"Well, talk about returning with a massive gift!"
Li Ke couldn't help but voice his dark humor. These two girls had walked away completely neat and unscathed, only to return and drop this gigantic, terrifying surprise right on their doorstep. He honestly didn't even know what to say anymore.
But right now, a very cold, hard reality stared him dead in the face.
Should I save them?
Li Ke gripped the M60 machine gun that Kiri had managed to loot earlier. The heavy, solid chassis of the weapon undoubtedly offered him a profound sense of security. However, blindly rushing down to the ground right now was practically no different from suicide.
Noticing his hesitation, Kiri, who was busy locking down her own defensive firing port right beside him, asked out of curiosity.
"From the looks of it, you actually want to go out there and save them?"
"Yeah. After all, they're extremely powerful," Li Ke muttered. "And besides, regardless of what we do, those monsters have already tracked them to our base. Since it's not a blood moon night, god only knows if they'll ever give up their aggro and leave on their own."
As he spoke, Li Ke grabbed various layers of clothing from nearby crates and tossed them toward Kiri. While these generic clothes didn't offer high-tier armor stats, they would at least provide some basic scratch resistance against the birds' talons.
"The bottom line is that their supernatural powers are immense. Having them around means we can accomplish infinitely more... Don't worry, I'll go out there alone. You stay right here and cover me from the roof."
Li Ke threw on his protective layers and immediately strode toward the heavy door. Kiri, however, shook her head, thoroughly unimpressed by his heroics.
"Are you completely out of your mind? My combat stats are vastly superior to yours. And let's not forget—you're the only one here with the actual system interface. You're too important to lose."
Li Ke simply nodded. Since he was the one making the executive call to rescue them, he had absolutely no right to force Kiri to take the fall for him. Besides, if he moved at lightning speed right now, the actual risk window would be relatively small.
If they dragged their feet and hesitated, however, it would quickly turn into a total party wipe.
"Tsunade is completely spent and needs a guard. If everything goes entirely sideways out there, having you holding down the fort means we won't be completely doomed."
Kiri let out a cold snort, but didn't argue further. Instead, she flipped a compact inventory pouch straight into Li Ke's hands.
"There's a motorcycle inside. You already know the keybinds to deploy it."
Li Ke didn't waste a single breath on small talk. At a time like this, every fraction of a second was a precious resource.
He vaulted through the front door, instantly summoning the post-apocalyptic motorcycle from the small inventory pouch. In one seamless, fluid motion, he swung his leg over the chassis and mounted the vehicle.
Positioned right behind him on the elevated firing platform, Kiri opened fire without a millisecond of delay. Her relentless suppression shots picked off the incoming zombie birds directly above Li Ke's head one by one.
Yes—in just the short span of time it took to hatch a plan, a localized swarm of zombie birds had already materialized right above their own camp!
Li Ke twisted the throttle hard. The engine roared to life as he shot forward like a bullet, tearing down the steep dirt slope. This was the makeshift incline they normally used to navigate the massive crater around their base. It was incredibly steep and treacherous, but with his current elevated strength stats, Li Ke easily wrangled the heavy chopper, keeping the handlebars perfectly locked under control.
Down in the crater, the crash-landed duo wasn't just sitting idle either. Even though Rias's mana pool was dangerously close to bottoming out entirely, she was still desperately channeling a faint magical barrier, ensuring they weren't instantly torn to shreds by the descending swarm of crows.
Meanwhile, Lux was straining every muscle in her body to support Rias's famously voluptuous frame, staggering forward step by agonizing step in Li Ke's direction.
Yet, despite her best efforts, Lux fundamentally lacked the sheer, robust physical conditioning of her brother Garen. Carrying a full-grown woman while running on empty meant she simply could not outrun the impending danger.
Fortunately for them, Li Ke had arrived.
Gun in hand and engine roaring, Li Ke managed to skid to a halt right in front of the pair a split second before the sky-blotting sea of zombie birds could swallow them whole. But even with his newly acquired composure, a violent wave of dread washed over his scalp.
The mutated avian horde was practically right on top of them. If they delayed for even a single breath, these monstrous birds would undoubtedly descend upon them and pick all three of them clean to the bone!
