novelSusiti Chapter 83: Can the poison in the Green Standard Army soldiers' bodies allow the living corpses
Chapter 83: Can the poison in the Green Standard Army soldiers' bodies allow the living corpses
Chapter 83: Can the poison in the Green Standard Army soldiers' bodies allow the living corpses to evolve?
Rock watched the greatswordsman busy chopping off the legs of the corpses with utter boredom, and couldn't help but yawn.
It has to be said that after living in this era for so long and fighting so many battles, he no longer feels much for these corpses.
Looking back, he was a little scared when he saw the frozen corpses by the roadside, but now, looking at the battlefield strewn with corpses, he didn't feel much fear anymore.
"Eek! How strange, how did these bastards' corpses end up like this?"
Suddenly, one of the greatswordsmen who was chopping off a leg couldn't help but cry out in alarm, his face filled with a solemn expression.
He didn't know what had happened to these corpses. When he cut open the enemy's legs, he found that the bones of these corpses had turned black, as if some kind of toxin had seeped into them.
Not only his side, but most of the other Green Standard Army soldiers' corpses were in the same condition. On the contrary, the corpses of the militia members looked quite normal, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with them.
Seeing the astonished expressions on the faces of the giant swordsmen, Rock decided to go over and take a look. When he saw the charred bones of the corpses, he felt a wave of nausea. Even from a distance, he could vaguely smell a faint, fishy stench.
This thing smelled completely different from the stench of flesh and blood; it had a strange medicinal fragrance and a metallic smell that made him feel dizzy.
Therefore, Rock only took a slight sniff before quickly moving away, fearing that this thing might have some adverse effects on his body.
"It must be from those Green Standard Army soldiers smoking opium, right? But would smoking opium cause one's bones to turn this black?"
After much thought, Rocks could only attribute the cause to opium, but he really didn't know what the bones of opium smokers would look like after they died, since he had never seen it.
But he didn't know that the reason these Qing soldiers' bones had turned into this state was not just because of one person smoking opium. More importantly, these guys had smoked a special drug with added ingredients when they were trying to stay alert during their forced march to get here!
Although Rock didn't understand the specifics, he knew there was something wrong with the corpses, so he quickly summoned all the ratman grenadiers and said sternly, "Listen up, keep your men under control and don't let them eat anything on the battlefield!"
"If any mouse manages to stick something it shouldn't, don't blame me for being ruthless later!"
Rock wasn't sure if the rats would die from poisoning from eating random things, but he felt they probably wouldn't, because the Skaven seemed to have a very high tolerance for toxins and an abnormal digestive ability.
His current worry is that these rats might run off and eat the corpses of Green Standard Army soldiers on the ground, and end up getting addicted to drugs themselves.
If all the rats under his command really became addicts because of this, then Rock would definitely get rid of them without mercy and then recruit a new batch of good rats.
He didn't have much affection for the Skaven. If those guys got involved with anything forbidden, Rock would just wipe them out on the spot!
Upon hearing this, the rat grenadiers quickly patted their chests and assured each other that they would absolutely control the slave rats and prevent them from eating anything indiscriminately.
Although they didn't care much about the toxins that might be hidden in these corpses, they dared not disobey the orders of warlord Rock.
When the order was delivered to the slave rats, many of them chattered and complained. But the grenadier who delivered the order didn't care about such things. He slapped them with his long, thin claws, leaving several deep, bloody scratches on the faces of the protesting slave rats.
Seeing this, the other slave rats immediately became obedient, only able to stare longingly at the corpses on the ground, unable to eat them.
Rock ignored the ratmen's commotion; he was waiting for the corpses on the ground to resurrect so he could spawn another wave of monsters!
But just then, he noticed that the corpses of Green Standard Army soldiers in the distance were twitching slightly, and then suddenly raised one hand.
While the greatswordsmen were still busy hacking and slashing, they were surprised to find that many of the corpses whose legs had not yet been cut off were now beginning to convulse violently. Even the corpses whose legs had been cut off earlier were doing the same, only the convulsions were not as severe.
The flesh and blood of these corpses began to rot at an alarming rate. Before long, the corpses were corroded beyond recognition, as if they had been acid-washed, and even their bones began to twist.
As the first Green Standard Army soldier's corpse rose from the ground, the entire battlefield resembled a zombie movie, with one Green Standard Army soldier's corpse after another getting up and rushing towards the nearest greatswordsman.
These Green Standard Army soldiers were thin and twisted, and for some reason, their fingernails were all extremely long, like the claws of zombies, and they even emitted a dark green luster!
Moreover, Rock was surprised to find that the Green Standard Army soldiers revived much faster than he had expected the undead to be.
If it weren't for their slightly unsteady movements and drastic changes in body shape, he would have even thought that the Green Standard Army soldiers who had been pretending to be dead had jumped up again and started to resist!
"Something's wrong, these aren't ordinary zombies!"
"Greatswordsman, forget about the other corpses, retreat! Regroup!"
