That night, after finishing dinner in an unusually silent atmosphere, Thuong Sinh told Lam Thanh Moc to go to rest early with the child. He did not sleep but went out to the yard, sitting cross-legged on a flat stone slab in the courtyard.
Under the murky moonlight of the apocalypse, the plants within the formation's range emitted a soft light. Thuong Sinh placed the Marsh-Blood Sword horizontally across his thighs; his purple-black eyes stared intently at the blade which, despite being carefully wrapped in bandages, still radiated a gloomy killing intent.
The battle this afternoon had shown him a harsh truth: human technology in this era had developed to a level that could directly threaten his life. If today it had been not 10 Drones but 100, or if those ability users reached higher levels, would he be able to protect the people he needed to protect?
Thuong Sinh began to circulate his internal force in a slow manner, not for the purpose of refining spiritual energy to increase cultivation. The impurities in his body from the "Marsh Blood Corrupting Heart Manual" began to be forced out through his pores, turning into a faint black smoke then gradually dissipating in the air.
Wherever the black smoke escaped, the restlessness and agitation in Thuong Sinh's chest subsided accordingly. He maintained this state for three full hours, until the internal force in his dantian turned still, and the blood poison in his body no longer surged but moved in a smooth manner.
Thuong Sinh let out a breath, sensing a rare relief as the violent killing intent settled. He leaned down to look at his palms, where the black veins had receded, disappearing completely beneath the skin.
He stood up and slowly left the stone slab, his footsteps light and making no sound. His gaze scanned the formation's boundary, looking into the darkness enveloping the forest.
Those people certainly would not give up. The disappearance of an entire squad would likely drive them more frantic. Thuong Sinh stood straight, his purple-black eyes piercing through the fog toward the northeast, toward the distant brilliant buildings; even from very far away, he could still dimly see the light source of that iron city.
Tomorrow he would decide to resolve this threat; only when he leveled that lair, turning them into a pile of ashes before they could send more people to find him, would Lam Thanh Moc and Thuong An truly be safe.
Neos.
He was determined not to let anyone dare to harm those two; he turned back into the house, seeing through the door gap that Lam Thanh Moc and the boy were fast asleep.
Thuong Sinh donned the Gale Leather Armor; the scales on the armor vibrated slightly, automatically hugging his body like a second skin, providing protection while helping him remain flexible in the darkness.
He kept the Marsh-Blood Sword at its familiar hip position; he stood in the middle of the yard, looking at the wooden house for one last time. A thought flashed; Thuong Sinh formed a hand seal, extracting a small portion of his own blood essence combined with his internal force, planting it directly into the Formation Eye of the Spirit-Hiding Ground-Lurking Formation.
Boom.
The mist surrounding the house suddenly grew thicker, energy fluctuations completely locked down. Having finished everything, Thuong Sinh turned, his purple-black gaze locked onto the skyscraper looming amidst the dust clouds in the distance.
"Sword Kinesis: Gale Transformation"
The Marsh-Blood Sword flew from its scabbard, lying horizontally beneath his feet. Thuong Sinh lunged onto the sword; his figure transformed into a streak of black light tearing through the night mist, launching away at a terrifying speed.
The blade-light cleaved the night; Thuong Sinh was like a pitch-black meteor flying amidst the ancient trees. Extreme speed caused the wind to roar in his ears, blowing his black hair and the leather armor's hem, but his purple-black eyes remained cold, without a single fluctuation.
Under the frantic circulation of internal force, the Marsh-Blood Sword emitted a vibration full of excitement. The distance of dozens of kilometers, which for an ordinary person was a long journey, was crossed in no time; with the current sword-flight speed, the iron city appeared before his eyes. It was like a giant monster made of iron, the city's lights brilliant amidst the night.
The brilliant lights of Iron City were like a metallic tumor emitting chaotic electromagnetic waves. Thuong Sinh reduced his sword-flight speed; his figure glided close to the gravel-covered wasteland ground, utilizing the shadows of giant scrap heaps to hide his tracks.
