Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wild Tower Corpse Monster and the Great Level-Up Battle!

Page 1 of 3

Being chased by monsters like this was unbearably frustrating. Refusing to fight back simply was not in his nature.

However, even if he intended to make a stand, he first had to get far away from their lair. Otherwise, killing one would only bring out an entire nest, and by then Tang Zhen might not even have time to cry.

Having made up his mind, Tang Zhen began deliberately controlling his speed, keeping an appropriate distance from the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers. He would not let them catch him, yet he maintained enough attraction to keep the monsters interested in him.

Fortunately, these monsters had no ranged attacks. Otherwise, Tang Zhen would have been under assault by now.

Yet compared with the seemingly endless stamina of the monsters, Tang Zhen, who had been running for quite some time, was already beginning to feel unable to hold out.

If he continued running like this, he might not be hacked to death by the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers, but he could very well collapse from exhaustion.

As he drew a deep breath, Tang Zhen swiftly pulled a pistol from his storage space and fired three shots in rapid succession at the nearest knife-and-shield ghost soldier!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The three shots struck with extraordinary speed, making the knife-and-shield ghost soldier’s body tremble violently. Even a section of its breastplate shattered. Yet the scene Tang Zhen had expected—of the monster collapsing—never appeared. His three bullets had merely left three tiny holes in the creature’s body!

“What the hell is going on?”

Tang Zhen was dumbfounded. The weapon he relied on to kill monsters had suddenly failed to produce the expected result.

The body of the knife-and-shield ghost soldier felt to Tang Zhen like a piece of tough, resilient rubber!

While Tang Zhen stood there in stunned confusion, the few knife-and-shield ghost soldiers took the opportunity to close the distance. Their hideous faces were already within reach, and one of them had raised its great saber, preparing to hack him apart at close range.

Tang Zhen did not dare hesitate. He sprinted forward with all his strength once more, running for a full minute before finally widening the distance between himself and the monsters slightly.

Gasping for breath, Tang Zhen took his combat saber from his storage space again. The instant the nearest knife-and-shield ghost soldier moved slightly closer, he unleashed a slash with every ounce of his strength.

The blow was immensely powerful. The great saber forged from automobile suspension steel cleaved through the ghost soldier’s shoulder and continued downward without slowing, severing the creature’s shoulder and arm and sending them crashing to the ground.

Just as Tang Zhen had expected, the knife-and-shield ghost soldier, now missing an arm, showed no sign of pain. Its body merely trembled slightly before it staggered onward and continued lunging at him.

“Oh, come on! How am I supposed to survive this?”

Tang Zhen cursed loudly before turning and fleeing once more.

The two experiments had already proven that unless he could tear the monster apart and kill it outright, even cutting it in half would not stop it from crawling over and biting its enemy to death.

Just as the detector had indicated, it truly did not fear pain!

Since direct hand-to-hand combat was useless, Tang Zhen had no choice but to exploit its weakness and kill it that way!

With that thought, Tang Zhen activated his teleportation ability once more.

When the pursuing knife-and-shield ghost soldiers saw him disappear without a trace again, they let out furious roars. They spun around repeatedly in the area where he had vanished, refusing to leave.

When Tang Zhen reappeared, he was holding a large basin filled to the brim with fuel.

He had stored it at home earlier as fuel for his all-terrain vehicle. He had never expected it to come in handy at a moment like this.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

With a sweeping motion, Tang Zhen splashed the fuel over the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers that had lunged at him the moment he appeared. An entire basinful drenched the monsters from head to toe.

As he discarded the basin, Tang Zhen quickly used his lighter to ignite a wad of paper soaked in fuel, then hurled it at the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers.

The burning fireball traced a trail of black smoke through the air before striking one of the ghost soldiers with a faint whistling sound.

“Whoosh…”

A soft, muffled sound rang out, and flames immediately shot into the sky. The pursuing knife-and-shield ghost soldier instantly became a human-shaped torch, burning fiercely as thick black smoke billowed from its body.

All the while, it gave off a continuous sizzling noise—the sound of flesh and fat scorching in the flames.

What shocked Tang Zhen was that although the knife-and-shield ghost soldier was engulfed in fire, it continued madly waving its great saber and chasing him through the wilderness.

The shock in Tang Zhen’s heart was indescribable. He desperately dodged the increasingly sluggish ghost soldier while stealing occasional glances at how the creatures reacted to the flames.

After several minutes of evasion, the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers, whose vitality was astonishingly tenacious, finally collapsed onto the ground and turned into piles of charcoal.

The nearby grassland was littered with charred fragments of their limbs. As the monsters had run about pursuing Tang Zhen, those fragments had scattered everywhere.

“Whew…”

Tang Zhen collapsed onto the ground, sucking in air with all his might. The entire process had truly exhausted him.

As he looked at the corpses of the knife-and-shield ghost soldiers, a sharp gleam flashed through his eyes, and he fell into thoughtful silence. Although killing these few monsters had been extremely dangerous and troublesome, it had given him an idea.

