Chapter 200: Financial City

Su Li rode the Croc-Tooth Turtle, heading toward the 30-story building a few hundred meters away, determined to lure the Undead up to the roof to harvest Spiritual Sources.

The Bloodthirsty One was the fastest. It quickly shot out of the water, accelerating across the surface, chasing the Croc-Tooth Turtle and Su Li.

Its face was full of excitement, its eyes radiating a cruel, bloodthirsty light.

It was only ten meters from the building when a swarm of Spewers, Throwers, and Corroders surfaced. They also pursued Su Li.

The Croc-Tooth Turtle was fast in the water. Su Li, riding its back, looked back and saw the Bloodthirsty One was twenty meters behind them, a distance that was slowly widening. The Bloodthirsty One was slower than the Croc-Tooth Turtle underwater. The Spewers and Corroders were left even farther behind.

“Slow down a bit. I don’t want them to give up the chase,” Su Li gently patted the Croc-Tooth Turtle Yī Hào. He didn’t want the distance to grow too large, causing the monsters to abandon the pursuit. He had finally lured a swarm of effective Spiritual Sources and didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

The Croc-Tooth Turtle understood his command. It immediately slowed down, maintaining a distance of about ten meters from the pursuing Bloodthirsty One.

“Clever,” Su Li smiled, unable to resist a compliment.

The Croc-Tooth Turtle, pleased by the praise, raised its head and suddenly emitted a croaking sound.

“So your calls sound like a frog’s. That’s a terrible sound,” Su Li laughed heartily. The building, with only half a floor visible above the water, was right in front of them. Su Li jumped off the turtle’s back.

With his feet on solid ground on the rooftop, Su Li felt a sense of security.

The Croc-Tooth Turtle suddenly accelerated and darted away, evading the charging Bloodthirsty One.

The Bloodthirsty One’s target was clearly not the turtle. It completely ignored the fleeing Croc-Tooth Turtle, burst out of the water, and leaped onto the rooftop behind Su Li.

Su Li moved quickly. He turned around. The Bloodthirsty One had already landed. It emitted a soft hiss and charged toward him.

The Bloodthirsty One was covered in a layer of bone armor. Its attack method was simple and brutal, relying solely on its fists.

It lunged, its fists raised, aiming for Su Li’s face.

Su Li shifted his body, evading the attack. The Dragon Rhino Sword swept out, striking the Bloodthirsty One’s arm. With a “clang,” it left a white mark on the bone armor. The Dragon Rhino Sword, which could cut metal like mud, failed to penetrate the Bloodthirsty One’s bone armor.

“Tough,” Su Li thought. The Bloodthirsty One unleashed a flurry of punches, charging Su Li like a raging storm.

Su Li deliberately held back his full power, unwilling to expose his true strength in front of the five unknown strangers on the raft. He only used his Dragon Rhino Sword to block and retreat, appearing to be overwhelmed.

Soon, the raft closed in on the building. The four men and one woman jumped onto the roof.

A man in his twenties roared and charged forward. He carried a bone blade taken from a monster, wrapped in cloth at the hilt.

The other man, in his thirties, took massive strides, closing in on the Bloodthirsty One. His hands were mutated. His skin grew black fur, and his palms had transformed into gigantic bear paws. He slammed his bear paws onto the Bloodthirsty One.

The Bloodthirsty One ignored the young man’s bone blade, allowing it to strike him. Its bone-plated fists met the man’s bear paws.

The clash of bone against flesh and bone erupted with a muffled sound. The Bloodthirsty One’s body slightly rocked, and the thirty-year-old man groaned, staggering back three or four steps, nearly falling.

Su Li saw them both attack the Bloodthirsty One. He retreated a step, activating the “Peering Rune” to observe the five strangers.

With a single glance, he saw that the four men and one woman were all Level 7 Spiritual Source Wielders.

“As expected.” Su Li nodded inwardly. The current mainstream of human survivors was indeed Level 7.

The Bloodthirsty One’s power clearly surprised the five. Two more men charged forward.

One held a machete. The other’s palm surged with a whirlwind, which he hurled at the Bloodthirsty One.

The sole woman, a beautiful young woman, walked toward Su Li.

