221: Money makes things easier

Ai Yue seemed to sense something and looked up at Jing Xi, only to see her smiling gently at others. Ai Yue snorted coldly and refocused her attention on the road ahead.

After a moment, Ai Yue's brow furrowed. She stopped in her tracks and said to Gong Qiuqiu, "Prepare for battle!"

Hearing this, Gong Qiuqiu immediately ordered the others to prepare for an engagement.

Seeing this, the people from the other two bases quickly stopped and went on high alert.

"Brother Gong, what's wrong? Are more zombies coming?" Li Meng asked quickly.

Gong Qiuqiu looked serious and uttered only one word: "Yes!"

For Ai Yue to stop and prepare for battle meant that the approaching zombies, whether in terms of quantity or quality, were incomparable to those they had encountered before.

The people from the other two bases became even more cautious upon hearing this. They held their ability guns, their nerves highly strung, waiting for the zombies to arrive.

However, after a while, there was still no sign of the zombies. Li Meng grew impatient and turned to ask, "Brother Gong, you're not joking, are you? Where are the zombies? You..."

Before Li Meng could finish, his teammate shouted sharply, "Boss!"

"Huh?" Li Meng instinctively turned his head. "Holy shit!"

In the time it took him to say those few words, a horde of zombies suddenly appeared. They were all Red-Eyed Zombies, incredibly fast, and were upon them in an instant.

If they had only started preparing once they saw the zombies, it would have been too late.

Fortunately, thanks to Ai Yue's earlier warning, no one panicked. They fired their ability guns shot after shot in time, preventing the Red-Eyed Zombies from rushing right up to them.

"Damn it, why are they all Level 3 zombies? How am I supposed to finish the mission? These zombies are too powerful," Li Meng complained loudly.

"Old Li, stop howling and use your 'Earth Pit' Superpower to trip them up! They're too fast!" Sun Mo said with a cold face.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Li Meng's eyes bulged like copper bells as he dropped to the ground in a toad-like posture.

Veins popped on his hands as a steady stream of Superpower was channeled into the earth.

Immediately, half of the zombies' bodies sank into the dirt. However, these were Level 3 zombies, and the Earth Pit Superpower couldn't trap them for long.

"It's no good, my Superpower is limited. I can only trap them for a few minutes," Li Meng said anxiously, his forehead drenched in sweat.

While Li Meng had the zombies trapped, the others didn't stay idle. They aimed at the temporarily immobilized zombies and went for headshots.

The ability guns showed their immense power at this moment; one shot could kill three zombies. After one round, a large patch of them was cleared out.

But then, Li Meng let out a roar: "I can't hold it anymore!"

As he spoke, the zombies began struggling out of the ground one after another.

The freed zombies waved their arms, let out guttural growls, and ran quickly toward the group.

To slow the zombies down again, Gong Qiuqiu waved his hand, and an invisible Light Screen blocked the way ahead.

After absorbing a large number of crystal cores, Gong Qiuqiu's Superpower had also improved by several levels.

The zombies slammed into the Light Screen at high speed, and the screen reflected all the force it received back at them.

One by one, the zombies crashed into it and were sent flying back.

Seeing how easily Gong Qiuqiu maintained the Light Screen, it was clear that his strength had also risen by several levels.

Ai Yue didn't make a move; she just stayed off to the side.

No one said anything about her not helping, as she had just put in the effort to save the people from both bases.

Ai Yue secretly observed Jing Xi's performance. She saw that Jing Xi was still as calm and wise as in her previous life. Every shot from her ability gun was precisely calculated, blowing off zombie heads from tricky angles.

Moreover, as long as she pulled the trigger, she never missed!

She even had the same small habitual movements that Ai Yue was familiar with.

Every time she saw Jing Xi, especially when she saw those familiar movements and expressions, Ai Yue's mood would sour, and she would radiate an aura that warned others to stay away.

As a result, when everyone saw Ai Yue like this, no one dared to approach her, and they all kept their distance.

Ai Yue didn't care. She was unhappy—truly unhappy.

She had suppressed herself long enough; at this moment, she didn't want to suppress herself anymore.

There was no one here she cared about, so there was no need to hide her emotions. She let them vent.

Gong Qiuqiu was busy maintaining the Light Screen and didn't notice the situation behind him until a wave of coldness hit him, bringing him back to his senses.

He looked back and saw Ai Yue with her eyes downcast and not a trace of a smile on her face. She just stood there, motionless.

It was as if she didn't even see the zombies in front of her.

Gong Qiuqiu felt helpless. He didn't understand what was wrong with this 'Auntie' again. Everyone was killing zombies, and no one had provoked her.

How had she become like this? The atmospheric pressure around her was extremely low.

Ever since Ai Yue met that woman named Jing Xi, she had become completely off.

What exactly had that woman named Jing Xi done to Ai Yue to make her react so strongly?

She had been looking at Jing Xi with eyes full of hatred; Gong Qiuqiu had noticed this long ago.

He had known Ai Yue for so long, yet he had never seen her like this, looking so resentful.

Everyone has secrets that are hard to talk about. Gong Qiuqiu didn't understand, so he stopped probing. After all, this was between Ai Yue and Jing Xi.

As more and more zombies crashed into the Light Screen, Gong Qiuqiu was no longer in his initial relaxed state, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Ai Yue, interested in making a move?" Gong Qiuqiu couldn't help but ask.

Ai Yue looked at the sky, then at the zombies.

"No!"

Gong Qiuqiu: "..."

After a moment, Gong Qiuqiu licked his lips. "I'll give you one-tenth of the crystal cores!"

"Can you make that call?"

Gong Qiuqiu paused. "I can!"

"Good. It's easy to get things done with money! Wait here!"

Although Ai Yue knew that no one present was giving their all, she didn't care. As long as a sufficient price was paid, she would help.

Ai Yue brought her hands together, and a massive blue Lightning Orb appeared above her head. She hurled it violently over the zombie horde, and it exploded!

Bolts of lightning as thick as a calf rained down, striking the zombies that were leaping about.

Seeing that everyone was still dazed, Ai Yue raised an eyebrow. "What are you staring at? Hurry up and kill them!"

The crowd was stunned by Ai Yue's move. At her shout, they all snapped out of it.

They quickly put away their ability guns and took out sharp blades to gouge out the crystal cores.

Gong Qiuqiu withdrew the Light Screen and sat on the ground; he was truly exhausted.

Those zombies each possessed immense strength. It was fine at first, but later on, he felt the strain. Every impact consumed a large amount of energy.

"Hey, don't forget the crystal cores you promised me," Ai Yue reminded him.

Gong Qiuqiu, who was wiping his sweat, looked speechless. "I remember, I won't shortchange you. But why are you in such a hurry for crystal cores? I remember we got a huge amount last time; you couldn't have used them all up in such a short time, right?"