This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 141 Chaoyi District

The streets in Chaoyi District are not very wide, with low bungalows and mud huts on both sides. The dirt roads are embedded with mottled stone bricks of various sizes. In front of each house is a stone with the street number and house number written on it - those are the house numbers officially produced by the city, which are obtained after registering as residents for identification and recording.

This "small" district, which is about the size of a county town, is like a huge, rusty patch nailed to the edge of the old city.

The terrain is low, and there are not many things blocking the view. The bungalows and thatched huts are neatly and messily spread among the dust and weeds.

The early planning by the old city, the destruction of the area during the blood moon's ascent, and the houses built by the people after the blood moon's ascent—all of this formed a complex, maze-like area. After the blood moon's ascent, it was difficult for people outside Chaoyi District to glimpse the scenery. Now, the alleys were teeming with zombies, making easy entry even more difficult.

"There are 120,000 registered residents here." Nie Weiyang said as he led the two of them through the street. He could clearly feel the cold gazes coming from the shadows of the houses on both sides, as well as a hint of malice and darkness that would frighten ordinary people.

[Good and Evil Discrimination] is still a bit too comprehensive... It is simply a huge super-perception skill that can even perceive and judge inanimate targets like zombies.

"So, there are... 120,000 zombies here now??" Yi Jian was shocked.

His attack style is naturally one-on-one, and even though he has AOE skills, dealing with groups of monsters is not his strong point. In contrast, he is better at targeting an elite monster or boss and beating them to death, relieving the pressure on his own side by destroying the enemy leader unit.

But Han Jiangxue raised an eyebrow: "One hundred and twenty thousand?"

After hearing this terrifying number, she actually perked up!
——Compared to the hexagonal warrior Nie Weiyang and the specialized gunner Yi Jian who can fight and run, Han Jiangxue, the "Mage", is a complete glass cannon.

Although it is glass, it is a cannon.

The glass refers to the visual effect of her ice shield—the point being, as an ice-type stealth class, she possesses not only the control power afforded by her attributes, but also an absolutely devastating ability to clear the field. Dealing with groups of monsters is precisely one of her comfort zones!

Nie Weiyang smiled at the two's reactions. "Actually, there aren't 120,000. It seems not many people died in the central area here. The enemy knows they've gotten away with it, so they're holding the 40,000 people in the central area hostage."

He paused.

"But even so, there are 80,000 zombies and 40,000 hostages. In the worst case scenario, these hostages may not have eaten for three days..."

"Hiss..." A trace of worry appeared on Yi Jian's face.

"Hiss..." Han Jiangxue frowned and realized the seriousness of the matter.

At this moment, the three of them had walked into a narrow and winding alley. The collapsed walls and tangled waste piled together on the side of the road naturally formed a chaotic barrier.

Deep within this silent, besieged city, the zombies truly reign supreme. They don't linger on the fringes, but densely packed into the interior, like a murky tide, lurking among the ruined buildings. When Nie Weiyang and his companions enter, they surge silently. From the shadows, a cold purple light flickers, the eyes of the puppets, adding a strange, ominous quality to this deadly place.

The core of all terror is cunningly lurking in the deepest part of this complex building complex, using the terrain to conceal itself perfectly.

Yi Jian glanced around and subconsciously moved his fingers. Two faint rays of light appeared in his hands. These rays were regular and sharp, as if they could transform into some kind of mechanical weapon structure at any moment. But before he actually started to act, he kept a refreshing smile on his face, pretending to be completely calm.

Han Jiangxue didn't even bother to act. She opened her hands and a chill rose up.

The moisture in the air was instantly drained away, and amidst the icy mist, a massive, six-sided, snowflake-shaped ice crystal emerged. It was symmetrical, regular, and elegantly shaped, with sharp corners. Embedded in the center of the snowflake was a white crystal, her medium for spellcasting and her weapon.

Just as professions like spirit taming and spirit shaping are often perceived as strongly associated with concepts like mind, soul, spirit body, and spirit, in the new world, almost all nature-related professions use, or contain, some kind of crystal as their spellcasting medium. This is especially evident in the performance of natural elemental spellcasters and summoners—the weapon Nie Weiyang used to kill Sam was a crystal, and now Han Jiangxue's weapon is also a crystal; this is no coincidence.

Shaped from ice crystals, it disintegrated with a crisp cracking sound, transforming into fragmented sharp blades that surrounded Han Jiangxue. The moment a zombie appeared, a piece of ice would suddenly shoot past, "poof!" and hit the zombie's brain, exploding inside and damaging its nerves.

Only the crystal wrapped in a layer of ice fell into Han Jiangxue's hands. Its ice layer was still growing and quickly turned into a staff similar to a hiking pole - it even had a sharp and clear ice pick head!

"...Have you ever played outdoors before?" Yi Jian asked quietly.

"No." Han Jiangxue replied.

Lies. Nie Weiyang made the judgment. But he didn't question it, only asking, "Have you climbed a snowy mountain?"

"I climbed over it." Han Jiangxue answered again.

This time it's the truth.

Nie Weiyang glanced at the ice crystals scattered in the air. Their elegant shapes, delicate arrangement, and beautiful light and shadow made him silent for a moment. He then concluded firmly, "You are a landscape photographer."

Han Jiangxue glanced at him, a little surprised, and then smiled.

“Yes,” she said, “but I’m not very athletic and I really hate climbing mountains.”

Well, poor athletic ability... this seems to be a common trait among people with Asperger's.

Nie Weiyang tilted his head slightly.

In his previous life, he had a deep understanding of this: during a brief collaboration with an opponent, he ran two kilometers in a restricted area and sprained his ankle three times. Angrily, he slammed on the brakes upon exiting the restricted area, turning back to freeze the opponent's head and break it off to kick it like a ball...

I don’t know if kicking her would make her foot injury worse.

At this moment, they have arrived at the central area.

The doors and windows of the bungalows here were tightly shut, as if forgotten. Small doors made of wooden sticks shielded the people inside the huts and bungalows, imprisoning these last survivors. It was these innocent people, used as living shields, that, like an invisible chain, strangled the throats of the external forces, forcing any thundering strikes aimed at destroying the source to be canceled, leaving the situation in a stalemate.

This area had become a hell of despair, decay, and deadly threats. Terrified residents huddled in the corners of their homes, peering through cracks in window frames or through cracks in door panels, desperately watching the zombies lingering outside, approaching close at hand. Among them, there were few combatants left—those who dared to fight were killed at the earliest opportunity. The zombies clearly had a plan...

This place seems to have fallen into despair and stagnation.

--seem.

　I'm sorry that some content was missed by win11 before, and it has been added in the previous chapter.

　　It's so strange... Before switching to 11, I had never encountered this problem of missing characters or even failure of operation resulting in missing a small paragraph. I checked everywhere on the Internet and found that it seems that I am not the only one who encountered this problem. I can only say that I hope they can write fewer bugs to everyone when making the operating system...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)