Everything is futile.
Chen Tiannan realized that what they were doing wasn’t improving the situation, but instead making it worse.
They could feel an invisible shadow spreading faster than their speed, and the conditions of the settlements they encountered were getting worse, with some even having very few real humans left.
Their actions completely angered the Phantoms, who started organized resistance against them.
As time passed, the power of the Phantoms grew stronger, and a Tier Seven Extraordinary appeared.
"Caught him!"
Ximen Long’s fiery hand formed from his severed arm grabbed a shadow from the air and slammed it into the ground, creating a big pit and scattering brilliant sparks.
It was a young man with a swollen face, staring at them with hateful eyes: "You demons will die horribly!"
Ximen Long sneered and said, "If anyone is going to die, it’ll be you first." Then he snapped his neck, a crisp sound of bones cracking echoed.
This was the second attack they suffered today, with a team member unexpectedly dying in the assault.
Chen Tiannan glanced at the body on the ground, expression indifferent, and said, "We need to change our route forward, it seems they’ve discovered us."
Except for him, every team member carried a heavy aura of malice, eyes bloodshot from killing too many people, making their hearts unbalanced, dangerously close to the brink of losing control.
But Chen Tiannan had no intention to stop, instead deciding to continue, and his methods became increasingly intense.
Ximen Long sighed, revealing a face of fatigue, and said, "It seems we haven’t contained the spread of this phenomenon, it’s getting worse."
Chen Tiannan simply said, "We just haven’t exerted enough strength, which shows we’re not wrong."
Upon approaching a settlement, after a brief observation, they acted directly. With previous experience, they knew that once Phantoms exceeded half the settlement, they wouldn’t cooperate, and direct clearing was the best approach.
Everyone harbored panic, not knowing when they’d disappear like those people, vanished unexpectedly without anyone noticing.
The people in the settlement seemed prepared, quickly launching a counterattack, unexpectedly three Tier Seven Extraordinary emerged, far beyond their estimation, making the battle difficult.
In the end, they won the battle at a considerable cost, with two team members dying again.
Chen Tiannan’s abdomen was pierced with a large hole, intestines spilling out, but it didn’t affect him much.
It was just a body; only the remaining will lived on in this world.
This was a long and endless journey, inspiring despair.
Chen Tiannan reloaded the firearms in his hand, looked around calmly, and said, "Ximen Long, take the others and leave here, stay away, find a way to survive."
"This operation seems unnecessary to continue. My will is about to extinguish, I’m about to leave this world..."
He probably exerted all his strength, yet it was all in vain. Facing the advancing tide-like Darkness, they were too weak to resist.
It’s like trying to stop a chariot with a praying mantis.
After the will dissipates, only infinite emptiness and Darkness remains.
"Some things don’t inherently need to exist." Chen Tiannan sighed, sitting atop a high wall, gazing at the not-so-bright sun in the sky, while piles of bodies below burned with raging flames, accompanied by heat and black smoke.
Ximen Long fell into long silence, oddly smiled, walked forward to pat his shoulder, and said:
"Why are you so pessimistic? Even if you die completely, isn’t there still me? Killing isn’t the simplest thing?"
Chen Tiannan said belatedly, "Our strength is still too weak. Trying to change is nothing but a fool’s dream."
"Leave here, you already have the qualification to survive, no need to sink in this place."
After they cleared the sixth settlement, they obtained real Player status, offering a chance to leave this world through various means.
But judging by the current situation, only a small portion have the qualification to leave, most will sink here, gradually disappearing into the Darkness.
Ximen Long nodded, said no more, "Received the latest news, that person is on his way here, seems ready to try destroying the Divine Creature."
"What are you planning to do?"
Chen Tiannan turned around and thought, then said, "Before I leave, I want to meet someone."
"Besides, I feel this Divine Creature is completely different from the one we encountered before, even if that person comes, he probably can’t solve it."
"Go, live in my place. Our civilization may be ravaged in calamity, but as long as will exists, civilization can be continued..."
...
Scorching white light surged into the sky, forming a mushroom cloud explosion in the sky.
The whole land trembled, even the Undead Tide was affected.
Many zombies at the front were blasted away by the aftermath of the explosion, scorched by the residual heat, their skin turning to charcoal black.
It was as if a nuclear bomb had been thrown where the Tentacle Monster was located.
Su Changxing stood on the rooftop, gazing toward the direction of the explosion, deep in thought: "It seems those players have taken action, it’s unexpected that there’s such a powerful Extraordinary among them."
