Ark Chess Player

"Let's go pick them up."

Lin Lu extended his hand to the girl and smiled, "At least within the reach of my hands, I can still protect you."

According to the safest plan, Lin Lu should recall the Noah Heavy Machine now, take the girl away from here, and return to Rhodes Island.

However, merely saving the girl's body cannot save her heart... and then this adventurous journey will lose half its meaning. Lin Lu doesn't mind trying a little harder; he still hopes that this world can give the girl a little more warmth, otherwise she will become less and less afraid of the cold, and sooner or later she will become so numb that her heart will stop beating.

Zoya nodded. She didn't know whether she should trust the person in front of her, but she... had no choice.

She wanted to live, but she wanted even more to live with everyone else.

She placed her hand on Lin Lu's palm. Lin Lu's hand was fair and slender, without any calluses, and he didn't look like a warrior at all.

Yet it was precisely these soft hands that brought her a familiar, warm, and nostalgic sense of security.

"dad……"

Zoya whispered, as if talking to herself.

Lin Lu smiled slightly, helped the girl up from the ground, pulled her behind him, and looked around coldly.

Just as Zoya was about to speak, he carefully covered her mouth and leaned down.

Lin Lu raised his hand and pointed to the road they had come from.

Zoya followed her gaze and saw a layer of dark gray mist spreading out, which was difficult to discern against the backdrop of the night.

"!!!"

Lin Lu's digitized spiritual domain issued an alarm, with four deep red dots appearing at the edge of the gray fog. He focused his mental energy on his eyes, enhancing the spiritual domain's concentration. Through the dense gray domain, he saw four infected individuals dressed in Reunion Movement white uniforms walking in bizarre postures, sometimes bending low, sometimes leaning back, moving their bodies stiffly like puppets.

Their backs were replaced by black Originium clusters. Their human consciousness had long been replaced by the will of Originium, or rather... they only obeyed the orders from Mephisto and had no other thoughts. They wandered around this abandoned upper town of Chernobog, spreading the seeds of evil throughout the city.

They are dyeing every living human being to resemble them, just like... the source of infection.

"The mother of the herd."

Lin Lu placed his right hand on his waist. With the Ark Driver unusable, he could only rely on his own strength.

At the same time, another problem arose in front of him.

One task is to rescue Zoya's companions.

On the other hand... it was one of the sources that ended this disaster.

How to do?

Chapter 127 I am not skilled in swordsmanship

"If it were you, what would you choose..."

Lin Lu looked at the girl who was barely managing to perk up, but quickly shook his head.

This problem was too cruel for Zoya. On one hand, it involved her companions, and on the other hand, it involved the city and even potential threats to the world.

Mr. Lin is not some lousy PhD; how could he possibly throw the trolley problem at a child?

So-called moral values ​​are often diluted under harsh living conditions, so it is already a rare thing that this child has been able to maintain his nature.

Zoya has done enough.

"Really... I'm not good at swordsmanship."

Lin Lu scratched his head and finally came to a conclusion.

Only children make choices; I want them all!

Quickly eliminate the infected mothers of these four Reunion soldiers, and then go rescue the others.

"Wait for me here."

Lin Lu patted the girl's head and emphasized, "Don't use magic. If you don't want to become like them, never cast a spell again."

Based on the data provided by the Spirit Realm, Lin Lu was relieved that the girl had not been infected with the seeds of evil by Mephisto, but he also observed that the girl's spiritual power had been damaged to its core.

Zoya seemed stunned by the slap, and the constant stinging in her head felt a little better. She stared blankly at Lin Lu's back.

What a strange person.

The girl thought to herself.

Lin Lu strode forward, examining the weapons of the unicorn Sarkaz: a black sword and a red sword.

The black blade was rugged and wild, while the red blade was long and sharp; both exuded a strong aura of blood, as if the sheaths were filled with blood.

Perhaps, as the Sarkaz warriors said, these two killing blades did indeed slay princes and generals, shattering their resentment and anger, which then clung to the blades.

Lin Lu held the menacing-looking Demon-Slaying Katana Pillar upright in front of him, its length nearly a meter and a half, making it far too inconvenient to wield for his size. He wasn't some Sarkaz samurai, standing 1.9 meters tall with explosive muscles, a muscular chest, and a waist thinner than a girl's… Damn it, I want to be taller too!

A strong negative energy emanated from Lin Lu, making it instantly unclear who the true mother of the herd was.

Lin Lu channeled his spiritual energy into the katana, integrating the Originium Arts engraved on it into his spiritual domain, making it usable.

Rather than stealing, it's more like using the purest Originium energy to awaken the weapon's memories... To put it bluntly, it's all about money. If you encounter an unusable Originium Arts device, it means you haven't paid enough.

"Originium Arts: Blood Oath".

Blood-red flames rose from the katana, whipping up a gale that whipped up the hem of Lin Lu's black trench coat, while the dimly lit Ark Drive was wrapped around his waist. Lin Lu could almost feel the demon-slaying sword cheering, leaping with joy, excited, and yearning to drink the blood of its enemies.

Within the Spirit Realm's vision, the four strangely behaving infected mothers, like hungry wolves spotting their prey, froze for a second, red light emanating from their eyes, and then, as if machines were starting up, charged towards Lin Lu. The Originium was their kinetic energy, providing a continuous flow of power to their limbs, pushing their mobility beyond the host's limits.

A thick, dark gray fog swept in, and the black blade deeply embedded in the ground emitted even brighter blood flames, causing Lin Lu to frown.

