Chapter 39 The Calabash Brothers? [Second Update]

Luffy came to the door, pushed it open, and stepped inside.

Zeng Hongsen sat on the sofa, lost in thought, while others were reading books or whispering quietly among themselves. Someone lay asleep nearby.

Outside, the rain continued to pour, relentless and loud, bringing a chill to the air.

“Boss!” Zeng Hongsen saw Luffy return and stood up excitedly.

Ma Bi, Zeng Shuna, and Meng Xiaoyao also walked over.

“Everyone, keep resting. Zeng Hongsen, Ma Bi, Meng Xiaoyao, you’ll take turns on night watch. I’m going to rest for a while. The trouble in town is settled, but we must leave here tomorrow,” Luffy said seriously before turning and heading into a room.

“Yes!” Zeng Hongsen and the others nodded.

The Dragon Maiden appeared and took a seat nearby.

“Goddess, what did you encounter in town?” Zeng Hongsen couldn’t help but approach the Dragon Maiden and ask.

Ma Bi went to the window to observe the outside.

“We ran into zombies!” The Dragon Maiden raised her hands and growled softly.

“No way? Zombies are scary enough, and you met corpse monsters?” Zeng Shuna grew fearful at her words.

“With your boss around, no corpse monster can stand against him. You haven’t seen the aura he emits—dragon energy everywhere! Those zombies hid in terror...” The Dragon Maiden began to boast, exaggerating her tale.

If Luffy knew she was spinning such stories, he’d probably spit blood.

He entered the room and sat cross-legged on the bed.

“System... How do I extract a trace of dragon blood from the heart of the evil corpse beast?” Luffy immediately communicated with the system in his mind.

“Dragon Blood Extractor, just one thousand crystal cores. Would you like to redeem?”

“Damn, System, you’re extorting me! How can it be so expensive?” Luffy was speechless—one thousand crystal cores for a Dragon Blood Extractor was outrageous.

“Ding, if the host doesn’t find it disgusting, you can directly eat the raw heart and obtain the dragon blood that way.”

“Guess I’ll just swallow it then.” Luffy sighed, redeemed a Dragon Blood Extractor—a basin-sized device, placed the evil corpse beast’s heart inside, pressed the switch, and the device glowed faintly gold, vibrating continuously. Soon, it stopped, and a drop of dragon blood appeared in a small vial.

“Wow, so that’s how it works.”

Luffy was a bit surprised, picked up the vial, and drank the drop of dragon blood.

“Gulp…”

A surge of warmth rushed from his stomach through his limbs and veins. Luffy immediately activated the Dragon Emperor’s Dominance Technique, dragon energy swirling around him as if a true dragon shielded his body.

His body radiated divine golden light; his skin glowed as if bathed in gold waves.

He appeared like a deity, inspiring awe.

The next day.

Dawn broke gently.

Luffy opened his eyes, golden light seeming to shoot from them. He felt power coursing through his body, and another thick layer of black impurities oozed from his skin, foul-smelling.

He stood up, went out to bathe, and returned feeling refreshed. He looked at the Dragon Blood Extractor, wanting to redeem a spatial ring; otherwise, it would be impossible to carry things around, and much of the meat would soon expire and disappear.

“System, how many crystal cores for a spatial ring?”

Luffy immediately communicated with the system.

“Ding, not much, just three thousand crystal cores.”

“Damn, you call that not much?” Luffy nearly cursed aloud. “Knock off two thousand and I’ll buy it.”

“Ding, if not redeemed within five seconds, price increases to five thousand crystal cores.”

“Damn you! Redeem it!” Luffy was utterly speechless and had no choice but to redeem.

“Ding, three thousand crystal cores deducted. Spatial ring contains three hundred square meters of space, delivered to host’s temporary storage.”

“Damn!”

Luffy took out the spatial ring—a small, exquisite ring, but still a good item. He stored the Dragon Blood Extractor, snake meat, and wild boar meat inside, then placed the Thousand Thunder Sword from his back into the spatial ring and headed outside.

Rain continued to fall.

Luffy came out and saw Zeng Hongsen approaching. “Boss, what next?”

“Everyone, finish breakfast and prepare to set out.”

Luffy took snake and pig meat from his spatial ring, shared it with everyone, and then led the way out of the building, whose cloaking effect had vanished.

Under Luffy’s lead, they headed toward the outskirts of the town. The journey was much longer than usual; it would take days to reach Jiuzhou City.

Luffy had no idea what Jiuzhou City was like now. Rumor had it zombies were driven to the suburbs, but it was likely only some had been expelled from the city center, which had the densest population—and thus the most zombies. Driving them out wouldn’t be easy.

Such were Luffy’s thoughts.

After a day’s travel, everyone rested in a villa surrounded by mountains and forests.

“Roar…”

Suddenly, a terrifying roar startled everyone awake.

“Looks like someone is hunting wild beasts or zombies,” Luffy said, standing up and going outside.

“Let’s go take a look. We can wipe out zombies and wild beasts and find food. Anyone who kills a thousand zombies will earn five upgraded Tier-2 Body Tempering Potions.”

“Yeah!” Someone cheered, enticed by the reward. They were no longer novices and now had some experience hunting zombies and wild beasts.

Anyone who killed ten Tier-2 zombies would earn a Body Tempering Potion, which made them happy.

Luffy was giving them a chance to hone their skills.

Everyone grabbed their weapons and charged out.

Whenever they encountered zombies, they destroyed them. The forest zombies were quickly eliminated, and they moved toward a distant spot. Reaching a mountaintop, they looked down into a valley where countless zombies were converging at the center.

A team of about a dozen people, all clad in battle armor, was fighting off the oncoming zombies.

Five or six surrounded a zombie—a child, but with a sprout growing from its head, reminiscent of the Calabash Brothers. Unexpectedly, it possessed Tier-4 strength.

Tiers 1 to 3 increased power by thirty times, but Tier-4 marked a major leap—a hundredfold increase.

This little zombie, though only had two hundred times human strength, could spit fire from its mouth, and the group was wary of its flames, not daring to get too close.

“Boss, what should we do?” Zeng Hongsen asked Luffy.

“Simple. Wait until they’re exhausted and both sides are battered, then we rush in,” Luffy replied with a wicked grin.