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In the past, we were forced out of the weapons factory due to our weakness. Faced with an unending wave of skeletal beasts and undead, retreat was unavoidable. However, now that I came upon that little windfall in the underground theme park, our overall combat power had risen multiple fold. My max SP had increased from 60 to 700, and I had even attained a powerful summon in the form of that inferno lion. Now was the time to reclaim that bio-exosuit.

However, by the time we reached the factory floor, we found the room an entire mess, and the bio-exosuit nowhere to be found.

Equipment had been strewn around in wrecked piles of metal, but there were no signs of that bio-exosuit anywhere. The most likely explanation would be that those monsters transported it elsewhere, or perhaps it had just been destroyed so completely… Regardless, there were no traces of it.

I swiftly slaughtered my way through its infested hallways, scouring them for any hints of where the bio-exosuit could be. However, there was still nothing, as if it had completely vanished from the face of Gaia.

“Not here either…”

“Don’t tell me it awoke some kind of consciousness and walked out by itself?” As always, our resident middle-schooler was more than ready to fill in the gaps with her crazy theories. The worst part was that she actually made sense… It was a bio-exosuit, what if it had some kind of soul inside it… or consciousness… Anyway, the fact is that it’s gone.

I guess there’s no reason to stay here then, we don’t have that much time to begin with, what with the chaos enveloping the city. Ghosts, skeletons, zombies, superhumans… At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a vampire started popping up; nothing would surprise me anymore.

Maybe a magical girl will suddenly round the corner and say hi.. Or not. But there’s a giant zombie at least. That giant zombie is jumping towards me right now.

With the force of a lumbering mammoth, the giant zombie leapt right at me, causing the ceiling to shake a little from the sheer force. No matter what manner of creature it was that stood in its way, the giant zombie simply barrelled through them like a bowling ball.

“Your Highness, we’re under attack!”

“Floaters!”

Lixiang and Floater were the first to discover the nearly five-meter tall, rampaging hulk of a zombie. Just based on its size alone, I would say it was at least a level five or six. Even the strongest of exosuits wouldn’t be able to take a hit from that and come out unscathed.

The two girls were clearly alarmed by this newcomer as well. They immediately took up a combat stance, but this would soon prove to be unnecessary.

“I’ll take care of it! Taste my sword!”

I pulled out Icy Inferno, and with another firm step forward, drew it in a wide, lunging slash.

A wave of overbearing sword energy, formed of an impossible combination of fire and ice, swept right through the zombie, slicing it in half…

Bam…

Black ichor splattered about in a rain of crushed bones and severed limbs.

“Only your Highness can strike a monster down like that in one swing!”

Lixiang stared adoringly at me, which I returned with a slight smile.

Floater, on the other hand, did not react much, but she was staring at me for some reason or another.

Yet barely a second later after that lumbering giant collapsed, the hallways reverberated with the sounds of more undead creatures. These skeletal beasts did not even consider the difference in our powers before they pounced at me, their empty eye sockets somehow burning with a tenacity only matched by their lack of intelligence.

“Let’s leave, there’s no reason for us to linger.”

Because of the cramped interior of the factory, I dared not summon my inferno lion or fire elementals, lest their overwhelming attacks cause the ceiling to collapse.

Thankfully, Icy Inferno was a powerful weapon in its own right. No monster could survive a swing of its elemental blade!

We quickly left the underground factory and proceeded to our next destination: the 12th District. However, there were a few survivor camps we had to drop by on the way. These were all locations marked out on my map by aunty Xinqing. Each had their own defenders, whether it was a group of soldiers armed with exosuits, or perhaps ability users.

Because the Federation had already announced that help was on the way, and also because only three days had passed so far, there was still some semblance of order amongst the survivors. Barring the truly incorrigible, most of these survivor camps were actually waiting for the Federation’s promised rescue. Battered in spirit they might be, but they still clung to the old order of society.

That tri-colored hoodlum and Yamabe Takuma were clearly exceptions. In some sense, what was truly terrifying wasn’t the physical change that befallen the city, but rather the psychological warping.

Take an apple, for example. The outside could be all red and shiny, but one bite later, you discover that it’s rotten. But it’s already too late, because there’s a half-eaten worm sticking out of the flesh…

As for those ugly apples… Thanks, but no thanks! I value appearances, very much so! Anyway, physical changes: not scary. Psychological changes: scary. Because you can’t tell until it’s too late.

After arranging to bring the survivors back to the inn at night, the three of us continued our journey, quickly arriving at the abandoned munitions factory hidden within the 12th District.

The entrance to the factory was stashed away in an abandoned warehouse. The 12th District itself could be said to be the tail-end of Southern Plains. And this abandoned warehouse was at the outskirts of this outskirt. Basically, no one came here. In fact, no one came here since it was sealed up. I could tell… because the tape labelling the warehouse as sealed hadn’t been touched.

As for why we were still using such an ancient method… who knows…

Because this place was so remote, there were not many zombies around either.

Lixiang had already sliced apart the nearby zombies in a fit of excited point-farming rage. As she basked in the afterglow of the points, I could tell she was still hungering for more.

Honestly, she did not have to work so hard, I could easily earn enough to feed our family… I mean, feed her… I mean… Never mind.

“Let’s have a look inside… According to General Rodenas, this place was sealed up years ago. He doesn’t know the exact reason, but according to the records, there should be some abandoned munitions we can use here.”

Given Southern Plains’s current situation, procuring these arms would help any future survivors stay alive. Or at the very least, arming them would allow them to fend off any ordinary zombie.

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