Chapter 25

"Neutralization in progress, please wait."

Xia Ni spoke softly.

She walked up to the monster's corpse, her hands transforming into trembling, buzzing light blades, swishing a few times.

Fine blood lines gradually appeared on the surface of the monster's body.

In the next second.

A large part of the monster's body collapsed into a pile of shredded flesh.

Flames spewed from one of Xia Ni's hands.

The corpse turned to ashes.

Xia Ni then went to deal with the other monster before returning to the two of them with a smile.

—She looked like a girl who had just come home from school, not someone who had just killed two monsters with Xiao Wu.

"Xia Ni, how can you be so amazing?" Wu Xiaode sighed.

"I have weapons," Xia Ni said succinctly.

"Do you need the monster's soul power?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"I can't absorb it," Xia Ni replied.

Wu Xiaode said, "Ya, you take over."

Ya whispered, "Are you sure you want to absorb its soul power? Remember, once your soul power cap increases, you'll have to kill more monsters to return to the original world."

"Strength always comes first, go ahead," Wu Xiaode said.

The crow flew up.

To Wu Xiaode's disappointment, this time it only refilled the soul power without increasing the cap.

A few minutes later.

The three began to move toward the other end of the abandoned passage.

"There's a breeze in this direction, and a faint light is penetrating through. Maybe if we keep going, we can find a way out," Xia Ni said as they walked.

Wu Xiaode looked at her and couldn't help but ask, "Sister Lan, does the combat suit have soul power? Is it alive?"

Xia Huilan carefully avoided the corpses and debris on the ground and replied, "She was grown from my cells."

"What? She's your clone?" Wu Xiaode was surprised.

Xia Huilan said, "She was created using my biological template, with a brainwave hyper-processor loaded to control the entire alloy body. The outer layer is biological skin and hair, and the entire suit and weapons are detachable, expandable, and upgradable—"

"That's Xia Ni."

Wu Xiaode was stunned and quickly asked, "So she's a living person?"

"Yes, but two-thirds of her body is made of alloy," Xia Huilan said.

"Amazing," Wu Xiaode sighed.

"When she was first created, the higher-ups wanted to erase her consciousness and turn her into a killing machine," Xia Huilan said.

Xia Huilan's face showed a hint of anger, and her words became firm and resolute:

"She is a person, and her rights as a human should not be denied just because of her body."

Xia Ni stood to the side, smiling gently.

"Xia Ni..." Wu Xiaode looked at her, speechless for a moment.

"Sister made a fake me and deliberately handed her over to them. Then, during their experiments, she was accidentally destroyed, so I'm free now," Xia Ni said.

Wu Xiaode suddenly remembered something and asked, "Do you need to kill a certain number of monsters to come to this world?"

"No," Xia Ni said.

"How much soul power do you have?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"10 points, the world's cap is how much I have," Xia Ni said.

"Amazing," Wu Xiaode sighed.

Xia Huilan smiled and said, "Don't be complacent. This world is unfathomable. We'll help you kill enough monsters and then go back immediately."

"Okay," Wu Xiaode nodded.

He suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, he found nothing.

"Xia Ni, did you see anything?" he asked.

"I have the real-time combat alert system activated, and I haven't detected any movement yet," Xia Ni said.

"Strange..."

Did I see wrong?

Wu Xiaode was a bit puzzled but noticed the Book of the Undead had quietly opened in front of him.

Words of ice crystals appeared on the page:

"Sudden Commission Task:"

"Buy time."

"Task Description: The monsters are continuously digging underground tunnels and are about to find the entrance to the fifth secret passage. You need to hold them off for at least ten minutes to allow the people inside the secret passage to evacuate safely."

"Task Reward: Unknown."

"—Do you accept this sudden commission?"

"Note: This sudden task does not use the Wish Wall, so it does not count toward the daily Wish Wall usage limit."

Wu Xiaode was stunned for a moment but quickly reacted.

There are undead here!

If it's an extra task, there must be extra rewards.

His top priority now is to increase his strength. Why not take the opportunity?

His soul power cap is already at 6 points.

Even if he doesn't urgently need to deal with the Cyclops, he must quickly exceed 10 points and catch up with the S-class club members.

—That evil sorcerer isn't easy to deal with!

After he provoked him, would he willingly surrender?

There's no such person in the world.

Or rather, such a weak person can't become strong.

"I accept the commission!"

Wu Xiaode immediately responded.

The Book of the Undead trembled.

An unusual wave of energy spread from the book.

Soon, a faint human-shaped shadow appeared in the air.

