Chapter 76: The Predator and the Prey

Inside the police station’s office, amidst a chaotic array of tables and chairs, and various streaks of grime and blood, sat Ding Ce in the innermost corner.

He gazed with a gleeful smile at Qiao Xia and his companions, who had just entered.

Behind Ding Ce, six large screens were pieced together, currently displaying surveillance footage from the police station.

“Haha, Qiao Xia, you’re finally here! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me earlier. I never expected you’d actually walk right into my trap. Heaven truly favors me!”

“To let me meet you again, to finish what we started last time… you will always be my prey!”

Upon seeing Qiao Xia enter, Ding Ce’s smile became even more dazzling.

However, the words that spilled from his mouth sent shivers down Qiao Xia’s spine, leaving him with an unsettling feeling.

‘If Ding Ce were a beautiful girl, it might be forgivable. But for a grown man to utter such sickeningly sweet words—wasn’t he disgusted by himself?’

‘Qiao Xia felt as if he might vomit.’

Qiao Xia’s disgusted expression, however, did not faze Ding Ce in the slightest.

As he fixated on Qiao Xia with an excited, almost perverse gaze, his mind was already plotting the most satisfying way to end him.

Ding Ce was convinced he was a person blessed with immense luck.

Otherwise, how could he have entered the police station one moment, only for chaos to erupt the next, leading to the station’s downfall and presenting him with an opportunity to escape?

Yet, Ding Ce had not fled like a routed soldier.

Instead, he chose to remain within the police station, making it his base of operations to grow and strengthen his power.

As early as a week prior, while tailing Qiao Xia, Ding Ce had already noticed the emergence of the Red Eye Disease.

It had not been severe then.

However, on the very day the police station descended into pandemonium, Ding Ce witnessed Red Eye patients brutally bite people to death.

Miraculously, these supposedly dead individuals would then revive, transforming into Red Eye patients themselves, continuing the assault on the next person.

This discovery sent tremors of excitement through Ding Ce, and a bold hypothesis began to form in his mind.

Could the popular doomsday theories finally be coming true this year?

How else could a scene so eerily similar to a zombie virus outbreak manifest so realistically in actual life?

It was this very conjecture that led Ding Ce to gamble, choosing not to abandon the police station.

Subsequent developments proved Ding Ce’s gamble correct.

In merely two days, the entire U City had plunged into utter chaos.

Police forces were rendered useless, and incidents of Red Eye patients harming people were no longer uncommon.

The number of normal people struggling to survive was rapidly dwindling; only those cowering and trembling in their homes were barely clinging to life.

For most, such a dire turn of events undoubtedly signaled the apocalypse.

But for Ding Ce, it was like a fish finding water.

He absolutely reveled in the current anarchy.

Without the constraints of law and order, this was his domain!

For instance, he could now torture and kill Qiao Xia without any restrictions; no one would intervene.

Afterward, he wouldn’t be thrown into prison either. After all, even the very police officers who upheld justice had been infected. Who then could possibly apprehend him?

Even if Qiao Xia had fought his way into the police station, those zombies were nothing but weaklings.

The true feast had yet to be served!

“Ding Ce, you’ve killed so many people. You deserve to die!”

Before Qiao Xia and Ding Ce could exchange more than a few words, the Square-jawed Police Officer, who had been silently standing beside them, suddenly drew his pistol.

Without a word, he rapidly fired at Ding Ce.

Bullet after bullet, he continued until the magazine was completely empty, only then ceasing his assault.

The sudden turn of events astonished Qiao Xia, though he did not fault the Square-jawed Police Officer for his abrupt action.

Regardless of whether a cat was black or white, a good cat was one that caught mice.

If the Square-jawed Police Officer could eliminate Ding Ce, it would save Qiao Xia a great deal of trouble!

However…

“Haha, do you think a gun in your hand is enough to kill me?”

After the Square-jawed Police Officer had fired at Ding Ce, Ding Ce’s arrogant voice rang out once more.

This caused everyone present, save for Duan Yulan, to widen their eyes in shock, utterly baffled that even bullets could not kill Ding Ce.

Qiao Xia, especially, having learned much about special abilities, immediately suspected that Ding Ce had also awakened an ability.

Yet, he considered that black crystals were uncommon.

Furthermore, Ding Ce had not left the police station after the zombie outbreak.

Where would he have obtained a black crystal?

Lost in these thoughts, Qiao Xia immediately looked up towards Ding Ce.

He saw a person clad in black armor standing in front of Ding Ce, intercepting all the bullets on his behalf.

The black armor’s material was not of particularly good quality, so the bullets had all penetrated it, causing blood to flow from numerous holes.

However, the person wearing the armor seemed completely unaffected.

When the armored figure turned around, Qiao Xia recognized the familiar face.

His expression shifted from surprise to fury in an instant.

“Ding Ce, you bastard! How dare you treat Liu Ge like this!”

Liu Ge’s face was now horribly disfigured, contorted into a savage grimace, and conspicuous wounds marred his entire body.

Some of the injuries were so severe that white bone was exposed, yet Liu Ge showed no sign of feeling them.

A metal mask covered his face from the nose down, and through its镂空 (carved-out) openings, one could see that all his teeth had been pulled out.

Though Liu Ge had already become a zombie, such an act of torture made Qiao Xia involuntarily clench his jaw, his anger towards Ding Ce intensifying.

‘This damned scoundrel!’

‘He must be killed!’

“Haha, that’s right. You seem to have a good relationship with my subordinate! In that case, let’s play a little now. I’m looking forward to what happens next!”

Qiao Xia watched Ding Ce posturing like a villain from an anime, feeling utterly speechless towards such a character.

Then, seeing that Liu Ge actually obeyed Ding Ce’s command and rushed towards him, Qiao Xia immediately raised his Tang Blade to defend against Liu Ge’s attack.

A surge of immense force transferred from the blade to his wrist, almost making Qiao Xia lose his grip on the weapon.

Liu Ge’s strength was truly formidable!

Regardless, Qiao Xia and Liu Ge had known each other for years.

To swing his blade and lop off Liu Ge’s head now felt impossible for Qiao Xia; he could easily dispatch strangers without any psychological burden.

However, looking at Liu Ge’s disfigured face, Qiao Xia was filled with an unvented rage that threatened to consume him.

If he had a choice, he wouldn’t want to fight Liu Ge.

But the current circumstances offered no alternative.

So, he had no choice but to battle.

The reluctance lasted only a few seconds.

Qiao Xia no longer hesitated, immediately shifting from a defensive stance to a full-blown offensive.