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This widespread sharing of my bio was one of the reasons why, no matter how much I tried to explain that I was a male, no one would believe me; seeing as my bio page in the Federation listed me as female.

Or at the very least, those who were willing to believe me were probably those who would prefer I was a male…

I had attempted in the past to correct the data, but that required one year of processing. More importantly, this so-called error was made by sister Bitong… should she insist on this error… What else was a man to do? Sigh…

After a bit of random monologuing, I finally remembered that I actually had a job to do here and yanked my attention back from the abyss.

“This area is a disaster, at least for having a chat, how about we change locations instead? A cafe, maybe? A sweets shop – what do you think?”

The moment I said the word cafe, his words nearly lit up. “Cafe? Goddess, you want to go on a date with me?”

A date? As if! Who would want to go on a date with a nutjob? I just want to lure you away from this location, that’s all.

I waved my hands and profusely tried to deny that, “I won’t say it’s a “date” date, I’m just hoping we can understand each other better, that’s all.”

“I knew I was chosen by the heavens, haha! Even the Goddess wants to go on a date with me. Is this what they mean by a main character’s halo?” Yamabe Takuma confidently jumped off his throne, casually striding down the mountain of zombies with a light hop in his steps.

He beckoned in a certain direction as he continued, “Goddess, I know a decent location nearby, we can head there for a chat.”

Oh? He actually agreed. But why is it still in this theme park?

“About that… if it’s possible, I would rather we go up to the surface. This cave setting makes me a little uneasy.”

“Goddess, you prefer the surface? But the surface is noisy. Down here, it’s nice and quiet…” Yamabe Takuma paused for a second, clearly hesitating about something. “Goddess, I still think it would be better if we go to that little shop I mentioned. The environment’s great there. It has everything, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”

He firmly rejected my surface suggestion. Because I still needed information from him, I acquiesced in the end.

“Alright, we’ll go with your plan then. Hopefully, it’s as good as you say.”

“Definitely,” he said with a pat to his chest. “The shops I recommend are all the best.”

As a show of goodwill, I dismissed my three fire elementals and followed him to a nearby cafe called “Starry Infatuation”.

Like he said, the interior of the shop was excellent. It had a mostly black theme. Its ceiling was decorated after a night sky, giving the impression of a soothing outdoor dinner for its patrons. Assuming of course, you ignored the cowering girls in the corner over there…

The moment we entered the shop, I spotted a dozen or so young, beautiful girls huddled up in a corner. Their heads were lowered, as if they did not even dare to look Yamabe in the eyes.

So there are other survivors… but they are all female, and they seem deathly afraid of the boy… Did he do something to them?

Maybe, but before gathering some hard evidence, I can’t act yet.

“Waitresses! My Goddess is here, hurry up and get us some refreshments!” Yamabe started raising his voice the moment he stepped into the shop, as if this was his restaurant to begin with.

At his command, two beautiful waitresses in uniform stood up from the cowering group and approached us. They were clearly dragging their feet as they shuffled up to us. None of them wanted to do the job, but they were also afraid of what he would do to them if they didn’t.

“Master Yamabe, how may we serve you today?” The first waitress to speak up was a twenty or so red-headed girl. After tidying up her dress, she gently said, “The kitchens have all been sorted out, you may order whatever’s on the menu.”

Yamabe didn’t immediately answer her question. Instead, he pulled out one of the wooden chairs for me like a gentleman then proceeded to sit opposite me.

Seeing him seated, the other girl shakily laid down a menu onto the table, her face as white as the surroundings were black.

“You’re afraid of me?” Yamabe nonchalantly asked without picking up the menu. He tapped ominously on the menu while giving her a sharp look.

“No… not at all… master Yamabe has always treated us very well. I’m not afraid… ” Even though she said that, her lips were already quivering and her eyes were clearly saying otherwise.

It was precisely her quivering that caused Yamabe to raise an eyebrow. “Not afraid? So you’re saying I’m a pushover then?”