But attempting to drive them both back up that steep incline on a single motorcycle was already impossible; there simply wasn't enough time!
He surveyed the encroaching wave of zombie birds closing in from all sides, looked at the heavily panting Lux and Rias, and roared up toward the roof.
"Kiri! Get back inside! Lock the door and protect yourself and Tsunade! I've got a way out!"
Kiri was visibly taken aback by the command, but she chose to trust his judgment and retreated back into the floating fortress.
"Don't you dare die out there! I'll give you as much fire support as I can!"
A second later, the elevated vault door slammed shut, and a torrent of muzzle flashes began erupting from the defensive firing ports.
Li Ke didn't waste a single millisecond. He instantly whipped out his iron shovel and began furiously digging into the earth below. Right before the astonished eyes of Rias and Lux, his shovel moved at a supernatural speed, carving out a person-sized trench in a matter of seconds!
"This..." Lux's jaw dropped in shock. Rias, however, instantly caught onto what Li Ke was planning.
Li Ke glanced up at the avian swarm, which had now closed the distance to under a hundred meters. The sky was practically deafening with their maddened, screeching shrieks. He yelled at the two girls, "Jump in! Now!"
Lux kept a firm grip on Rias and leaped down into the trench. The moment they cleared the surface, Li Ke recalled his motorcycle back into his inventory, pulled out another small pouch, and deployed it. A hollow, industrial-grade structural steel block materialized right above them.
Staring at the massive block dropping into place and the relentless flock of mutated birds screaming toward him, Li Ke braced his arms, hoisted the heavy block, and dove backward into the pit.
In an instant, the tight vertical shaft was completely packed with the three of them, leaving only half of the steel block protruding above the ground level.
"Thank god I dumped all my points into Strength earlier... just to stand a chance against Tsunade."
Li Ke, who had min-maxed his physical attributes purely to survive his battles in bed with the kunoichi, was now straining every fiber of his being to hold up the hollow steel block. Even so, the crushing downward pressure made him feel like he was manually lifting a two-hundred-pound man with his bare hands.
The sheer, overwhelming weight variance nearly caused his knees to buckle. Had he slipped, this block—which weighed at least three tons by real-world physics—would have completely crushed the two girls beneath him.
Yet, backed by the reality-bending physics of the 7 Days to Die system, he miraculously held his ground, bearing a load that should have theoretically snapped his spine.
Listening to the endless, chaotic screeching of the zombie birds right above them and the rhythmic, booming echoes of Kiri's heavy rifle fire, Li Ke refused to pause his movements in the pitch blackness. The thin layer of topsoil surrounding their pit wouldn't hold forever. They needed to dig deeper.
Supporting the three-ton steel block with his left arm, Li Ke rapidly equipped his shovel with his right, aggressively digging out the dirt beneath their feet. The ground gave way, causing the three of them to drop another level down. Li Ke instantly threw his arm back up, stabilizing the heavy block above.
He couldn't help but let out a bitter complaint. "You two seriously know how to bring a disaster right to a guy's door! Squat down, now!"
Taking a deep, agonizing breath, Li Ke waited for Lux and Rias to obediently crouch as low as possible. He quickly opened his inventory interface, toggled the shape-configuration menu of his system frames, and selected a heavy structural beam. He snapped the frame into place right above their heads, letting the hollow steel block rest perfectly on top of the system grid. Only then did he finally dare to release his aching arms.
But he wasn't done yet. Li Ke dug a few paces deeper, tunneled laterally to create a secure pocket, and sealed off the entry point with another identical steel block. Once the structural integrity was locked in, he finally let out a massive sigh of relief. They were completely safe from a direct aerial breach.
With the immediate danger averted, Li Ke pulled a crafted torch out of his inventory—fashioned from materials they had purchased from the Trader—and struck a light, instantly illuminating the cramped, subterranean void.
This was a classic system item; it had no expiration timer and would never extinguish no matter how hard he shook it. A true, standard-issue nuclear-powered torch. Even in a suffocating hole like this, it cast a reliable, steady glow.
With the space finally lit, Li Ke was finally able to get a clear look at his two companions.
