Chapter 2723 - 1841: Hell Training (Ben Meow Begins to Evolve into Ultra-Fat Meow)

Chapter 2723: Chapter 1841: Hell Training (Ben Meow Begins to Evolve into Ultra-Fat Meow)

For the survivors, the days ahead were simply like hell.

They originally thought that waking up, their everyday lives instantly overturned, and struggling to survive daily was already hard enough. But soon, Duanmu Huai showed them with facts — there is a pain in this world that’s worse than death.

Whether it is in games, movies, TV, or novels, generally survivors trying to live in a city full of zombies do so as quietly as possible, sneaking around like thieves to avoid drawing the attention of those zombies. Not to mention, in this world, the zombies are incredibly fast, like hundred-meter sprinters, and once discovered, you barely have time to escape before they catch up and tackle you down.

However, Duanmu Huai did the exact opposite, basically, wherever he went, he had just one command.

"Go, clean out the zombies inside."

At first, it was the park, the square, then it became the mall, and next the apartments.... The more populated the places, the denser the zombies naturally are. Naturally, the survivors resisted this, jokingly exclaiming that they survived with great difficulty not to fight zombies desperately!

However, the shadow of that guy turned into a Mecha Servant swayed back and forth behind them, quickly dispelling everyone’s thoughts of rebellion. Duanmu Huai also warned that if they didn’t obey, they’d be turned into Mecha Servants — after all, Mecha Servants are obedient.

Of course, initially, some did try to flee amidst the chaos, but reality showed that Medea was always watching from above. Anyone attempting to desert was captured and directly turned into Mecha Servants.

After two more Mecha Servants increased the count, the others resigned themselves to fate.

For these survivors who were merely living their normal lives before, Duanmu Huai’s teachings were indeed a massive pressure on them. He wasn’t the stereotypical military devil sergeant who beat people to the verge of death and then ordered them to run laps or do sit-ups as punishment. But everyone would rather Duanmu Huai be the devil sergeant, because he was scarier than the devil sergeant!

Duanmu Huai believed that humans learn more effectively from experience than from instruction. Hence, although he would explain combat precautions before battles, he wouldn’t emphasize them heavily, simply motioning for them to try it themselves once he finished. Thus, everyone had no choice but to brace themselves to face the zombies — some went brain-dead and froze in place, while others mentally broke down, disrupting their once well-organized formation into chaos.

And needless to say, those zombies rushed forward to bite them, in the movies, this would be an instant total wipeout.

But Duanmu Huai stated... want to die? It won’t be that easy!

Indeed, whenever such incidents happened, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t intervene, merely watching coldly from the sidelines, and only when it looked like they were about to be wiped out did he signal Mianmu Zuoniao and the others to clear the field, then have Medea handle the rescue — Medea’s Healing Magic was incredibly potent, far more effective than any medication, as long as you weren’t bitten to death, you could be saved.

But for the survivors, they’d rather be bitten to death!

Half-bitten to death, then revived, only to be thrown back to be bitten again by zombies.

What kind of torture is this!

Just give me a swift death with a bullet.

Oh, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t execute by shooting them, they’d only be turned into Mecha Servants.

Under this extreme hellish Demon-style training, the survivors clung to their lives, and within a few short days, they quickly mastered the technique of forming teams to fight zombies.

But this wasn’t all, once the survivors managed to clear an office building unscathed, Duanmu Huai congratulated them on passing the first stage of training, and then announced the second stage — they had to engage in close combat with zombies!

Each person was given a machete, and ordered to go up and slash, no guns allowed!

Thus, for the survivors, even more hellish training began.

Compared to using guns, close combat brought more intense stimulation, especially the feeling of slicing into zombies, causing many survivors to falter initially. But as always, humans learn from experience, a few zombie bites and they’d become proficient.

Although Duanmu Huai’s training was indeed torturous, most survivors were able to persist, except for a few who lacked mental resilience.

The reason is simple — they truly weren’t afraid of infection!

Indeed, as long as they wore the Tribunal’s emblem, and with Medea’s Magic Healing, even if bitten by zombies, they wouldn’t be infected nor turn into zombies!

Because of this, they couldn’t leave, even though Duanmu Huai’s hellish training was this grueling, most endured it silently.

After all, they had suffered so much to survive, not to turn into zombies or Mecha Servants afterward!

Thus, Duanmu Huai and his group lingered in this district for about a week, and the number of survivors increased by several people.

However, what baffled Duanmu Huai was that most of them were women and children.

When asked, most said their fathers went out to find food and medicine for the family and never returned.

Some couples experienced the same thing, the man left and never came back, leaving the woman alone, cowering at home, waiting to die.

How should I put it...... for Duanmu Huai, it seemed like such a waste.

Had they stayed, wouldn’t his team have grown stronger now?

Forget it, it’s the same now.

