Beheading Is Also Tiring Work

Han Shuang’s unusual behavior caught Tang Yingying’s attention.

She said in surprise, "Look at the way she is staring at those zombies, as if they were delicious food!"

"No way?"

The young man thought Tang Yingying was overthinking it. "Who would want to eat zombie meat? It’s so disgusting!"

Even Luo Yi felt Tang Yingying’s idea was too absurd. "Alright, Yingying, don't be too sensitive. How could anyone possibly eat zombie meat?"

Tang Yingying curled her lips. "Fine, maybe I was just overthinking."

Then, she resumed admiring Ao Xin’s heroic fighting posture.

He was simply drop-dead gorgeous, wasn't he?

After eliminating all the surrounding zombies and smashing the limbs and spines of the brute zombies, Ao Xin walked back carrying a steel whip. "Have your people go ahead."

"Once this wave of brute zombies is cleared out, have Tang Yingying lure the surrounding hopping corpses over."

Luo Yi and the others looked at the empty street. Was this still the apocalyptic world they knew?

He said to the young man beside him, "Xiaoshi, take some men to kill these crippled brute zombies. Make sure you count them accurately, and don't dare to pocket even a single point!"

He felt terrified of Ao Xin's strength. Those brute zombies had all been crippled by him. If Ao Xin remembered the exact count and someone on their side got greedy, wouldn't that be leading them all into a fire pit?

Shi Yu nodded and left, calling out to ten people in the crowd, "Follow me!"

He first verified the exact number before letting these people begin severing the heads of the brute zombies.

The bodies of brute zombies were much tougher than ordinary zombies, and their bones were much harder. It was no easy task for these people to chop off their heads.

Ao Xin glanced briefly at the work over there and lost interest, walking up to Han Shuang instead.

"Hungry?"

He could see the longing for zombie meat in Han Shuang’s eyes. "If you're hungry, go ahead and eat."

"Don't worry, with me here, no one dares to target you!"

His words were absolute, bringing a trace of warmth back into Han Shuang’s deadened heart, but she still held back.

"No, that would bring trouble upon you."

If others saw her eating zombie meat, not only would she be treated as a monster, but Ao Xin’s reputation would also be tarnished because of it.

She did not want to see that happen.

In this apocalyptic world, Ao Xin was perhaps the only one willing to accept her after she became a Crystal Human.

She could not let down Ao Xin’s good intentions.

"It doesn't matter, I don't care about that."

Ao Xin looked up at the sky. "Reputation? What this world needs is strength! As long as my strength is strong enough, others will have to shut up!"

"But if I am not strong, I can only be at the mercy of others."

Just like Han Shuang in the past—she was a weak girl with no power to truss a chicken, yet she was forcibly stuffed with zombie meat and turned into a Crystal Human.

Was it because she had done something bad?

No, it was because she was too weak!

Therefore, the rule Ao Xin practiced was:

Those who submit to me pay protection fees, and those who oppose me are all beaten to their knees!

Han Shuang still shook her head, suppressing the urge to feed.

Not far away, Shi Yu led the people in harvesting the heads of the brute zombies.

It took Ao Xin only five minutes to cripple them, but it took Shi Yu and the others a full hour just to chop off the heads of these brute zombies!

"I wonder if this group can even chop off the heads of the hopping corpses."

He muttered to himself, holding zero hope for these people's strength.

The only one slightly useful was perhaps Shi Yu.

Blessed with a Zoan-type Devil Fruit ability, his physique was far stronger than the others.

Naturally, his attack power was also greater.

He might still have a chance at severing a zombie's head.

If that really didn't work, they would have no choice but to let Luo Yi try.

However, Luo Yi's strength had already entered the Copper Skin Realm, and after killing a hopping corpse, he would only receive one hundred thousand points.

When Shi Yu and the others finished the harvest, they came to report to him:

"A total of sixty-eight brute zombies, yielding six thousand eight hundred points in total! According to our agreement, your share is 6,120 points. I am transferring it to you right now."

Ao Xin nodded, added Shi Yu as a friend in the Divine Grace Space, and received the 6,120 points.

To these people, getting 680 points for an hour of zero combat was an absolute windfall!

In the past, they couldn't get nearly this much even after painstakingly grinding ordinary zombies to death.

Although they knew the rule that cross-tier kills rewarded ten times the points, zombies were everywhere outside. Even if Luo Yi had the power to cripple brute zombies, who would dare to go out and chop heads?

Therefore, even though they only took one-tenth, these people were already quite satisfied.

Ao Xin looked at Tang Yingying. "Continue. This time, lure as many hopping corpses as possible."

Tang Yingying nodded solemnly, no longer paying attention to Han Shuang's abnormality.

Climbing back up to the high platform, a fragrance imperceptible to humans spread in all directions.

"Boss, you'd better kill them fast. Our defensive barriers won't withstand the hopping corpses for long."

While Tang Yingying was luring the zombies, Shi Yu chatted with Ao Xin.

Opportunities to see such legendary figures—whom they had only ever seen in the Divine Grace Space communication channel videos—in person were rare indeed.

"Don't worry."

Ao Xin said indifferently.

Before long, as the fragrance drifted, the first hopping corpse leaped out from the southern street.

It held its arms straight out, and its legs were tightly pressed together.

Yet it leaped with astonishing speed, arriving before the defensive barrier at the crossroads in the blink of an eye.

Faced with this infinite feast of living flesh and blood, the hopping corpse grew extremely excited, opening its mouth wide as it prepared for a massacre.

What greeted it, however, was a steel whip.

Crack!

With a muffled thud, the hopping corpse's sternum was shattered directly!

Ao Xin used Soru to follow up, his hands moving without pause as he struck the hopping corpse's limbs and spine several times in rapid succession, kicking it right in front of the defensive barrier.

"First!"

As the words fell, hopping corpses simultaneously appeared on the eastern and western streets.

Ao Xin moved continuously with Soru. Before the hopping corpse on the eastern street could react, its spine was shattered by a single whip strike.

Dragging the hopping corpse back, he casually lashed it a few more times along the way to break its limbs, tossing it before the barrier.

Then, his figure leaped high, clearing the top of the barrier in a single bound.

He stomped fiercely on empty air, actually walking two steps right in the sky!

It was Geppo!

Yet before he could even feel happy, his third step failed to find footing in the air, and he plummeted down.

It didn't matter, though; this was a good start.

His figure flashed out, using Soru to arrive before the hopping corpse, and repeating the process, this zombie was crippled as well!

On the high platform, seeing how easily he crippled the zombies, Tang Yingying pushed her ability to the maximum, striving to let the fragrance drift even further.

Droplets of sweat beaded on her fair forehead—the result of pushing her ability to her absolute limit.

Luo Yi and the others were completely numb.

They were simply not on the same level!

One hopping corpse after another was lured from afar, only to be effortlessly crippled by Ao Xin and tossed before the defensive barrier at the crossroads.

When Tang Yingying finally gasped for breath, unable to continue driving her ability any longer, no more hopping corpses appeared on the surrounding streets.

"Let's begin!"

Ao Xin returned to Han Shuang’s side and instructed Shi Yu to lead the men in decapitating these zombies whose tendons and bones had been broken.

"Hah!"

A man wielding an ordinary pirate saber slashed down with all his might, only to feel as though he had struck solid steel, sending a stinging pain through his wrist!