Chapter Forty-Three: The Black Spear Unleashed

The crowd drifted further and further away, and Shen Lie began to realize his consciousness was growing cloudy. A sensation of his soul gradually detaching from his body welled up within him.

“Am I dying?”

“Is this the end for me?”

“I haven’t lived enough!”

“My life shouldn’t be so brief!”

“I haven’t even married yet.”

Shen Lie kept asking himself these questions, unwilling to let his life simply end this way. He knew his resistance might be futile, but he refused to give up.

“I’ll find a way!”

“I need to think of something.”

“The power of my bloodline? Useless, I can’t move!”

“The Hammer of Apocalypse? Still no use.”

“The mysterious energy in the mark at my brow?”

“Ah!”

He tried everything he could think of until he remembered the mysterious energy within the leaf-shaped mark on his forehead. To his surprise, it worked—his physical restraints were suddenly lifted!

“Ahhh! Break!” Shen Lie’s first act upon regaining freedom was a gut-wrenching roar. He swiftly drew the black spear from his waist, ignoring the drain on his mark’s energy, pouring it endlessly into the spear.

The black spear blazed with light. Shen Lie swung it, slashing fiercely at the invisible black line!

It was as if an unearthly sound exploded in the air. Shen Lie felt the black line break in response, and freedom rushed back to him once more.

With a single strike, the black line was severed, and the spear’s energy had not yet run dry. Shen Lie’s eyes flashed; he lunged forward, swinging the spear left and right in quick succession. Two sharp slashes landed before Du Lili and Professor Liu. He couldn’t see whether others had the black line binding them, nor did he know if his efforts would help. After those strikes, the black spear’s energy was completely depleted, and he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

“Hm?” At the moment Shen Lie fell, a faint sound came from the large crimson sedan chair. Suddenly, the sedan burst into light, and countless black threads radiated from it, making Shen Lie’s mouth twitch with a trace of despair.

But to his astonishment, these black lines did not bind him again. Instead, they converged in the air, ultimately forming a strange, ancient black rune.

As soon as the rune took shape, it vanished in an instant. The next moment, Shen Lie felt his arm heat up, and he discovered a complex pattern had appeared on his skin—the very rune formed from those black threads!

“Damn!” The sight shocked Shen Lie out of his wits, sending a chill through his body. He immediately tried to expel it using what little energy remained in his brow’s mark, but it was useless. The pattern seemed as much a part of him as his own flesh, untouched by the mysterious energy.

“Who are you?” Realizing his abilities were powerless against this, Shen Lie thought he’d have to confront the source. Yet, when he looked toward the sedan chair, it had vanished without a trace.

The passageway once again filled with the survivors’ noisy chatter. If not for the fact that nearly a third of them were gone, Shen Lie might have believed it was all a hallucination.

“Thank you!” A clear voice snapped Shen Lie out of his daze. He looked over and saw Du Lili rubbing her head on the ground, and Professor Liu groaning nearby.

“No problem. I think we’d best leave this place at once—it’s truly not safe here.” Shen Lie glanced anxiously at his arm, then at the spot where the red sedan had disappeared, uncertain whether it had gone to the town or simply vanished into nothingness.

“Wait, where’s Ma Zhanlin?” Shen Lie looked around and suddenly realized Ma Zhanlin was missing, his expression changing as the thought struck him.

“Ah! That sedan took him away. So much has changed in this apocalypse—who knows if humanity will ever regain a safe foothold?” Professor Liu struggled to his feet, uttering a desolate sigh.

“By the way, thank you, young Shen. Had it not been for you, these old bones probably wouldn't see the day when humanity rebuilds itself.” Professor Liu then gave Shen Lie his thanks, his gaze lingering for a moment on the black spear.

Shen Lie waved his hand dismissively, then tucked the spear back at his waist. A third of the energy in his brow’s mark was gone; he didn’t know how many more times he could wield the spear’s power, but at least his life was spared, so he felt no regret.

“Sergeant Yang, we can’t linger here for even a moment. No matter how frightened these survivors are, no matter how many mourn lost loved ones, we must leave immediately.”

“No need to say more—I don’t have time to worry about others’ feelings. I’m heading out now!” Shen Lie cut off Yang Weiguo’s words, paid no more heed to Du Lili or Professor Liu, took a deep breath, and pushed forward at a brisk pace.

“I’ll go ahead too, professor. Take care!” Du Lili, having steadied her shaken spirit, followed closely behind Shen Lie. After this ordeal, a new light shone in her eyes as she looked at him.

“Professor, what should we do?” Yang Weiguo glanced at the disordered crowd of survivors, then at Professor Liu, at a loss for a solution.

Strangely, though the red sedan had taken away a third of the people, none of Yang Weiguo’s soldiers were missing, so his mood was not quite so heavy.

“Tell everyone about the current situation. Let each person flee for their lives as they see fit. Those who wish to move forward can go ahead, and those who want to return to town shouldn’t be stopped. Our operation has failed.” Professor Liu’s voice was weary. The order to evacuate had come from him, but he had underestimated the peril of this passage. Over a thousand people remained only three or four hundred; perhaps scattering everyone into the fog zone would not have been worse than this.

“Professor? Ah, alright!” Yang Weiguo wanted to speak but found nothing to say, stamping his foot and turning to relay the news.

Shen Lie pressed forward at speed. Whether it was good fortune after disaster or simply the size of the woods, he hadn’t gone far when the world suddenly brightened before him—he had passed beyond the forest.

The woods had finally ended!

“We’re finally out!” Du Lili behind him exclaimed with joy. But then, both of them gasped in shock.

“This—this is... Shen Lie, do you think we still have any hope of escape?” Du Lili’s voice was full of unwillingness. Before her and Shen Lie lay a terrifying scene: at the center, shrouded in red mist, a crimson pool churned with splashing water. On one side of the pool, a long, narrow black fissure swayed back and forth, red water slowly seeping from it.

On the other side of the pool grew an enormous, strange tree, utterly leafless, with seven bare branches. Six branches stretched out empty, but the central trunk bore a single blossom:

A white flower streaked with crimson veins.