From afar, the greatswordsman shouted, and the messenger beside him blew his horn, issuing the order to retreat.
Seeing this, the greatsword warriors who had been scrambling to hack at the undead with their two-handed greatswords retreated and quickly gathered around Rock, forming a complete infantry square once again.
When the group of greatsword warriors retreated, the other young guards had already moved up and started firing at the charging zombies, but their shooting was not very effective.
"Enough! Stop shooting! Get ready for hand-to-hand combat! Smash these guys' heads with the butts of your rifles!"
"Cavalry, retreat immediately and prepare to launch a flank attack!"
After shouting to the infantry, Rock turned around and then yelled at the cavalry in the distance, telling them not to wander around there.
The greatsword warriors lined up in a row, quickly blocking the front of Rock's infantry formation, like an iron wall.
Seeing these powerful and tall Imperial heavy infantrymen, Rock breathed a sigh of relief and felt a sense of peace.
He was now certain that the undead that the Green Standard Army soldiers had mutated into were definitely problematic. Both their resurrection speed and the degree of mutation were completely different from the undead he had seen outside.
This made Rock feel a sense of unease, because he vaguely realized that the mutation of these Green Standard Army soldiers was most likely caused by the inhalation of opium, or by the accumulation of those toxins.
Could it be that other corpses also undergo similar mutations because of this reason?
Or perhaps, everyone in this world has been poisoned without even realizing it?
The more Rock thought about it, the more horrified he felt, as if the hairs on the back of his neck were about to stand on end.
He didn't know what was going on, but he felt as if he had seen something darker. These zombies seemed to be much more complicated than he had imagined!
The Green Camp zombies staggered over, some of them unarmed, simply brandishing their claws, while others drew the waist knives they used in battle.
It must be said that compared to the fighting ability shown by the Green Standard Army soldiers when they were alive, their fighting ability after death and transformation into zombies was much stronger.
He was puzzled. If that was the case, why did the Qing court keep these Green Standard Army soldiers around?
If it were him, he would feel he would have to find a way to control the living corpses, such as having lamas control them or acting as corpse drivers.
By then, once these zombies are armed and organized into a large force, their combat effectiveness will be far superior to that of the Green Standard Army, and they will even be cheaper to pay!
While Rock was still deep in thought, the first wave of undead charging up at the forefront of the army formation had already clashed with the greatsword warriors.
They were about to pounce and tear the greatswordsman's body apart when a flash of bright sword light appeared, and the living creatures were instantly torn to pieces by the greatswordsman.
Heads flew high into the air, and severed limbs flew everywhere. The greatswords in the greatswordsmen's hands were extremely powerful when they were slashing, and ordinary zombies were completely powerless against them.
Well, even if these zombies are not ordinary, they are still powerless against them. After all, these greatsword warriors are already equivalent to Ming Jin masters, and their weapons are also very exquisite.
Seeing that the battle lines had stabilized, Rock, who had been somewhat worried, breathed a sigh of relief and was no longer concerned about the battle.
Once the 120 greatsword warriors formed a line, facing these zombies was no different than cutting melons and vegetables.
If you calculate it, even if you include the group of training soldiers' corpses that haven't undergone deep mutations, on average, a greatswordsman only needs to deal with about five or six undead. These enemies are just a warm-up for them.
Just then, a greatswordsman frowned and kicked hard at a head that had rolled to the ground.
To his astonishment, the severed head was not quite dead yet. As it rolled to his feet, the thing even tried to bite him!
If he hadn't been wearing iron boots, which allowed him to easily block the creature's bites, he might have actually fallen victim to it!
He had heard that if ordinary people were scratched or bitten by these zombies, they would soon mutate into new zombies, which sounded even more terrifying than the plague zombies of Nurgle!
They didn't want to test whether their bodies could withstand the zombie poison; it was better not to get hurt by such a thing.
Although these undead have become stronger, they are still no match for the greatsword warriors. Moreover, the undead's single-mindedness means they are completely inflexible and lack tactics. They only know how to charge forward and then get chopped into pieces by the greatsword warriors.
These guys don't even know how to flank from the side or try to attack from both flanks; they just blindly charge forward.
It is precisely because of their single-minded nature that they always end up crashing into the greatswordsman's sword, without displaying any special attack methods.
After figuring out the pattern, the greatswordsman quickly adapted to the rhythm of these zombie attacks and could even chat and laugh while slashing people.
Even so, Rock's expression was still somewhat gloomy.
He discovered that these newly mutated zombies seemed to be more intelligent than he had imagined, because they actually knew how to manipulate the muskets in their hands!
Although they moved stiffly and relied almost entirely on muscle instinct, making it impossible for them to effectively load a musket, Rock was already quite surprised when he saw them stop and prepare to fire their muskets instead of charging straight up.
The fighting stopped shortly afterward.
Because the zombies only knew how to charge upwards, there was no probing or testing involved in the battle. The other side just kept charging upwards and was killed one by one, so the battle ended very quickly.
