CHAPTER 68: THE CORPSE BRIGADE

Ling Yu paused for a heartbeat only to glance at the remnants of the massacre around her. The Capital had already surrendered to death and ruin; what remained were the scattered, bloated corpses of both humans and monsters, which were an immediate threat far deadlier than the creatures that had just fallen.

She didn’t hesitate for a single second.

With precise, cold movements, Ling Yu began separating the bodies into neat piles. One for humans, one for monsters, one for those she couldn’t quite distinguish.

The world had become too chaotic to waste time sorting by sentiment. Each pile represented not the dead themselves, but the living they could harm if they were ignored.

The air was filled with the stench of decay, smoke from the last fires mingling with the coppery tang of blood. Around her, students, minor awakened, and a few survivors froze, unable to comprehend why she moved so methodically among the corpses. Some of the braver guys stepped forward.

"Yu’er! Wait! Why are you touching—" one shouted, only to be cut off by a piercing glance. Ling Yu didn’t even look up. Her movements were smooth, deliberate, and deadly efficient.

Ru Feifei immediately stepped in front of the hesitant students, waving them back. "Stop! Don’t disturb her! She knows what she’s doing!"

A few of them muttered in confusion, but Ru Feifei’s protective stance silenced them. She knew her friend too well. Ling Yu did not act without reason; if she was burning through the corpses like this, there was purpose behind each action.

Ling Yu finally spoke, her voice cutting across the chaos. "If these corpses are left here, the second wave will turn them into zombies. Every single one of them will rise to attack. I won’t let that happen."

The silence that followed was deafening. Even the wind seemed to hesitate. The survivors had never heard her speak with such blunt practicality, nor had they understood the stakes.

"I don’t have time to coddle the dead," she continued, her hands already dragging another human corpse toward the growing pile. "If you want to join the corpse brigade, fine. But remember, if you want to accompany the dead, you have to do it my way. Otherwise... I won’t hesitate to send you guys along with them."

Her words weren’t idle threats. Everyone present could feel the lethal intent behind them. Ling Yu had always been a protector, but in the apocalypse, protection also had rules, and one of them was efficiency above sentiment.

Before she could continue alone, the faint hum of awakened energy flared. Several hunters approached, their aura blazing, their eyes glowing faintly with the burning red of fire.

"You need help?" one asked, his tone wary but respectful, because his admiration stemmed from the keen observation.

She didn’t pause to answer, merely inclining her head once. Their presence was enough for her to understand that they were in it together. They began lighting the corpses with controlled bursts of flame, setting precise areas ablaze, turning each pile into a controlled inferno.

The smell of burning flesh, hair, and flesh-soaked fabric filled the street, but Ling Yu’s expression remained unmoved.

She moved from pile to pile, tossing the remains with practiced motion; her movements were like a silent dance of methodical destruction. The hunters with fire powers followed her rhythm, ensuring that nothing smoldered or remained half-alive. The flames roared and licked the empty sky, casting orange-gold shadows that danced across the ruined buildings.

The students around her still hesitated. Many had never been this close to raw death, let alone tasked with managing it. The cries and screams of some lingering survivors echoed from nearby alleys, but Ling Yu ignored them entirely. Her attention was on the corpses that burned with the flames and the precise containment of danger.

Ru Feifei, meanwhile, walked among the hesitant, speaking quietly but firmly. "She’s doing this for all of us! Don’t you see? If she doesn’t burn them now, the second wave will tear through the city, and it won’t matter if you fight or hide— none of us will survive. Trust in Yu’er!"

The words cut through the fear, and slowly, one by one, a few braver souls stepped forward. They followed the fire hunters’ lead, helping to drag the bodies and pile them up, and even chanting short incantations if their abilities allowed for elemental enhancement. A strange rhythm emerged as Ling Yu’s hands, the hunters’ fire, and the students’ tentative cooperation became a well-coordinated machine of survival.

The system whispered reminders in her mind as she worked:

[Current Objective: Minimize Zombie Threat]

[Time Remaining Until Second Wave: 1 hour, 47 minutes]

[Estimated Corpse Count: 342 human, 187 monster, 56 indeterminate]

Her hands moved faster. She calculated the burn rates of each pile, ensuring no pile was too small to reignite later and none too large to smother the flames. With a few quick gestures, she manipulated the slight flickers of her awakened aura, ensuring that flames didn’t spread beyond the designated zones.

Even the dead monsters were a hazard since they could be cursed or infused with latent energy, and Ling Yu handled them with extreme caution. One misstep could reignite their post-mortem energy, and she could not afford delays.

She moved with terrifying efficiency, her cloak brushing against ash-laden wind, her hands never stopping. Each movement seemed almost inhuman to the bystanders.

The first human pile ignited fully, flames leaping high and consuming the bodies in a controlled blaze. The heat rolled toward the nearby students, forcing them back, but Ling Yu gestured sharply for them to hold position. "Stay back. If you get too close, you’ll get infected with the poisonous ashes from the corpses."

The students obeyed, understanding the dual threat that posed over them, the undead and the fire itself. They watched as Ling Yu and the fire hunters moved toward the next pile. Every dead body burned was a potential threat being removed. Every ember was like a preemptive strike against the apocalypse.