Chapter 65: Be Serious, This Is a Funeral
Rube City, 50 kilometers south.
The trees provided ample shade, and the roar of falling water could be heard clearly from a great distance. This was a waterfall about a hundred meters high.
Mist rose from the pool at the base of the waterfall. Su Xiao lay on a smooth, round rock that resembled a giant cobblestone.
Bubu Wang crouched on a distant hillside, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings, while Amu sat in front of the round rock.
Su Xiao opened his eyes. After attempting to get up, he found that it was no longer as difficult as before.
Killing 97 enemy contractors in two hours sounded fierce, but in reality, Su Xiao and Solomon had paid a considerable price for it. The contractors from Apocalypse Paradise were not all pushovers; when cornered, they would fight desperately.
Su Xiao pressed one hand to his chest. He had already used several types of recovery potions, and his injuries were about seventy percent healed. As long as no battle broke out within the next dozen or so hours, he would fully recover.
Su Xiao had left Rube City over four hours ago. Through the war channel, he learned the situation inside the city.
Only 195 of Reincarnation Paradise's forces remained, fewer than two hundred. As for Apocalypse Paradise, they were in worse shape. Out of 728 participants, after being hunted by Su Xiao's team and Gulu's team, the terrified Apocalypse Paradise contractors had clashed with the main force of Reincarnation Paradise.
Setting aside the comparison of raw strength, just in terms of conviction, Apocalypse Paradise was at a natural disadvantage. The contractors of Reincarnation Paradise all knew that if they didn't beat Apocalypse Paradise into a state of utter incapacity now, during the final contractor free-for-all, Apocalypse Paradise would join forces with Sanctuary Paradise to besiege Reincarnation Paradise.
Carrying this conviction of "deep-seated hatred," combined with the fact that Reincarnation Paradise's people were already fearless of death, Apocalypse Paradise was completely bewildered.
They had no conviction. Or rather, their only goal was to escape Rube City and then find a way to ally with Sanctuary Paradise to besiege Reincarnation Paradise.
With that mindset, fighting a group of madmen who were ready to die at any moment, the outcome was predictable.
This time, they didn't have Queen Xi. No one could stabilize morale, and no one stood before them to beat back the madmen of Reincarnation Paradise.
The reason Xi had been able to lead Apocalypse Paradise to such an extent was her strength and charisma. She had many subordinates willing to risk their lives for her personally. Moreover, she led from the front at the start of the battle, nearly killing the sis-con Yan Chen in the crowd.
Black Bee lacked Xi's charisma and intellect, but he had a fearless heart. If he had been on Reincarnation Paradise's side, he would likely have reached the Hot Rain Forest under the cover of a group of madmen by now, instead of being instantly killed by a few enemies he couldn't hope to defeat.
559 of Apocalypse Paradise's forces fought against 262 of Reincarnation Paradise's. After four hours of battle, Apocalypse Paradise broke through the encirclement, with only about 300 survivors, all looking utterly dejected as they desperately fled the city.
The remaining less than 200 of Reincarnation Paradise's forces gave full pursuit. These people had gone berserk. In the end, even Qing Yan couldn't control the situation, especially the bloodthirsty Orange Girl, who was even crazier than Gulu.
In the end, less than 200 of Apocalypse Paradise's forces broke through, escaping in four separate groups. Although the madmen of Reincarnation Paradise were fearless, they weren't war gods. Both sides were contractors. When the battle ended, Reincarnation Paradise had only 152 people left, including Su Xiao and Solomon.
After Reincarnation Paradise suffered nearly half its casualties, Apocalypse Paradise was thoroughly beaten into submission. As for them going to the Hot Rain Forest? No way. From now on, they never wanted to see anyone from Reincarnation Paradise again.
They couldn't understand why these people were so persistent, why they wouldn't let them go. Surrender was useless; surrender was met with a bullet to the head.
As for why Reincarnation Paradise's people were so persistent, it was because they didn't want to die. It was that simple. If you feared death, everyone would die. If you weren't afraid of death, you might just become the final survivor.
On the outskirts of Rube City, in the wilderness, corpses could be seen scattered across the grassland. The turf was pockmarked with craters, various elemental energies drifted in the air, and a thick smell of gunpowder permeated everything.
Qing Yan stood before a corpse. It was a female corpse. A cigarette dangled from her mouth, her pupils dull and lifeless.
The deceased was Ghost Lady. She had died under the siege of four Apocalypse Paradise contractors.
Qing Yan crouched in front of Ghost Lady's corpse, staring silently for several minutes.
"Tuan... Tuanzhang, someone escaped my perception range."
Yu Mo, standing behind Qing Yan, spoke.
"Shut up."
Qing Yan was acting out of character. He wouldn't normally reprimand his subordinates like this.
Hearing Qing Yan's "shut up," tears welled up in Yu Mo's eyes. She only trusted Qing Yan and People's Teacher. Hearing his rebuke, a wave of grievance surged in her heart. This girl went into a state of self-isolation.
"In the end, death is unavoidable."
Qing Yan took out some oil and poured it over Ghost Lady's body. Rarely, he lit a cigarette and tossed his metal lighter onto her.
With a whoosh, flames rose. The high heat scorched Ghost Lady's fair skin, and her sexy body was gradually burned to ashes.
Death was peaceful, yet terrifying, because after death, you lost everything, and you would gradually be forgotten by others.
"I will never become a pile of ashes," Qing Yan said. He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Zong Mu, if I die, bury me. But... why does Ghost Lady smell so strange when she burns?"
Qing Yan wasn't actually sad. He had long been accustomed to life and death. He was just expressing a bit of sentiment.
"With your physique, there's a high chance you'll be dug up and eaten by wild animals if buried. I recommend cremation."
People's Teacher spoke. His original name was Zong Mu, but few called him that. In his words, having killed his father, he was no longer worthy of the name his biological father had given him.
"What's that strange smell?"
Orange Girl, covered in blood, walked over from a distance. She looked clean and refreshing, but she always liked to rip out her enemies' spines while killing them. She was exceptionally ferocious.
"So... so rude. Ghost Lady was a very good person when she was alive."
Yu Mo spoke timidly.
"Huh?"
Orange Girl, her face splattered with blood, tilted her head.
"I'm sorry!"
Yu Mo immediately cowered, hiding behind People's Teacher.
"It does smell strange. Ghost Lady burns with a foul odor, but this was her own request. She told me many times that she must be cremated after death."
People's Teacher said the most impartial thing.
"Stop it. Ghost Lady was our teammate. We should... ugh."
Qing Yan dry-heaved and quickly stepped back. By now, everyone else noticed that the smell of Ghost Lady burning was truly bizarre.
"Why cremation? Can't we just dig a hole and bury her?"
Orange Girl also couldn't help dry-heaving.
"It stinks! Hey, you over there, are you roasting shit?!"
Gulu's shout came from a distance. She was roasting meat by a fire, but after that strange smell drifted over, she lost all appetite.
Just then, Ghost Lady, still burning with flames, sat up with a whoosh. Her nearly carbonized body quickly crumbled, and a seed the size of a marble fell to the ground.