“No… no… master Yamabe is a kind man who would never harm us…” Crushed by the overbearing pressure he emanated, the black-haired waitress slumped to the floor in a shaking mess. It took her utmost just to stop herself from crying right there and then.

Exactly what did he do to her to cause such a violent response? Regardless of what he did, she needed help now.

I pointed at one of the pictures on the menu. “I will have the Taro Shaved Ice, extra ice, and the biggest bowl you have. Take your time, but make it good.”

Hearing my order, the black-haired waitress woodenly turned her head towards me, clearly scared out of her wits by Yamabe.

“You dare to ignore the Goddess? What’s the point of even keeping you then!” Yamabe immediately lost his temper when the waitress did not respond. He raised his hand, ready to deal the girl a resounding blow.

Thankfully, even if I did not expect him to hit her like that, I was still able to react in time. I activated the fire-controlling abilities of Lion’s Majesty, firing off an arrow of fire between the two of them, blocking his right hand in the process.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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“Did you think that just by killing off three of my summons, you have the right to challenge me?” I coolly floated in the air, Icy Inferno in my right hand. “You must have some degree of intelligence. Perhaps you already remember some parts of your former life as a human… Or not, but that doesn’t matter now. Because you’re already dead!”

I focused a surge of SP into my weapon, ready to face his challenge with an equally forceful response of my own.

Ice Edge!

I swung my blade in the zombie’s direction, blasting out a wave of icy sword energy, so condensed that it almost appeared to be physical.

The giant zombie was still in the middle of a leaping strike when that happened, but with the sword wave’s unmatched sharpness, the wave bifurcated the zombie the instant it sliced into the zombie.

Just like that, the zombie fell to the sides with an unceremonious thud. On one half, the slice was perfectfully even, with the surface completely frozen over into a mirror surface. On the other, the flesh was already turning black from the flames that ate into it, filling the air with an acrid smell in the process.

I calmly smiled at my handiwork, not at all perturbed by the sight. “That’s the price for challenging me, idiot.”

I will give that bit of showboating a 99/100. Not a perfect hundred since I clearly overdid it just now with my SP expenditure. Speaking of which… time to replenish my SP.

I immediately purchased three bottles of SP Recovery and downed them.

A surge of energy filled my body in an instant. Taking advantage of this state, I promptly began the summoning process once more.

Given how many zombies there were in this theme park, hacking them one by one would be a chore without some help. I wasn’t some kind of butcher after all.

The following descent down the stairway was relatively uneventful. That giant zombie was the only mini-boss like character I encountered. The remaining zombies were no match for my elementals.

Yet the moment I reached the fifth floor, I was stunned by what greeted me.

Atop a nearly hundred meters tall mountain of zombies, a black-haired teen, roughly around my age with average looks, dressed in a black T-shirt and bluish-white jeans, sat atop the grisly hill in a pensive stance.

Right at the very summit of that mini hill was a bony throne on which he sat. But unlike the mountain of corpses below, this throne did not seem natural at all. It wasn’t just pieced together out of stacked bones, rather it seemed to be held together by some other force.

After all, there were no chains holding them together, nor were there any signs of the throne itself being carved from a single large piece of bone.

“Someone dares to… You… you’re the… Goddess?!” The black-haired teen first looked at the fire elementals, but his gaze was immediately torn away when I entered his view. He nearly jumped off his throne, finger shaking as he pointed at me. “Goddess… are you here to see me? I never thought that I would ever be able to see you in the flesh in this lifetime. I’ve always regretted not being able to visit Phoenix city… yet here you are now… I’m so touched… weeping.”

Well, someone is really getting into his character. Maybe I know him from somewhere? No, more like he knows me… but I don’t know him.

All the zombies in the last floor seemed to have been stacked up on that giant corpse hill over there. From a quick glance, I estimated at least a hundred thousand of them there. In fact, they didn’t seem to be dead at all. Rather, they were just silently lying there, neither growling or clawing, as if they were in a sweet slumber.

Had it not been for the fact that they were stacked up in a hill, and that teen appearing atop them was just too strange, I would have most likely started burning that hill right now.

