Chapter 40 - Differences & Similarities (Part 1)

"D-Don't come close to me, you damn creatures!" Qiao Long crawled backwards with his hands as he activated his Air Manipulation skill, demonstrating that the use of his fists earlier was only to hide the true nature of his skill, just as Bai Zemin had said before.

Bang!... Bang!... Bang!

Three air cannons blew off the heads of three zombies and the ground soon became a bloody mess. Immediately afterwards, three other oversized air cannons exploded the heads of three other nearby zombies.

However, to Qiao Long's horror, when he wanted to create another three air cannons he realized that he had no more Mana left!

In their previous battle, Shangguan Bing Xue had not been the only one who had consumed a lot of Mana; Qiao Long was the same. Due to the sharp and dangerous attacks that she was making with the intention of killing him, Qiao Long was forced to push his skill to the maximum possible and unfortunately to him, Shangguan Bing Xue's Ice Maker skill was his perfect counter as she could create walls of ice to defend against his cannons and ice bullets or ice pikes to keep him away from her.

Qiao Long's Air Manipulation skill allowed him to control the air near him, but unlike Bai Zemin's Blood Manipulation skill, Qiao Long could not control the air inside people; each skill had its pros and cons. However, both were very powerful.

"The Mana consumption of powerful skills is also much higher than normal." Bai Zemin's voice getting farther and farther away reached Qiao Long's ears.

Under his terrified and panicked gaze, a zombie reached forward and grabbed his head before taking a sharp bite on his face.

"Aaargh!!! It hurts!!!! It hurts so much!"

Another zombie knelt down beside him and bit onto his arm, tearing off a large chunk of flesh in the process.

"Help me! I'm sorry for what I did before!"

A third zombie latched onto his other arm and began to eat his hand, tearing off two fingers with a single bite.

"I'm willing to be your dog! I'll work like a mule to death for you!"

...

Qiao Long's desperate screams echoed everywhere causing his voice to bounce between the nearby buildings, creating a great high-pitched echo that shook the eardrums of all those who heard it.

Under the care of four zombies, Qiao Long was bitten all over to the point where his body had become a mess of blood and flesh. His screams of pain and agony stopped when one of the zombies bit his throat.

The survivors shuddered in fear as they witnessed such a horrific scene with their own eyes. Something that should only happen in movies, novels, or fantasy books was actually happening before them without any censorship and leaving nothing to the imagination!

Everyone's gaze was unconsciously directed at Bai Zemin, who was about twenty meters away. However, none of them dared to look at him for more than a few seconds before hurriedly looking away as if they were afraid that he would suddenly throw them into the zombies. Even the teachers inside the building where the group rescued by Qiao Long was in the past were looking at Bai Zemin with surprise and trepidation.

Who would have thought that this young man could actually be so cruel! But the most surprising thing was that his expression was so indifferent as if what he had just done was none of his business!

However, there were some people who looked at Qiao Long's death with endless hatred, and when their gazes fell on Bai Zemin's back that hatred turned to gratitude; these people were the women who had suffered from Qiao Long's tyranny.

After being abused and objectified for almost a week, these women were willing to do anything to get revenge. Too bad, they were too weak to do anything about it. But Bai Zemin's appearance was similar to the sun rising after such a long time of darkness.

"How ironic, this guy, who could have been one of the strongest powers of the mankind in the future to fight against the different races, actually ended up dying at the hands of another human less than a week after acquiring his powers," Lilith commented with a casual smile as she watched Qiao Long being slowly devoured. She was obviously already used to such sights.

In fact, Qiao Long was destined to be someone great and with his skill Air Manipulation as his mainstay, as long as he didn't encounter monsters of a higher Order, surviving shouldn't be much of a problem for him.

"That bright destiny vanished that thunderstorm night three days ago when he tried to kill me." Bai Zemin finished as he took a step forward.

Swoosh!... Swoosh!... Swoosh!... Swoosh!

Making four slashes at lightning speed, four heads flew through the air right before falling to the ground and rolling a couple of times before finally stopping.

Ignoring the approaching zombies, Bai Zemin crouched down next to Qiao Long's shattered corpse and couldn't help but frown slightly at the incredibly gruesome and disgusting sight. Suppressing the urge to vomit, he began to rummage through the body before finally finding some interesting things.

[Hurricane Necklace (Rare Grade Treasure): Contains great wind-like elemental power inside. Once a day it can release a hurricane in a straight line and send nearby targets flying. When equipped, Magic +10].

[Draughtbane Dagger (Normal Grade Treasure): An easy to conceal and easy to carry dagger created with a metal called Harbenite. It is harder than steel and lighter than cork. When equipped, Strength +5].

Although there were only two treasures in Qiao Long's body, they were two new items for Bai Zemin.

By defeating human powerhouses, it was not only possible to acquire Soul Power and experience just like with monsters, but also to obtain all the items that the loser had gathered and accumulated. Of course, while it was true that the higher the level of the enemy and the greater the number of treasures they possessed turned a person into a walking treasure trove, the reality was that defeating such beings was also proportionally difficult.

Moreover, although the current Bai Zemin had no qualms about killing people, he did not consider himself a mad machine who killed people just to gather a couple of treasures. As long as someone did not obstruct his path, Bai Zemin would not consider that person his enemy and therefore would not attack them either.

However, just because Bai Zemin thought that way did not mean that everyone thought that way. There would definitely be people who would hunt humans to take their belongings.

Bai Zemin's face suddenly changed, but he soon relaxed.

Swoosh!

An ice bullet shot out from the distance and accurately hit the head of Qiao Long's corpse. Surprisingly, after penetrating the brain, the ice bullet released a terrifying amount of frost that froze practically the entire head in and turned it into an ice cube.

"Even though that scum's life was over after being devoured by those zombies, he could still become one of them." A light voice sounded a few meters away.

Raising his head slightly, Bai Zemin saw Shangguan Bing Xue approaching. Behind her, Chen He and Liang Peng were looking at him with different emotions but both shared one thing; a touch of fear and wariness.

Clearly what Bai Zemin had just done had shocked the two men too much and his figure had been etched in their minds as someone dangerous.