She looked to be around twenty-four or twenty-five. Su Li’s first impression was her striking beauty, but he quickly noticed a strange stiffness in her face.

Her eyelids were deep, her chin was pointed, and her nose bridge was high—all hallmarks of beauty. Su Li often saw similar faces in videos on his phone before the flood.

The thought of video beauties made Su Li realize: This is an artificial beauty. Her face had been surgically altered. No wonder she was stunning at first glance, but she lacked the natural softness and enduring quality of genuine beauty.

The woman looked at Su Li, then at the Dragon Rhino Sword in his hand. Her surgically enhanced eyes shone.

The Dragon Rhino Sword was unique and clearly not an ordinary, manufactured weapon.

At this point, the Bloodthirsty One began to retreat. Although it was incredibly strong, it couldn’t withstand four Level 7 Wielders.

The attacks from the four men were relentless, but the man who controlled the whirlwind was the most powerful. His hands controlled the whirlwind, trapping the Bloodthirsty One inside. The powerful force made it difficult for the Bloodthirsty One to remain standing, let alone attack.

This allowed the other three men to continuously attack it. Fortunately, the bone armor protected it from the blades, but the continuous blunt force attacks were damaging its internal organs.

The Spewers and Corroders finally caught up, climbing onto the roof.

The man controlling the whirlwind let out a low growl and shoved his hands forward. The whirlwind, carrying the Bloodthirsty One, slammed into the approaching Undead.

With a “bang,” the Bloodthirsty One struck two Throwers, sending them tumbling into the water.

The approaching Spewers and Corroders were momentarily stunned.

The wounded Bloodthirsty One let out a furious roar and dove into the water, disappearing from sight.

It possessed the special ability “Hyperthermia Frenzy,” but each use was followed by a three-day period of weakness. It wouldn’t use it unless its life was threatened.

It was not stupid. Seeing the odds stacked against it, it fled.

The other Spewers and Corroders, seeing their powerful monster retreat, followed suit, diving back into the water.

Seeing the High-Level Undead retreat, Su Li sighed softly. He regretted that the sudden appearance of the five strangers had driven the monsters away. However, he was grateful for their intervention.

“My name is Wang Shixian. What should I call you?” The woman, though cosmetically altered, was stunning. Her voice was sweet and pleasant.

“I’m Su Li. Thank you all for your help just now,” Su Li replied, giving his name and expressing his gratitude.

The four men finally turned around. The man with the bear paws chuckled. “Why be so formal? We’re all human. We should help each other against these monsters. By the way, I’m You Zhenghao.”

You Zhenghao pointed to the man controlling the whirlwind. “This guy is Qin Xin. He’s the strongest of our five. He’s the reason we defeated the monsters just now. You should thank him.”

Qin Xin gave him a look. “You can’t go a day without making a joke at my expense, can you?”

Qin Xin was clearly hungover. Su Li smelled the lingering alcohol and realized he must have been drinking heavily last night.

The young man with the bone blade smiled kindly. “I’m Hu Zhengqi. And this is Tao Haoyu.”

“Hello. You can call me Hao Zi. By the way, where are you from, and why are you alone?” Tao Haoyu asked.

Su Li looked at the five people. They seemed like a tight-knit, friendly group. He got the impression they weren’t bad people.

Su Li said, “I’m from the Shimao Center Building over there. And where are you all from?” He thought that the Shimao Center was at least ten kilometers away. The Shimao Center was not well-known. He gave an ambiguous location, not wanting to reveal too much. He didn’t want to lie, either.

“The Shimao Center Building? Where is that?” The five men hadn’t heard of it. Wang Shixian asked, “We are from the Financial City Apartments. It’s over there.” She pointed into the distance.

She pointed to one of the two buildings Su Li had noticed earlier. It was closer now. Su Li could vaguely make out the height. It had seventeen floors above the water. Including the 29 submerged floors, the Financial City Apartments was a 46-story building, two floors taller than his Gold Eagle One B-Building.

The other building nearby was slightly shorter, at 42 stories.

Su Li had never heard the name Financial City Apartments. He asked, “What is the building next to you? They are very close.”

Wang Shixian replied, “That’s the Maple View Center. They are close; the straight-line distance between the two buildings is only about a kilometer.”

