222: Let me save it for you.

"What kind of question is that? Who would complain about having too many crystal cores? Besides, these are all Level 3 crystal cores. Only an idiot wouldn't want them!"

Ai Yue said.

Gong Qiuqiu raised an eyebrow. "True. Wait here, I'll go settle it for you right now."

He stood up from the ground and walked gracefully to Li Meng, who was working hard killing zombies. After a brief conversation, he left and headed toward Sun Mo.

A moment later, Gong Qiuqiu returned to Ai Yue's side with a smile on his face.

"Alright, they've agreed. As long as you keep assisting us until we safely reach the outskirts of Tianou Base, you'll get a tenth of all the crystal cores."

Ai Yue nodded; it was as she expected.

In this world, the strong receive attention and respect.

Outside the zombie swarm, Ai Yue was like a soulless machine, standing there and constantly throwing out Lightning Orbs to help everyone suppress the zombies and slow their movements.

As time passed, Ai Yue frowned slightly, as if she had thought of something.

Suddenly, she shouted, "My Superpower is almost depleted! Don't get bogged down in the fight—break out!"

Upon hearing this, everyone quickened their pace. Their focus shifted away from the crystal cores as they began to break through the encirclement rapidly.

Ai Yue joined the group, and they began to fight their way out bit by bit.

Everyone who could make it this far was quite capable. While the zombies hadn't fully regained their mobility, they followed the lead of Gong Qiuqiu, Li Meng, and Sun Mo, physically carving a path through the swarm and leaving them behind.

"Quick, let's go!"

Everyone quickened their pace and ran toward Tianou Base.

"Oh no, the zombies are moving! They're chasing us! What should we do? They're too fast; they'll catch up to us soon."

Jing Xi narrowed her eyes and said in a gentle tone, "Miss Ai Yue, can you fire one more Lightning Orb?"

Ai Yue glanced at Jing Xi and said calmly, "I can, but I can only make one last move before I'm completely drained of energy. At that point, I won't be able to protect myself. Will you protect me?"

Hearing this, Jing Xi's expression didn't change much. She still spoke gently, "Of course. There are so many of us; we will all protect you."

"That's right, Miss Ai Yue. As long as you delay the zombies and buy us time to escape, we'll protect you even if it costs us our lives."

Li Meng's escape speed wasn't slow at all. Running at the front, he heard their conversation, turned his head, and quickly added.

Sun Mo's cold face was covered in sweat, which he didn't even have time to wipe. He said, "Yes, we are a team. No matter what, we must help each other. At a time like this, whoever has the ability should use it. Everyone will be deeply grateful and will prioritize your protection."

Ai Yue smiled faintly. "Alright then. Since everyone can guarantee my safety, I won't hesitate. I'll do it now."

Jing Xi's expression turned a bit sour. Based on her understanding of Ai Yue, Ai Yue shouldn't have agreed.

In their previous life, the two of them had fled together, and Ai Yue would never use all her power unless they were in a desperate situation.

According to Ai Yue's habits, she shouldn't have agreed to the request. Unexpectedly, Ai Yue had agreed so easily, and on top of that, she had earned everyone's gratitude.

Originally, when Ai Yue showed her intention to kill her, her popularity should have plummeted. But now, through this, she had won everyone's favor again.

Without wasting words, Ai Yue pulled her hands apart, and a massive blue orb appeared above the zombies' heads. With a "boom," it exploded, sending hundreds of lightning bolts crashing down onto the zombies.

This caused them to twitch and tremble all over, halting their advance.

Taking advantage of this moment, everyone hurried to escape.

Having escaped the pursuit of the Level 3 zombies, everyone could finally stop to take a breather.

"Do you see that white mist ahead? That's the Tianou Safety Tower. If all goes well, we'll be there in about twenty minutes," Li Meng said, patting Gong Qiuqiu on the shoulder.

"I've been to the Tianou Safety Tower before. I didn't expect it to look like this after a year. It's like a ghost realm!" Sun Mo also stepped forward and said with a sigh.

Gong Qiuqiu smiled gently, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He had a premonition!

The journey ahead was extremely dangerous. He felt that in the near future, his vision would be filled with blood and severed limbs.

A narrow escape from death!

Sigh... Even so, they couldn't retreat. There was nowhere to go. If they didn't resolve this threat, they would die eventually anyway.

Gong Qiuqiu said nothing. He pulled himself together and chatted and laughed with the others.

Standing beside Gong Qiuqiu, Ai Yue sensitively sensed his emotions and his momentary despair.

Ai Yue knew he had precognitive abilities. At this moment, she realized that Gong Qiuqiu's premonition was likely bad—perhaps everyone here would perish.

At that thought, Ai Yue calmly moved all the Level 3 crystal cores she had just been given into her space, leaving not a single one behind.

A familiar vibration came from the space, and after a moment, it went quiet.

Ai Yue had no way to sense exactly what the space had become; she just felt it wasn't enough—far from enough.

She looked up at Gong Qiuqiu, thought for a moment, and whispered in his ear, "Gong Qiuqiu, I'm a Strongman. To avoid affecting your combat later, I'll hold onto your crystal cores for you. I'll give them back once we're safe."

It was clear that Gong Qiuqiu was very surprised by Ai Yue's words. However, after a brief moment of daze, he asked, "Really?"

"Really. I know crystal cores are quite heavy, so I'll help you carry some of the load!"

"Hahaha..." Gong Qiuqiu suddenly burst into hearty laughter. This time, it was a genuine laugh.

His laughter left Ai Yue bewildered. She felt a bit annoyed—if he didn't want to give them, then fine, but what was the point of laughing at her?

Seeing Ai Yue's expression sour, Gong Qiuqiu quickly stopped laughing and said, "I'm just a bit happy. I didn't expect you to care about me so much. It's a laugh of gratitude."

Ai Yue lowered her eyes, her expression clearly saying, "Do you think I believe your nonsense?"

Gong Qiuqiu couldn't help but laugh a few more times. He nimbly pulled a small bag out of his backpack and stuffed it into Ai Yue's arms without hesitation.

"These are all my belongings. They're all yours!"

Gong Qiuqiu said with a smile.

However, as if feeling it wasn't quite right, he opened the small cloth bag in Ai Yue's hand and took out three Level 3 crystal cores. "I'll take three for emergencies. Keep the rest with you. You can give them back to me when we make it out alive."

Looking at Gong Qiuqiu's "prepared to die" expression, the cloth bag in Ai Yue's hand suddenly felt heavy.

Ai Yue bit her lip and said nothing. She opened her backpack and put the cloth bag inside.

The next moment, Ai Yue threw it into her space to upgrade it.

Gong Qiuqiu didn't say anything else either. He just gave her a meaningful look, a genuine smile lingering on his lips.