I quietly ordered my elementals to stand down. As I did so, I checked to see where the coordinates Aunty Xinqing led to, all the while keeping my eyes on the teen.

It’s beneath me… but there’s nothing here except for those zombies… so my target is that hill then?

Having been left with more questions than answers, there was only the option of asking that teen left. Assuming, of course, he was willing to answer them.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Yamabe (last name/surname) Takuma. I came here on a holiday with my parents. I’m also a member of the Goddess Ke Ke Cult. I’ve been following you since your early days at the cafe. Honestly, I wanted to visit Phoenix City to find you, but my parents were adamant about visiting this theme park. And that’s how I landed up here… I thought I would never get the chance to see the Goddess ever again, but fortune has smiled on me today! I must be the luckiest boy on the planet right now!”

As the teen continued blathering on, his face only grew more excited, distorted even.

While he seemed to be on my side on the surface, I dared not let my guard down. This whole scene was just too odd. From the way this whole scene was set up, to how there was suddenly no contact with the Federation, that teen had to have some hand in them.

Regardless, a smart move would always be to get him to leave his home grounds. In this area, I was clearly at a disadvantage…

And in a giant theme park of death, him being the only survivor was definitely suspicious. Even pigs flying would have been more believable.

Based on what he just said, this teen was an ardent fan of mine. In that case, starting from that angle should work out. After sorting out my emotions, I started talking in the most gentle manner possible. “Nice to meet you, Yamabe Takuma. If you don’t mind, I have a ton of questions to ask you… Perhaps we should find a more comfortable location to talk?”

“That’s perfect! I have so much to say to the Goddess as well. I’m just a normal cult member, but the bishops would always put up pictures and videos of the Goddess in our holy grounds. I have to look at them at least once before I can even sleep. Ah… how lucky I am to be able to be this close to the Goddess! I can just die right now… No, no… I can’t die yet.”

Clearly, the kid was out of his mind. His words were starting to get jumbled up. Even so, since he even knew about the holy grounds, he had to be a fan of mine.

As a side note, this so-called “holy grounds” was just the official Goddess Ke Ke Cult’s website. Everyday, that site would be updated with a ton of new information about me. Pictures, videos, etc. Sometimes, a fan would even upload a screenshot of my bio in Federation’s database…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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As if Anti-magic Blade wasn’t enough, the other skills of Icy Inferno were even more shocking.

Ravaging was clear enough in its description. Thanks to that skill, I hadn’t found a single foe I wasn’t able to slice through with Icy Inferno.

The last of my active skills, Ice Edge, was a powerful skill that I had often used in the past. In its basic form, its SP expenditure wasn’t much, but it boasted an impressive killing power.

Now that I could clearly evaluate Lion’s Majesty and Icy Inferno, I was feeling confident, to say the least. A little bloated on it, one might even say.

My three elementals continued clearing the path ahead for me, sweeping down the spiraling staircase with brutal efficiency. All it took was a pinpoint strike to the head and a zombie was down. With their aid, the points kept increasing at a rate I couldn’t even keep up with. It was then that I realised: this was points heaven!

While I might not have an exact standard to measure them against, their strength should be at the third or fourth level. Not exactly at the level of an exosuit, but more than enough for these zombies.

The road downwards required another fifty meters or so of slaughtering, at which point we arrived at the first floor of the park.

The entire park had five floors, each floor being a hundred or so meters tall. Every floor would feature different attractions, every one more entertainment than the previous. Such a pity that this park did not even make it past its fifth year before the zombie apocalypse happened.

The signal I received wasn’t from the first floor, meaning I still had another storey to descend to. But thanks to my fire elementals, it wasn’t a trip even worth mentioning. At the entrance to the second floor, I suddenly felt something was off. I raised my head up and found an observation elevator platform hanging above. It was suspended abruptly there, clearly in the middle of descending before tragedy struck. From outside, I could clearly see the claws swiping out towards me as a cacophony of zombie howls started filling the air. However, there were several dozen meters between us, so I chose to ignore that platform.

Unfortunately, this bit of laziness would soon come to bite me in the butt.

