In less than a minute, only five remained alive.
The old man roared, dodging aside to avoid the flying corpses of the two female archers. Su Li bent down, picked up the twin swords that had fallen to the ground, and charged again.
The old man had even discarded the bone staff in his hand, no longer daring to face Su Li. He suddenly turned and rushed toward Gong Xiao and Ling Yi, who were lying on the ground.
He remembered—he could take these two humans on the ground as hostages to threaten this terrifying, demon-like man.
The other four, seeing the old man’s move, snapped to attention and charged en masse toward Gong Xiao and Ling Yi.
“Seeking death!” Su Li saw this and flew into a rage. He flicked his left thumb, revealing the Blood Ring. A flash of blood-red light shot out like a streak of crimson.
The “Blood Crystal Cannon” activated.
The fastest runner, the old man who was about to reach Gong Xiao and Ling Yi, had his upper body swept away by the blood light, vanishing instantly. Only his two wide-striding legs remained on the ground.
A message appeared in Su Li’s mind.
“Level 9 Spirit Source User: Spirit Source 15/150”
This Level 10 Spirit Master brought Su Li six Spirit Sources.
The old man was their leader. With his upper body suddenly gone, the remaining four were terrified. Su Li had already charged forward, blocking them from Gong Xiao and Ling Yi. Without stopping, he weaved through the four in his walking state, and four heads rolled to the ground, still steaming with hot blood.
The last four New Human Forgotten were slain by him.
Two of them were Level 9, bringing him six Spirit Sources. His total Spirit Sources now reached twenty-one.
Watching the final four headless bodies fall, Su Li finally stopped. He let out a long breath as the bulging muscles on his body slowly receded. He exited the “Demon Muscle” state.
In less than two minutes, all eighteen Forgotten had been killed by him. The scene was littered with corpses lying in disarray.
Gong Xiao and Ling Yi, still alive, were utterly stunned.
The full force Su Li had just unleashed left them shocked beyond words. Though they had always known Su Li was powerful—stronger than them—they had never seen him reach such an inhuman level.
If they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.
They had personally experienced the strength of this group of Forgotten. Level 8 Forgotten were slightly weaker than them, but Level 9 Forgotten were on par.
Gong Xiao had only killed two Forgotten by using the Undying Flame. Otherwise, picking any one of them would have required a long battle to possibly win.
That was why these Forgotten had used a relentless wheel tactic, trying to exhaust them to death like a cat playing with a mouse, treating it as a game to torment them, making them feel the fear and pain of slow despair.
If Su Li could kill a group of Forgotten of similar strength in an instant, didn’t that mean he could kill them just as quickly?
Ignoring their shock, Su Li walked toward Luo Jun on the other side.
Though Gong Xiao and Ling Yi were exhausted, they were not in mortal danger.
As the Forgotten died, the bone swords embedded in Luo Jun slowly vanished, their energy dissipating back into nature.
Su Li checked his breathing. Fortunately, though Luo Jun was gravely wounded and unconscious, he was still alive.
Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Su Li finally focused on the messages in his mind.
Having just evolved to Level 9, Su Li had not taken time to strengthen himself while killing these Forgotten.
As before, the first basic enhancement was still muscle.
“Muscle Enhancement Type 8 upgraded to Muscle Enhancement Type 9, additional strength increased by 2400 jin.”
“Talent: Enhancement Favor activated, granting one extra enhancement opportunity. Available choices: Lung Enhancement Type 1, Muscle Enhancement Type 9, Super Heart Type 2, Bone Reinforcement Type 1, Liver Enhancement Type 1, Gallbladder, Teeth.”
After a brief consideration, Su Li chose to strengthen his bones.
“Bone Reinforcement Type 1 upgraded to Bone Reinforcement Type 2, overall bone density further increased, gaining greater endurance, additional strength increased by 200 jin.”
His entire skeleton crackled like a rebirth, as if he had shed his old bones for new ones. Su Li felt a surge of new power growing within him. The twice-strengthened bones were as hard as steel, allowing him to unleash his full strength without fear of them breaking under the force.
He had decided: from now on, each evolution’s two enhancement opportunities would be used—one for muscles, and the other, until a better option appeared, for the heart and bones alternately.
Muscles, heart, and bones would be his primary enhancement targets.
Feeling the surging power within him, his base strength, combined with the power from his Spirit Source equipment, now reached 6800 jin. In the “Demon Muscle” state, this maximum strength would double.
Additionally, reaching Level 9 had unlocked the ultimate form of “Demon Muscle.”
