Chapter 34: The Golden Eagle

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Li Ye walked along the path. Roughly every three steps, he came across the corpse of a bird. Great swathes of blood had splattered across the waist-high weeds, though the scarlet color had faded considerably.

When he reached the center of the glasshouse, Li Ye looked up. A pine tree rose there, so tall that its crown vanished from sight.

Beneath its shade, mountains of feathered corpses lay piled together, as if recounting the brutality of the battle for survival that had taken place earlier.

After leaving the glasshouse and continuing forward, Li Ye found himself growing somewhat puzzled.

It was beyond doubt that the red mist had caused the animals to grow and mutate. Yet after walking for so long without encountering a single living creature, there could only be one explanation...

Every section here had become a natural arena for beasts. Perhaps only a few of the strongest beast kings remained!

At that moment, an intense sense of danger descended upon him from above. Li Ye instantly tensed, gathering his strength as he looked toward the sky, his pupils contracting.

A thunderous crack split the air, like lightning striking straight down from the heavens.

Li Ye reacted with astonishing speed. His taut body unfurled like a spring, and in the blink of an eye he kicked off the ground and left his original position.

The attack missed, and Li Ye finally saw what manner of monster it was.

It was a golden eagle with its wings fully spread, measuring a full five meters across!

“What a fine prey to come knocking at my door! Are you the king of this region?”

The corners of Li Ye’s lips curled upward. Still suspended in midair, he loosely clenched his five fingers and gave a sudden tug in the eagle’s direction.

Space rippled, and a web of light in the shape of a giant hand abruptly appeared along the golden eagle’s path.

A piercing eagle cry burst from its beak. The sound seemed almost magical, compelling Li Ye to cover his ears despite himself.

The web of light shattered instantly. The golden eagle’s vast, sky-darkening form shot upward and vanished into the red mist.

Li Ye had only just landed when, before he could even catch his breath, the golden eagle charged through the red mist again like a parasite that refused to let go.

He whipped out one hand. Light solidified in his grasp, forming an eighteen-foot spear.

He planted his foot, twisted his body, and thrust in one fluid motion, aiming directly at the golden eagle as it rushed toward him.

The eagle spread its wings. Its dark brown feathers gleamed like oiled metal as they collided with the solidified spear, producing the ringing clash of metal striking metal!

Bang!

The golden spear began to collapse from its tip. Li Ye’s expression did not change. With a slight tremor of his wrist, he effortlessly dispersed the tremendous force rebounding through the weapon.

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The light that had just shattered did not dissipate. Instead, it flowed along the golden eagle’s body, transforming into countless orange-red threads that wrapped around its wings!

“Hmph. A beast is still a beast.”

But Li Ye had no time to celebrate. The golden eagle paid no heed to the danger coiling around its body.

It spread its wings even wider. From its posture, it clearly had only one aim: to cleave Li Ye in half at the waist!

After spitting out a curse, Li Ye released the spear of light in his hand. In the space of an instant, he arched backward into a rigid bridge. The golden wings, sharp as executioner’s blades, skimmed perilously close to his hair.

The golden eagle was evidently unwilling to accept defeat. This time, it had no intention of returning to the sky to gather momentum.

Its enormous wings beat twice, hovering in midair as its keen eyes fixed murderously upon Li Ye.

The golden-brown feathers covering its body stood erect, resembling iron blades and swords aimed at him.

Its five-meter wings beat violently. Dust and pebbles surged toward Li Ye from the ground, while the golden eagle let out another bizarre cry, a frenzied roar like the sound of a fighter jet taking off.

Li Ye’s expression remained unchanged. Light condensed beside his ears, forming thick barriers that blocked the strange eagle cry from reaching him.

No longer holding back, Li Ye’s black dragon tattoo on his right arm suddenly blazed with light. Within a spherical area twenty meters around him, it seemed to form some kind of domain.

Even the golden eagle’s wingbeats slowed considerably, as though it had fallen into a three-dimensional swamp.

But the eagle happened to be at the very edge of the domain and sensed that something was wrong at once. It gathered all its strength and folded its wings inward. Its outer feathers, hard as metal, rose sharply and sliced through the light binding its body.

Then it turned and flew without looking back, deeper into the zoo, leaving Li Ye standing alone where he was.

However, because several strands of light still clung to its wings, they now felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. The golden eagle was completely unable to gain altitude and nearly became a ground-dwelling bird of prey.

“Trying to escape? Do you think I’ll let the crystal marrow in my grasp get away?!”

The blood crystal marrow was at least of the perfected first rank. Li Ye would never allow it to leave so easily.

With a thought, his body was lifted directly into the air and, without regard for the energy consumed by his abilities, he tore through the sky in pursuit of the golden eagle.

...

The factory building where Wang Gang and the others were staying stood at the very center of the zoo. If they wanted to get out, nearly every direction led into the territory of those beasts.

Even the alpacas and sika deer that had once been docile had now become omnivores. Whenever they encountered humans, they attacked without hesitation.

They had realized this not long after the apocalypse began.

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Wang Gang stood respectfully behind Lu Kailing. The man, a little over six feet two, would occasionally bend down to listen to Lu Kailing’s instructions.

“In a while, you and Big Black will go out together. This time, bring back more fresh red meat. Otherwise, most of it will spoil again within half a day.”

Lu Kailing gave his orders casually.

“Oh, right. If it really comes to it, you can all divide up Ding Shun’an’s corpse and eat it. It hasn’t started to rot yet. Don’t wait until he turns into a zombie.”

At those words, everyone’s expression changed.

Eat a human?

Anyone killed by a zombie would become a zombie without exception. As for humans who died from other causes, the odds of turning into zombies were roughly fifty percent.

So Lu Kailing telling them to eat a human was not much different from ordering them to eat a zombie.

Seeing the expressions on the faces around him, Lu Kailing revealed a devilish smile.

“Of course, I’m only joking. How could I possibly let you all die without knowing why?”

After a pause, he continued:

“If you don’t want to eat him, then all of you can go hunting with Big Black today. After all, nothing in this world comes for free, does it?”

Wang Gang remained silent, utterly lacking the arrogance he had displayed not long before.

The others were furious but did not dare voice their anger. The two-meter-tall, muscular black gorilla stood behind Lu Kailing like his loyal guard.

“Brother Lu...”

“Hm? Why are you calling me? Have you decided to go out and get yourselves killed already?”

Beside him, Big Black let out a threatening growl. The successive disturbances finally made Lu Kailing open his eyes impatiently.

“What is it? Are you all planning a rebellion?”

Wang Gang’s voice grew even more urgent. He instinctively took two steps backward and pointed outside.

For some reason, his eyesight seemed slightly better than everyone else’s, and his reaction was therefore the most terrified.

“Brother Lu... Brother Lu! Look outside! Is that a small aircraft? Or some kind of... monster?”

“Run! It looks like it’s coming straight at us!”