A massive zombie shoved aside the smaller zombies on the observation elevator. Because of my lower vantage point, he only appeared to be a slightly taller zombie. Oh… how wrong I was…

Still in the dark, I casually commanded the fire elementals to continue clearing up any zombies they encountered. I was completely undefended when suddenly the skies darkened and a massive zombie shadow came crashing down from the heavens, flattening one of the fire elementals and a bunch of smaller zombies in the process.

“BAM!!”

Its massive five meters tall body landed heavily on the spiralling stairway. Because of the sheer momentum behind its leap, and the relatively small landing point, it had to clutch onto the railways just to stop it from toppling over the edge.

Even so, the stairway wasn’t built to withstand such forces. Not long after the deafening crash, an ominous cracking sound could be heard. Numerous fissures began crawling their across the entire structure, built entirely out of what was supposed to be the strongest building material on Gaia. But that bit of sturdiness was no match for the zombie’s flamboyant entry… I had to admit, it was a shocking entry, indeed.

Just based on its destructive power, this giant zombie had to be at the sixth level -the first mini-boss of this theme park. If this was actually a dungeon in a game…

Armed with a new target, the remaining fire elementals immediately charged at the monster, their fists roaring with flames as they threw out the first blows of this fight.

Yet this massive zombie had long passed the stage of caring about a couple of punches from these little flames. With a mighty roar, it breathed a gust of icy white gas at the left fire elemental, instantly extinguishing that poor elemental into nothingness…

The other fire elemental had taken this opportunity to swing at the zombie once more, but its puny fists couldn’t penetrate the defenses of the new zombie. In fact, not only did it fail to land a decisive hit, it had placed itself in the position for a counterattack.

The zombie swung a mighty fist back at the elemental. Being a creature of elements, such physical attacks wouldn’t normally work against it, but this zombie was clearly imbued with some sort of ice element. Thus when its fist struck, the fire elemental was quickly relieved of its arm, snuffed out like its comrade…

Just from that short exchange alone, I learnt that its breath and aura was a force to be reckoned with. Ice and Fire were both opposing elements. Fire was normally strong against Ice, but this zombie was clearly much stronger than those elementals, thus they were easily defeated.

Deprived of an arm, the giant zombie easily finished the elemental with a further couple of punches.

Victorious, the zombie let forth another sonorous howl. This time, it seemed to be challenging me to a fight… was it trying to figure out my strength? Did this zombie possess some degree of intelligence?

If someone were to say that a zombie could ever be smarter than a human… I would most likely call their bluff. However, now that these zombies were starting to raise their levels, having some degree of intelligence was no longer an impossibility. Perhaps this giant zombie was one such specimen.

The width of the spiralling stairway wasn’t even seven meters. With its massive girth, that zombie was able to block off the exit downwards just by standing there. Even the smaller zombies who were trying to squeeze their way through it from the second floor were summarily smacked aside by it.

Naturally, I could just fly over him and skip down to the next floor, but that would mean the end of my free-and-easy point farming.

Also, that was three of my summons he just took out. It would be remiss of me not to give him some payback.

In that case, we fight!

A swing of my left hand and a flash from Lion’s Majesty later, a massive flame wall roared to life underneath the zombie’s foot, threatening to swallow him whole in an instant.

However, the giant zombie merely clasped its hands together and bashed down on the rising flames. Its icy white aura collided with the flames, the two cancelling each other out instantly.

Now that the wall was gone, the zombie howled one last time before breaking into a deafening charge at it. With every lunge of its lumbering body, the stairs underneath it would groan in protest.

Because I had slain a number of zombies before this, it had to wade through a sea of corpses as it ran. Bits of zombie flesh and heads would fly about the stairway like trees behind a raging hurricane.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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Because of the sheer amount of zombies loitering around, the cavernous theme park entrance seemed almost claustrophobic. Even with my wings, I would most likely end up bumping into some of them while flying.

“Just a gentle reminder, our valued host may consider using his Epic-grade Lion’s Majesty to summon fire elementals to clear out these zombies.”

