Afterlife Department

Chapter 478 – Talent

Huo Ling has never felt as this tired as he was before. He felt like his stiff limbs are about to fall. "Not only do we have to fight against the zombies, but we also have to suppress the Foul seeping through the cracks on the soil to replace the world energy so we can keep this world from collapsing." He muttered as he sat on the front seat, beside Yi Bing who is driving again.

It has already been half a month and their group, as well as Xi Kai's group, has already been to twenty signal towers out of more than a hundred towers. But, they still have yet to see Luo Ming's and Luo Ye's sect leader who is responsible for this apocalypse. Fortunately, the government has already kept in touch with various bases all over the country to relay the message and protect the remaining signal towers. Also, to kill as many zombies as they could, and directly report if they ever found the zombie king.

Since Luo Ming and Luo Ye have already lost their power as cultivators, the suppression of the Foul was left on Yi Bing, Huo Ling, Jin Wu and Mo Shi as 'cultivators' while the two of them will help the rest of the ability users in killing the zombies. They also have told Qi Ming, Hu Feng and Xi Kai to directly crush the nucleus crystals that they found inside the heads of the zombies and not absorb them since the world also has to absorb its lost energy back. Hu Feng relayed this message to the government and, fortunately, none of them dared to object at this time since if they would let themselves overcome with their greed again, then what world will be left of them?

Thus, they decided to unite for the sake of the world's and them all's future. They mobilized everyone that could fight after leaving some to protect their respective bases. With so many zombies killed and nucleus crystals crushed, this temporarily quelled the collapse of the world.

"What we are all doing right now, saving the world, makes me feel like we are all heroes!" they heard Qi Ying's voice spoke through the walkie-talkie.

Hu Feng, Qi Min, Qi Ying and the Rolling Thunder Team heard what Qi Ying said and they smiled. Meanwhile, Xi Kai who is sitting beside Qi Ying chuckled and patted Qi Ying's head.

"Whether for better or for worse, I don't have any desire to be one (a hero)." Huo Ling muttered as his eyelids droop because he felt sleepy.

Yi Bing heard what he said and laughed. "Oh, f – !" he cursed and immediately stepped on the brake. The car immediately screeched into a halt.

"WAH!" everyone inside the bus exclaimed. Hu Feng and Qi Ming grabbed Qi Ying whose face almost hit the floor while Luo Ming caught Luo Ye and positioned himself beneath so his back hit the floor of the bus.

"Is everyone alright?" Qi Ming asked as he turned to Lin An and Zuo Li.

"Yes…" Lin An and Zuo Li answered as they held their nose and forehead, respectively, which were hit when the bus suddenly stopped.

"What happened?" Hu Feng asked as he rose.

"… we've hit the jackpot." Yi Bing answered as he and Huo Ling stared forward.

"What? What do you mean?" Qi Ming asked as he helped Qi Ning up.

"This presence…" Luo Ming muttered as his brows knitted.

"It's sect leader!" Luo Ye exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed in shock as they looked ahead to where Yi Bing and Huo Ling are looking at. Then, they felt their scalp became numb when they saw hundreds of zombies walking to and from afar like ants while they surrounded the signal tower.

"We're still far from them." Yi Bing spoke as he drove the bus backward and hid from the zombies' sight. "What should we do?" he asked as he turned to Hu Feng and Qi Ming.

"Luo Ming. Luo Ye. Are you sure your sect leader is here?" Qi Ming asked the two.

Luo Ming nodded as he helped Luo Ye up. "Yes." He answered. "This monstrous aura… it could be no one but him." He said.

Silence fell as they could also faintly feel it. Like there is a heavy feeling inside their chest and they felt their body become heavy, like a heavy boulder is suppressing them from above. This is also why Yi Bing abruptly stopped.

"What to do… we happened to run into the big boss." Lin An joked to alleviate the gloom that suddenly covered them all.