Rias was hyperventilating, her complexion completely pale. Her remarkably voluptuous chest was heaving up and down like a pair of bellows, causing her massive breasts to undergo a continuous, jaw-dropping seismic shift that would make any man's imagination run wild.
However, her mental state was clearly in tatters. Her clothes were torn, her cheeks were marred with scrapes, and even as she sat huddled on the dirt floor, she looked as though she might completely pass out at any moment.
Lux was in much better shape. Although her face was equally pale, she could at least move around without any issues, though her body was still covered in numerous cuts and abrasions.
It was glaringly obvious that the two of them had simply been backed into a corner by that practically infinite flock of zombie birds. They hadn't intentionally brought the disaster down on the camp.
"You two seriously..."
Li Ke took a deep breath, drove the nuclear torch into the dirt floor, and pulled out a medkit and some bandages. He needed to treat their wounds first. Any interrogation or finger-pointing could wait until after they were patched up.
It was actually quite fascinating to see the medkit materialize into reality. Inside, it contained not just standard gauze, but also a compact set of surgical tools and actual vials of morphine. The survival system really didn't skimp on the essentials.
However, just as he grabbed the gauze and knelt down next to Rias, she spoke up.
"I'm sorry... We brought trouble and danger right to your doorstep... Once I recover, I will take care of this mess myself."
Rias coughed weakly as she spoke, clearly suffering from the agonizing back-lash of completely burning through her mana pool.
She had undeniably been arrogant. She had assumed that even after flying Lux all the way to Li Ke's position, she would still have enough magical reserves to wipe out whatever straggler birds followed them.
But she had severely underestimated the sheer horror of this post-apocalyptic world. She thought she had figured out the spawning rate of those mutated birds, believing that no matter how bad it got, the numbers would plateau.
Unfortunately... this world didn't play by the rules. The zombie birds didn't spawn linearly—their numbers spiked exponentially. By the time she realized her mistake, she was completely overwhelmed and was forced to dump the remainder of her mana into a desperate speed burst just to break their encirclement.
"Ha, a mere apology isn't going to cut it. You're going to have to pay back the trouble you caused with actual, practical actions," Li Ke replied, pulling out a bottle of iodine. Before, he had no choice but to use raw alcohol because it was all he could scavenge, forcing them to just grit their teeth through the burning pain. But now that he had a proper medkit, he was going to use the soothing iodine.
He paused, looking at her. "By the way, is it safe to use standard iodine on a devil's body?"
Instead of answering the medical question, Rias shook her head slightly. She lifted her exquisite face, her striking blue eyes locking onto Li Ke with absolute seriousness.
"I know. I will use my actions to make it up to you and your camp. Because of that, Mr. Ke... could you grant me one request?"
Rias's sudden, formal shift in attitude struck Li Ke as bizarre. Nevertheless, he carefully took hold of her soft hand to begin disinfecting her scrapes.
"Let's hear it. But don't forget exactly what kind of situation you're currently in."
"Yes, I am fully aware," Rias nodded.
Taking a deep breath, her expression grew increasingly solemn. Then, without a single shred of hesitation, she made her blunt demand.
"Please, kiss me."
"Oh, okay," Li Ke nodded automatically. Then, his brain finally processed the words, and his eyes snapped wide open in sheer bewilderment.
"Are you trying to seduce me?!"
Rias's face instantly flushed crimson. Over on the side, Lux finally registered exactly what Rias had just asked for. Shocked out of her mind, the young light mage violently slapped both hands over her mouth, staring at Rias in absolute disbelief.
Seeing their reactions, Rias frantically tried to clarify. "It's not like that at all! I just—! I simply require your essence (yang energy) to rapidly replenish my mana pool! After all, I can't just bring a disaster to your base and expect everyone else to clean up my mess!"
Having made her case, Rias looked at Li Ke with dead-earnest intensity. Reaching deep into her plunging cleavage, she pulled out a uniquely crafted, highly intricate chess piece.
"As compensation, I can bestow one of my Evil Pieces upon you. It will transform you into a devil, granting you immense supernatural power and an eternal lifespan!"
Li Ke nodded along slowly. Just as Rias allowed herself to think that he was actually buying into the offer, Li Ke opened his mouth.
"I refuse!"