Now that she said that, I suddenly remembered that I had shoved a certain piece of high-jewellery into my inventory. The reason being that it was too… girly for me!

It featured a silver chain, three smaller red jewels arranged into a triangle, with a larger red jewel right in the center of this bejeweled web. The chain hooked around my wrist before extending up to my middle finger and my ring finger.

A great design… just too girly for me…

Even after the system told me that this was an Epic-grade piece of accessory, and even after the system told me that it had already been bound to me, it was still too girly for me!

Some things are so important, they have to be repeated thrice!

That was why when the system first suggested using Lion’s Majesty, I immediately rejected her proposal. After all, I was the host here, not her. Just because she said I should use it, didn’t mean I would. What kind of host listens to his tenant like that? At the very least, I should voice my displeasure…

I looked down at the spiraling staircase, filled to the brim with clutching zombie hands… and decided to use it…

The moment I came to that decision, the system suddenly said, “Hold on a moment. In order to avoid such a situation in the future, and better explain the advantages of using the system’s tools, your system has decided to implement an emergency patch. The patch should only take a short while.”

As the system said, the entire patching only took ten seconds. And there was nothing to “inject” into me as well…

“Valued host, you now merely have to tap on the item, mentally say the words “display info”, and the system will bring up a menu with all the relevant details.”

I tapped on Lion’s Majesty as instructed, then recited the phrase…

Name: Lion’s Majesty
Grade: Epic
Status: Bound (Mo Ke)
Effects:
Greatly increase the user’s SP recovery rate.
Increase the user’s control over fire.
Decrease the user’s SP consumption when using Fire magic
Increase the user’s resistance to fire.

Skills:
Summon Fire Elementals, Active Skill: expend SP to summon three fire elementals.
Summon Inferno Lion, Active Skill: expend SP to summon an elemental lion. (Sealed. Automatically unsealed when Max SP reaches 500.)

Those effects are… insane!

I immediately put on Lion’s Majesty using my left hand. The moment I did so, the knowledge of how to operate it seeped into me mentally, as naturally as if I had already known it.

“O Emissary of the Inferno, I command thee, burn all that stands before me to nothingness!”

As the words left my mouth, I could feel all the SP within my body rapidly leave me. Despite that, there were no signs of any fire elementals forming. Thus, I bit the bullet and spent 50 points to purchase a Medium SP Recovery Potion. The mysterious liquid immediately transformed into a dense concentration of SP, filling every crevice of my body with SP, only to be sucked out a moment later to feed the fire elementals.

By the time the second potion was about to run its course, the summoning finally ended.

Three humanoid-shaped fire beings burst to life out of thin air in front of me. The temperature immediately soared amidst an ominous backdrop of crackling fires in a sea of pitch-black silence.

The three of them maintained a stable shape. Their features were clearly defined, easily recognisable as being a human face. However, the surface of their bodies would crackle and dance from time to time from the raging flames that made their bodies.

“Do it.”

At my command, the three elementals whom I had summoned through blood, sweat and points -mostly points- dove into the zombie horde and began burning down everything they saw.

Nothing could stand in the way of their hellish flames. As more and more targets caught fire, they were able to leech the very energy off these new flames, all the while absorbing SP from the surrounding air as well.

Technically, these three elementals could exist forever unless some external force destroyed them. A fact I only discovered after I summoned them.

Their bodies burned at a frightening 3000 degrees celsius. Every strike they threw melted their targets before they could even catch fire. Even if the zombies couldn’t feel pain, that didn’t stop them from being burnt to a blackened crisp.

Yet that wasn’t the end of their astonishing abilities either. These three elementals seemed to be able to learn from their battles. Not long after they were summoned, they started to aim the zombies’ heads, a clear indication that they knew this was their weak point. Their rampaging attack style quickly shifted to more pinpointed attacks where only the heads were targeted. In the process, their monster hunting efficiency rose dramatically.

