Chapter 147

The armed police captain looked Lin Tu over. "I'll assign two people to protect you."

Lin Tu wanted to say she didn't need it, but the captain had already called over the messenger from before. "Hai Song, Ming Lan, you two protect this..." After Zhou Yi made the introductions, he continued, "This Miss Lin."

Two tall, fully armed figures—one male, one female—stood behind her, and a sense of security washed over her from head to toe. The words she'd been about to say got swallowed back down.

Right, she did need protection.

"The commander-in-chief has made comprehensive predictions about the possible disasters in our disaster zone and has issued directives for our current situation," the captain said formally, then quickly began issuing orders. "Time is life. The military has already dispatched reinforcements and taken the initiative to enter the disaster zone. What we need to do now is to figure out the temporary camps of these monsters as thoroughly as possible, or find their weaknesses, and provide key intelligence to the military!"

"All of Tenglong Assault Squad, stand by! Group A, six of you, take this letter from the commander-in-chief immediately and head to headquarters. Stay concealed along the way! Groups B through P, fifteen groups, gear up now and prepare to advance immediately. Recon units, sniper units, demolition units, provide support..."

"This time we're facing unprecedented, dangerous monsters. Everyone, stay sharp! Fight bravely in rescue operations, protect the people, and earn new merits! Shed blood and sweat but not tears; lose skin and heads but never fall behind!"

As the armed police unit was gearing up, about to push forward with two "salted fish" in tow, a monster was slowly approaching an old residential building just one street away from the police station.

On the third floor of the residential building, a man in his twenties—his hair so greasy it looked like he hadn't washed it in ten or fifteen days, his face covered in acne—was clutching a golden ring in ecstasy.

Twenty-four years. A full twenty-four years he'd been treated like garbage, looked down on, dismissed. Until today, he was finally going to flip his fate and shout those words: Don't bully the young! He had a golden finger! All those who had rejected him, mocked him—now they'd kneel at his feet and beg for his forgiveness!

A cold female voice sounded again in his ears: "Global horror descends. Congratulations, player, on becoming the Chosen One. Chosen One Qi Bin, greetings. This is your second cycle. We are now unlocking your pre-rebirth memories..."

"Still not done unlocking..."

Just as Qi Bin was beginning to doubt the so-called rebirth memories, a powerful surge of energy slammed into his brain, and memories vivid as physical reality flashed before his eyes like a lantern show.

When he saw himself growing stronger with the golden ring, standing tall like a certain M-nation captain, holding a massive shield in the face of the night, surrounded by beautiful, long-legged girls with slender waists screaming for him, he immediately believed the memories were real. If only because—this "past life" was just too wonderful.

He couldn't deny such a past life. That would be worse than killing him.

Then, Qi Bin's expression turned sour.

He saw himself being envied for his great power, pushed into a monster horde by the very brother who swore loyalty to him. The girl he liked cried and tried to pull him back—he was deeply moved, and on his deathbed, he handed her the golden ring. The next second, he saw his brother and that girl embracing each other.

A man who could have become the world's overlord—he'd handed the opportunity away. (As for why he'd be the world's overlord, where was the country in all this? Wasn't the country just cannon fodder that vanished at the start?)

Qi Bin clenched the ring tightly—

The cold female voice continued: "[Horror Descends] has given you a chance to live again. This time, you must change everything and grasp your own destiny!"

Qi Bin nodded quickly. "I will!"

"Mission One: Sacrifice the corpse of a human. Reward: Physical abilities receive a certain degree of enhancement."

The moment he saw "kill a human," Qi Bin hesitated. He wasn't a good person, but he wasn't evil either. To make him kill...

While he was hesitating, Qi Bin heard a loud crash from below. He hurried to the window and looked down—the entrance door to his building's unit had been ripped off and tossed aside.

It was a monster...

Panicked commotion erupted from downstairs. Qi Bin knew the residents below—a family of three. The husband should still be at work at this hour; he hadn't seen him come back all day, so downstairs should only be the mother and a young girl of about ten.

Qi Bin instinctively moved to help, but then he looked at his own frail arms... His body hadn't been enhanced yet.

A memory flashed through his mind: the little girl he occasionally ran into on his commute, beaming a bright smile at him. Then he remembered the scene from his memories—him giving everything to save them, only to be betrayed in the end. Qi Bin gritted his teeth, returned to his room, closed the door tightly, and put on his noise-cancelling headphones.

—Hurry up, time. That way he'd have two corpses to sacrifice.

On the second floor of the residential building.

The mother was tightly covering her daughter's mouth, both of them curled up in the bedroom wardrobe.

She could feel the monster wandering around inside her home. For some reason, the monster had targeted their family specifically. The mother and daughter had assumed the monster had some special ability and they'd soon die a violent death. But strangely, the monster seemed blind—it kept searching without finding them.

