41: Save Zhang Qiang

Old Locust Tree's strength lay in the soul bodies it controlled; its branches were generally weak and completely unable to stop the two women who had already sobered up.

However, those powerful soul bodies had all been slain by Qin Shi Lei, so Wang Yinghao could only watch helplessly as An Qian and Zhang Xiaoli escaped the range covered by its canopy.

"You stop right there."

By the time Wang Yinghao recovered and paid attention to Qin Shi Lei, its tree body had already been cut in half by Qin Shi Lei.

Qin Shi Lei's right hand, wielding the Seven Star Sword, had turned into a blur, continuously hacking at the Old Locust Tree's trunk.

Accompanied by a series of rapid chopping sounds, tree fragments from the Old Locust Tree continuously fell to the ground.

Wang Yinghao panicked completely, directing all the branches it could mobilize towards Qin Shi Lei: "Stop quickly."

7.....8

After counting silently to 9, Qin Shi Lei turned and sprinted into the distance.

"What a pity."

He was just two or three seconds away from cutting the Old Locust Tree completely down, but Qin Shi Lei could only choose to temporarily retreat.

Under the full encirclement and attack of the branches commanded by the Old Locust Tree, he couldn't last much longer.

Secondly, with Qin Shi Lei in his normal state, using the Seven Star Sword to hack at the Old Locust Tree, he probably wouldn't be able to cut off half a meter in half an hour.

Following the footsteps, Qin Shi Lei quickly found An Qian and her companions.

"Did you kill that tree spirit?"

Zhang Xiaoli now had a somewhat blind admiration for Qin Shi Lei; her first words weren't about whether Qin Shi Lei was injured, but rather if he had killed that tree.

Qin Shi Lei shook his head: "Just a little bit more. Let's go back to our original spot, sleep for a bit, and deal with it when it's light."

The two women nodded in agreement.

Then, both of them pressed close, each tightly hugging one of Qin Shi Lei's arms.

They were truly afraid of falling into an illusion again and being captured by the Old Locust Tree.

While Qin Shi Lei and his companions were searching for a suitable place to rest, Zhang Qiang and his group also encountered a life-or-death crisis.

They were forced to leave the villa by a large horde of zombies.

"Boss, what should we do? There are too many zombies."

"We didn't see a single zombie during the day, so how did thousands of zombies appear at night?"

"These zombies are too strange; they don't even have a single crystal."

"Don't get bogged down in battle; let's escape first."

Although Zhang Qiang knew that the most important thing now was to escape, with zombies all around, escaping was easier said than done.

They used Zhao Peng and Li Jingsheng as vanguards, Zhong Ting and Xie Haimei in the middle for support, and Zhang Qiang brought up the rear to break through.

The five people dared to form a team to kill zombies, each possessing unique skills.

Xie Haimei, wielding a compound bow, shot an arrow with every draw, killing zombies that were about to bite her teammates on the spot.

Although Zhong Ting also carried a machete to help fill gaps, the occasional ice cones she emitted indicated that her main role was to slow down Mutated Zombies during combat.

Although Zhao Peng had no special abilities, his knife skills were fierce and precise.

Li Jingsheng's long saber occasionally flashed with a golden light, indicating that he was not just a swordsman.

Zhang Qiang was even more extraordinary, holding a round shield in his left hand and a short spear less than a meter long in his right.

He alone blocked all the pursuing zombies behind their team.

One shield bash knocked down four or five zombies; a direct thrust from his short spear resulted in a zombie being headshotted.

Although they each had their unique moves, they couldn't withstand the fearless siege of the numerous zombies.

"No more arrows." The first to encounter a problem was Xie Haimei.

She had brought a full two hundred arrows with her on this outing. She had only shot a dozen or so arrows before reaching Yangliu Village.

Tonight, she had shot a full 185 arrows, killing 185 zombies, but now she was out of arrows.

Without Xie Haimei's support.

Li Jingsheng made a mistake, allowing a zombie to get close and embrace him fully.

Then three or four zombies pinned him to the ground and bit at his throat.

"Jingsheng!" Zhong Ting fired ice cones while wielding her knife to rescue her boyfriend.

The ice cones killed two zombies, but more zombies had already piled on.

"Go to hell!" Zhong Ting furiously swung the machete in her hand.

"Zhong Ting, be careful." Xie Haimei warned.

Zhong Ting was only focused on hacking away at the zombies pressing down on her boyfriend, failing to notice a zombie that had already embraced her from behind.

Soon, Zhong Ting was also overwhelmed by zombies.

"Xie Haimei, I hope to meet you again in the next life."

After saying this, Zhao Peng also followed in the footsteps of Li Jingsheng and his companions.

Without Zhao Peng's desperate obstruction, all the zombies in front surged towards Xie Haimei.

She was about to be overwhelmed by zombies.

Zhang Qiang turned around, pushing back the zombies in front of Xie Haimei by half a meter, then turned back to face the zombies behind him.

Xie Haimei had no choice but to pull a machete from her ring to defend herself.

Because by this time, Zhang Qiang was also exhausted and simply couldn't face the zombies from both sides.

After all, he was alone covering the rear, bearing a greater pressure than the other four.

Suddenly, a commotion came from ahead.

Some of the zombies in front of Xie Haimei were attracted and ran over.

Qin Shi Lei and his group were originally preparing to return to the villa to rest, but they got lost in the dense fog, making several turns, and accidentally stumbled into a horde of zombies.

Unknowingly, they had run to this side.

"Qin Shi Lei, there's fighting over there. Should we go and meet up with them?" An Qian said, pointing to the front left.

"Let's get closer and see, but don't be too careless and get ambushed by them," Qin Shi Lei reminded.

When they arrived a few meters from Zhang Qiang and his group, Zhang Qiang once again repelled a wave of zombies for Xie Haimei, but a zombie behind him made a flying leap, about to embrace him.

"Whoosh!"

Qin Shi Lei's Seven Star Sword quickly transformed into a short bow, he shot an arrow, and then it transformed back into the Seven Star Sword.

Zhang Qiang mustered his last bit of energy to once again face the zombies behind him.

A zombie's swipe knocked Xie Haimei's machete away.

Then three or four zombies, waving their hands, rushed to embrace her.

Xie Haimei was scared out of her wits, turning her head, still wanting to take one last look at the man she loved.

But she didn't feel those few zombies pounce on her.

She turned her head to find a man and two women standing in front of her.

"This way." Qin Shi Lei turned right, kicked open the door of a house, and rushed in.

Everyone else then rushed in.

"You and I will guard the door," Qin Shi Lei said to Zhang Qiang.

He took a moment to throw out several barrels of gasoline, "You three go upstairs to the second-floor balcony and pour gasoline down to burn these zombies to death."

Qin Shi Lei and Zhang Qiang stood like door gods, firmly guarding the entrance, not allowing any zombie to step half a pace into the house.

Seeing the raging fire outside already burning, Qin Shi Lei kicked a few zombies into the flames, then quickly closed the door.

Zhang Qiang and his group had already killed seven or eight hundred zombies, and Qin Shi Lei and his group had just killed nearly two hundred, leaving two or three hundred outside.

Before long, the zombies rushed into the sea of fire one after another, then were burned to ashes.

And when the fire started to burn the house, Qin Shi Lei and his group had already jumped out of the back window.

When Zhang Qiang returned to the previous spot to collect the bodies of his brothers, he couldn't find even a trace of their remains.

"Let's go. We'll find a place to spend the night first." Qin Shi Lei casually found a house and walked in.