Su Li nodded. “Both buildings are very tall, over forty stories.”

You Zhenghao laughed heartily. “You think those are tall? The tallest is the Oriental Tower, 72 stories. It’s only about four or five kilometers from the Financial City Apartments.”

Wang Shixian asked, “Su Li, how many people are in your Shimao Center Building now?”

Su Li replied vaguely, “Not many. Only a dozen or so.”

Wang Shixian’s eyes lit up. “Then it’s perfect! You should bring them all to our Financial City Apartments. It’s safer with more people.”

“That’s right. We have 52 people in our Financial City now. With your dozen or so, we’ll have over seventy people. We can help each other, and it will be much safer. If a monster attacks a building, a small group can’t defend it,” You Zhenghao added, trying to persuade him.

Su Li was stunned. They want to recruit me. No wonder they were so enthusiastic.

Although he wouldn’t join the Financial City, he was interested in the faction. He thought to himself, I won’t join them, but I can certainly try to recruit them into my Golden Eagle Alliance.

Ding Shijie had the ideal of uniting all the survivors into one Golden Eagle Alliance to find a way out.

The current bases in the city were only temporary. They would eventually have to leave and find permanent land.

“We have already found the Sea Cow Beast, so the food supply is solved. The Golden Eagle Alliance can now expand and recruit more people.”

Su Li thought silently. The recent Undead attack, which cost them so many lives, reinforced the importance of expanding the alliance. If they were hit by another Undead attack, the Golden Eagle Alliance would be decimated.

However, uniting the people from the Financial City Apartments, Maple View Center Building, and Oriental Tower would not be easy.

Su Li understood that using violence, like Ding Shijie, was not the answer. It would only cause conflict and losses among the human factions.

His mind raced. Su Li smiled faintly. “Your suggestion is excellent. However, I can’t decide alone. I need to go back and ask everyone’s opinion.”

He paused before continuing, “You and the Maple View Center Building are so close. Do you have an alliance with them?”

You Zhenghao laughed heartily. “Of course, we are allies! And the boss of our building and the boss of the Maple View Center are good friends. But we are currently arguing over what to name the alliance and who should be the leader, haha.”

Wang Shixian covered her mouth and giggled. “One says it should be the Financial Alliance, and the other says it should be the Maple View Alliance. Heh heh, both names are terrible.”

Qin Xin interjected, “I heard Old Zhang say yesterday that the Oriental Tower sent someone to meet with our boss. The Oriental Tower is probably trying to consolidate the three buildings.”

You Zhenghao said, “Is that so? If all three buildings unite, won’t the total population exceed 200 people?”

Qin Xin nodded. “Yes, but I don’t know the details. It seems the boss is hesitant because the people from the Oriental Tower are arrogant. Their leader didn’t even show up; they lack respect. Oh, and—”

He suddenly shouted, startling everyone.

“What’s the matter? What are you so excited about?” You Zhenghao asked, annoyed.

Qin Xin said, “I just remembered! Old Zhang said yesterday that our boss and the Maple View Center’s boss were going to fight a duel. They agreed that whoever won would be the supreme leader of both buildings. The duel was scheduled for this morning. I got drunk last night and completely forgot about it! I went out hunting with you all! Quick, we need to go back immediately! We can’t miss the show!”

He looked extremely anxious as he jumped onto the raft moored at the building.

The others also became agitated. They were clearly all fans of a good fight.

“You brat! You only care about drinking! You should have died from drinking too much!” You Zhenghao cursed, climbing onto the raft after Qin Xin. He and Qin Xin were clearly very close, allowing him to be so unrestrained with his words.

Su Li, ignored by the four men, felt frustrated. Fortunately, Wang Shixian remembered him. She smiled and said, “I’m so sorry, they’re just like that. By the way, Su Li, why don’t you join us?”

Wang Shixian had been watching Su Li. After seven muscle enhancements, his physique was nearly perfect. His appearance and demeanor were transforming.

Wang Shixian was instantly drawn to him. His unique aura and the distinctive Dragon Rhino Sword made her eager to know him.

Su Li asked, “Can I watch the duel, too?”

(End of Chapter)

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