Chapter 2 The Seven Saints and the Cook Legion

The woman looked helplessly at Ethan Lowe. "Actually, as long as you ask, I can help you. I have people behind me."
"No need," Ethan replied flatly.
She sighed. "Alright then, keep in touch. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them for you. I'm leaving now." With that, she gave Ethan a smile, turned around, and left, leaving behind a faint fragrance.
Ethan closed his eyes again; the woman's arrival hadn't affected him in the slightest.
In the latter half of the night, the alluring woman returned once more. Looking at Ethan with a smile, she said, "Congratulations, your trouble is gone."
Ethan looked at her, puzzled.
She said, "I asked my big brother to intervene. Theo has been captured. My brother invites you over to discuss how to deal with them."
Ethan's eyes flashed. He stood up. "Let's go."
The woman smiled and led the way. They crossed the fire and arrived three hundred meters away from the camp. Although this place wasn't entirely safe, it wasn't too far.
When Ethan arrived, Theo—the Evolver who had harassed those girls—and more than a dozen of his companions were all kneeling on the ground. In front of them stood a tall man with his hands behind his back.
"Big brother, Ethan Lowe is here," the alluring woman said coquettishly as she walked up to the man.
The man turned around and looked at Ethan with a smile. "So you're Ethan Lowe?"
Ethan nodded.
"My name is Sean Lewis, one of the captains of this team," the man said proudly, raising his chin slightly as he looked at Ethan.
"I know," Ethan replied flatly.
Sean Lewis frowned; he didn't like Ethan's attitude. "What do you plan to do with these people? I'll leave it up to you."
Ethan looked at Sean Lewis. "What's the condition?"
Sean Lewis's lips curled upward as he stared intently at Ethan. "Let's be frank. I've heard about you and observed you. You haven't absorbed energy crystals from mutated beasts, have you? Yet you're very strong. Can you tell me why?"
Beside him, the alluring woman also looked at Ethan expectantly. Even the kneeling Theo and the other Evolvers were staring at him.
Ethan smiled slightly. "Is that why you brought me here?"
Sean Lewis chuckled and glanced at the woman.
She stepped forward, moved close to Ethan, and blew softly into his ear. In a sweet voice, she said, "Ethan, won't you tell us? Is it another path of evolution? If you tell us, you're telling all of humanity. Everyone will be grateful to you, and I... I can keep you company." As she spoke, she leaned against him.
Ethan turned his head to look at her. "I said before, if there's a next time—you die." As his words fell, his iron rod flashed. The woman clutched her neck, blood flowing through her fingers and staining her clothes red. She collapsed in disbelief. She hadn't taken Ethan's words seriously and never expected that he would dare to kill her in front of Sean Lewis, who was one of the captains and a human-level powerhouse.
Sean Lewis was also stunned; he hadn't expected Ethan to be so bold.
Ethan flicked his iron rod. "You're all very annoying. From the moment this team was formed, you've been eyeing me. Tonight, it all ends." With that, he charged toward Sean Lewis, his iron rod slashing down.
Enraged, Sean Lewis shouted, "You're courting death!" He drew a long sword from his waist, using it to block the iron rod. In his mind, not only could he fend off Ethan's attack, but he should also severely injure him. However, reality was completely different from his expectation. His long sword was cut in two, and the blade of the iron rod left a deep, bone-revealing wound on his right shoulder.
This scene left Sean Lewis in disbelief. He was a human-level powerhouse, capable of single-handedly taking on many ordinary Evolvers, yet he was defeated by Ethan in one move. How was this possible?
Ethan wounded Sean Lewis with one strike and didn't pause, sweeping his iron rod horizontally.
Sean Lewis hurriedly dodged, rolling sideways and throwing the broken sword hilt at Ethan. Ethan deflected it with a swing of his rod. The force was like a sharp blade cutting the ground, leaving a small crack.
"What are you all looking at? Get him! Kill him for me!" Sean Lewis roared, glaring angrily at Theo and the others.