This standoff lasted a long while, until finally a commotion broke out downstairs.

At the entrance to the neighborhood, the armed police unit had just opened the police station gates and was pushing outward in an encircling formation when they slammed straight into three monsters, drawn by the noise.

Lin Tu had already drawn her long blade. Earlier, she'd relied purely on brute force to break through the monsters' metal-like shells and kill them.

So based on her experience, Lin Tu thought violent suppression could deal with these monsters.

But the current situation was different. Under heavy gunfire, the monsters only staggered back two steps before continuing forward. The metal tendrils on their bodies seemed able to accurately judge the trajectory of incoming bullets and deflect them in time.

Lin Tu remembered how she'd broken through a monster's defense before—the barbed wire had tightly bound the monster, preventing its tendrils from moving freely, which allowed her to hack at its body without obstruction.

"Try the electric guns!" Lin Tu suddenly realized, and quickly said to Ming Lan beside her.

"Huh?" Ming Lan was puzzled.

No time to explain. Watching the monsters about to cross the safe distance and reach the armed police, Lin Tu casually pulled the electric gun from Zhou Yi's waist, fired at the monsters, and at the same time bent down to grab a handful of yellow earth from the ground. She popped a blueberry into her mouth, activated [Moonlight Before Doom] and [Lighthouse] simultaneously, and shot forward into the gaps between the armed police ahead.

After [Lighthouse] was upgraded to S-rank using [Promotion], it allowed Lin Tu to move like a beam of light, briefly traversing any gap or pipe within ten seconds, undetectable by ordinary people—even invisible to the naked eye.

Hai Song had just been about to stop Lin Tu from taking the electric gun, thinking it was absurd to hand such a weapon to two untrained people. Then he saw the electric needle fired from the gun strike the monster's neck precisely. The instant it discharged electricity, the needle was deflected.

But that shot clearly had some effect—the monster visibly stalled for half a second, and a bullet struck its body. Yet it wasn't enough.

Its two companions had already raised their arms high and charged at the frontmost armed police.

"Groups one through five, fall back! Try fire attack!"

In that moment of distraction, Hai Song didn't even notice Lin Tu's disappearance. Ming Lan only felt that the person beside her suddenly vanished, then reappeared as if an illusion.

And in that brief span, the two monsters suddenly came to a miraculous halt.

Without the tendrils to block them, bullets struck their bodies, and volley after volley quickly punched through.

"It's the electric guns!" The captain caught on and swiftly changed tactics. "No fire attack! Groups one through five, fall back to the flanks and use electric guns! The rest of you, keep up the suppressive fire!"

Ming Lan's gaze fixed steadily on Lin Tu. Was it really the electric gun? That needle had only hit one monster—how were the other two controlled? She couldn't help feeling it had something to do with this woman...

Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt something heavy drop into her pocket.

Ming Lan glanced around warily, reached into her pocket, and touched something round and cold. A message naturally appeared in her mind—

[One-Time Protective Barrier (E-rank / Old Man Fortune Has Arrived~): Throw it to the ground to form a circular protective barrier with a one-meter diameter, lasting 5 minutes. Can block certain attacks from C-F rank monsters, can block one attack from A-B rank monsters, cannot block attacks from A+ rank monsters.]

Ming Lan: "???" Was she crazy?

At this moment, Lin Tu had no idea that by using [Night Blueberry], Old Man Fortune had secretly handed out an item on her behalf. She scattered [A Handful of Yellow Earth] on the three monsters' faces and teleported back using the moonlight she'd left in place.

Looking up again, she saw that the three monsters, hard-controlled for ten seconds, had indeed been riddled with bullets and soon collapsed, unable to move.

The dense gunfire attracted a few more monsters, but the captain's spirits soared because they'd found a way to counter the monsters.

"Who fired the electric gun?" The captain followed the pointing finger to Lin Tu, exclaiming excitedly, "Truly the messenger of God! This must be God's command! On behalf of the entire Tenglong Assault Squad, I thank you!"

The others also looked at her with reverent gratitude.

Zhou Yi coughed awkwardly—whose fault was this, anyway? Lin Tu gave her a long, dark look and said it was fine.

Three monsters dead by gunfire—morale surged instantly.

"Keep pushing! First, rescue the residents in the nearby buildings!" The captain led his men to take down a few more monsters, then directed the teams to split up and enter the surrounding buildings. Zhou Yi had gotten enough information; returning to the disaster required going back to the cabin, so the two of them joined the squad heading to Peace Restaurant.

First stop: the residential building.

Before they even reached the entrance, Lin Tu saw the thoroughly destroyed unit door.

