Vol 6: Chapter 3-3.

“Yinkong, your dagger!”

Seeing that Lan was too slow to take the cat out in time, Zheng threw his gun away then signaled Yinkong as he jumped at the sandstorm. He channeled Qi to the Na ring, formed a translucent force field around his fist, then struck the sandstorm with his left hand.

With a boom, the sandstorm was knocked back as if it hit a wall. Zheng was also knocked back, crashing into Jie and Zero. The sandstorm returned to its human form behind the bus. Imhotep knelt on one knee. His shoulder kept burning and corroding away. The Na ring was indeed very effective against spiritual beings, being able to damage Imhotep when the magical bullets couldn’t.

Yinkong pulled out her dagger at once, a dagger enclosed in a flame. The mummy guards summoned by Zheng immediately backed off as if they were scared of the dagger. Even Imhotep frowned as he saw it.

“Secure yourselves!” O’Connell yelled as he slammed down on the accelerator. The bus ran forward at full speed, knocking over a bunch of barrels and some zombies. It left Imhotep behind as he slowly recovered his body.

Imhotep opened his mouth and roared. An endless stream of flies came out of his mouth forming a black cloud that flew towards the bus. Evelyn and Zhuiyu screamed in fear immediately. Lan didn’t scream but her face still paled. Yinkong was the only girl who remained indifferent.

As the flies closed in on them, Heng took off his shirt and swung at the flies. Zheng and the others quickly followed suit, even the man in black took off his robe to help.

Although these flies couldn’t deal much damage, they still looked disgusting and blocked their vision. O’Connell had slowed down the bus and even so, he was still driving into poles and streetlights.

Suddenly they heard chanting in ancient Egyptian. Evelyn immediately said, “He’s summoning mummies, that Egyptian means...” Before she could finish, a mummy dropped onto the front of the bus with a bang and slashed at O’Connell with its sword.

O’Connell quickly turned the steering wheel and flung the mummy off. Everyone in the bus lost their stability at the same time. However, the flies were still sticking to the bus.

Jie got back up from the floor and cursed, “F*ck, if I can make it back alive, I will stock up on bug sprays and bug repellent incenses.”

“Bug sprays... repellent incenses? Right, repellent incense!” Lan yelled with excitement as she took out two smoke grenades from her bag. She pulled the rings without hesitation. A thick smoke came out from the grenades but since the bus was still driving, the smoke floated to the back. The flies were falling in clusters and soon enough, O’Connell gained back some vision.

They didn’t have a chance to celebrate. They could see the port but the path was filled with countless zombies and mummies on the walls and roofs. At least over a thousand mummies. Maybe it was due to Imhotep recovering more of his power or he’d assembled all the mummies in Cairo. Anyway, the mummies in front of them could form a small army.

Everyone looked at Zheng but he could only force a smile. “I can’t summon another tornado. I’ve only recovered a quarter of my blood energy. Even if I summon it, it would have limited power, at least not enough to send so many mummies flying...”

“Then what should we do?” Everyone said. Then they realized they had made Zheng their core.

Zheng took a deep breath and took out the remaining magical bullets from his ring. “O’Connell, go! Don’t worry about anything. We will die if we stay here anyway so just go and bet our lives on this... Shit, go for the port, it’s our only hope!”

O’Connell also took a deep breath, then he stubbornly slammed the accelerator, and drove right into the sea of zombies.

Everyone fell silent as they got nearer and nearer to the zombies. Zheng picked up his gun and sprayed at the street then everyone else also opened fire.

The mummies also began to jump at the bus. Despite the firepower from Zheng, Jie, and Zero, there were too many mummies. When the first one got on the top of the bus, many others followed. Then a sword stabbed into the bus from the top.

Zheng clenched his teeth. He held onto the gun with his mouth, opened the window then jumped on top of the bus. His eyes went out of focus, signaling that he entered the unlocked mode.

Over a dozen mummies stood on top of the bus. It was as though Zheng’s appearance surprised them for a moment before the two mummies nearest to him attacked. But his reaction speed was incredible. He took the gun from his mouth and fired while he was still in the air and crushed those two mummies and several near them.

Zheng’s power increased by several folds even with just the first stage of the unlocked mode. Ever since he reached the second stage, it was easy for him to enter the first stage. He just had to believe he was in danger. Furthermore the after effect had lessened by a lot. In other words, he could enter the first stage with impunity now.

Zheng easily eliminated the mummies on top of the bus but many more were jumping toward the bus every minute. He could only focus all his attention on these mummies. Tatata. Bullet shells were falling from his submachine gun onto the bus like rain. Before a minute had passed, he had emptied the magazine. Then he started to attack with his left hand and the Na ring.

“O’Connell! Hurry! Hope is right there!”

Zheng yelled as he moved within the mummies. Every strike would hit one or two mummies. A complete hit could kill a mummy and even a scratch could damage it due to the effect of the Na ring. However it also consumed his Qi very fast at this state. Even if a strike only took a little bit of Qi, his Qi was almost empty after killing over a hundred mummies.

The sandstorm was coming at the bus from behind again. This time seemingly more ferocious than before. They could make out a face in the center of it. The huge face opened its mouth trying to swallow the bus but with a faint..

Meow

The face flew to the top of a building on the side as if it saw something horrifying. Then it transformed into Imhotep’s human form.

Zheng let out a sigh of relief. Within just one moment of letting his guard down, a mummy slashed at his shoulder with a curved sword. He dodged as soon as he felt the pain so the sword only carved out part of his flesh and didn’t hit the bone. Zheng didn’t dare to think about other things anymore. He crushed that mummy then focused his attention back onto the fight on hand.

