Chapter Ninety-Three: Escape and Return

The mop-haired dwarf and the villainous strongman died in quick succession, and the other summoned figure, the hippie fat man, was no exception.

As he staggered backward, Kri leaped high into the air, clamping his legs around the man’s neck. He first hammered both fists into the temples, blasting blood from the fat man’s mouth, then twisted violently in midair.

Under the combined force of the spinning centrifugal momentum, the power in his legs, and the man’s backward inertia, the fat man’s fragile neck vertebrae gave off a crisp, audible snap. His head seemed to be severed from his neck, and his entire face bent backward until it was completely folded over to his back.

His body convulsed. In a desperate final burst of life, he tried to unleash Cannon Shot, but the fatal blow to his neck and the rapid draining of his remaining vitality after the break left him unable to trigger the skill at all. His face was twisted backward, blood gushing from his mouth in great mouthfuls, and the massive body finally crashed to the ground in unwilling defeat.

In just a few seconds, all three Dark Fighters were dead.

Meanwhile, another member of the Whirlwind Team, Good, had launched Max’s Heart-Piercing Kick from the side of the street-fighting game. He leaped, cutting across the air in a horizontal line, both feet driving straight toward Wang Ling’s heart.

Thunk!

Wang Ling’s arm trembled. He could feel a tremendous force slamming into the alloy shield, and that kick had actually left a distinct dent in it. The sheer power of the point-blank strike was obvious. If it had landed directly on the heart, it might truly have bored through the flesh and reached the organ beneath.

The onlookers who had retreated to the edge of the yard were all shaken, and the temporary leader, Caslo, was already sweating coldly at the brow.

The strength of the three members of the Whirlwind Team was formidable enough, but their combat awareness was just as terrifying. They had actually attacked in perfect coordination at the same instant. It made him feel genuine fear. In only a few seconds, three summoned figures who were clearly not weak had been killed, and while wiping out those three, the Whirlwind Team had still had the spare hands to turn on Wang Ling.

Blocking the Heart-Piercing Kick with his shield, Wang Ling was also somewhat surprised at how quickly the summoned figures had died, but after a moment’s thought, he understood.

The Super Dark Fighters were roughly equivalent to Dreamers who had completed five main quests, while the three members of the Whirlwind Team should be Dreamers around the level of eight quests. There had always been a gap in strength between the two sides.

The Whirlwind Team members were probably among the stronger elite Dreamers at this level. On top of that, to secure a swift victory, they had not hesitated to expend mental power and continuously unleash high-damage skills. The three summoned figures had just appeared when they were caught completely off guard by the barrage. The mop-haired dwarf in particular had not even had time to make use of his speed advantage before being struck dead by the Cyclone Punch. Their deaths were not all that strange after all; they had no damage reduction from a peaceful scene.

"Damn shield!"

Good, whose Heart-Piercing Kick had failed, was furious. Though he had known in advance that Wang Ling had obtained the shield enhanced to level 6 by Elliot, the requirements to equip that shield were not low. He had never expected this guy to actually meet them. It seemed Wang Ling’s personal attributes, at least in strength and stamina, were not as poor as he had imagined.

The Dark Fighters summoned by Linda’s wish would not be available again for another three hours. Wang Ling seemed to be at an obvious disadvantage, but the Whirlwind Team’s ambush on him had also been successfully repelled.

Aaron had killed the strongman with a reverse body throw, Kri had snapped the fat man’s neck with his legs, and Good had dropped to the ground after using Heart-Piercing Kick. Inevitably, the three of them had to pause for a split second in the middle of their assault. At that moment, Wang Ling, though he had taken the martial arts scene card into his hand, did not activate the summon. Instead, he instantly drew his alloy shield back into his storage pouch and turned to flee out of the yard.

Of course he was not running in fear. The lawn in the yard had already been damaged to some extent in that brief battle, and if he truly intended to use the grass later to grow combat plants and withstand the zombie tide, he could not afford to keep destroying it.

If he fought with his full strength, not only the grass but even this house could be torn apart.

There was another advantage to fleeing now. First, it would make the Whirlwind Team think that with the Dark Fighters eliminated, he had become afraid and lost the will to fight, dulling their vigilance and causing them to underestimate him.

Second, these three were indeed very strong. Individually, they were about on par with kung fu masters like Wang Long, and they might even possess hidden trump cards. Even if the kung fu masters managed to kill all three, they would suffer severe casualties. Unlike the Dark Fighters, they could not simply be summoned again; losing even one in this battle would be a huge loss.

So Wang Ling himself had to take action, and even strike with full force. Fighting here would let the five spectators see his methods. Not only would it expose his hidden cards, but if he somehow won a hard-fought victory, it might well tempt those people into murder for treasure. By choosing to flee, those five might not pursue him. And even if they did, they might not be able to keep up. If they could keep up, then Wang Ling would lead them all into the zombie horde outside town and see whether they were willing to waste their stamina dealing with the great mass of disturbed undead.

