Chapter 50: The Legendary Evolver

Wherever the J5 passed, ordinary zombies had no time to dodge and were sent flying. Its two massive arms swung left and right, batting aside these low-level zombies as it charged straight toward the city gate behind the Zombie Queen.

“Is that the Corpse King?” The commander atop the city wall peered through his night-vision goggles at the rapidly approaching female Corpse King, his heart skipping a beat. Shouldn’t the Corpse King attack last? The battle had barely begun; this was completely outside the expected pattern.

A shift of his goggles brought the enormous D5 zombie into view. The commander hastily grabbed his radio and urgently called for reinforcements from the base’s control room: “Reporting, sir! The Corpse King has joined the attack, and there’s also a gigantic, at least level-five, warrior-type zombie. Request immediate support!”

“It’s you!” An old man, watching the Corpse Queen charge forward, hesitated at first. Then, seeing the scar on her shoulder, he suddenly recalled—three months ago, the Corpse Queen had led a horde here. He had repelled them, destroying the entire horde and wounding her. That victory had brought him many rewards, especially two beautiful young wives more than forty years his junior; all thanks to repelling the zombie tide—and all thanks to this Corpse Queen. He hadn’t expected to see her again today.

“It’s me.” The Corpse Queen answered, and as her words fell, she stamped the ground. The earth shook as she shot toward the old man like a cannonball. The old man, seeing her charge, swung his weapon in a flurry, unleashing powerful slashes.

The Corpse Queen smashed apart the incoming slashes with tightly clenched fists, twisting in the air to whip her tail toward him.

A metallic clatter rang out—within an instant, the Corpse Queen had attacked over a dozen times. Yet the old man, moving with the mastery of a martial arts grandmaster, skillfully spun his weapon, blocking every strike along her tail’s path.

“You old bastard, come down here if you dare!” Snarled the Corpse Queen, landing on the ground in frustration. The old man, floating overhead, was beyond her reach. She could do nothing but fume, veins bulging in her forehead.

“Though I’m old, I’m not stupid! If you have the guts, fly up here and fight me,” the old man taunted, rolling his eyes at her from above, wearing the look one gives a fool. Humanity, after all, had survived not through brute strength, but through wisdom.

“You—! You’ll be the death of me!” The Corpse Queen was far stronger now, utterly different from before, yet still she couldn’t do anything about this old man who could flit about in the sky. It was like a dog trying to bite a hedgehog—no place to sink her teeth.

Seizing a severed zombie body from the ground, she hurled it like a shell. Her strength was impressive—the corpse flew with a lingering afterimage, crashing straight toward the old man.

He dealt with it effortlessly, his longsword slicing the bodies in two, letting the halves whip past him in a display of casual elegance.

The J5 zombie arrived beside the Corpse Queen, deftly grabbing her and hurling her toward the old man. Claws extending, she collided with the old man’s sword. The J5’s brute force was immense, forcing the old man to slide backward, nearly landing atop the city wall. At that moment, a soldier in uniform stepped out expressionless, kicked the Corpse Queen in the side, and with a quick grab, spun the old man in the air, dissipating the force of her attack.

The Corpse Queen crashed into the ground, carving a crater. Clutching her side, she looked up at the soldier floating motionless in the air. This man felt even more formidable than the old man—his aura stronger by far. His pristine uniform gleamed with bright insignia amid the artillery fire: two stripes and three stars—a colonel-level evolver.

“Level seven?” Ma Yi, who had been about to sit down, straightened at the sight of the changing scene along the wall. Was this the true foundation of a top-tier base, or were human evolvers simply advancing more easily? A level six evolver was already a force to be reckoned with, yet here was a legendary level seven. Against the towering J4 zombies, this seemingly slight man could take their attacks head-on, his defense matching or even surpassing theirs.

“All units, attack at full strength!” The Corpse Queen, quick to arrive and quick to withdraw, gave her command. Zombies armed with bone spears joined the fray, hurling their weapons at the wall. The moment a bone spear struck, it detonated, sending shards tearing through any humans too slow to evade.

“Defend! Defend!” the commander shouted, watching as the low-level evolvers on the wall were shredded by bone-shard explosions in an instant.

Where high-level evolvers stood, the situation was better—they could repel the bone spears, but the detonations still left them wounded. Fortunately, these were mostly superficial injuries—but unfortunately, the shards carried corpse venom, and infection was deadly.

At first, everyone was too busy dodging spears to notice, but after ten minutes, evolvers on the wall began to turn, grabbing and biting those nearby. The situation spiraled out of control.

Seizing the chaos, J-type zombies tossed ordinary zombies upward, hurling them over the diminished firewall onto the wall. Some crashed and died or fell into the flames, but most landed successfully.