"Hsss!" Big Horn was also amazed by the explosion.
Su Changxing also knew this was probably his best opportunity to act, as the main body of the Tentacle Monster was being restrained by others.
The two hordes of zombies merged into one, advancing toward the location of the Tentacle Monster.
The streets, walls, and lamp posts were covered with a layer of dark purple flesh carpet, with tiny purplish-red tentacles growing from it, dancing with the energy fluctuations in the air.
Within the range of the flesh carpet’s existence, no living creatures, including zombies, existed; all were devoured by the Tentacle Monster, turned into its nourishment.
The Undead Tide surged through the streets and alleys, the ones at the front wrapped in tentacles and dragged into the flesh carpet, gradually being digested.
Other zombies continued to tear and gnaw at the flesh carpet on the ground, attacking the Tentacle Monster in the simplest way.
With the blessing of real resistance, the zombies in the Undead Tide were not entirely powerless to resist.
Even when dragged into the flesh carpet by the tentacles, they could still struggle and instead bite into the dark purple flesh on the ground.
The two sides continue to cannibalize each other in this way, but clearly, the Undead Tide had a temporary advantage and seemed to be opportunistic.
This was already the edge of the flesh carpet itself, so the power of the tentacles was not strong.
Millions of zombies, like locusts, quickly devoured the flesh carpet on the ground.
This thing originated from the Tentacle Monster and wasn’t ordinary flesh, containing extremely high energy, although quite mixed.
But for zombies, which could devour anything, it didn’t matter much; even if they ate a stone, it would just leave a big hole in the stomach.
In this process, the zombie horde was instead continually expanding, as the flesh carpet contained enormous energy, just what the zombies needed, and several bites weren’t much different from eating an Extraordinary Crystal.
This was an unexpected occurrence.
The Undead Tide gnawed their way along the street, clearing the flesh carpet on the ground, walls, and lamp posts completely, even uprooting the small tentacles hidden within.
The zombies in the Undead Tide grew stronger during this process, and with sufficient energy, more and more Extraordinary Zombies emerged.
With this ebb and flow, the Undead Tide advanced faster; perhaps even the Tentacle Monster hadn’t anticipated that the seemingly frail zombies could pose a threat to it.
From the north, the aftermath of the battle continued to be felt; the space kept vibrating, and even the energy fluctuations were disrupted.
The strong players on this side were still fighting the Tentacle Monster, also realizing that they must eliminate the Tentacle Monster, or else it would be an endless trouble!
This also relieved almost any pressure on Su Changxing’s side, advancing smoothly, as the small tentacles on the flesh carpet only reacted passively.
The Undead Tide pushed forward along the street for over two hundred meters, reaching a massive ruined building where a giant purplish-red tentacle swayed slowly in the air.
This tentacle was part of the Tentacle Monster’s body, the flesh carpet in this area radiating outward from it.
An Extraordinary Zombie with speed ability charged toward that giant tentacle to probe, but upon getting close, it was immediately slapped into a meat patty by the tentacle.
Two Giant Zombies, over four meters tall, followed, resisting the tentacle’s attack; their bodies were near collapsing but they didn’t die.
The Undead Tide took this opportunity to rapidly approach the tentacle’s location.
The tentacle swept through the Undead Tide, some zombies were flung away, while others were directly absorbed into the flesh, gradually digested.
Since the zombies in the Undead Tide all had real resistance, they couldn’t be killed immediately; no matter what, they could struggle a bit, and the Undead Tide could gradually approach the tentacle.
As long as they could damage the tentacle, it would be considered a victory, as the Undead Tide with a million zombies could always wear down the opponent.
Meanwhile, a few people stood on a distant rooftop, watching this scene.
"These zombies are indeed not simple, they can actually pose a threat to the Divine Creature." A white-haired man holding a gourd in his hand said with a smile.
Another white-haired man in a workwear spoke in a deep voice, "This is also the best opportunity. Let the zombies expend themselves first, and then we’ll make our move."
They all came here for the Divine Creature, considered some desperadoes, risking their lives for the Divine Inheritance.
As for other matters, they were completely unimportant.
Such is generally human nature.
This giant tentacle, though only part of the Divine Creature, they weren’t its match and could only wait for the opportunity.
Su Changxing had naturally noticed the presence of these people long ago; this whole area was within his control, and every zombie was his eyes, no one could escape.
He also roughly understood why these humans had come here, for the Divine Inheritance.