Seeing Wang Ling flee, Aaron roared, "Don’t run!" and the three members of the Whirlwind Team chased after him together.

The five spectators exchanged glances, all of them bewildered by how completely unexpected this had been. The Latina woman, Suna, said, "What do we do? Should we chase them too?"

"They’re running this fast? Their basic footwork must have been leveled up quite a bit. Even if we go after them, we might not catch them, and there could be other trouble waiting." Caslo watched as Wang Ling and the Whirlwind Team vanished in the blink of an eye. He cursed under his breath, then said, "Yamada, your speed is the best among us. Follow them and gather information."

Yamada had already been thinking of chasing after them in hopes of picking up some advantage. Hearing Caslo’s words only confirmed his own intentions, and he said, "All right!"

He hunched his body like a ninja in motion, his small frame running without a sound, swift and light as he disappeared into the distance. Caslo then said sincerely to the others, "In this main quest, our Dreamers from Plant Town have actually fallen into internecine slaughter. Our overall strength is bound to be greatly weakened. In such an unfavorable situation, if we want to face the zombie tide and enemy Dreamers, we must trust one another and cooperate with all our strength, like a truly united team."

"That Japanese man has a cold and ruthless temperament. I suspect his hands are stained with plenty of blood, so he cannot be trusted. That is why I sent him away. While there’s still time, let’s all speak in more detail about our abilities. That will make cooperation easier. I’ll start by telling everyone all the skills I possess."

"Also, before the Whirlwind Team comes back, let’s see whether we can obtain a quest from Crazy Dave. If I’m not mistaken, the only human in this Plant Town is definitely an important quest-giver, and there may even be some hidden quests with generous rewards. Come, let’s go into the house first and complete the requirements of the first main quest."

With Wang Ling gone, the Whirlwind Team gone, and the troublesome Yamada gone as well, the remaining people consisted of the taciturn old Hassan, the two women Suna and Cai Qing, and none of the three showed any obvious ambition. So Caslo seized the opportunity to strengthen their mutual ties, trying his best to bind these three and himself tightly into a small, closely knit group.

Otherwise, when the Whirlwind Team returned with the prestige of having slain Wang Ling, it might well sway the people in this little group to their side.

Yes, what Caslo had been thinking was precisely the "Whirlwind Team killing Wang Ling." In his imagination, a powerful team with perfect coordination would absolutely be far stronger than Wang Ling alone. The three summoned figures that had just appeared and been killed immediately were proof enough of that.

On the other side, the Whirlwind Team, which had gone after Wang Ling, discovered that the distance between them and the youth was growing greater and greater. Unable to suppress their fury, they cursed, "Just how many levels has this guy’s basic footwork gone up? He’s faster than a rabbit!"

Wang Ling’s Basic Footwork was level 2, increasing his speed by 20 percent, and Speed Run at level 4 granted an additional permanent 10 percent increase, bringing the total boost to 30 percent. Combined with his agility of more than 40 points, his speed was naturally astonishing, and that was without even using Speed Run.

In truth, the three members of the Whirlwind Team were not slow either. Each had invested skill points to raise Basic Footwork to level 5, increasing speed by 50 percent. It should be understood that speed brings immense benefits: when facing a powerful enemy, speed is needed to flee; in battle, if the enemy tries to escape, speed is needed to pursue and kill. And yet, while these three were willing to invest skill points in Basic Footwork, they could not spare many attribute points for agility.

To pursue overwhelming destructive power, they had to add points to strength. To ensure a sufficient life pool, they had to add points to stamina. As a team specializing in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, Aaron, the captain, had maxed out strength and relied on equipment for stamina. The other two were built around strength first and stamina second. Where would they find spare attribute points to raise agility? Even bringing that attribute up to 15 points had made them wince with pain.

With agility so low, even with level 5 Basic Footwork, they could never catch Wang Ling. After all, not even Bai Feng could catch him, and these three were far inferior to Bai Feng in both attributes and strength.

Wang Ling was sprinting at full speed in front, and had already rushed out beyond Plant Town, drawing a great number of zombies into motion. Ordinary zombies, slow in action, gathered along the route he had passed, and the three Whirlwind Team members close behind him found their path blocked by the converging undead. Each of them was raging.

This chase continued for twenty full minutes. The Whirlwind Team was not especially fast to begin with, and now they were being harried by zombies. They had already lost sight of Wang Ling. In the end, they had no choice but to stop and vent their fury on the zombies instead. Under the swing of their three long cleavers, large numbers of zombies were hacked down. After clearing away all the zombies that had swarmed around them, the three were preparing to return to Plant Town when they saw Wang Ling, the one who had fled, actually coming back.

And he was bringing four people with him.