Even when all the zombies were wiped out, the ordinary Green Standard Army soldiers' corpses on the ground had not yet mutated!
After taking down the charging zombies, the greatswordsman used his two-handed greatsword to finish off the zombies that were still struggling to climb despite having lost two legs, while also busy chopping up the heads of the zombies rolling on the ground.
There was nothing they could do; this thing was even more resilient than they had imagined, and even its head, which had rolled off its body, could still bite.
So Rock simply ordered them to completely eradicate this group of zombies, to clean them up as much as possible, and even to desecrate their corpses!
Otherwise, he was genuinely worried that after the battle, a soldier might accidentally get bitten by a human head, causing unnecessary harm to himself.
After dealing with all this mess, Rock had his soldiers pile all the corpses together, and after assessing the general wind direction, he ordered them to set the corpses on fire and burn them all.
Before burning the corpses, Rock had the ratmen throw in a few dimensional stone bombs to purify them with the power of the dimensional stones, so that no undead would suddenly revive in the fire or create something even more terrifying.
Although using dimensional stones for purification seems strange and odd, there's no way around it; these things are indeed very afraid of dimensional stones.
For this reason, Rock is now somewhat hoping to recruit the Sand Peak Dragon Guards. After all, this advanced version of the Heavenly Court Dragon Guards can wear armor forged from dimensional stones, which might have some miraculous effect on the undead.
As the chaotic remains of limbs were burned to ashes, Rock seemed to faintly hear moans and struggles emanating from the flames.
But all of that is irrelevant now, because the living dead have been completely purified by the flames.
After confirming that there were no enemies at the moment, Rock opened the system interface again.
Sure enough, he finally saw the battle results displayed by the system!
[Congratulations, player! You have achieved a glorious victory in the previous battle! You have been awarded 15,000 taels of silver and a random five-star troop!]
[You and your troops have gained a total of 1200 experience points. You have successfully met the upgrade requirements. Do you wish to upgrade?]
Great, I can upgrade again!
Rock had a premonition that something unusual should happen after this upgrade.
Since his upgrade is complete, his personal level will reach level ten.
[Congratulations, player! Your personal level has reached level 10. The level-up reward is 5,000 taels of silver, and you will randomly receive a Heroic Affairs Officer from Total War: Warhammer, whose Command Ability is increased by 100 and whose Physical Attributes are greatly improved.]
Holy crap, this reward is amazing!
Rock's eyes lit up immediately. He knew that he would definitely receive a big reward after he leveled up to a certain integer level!
Adding 100 to troop command ability at once is nothing special, but the significant improvement in hero affairs officer and physical fitness made Rock extremely happy.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt a surge of heat in his body. Immediately afterward, his bones and muscles crackled and popped, as if some strange force was coursing through his body, as if it were fine-tuning his bones and muscles.
He could feel a growing hunger, but at the same time, his physical abilities were improving at an astonishing rate.
Furthermore, Rock vaguely sensed that there seemed to be a kind of energy flowing through his body, which allowed him to concentrate his power in a certain part of his body in an instant when attacking, thereby forming a stronger force!
Lu Xiong, who was standing next to Rock as his bodyguard, was looking at his master in shock.
The crackling sounds and the rapidly solidifying muscles and skin clearly indicated that our commander was breaking through to the Ming Jin realm!
Are you kidding me? Is his commander really that talented in martial arts? He clearly didn't sense that his commander was particularly good at martial arts!
Lu Xiong couldn't figure out what was going on, and he couldn't understand why Rock had suddenly broken through without doing anything after the battle. But he was very clear that Rock had definitely broken through to become a Ming Jin master!
Thinking of the legend that those who achieved great things throughout history were all chosen ones, carrying great fortune, which is why they were able to do things that ordinary people could not, Lu Xiong couldn't help but believe this statement.
Clearly, his commander must be a formidable figure with immense fortune. Otherwise, without enough extraordinary luck, how could he so easily break through to the level of Ming Jin master?
Lu Xiong was puzzled. If those with great fortune could break through to the level of Ming Jin, then what about those in high positions in the court, and even the emperor? He had never heard of emperors being martial arts masters.
"—Perhaps those people are unworthy of their positions. Come to think of it, a bunch of wild boars sitting upright in the temple, with pig tails on their heads and monkeys wearing crowns, how can they possibly gain the favor of God?"
Thinking about it this way, Lu Xiong suddenly felt that his doubts had been explained. At this moment, he only had endless admiration for Rock and was determined to follow Rock and make a name for himself as a follower of the dragon!
After Rock finished his breakthrough, he let out a long sigh of relief and instantly shot out a white streak that was four or five meters long.
Sensing the astonishing change in his physical condition, he suddenly swung his fist forward and then grinned.
"Old Lu, can you take a look at my current skill level?"
As he spoke, Rock turned around and saw Lu Xiong's fervent little eyes.
"—Old Lu, why are you staring at me like that? It's a little creepy, you know?"