Chapter 408: Chapter 408

With the news of An Ning's advancement spreading, the emergence of a sixth-stage supernatural ability powerhouse instantly spread across all major bases.

Unfortunately, before the people within the base could even begin celebrating, following a terrifying display of lightning and thunder, the northern base located thousands of kilometers away from Blaze Base suddenly announced the successful emergence of a sixth-stage zombie. That individual was highly likely to be the long-dormant Zombie Leader.

Moreover, based on the timing, that person's successful advancement occurred barely over a month after An Ning's.

Once the news spread, countless supernatural ability teams, dragging their families along, scrambled and rushed towards Blaze Base where An Ning was located.

Having just breathed a sigh of relief due to their daughter's advancement, the Lu couple: "………"

In short, for the next hundred-plus years, the world seemed to become an arena for competition between An Ning and the two individuals on the opposite side. Seventh stage, eighth stage... as if maintaining a certain balance, their subsequent advancements basically occurred one right after the other.

The most perilous instance was when An Ning's eighth-stage supernatural ability breakthrough occurred during a battle with the opponent. By that time, the other side had already stepped into the eighth-stage domain a step ahead of her.

Frankly speaking, this was also the most difficult battle An Ning had faced since her transmigration. It was also the first time An Ning displayed, without any reservation in front of everyone, the true sword intent she had painstakingly cultivated for many years.

In the cultivation world, the claim that sword cultivators could fight across stages was never an empty boast.

Everyone knew that the higher one climbed, the more distinct and difficult to bridge the gap between stages often became.

A peak seventh-stage versus an eighth-stage was undoubtedly a battle everyone viewed as certain defeat. At that time, the young lady Shen, already over a hundred years old, nearly cried herself into a faint.

Yet, it was this nearly impossible-to-win battle that concluded with a perfect ending. An Ning, holding her sword, stubbornly withstood the onslaught for several hours, ultimately achieving a breakthrough at the critical juncture between life and death.

Well... if we don't mention that Zombie Leader who, seeing the situation turning unfavorable, promptly took to his heels and fled during her breakthrough moment.

It could be considered a tiny flaw within an otherwise perfect outcome!

In any case, after this battle, aside from triggering the next life-or-death race for advancement, those secretly harbored ulterior motives seemed to vanish into thin air in an instant.

Over the subsequent century, as human technology slowly recovered, friction between supernatural ability users and ordinary people also continuously increased. Unfortunately, these matters no longer had anything to do with An Ning.

An eighth-stage supernatural ability powerhouse—even if some blind fool were to launch missiles or the like at her, whether she could withstand them was one thing, but taking to her heels and fleeing was always an option.

Besides, by that time, Blaze Base, under the management of Dad Lu, was already the largest power on this continent. He himself, under the daily, subtle little whip of An Ning, had diligently worked his way up to become a seventh-stage powerhouse.

Under the successive stimuli concerning the safety of her husband and daughter, even Shen Qing, after her spatial ability successfully broke through to the fifth stage, developed moves like spatial blades. Later, she even officially entered the sixth stage, becoming a top-tier expert within the base.

The only regret was that the highest level of power this world could accommodate was ultimately limited. After the ninth stage, even An Ning could not advance any further.

To guard against any eventuality, after confirming she could progress no further, before leaving, An Ning specifically spent considerable effort to locate the hiding place of that Zombie Leader. After a great battle, she thoroughly eradicated this major threat created by humanity itself.

The Lu couple who had been on tenterhooks for over two hundred years: "？？？"

Eating, drinking, having fun, researching new energy systems in various ways, occasionally going out for an adventure—it was a century later when An Ning returned to the system space once again.

Smoothly pocketing the newly gained one hundred points, An Ning, for once, felt somewhat impatient as she opened the previous worldline.

To be honest, she was genuinely quite curious about the original body's lifetime. Even after tormenting that couple in various ways over the years, regarding the original body's death in her previous life, she still felt a lingering sense of injustice.

However, after over half an hour, An Ning fell completely silent.

Uh, what should this be called? A love-addled brain destroying the world?

Or perhaps, a butterfly flapping its wings unexpectedly leading to the extinction of its species.

According to the original worldline—the one where Jiang Miao did not reincarnate—Lu Ting and Shen Qing were originally supposed to have a story of surviving desperate straits, ultimately defeating the great demon king (the Zombie Leader) and saving their nearly extinct kind.

Gu Huai Zhi—a name imbued with ancient elegance—was also the name the Zombie Leader bore when he was human.

In the original worldline, on the day of the zombie siege, Lu Ting himself happened to be within the base. As the only fourth-stage expert at that time, it was naturally inevitable for him to confront the Zombie Leader.

This battle completely shattered Lu Ting's long-held pride as the "number one."

Without any surprise, although both were at the fourth stage, facing Gu Huai Zhi who possessed both supernatural abilities and zombie powers, and with the base's defenses completely paralyzed, Lu Ting still lost utterly.

By then, the zombie army had already completely flooded into the city. Seeing that the base's fall was already unavoidable, fortunately, as a fellow fourth-stage, even if Lu Ting couldn't win, escaping with his trusted aides, including his wife and daughter, was still feasible.

Afterwards, as various human bases fell one by one, a thoroughly matured Lu Ting, no longer arrogant, began leading the last embers of humanity, similarly hiding and evading.

Of course, being the male and female leads, they were definitely destined to accumulate strength and eventually defeat the great demon king.

However, that was already several decades later.

During the final battle, aside from Lu Ting who had already advanced to the fifth stage, the young lady Shen, witnessing her husband's life hanging by a thread, experienced a temporary cosmic burst, and by a stroke of luck, successfully unleashed spatial blades. Her contribution was also undeniably significant.

Even the original body, after accidentally awakening a wood-type ability, possessed combat power that could not be underestimated.

In short, although this lifetime was filled with various hardships and the world was left in tatters, the family of three ultimately achieved a relatively complete ending.

Then came the lifetime where the original body died.

Due to the butterfly effect of the reincarnator, the original body died. Even though Lu Ting later discovered something amiss and personally killed the instigator, the couple ultimately could not return to how they were before. Or rather, Shen Qing, having witnessed her daughter's death with her own eyes, could no longer forgive.

Thus began the legendary mode of a torturous, anguished love.

Under normal circumstances, this would definitely be nothing much. However, a person's energy is ultimately limited. Moreover, the original ending was a narrow victory achieved by a stroke of luck. The result of the male and female leads' torturous love was that, including the two of them, humanity's last remaining embers were completely annihilated at the hands of Gu Huai Zhi, this artificially created strongest zombie.

From then on, they proceeded towards complete extinction.

How could this not be considered a family reunion!

An Ning, for once, found her thoughts somewhat distracted. However, one point that particularly surprised her was:

In the previous two lifetimes, several decades after the zombie siege, Gu Huai Zhi, this Zombie Leader, had not even broken through to the sixth stage.

You must know, in her previous life, this individual had rolled with her all the way to the ninth stage, the very limit of this world!

It seems this thing called arrogance—not only humans, even zombies cannot escape it.

Tsk, truly terrifying. The moment she pressed the button, An Ning couldn't help but complain inwardly.