—

The minibus was getting closer and closer to the port. Just one more turn and it could drive straight to the port.

“We came at the right moment.”

Team India stood on top of a building and looked at the bus below. Shiva then looked at Imhotep who’d stopped moving forward. He laughed coldly and said, “Cat? Lamu, kill the cat! Shainaia, connect to Lamu’s mind and show him the cat’s location!”

Shainaia nodded. The young man also closed his eyes and a needle floated on his palm. Then the needle disappeared and when it reappeared several seconds later, it was stained with blood.

Shainaia frowned and said, “The psyche mask appeared again once the cat died. I can’t sense the minds of the people in the bus anymore.”

Shiva looked as Imhotep transformed into a sandstorm again and smiled. “Doesn’t matter. If Lamu had shown any intention of killing their members, the psyche mask would had appeared instantly. It was better to just kill the cat... and let Imhotep kill Team China for us.”

Suddenly they heard a howl from the side. Arot, who had been quietly standing there the whole time, began howling. His hair started to lengthen and body enlarged. Shiva immediately said, “Shainaia! Control his mind. If we join the fight now, Imhotep may see us as enemies. With so many mummies here... we will get in a rough battle.”

Shainaia frowned and her face was growing pale. She spit out blood when Arot became a complete werewolf and ran away. “Leader, I can’t. His mind has fallen into madness... I can’t control it.”

Shiva sighed. The mummies were coming at them from all sides just as he had expected. It was too late now.

—

Zheng had his attention on the mummies when suddenly he felt an aggressive killing intent coming from behind him. He’s only half-turned when a huge shadow jumped at him. The huge figure took him off the bus and into the sea of zombies. When the two of them stopped rolling, they were already ten meters away from the bus.

It wasn’t until now that Zheng recognized the figure as the blonde doctor Arot, or rather the werewolf Arot. He was howling and slicing at all the zombies near him with his scalpels. His fingers and hands were moving at a speed barely visible to human eyes. The zombies were sliced into pieces only several centimeters big.

Then the werewolf jumped at Zheng and slashed at him with the scalpels at an extreme speed.

Zheng’s premonition of danger immediately reached its limit. The killing intent felt like blades. He had no doubt he would become a minced piece of meat in the next second just like the zombies. Zheng entered the second stage before the scalpels reached him. He raised his left hand to block at the werewolf’s wrist while he punched the werewolf in the stomach with his right hand. His muscles expanded suddenly when he attacked.

Boom.

It was as though he had hit a thick tire. His left hand felt numb after blocking. Like it was struck with metal.

After missing his attack, the werewolf jumped up and reached for Zheng’s head with his legs. Zheng took out his knife and slashed at the werewolf’s head. Neither of them backed off.

Both sides were in the unlocked mode and had put their lives on the line. They couldn’t spare their attention for anything other than killing each other.

Imhotep flowed into the bus, seized the last American, and drug him out. Yinkong entered the unlocked mode as she followed him outside.

She kicked at the window of the bus and used the force to jump at Imhotep. Then stabbed her dagger into Imhotep’s heart before he could drain the American. A flame burned from his chest. Imhotep dropped the American off as he screamed. Yinkong immediately kicked the American back into the bus then ran toward Zheng and the werewolf.

The werewolf’s scalpels had gotten a few hits on Zheng’s chest and stomach. Blood was spilling from him like water. The werewolf’s arm also got cut off.

Yinkong rushed in unexpectedly. The werewolf was so focused on Zheng that when he finally felt the attack coming from behind, Yinkong’s dagger had already stabbed into his chest. Then he punched her away and ran before Zheng could attack again. Zheng had no choice but to go after Yinkong and save her from the sea of zombies.

Zheng carried Yinkong while slashing at the mummies with his knife. The bus was getting further and further away from them. Zheng chased after the bus as fast as he could. At the same time the bus had made its last turn. There was only one last straight road to the port.

It was a roller coaster of emotions for them during the whole ride. Like now that there was no ships by the port. Several ships were over a hundred meters deep into the river. Even the nearest ship was still ten meters away from the port. Zheng stood there in shock. A sense of despair overtook him and everyone on the bus as the sea of zombies and several hundred mummies closed in from behind. They had nowhere to go.

“O’Connell! Believe in me! Go! Don’t think about anything and just smash the gas pedal flat down to the ground!”

Zheng clenched his teeth then shouted. He ran at full speed toward the bus.

In the driver’s seat O’Connell began shouting, pushed the throttle down, and drove the bus crazily towards the river. Everyone felt lost as they looked at the ship that was sailing away.

Zheng took out the Book of the Dead as he ran. He chanted a spell Tengyi taught him, a spell that could control rocks and soil. It could be used to bury corpses or — change the terrain!

The road in front of the bus gradually elevated. Everyone noticed the abnormality but no one said anything. They all stared at that ship on the river. O’Connell’s voice became hoarse from the shouting. He kept his foot tight on the gas pedal and his hands on the wheel. Then the bus drove onward on the elevated road.

The Book of the Dead drained Zheng’s stamina with the spell. He stumbled and was about to fall when Yinkong jumped off him and carried him on her shoulder. The little girl exerted amazing strength at this moment. She carried Zheng with one arm and took out a hooked rope with her other hand and threw it at the bus. The hook caught the window and pulled the two of them off the ground as the bus flew toward the ship on the river... toward hope.