“Demon Muscle” First Form: double stamina consumption, double enhancement of strength, speed, defense, and other abilities.
“Demon Muscle” Second Form: quadruple stamina consumption, triple enhancement.
“Demon Muscle” Third Form: a staggering eightfold stamina consumption, quadruple enhancement of strength, speed, defense, and other abilities.
This state was nearly invincible, almost heaven-defying. Of course, the stamina cost was immense—eight times that of normal.
But with his promotion to Level 9, his stamina had slightly increased. In his normal state, at full burst, his stamina could sustain him for seventeen minutes of combat.
In the “Demon Muscle” First Form, with double stamina consumption, he could fight for eight and a half minutes.
In the Second Form, with quadruple consumption, he could maintain it for about four minutes.
As for the Third Form, with eightfold consumption, his limit was about two minutes before all stamina was depleted.
Of course, in this eightfold consumption state, Su Li’s gains were terrifying.
Four times the strength, four times the defense, four times the speed, four times the reaction time—including vision, hearing, and perception—all quadrupled, reaching a truly inhuman level.
Letting out a soft breath, Su Li walked over to Gong Xiao and Ling Yi.
“Feeling better?” Su Li asked, seeing Gong Xiao slowly sit up from the ground, knowing her stamina was recovering.
“Mm.” Gong Xiao nodded gently, slowly calming down from the shock.
“How did you run into these Forgotten?” Su Li inquired.
“Forgotten?” Gong Xiao was slightly taken aback. “Aren’t they human? But their speech was indeed strange—they called us old humans and themselves new humans.”
Su Li explained, “They are new humans evolved from the undead. They have fully awakened the intelligence they had as humans, remembering their names and the languages they once used. But they forget all their past experiences, like amnesia, so they are called the Forgotten. You could also consider them another kind of new human.”
“So… their essence is those who were once drowned humans?” Gong Xiao’s face showed shock. She had heard Su Li talk about the undead before, knowing they evolved from high-level corpse beasts, which themselves were drowned humans who evolved after obtaining Spirit Sources.
“Yes, they were once our compatriots, just like us. But though they are resurrected, they only remember their names, not their past. They see themselves as new humans and despise us so-called old humans.”
Ling Yi also slowly sat up, silent but with a shocked expression.
The intestines he had dragged out were stuffed back in. Though he looked severely injured, as long as he didn’t die on the spot, hunting Spirit Source beasts and absorbing Spirit Sources would quickly restore him completely.
“This Spirit Source is truly miraculous. This evolution is beyond comprehension,” Su Li murmured. The undead could evolve into higher undead, more monster-like forms, or into Forgotten, nearly identical to humans.
“We few wanted to hunt some monsters, so we chose this building and planned to lure the monsters up from below.”
Gong Xiao began recounting their ordeal. “But then, unexpectedly, these Forgotten appeared from the north. We thought they were human survivors from elsewhere, but they surrounded us, said strange things, and attacked.”
“Seeing the situation was off, I sent the Crocodile-Toothed Turtle back for help. I didn’t expect it to be so intelligent, bringing you here. But why are you alone?” Gong Xiao said, letting out a long breath.
Su Li smiled. “When I saw your Crocodile-Toothed Turtle, I knew something was wrong and rode it here immediately. The others are behind; by my estimate, they should be arriving soon.”
He looked south and indeed saw several rafts in the distance, carrying many people—Jiang Shuijue, Xu Haishui, Gu Mingfeng, and others. Ding Longyun was swimming in the water, following along.
“It’s a pity Jin Sixing and the others died.” Gong Xiao lowered her head, full of self-blame.
It was because she wanted to hunt outside that these people followed her, only to lose four in an instant, leaving just the three of them.
“This isn’t your fault. These Forgotten appearing out of nowhere…” Su Li looked north and said, “You said they came from the north?”
Gong Xiao nodded. “Yes, why?”
Su Li murmured, “This great flood must have drowned countless people, far more than us survivors. The ratio is at least tens to one, maybe even a hundred or a thousand to one.”
Gong Xiao understood Su Li’s implication, her face paling. “You mean, if all these drowned people evolved, the number of Forgotten would be staggering?”
“Exactly. The undead can evolve into higher undead and Forgotten. Either way, their numbers will far exceed ours.”
He had already seen the numbers and terror of the higher undead. Now, unexpectedly, an even more fearsome Forgotten had appeared.
These Forgotten, with human-like intelligence, might be even more dangerous than the higher undead. After all, the undead were closer to other Spirit Source beasts, attacking humans but also killing each other. The Forgotten, however, saw themselves as new humans, aiming to eliminate old humans and become the world’s new masters.
