Chapter Seventy-Three: A Meal with Han Ze

"Woo... woo..."

In the early hours before dawn, the air raid sirens began to wail across the fortress, echoing throughout the city. The thunderous roar of gunfire and artillery split the sky.

Gu Sha was cultivating in his room when he abruptly stopped and hurried to the window. Above, the sky was swarming with flying undead beasts—grotesque birds of every shape and kind. Eagles with wingspans of ten meters swooped down, snatching several people at once in their talons and carrying them aloft. Giant bees, their heads as large as a human’s, pierced skulls with their stingers. Clouds of bloodsucking mosquitoes drained a person to a dry husk in seconds.

An emergency broadcast blared from the radio in the room:

“Attention citizens, attention! Return to your homes immediately and seal all vents. Do not go outside! A massive wave of flying undead beasts is attacking the fortress!”

“...Be sure to secure all doors and windows...”

“Do not travel, do not go outside!”

Gu Sha dragged the sofa and appliances over to barricade the windows.

All around the building came the sharp crack of shattering glass, the whole structure trembling with the cacophony of screams and gunfire.

Gu Sha sipped his tea, then entered the bedroom. He shouldered his backpack and loaded it with biscuits and canned food from the refrigerator, along with that piece of royal bone.

In his previous life, when the first waves of beast and corpse outbreaks erupted, humanity had commanded heavy weaponry, bombarding relentlessly, yet still suffered a crushing defeat. There were two main reasons: firstly, aside from the ten great fortresses, other cities’ stores of arms and ammunition were woefully inadequate, while the number of undead beasts was overwhelming, exacerbated by natural disasters. The second major factor was the flying undead beasts—their innate advantages were simply too great.

Even in later eras, flying undead beasts remained mankind’s most dreaded foe. Fortunately, in the future, humans developed Source Energy; every fortress city was shielded by a colossal energy dome, greatly reducing the threat from above.

Previously, Gu Sha had believed that entering Fortress C would be safe. According to his memories, Fortress C had survived a great calamity with little more than a fright. But now, after repeated discrepancies in his recollections, he no longer trusted his memories, even beginning to doubt if his rebirth was real. Thus, he dared not naively believe Fortress C would hold out; he had to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.

Standing beside the fridge, Gu Sha devoured strips of dried beef until he was full. Then, with his backpack on, he set out, ready for slaughter.

Inside the fortress, the authorities were mobilizing massive military forces to counter the flying undead beasts. Bullets filled the air like torrential rain, rising and falling outside the fortress walls. On the outer perimeter, the night was lit up by the relentless flash of artillery.

Gu Sha, a snakeskin bag slung at his waist, raced through the fortress, collecting corpse cores—some from his own kills, others simply scavenged.

By night’s end, his harvest was substantial.

From dawn until dusk, Gu Sha fought tirelessly, finally returning with a bulging sack of corpse cores.

After a day and night of brutal combat, the authorities managed—at a steep price—to repel the first assault of flying undead beasts. The losses outside the walls were even more grievous. Earlier sabotage by Bai Ziyu’s gang had blasted numerous breaches in the fortress walls; all day, the military struggled to repair them, suffering heavy casualties.

Thankfully, by evening, the gaps were at last patched, affording a brief respite.

At dusk, as Gu Sha was cooking in his room, a knock sounded at the door.

He opened it to find Han Ze, flanked by a squad of soldiers. Two of them carried a large chest.

Han Ze entered and said, “Mr. Gu, these are today’s collected corpse cores—one thousand in total. There are still twenty-nine thousand to go. I’ll do my best to gather the rest for you soon.”

Gu Sha smiled faintly. Indeed, there was strength in numbers. Though he himself was a ninth-tier warrior, his own day’s efforts had yielded just over a hundred cores.

He hauled the chest into the bedroom, then returned and said, “I’m about to have dinner.”

Han Ze hesitated. “Then... may I have a bite too?”

Glancing at the squad of soldiers, Gu Sha replied, “There are too many people—there won’t be enough.”

Han Ze said quickly, “Just me.”

Gu Sha was silent for a moment, but in the end, he served Han Ze a bowl of rice. The two of them sat down to a plate of stir-fried water spinach.

Though tired, Han Ze ate heartily, finishing a bowl in a few bites. He helped himself to another, giving Gu Sha a sheepish look. “Mr. Gu, you don’t mind if I have another, do you?”

Gu Sha said nothing.

Han Ze chuckled, then suddenly asked, “Mr. Gu, do you think the fortress can hold?”

“You’re the commander-in-chief of the fortress defense,” Gu Sha replied. “Shouldn’t you be telling me?”

Han Ze spoke slowly. “I don’t know how many flying undead beasts are left out there, nor how many undead beasts and corpses are beyond the walls. Nuclear weapons are out of the question—using them would mean mutual destruction. We just have to hold out. Today, we barely repaired the walls, and the air raid shelters we dug in advance proved useful. Most civilians are now hiding underground. With fewer people above, our troops can fight without worrying too much.”

“Isn’t that good?” Gu Sha said. “Taking shelter below is the best defense against flying undead beasts. The walls are repaired, and with our stockpiled arms and ammunition, we should be able to hold out, right?”

“For now, yes,” Han Ze replied.

“Then why are you so worried?”

Han Ze put down his bowl and chopsticks with a long sigh. “Mr. Gu, do you remember the third day of the second Scarlet Descent—the earthquake and the acid rain?”

Gu Sha’s pupils contracted.

At this early stage of the apocalypse, the undead beasts and corpses had not yet evolved to their most terrifying forms. Against the fortress’ firepower, they’d been caught off guard, and for now, humanity held the upper hand. After all, the undead lacked intelligence and couldn’t employ tactics.

But if the heavens themselves turned against humanity—if natural disasters struck—there would be no hope.

After a moment’s silence, Han Ze suddenly laughed and said, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. By the way, Mr. Gu, I won’t ask you to fight, but as long as you’re in the fortress, I trust you’ll do what you can. If, in the end, I can’t repay you the corpse cores I owe, and if you have the time, you can go to the third-floor warehouse of the fortress administration center. There are some variant bones stored there—consider them compensation for your losses.”

With that, Han Ze stood and left. At the doorway, he paused, turned, and saluted Gu Sha.

(End of chapter)