It was a man in combat uniform, almost translucent, floating in the air, looking at Wu Xiaode.

Xia Huilan and Xia Ni ignored him.

—He was an undead!

"Thank you for your willingness to help," the undead man sent a telepathic message to Wu Xiaode.

"How did you find me?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"Your ability is on the side of the undead. It found us—frankly, few people can awaken undead or hero-type abilities because such abilities must be awakened at the moment of death," the undead man explained.

"Everyone dies, so everyone has a chance, right?" Wu Xiaode responded telepathically.

The man shook his head. "The moment of death is too brief to awaken the power, and even if you do, you can't use it because you're already dead."

Wu Xiaode nodded slightly.

That's true, it's very difficult.

He awakened the Book of the Undead at the moment of death, but he was in the Death Pit, which gave him the opportunity to use the book's power to communicate with the undead.

In the end, he was extremely rare in not being eaten by the Cyclops.

This allowed him to bring the Book of the Undead back to the real world.

The undead waved his hand.

Dozens of people in combat uniforms quietly appeared in the air.

"Why don't you reincarnate after death? Why do you stay here?" Wu Xiaode couldn't help but ask telepathically.

"Our mission isn't complete," the undead said.

"Is it to guard the fifth secret passage?" Wu Xiaode asked.

The undead nodded.

Wu Xiaode sighed and shook his head. "Alright, please lead me to the fifth secret passage."

The undead were immediately invigorated, floating in the air and flying in the direction of the underground passage.

"Xia Ni, protect Sister Lan and follow me."

Wu Xiaode shouted.

He ran forward with the undead, and the two women immediately followed closely behind.

"Did you find something?" Xia Huilan asked.

"Since I awakened, I've had some strange sensations. Let's see if they come true," Wu Xiaode said.

Xia Huilan didn't speak.

Wu Xiaode knew she was a bit worried, so he thought for a moment and directly asked the leading undead man:

"Is there any danger nearby?"

The undead man said, "A few passages are indeed dangerous, but I'll lead you through a shortcut to avoid those dangerous areas and get to the fifth passage first."

He flew to a wall and pointed to a spot on it. "There's a mechanism here, open it."

Wu Xiaode stepped forward and saw that a stone slab on the wall was broken.

This slab seemed to be removable...

Such a subtle clue might not even be noticed by a normal person, let alone those large monsters.

Wu Xiaode reached out and pried it.

Rumble—

The wall slowly turned, revealing a deep staircase passage.

"Xiao Wu, how did you know there was a hidden door here?" Xia Huilan was surprised.

"Look here."

Wu Xiaode pointed to the broken stone slab.

—It wasn't that he was deliberately hiding it from her, but his ability was related to the Cyclops, and he didn't dare to let anyone know easily.

What if everyone who knew was implicated?

The Cyclops is an unsolvable existence.

Absolutely can't let it touch anything he needs to protect!

"You're too observant, you can even see this."

Xia Huilan showed admiration.

Wu Xiaode, with a thick skin, didn't say much and started to walk down the stairs.

Xia Ni suddenly held him and Xia Huilan, whispering, "Look."

A light emerged from her arm, forming a holographic video showing the scene when they were running.

When they ran past a few corpses—

One of the corpses opened its eyes and looked at Wu Xiaode.

Xia Huilan's face turned pale, and she looked anxious, muttering, "Is it a person pretending to be dead?"

"I've checked, no heartbeat, pulse, or breathing," Xia Ni smiled.

Wu Xiaode instinctively looked around.

All the corpses on the ground, inside and outside the passage, opened their eyes and coldly stared at the three of them.

This scene was particularly eerie.

Xia Huilan covered her mouth, her face pale, and looked around, almost swaying.

Wu Xiaode, worried she might be scared, quickly supported her. "Sister, don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," Xia Huilan said.

"Then what is it?" Wu Xiaode was puzzled.

Xia Huilan excitedly grabbed Wu Xiaode's hand, trembling. "If I can figure out the soul power rules behind this phenomenon, it will be a groundbreaking achievement!"

Wu Xiaode silently lowered his head.

Your last achievement isn't even finished, and you want to make a groundbreaking one again?

At this moment, Xia Ni softly said, "Detected soul power waves, determined to be a soul power-driven effect."

He thought for a moment and turned to the undead in the air. "Are the undead controlling these corpses?"

The undead man looked at the holographic video and realized:

"No, it's a dark magic that can control corpses. The soul of the corpse is long gone."

Controlling corpses with dark magic...

Wu Xiaode was shocked and immediately understood.

Guess who.

It must be him!