"This is... an extremely high concentration of Originium particles?" Lin Lu analyzed. "Is this how Mephisto manipulates magic...?"

For ordinary people, staying in the gray fog for less than ten minutes would cause their blood's Originium crystal density to exceed the limit, resulting in Oripathy. This is the most deadly toxin, which, after being processed by the human body, transforms into biochemical toxic gas, with a radiation index even higher than that of severely affected areas during natural disasters.

Lin Lu, shrouded in gray mist, was at this moment—

"Whew... Ha... That's powerful."

Lin Lu took a deep breath, slowly exhaled a wisp of white mist, smacked his lips, and felt quite satisfied.

It felt like I was holding a chili pepper in my mouth, the stinging sensation spreading throughout my mouth, and my tongue feeling a little numb. Turns out it was a Sichuan peppercorn.

Aside from that, she didn't feel any other discomfort. After all, Lin Lu was a ruthless person who dared to extract Originium energy from a spell as malicious as the Seed of Evil. How could something like this possibly have any effect on him? Luckily, Zoya was waiting behind them, otherwise this little girl who had overdrawn her mental energy would probably have died on the spot.

Lin Lu stared ahead; visibility was extremely low, and a dark, thick fog obscured the surroundings.

If it weren't for the flames erupting from the black blade, Lin Lu wouldn't even be able to see his own hand.

"If you can't see it, then don't look at it."

Lin Lu closed his eyes, gripped the scabbard with his left hand, and pressed his right hand against the hilt of the red sword, his breathing steady. A faint silver-white figure appeared behind him, opening its emerald green eyes.

He reduced the coverage area of ​​his spiritual domain, from the initial three thousand meters to three hundred meters, and finally only a three-meter radius centered on his body.

Even if God wanted to reach out his hand, Lin Lu could chop Him off with a single stroke from those three meters!

"Whoosh—"

A part of the infected mother body melted into the gray mist and fell from above Lin Lu's head. His arms had turned into ore, and the parts that replaced his hands were sharp edges.

Lin Lu kept his eyes closed; his only movement was...

Draw your sword.

Draw your sword, facing straight ahead.

The crimson flames transformed into an illusory fire dragon that soared into the sky. Its enormous maw bit the mother creature that was attacking from above, slamming it viciously down in front of Lin Lu.

Lin Lu's decision to draw his sword based on his advance prediction was correct; he knew his enemy would be dragged to his side and executed.

The blazing katana struck the infected mother's body with a clanging sound, as if cutting through a block of iron. The mother's cells had almost completely fused with Originium, meaning she was essentially a walking piece of ore, with only a wisp of human flesh remaining on her side.

Lin Lu seemed to be able to hallucinate the other party's wails, which were the torment and pain of having his whole body stuffed with stones, which were still writhing and rubbing against his flesh.

"rest in peace……"

Lin Lu sighed softly, and surging blood flames rose onto the blade.

He tossed aside the scabbard, pressed his left hand against the black knife stuck in the ground, as if he were drawing out inch by inch of its cold light.

"Originium Arts: Blade Demon".

Lin Lu's body spun in a circle, his black blade gleaming with a crimson sheen and a fierce, cold light, simultaneously slashing down the three shadowy figures attacking from all directions. The blades deeply sliced ​​open the bodies of the infected mothers. With each infected mother he struck, the blood flames on his twin blades burned ever hotter, and the soaring dragon formed by the converging flames became ever clearer.

The ultimate Originium Arts technique transforms flames into form, giving them life, and imbuing magic with life.

Lin Lu raised his left hand, which was holding the black sword, high, extracting the high concentration of Originium particles that permeated the air, converting them into the purest Originium energy, and injecting it into Originium Arts.

In an instant, the dragon formed from condensed flames opened its non-existent eyes, its flame-covered head raised high, and it let out a furious roar.

The dragon soared high into the sky, then swooped down like a meteor, accompanied by Lin Lu's heavy swing of his black blade, and the city streets were once again bathed in flames.

Zoya collapsed to the ground, gazing at the surging flames in the distance, and slowly lowered the hand that was holding the revolver staff.

"Who exactly are you...?"

The girl looked at the figure standing firm amidst the flames and murmured to herself.

Chapter 128 Human Nature

Rooftop of an abandoned military and police building in Upper Chernobog.

An atmosphere of despair permeated the area; the grotesque, twisted, stitched-together monster seemed never to fall, its fused limbs flailing wildly.

No matter how much Valery, with his one arm, swung his hammer, he could not smash its bloated, obese body, nor could he truly damage its essence.

"Get out of the way, Valery!"

Montagni once again charged into the fray, shield in hand. He had already thrown his saber aside; if he hadn't been holding the shield with both hands, he wouldn't have been able to withstand even a single blow.

The Frankenstein's fist sank deep into the shield, and the violent vibrations caused Montani to stagger backward, his numb legs stomping the floor repeatedly to barely dissipate the force.

Each punch from the Stitched Monster seemed designed to shake off the extra limbs from its arms, each strike potentially fatal. Once it was bare or felt it wasn't enough, it would devour the infected that followed, turning them into fat.

Even with Jaeger intercepting a large number of irrational infected on the next floor, Montani couldn't even imagine what would happen if this monster were allowed to devour all the infected.

"Get out of the way, everyone."

Among the military and police present, the only one who could pose a threat to the monster was actually the seemingly most inconspicuous Old Fei.

The old man held an ice axe, which he conjured into a sharp ice spear, and attacked the monster.