While the elementals continued slaughtering their way down the stairs, I pulled Icy Inferno for a quick look. Once more, I was shocked…

Name: Icy Inferno
Grade: Epic
Status: Bound (Mo Ke)
Effects:
Increase the power of the user’s Fire magic.
Increase the power of the user’s Ice magic.

Skills:
Anti-magic Blade, Passive Skill: deals double damage to creatures of darkness
Ravaging, Passive Skill: causes extra destruction due to its dual nature of Fire and Ice.
Ice Edge, Active Skill: expend a small amount of SP to fire off an ice sword energy projectile. The more SP expended, the greater the power of the projectiles.

Woah… No wonder they are called Epic.

Creatures of darkness naturally referred to beings like the undead, devils, monsters. Even vampires, werewolves -essentially the bad monsters you hear about in fairy tales would be included. Zombies were included as well, but these zombies were so low level, doubling the damage done to them made no difference at all. Their numbers were what made them a headache to deal with.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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My objective this time was to find a bunch of combatants. According to Aunty Xinqing’s information, there were no civilians in this group I was heading for. They were all pilots armed with exosuits.

Yet, for some strange reason, she did not elaborate further after giving me the coordinates.

Upon arrival, I was immediately greeted by a well-known sight: one of Southern Plains’ most famous underground theme parks. It was said that this very location was once the home of a subterranean offshoot species of humans. When the first fossilised skeleton was discovered, there was a mad rush amongst the archaeological community, whether in the Federation or the other planets.

After a long period of excavation, the Federation team finally uncovered a previous settlement of subterranean humans. The buildings all had a unique earthen architecture to them. Their basic tools were also made of earth and clay, but there were some scatterings of bronze tools as well. This led to the archaeologist concluding that these humans were most likely at the bronze age before their civilisation ended.

Speaking of civilisations ending, no other skeletons were found in this settlement, as if they just vanished one day.

Eventually, this settlement was transformed into an underground theme park. The ticket fees were expensive, but anyone visiting Southern Plains wouldn’t pass up on a chance to visit this exciting slice of history.

Ignoring that cheesy welcome sign stating, the wonderful world of the subterranean awaits you, I quietly flew above the horde of wandering zombies below, eyes scanning the area for my objective today.

To be honest, when I saw where the location of today’s mission was, I had a hunch it would involve some spelunking, and it probably wouldn’t be an easy task.

“Ke, have you reached the coordinates yet?” A holographic feed of Aunty Xinqing suddenly popped up in front of me. Her eyes betrayed a myriad of emotions within them, most of them anxiety. “The mission has been cancelled, there’s no need for you to go any further.”

“Wait, why?”

What the heck, I’m literally at the front gate, why is it cancelled? Do they think I’m incapable of completing this mission?”

“The Subterranean Park has always been a popular destination. When the virus first broke out, this was one of the first places, and also the worst hit. The park itself is actually built by a private but powerful conglomeration. They even had an exosuit security force set up just for the theme park. In fact, their power has even extended to the upper ranks of the Federation. There was a police post nearby which sent in help when the virus first struck… Unfortunately, there has been no news of that team since…”

Looking at that weighty expression on her, I immediately understood what she was trying to say.

“So there has been no communication since then?”

“No. Only one-sided communications from the other party.”

“Aunty Xinqing thinks this is a trap?”

“While we do not want to admit this, the degree to which Southern Plains has fallen is severe. Coupled with the fact that not only has civilian communications been severed, the entrances have been sealed up as well… Strategic Command says there’s an extremely high chance of this being the other party’s trap…”

“Even if this is a trap, I still have to check it out.” As I said that, I waved my hand and conjured forth a three-meter wide wall of flames in the most concentrated zombie horde. The spell immediately spread like wildfire, tearing into the zombies with merciless rage. Any zombie unfortunate enough to be caught in the initial contact had already been turned into ashes before the wall reached its full potential.

Focusing my will, I had the spell inch forward slowly into the horde. In just a few seconds, I had already taken out over a hundred zombies. However, moving the wall required an exorbitant amount of SP. Just those few seconds alone were enough to deplete most of my SP reserves, forcing me to down a SP Recovery Potion.

