Chapter 20: Boss, Someone's Rebelling

Clang...

Luffy appeared in front of the Tier-3 zombie in an instant, slashing down with his sword. The zombie extended its hands, its ten fingers growing forty-centimeter-long black claws to block the strike. The sword collided with the claws, sending sparks flying.

Yet the ten claws were bent by Luffy’s Scarlet Dragon Sword. As the blade scraped against the zombie’s claws, sparks scattered in every direction.

“Ah...”

The Tier-3 zombie let out a furious roar, opening its grotesque mouth. Its long hair lashed toward Luffy like serpents.

Swish, swish... The hair seemed to stretch, reaching for Luffy. The sight was exceedingly bizarre.

“System, why can’t you scan this zombie’s hair that can extend?”

Luffy dodged to the side, coming to the zombie’s flank as he spoke to the system.

“Ding, the reason this system didn’t scan it is because I wanted to test the host’s reaction ability. Your reflexes are quite impressive.”

“You’re really good at making excuses,” Luffy rolled his eyes at the system and unleashed the Flame Sword Technique.

“Cross Flame Slash!”

Whoosh, whoosh...

Luffy struck twice at lightning speed, two sword-shaped flames converging and slashing at the zombie’s head.

Sizzle...

In an instant, the zombie’s hair reacted as if meeting its nemesis, emitting blue smoke as it burned. The Cross Flame Slash severed the hair, igniting it and rapidly spreading flames toward the zombie’s head.

“Ah...”

The zombie, startled, roared in rage, whipping its burning hair about. But the more it thrashed, the fiercer the flames became. In desperation, it used its long claws to cut off its own hair.

Roar...

The zombie was livid, opening its bloody maw and lunging at Luffy.

“Heh... Anger is good, just like this.”

The Scarlet Dragon Sword in Luffy’s hand blazed with fierce fire, suddenly shooting out a blade-shaped flame at the charging zombie.

Whoosh...

The fire sword pierced the Tier-3 zombie’s heart, sending it flying backward.

Howl...

The zombie struggled madly, crashing into the iron wall. Luffy immediately fired another sword slash—splat—the blade pinned the zombie through its neck.

In an instant, the zombie ceased to struggle.

Luffy walked over.

Suddenly,

The Tier-3 zombie’s hands, with their long black claws, stabbed at Luffy with lightning speed.

“Watch out!” Su Ningxue cried out in alarm.

“Boss, be careful!” Zeng Weixin was also startled.

Bang...

Suddenly,

A faint golden light flashed from Luffy’s body, blocking the ten long black claws and even forcing them back with domineering force.

“You managed to make me use Dragon Qi. That’s impressive. Go die.”

Luffy gripped the Scarlet Dragon Sword, charged forward, and brought the blade down.

Splat...

The zombie’s head flew off, blood spraying everywhere. The head crashed to the side and rolled onto the ground.

Such a terrifying Tier-3 zombie, killed just like that?

“Dig out the crystal core for me.”

Luffy turned and walked away, his expression severe. He could not allow the people he trained to be wiped out by this Tier-3 zombie. If they were killed by weaker zombies, he wouldn’t rescue them. But since they’d been wounded by such a powerful one—and with no danger to himself—he had to save them. They could continue killing zombies for him, serving him. Give and take; that’s the principle. It’s not about naive compassion, but about a force you’ve cultivated—it’s yours, and you can’t allow others to destroy it. Even a dog’s owner must be respected.

The protagonist is not a heartless animal, but flesh and blood; his possessions are not to be touched by others, that’s all.

The Tier-3 crystal core was dug out and collected by Luffy.

Then,

Zeng Hongsen came over carrying a large bag of crystal cores.

“Boss...” Behind him followed a group of people. “Two members died...”

“Dead is dead.”

Luffy took the crystal cores and turned to walk aside.

“Keep clearing zombies. There should be survivors in the other carriages.”

Luffy headed toward the second carriage of the train.

“Wow... So cool!” Ma Bi’s eyes were full of admiration. He never imagined their boss was so formidable, so powerful.

“I... I want to join you.”

“I... also want to join you, fight zombies like you.”

Meng Xiaoyao spoke seriously.

“In light of you saving my subordinates, you’ll be given a chance.”

Luffy tossed out two bottles of body tempering liquid and two sets of battle armor.

“Thank you so much.”

Ma Bi took the armor and liquid, unsure how to use them. Zeng Shuna explained it to him.

Then,

They all followed Luffy to the second carriage, where there were people inside and two zombie corpses on the ground.

Children were crying, adults smoking, and some were playing cards. The atmosphere was lively, completely different from the previous carriages.

There were dozens of people.

Seeing newcomers, everyone fell silent, gazing at Luffy’s group.

“Someone’s here!” A child ran over, full of curiosity.

“How old are you, little one? Where are your parents?” Luffy picked up the adorable child.

“Where are your parents?” The child pointed to four people playing cards nearby—two middle-aged men and women sitting on the outside.

“Oh... Little one, don’t run around. If a bad person took you, it wouldn’t be good.”

Luffy carried the child over.

The people in the carriage watched Luffy and his group in silence. Everyone was dressed in battle armor, fully armed, not people they could afford to provoke—they thought they’d met the military.

“What do you want?” Suddenly, a middle-aged man looked at Luffy’s group.

“We’re not here for trouble. Who’s driving up front? Why didn’t they stop just now?”

Luffy walked forward.

“Stop!” Suddenly, a man drew a gun and pointed it at Luffy. “Our boss told them not to stop. What do you want?”

“Your boss, huh? Interesting. How many people?”

Luffy spoke calmly, showing no fear.

“I’m afraid telling you would scare you to death. Come out, all of you—their boss is in my hands.”

The man sneered.

Six people stood up from different seats, all armed with pistols.

“So few? Not enough. Go get your boss.”

Luffy spoke indifferently.

“Boss...” Zeng Hongsen was worried.

“It’s fine. Let’s play with them.”

Luffy shrugged, unconcerned.

“All right,” Zeng Hongsen said no more.

“Tsk tsk, even beauties have come. Let’s have some fun.”

A man with a gun approached Su Ningxue and the others.

Swish, swish...

Suddenly, Su Ningxue and her companions drew their weapons, startling the man.

“Damn... Playing dumb to catch the tiger, huh? Shoot! Aren’t you afraid of hitting innocent people?”

The leader sneered.

Then,

He walked toward the first carriage. “Boss, someone’s rebelling.”