The J5 zombie seized the moment to throw the Corpse Queen toward the wall. The uniformed warrior, momentarily distracted by the chaos, saw her flying his way. In a dazzling, explosive move, he spun in midair and struck her down again.

Several J4 zombies, accompanied by S4s, gathered near the Corpse Queen. The S4s crouched on the J4s’ arms, their gazes coldly fixed on the soldier. Through it all, the soldier’s face remained expressionless, as if he were a lifeless machine.

The Corpse Queen glared at the old man peering over the wall behind the soldier, her teeth grinding audibly. The J5 zombie picked her up once more, ready to throw her again, while the J4s began to gather their strength.

A series of heavy thuds sounded as S4 zombies clawed their way from craters in the ground, baring their teeth at the floating soldier.

The Corpse Queen struggled to her feet, shaking off her dizziness. Astonishingly, three more figures emerged to hover in the air beside the soldier. These three had just knocked down the S4s, and their auras matched that of the first.

“Are all top bases cheating?” Ma Yi mused, watching the soldiers. Only moments ago, he’d thought a single level seven evolver was remarkable—yet now three more legendary evolvers had appeared. Even more intriguing, he sensed another equally strong fighter battling atop the wall; the stream of zombies and wounded flying off made it clear this was another level seven—another legend.

The only thing that struck Ma Yi as odd was the peculiar coldness of these level seven evolvers; in his perception, they exuded a chilling aura, like emotionless killing machines.

Indeed, to cultivate these five level seven evolvers, the Southern Base had subjected all candidates to inhuman torment. Forty percent of the special operatives broke under the strain and died, thirty percent perished from their injuries, and over twenty percent were killed by the five survivors.

Out of two hundred elite evolvers, only these five remained, and each bore psychological scars. They were normally confined to specific areas—lest they inadvertently slaughter others. Thankfully, they retained a sliver of sanity, and the base used various means of control to keep them in check. Without such measures, these five alone could threaten the entire base, especially within the tangled slums, where their pursuit would be nearly impossible without resorting to weapons of mass destruction.

One of the level seven evolvers glanced at the Corpse Queen, a cruel smile slowly twisting his icy face. In a flash, he dove from the sky, landing before her. A quick uppercut sent the Corpse Queen flying; a whip kick followed, launching her another twenty meters.

The J5 zombie, seeing the Corpse Queen attacked, charged forward. It was slower than the evolver, who effortlessly dodged its punch. The ground shook as the J5’s fist slammed down, leaving a crater.

The reason level seven evolvers could “fly” was not some supernatural ability, but sheer speed—their movements so quick they appeared to hover, creating an illusion for those of lower rank. The principle was the same as for level six evolvers; their power was simply far greater.

Even from a distance, Ma Yi could see clearly. He could fly in just this way, and in fact, his own flight abilities surpassed those of the level seven evolver—an effect of extreme speed, causing a visual illusion for weaker beings.

“Master, how is the situation ahead?” Li Li, who had been listening to Ma Yi narrate the battle, grew worried when he fell silent. She wasn’t concerned for the Corpse Queen, but feared some unforeseen incident would prevent her last wish from being fulfilled.

“Don’t worry—it’s a small matter. Xu Qiang is fine. I promise you’ll get to kill him yourself,” Ma Yi assured her with a laugh. In his eyes, neither these people nor the zombies could withstand true power. In his mind, he reevaluated the comparative ranks of zombies and humans.

J1 and S1 zombies were Black Iron rank. J2 and S2 were Bronze. J3 and S3 were Silver. D4 was Gold. J5, a level five zombie, was Purple Gold. Beyond that was level six, Diamond rank, or what he called the ‘Reversion’ stage—like the Corpse Queen now, whose skin had begun reverting to a human-like appearance, nearly indistinguishable from one, with a sense of returning to the original essence. After Diamond came level seven, the ‘Transcendence’ stage—like when Ma Yi had previously transformed into a child-like form, surpassing normal bounds and feeling like a complete rebirth. During the early part of this stage, transformation was impossible, but after adapting, that ability would return. At present, Ma Yi considered himself at the Terror rank—a term the Corpse Queen had mentioned during their conversations. To her, he felt like a creature of utter darkness and fear, so he defined his own rank as Terror.

At equal levels, humans could not defeat zombies. Before level six, human evolvers were limited by their inability to fly, severely restricting their abilities. Against zombies or evolved beasts, they simply couldn’t compete on even ground and required higher-level evolvers to intervene. Once they reached level six and gained flight, they could kite zombies of equal rank. As for evolved beasts, Ma Yi wasn’t yet sure, but legendary evolvers should easily dominate zombies at their own level—though zombies’ superior defenses made them hard to kill.