Not daring to hesitate, Theo and his men drew various weapons and attacked Ethan.
Ethan's eyes were icy. He flipped the iron rod, and with a powerful kick, the visible shockwave cracked the ground. His body leaped over ten meters, and the blade of his iron rod slashed horizontally. In an instant, Theo and the others looked down at their chests. Blood dripped from their wounds. Soon, they lost consciousness and fell to the ground, dead.
At this moment, Ethan's heart was as hard as iron. This was the worst of times, without restraints, but it was also the best of times—evil people could be eliminated.
Sean Lewis stared blankly at Ethan. "How is this possible? You... you're an Earth-level powerhouse, definitely Earth-level. A human-level can't be this strong."
Ethan's gaze was cold.
Trembling, Sean Lewis dropped to his knees. "Ethan Lowe—no, Master Lowe—spare me. Please spare me. I can be your dog. I can kill for you. I can find women for you. I can do anything you want."
Ethan raised his head, gazing at the starry sky.
A sinister look flashed in Sean Lewis's eyes. Suddenly, he drew a blade from his sleeve and stabbed at Ethan. The blade smoothly pierced him, but the Ethan before him gradually faded—it was just a residual image.
Sean Lewis's pupils shrank in disbelief. What was this?
"This is called Swivel Steps, a combat technique from... the stars," Ethan said calmly. The iron rod swept across, and Sean Lewis's head drooped as he knelt and died.
Ethan sighed, put away his iron rod, and continued to gaze at the stars. "I'm just a guest, yet I've usurped the host's role."
Quickly, Ethan collected the energy crystals from Sean Lewis and the others. Bringing them close to the ring on his hand, the crystals suddenly vanished as if they had never existed.
This was a Void Ring, a precious ring that could store items—like his combat techniques, it also came from the stars.
No one cared about the disappearance of Theo and his men, but it was different with Sean Lewis. As a captain, his sudden absence drew the attention of the other team leaders.
However, since Sean Lewis had hidden his whereabouts to plot against Ethan's evolution method, no one came to trouble Ethan—it was, in a way, Sean Lewis's own doing.
At noon the next day, tens of thousands in the team looked up at the distant sky. Moments ago, they had received news that Saint Arthur—Arthur Cook—was arriving.
Before long, a black dot appeared before everyone. Then, high in the sky, a man appeared—strongly built, over two meters tall, with short hair. In his hand was a giant axe over three meters long. He stood majestically in the air.
Everyone stared in a daze. Could humans really fly? Was this a flying-level powerhouse? One of Chicia's Seven Saints.
With a roar, Arthur Cook said nothing but raised his hand and pressed downward. The airwave lifted dust, making it hard for tens of thousands to keep their eyes open.
All the Evolvers looked ahead with fervor. This was a Heaven-level powerhouse, possessing the power to destroy mountains and rivers.
From underground, a massive vine twisted out, sweeping fiercely toward Arthur Cook.
He snorted—a sound that exploded in everyone's ears. Then, he raised his giant axe high. The air behind him fluctuated, vaguely forming transparent wings. "Storm Slash!" With a loud shout, Arthur Cook's body spun downward with the giant axe, fiercely chopping at the vine.
An earth-shattering boom resounded. Cracks spread out in all directions from the ground, dust flew everywhere, and strands of energy scattered. Fortunately, Evolver captains stood in front; otherwise, just these energy waves would have caused massive casualties among the survivors.
Ethan stared intently ahead. Yesterday, they had guessed the vine was Earth-level strength. In reality, only he sensed that the vine was definitely Heaven-level, which was why Arthur Cook used his full strength.
As the wild wind blew and the dust settled, what appeared before everyone was Arthur Cook's majestic figure, shouldering the giant axe. The vine had been completely shattered, and a massive pit filled with green liquid lay on the ground.
Tens of thousands looked up at Arthur Cook in reverence, cheering.