The spell itself had been highly successful in taking care of the zombies. Their mindless flailing about would inadvertently spread the fire onto other zombies who would then set off a domino effect. But the stench of burning flesh was truly horrendous. So bad in fact, I instinctively commanded the wall to burn off the stench, in the process, learning how to purify the air… I’m such a genius.

By the second bottle, Aunty Xinqing’s curiosity was thoroughly aroused. “Ke, what’s that you are drinking?”

“A small bottle of SP Recovery Potion. It can refill my SP reserves in an instant. Quite effective for its size.” I casually tossed the potion bottle down at the zombies like I would a hidden weapon. And like a ninja’s throwing knife, the decidedly blunt bottle tunnelled through the zombie’s head with sheer brute force…

I think I’m getting more and more violent… I swear it just doesn’t feel right if I don’t toss a bottle at a zombie after downing one of these potions…

“SP Recovery Potion?” Unable to see my casual bottle toss, Aunty Xinqing’s attention had never once changed from the contents of said bottle. “Forget it. Now’s not the time for idle talk, are you sure about heading down into the park, Ke?”

“I am. Giving up halfway isn’t my style, after all.”

“In that case, your aunty won’t say more. Just be careful.”

“I will. I’ll be off, if there’s nothing else.”

I was just about to shut off the channel when Aunty Xinqing suddenly chimed in at the last second, “Don’t forget to turn on your video feed.”

“Video?”

I paused for a second. What for?

Aunty Xinqing was already prepared for that question, even if I didn’t voice it out loud. “We want to know what happened in the park itself. We’ve been trying to find out, but there’s some sort of unknown energy interfering with communication. I hope Ke would be able to record what’s going on down there.”

“I understand.” I shut off the channel and turned on the video capturing, as instructed. It was then that the system dinged me.

“Ding! Mission update…”

Mission: An Invitation from Subterranean Park.
Objectives: Investigate the strange happenings in the theme park.
Reward: 10,000 points.
Comments: A theme park is a great place for a date. Too bad you don’t have one now.
Status: Incomplete.

TEN THOUSAND?! Is the sun finally going to rise from the west? When did my black-hearted system become so generous all of a sudden?

In other words, is the danger within the park really that serious… Well, no point thinking too much at this point.

The main entrance of the park was a cave that extended downwards into the abyss. The sides of the giant hole were lined with spiralling staircases, but if one wasn’t feeling particularly athletic that day, there were also cable cars that extended downwards. Then there were specially crafted transparent walkways for the more adventurous visitors. Dotted around were little pockets within which rock hunters could exercise some amateur digging…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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“Sis, I purchased an item to lift the distance restriction when using the Marketplace. You should be able to access it whenever you want now…”

“…”

“Oh, the item? It’s not expensive at all, don’t worry. In fact, it’s really cheap. The system told me this was a special discount…”

“…”

“…”

“Right… Right… I’ll be careful. You guys watch out as well. And remember to use the detection kit on those survivors. If you find any infected, just isolate them and feed them an antidote potion. Those potions only work before they transform -I’ve tested this out myself…”

“…”

“I might take a little longer to return. I just got a call from Aunty Xinqing and the General. There’s a place he told me about which I plan on checking out…”

“…”

“I know… But if you encounter any danger at all, call me.”

“…”

“That giant pile of bones should be harmless, I’ve already confirmed that its Soul Flame has been extinguished. It just looks a little scary, that’s all. Besides, the outside is too dangerous for the whole inn to evacuate. Just stay there for now…”

Soon after we ended our call, I heard Sima Junmo’s stern voice chime in from behind me. “Lady Mo Ke, I’ve completed my questioning. The situation is as follows…”

I turned around to find Sima Junmo smiling at me with a perpetually ingratiating look.

As he began explaining what he learnt from those six, I couldn’t help but marvel to myself all of a sudden: maybe knock-off goods weren’t that bad after all…

“So what you’re saying is that they drank a fake?”

My jaw nearly fell to the ground when I heard that ludicrously simple explanation.

