15: Chapter 15 Team Battle

Amidst the eerie tombstones, the nine Adventurers finally regrouped, but Mia was nowhere to be seen.

"Temporary instance triggered: Defend against the attack of the zombie horde controlled by the Quanxing deviant. Team channel disabled during this period. 30 seconds until the first wave of zombies arrives. Your teammates are currently protecting Zhang Chulan while intercepting Feng Baobao. If either side of the battle is judged as a defeat, the entire group fails. Penalty for mission failure: Eradication!!!"

"I say..." Firing Pin, wearing the Everywhere-Connect work uniform, suddenly lowered his voice. "Have you noticed? Our equipment..."

Everyone looked down at the same time—firearms had turned into talismans, high-tech compound bows had become peach wood bows, and even Ye Wang's shield was branded with Bagua patterns.

([Rule modification for this world: Efficiency of thermal weapons reduced by 70%])

"Damn it!" Firing Pin kicked away a tombstone. "My C4 turned into crude explosives!"

Suddenly, Cat Claw's ears twitched. Skill [Wind Catching and Shadow Grasping] activated successfully! "They're here."

In the darkness, twelve Iron Corpses crawled out from the grave mounds, their joints making tooth-aching creaking sounds. The woman leading them leaned against a tombstone and chuckled, "Quanxing's Liu Yanyan, invites you all... to die."

Ye Wang triggered [Bagua Shield Reflection]. "You infiltrated Quanxing? You! I could just as well claim to be the Quanxing Sect Leader!" He reflected the corpse poison claw attack back to the controller.

Ye Wang withstood the combined attack of three Iron Corpses. The Bagua pattern on the shield surface burst, reflecting 12 points of damage. A red mark flashed across Liu Yanyan's sleeve; she seemed to have broken a bit of skin, or perhaps she hadn't. "Tsk, a knockoff?" She shook her wrist. "Longhu Mountain's shields aren't this shabby."

Liu Yanyan narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Interesting." With a flick of her fingertips, a scarlet talisman suddenly pierced into the ground—

"Watch out for underground!" Loran's vines timely wrapped around Ye Wang's ankle and dragged him away. Five purple-black [Poison Explosion Corpses] exploded where he had been standing. "You motherf... Thanks!" (Ye Wang cursed in mid-air.)

"Damn! How are we supposed to fight this?!" Yellow Hair exclaimed, instinctively reaching for his waist, but grabbing nothing—thermal weapons had long been subject to rule modification, and he could only rely on that temporarily manifested broken sword to hold on!

"Get lost! Behold my Huashan Sword Technique! Ahhh!!" Yellow Hair screamed. Everyone then realized he was surrounded by five Poison Explosion Corpses, and purple-black corpse spots had already appeared on his skin.

Brother Tie Zhu struggled to pull the trigger. "Bang, bang, bang"—three shots hit Yellow Hair's crown. "Sorry, brother."

"Raising evil spirits with living things? Interesting... but can your vines last until dawn?" Liu Yanyan sneered.

The air was filled with a strange, durian-like scent (stench). Qingyan began to lose focus, walking toward the Iron Corpses with unsteady steps.

"Wake up!" Loran slapped her, sending Qingyan spinning in place. Her blazing red lips actually lit up with exorcising golden light—this was a Confucian secret technique brought by the "Teacher" identity forcibly assigned by the system—Teacher's Love.

The smell of blood condensed into viscous flocks in the air. The corpse-controlling threads manipulated by Liu Yanyan were so thin they were almost invisible, yet they shimmered with a deadly cold light under the moonlight. Those threads were only three inches from Mountain God's throat, and his eyes still held the stubbornness and unwillingness peculiar to mountaineers.

"Petrification!!" The mountaineer who called himself Mountain God activated his skill, but he still ended up injured.

The "bang, bang" sound of gunfire was deafening, but it only repelled the Iron Corpses and did not kill them. Mountain God temporarily escaped the risk of death.

Brother Tie Zhu's arm began to tremble slightly (anyone's arm would shake for a while after emptying a magazine with a Desert Eagle; to prevent shaking, one would need a mechanical arm, and it would have to be of good quality. Huh? Why is the Life Support System crossing channels?) but he still persisted in repelling the Iron Corpses that were closing in.

Darkness shrouded the graveyard. The joints of the twelve Iron Corpses creaked, but their movements suddenly froze. In the black mist where corpse poison steamed, Liu Yanyan's corpse-control bell shattered. Scarlet shards cut her palm, and blood droplets dripped onto the Iron Corpses' heads, only to be instantly absorbed—these corpses were backlashing against her!

