97: Chapter 97 Li's Intelligence

Inside the ice house.

Qi Yun slowly tidied his clothes, turned around, and looked at the figure leaning against the ice wall.

The shackles on Weave Shadow had been removed. At this moment, she was hugging her slightly trembling arms, her face buried between her bent knees.

Her light red hair hung down, obscuring most of her face.

Suppressed, intermittent sobs came softly from between her knees where her head was buried.

"...Ugh... ugh..."

Seeing her like this, Qi Yun walked over and squatted in front of her.

He only spoke in a slightly helpless tone:

"Alright, stop crying. It's already happened. Besides, didn't you also just..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

It would have been better if he hadn't spoken; as soon as he did, Weave Shadow's sobbing grew louder, her voice filled with tearful accusations:

"Ugh... you bastard. If you were the one who got forced, don't you dare cry! It's easy for you to talk. Waaah..."

Qi Yun was momentarily speechless. He rubbed his nose, feeling a bit like laughing but sensing it was inappropriate. He tried his best to hold it in, his expression looking a bit strange: "This situation is different. Besides, I saw that you weren't that resistant later, were you?"

"That... that's because I couldn't move!!"

Weave Shadow suddenly raised her head, revealing a tear-stained face, her crimson eyes swollen from crying.

"Try being locked in Ice Shackles, unable to move at all, and see what it feels like to be at someone's mercy?!"

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she felt, and her tears began to fall again.

"At least, at least let me move! Even letting me do it myself would have been fine! Being frozen like a block of ice the whole time, what is that?!"

"No experience at all! My first time, ugh... gone just like that, in a daze, with zero sense of participation!"

Qi Yun: "..."

The expression on his face became even more vivid.

He hadn't expected this zombie lady's focus to be so unique.

No sense of participation? Bad experience?

"Ahem," Qi Yun coughed twice, trying to make his voice sound more serious. "This... next time, I'll definitely pay attention. Next time I'll let you move, alright?"

"Next time?! Who... who wants a next time with you... in your dreams..."

Her crying gradually turned into soft sobbing, her shoulders hitching.

"Alright, stop crying. Let's talk business." Qi Yun's voice regained its usual steadiness.

"In this third wave of zombies, how many are there at your level? Are there stronger ones later?"

Weave Shadow's sobbing paused. She didn't answer immediately, only burying her face further into her knees.

Qi Yun waited for a moment, and seeing no reaction, he reached out and gave her shapely but cold thigh a firm pinch.

"Ah! What are you doing!"

Weave Shadow cried out and looked up, her crimson eyes glaring at Qi Yun with both shame and anger.

"I'm asking you a question. Don't pretend you can't hear. Answer properly, or else..."

His gaze swept over her suggestively.

Weave Shadow shrank back, instinctively pressing her legs together. She hesitated for a few seconds, seemingly making a decision:

"At our level... there are about a dozen more. There are stronger ones, but not many."

"But with your freakish strength, nine Unique Classes... this third wave might be hell for others, but for you, it's probably just a tiring hunting game."

Nine Unique Classes—this lineup was a bug-level existence anywhere.

Qi Yun felt a bit more at ease upon hearing this.

Relying on the top-tier combat power accumulated over this period, he was confident in dealing with the conventional third wave crisis.

The biggest variable, as expected, was still Li.

"You've changed your tune quite fast. Just a moment ago you were unyielding, and now you're analyzing the situation for me?" Qi Yun looked at her with a half-smile.

Weave Shadow's body stiffened, then relaxed again. She turned her face away, avoiding Qi Yun's gaze:

"It's already like this anyway. My body has already been... that'ed by you. And I don't want to die. Following you... although it's disgusting, at least it looks like I can live longer."

Very realistic, very zombie-like, but surprisingly honest.

Qi Yun nodded without comment. In the apocalypse, survival was an instinct; whether human or zombie, as long as they possessed intelligence, this was no different.

He was silent for a moment, then asked the most crucial question:

"So, what about Li?"

Two simple words, yet they made Weave Shadow's body shake violently!

She whipped her head around, her crimson eyes widening instantly, filled with unbelievable horror as she stared fixedly at Qi Yun:

"How do you know that name?! Where did you hear it?!"

"She told me herself," Qi Yun replied calmly.

"Impossible!" Weave Shadow blurted out, instinctively refuting him.

"How could she possibly take the initiative to tell you her name! She doesn't deign to communicate with us at all! You're lying!"

"Believe it or not." Qi Yun shrugged.

Weave Shadow said in a complex tone: "If you see her, don't hesitate, turn around and run! Run as fast as you can! The further from her, the better!"

"Why? Why is the gap between her strength and yours so large? What exactly is she?" Qi Yun pressed.

Weave Shadow shook her head:

"I don't know her specific origin. We've had speculations, but no one dares to confirm. All we know is that she has existed for a very, very long time."

"She is strong, incomprehensibly strong. But she seems restricted by some rules, or rather, trapped here. She can't leave this island. Every 'Cleansing' (referring to the zombie crisis), she's like completing some set task, indifferently acting, and then indifferently disappearing."

"A Calamity... trapped here?"

Qi Yun chewed on these words, his heart filled with doubts. What exactly was Li's existence?

"Is there any way to defeat her?"

Qi Yun asked the core question.

Weave Shadow looked at Qi Yun as if he were a fool:

"Defeat her? Are you dreaming? Running when you see her is your only and best choice! If she got serious, this island would have sunk long ago!"

Although he had expected it, hearing Weave Shadow's certain answer made Qi Yun's heart sink.

Li's strength seemed to far exceed his worst estimates.

"Then when will she appear?" Qi Yun asked from a different angle.

Weave Shadow thought for a moment and replied:

"She's already out. She has a habit of starting from the southern end of the island and 'clearing' her way from south to north. Her speed isn't particularly fast; she's rather capricious."

From south to north?

Qi Yun's heart suddenly jolted!

The southern part of the island—isn't that the Prosperous Alliance, Wang Chong's territory?!

According to Weave Shadow, Li might already be starting her Cleansing in the south!

"I've left a mark on you. If you're obedient, you'll survive. Don't leave this ice chamber until I return."

Qi Yun instructed.

Weave Shadow nodded resignedly: "Okay."

After saying that, he didn't linger and turned to walk out of the ice chamber.

Qi Yun's gaze quickly swept over everyone as he announced:

"Information confirmed. A boss-level figure is already on the move. She is advancing from south to north at an uncertain speed."

"The south, the Prosperous Alliance, may have already been attacked, or even... annihilated."

"Now, a few of you follow me to the Orderly Alliance in the center."