Chapter 30: The Longevity Village Massacre

The hump on the Hunchbacked Old Puppet’s back was, astonishingly, a disheveled woman’s head.

The sight sent chills down everyone’s spines.

Even the long-legged girl’s rhythm faltered briefly as she held her longsword.

“Sa…ve…me…please…save me…!”

The woman’s head on the hump seemed to awaken, straining to turn toward the crowd, emitting a faint cry for help.

Chen Ye finally understood: the plea they had heard earlier had come from this woman’s head.

Looking closely, the woman’s head turned out to be…

one of the survivors who had accompanied them into Longevity Village.

She had been timid and broke away from the group early to look for supplies outside the village.

A cold wave rushed through Chen Ye’s skull; goosebumps rose along his spine.

Without thinking, Chen Ye raised his hand crossbow and fired a bolt straight at the woman’s head on the hump.

The Hunchbacked Old Puppet ignored the bolt entirely and turned, fleeing into a nearby house.

The bolt missed!

The long-legged girl’s brows shot up; the sharp light in her eyes grew lethal.

She sliced her fingertip with the longsword. A drop of bright crimson appeared at her fingertip, then was quickly absorbed by the blade.

The sword seemed alive, giving off ringing tones.

The long-legged girl muttered incantations under her breath.

“Scarlet mark as contract, sword spirit fused with flesh! Drink my blood, awaken the three cries! Cut illusion and slash delusion, rend the soul and split the spirit! Dragon’s wail through the nine heavens, ten thousand blades return to truth!”

“Break!”

With each line she spoke, Chen Ye noticed the blade growing ever keener.

At that moment she stepped forward with both hands on the sword and slammed it down toward the house the Hunchbacked Old Puppet had fled into.

A sword qi erupted from the blade.

The sword qi was pure white threaded with a hint of bloodlust, terrifying to behold.

Could this be the legendary sword qi?

Chen Ye’s heart lurched.

Even though the sword qi wasn’t aimed at him, it made his eyes sting slightly.

Through Chen Ye’s stunned gaze, the blade-like sword qi sliced through the center of the house like a knife through tofu, then streaked off into the distance.

A terrifying cut marked the house’s midsection.

Boom—boom—boom!

With booming crashes, the house collapsed slowly like a toppled domino, its supports gone.

The survivors gaped in stunned silence, as if frozen by a spell.

Only Iron Lion looked unsurprised.

The girl had already appeared amid the ruins, her sharp gaze sweeping through the rubble; faint sword radiance still clung to the blade—she clearly had energy left.

Chen Ye kept his hand crossbow at the ready.

After a long moment, the girl’s expression darkened. The Hunchbacked Old Puppet had vanished without a trace.

Her face looked grim.

Clearly, the Hunchbacked Old Puppet had disappeared.

At this, all the survivors turned toward the long-legged girl with eyes full of fearful reverence.

They had only heard of Sequence Superpowers before!

Now they finally understood what Sequence Superpowers meant.

These abilities exceeded normal human capability.

Chen Ye had seen Iron Lion’s Titan Sequence back in Xinghua Town.

Transforming into a three-meter-tall muscular giant had already shocked him.

He never expected the long-legged girl to wield sword qi.

They rounded the corner again.

The grotesque great willow tree came back into view.

The towering willow stood in the middle of the village square.

Willow branches hung down like venomous snakes, and at the ends of those branches corpses dangled.

Over a hundred bodies hung beneath the tree, like fruit on the great willow.

Facing that monstrous willow again, everyone felt their skin crawl.

Many drifted closer to the long-legged girl.

Her previous strike had won her their trust.

Others clustered around the burly Iron Lion.

Behind Chen Ye, no one stood.

Clearly, Chen Ye’s Support Sequence didn’t inspire confidence.

“The bodies seem to have increased!”

Chen Ye’s gaze hardened; his voice turned cold.

When they had first come near the great willow, there hadn’t seemed to be this many corpses.

Now, clearly, more had appeared.

No—these corpses look familiar!

Chen Ye saw that the newly appeared bodies still carried various backpacks; cold dread flooded him.

These corpses were… from the convoy.

They were people who had entered Longevity Village with them.

“Not that the corpses increased, but… nobody has left since entering Longevity Village.”

“These people tried to leave earlier; now… they’re all here.”

The long-legged girl’s cool voice carried over.

“That’s… Old Liu! Didn’t he leave earlier?”

“My God—Xiao Zhang, Xiao Zeng, Xiao Qian… they’re here…”

“What the hell is this willow?”

The surrounding survivors’ voices quivered with terror and helplessness.

Among the newly hung bodies were many who had been lively just hours ago; some were even familiar to them.

Seeing familiar faces meet this end made bravery hard to muster.

Earlier Chen Ye thought this Longevity Village run might be too easy.

After seeing this, he realized the village’s intensity far exceeded Xinghua Town.

From the moment they entered Longevity Village, no living person had left it.

“Damn it!”

The long-legged girl ground her teeth, tightening her grip on the longsword.

“Bastards, staging tricks—watch me smash it!”

Iron Lion shrugged off the small mountain on his back and strode toward the great willow; with each step his already exaggerated physique inflated further.

His thighs swelled rapidly, tearing his jeans into shorts.

His boots became sandals.

His T-shirt tightened into a compression shirt.

In a few strides, his two-meter build swelled to an even more ludicrous size.

Chen Ye didn’t stop Iron Lion’s reckless charge.

If the great willow prevented them from leaving, it would have to be destroyed.

Let the big fool try—that was one way.

Suddenly Chen Ye noticed a corpse in the distance twitch. Its rigid head slowly turned toward the burly man.

Iron Lion’s actions were like a stone dropped into a still lake.

“Big Fool, watch out!”

Chen Ye raised his hand crossbow, aiming at a stirring corpse.