Chapter 210 - 142: Rationality, Truth, My Soldiers Can Only Die in Battle! (Part 2)
Chapter 210: Chapter 142: Rationality, Truth, My Soldiers Can Only Die in Battle! (Part 2)
There were still some survivors left behind in Jin City.
Beside him, Han Yuxin began to explain:
"According to the data we’ve gathered, there are still over a hundred thousand survivors in the four downtown districts who haven’t evacuated. Most of them are the old, weak, sick, or disabled, along with some Enhanced People and Early Stage Awakeners who are hoping to use the buildings as cover to kill the Swarm."
Lin Feng nodded. As the state capital of Jiangnan Province, Jin City once had a permanent population of over ten million. Factoring in the refugees who fled from Hai City and Wu City, it made sense that one percent had survived.
With over 100,000 people scattered across six thousand square kilometers, the average density was only sixteen or seventeen people per square kilometer. Entire city blocks might be completely empty.
Considering that people tend to form groups, large swaths of the city had become true no-man’s-lands.
Once the defenders on the Wu City line retreated, those opportunistic fence-sitters would leave as well.
At that point, the number of survivors in the city would only dwindle further.
Lin Feng actually hoped more of them would leave. ’It’ll keep them from interfering with my urban warfare training.’
Han Yuxin continued her report:
"Among these hundred thousand people, most have formed small survivor groups of several dozen to a hundred. The largest of these factions have gathered two to three thousand people, occupying old food warehouses and large shopping malls..."
"The core members of these factions are mostly Awakeners, and some have even reached the Tier One Late Stage. They all fled from cities in northern Jiangnan, which were also attacked by a Mother Empress. However, after the Zerg Race occupied a few urban districts, the speed of their invasion slowed considerably."
"If you can lead a regular army to take control of Jin City, these motley factions will surely flock to your side."
Lin Feng shook his head.
"I don’t need their allegiance. It’s exhausting enough supporting fifteen thousand people. They can either join up and kill enemies on the battlefield, or they can get the hell out of Jin City."
"As for the civilian survivors, if they want shelter and food, they’ll have to earn it with their own two hands."
Han Yuxin’s face lit up, and she pressed,
"Then what about all those vicious thugs and criminals? What will you do with them? Just let them go?"
Lin Feng frowned for a moment, but then an idea seemed to strike him, and the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile.
"Don’t worry. They’ll get what’s coming to them."
After reaching the Jin City South Service Area and dropping off Han Yuxin and the others, the Land Patrol Battleship continued on its journey.
In the distance, the sky was already turning a pale white.
...
「Taihu Lake Service Area, temporary camp.」
Inside a hotel room on the second floor of the rest building, Shen Jie tightly gripped a slender, sweat-drenched hand.
The hand belonged to Zhang Liying, who had entered her Tier Two Awakening after consuming the Tier Two Zerg Eggs.
Her Awakening had started around midnight, and nearly four hours later, her condition showed no signs of improving.
At that moment, Zhang Liying was soaked in sweat. As her body trembled violently, more and more dark-green, diamond-shaped scales began to appear on her skin.
They were the dorsal exoskeletons of Cyan-winged Zergs.
It was the type of Tier One Zerg that Zhang Liying had consumed the most.
But Zhang Liying, who rarely used her Assimilation Form, was clearly struggling to adapt to the violent mutations that came with the enhancement of her Superpower during the Tier Two Awakening.
Shen Jie held her hand while his other hand brought a cup full of Organic Nutrient Liquid to her lips, feeding it to her one mouthful at a time.
However, even after drinking several pounds of it, while it slowed the spread of her physical mutations, the liquid did nothing to soothe Zhang Liying’s mind.
’Just keeping her alive with Nutrient Liquid isn’t a solution.’
As her Awakening deepened, the mutations from her growing Superpower threatened to turn her completely and permanently into a Zerg—an irreversible transformation.
’She has to wake up soon and get this boiling Assimilation Superpower under control!’
But Lin Feng wasn’t there. A frantic Shen Jie suddenly had an idea and quickly pulled a long, slender arthropod limb from his nearby backpack.
It was twenty centimeters thick and looked like a magnified crab claw.
It was a segment from one of the four appendages of a Samurai Hunter Zerg. After Shen Jie had killed the creature, he had collected the limb because he thought it looked eerily like a human arm.
He remembered a theory Lin Feng had once mentioned: that the Mother Empress created Samurai Hunter Zergs by suturing Zerg and human material together before incubation, resulting in creatures that possessed the genes of both the Zerg Race and humans.
’If that’s true, maybe I can use this to balance out the unstable Assimilation Superpower in Li Ying’s body?’
In any case, the two of them were already completely immune to the toxins in Zerg flesh.
Without hesitation, Shen Jie held the limb over the cup. With a powerful squeeze, he forced a pale-red, translucent fluid out from inside, letting it drip into the cup below.
It mixed with the milky-white Organic Nutrient Liquid, creating a bizarre, metallic scent.
Once the "neutralizing agent" was mixed, Shen Jie fed it to the unconscious Zhang Liying.
Within minutes of her drinking it, her condition began to improve. The uncontrollable trembling subsided...
Moreover, the mutations on her body also began to recede.
’It works. Absorbing the Tier Two genes of the Samurai Hunter Zerg is using up a good amount of her Assimilation Superpower.’
Once Zhang Liying’s state stabilized, Shen Jie finally let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, his frayed nerves starting to calm.
’This was more nerve-wracking than diving into a Hive and being surrounded by Samurai Hunter Zergs...’
’Thankfully, I managed to save her.’
Not long after, Zhang Liying slowly stirred from her unconscious state, her eyes fluttering open...
As her senses gradually returned, she smacked her lips. Suddenly, her stomach lurched. She sat up and dry-heaved a few times over the edge of the bed, but her stomach was empty; the Nutrient Liquid had already been completely absorbed.