[Paradise Lost Prompt: Iron Corpses evolving—]

Corpse transformation progress 78% → 89%. Corpse control talisman failed!

Ye Wang panted heavily. The Bagua shield already had spiderweb-like cracks. Blood oozing from the web of his thumb flowed along the shield's patterns and was actually slowly absorbed by the Bagua design.

[Blood Feeding triggered]: Defense value temporarily +10 (Ye Wang's vitality -5%). Liu Yanyan sneered, "At the end of your rope."

But the next moment—

The Iron Corpse group suddenly turned in unison, their hollow eye sockets staring straight at Liu Yanyan. Her corpse-control technique... was severed.

"How is this possible?!" She looked down in shock and uncertainty, discovering that the corpse-control threads held by her fingertips had been corroded by more than half at some point—it turned out that when Loran's [Azure Green Vine] was parrying, it had quietly scattered parasitic spores onto the Iron Corpses. By now, these spores had taken root inside the corpses, reverse-corroding the corpse-control technique!

(Equipment Log: [Azure Green Vine · Evil Devouring Evolution] reached 3/10 → Yin poison absorption rate +15%)

"Do it!" Mountain God roared. He slammed his hands together, and his full-body petrification was suddenly lifted. Replacing it was an eerie black light rising under his skin—at the cost of self-injury, he temporarily forced the corpse poison into his muscles, buying back a few seconds of mobility!

Brother Tie Zhu gritted his teeth, enduring the severe pain in his right arm. The Desert Eagle was reloaded again, its barrel slightly red from the high heat.

[Remaining ammo: 3/7] → [Deadly Headshot] activated!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Three explosions rang out. The heads of three Iron Corpses burst open, and foul blood mixed with rotten organs splattered.

Liu Yanyan's pupils shrank. Just as she wanted to retreat, her feet suddenly sank—Loran's vines had taken advantage of the chaos to wrap around her ankles, and the sharp barbs pierced her skin, leaving her unable to move for a moment.

The sound of wind breaking suddenly interrupted her self-talk. Cat Claw's compound bow was pulled to a full moon. This [Demon-Breaking Arrow] was so fast it almost tore the air. Just as Liu Yanyan wanted to dodge, the arrow precisely pierced her right shoulder, carrying her whole body backward and pinning her to a cypress tree.

The white feathers at the tail of the arrow hummed and vibrated, and the residual lightning light surged into her meridians along the wound. Liu Yanyan finally showed a look of horror—these strangers who had suddenly appeared were precisely countering her techniques with every move. "Damn it...!!" She laughed out of extreme anger. "Do you think you can win just like this?!"

She pulled a pitch-black talisman paper from her sleeve and slapped it onto her chest— "Yin Evil into the Body!"

In an instant, her skin rapidly aged, her fingernails grew long like knives, and black-purple corpse patterns spread from her heart to her neck.

Liu Yanyan (Human) → Berserk · Corpse Demon (70% assimilation). [Corpse King Descends] activated: Iron Corpse group out of control, entering Berserk mode!

The remaining nine Iron Corpses instantly went berserk, muscles swelling, bones twisting, speed increased by 200%. They no longer shrank back, but turned into black shadows and pounced on everyone!

"Enter Dream!!" The Nightmare wearing a black cloak slashed his own wrist, splashing blood onto these Iron Corpses as if it were worthless, his face turning pale to the naked eye. Fortunately, his agility was not low, and he dodged and maneuvered without any danger. The Iron Corpse group began to move sluggishly and dully, buying a little breathing time for the other teammates.

But just at this moment—

"Boom!!!"

A white light suddenly burst open in the center of the corpse group. The blazing Buddha light washed out like a flood. The nine Iron Corpses were struck as if by lightning, their entire body's corpse energy steaming frantically, instantly turning into shriveled charred corpses!

Everyone turned back in astonishment, only to see "Firing Pin" standing there, holding a talisman that had already burned to ash in his hand.

"My 'crude explosives'..." He grinned, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, "...are actually a modified version of Lightning Method." Smoke was still coming out of his mouth as he spoke.

Everyone was stunned.

Liu Yanyan was also stunned.

[Paradise Lost Prompt: Because the teammates on the other battlefield have finished the battle and obtained Feng Baobao's recognition; temporary instance Zombie Horde Survival · Ended]

[Number of survivors: 8/9]

"You..." Liu Yanyan's voice had become hoarse, her half-human, half-corpse face twisted, "...who exactly are you?"