Duanmu Huai shook his head, stood up, and stretched lazily. While sweeping through the district, they also found a hotel to use as their place of shelter. Although most humans had turned into zombies, the water and electricity were still functioning, and Duanmu Huai wasn’t just whipping them without offering sweets; a warm bed, food, and a hot shower were enough to relax these people’s exhausted nerves.

Duanmu Huai left his room and went to knock on the door next to his, and Mary opened the door.

"Ah, Mr. Duanmu."

"Hmm, how’s the situation?"

"Nothing special... Miss Lumiere is trying to establish contact, but it really looks bad, unable to receive any meaningful communication frequencies."

Mary shook her head, letting Duanmu Huai in, inside the room, Miss Lumiere was operating via terminal, even though it wasn’t clear what she was doing, it definitely looked like she was very busy, similar to hackers in movies.

"Mr. Duanmu, here it seems like you’re going to stay for a long time?"

"Hmm? Really?"

"Yeah, in the previous world, weren’t you always trying to lock onto the Evil God and then eliminate it? This time, I thought you’d rush over as soon as you found out where the Evil God was located."

"I would like to, but the problem isn’t that simple."

Duanmu Huai shook his head.

"Do you remember the duties of the Tribunal?"

"Protect humans at all costs and eliminate anything that threatens humanity?"

Mary was more than familiar with these words.

"That’s the crux of the problem."

Duanmu Huai nodded with a serious expression.

"As it stands, the Corrupted Foil might have already infected the entire world. If we were to storm into the Corrupted Foil’s lair now, what do you think would happen?"

".........?"

"It could potentially unleash a plague across the entire world in an instant, turning it into its plague garden."

Duanmu Huai stared at Mary, his demeanor grave.

"The plague of the Corrupted Foil isn’t like those small creatures infecting only humans and animals in movies. Anything with life would be infected by the Corrupted Foil, then assimilated, and you’d truly know the feeling of living in a cesspool. By the way, not metaphorically, literally."

"Ugh......"

Upon hearing this, Mary’s face suddenly tensed.

"This isn’t like the situation with Brutal Wrath. If we don’t find a way to curb corruption as much as possible, the situation will only worsen. But relying solely on us isn’t enough, so we need manpower, and we must leave behind seeds. At the very least, we need to leave a human anchor point in this world."

"Is that why you’re ignoring their strange rhetoric, Mr. Duanmu?"

Hearing this, Mary frowned, while Duanmu Huai shrugged. He certainly knew what Mary was referring to. Actually, among the survivors, a rumor had been spreading that Duanmu Huai and his group were envoys sent by the Deity in the sky, here to save this world, and they were chosen people, with those cruel trials being tests from the Deity.

Mary could understand this; it was an excuse those people came up with themselves, but... well, how to put it... they stumbled upon the truth. After all, they had seen Magic firsthand, and Medea could fly in the sky, something ordinary people couldn’t do, and this world didn’t seem to be a Magic World at all, with no knowledge in that area.

Still, she felt a bit awkward inside. Although saving people wasn’t her first time, it was the first time she did so as a "God’s envoy," and seeing those survivors bow down in reverence was a bit unsettling for Mary.

"......Haah."

Mary silently sighed.

"Should I explain things to them? I know that without guidance, spontaneous faith and worship can become very distorted."

"Yeah, that’s why I’m looking for you. Please handle this."

"Alright, I’ll find a way... Um, do I need to tell them about the Universe?"

"No need, most people just need a simple binary concept: good and bad people, Angels and Demons. For them, dealing with this world alone is already enough; there’s no need to tell them too much about the Universe. Moreover, if all goes well, it won’t be something they’ll need to worry about in the future. Just talk about Subspace and the Corrupted Foil, so they understand the current situation."

"Understood... I’ll find a way to explain in a clear and simple manner."

Mary thought for a moment, then sighed again, nodding.

"I don’t particularly like this religious-like atmosphere."

"I think the Tribunal has a strong religious atmosphere too."

Duanmu Huai looked at her in confusion, the Tribunal’s warships were like flying churches, what’s the issue?

"That’s not what I mean."

Mary shook her head.

"Even though we live in a church, everyone actually has more of a belief than a faith: protect humans, guard humans, eliminate human enemies. It feels like everyone is colleagues, but people here act like the Tribunal is a religious organization, like believers praying for divine protection... or something."

"That’s how it is for most people, they can’t distinguish between belief and faith."

Duanmu Huai shrugged.

"But anyway, what we can give them is just the motivation to fight till the end."

The Star Realm Army is the same, fighting Chaos, Orcs, and the Insect Race; just the drive to protect humanity isn’t enough, so they need faith. Even if The Emperor doesn’t care about them, at least shouting ’The Emperor is above’ can muster courage. For ordinary people, achieving that is sufficient."

"In any case, whether it’s religious indoctrination or brainwashing, we have to nail a peg in this place."

Duanmu Huai stared at Mary and spoke softly.

"No matter what, we absolutely cannot let this world become a backyard for the Corrupted Foil."