Thuong Sinh retracted the Marsh-Blood Sword when he was about five hundred meters from the city's western steel wall. He transformed into a black shadow, utilizing "Phantom Steps" at its most sophisticated level, gliding past the guard posts without leaving a single trace.
His target was the old exhaust treatment system, a giant pipe running underground and leading directly up to the surface of the iron city; that was the pipe through which he had previously led Lam Thanh Moc and Tieu Viem to escape. It was located at the sea's edge, where the waste from the top floor used to be dumped.
Thuong Sinh slipped inside the mouth of the giant discharge pipe, where flows of bubbling jet-black chemical liquid were still surging into the sea. The pungent smell of sulfur and metal was enough to make an ordinary person's lungs melt in minutes, but to him, this surge of gloomy energy only made the blood in his body more excited.
He did not choose to fly upward against the flow because the screech of air in the narrow pipe might alert the sound sensors. Thuong Sinh pressed his body against the slippery steel wall, his ten fingertips exerting internal force to grip deep into the alloy layer, climbing upward like a lizard.
The higher he went, the more the air pressure increased. Rumblings from the air filtration system on the upper floor echoed down incessantly. Thuong Sinh stopped at a pipe junction where a radiator grille led directly into the Technical Corridor of the Middle Floor.
They completely did not expect that the person they were scouring the forests for was now present right within the city's veins. Thuong Sinh used his bare hands to tear open the grille, gently jumping down onto the cold metallic floor.
Thuong Sinh stood amidst the silent technical corridor; his breathing merged with the low hum of the steam pipes. He frowned slightly. Iron City was a giant labyrinth, and the name "Neos" that the mercenaries mentioned this afternoon remained a mystery regarding their lair.
The Speaker he killed earlier was only the head of the Top Floor's civil government, but that was just the tallest building among the skyscrapers here; in this iron city, there were dozens of buildings of varying heights interlaced. He still hadn't identified which one was their lair.
They possessed both unmanned combat robots and an army equipped with such weapons; they could be an underground power or a military corporation in this place.
He looked down at the Gale Leather Armor he was wearing. Too prominent. If he stepped onto the streets like this, he would be the target of every security camera.
Thuong Sinh retracted his killing intent; he found a maintenance worker's locker in the corner of the corridor. He took out a faded hooded cloak, wearing it over the leather armor to hide the blue-black scales. The Marsh-Blood Sword was also wrapped by him in a layer of old canvas, looking no different from a piece of scrap iron that scavengers often carry.
He pushed the emergency exit door, stepping onto a street in the Middle Floor.
Unlike the glamour of the Top Floor or the rot of the Bottom Floor, the Middle Floor was the most chaotic place. Red neon lights blinked jaggedly; the smell of trash mixed with the smell of grease from cheap eateries. Mercenaries, bounty hunters, and information brokers often gathered here.
Thuong Sinh entered a bar named "Rust." Loud, ear-piercing music and thick tobacco smoke enveloped the space. He chose a hidden corner where the sickly purple neon lights could not reach.
He reached into his armor and pulled out a brilliant red crystal, placing it on the wooden tabletop covered in scratches. The stone was dazzling amidst the lights, radiating a demonic glow that immediately attracted the bartender's gaze.
The bartender, whose face was half-replaced by machinery, widened his mechanical eye. He snatched the red crystal before him as fast as lightning, pulling it close as if afraid others would see. He looked at the crystal then back at Thuong Sinh, then let out a smile, whispering in a hoarse voice:
"Where did you get this crystal?"
Thuong Sinh did not answer him; his deep purple-black eyes, as still as a lake, stared into the man's eyes.
The bartender chuckled: "You must know that to get this thing, one must kill an Intermediate-level Zombie."
"You must know only an Intermediate-level ability user can kill one..."
"Are you one of those Intermediate-level ability users? Why have I never seen you on the Iron City rankings?"
Thuong Sinh frowned slightly; before coming to this place, he had never heard this term.
"What is that?"
The bartender was surprised by his question.
"You truly don't know?"