The other team members saw it too. The squad leader gestured "shhh," and with Ming Lan and Song Hai guarding Lin Tu and the others, everyone moved cautiously upstairs.

On the second floor, seeing the broken door, they were certain the monster was inside.

They just didn't know if the residents were still alive...

The squad filed through the entrance and came face-to-face with the monster prowling in the living room.

The team member manning the electric gun didn't hesitate—he aimed and emptied the magazine.

The monster was electrocuted into numbness, unable to move. At the same time, other team members raised their guns and fired. The sheer intensity made it look like even a steel plate standing in front would be shredded into a sieve.

Lin Tu and Zhou Yi huddled quietly behind the team members, playing salted fish. The whole building seemed to tremble, yet the two of them enjoyed total peace.

"Help! We're in here!"

Just then, a cry for help came from the bedroom.

Hearing the voice, the monster seemed to get a shot of adrenaline. Ignoring the team members in front of it, it turned and charged into the bedroom.

It barreled through, demolishing the entire wall. As the wall collapsed, what came into view was the mother and daughter who had just emerged from the wardrobe—clinging to each other, eyes full of terror, utterly defenseless.

"No!" Just as Lin Tu was about to activate her skill, she heard Ming Lan yell, and the latter pulled a strange object from her pocket and hurled it at the mother and daughter.

Then, the thing smashed at their feet, and a visible curtain of light burst from its center, shielding the mother who was clutching her daughter.

The scene they'd imagined—the monster grabbing the mother and daughter and tearing them apart—didn't happen. Its claws were stopped dead before the barrier of light.

As countless bullets poured into it, it slowly collapsed, and the curtain of light scattered like fragments of starlight, fading into the night.

"Mom, it's light!" The daughter looked up and saw it, delighted.

"Don't look, don't look..." The mother pressed down on her daughter.

"It's okay, Mom. The light protected us." She hugged her mother back, smiling innocently.

Across from them, the armed police all turned their heads in unison, staring at Ming Lan, who had just thrown the item.

They were all teammates who knew each other through and through—when did this kid get something like this? Their eyes all said, "Confess and get leniency, resist and get harsh."

"I don't know either. It just suddenly appeared in my bag," Ming Lan was dumbfounded too. She'd thrown that thing out on instinct, never expecting it to actually work! She thought for a moment and repeated the explanation that had appeared in her mind.

Lin Tu, who had been wondering whether this was something like [Infinite Calamity], froze the next second—this Old Man Fortune was her?!

Zhou Yi had seen plenty of explanations like this for items, so she was the first to suspect Lin Tu. She turned and caught Lin Tu's slightly startled, then enlightened expression. Well, that confirmed it—

"It's my passive skill," Lin Tu said helplessly, seeing the others' suspicion bordering on tearing up the floorboards beneath Ming Lan.

Their eyes turned back to her.

Song Hai's challenge came even faster than Zhou Yi's: "Why does she have one but I don't!"

"It's random," Lin Tu said. "Wherever I am, there's a chance items are randomly distributed to people nearby."

The eyes staring at her began to gleam, like they wanted to lock her up and wait for items to rain from the sky. Even Zhou Yi looked eager.

"It's a very low-probability event. Rarely happens," Lin Tu said. After all, she'd have to use an item herself to trigger Old Man Fortune. Seeing their continued skepticism, and not wanting to reveal her identity or the truth, she thought for a moment and explained, "I mean, I'm the mascot, right? Heh heh... God only sends one when he's happy."

They all believed it immediately.

Lin Tu: "..." She had to admit, Zhou Yi's excuse of "everything is up to God" was pretty useful.

"No wonder you got to be God's mascot. Such good luck—being around Miss Lin boosts our luck too," Song Hai said with a pleased grin.

Ming Lan shoved him aside and took her place on either side of Zhou Yi, flanking Lin Tu as if afraid Song Hai would suck away the luck. Zhou Yi, even bolder, looped her arm through Lin Tu's out of familiarity.

Lin Tu, boxed in from all sides: "..." And you, Zhou Yi—why are you joining in too?! Do you even believe that excuse yourself?

Enough idle chatter. Once the monster was dealt with, the armed police squad smoothly secured the entire building.

Zhou Yi had already pulled some apples, milk, and bread from her backpack and handed them out one by one to the frightened residents.

Lin Tu stood in the corner, watching the mother and daughter. Thinking back to how the monster had ignored the armed police right in front of it and charged straight at them, something felt off. Based on her understanding of monsters, these low-intelligence creatures only did things like that when given explicit orders. Otherwise, they'd act on instinct—killing whoever was closest.

So... who was controlling that monster?

Lin Tu's gaze drifted to a few residents from the other floors, and one boy caught her attention.

Everyone else was clutching their milk and sipping it in small sips to calm their nerves. He didn't look frightened at all. Instead, he kept glancing up at the mother and daughter, then at the armed police busy handing out supplies—his expression could only be described as stunned.

Qi Bin was, in fact, utterly stunned right now. He'd heard the loud crash earlier and taken off his headphones, certain the mother and daughter must be dead.

But before he could feel sad, he heard a knock on the door. He opened it... police?

No, no. According to his past-life memories, how were these police here? Weren't the police supposed to be cannon fodder from the very start? Wasn't that how it went in the movies and TV shows?

What stunned Qi Bin even more was that the mother and daughter were perfectly fine—the girl had even wolfed down three packs of bread in one go.

Absolutely unbelievable!

So what was he supposed to do now?

With the police in control, everyone had to relocate to the police station for shelter—supposedly there were massive amounts of supplies there: tents, sleeping bags, clothes, food, and plenty of ammunition to keep the station safe.

Safe was safe, but what about his sacrifice? Were there any corpses in the police station?

Lin Tu, who had been watching him the whole time, thought for a moment and called over Song Hai. In a low voice, she said, "Have someone keep an eye on him. I think... something's wrong. God tells me he's problematic."

Song Hai nodded immediately, memorizing the boy's face.

After sending the residents from the building to the police station, everyone moved to Peace Restaurant next door.

Seeing the monster corpse on the ground, the team members' expressions turned wary.

Because the monster was visibly split in half, a brutal death. Given how tough its body was, they couldn't imagine what could cut it in half.

"The power of God," Zhou Yi said mysteriously, covering for Lin Tu.

The team members straightened with reverence.

They went up to the third floor.

Seeing a squad of police and Lin Tu and the others leading them, the owner and her two nephews—three young women—were speechless, tears welling up and streaming down all at once. Afraid the noise would attract monsters, they didn't dare cry too loudly. It was utterly pitiful.

"It's okay. Come with us to the police station for shelter. It's not safe here," Zhou Yi said, habitually handing out a pile of supplies.

The three clutching milk bottles were sent off, and Zhou Yi also said goodbye to the armed police. Lin Tu escorted her back to the meeting room—

"I'll go bring in the main force. Hold on tight, and you stay safe too," Zhou Yi instructed.

Then, Lin Tu ended the invitation early. When she opened the door again, the room was empty.

A very faint "pop" sounded outside the window. Lin Tu looked up and saw three red signal flares rising like ascending suns, shooting one after another into the sky, nearly lighting up half the heavens.

Then, an orange signal flare soared up from the direction of the police station.

Someone knocked on the door. Lin Tu opened it—it was one of the armed police.

"That's our team's signal. They must have found the monsters' gathering spot. But according to protocol, finding the lair means firing just one flare. Three in a row means danger," the team member said. "The captain's calling an emergency muster. We need to head back fast."

Lin Tu nodded, packed her things quickly, and followed the team member back to the police station.

"Bad news! We've found a monster that looks very human. It seems to be controlling the others, attacking from the south!"

Meanwhile.

Zhou Yi had returned to the outside of the disaster.

She'd vanished from her spot in a baffling way and reappeared in a baffling way—like a miracle. But no one had the mood to investigate miracles right now. They were just grateful such a miracle existed. Everyone crowded around to ask what was happening, with the commander-in-chief moving fastest.

Zhou Yi quickly relayed everything she knew. Their expressions turned grave, but when they heard that electric shocks might suppress the monsters, some of the tension eased.

"Good, good, excellent!" The commander-in-chief praised. "Miss Zhou, go rest. Your contribution to saving Han City is indispensable!"

Several reconnaissance squads had already gone into the fog. Though they'd sent no messages back, based on the information Zhou Yi brought and what Lin Tu had secretly passed on through her, the fog seemed to only restrict entry—those squads might have already made it into the disaster zone.

"Now it's time for our main force to move," the commander-in-chief said with a smile. She clapped her hands, even a little excited. "Load up the big guns. They're afraid of electric shocks, are they? Then let's give them something really big!"

"Something big?" Zhou Yi was curious.

"You'll see soon enough," the commander-in-chief smiled at her and made a shushing gesture. Her aged face, which had been heavy with weariness these past days, now looked almost relaxed.

On the other side, the armed police squad that had discovered the human-like monster had already dispatched another assault team to rescue the residents closest to it.

At Lin Tu's strong insistence, she, Ming Lan, and the others joined the assault team and set out through the night.

Qi Bin, left behind at the police station, lay in the sleeping bag the armed police had provided. It was time to sleep, but his mind was full of that cold female voice—

No. With disaster descending, he still had to grow stronger. Only then could he grasp his own destiny!