear-piercing screech, like a thousand evil spirits wailing in unison from hell.

The gate guards were still dutifully performing their duties, standing watch at the entrance—though even they didn’t know what good it did to guard a gate now.

But this time, their job had a point. Seeing the ominous aura surrounding the zombie whale, they cried out in terror.

“Z-Zombie whale incoming!”

The cry set off a chain reaction.

Zombie whales were more terrifying than zombie tides—that fear was etched deep into memory. Back when humanity quickly fell to the zombies, these creatures had been a major reason.

Despite their massive size, zombie whales flew with shocking speed. Their skin was so tough that even missiles couldn’t pierce it.

Zombie whales always moved in groups, and this time was no different—dozens of them soared through the sky, even darkening the heavens, as if to herald impending doom.

The lead zombie whale flapped its wings and led the others toward Zone 3.

People began to despair.

Zone 3 had once had plans to deal with the zombie whales, but they required all third- and fourth-tier Enhancers and Long Tu to work together. Now, with all fourth-tiers and Long Tu dead, how could plasma shields and kinetic missiles alone fend off a whale horde?

Despair spread. That powerhouse who killed Long Tu and made Zone 3 fly would surely be fine—but that didn’t mean he could protect everyone. If even one zombie whale got in, the swarm of parasitic fish it carried could put all of Zone 3 in jeopardy.

“Quick, contact that powerhouse!” someone shouted.

“Yes, yes, hurry up! As long as we kill them before they get close, we’ll be fine!” Thinking of Jiang Li’s strength, people began to feel hope again.

The lead zombie whale was fifth-tier. Even Long Tu hadn’t dared face it directly. Though fifth-tier Enhancers had strong resistance to the zombie virus, infection was still possible. Long Tu had always used overwhelming numbers to wear down the zombie whales, every battle costing significant lives.

But that powerhouse was different. If he could kill Long Tu with ease, killing zombie whales wouldn’t be a problem either.

“Where is he?”

That question stumped everyone.

Yeah… where was he?

Only now did they realize—they knew nothing about Jiang Li. Name: unknown. Age: unknown. Tier: unknown. Origin: unknown. Goal: unknown.

Even his current location—unknown.

People sank back into despair.

Others might not know where Jiang Li was—but Ye Du did.

He’d come to the gate to experience what it felt like in the air. Who’d have thought something like this would happen?

The moment Ye Du saw the zombie whale, his mind went blank. Childhood fear flooded his brain. It wasn’t until he heard people talking about Jiang Li that he remembered—he could contact Jiang Li.

He pulled out his radio.

……

Jiang Li sat on the sofa, legs crossed atop the wooden table, his knees slightly above his hips.

All it took was sealing the space around Zone 3, then using thought to lift the mere 14,000 square kilometers—and the city flew with ease.

Jiang Li also released his Divine Sense to bring back those who had left the city.

Unsurprisingly, his Divine Sense picked up the ugly, revolting zombie whales and their parasites.

Jiang Li clicked his tongue, feeling like his eyes had been tainted.

With that one click, heavy black clouds gathered in the sky. Thick violet-blue lightning thundered down, reducing the zombie whales and all their parasitic fish to nothing—not even ash remained.

Jiang Li slapped his forehead with regret: “Forgot to save the brain cores.”

The cores were useless to him—but very useful to the people of Zone 3.

……

“Sis! Quick, tell Boss, there’s a whale hor—” Ye Du was speaking into the radio to Ye Wu when he saw the clouds that had come with the whale horde suddenly shift, unleashing terrifying lightning that killed all the whales.

“What? What about the whale horde?” Ye Wu asked urgently. She, too, had a deep-seated fear of them.

“N-Nothing.”

Ye Du awkwardly put down the radio, falling into deep thought.

Maybe… maybe it’s time he got used to how Boss does things. Freaking out all the time really wasn’t good.