"The Iron City Ability User Rankings."
"It is evaluated by the military; ability users are ranked according to levels."
Thuong Sinh mused; during his time in that forest with Lam Thanh Moc, he rarely went out, so these concepts were somewhat foreign to him.
"When did it appear?"
The bartender looked at Thuong Sinh as if looking at a strange creature just crawled out from an ancient shelter. He wiped a glass mechanically; his electronic eye spun rapidly then stopped.
"Do you live in the mountains? Over a year ago, the military and military corporations everywhere unified the level measurement system." The bartender spoke while sneakily stowing the red crystal into a secret compartment under the bar.
He leaned closer, his voice drowned out by the heavy bass music from the dance floor: "Since the mutated monsters evolved to intermediate and high levels, ordinary firearms no longer solve the problem."
"This world now belongs to special individuals—ability users, the Extraordinary—they are the specially chosen ones."
Thuong Sinh stood still; he said not a word while digesting this information. The specific point that caught his attention was "High-level"; having been in seclusion for a time, it was understandable that Zombies had evolved that far.
"High-level Zombies..." Thuong Sinh muttered to himself, his voice lost in the roar of the speakers. "How strong are they?"
"How strong? A High-level one can wipe out an entire heavy-armed squad in minutes. They are no longer soulless corpses running on instinct. They have intelligence, hunting skills, and some even possess special abilities nearly identical to ability users."
"Three months ago, a High-level entity appeared in the South of the city. Do you know what happened?"
"At that time, 2 intermediate ability users, many low-level ability users, and 3 members of the Extraordinary were deployed to escort a supply convoy. In the middle of the road, they met it."
"In just a moment, the entire army was almost completely wiped out; only a few lucky survivors escaped at that time to tell the tale."
Thuong Sinh mused for a moment, looking at the bartender before asking the question he had intended to ask from the start.
"Do you know the Neos Corporation?"
The bartender was about to pick up a customer's half-finished glass to wipe; hearing that name, he froze, the glass nearly slipping from his mechanical hand. He looked at Thuong Sinh with an eye full of suspicion and alarm, then hurriedly lowered his body even further, his electronic eye spinning to scan if anyone was eavesdropping.
"You... what are you asking about them for?" The bartender lowered his voice to the minimum. "Know that in this Iron City, people fear the Parliament, but regarding Neos, people only want to stay silent to preserve their lives."
The man glanced at the glowing red crystal; it seemed this price was enough for him to risk speaking the secrets he always kept hidden:
"That massacre in the South I just told you about... there are rumors that it was a failed product escaped from a Neos laboratory. They are not just a military corporation, but a pack of lunatics specializing in the study of Zombie virus evolution and human Genetics."
"Everyone here understands implicitly: do not get involved with them. I advise you to do the same."
"Where is their headquarters?" Thuong Sinh's face was as cold as ice, his deep eyes asking calmly, his purple-black eyes locking onto the bartender.
The bartender paused, his mechanical eye spinning as if short-circuiting before Thuong Sinh's direct gaze. He swallowed; the greed from earlier upon looking at the crystal had been replaced by fear.
"I don't know exactly where the headquarters is located. No one knows," he whispered, his hand tremblingly pushing an old electronic receipt toward Thuong Sinh.
"They are extremely secretive. It's only known that all contact and transport hubs converge on the Eastern Industrial Zone, right against the Top Floor partition wall."
"Consider this information as the fee for that crystal you gave me."
The man glanced toward the bar door once more then spoke quickly: "If you want to find a clue, go to Transfer Station 402. Tonight there is a special shipment. They have deployed their own private army to escort it—something that is normally never seen. I only know that much..."
Thuong Sinh retracted his gaze, not saying another word. He stood up, the faded cloak completely concealing the Gale Leather Armor inside; he turned toward the door and stepped straight out of the bar.
Outside, the jagged red neon lights of the Middle Floor reflected on the greasy puddles on the road. Thuong Sinh glided like a silent ghost toward the east, following the directions on the old receipt given to him by the bartender.