“That’s right. After our investigations, we found out that all six of them had procured their serums through black market sources.” Sima Junmo proudly elaborated. “In the first place, that serum sold like hotcakes when they were first released. A lot of people wanted one, but the stock was just too limited. That’s when someone had the idea to start selling fakes… Who would’ve thought that this would end up saving lives instead…”

Well, that was a serendipitous display of stupidity….

“I’m surprised you managed to get an answer so quickly.” I looked at the man with genuine surprise and praise.

Sima Junmo immediately broke into a smile wider than his cheeks would logically allow. “Lady Mo Ke is too kind, interrogation is my previous line of work!”

Hah. Who would’ve thought he actually made a living off his brains… in the past anyway…

“Some of my comrades are holed up in a nearby inn with more survivors. I was planning to lead you all there, but the outside is too dangerous right now. With our current manpower, I can’t guarantee all the survivors’ safety. That’s why I’ve decided that you guys should fortify this location for now. I’ll search for more reinforcements in the meantime.”

Even if the majority of the population was dead now, there should still be small pockets of survivors scattered about. If I was lucky, I might even find some ability users who weren’t crooked.

Based on Aunty Xinqing’s videos, these new ability users were all powerful in their own right. Even that worthless tri-colored hoodlum was able to control that giant skeletal monster. If he actually managed to complete that monster, it would have probably been fifty meters tall!

As a comparison, a Mobile Armor was usually twenty to thirty meters tall. At fifty meters, I wouldn’t be surprised if his skeletal construct was able to slap a Mobile Armor to death.

“Lady Mo Ke is leaving?”

“… Officer Sima… you’re a grown man, for crying out loud. Don’t give me that abandoned puppy look.”

“But Lady Mo Ke, you are in fact going to abandon us…”

So you’re not even going to deny it…

Looking at his forlorn expression reminiscent of a schoolboy who had his first love crushed, I couldn’t help but cringe a little. I nearly face-palmed myself as I mumbled, “What is this world coming to…”

“That’s right, that’s right. We were all living our own lives just not too long ago, and those terrorists had to mess it up for everyone… Those b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲ at Life Unbound Biotech are the worst, I hope they all get banished to the eighteenth level of Hell! How dare they upset Lady Mo Ke like this! Even the eighteenth level of Hell is too good for them!”

Sir, why are you getting so worked up like someone just killed your parents? And you’re the one that’s making me upset! At this rate, I doubt I will ever be able to convince you of my gender unless I get some kind of official document.

Fine, you know what? All that’s not important right now. What’s important is that I’m out of here.

“Just wait for my news. I have my own mission to complete.” With that said, I was really off.

But before I could even take a step further, Sima Junmo was already badgering me. “Lady Mo Ke, how about I go with you? I can help protect you.”

“No need. I can handle myself.”

At the end of the day, Sima Junmo was just a normal human, or perhaps an enhanced human at best. Compared to a normal person, he was definitely formidable. But to me… he might as well have been dirt; I could easily impart onto someone the ability to throw magic, after all.

Besides, even with his exosuit, his strength wasn’t exceptional when compared to those skeletal beasts. Having him follow me around might endanger my life instead.

Mind set, I quickened my pace then leapt out the nearest window.

“Ah!”

The survivors yelled in surprise, clearly not expecting someone to jump out at this height.

Yet even if this was the twentieth floor, I wasn’t the least bit worried about falling, as the moment the sky expanded before me, I spread open my purple wings.

Having barely fallen ten meters, I had stabilised myself to a standstill mid-air. I looked at the direction of the warehouse, then took off like a rocket.

“Only Lady Mo Ke can look so beautiful jumping off a building…”

Screw you!

I swear I need to distance myself from this idiot. At this rate, his stupidity might rub off on me.

However, not long after I left, Aunty Xinqing sent me a set of coordinates, with a note stating that there was a group of combatants there that seemed to have encountered a situation of sorts.

That was about all she told me, so I had no idea what to expect. Still, I decided right away to check out the area. Hopefully, I won’t leave empty-handed.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE