Chapter 63: The Attack (1)

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

If asked what he regretted most in his life, An Sheng would firmly tell you it was choosing to save Ye Rong and Wu Hongyu. Their presence completely altered everything at Yushan and transformed An Sheng’s destiny.

The ten-day snowstorm had finally ceased. Golden sunlight once again spread across the land, and though it brought little warmth, it lifted the oppressive atmosphere. The residents of Yushan Fortress were clearing snow outside the cave while children built snowmen and had snowball fights. A cheerful atmosphere permeated the hearts of all survivors. The newly arrived women and children had adapted to their environment – to them, this abandoned military fortress called Yushan was truly a paradise in this post-apocalyptic world.

Just as An Sheng had said, this place had ample food, beds that were warm if not particularly comfortable, and people who treated each other like family. Everyone relied on and supported one another, collectively building this dreamlike sweet home in the midst of the apocalypse.

“I told you, if we had a bulldozer, would we still need to clear snow manually? Xiao An, why didn’t you drive back that bulldozer from Huan’an last time?” The Butcher started complaining again, already his fifteenth complaint of the day.

An Sheng was growing impatient. This storytelling butcher was always like this – his words came so thick and fast it made people want to punch him.

“Brother Wang, you’re criticizing without understanding the situation. That big machine moves so slowly it would attract all those man-eating monsters along the way. Would you be the one to deal with them then?” Zhou Xiaoxiao detested this guy the most, especially after the Butcher had turned her and An Sheng’s story into one of his tales. She utterly loathed this sharp-tongued butcher.

Hearing someone defend An Sheng, and it being Zhou Xiaoxiao – one of the protagonists in the love triangle with An Sheng – Old Wang immediately became interested. He laughed heartily and teased: “Doctor Zhou, I was asking An Sheng. Why are you so worked up? I didn’t say anything wrong. Are you feeling protective? Or maybe…” He trailed off with loud laughter.

Leaving sentences half-finished to allow infinite imagination was Old Wang’s linguistic art. The effect was remarkably evident – with rumors about Zhou Xiaoxiao’s feelings for An Sheng already circulating throughout the fortress, her immediately jumping to An Sheng’s defense now seemed like indirect confirmation. The survivors clearing snow began joining the Butcher in stirring up excitement.

“Get together! Get together! Get together!”

This completely overwhelmed the naturally shy Zhou Xiaoxiao. Throwing down her tools, she dashed back into the cave in a flash.

“Hahaha…” Zhou Xiaoxiao’s fleeing in embarrassment naturally provoked roaring laughter from everyone.

Seeing the female lead had run off while the male lead remained, everyone redirected their attention to An Sheng. The ringleader was undoubtedly the Butcher.

“Xiao An, your Doctor Zhou has run off. Why are you still working like nothing happened? Go after her!”

An Sheng rolled his eyes, thinking this guy really deserved a beating! But he had grown accustomed to the Butcher’s teasing. Dealing with him was actually quite simple.”Nie Chong!” An Sheng shouted towards Nie Chong, who was sweeping snow in the distance.

“What’s up? Xiao An, is something wrong?” Nie Chong responded with a chuckle. He had heard the commotion over here and could roughly guess what An Sheng was up to, though he didn’t voice it directly.

An Sheng deliberately raised his voice and called out loudly to Nie Chong, “Captain Nie Chong, everyone’s training has been slacking off lately due to the snow. I think today’s good weather is perfect for some physical training!”

“Xiao An, you’re using your position to settle personal scores!” Butcher’s face instantly darkened. Physical training in the snow? Was he insane?

Of course, he wasn’t the only one protesting—many others joined in loudly!

“Right, Butcher’s correct! Xiao An, this is retaliation! We protest!”

“Protest! Protest! Protest!”

An Sheng hadn’t expected to draw so much backlash and felt irritated. He quickly changed tactics, aiming to break them apart from within.

“It’s not my fault! If you want to blame anyone, blame Butcher Wang for stirring up trouble. His foul mouth, which shouldn’t exist in this world, is the real culprit!”

This move worked effectively. Everyone immediately cast hostile glances at Butcher. Seeing their anger shifting, An Sheng seized the opportunity and added fuel to the fire.

“How about this: if you don’t want physical training, you can turn Butcher into a giant snowman instead, and we’ll call off today’s training!”

“Xiao An! You’re a bastard!”

Soon after, Butcher indeed became a snowman. Someone even creatively stuck a cigarette in his mouth. Butcher could only endure it silently, not daring to utter another word. Surrounded by over twenty kids, each holding a large snowball aimed at him, he knew that any movement would bring him a taste of winter’s joy.

Amid the laughter and cheer, an extremely discordant voice reached everyone’s ears.

“How delightfully blindingly happy! I never expected to find such an unconventional paradise in this apocalyptic world.”

Following the voice, they saw a handsome man dressed entirely in white, elegantly standing on the roof of the smelter building ahead. He swayed a folding fan, his wide white robes fluttering in the golden light, giving off the aura of a transcendent master. However, holding a folding fan in the dead of winter made anyone who saw him think not of a sage, but a complete lunatic.

“Who are you!”

The sudden appearance of someone so peculiarly dressed put An Sheng on high alert. He rushed to the front of the group in a few strides and loudly challenged the stranger. At the same time, he gestured behind his back with his right hand, signaling everyone to quickly take shelter in the Fortress’s bunker. Without a doubt, An Sheng knew this person was anything but ordinary.

“My apologies. Seeing such a harmonious scene, I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me! I am Gu Qingshui, also known as Qingshui Hermit. Oh, and I have another identity I must share. I am a Purifier, here to cleanse the sins of this era. And you, filthy and despicable humans—you are the very source of that sin!”The once ethereal and handsome young man, after uttering his final words, instantly transformed his expression into one of fanaticism, like a standard cult member willing to commit the most evil acts in the world for the Emissary he worshipped.

“Into the bunker!!!”

An Sheng roared, then drew the military saber from his waist and plunged it into his thigh. Instantly, thick, blood-colored pheromones spread through the air. A demon with horns on its head, a pair of demon wings on its back, and a sinister black flame burning above its head appeared before Gu Qingshui.

“Oh? A Lord Level Mutant? No, it doesn’t seem to have such intense biological energy fluctuations. What a fascinating discovery—this place actually harbors a peculiar mutant. What a windfall, what a windfall!”

Gu Qingshui laughed heartily, shaking the folding fan in his hand. He was genuinely overjoyed. Compared to stumbling upon a human settlement by tracking an unusual high-frequency signal, a peculiar mutant could be exchanged for a much larger energy quota with the Emissary.

An Sheng had never imagined that it was the high-frequency particle signal transmitter that had exposed Yushan’s location. And soon, he would realize that he was facing far more than just this one Purifier. Every Purifier capable of detecting the high-frequency signal was converging on Yushan. In other words, their Yushan Fortress had become the prime target in the eyes of the Purifiers.

Upon hearing An Sheng’s shout, all the survivors dropped their snow-clearing tools and immediately turned to run toward the bunker entrance, including Nie Chong and Xun Lili. Their weapons and equipment were still inside the cave. Especially for Nie Chong, he needed to equip his full-coverage exoskeleton armor to stand a chance in battle against the Alien Race.

“Pighead Three! Attack!”

An Sheng knew all too well what a Purifier represented. Last time, if he hadn’t feigned death to catch the Purifier named Chen Mu off guard, he would have long been a corpse. Every Purifier was synonymous with terror, without exception.

Pighead Three’s lair was in the factory building right under the feet of the Purifier named Gu Qingshui. Responding to An Sheng’s call, Pighead Three let out a roar filled with brutality, bursting through the factory roof and immediately spotting Gu Qingshui atop it. Without any hesitation, Pighead Three swung its massive cleaver at the human before it. Even without An Sheng’s command, Pighead Three could sense the pressure emanating from the man and a deep, genetic revulsion.

Facing the oncoming cleaver, Gu Qingshui merely smiled faintly, gently swaying his folding fan as his entire body drifted like an autumn leaf, effortlessly evading Pighead Three’s full-force strike.

“Vermin will always be vermin. How could lower life forms possess ‘courtesy’? It seems I overestimated you. Allow me to introduce my ability—’Hurricane’!”As Gu Qingshui’s voice echoed through the air, a powerful gust of wind materialized out of nowhere, sweeping across the open ground before the bunker like a Category 12 hurricane. Several children who hadn’t yet entered the bunker were lifted off their feet by the ferocious gale. Had it not been for Xun Lili’s quick reflexes at the entrance, where she immediately activated her ability to rescue them, being blown high into the air and then falling would have meant certain death or severe injury at the very least.

Gu Qingshui’s ability was wind control, or more precisely, the manipulation of air currents. Of course, as a Purifier, his attacks were far from limited to just releasing violent storms. Soon, An Sheng witnessed the formidable assault of a true Purifier.

With a flick of his folding fan, Gu Qingshui sent a solid-looking Wind Blade shooting toward An Sheng at incredible speed. Not daring to test his body against this unfamiliar attack, An Sheng dodged aside. But he hadn’t anticipated the complexity of the technique—the Wind Blade that missed its target actually curved in mid-air and continued pursuing him.

“Damn it, it even has homing capabilities!” An Sheng cursed under his breath as he evaded again.

He had merely wanted to gauge the attack’s power to strategize for the coming battle, but this wretched Purifier’s technique turned out to be trackable. An Sheng’s speed was no match for the Wind Blade—as it cut through the air, he could even hear the tremendous sonic boom, indicating the blade had broken through air resistance to achieve terrifying supersonic speeds.

Seeing evasion was impossible, An Sheng had no choice but to brace for impact. He instantly hardened his entire body, but that wasn’t enough. He then activated the new ability acquired from that Mutant Zombie, causing the black flames above his head to surge violently before transforming into dark hellfire that enveloped his entire body.