"Discard any negative thought inside your mind right now." Yi Bing spoke. "His aura is affecting us. It will also cloud our judgement." He told them.

Everyone's eyes widened and they blinked. "That's right…" they muttered and looked at each other.

Hu Feng shook his head and slapped his face to wake himself. "Right now, they still haven't taken down that signal tower. I'll send a message to the government to send everyone here." He spoke. "This place is where our final battle will take place!" he said.

They all nodded.

"But, with the signal tower still standing tall and operating, his power is… brr…" Zuo Li spoke and shivered in fright. "Terrifying…" he can't help but say.

Hu Feng and Qi Ming looked at each other. Their faces grave. "Luo Ming. Do you know how shall we kill your sect leader?" Hu Feng asked. "Did that forbidden ancient dark arts book say something how to stop this evil sorcery?" he added.

Unfortunately, Luo Ming shook his head. "No." he answered. "Since 'immortality' is endless…" he said with a sigh. 

Their hearts sink.

"How about we wait until their bodies completely rot?" Zuo Li asked before he slapped his mouth. "Right. We don't have much time!" he berated himself.

Gloom surrounded them once again.

"Just where did that book come from?" Lin An asked with a frown. Suddenly, he paused and looked at Luo Ming. "Hey. How come you can understand it? Wasn't it an ancient book? Your sect leader and elders are even older than you, but you…" he spoke. "To be able to understand something that everyone cannot… this just can't be a talent, can it?" he said.

They all turned to Luo Ming.

Luo Ming shook his head. He also felt bewildered. "I don't know. I suddenly understood how to read the words inside the book…" he muttered and frowned with his brows knitted.

"Shixiong…" Luo Ye patted his shoulder, worried.

Luo Ming turned and smiled at him as he held his hand to comfort him. "In fact, I didn't understand at first." He spoke. "But, the second time I saw it, I suddenly was able to understand it." He told them.

They felt shocked.

"Luo Ming." Yi Bing called. "Before you saw the book for the second time… did you or did you not meet that visitor?" he asked.

Luo Ming turned to him. "No." he answered.

Huo Ling looked at Yi Bing's knuckles that turned white from gripping the steering wheel tight before they relaxed after they heard Luo Ming's answer.

"Then, how were you able to understand it…?" Qi Ning asked, feeling puzzled.

Qi Ming and Hu Feng looked at each other. They were also puzzled.

"Luo Ming." Huo Ling called after a while.

"Yes?" Luo Ming answered.

"Does the words on that ancient book… look like this?" Huo Ling asked as he raised his phone.

Luo Ming walked towards him and looked at the screen of the phone. Then, his eyes widened in shock. "Yes! This is it!" he exclaimed in shock. "How did you know?" he asked.

The others were surprised and also looked at Huo Ling's phone, only for their jaws to drop. "What… what the hell?!" they exclaimed with widened eyes. "Isn't this English?!" they said.

"'English'?" Luo Ming and Luo Ye asked with a puzzled expression.

Hu Feng's, Qi Ming's, and the Rolling Thunder Team's faces are green.

"WHAT?! What did you say?!" Qi Ying who was listening to them heard what they said. "The ancient book that Luo Ming has read… was written in English?!" he said.

"WHAT?!" Xi Kai and the others on their bus exclaimed.

Huo Ling took back his phone and locked it. "I get it now." He spoke.

"What did you get?" the others asked.

"The reason why the cultivation world shouldn't mingle with the mortals… it's because of this." Huo Ling said. "In the ancient times, our ancestors have travelled around the world and must have dropped or intentionally left some cultivation methods. The ancient book that their sect has found must be from one of those wanderers from the other countries. The cultivation world was forbidden to come in contact with the mortal world is to prevent this from happening." He explained and turned to them with a grave expression. "Although Luo Ming hasn't left their sect and learned English, but his ability to read it must really be his talent." He told them.

Everyone. "…" freaking 'talent'! They, who aren't good in English, all felt bitter.