No one answered her.

Because at this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the two figures slowly walking out of the darkness—Xu San and Xu Si.

Xu Si tilted his head, with a cigarette in his mouth, and was dragging a beaten-up Iron Corpse body in his hand.

Xu San adjusted his glasses frame. "You guys... are quite capable of fighting." He spoke faintly, his tone as flat as if he were commenting on today's weather. "Are students these days all this wild?"

Liu Yanyan's expression changed completely.

The 12 Iron Corpses stiffened simultaneously, their joints emitting a whine like metal fatigue. Liu Yanyan, who was controlling the corpses, widened her eyes, and the corpse-control bell in her hand suddenly exploded into a mist of blood.

Xu San's telekinesis completely suppressed Liu Yanyan's Iron Corpses, and the outcome was decided in an instant.

Liu Yanyan spat out a mouthful of black blood and sat weakly on the ground.

Her appearance gradually returned to before the demonization, but her face was frighteningly pale. Then, she rolled her eyes and fainted.

---

Equipment File ①: [Bagua Shield Reflection]

Grade: D Green (Excellent)

Base Attribute Defense Value: 22 (Standard white shield is 15)

Blocking Efficiency: 65% (Ordinary shield is 50%)

Weight: Medium (Does not affect the movement of agility-type characters)

Currently Effective Special Effects

[Corpse Evil Reflection] (Rule-adapted version)

When successfully blocking an Iron Corpse attack, 15% of the damage is converted into [Evil-Breaking Energy] and reflected to the controller Liu Yanyan (original 30% probability reduced to 20%).

Base Durability: 80/80 (Repairable)

Equipment File ②: [Azure Green Vine · Parasitic Seed] (Lv.1 Growth Type)

Grade: D+ (Green, Growth-type)

Category: Spirit Plant Symbiotic Equipment

Features:

Semi-active plant (weak autonomous consciousness, but will instinctively protect the host). Yin Evil Resistance (can evolve slowly when in a corpse poison environment for a long time). Base Attribute Toughness: 15/20 (Poison explosion corrosion caused fiber damage). Extension distance: 5 meters (maximum binding radius). Parasitic speed: 0.8 seconds to entangle (+30% efficiency against zombie types). Currently Effective Skills

[Crisis Intuition] (Passive)

When a teammate is about to suffer a fatal attack, it automatically consumes 5 points of Toughness to activate an emergency pull (cooldown 45 seconds).

[Clear Qi Barrier] (Active)

Consume 10 points of Toughness to generate a 3-second purification field: Neutralizes corpse poison within a 2-meter radius. Side effect: The vine will wither for half a day due to overdraft (needs to be soaked in glutinous rice water to repair after battle).

Hidden Growth Potential - Evil Devouring Evolution:

Every 10 absorptions of corpse poison attacks → Yin Resistance +1 (Current progress 2/10)

Blood Feeding:

If the host voluntarily offers blood to water it → Temporarily awaken [Berserk Vine] state (Aggressiveness +50%, lasts 1 minute)

Limitations and Flaws - Fear of Fire: Toughness drops to zero when encountering fire talismans (firelight was already appearing at Liu Yanyan's fingertips).

Overload Risk: Using active skills 3 times in a row will cause the root system to backlash against the host (a network of blue veins appeared on Loran's wrist).

[Paradise Lost Evaluation: How far can a Druid without wolves, bears, and ravens go?]

Equipment File ③: [Desert Eagle Collector's Edition] (Lv.1 Cursed Modified Type)

Grade: D- (White · Variant)

Category: Spirit Energy Firearm (Infinite ammo / Cursed binding)

Features: Perpetual Firing (No need to change magazines)

Law of Causality Ballistics (The last 3 bullets are guaranteed to trigger critical hits)

Base Attribute Ammo Capacity: 7/7 (Infinite loop, but only the last 3 rounds have special effects)

DEBUFF: Recoil: 25% (Wrist suffers Yin energy backlash when firing single shots). Range: 50 meters (bullets become ineffective beyond this range).

[Deadly Headshot] (Seventh bullet lock-on skill)

Law of Guaranteed Hit: If the first three shots miss, the seventh shot will automatically correct its trajectory (the bullet will curve).

Weapon Cost: After the wielder fires 49 consecutive bullets, their arm will break, which can be repaired upon returning to Paradise Lost.