The news that wandering corpses were gathering and attacking the South Gate had arrived more than half an hour ago.
By now, quite a few wandering corpses had pulled open gaps in the black iron gate, each wide enough for a person to slip through. They had infiltrated the School of Engineering campus and were now mindlessly shuffling along the wide asphalt road, as if searching for living prey.
Seeing this, Teacher Zhou waved his hand and commanded, "Students, clear out all of these monsters."
With that, he charged forward, the Silver Lotus Wood on his back.
With Teacher Zhou taking the lead, the students didn't hesitate. They formed into their usual three-person hunting teams, fanned out, and quickly surrounded the area by the gate, encircling the nearby wandering corpses.
The wandering corpses spotted the approaching humans and the Silver Lotus Wood. Far from fleeing, they let out chilling, monstrous shrieks and charged the crowd with unnatural speed.
Han Ning shouted, "Everyone, be careful! Don't get too close. These monsters have an unnatural craving for human flesh and blood."
"What's actually controlling the corpses are black worms inside their bodies. As long as the worms are alive, the corpses will keep moving. So for now, just try to break their limbs to restrict their movement."
Yin Yi crouched slightly, then bounded into the air. Its emerald-sheened body glowed, and a fan of long, thin spikes burst from its front like a peacock spreading its tail.
THWIP THWIP THWIP!
The Silver Thorns shrieked through the air like a dense volley of needles, instantly piercing the heads of seven wandering corpses. The solidified green spikes pinned them firmly to the ground, holding their power without exploding.
'Impressive... So Yin Yi can now freely control the detonation of its Wood Type Spiritual Energy...'
"Nice one, Yin Yi!"
"Boop boop~" In response to Han Ning's praise, Yin Yi happily waved its Vine Whip.
Seeing this, Han Ning's worries completely subsided. At the same time, he raised his Compound Bow, aimed at a wandering corpse about to break through the encirclement, and nocked an arrow.
WHOOSH!
The arrow let out a sharp whistle as it easily pierced through the wandering corpse's chest.
'My Power has increased again...'
Han Ning clenched and unclenched his fist, feeling almost no strain, and marveled internally.
A Compound Bow is already relatively easy to draw, but he had felt no resistance at all when pulling the string to its limit just now.
This was the highest-poundage Compound Bow he had found in the dorm building, a full 70 pounds.
At close range, the power of the arrow was practically equivalent to a light rifle.
Although the wandering corpses seemed intimidating, their actual attack power was not that strong.
Through everyone's combined efforts, it took only a dozen or so minutes to break the arms and legs of the several dozen wandering corpses, both inside the campus and those still attacking the gate. They now writhed on the ground like maggots.
Han Ning led Yin Yi over to one of the disabled corpses.
Yin Yi raised its Vine Whip and smashed the corpse's skull open. It then churned the whip around inside the head before finally pulling out a black worm as thick as a finger.
"See this? This is the kind of worm. Remember not to get too close to it. It can emit a sort of sonic wave that affects human senses. Just have your Silver Lotus Woods pull them out and eat them."
Worried that some in the group might not be familiar with the black worms, Han Ning repeated himself.
Unlike other Soul Beasts, these black worms could bewitch the mind. Killing them yielded a certain amount of Spiritual Energy.
Han Ning suspected that this miraculous Spiritual Energy was the reason he had been able to bizarrely predict danger and dodge the Frost Ray during his fight with the White Rat King.
And when a Soul Beast grew stronger, it didn't just bolster its Beast Master's physique, but possibly their mind as well.
He even believed that the ability to form a contract with a second Soul Beast might also be related to Spiritual Energy.
With a flick of its Vine Whip, a wooden thorn shot out and—SQUELCH—pierced the black worm's body.
Han Ning took the worm's corpse from Yin Yi and gently brushed his fingers over it.
[Spiritual Energy +0.09]
[Energy +0.01]
"Good stuff."
Feeling the system prompts in his mind, Han Ning continued to direct Yin Yi to finish off all the downed wandering corpses in the area.
There were over 70 wandering corpses at the scene, and Yin Yi alone had dispatched 32 of them.
Like someone picking out skewers at a barbecue buffet, Han Ning touched one worm after another that Yin Yi killed, then handed them back for Yin Yi to "eat."
In just a few short minutes, he had collected 3.1 Spiritual Energy.
Thanks to Han Ning's advance warning, the process of killing the black worms went smoothly. Everyone was cautious, keeping their distance from the worms and directing their Silver Lotus Woods to kill them. There were no incidents.
After clearing out the wandering corpses at the entrance, there were basically no other moving figures to be seen near the South Gate.
Filled with curiosity about the outside world, the students passed through the gate and stood at the entrance of the South Gate, craning their necks to gaze ahead.
Through the hazy white mist, the blurry shape of a long, green dragon came into view.
"There really is a train... oh my god..."
"Say, an old green train like that probably still uses an internal combustion engine, right? Doesn't that mean there's a huge amount of fuel oil or coal inside?"
"The fuel from a whole train would last us a long time."
"And there might be a lot of food, too!"
The students gazed at the long, overturned train in the distance and couldn't help but start whispering amongst themselves.
Luo Chen asked in an expectant tone, "Teacher Zhou, should we go take a look?"
"It's a swamp ahead. It could be dangerous." Teacher Zhou frowned, thought for a few seconds, then said, "How about this: we'll send our five most capable people over. The rest will stay here at the gate to provide support. In this kind of terrain, it's not good to have too many people."
His gaze swept over Han Ning, Luo Chen, and two other teachers. "How about it? Shall we make a trip together?"
"I'm in," Han Ning said with a nod, showing he had no objections.
The others nodded in agreement as well.
"Alright. Xiuning, you stay here at the gate and keep watch for us. If you don't hear from us within an hour, go back and inform Dean Wu," Teacher Zhou said, turning his head to a teacher he hadn't named for the team.
"Okay, I understand. I wish you all the best."
...
After bidding farewell to their companions, Han Ning and the other four set off in the direction of the train.
Yin Yi was the strongest, so it took the lead to guard against any dangerous Soul Beasts.
Just a few steps out from the school gate area, the ground turned into muddy, brown earth. Every step produced a squelching, mushy sensation underfoot.
Teacher Zhou looked down at the slick mud. "Swamp environment. Be careful not to get stuck in a mire. If anyone accidentally steps into a patch of deep mud, Han Ning, you need to have your Silver Lotus Wood rescue them immediately."
"I understand."
To prevent any accidents, Han Ning had Yin Yi flick out its Vine Whip, plunging it into the ground ahead to test it. Only after confirming it wouldn't collapse would they step on it.
"Everyone, form a single file line. Han Ning and I will take the first two spots. Luo Chen and Teacher Li will take the last two. The three of us in the middle will be responsible for watching our flanks. Luo Chen, you also keep an eye on our rear."