Arthur Cook hefted his giant axe and soared into the sky, shouting loudly, "Let's go back to Jawington—it's safe there!"
"Thank you, Saint Arthur!"
"Long live Saint Arthur!"
"Saint Arthur!"
...
Tens of thousands chanted Arthur Cook's name. In this apocalyptic era, heroes were desperately needed. Arthur Cook was a hero; the Seven Saints were heroes.
Ethan gripped his iron rod tightly. His current strength hadn't reached Heaven-level yet. As Sean Lewis had said, he indeed hadn't absorbed energy crystals. He wanted to take another path of evolution—the true path from the stars. Thinking this, Ethan looked up. "Soon, it should be coming soon."
With Arthur Cook's protection, the journey went smoothly. There were undoubtedly creatures far more powerful than Arthur Cook in this world, but they were so rare that they were hardly encountered.
A day later, the team of tens of thousands arrived at Jawington. Only then did many people finally lay down their burdens and weep aloud.
Jawington was under martial law. Outside stood massive earthen walls, and atop them, rows of Evolvers silently watched the tens of thousands of survivors enter, their eyes filled with sorrow. This team had lost at least a tenth of its people from departure to arrival—they had come from despair.
Ethan had visited Jawington during peaceful times. Back then, the city was beautiful, with ancient trees lining the streets. But now, Jawington had shrunk significantly; the outer areas were abandoned. Countless wandering zombies filled the outer city. Without Arthur Cook paving the way, entering the Jawington settlement would have required a bloody battle.
Survivors were assigned by designated personnel, while Evolvers were managed separately.
This team had over five hundred Evolvers. Relative to the tens of thousands of survivors, that meant one Evolver protected nearly a hundred people—a rather low ratio, also indirectly proving that mutated creatures were hard to kill.
Unfortunately, zombies didn't contain energy crystals; otherwise, the number of Evolvers would be much higher.
The Cook Legion was the organization established by Saint Arthur—Arthur Cook—to manage Evolvers. All Evolvers in the Jawington settlement, whether they joined or not, had to register at the Cook Legion for combat strength and physical assessments. Ethan and the others were taken to the Cook Legion.
The so-called Cook Legion wasn't just a single camp but a massive entity occupying Mount Rosworth in Jawington. Legend had it that when it was first established, countless zombies and mutated beasts plagued Jawington. Arthur Cook led all the Evolvers and took a month to capture Mount Rosworth—a feat made possible because Mount Rosworth had been a tourist area without too many wild mutated beasts.
Centering on Mount Rosworth, the Cook Legion expanded outward, gradually helping survivors reclaim the Jawington settlement, making it one of the largest survivor settlements in Chicia's Eastland.
Mount Rosworth's Cook Legion was solemn and majestic. Surrounding Evolvers looked enviously at the uniformed Cook Legion Evolver soldiers, aspiring to be among them in the future.
"It's only been half a year, and Saint Arthur has established such a massive organization like the Cook Legion. It's unbelievable," someone marveled.
Immediately, someone chimed in, "When the apocalypse came, many were still hiding, but Saint Arthur had already established the Cook Legion. In the future, he might dominate Chicia."
Many others echoed these sentiments.
Walking among the Evolvers, Ethan glanced at the Evolver soldiers passing by from time to time. His eyes flickered—these soldiers were real soldiers.
Logically, with the advent of the apocalypse, no matter how charismatic someone was, it would be impossible to establish such an organization, and Arthur Cook shouldn't have been able to either. Yet the Cook Legion existed. There was only one reason these people were real military personnel. Arthur Cook represented the nation.
Chicia hadn't collapsed due to the apocalypse; it had stabilized in another form. Arthur Cook was part of the military, and perhaps the Seven Saints were as well. Otherwise, it would be impossible to reach Heaven-level strength in just half a year.
Perhaps it was something to be thankful for—the apocalypse hadn't led to a complete breakdown of communication. Otherwise, even the nation couldn't have stabilized the situation so quickly.