That was terrifying.
“This place is only two kilometers from our ‘Golden Eagle Alliance.’ These Forgotten appearing here means their lair might not be far. If that’s true, we’re in trouble.”
Su Li frowned. Though he wasn’t afraid of these Forgotten, he couldn’t fight a crowd alone. No matter how strong he was, he was just one person. Even if he could protect himself, what about the others? He couldn’t protect everyone.
“Su Li, if what you say is true, then to the north, there might be a Forgotten stronghold, possibly with a huge number of them, and it’s so close to us.” Gong Xiao grew more alarmed, her face changing.
“Yes, and it’s very likely. The group we encountered today might just be a small squad from that stronghold. If they can come here today, they can reach the ‘Golden Eagle Alliance’ anytime.”
Su Li and Gong Xiao exchanged glances, both understanding the gravity of the situation.
“These Forgotten are all Level 8 or 9, with the old leader at Level 10.”
Su Li had just reached Level 9, the only Level 9 in the entire “Golden Eagle Alliance.” Only Gong Xiao, Ling Yi, and Wu Feng were Level 8.
Comparatively, the Forgotten’s average level was one or two higher.
“In such a short time, how did they level up so fast? The most likely reason is their numbers and willingness to take casualties, diving deep into the water to hunt. Only underwater can they find strong enough monsters. That would explain their rapid growth.”
Su Li pondered. His current intel on the Forgotten was limited: they all used bone weapons, similar to his Spirit Source weapons, stored in their chests and drawn when needed. They were essentially energy-solidified weapons, but far weaker than Spirit Source weapons, lacking special skills.
Otherwise, with over a dozen Forgotten each using a skill, Su Li, no matter how strong, couldn’t have held out.
Beyond that, he only knew the Forgotten had three classes: mostly warriors, with a few archers and spirit masters.
Soon, Jiang Shuijue, Ding Longyun, Xu Haishui, Gu Mingfeng, and others arrived.
“Su Li, what’s going on?” Ding Longyun’s loud voice carried over before he even arrived.
When they reached the rooftop and saw the bodies everywhere, they were shocked.
“What happened? Where did these people come from?” Jiang Shuijue looked at Ling Yi and Gong Xiao on the ground, then at Su Li, confused. She didn’t recognize most of the corpses, assuming they were strangers.
Everyone guessed that Gong Xiao and the others had clashed with other human survivors.
“These aren’t human,” Su Li said, pausing before adding, “Or you could call them new humans.”
He then explained the Forgotten. The more they heard, the more astonished they became.
“There’s actually a group like this? They were drowned, yet they can come back to life as new humans, remembering their names and language, just forgetting the past.” Ding Longyun found it increasingly unbelievable.
Xu Haishui said, “These Forgotten appearing here, so close to our Golden Eagle Building B, just two kilometers away, is trouble. They could discover us anytime. If they really hate us old humans, conflict is inevitable.”
Jiang Shuijue nodded. “But we know too little about them—where they are, how many there are. We don’t even know how to prepare.”
Su Li looked at her and said slowly, “Take Gong Xiao and the others back to Golden Eagle Building B. I’ll head north to scout. If it’s serious, notify Wu Feng to gather everyone in Building B, no more splitting up. Be ready to evacuate at any time.”
As he spoke, he thought of the Eastern Building.
Mo Xingxuan and Mo Ziyuan were dead. The seventy-two-story Eastern Building was an ideal evacuation point.
Of course, the nearby Financial City Apartments and Maple Scenic Center were also good.
Xu Haishui nodded. “Alright, we’ll head back first.”
Jiang Shuijue looked at Su Li. “I’ll go with you.”
Su Li shook his head. “No, I don’t know what’s north. If there’s a Forgotten stronghold, I need to check it out. Taking you would be too dangerous.”
Jiang Shuijue said, “Exactly why I should go. Have you forgotten my ability?”
Su Li paused, remembering her “Fog Maze” ability. If they were surrounded in danger, they could escape using it.
“I’m going with you. It’s decided.” This time, Jiang Shuijue’s tone was firm, leaving no room for refusal.
Su Li thought it over and agreed. This trip was uncertain. Having Jiang Shuijue along would indeed be safer. If they encountered danger he couldn’t handle, “Fog Maze” would be their last resort.
“Gong Xiao, lend us your Crocodile-Toothed Turtle. You go back with them. Shuijue and I will check out the north.”