From now on, he could be more flexible in the way he killed monsters. There was no need to confine himself to fighting methods such as close combat or shooting. The fire he had used just now, for instance, was an excellent way to kill monsters.

He took the opportunity to glance at his personal information on his phone. His progress toward the next level had increased considerably. This method truly worked!

At this rate, he would only need to do this one more time before he could advance to Level Two.

The strength he possessed at Level One was already so formidable. Level Two would surely be even more powerful.

Tang Zhen’s heart grew hot. In an instant, that strange and terrifying wild tower seemed to transform into a glittering mountain of brain beads, waiting for him to set the monsters ablaze and plunder it to his heart’s content!

However, the process of luring the monsters earlier had been fraught with danger. Tang Zhen had no intention of taking such risks again so easily.

With a wild tower appearing near Blackrock City, it had surely attracted the attention of numerous factions. It probably would not be long before large numbers of wanderers and forces of every size came rushing over.

He did not have much time left. Every second counted!

Ignoring his physical exhaustion, Tang Zhen quickly removed the brain beads from several knife-and-shield ghost soldiers and tossed them directly into his storage space. He then immediately activated his teleportation ability.

After returning home, Tang Zhen quickly changed and washed up, then ran to a nearby supermarket and bought a large number of balloons. Once he returned home, he brought out all the remaining fuel.

After finding a container, Tang Zhen mixed rubber granules, sugar, and other additives into the fuel, completely altering its original appearance.

Using a funnel, he filled the balloons with fuel. After filling more than twenty of them in succession, Tang Zhen made another batch of Molotov cocktails.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

These simple weapons, consisting of fuel-filled containers sealed with strips of cloth, possessed destructive power far beyond what their low cost would suggest!

After finishing all this, Tang Zhen dismantled the all-terrain vehicle and transported its parts to the Tower City World through several trips.

Next, Tang Zhen rolled up his sleeves and swung his shovel and pickaxe with all his might, digging a trench more than ten meters long. He left only a single passage in the middle wide enough for the all-terrain vehicle to pass through.

He threw a pile of dry grass inside, poured in a bucket of fuel, and then carefully concealed the trap.

Though he had been busy for half the day, Tang Zhen did not rest. He crouched in the grass and began reassembling the scattered parts of the all-terrain vehicle.

Half an hour later, the roar of an engine rang out. Perhaps the first all-terrain vehicle in the Tower City World had finally issued its own bellow. Crushing the weeds beneath its wheels, it carried Tang Zhen toward the newly emerged wild tower.

Before long, Tang Zhen could already see the gloomy and terrifying wild tower in the distance, along with the corpse monsters wandering outside it. At the same time, the monsters noticed him as well.

There was no way they could fail to notice him. The roar of the all-terrain vehicle was simply too obvious. Anyone who was not deaf could hear it.

Tang Zhen did not know whether these corpse monsters were deaf, but he did know that they had already charged toward him in a fury.

This time, he did not see that terrifying lord-class monster. However, his sharp eyes quickly noticed that among the corpse monsters there seemed to be several dozen wearing leather armor and masks, with light crossbows and short swords hanging at their waists.

Compared with the other corpse monsters, these leather-armored creatures appeared much more agile. At that moment, they were rapidly gathering in the shadows around the wild tower, hiding themselves in complete silence.

Without careful observation, it would have been easy to overlook the corpse monsters concealed in the darkness.

Tang Zhen stared at them for several seconds before words appeared before his eyes:

[Shadow Ghost Scouts: agile; weapons carry corpse poison; nighttime combat ability increased by thirty percent; vulnerable to intense light and flames.]

Tang Zhen frowned. Where had these monsters come from?

If they had emerged from the wild tower, then everything would be fine. But if they had come through the black rifts again, the situation might be rather serious.

Who knew how many monsters lurked beyond those terrifying black rifts? If they continued pouring out without end, it would bring a catastrophic disaster upon the wanderers nearby and Blackrock City.

For the moment, however, Tang Zhen had no time to worry about anyone else’s life or death. Seven or eight knife-and-shield ghost soldiers and two Level Two bow-and-arrow ghost soldiers were already pursuing him. Among those ghost soldiers was even a squad leader—a genuine Level Three monster!

After cursing himself for his miscalculation, Tang Zhen immediately turned the vehicle around and led the group of corpse monsters toward the place where he had prepared his ambush.

The all-terrain vehicle was far faster than the monsters, allowing Tang Zhen to calmly retrieve fuel-filled balloons from his storage space and occasionally throw one backward.

Every so often, a monster was struck by a balloon and drenched in sticky fuel, yet it continued pursuing Tang Zhen with relentless determination.

Cold arrows occasionally flew in from behind, preventing Tang Zhen from lowering his guard. If not for the steel plate on his back and the helmet on his head, he would probably have been shot to death five or six times by now.

Fortunately, these corpse monsters did not know to shoot at the tires. Otherwise, Tang Zhen’s plan would have been ruined before it even began.

After a chaotic chase filled with frantic movement and confusion, Tang Zhen finally reached the location where he had set his trap.

Page 3 of 3