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nLinghuai City was about 50 to 60 kilometers west of Pengzhou City.

nChen Yiming headed there alone. It only took him 10 minutes to reach the vicinity of the small city.

nHe stood at the top of a mountain a few kilometers away and observed Linghuai City which had been flattened by the beast tide.

nAlthough the sky had turned completely dark, the situation in Linghuai City could not escape Chen Yiming’s eyes.

nThere was not a single light in the entire city. Everywhere he looked, there were collapsed and destroyed buildings.

nHowever, it was not as desolate as he had expected. Instead, there were teams operating in all four directions of the city.

nThey had a clear division of labor. There were teams responsible for fighting the mutant beasts left behind in the city, teams responsible for searching for loot, and teams responsible for transporting the loot.

nThe teams were roughly divided into four factions, and they had a tacit agreement not to clash with each other. The remaining assets in Linghuai City were gradually being transported out of the city.

nChen Yiming frowned and said in a low voice, “So it’s a group of factions that are taking advantage of the situation.”

nThe main strength of the human military was placed in the war with the otherworld, so their control over the wilderness was far inferior to that of the cities.

nMany martial arts practitioners who had committed crimes escaped from the cities and lived in the wilderness. Over time, several underground factions had appeared.

nMost of these factions were formed by criminals who made a living by robbing transport vehicles, accepting assassination missions, smuggling controlled goods, and so on.

nChen Yiming jumped off from the top of the mountain and landed on the ground.

nAt the same time, the small figure in his spiritual world turned into the black fog concept diagram of the Mantis Snake Sword Technique.

nInternal force was continuously produced in his body, then released to cover his entire body, causing his figure to gradually disappear into the night air.

nThe ability of the human eye to see depended on the reflection of light. The black fog internal force had the ability to devour light, and could fuse with the darkness of the night. To a certain extent, it could be considered a concealment ability.

n“Swish!”

nThe air was forced apart, creating some movement.

nChen Yiming treaded lightly on the ground and headed to the gas station on the north side of the city like a ghost in the darkness.

nOn the roof of an abandoned building at the edge of the city, the two people in charge of guarding the area kept looking around.

n“Hmm?”

nOne of the young men sensed that something was amiss and was alarmed by the sound of the air moving.

n“What’s wrong?” another companion asked as he walked over from two to three meters away.

n“I heard a strange sound just now,” the young man frowned and said in a low voice.

n“Where?” his companion asked in surprise.

nThe two of them were only two to three meters apart, but he did not hear anything.

n“Over there.” The young man pointed ahead.

nHis companion looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a dark street. It was dead silent.

n“Don’t tell me you’re hallucinating from your nervousness,” his companion said with a smile.

n“I believe my ears. Something just passed by there,” the young man said bluntly.

nHis ears had been much sharper than ordinary people since he was young, and he had almost never made a wrong judgment.

n“Should we report it?” his companion asked.

nThe young man paused, then shook his head.

nThe faction he belonged to had a set of assessment criteria like a company.

nA nobody in charge of guarding the place would easily be thought of as an undercover agent if he made a report without any evidence.

nIn a shadow dozens of meters away, Chen Yiming stood rooted to the ground. He had overheard the conversation between the two men.

n“It’s inevitable that the movement will cause a disturbance in the air. The black fog internal force isn’t a perfect concealment ability,” he concluded.

nAfter this simple test, Chen Yiming turned around and left.

nA few minutes later, he arrived at the gas station on the north side of the city.

nAt this moment, in the gas station, a middle-aged man was directing more than 10 people to fill up metal canisters with fuel, then carry them to a cart beside him.

n“Hurry up,” the middle-aged man, Liao Yong, urged them loudly.

nA young man who was carrying a metal canister onto a cart said with a smile, “Second Uncle, after our team completes this trip, I’m afraid we won’t be doing anything for the next three months. We don’t have to worry about the quota for the missions either.”

n“Focus on your work.” Liao Yong glared at him, but a smile instantly appeared on his face.

nNo faction would allow their people to remain idle. If they could not complete the corresponding missions, they would be punished.

n“Second Uncle, Pengzhou City is actually letting us do as we please. They aren’t doing anything although we are emptying Linghuai City of its resources. This feels so unreal,” the young man, who had been very optimistic earlier, suddenly said worriedly.

n“That’s a matter for the higher-ups to worry about. We just need to finish our work and leave as soon as possible,” Liao Yong said sternly.

n“I’m just grumbling.” The young man nodded.

nChen Yiming stood dozens of meters away and waited quietly.

nIn his heart, he estimated the amount of fuel needed for the convoy. It would be best if they could fill up all the fuel in one go so that he did not have to stay here for too long.

nBecause things were probably not that simple. Along the way, he saw that these factions were all on high alert.

nThis may be a trap set by Pengzhou City, and the beast tide might return at any moment.

nAbout half an hour later, more than 10 carts were filled to the brim. There were about 50 canisters in total.

n“Everyone, follow me. We’ll do one more round, then we’ll call it a night,” Liao Yong shouted.

nThe 10 or so subordinates were shocked. No one felt that such easy pickings were a good thing. Although they did not say it out loud, they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

n“This bit of fuel isn’t enough.”

nSuddenly, a voice rang out.

nThen, the sound of footsteps approaching could be heard.

nEveryone, including Liao Yong, felt their hearts skip a beat as they looked in the direction of the sound.

nThe moonlight shone on the ground, causing the dark surroundings to become brighter.

nHowever, they could not see anyone, though they could clearly hear the sound of footsteps.

n“There’s a ghost!” Someone was instantly frightened out of his wits and turned to run.

nThe others reacted and prepared to follow suit.

n“Swish!”

nA loud sound rang out.

nIn the blink of an eye, the first person to turn around and run clutched his neck and fell to the ground.

n“…”

nThe other people who had just taken a step forward and were about to scatter and run felt their legs go weak as they stepped back.

nAt this moment, light flashed in front of them and a figure appeared.

nThe figure was Chen Yiming, who had retracted his black fog internal force.

n“If you don’t want to die, continue to fill up the canisters,” Chen Yiming said in a low voice as he swept his gaze across the group.

nAt this moment, his voice was as terrifying as a demon from hell. Hearing his words made it difficult for them to breathe.

nTheir heads were buzzing, and their bodies were frozen to the ground.

nMost of them were still feeling lucky earlier, but in the blink of an eye, things were going south.

n“You don’t understand?”

nAs soon as he finished speaking, a sword flashed past.

nThe wall in front of the gas station was cut through by the flash of the sword.

nThe wall became shorter, but the top and bottom parts were still stuck together and did not slide off or collapse.

nLiao Yong took a few seconds to recover and urged the others, “Everyone, move. Go to the warehouse behind the gas station and find empty metal canisters to fill with fuel.”

nThe other subordinates finally snapped out of their daze when they heard the familiar voice of their captain.

nFacing the terrifying and invincible expert, everyone lowered their heads and obediently followed the arrangements to find some metal canister to fill with fuel.

nWhen his 10 over subordinates had taken action, Liao Yong walked over and said obsequiously, “Sir, don’t worry. I promise we’ll do a good job.”

nChen Yiming nodded and didn’t reply.

n“…” Liao Yong didn’t dare to make any objections.

nA few minutes later,

nLiao Yong spoke again and handed over a token, “Sir, our team belongs to the Hong clan.”

nChen Yiming glanced at the token. On it was the familiar word “Hong”.

nBack then, he had killed a group of people who had stolen the firearms from Nightwater City at the Stone Ring Reservoir. Then, he killed the team that were meeting these people.

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