[You have reached Rank 4: Raid Leader]
+25 Followers allowed
+4000 ZKP
You can create a small safe zone!
Unlocked Martial Arts Training
Unlocked Physiques
——
The moment I faced the monster, Jiang Roulan's body flew across the ground while covered in wounds—wounds she got, buying time for me to evolve. She bought the seconds I needed with desperate actions, and even money couldn't match her efforts because she saved our lives.
Before I returned to my senses from the high of evolving to rank four, I'd already launched myself off the van and thrust my spear into the zombie's throat.
Immediately after cutting through the hardened flesh of the brute, my body tumbled to the side from the momentum. "Urgh..." The sharp gravel cut into my arm but only pricked me like pins, failing to penetrate my skin.
I sucked in a deep breath of cold air before dragging my spear from it's neck. The flesh bubbled with a sickening pop and healed slightly.
"Grrr!"
With a low, angry grumble, the brute thrashed out with multiple attacks, swinging its elongated arms towards me, trying to crush me with pure strength. I hopped back, dragging my foot against the ground behind me and lowered my hips, gathering strength in my thighs and waist.
The sheer danger this post-bariatric surgery zombie posed was abnormal.
I shifted my eyes to the apartment. With my enhanced sight, the movements of Jiang Roulan fighting appeared in almost 8k at 120fps, as her buttocks and curvy body swayed through the narrow hallway, crushing zombies.
There was a stabbing pain in my neck, and I leaned to the right.
A burst of air exploded beside my face, cutting my eyebrow with a burning rash as the brute huffed with a cloud of hot hair after tossing a huge piece of scrap metal at my head.
'Let's focus!'
After its attack missed, the brute slammed its chest in anger before dashing forward, its stride more than two metres each step, creating a quake in the ground.
I gripped my spear, the metal bar even heavier since my strength had increased, but the weight would also help me slay this beast. My left foot pushed off the ground bouncy tarmac which sent me charging forward with a rapid momentum.
The mass of the monster was more than double mine as it sprinted at me while drooling from its mouth. The moment I reached the ideal range, I gripped my spear and thrust out with everything I had. My hands shook because I tensed my entire body the moment I stepped to the side and pierced towards the brute's neck.
"Bleed!"
The beast's clawed hands tore apart the ground, clearly aiming for me less than a second ago. Thanks to my danger sense, I sidestepped the danger, but now my right thigh felt strange—it burned, and the muscles became tight and spasmed.
My blade nicked the same spot as before, ripping the scarred flesh that hastily repaired, now a deeper and more volatile wound.
Dirty black blood bubbled and poured from the gash in the zombie's neck, but it didn't heal. Although the battle wasn't over, I gained a vital clue and learned that even a brute like this wasn't immortal.
However, while I focused on that, the monster retaliated with a lightning-fast reaction. It swung its left arm like a bat, which smashed into my abdomen, even after lifting my spear to absorb the damage.
The ground and air switched places as my body rolled through the air, a low thud sounding at the brute that appeared above me, both hands held like a hammer.
"Shi—"
Boom!
The impact turned everything white, as my ears hummed with an annoying screech, and my eyes couldn't see. "Damn it..." I could feel my body rolling, dragged against sharp and jagged edges, as I desperately tried to suck in oxygen to feed my starving lungs.
Again, the monster caused the ground to shake as it lunged towards me.
Light returned to my eyes, and I found myself embedded against a broken car with blood pouring down my left arm, which hung without power. I couldn't feel anything. Maybe adrenaline took over...
The huge lump stomped towards me in a bull-like rush.
He wanted to crush me into a pulp.
I could feel the ground bouncing from each step, its weight almost digging craters into the concrete and asphalt flooring.
With a blank mind and throbbing body, I yanked myself from the car and activated my dash skill. A sudden surge of power and warmth filled both my legs as my muscles bulged before I darted forward like a terrified female rat.
We rushed at each other, a train and a small human, a super heavyweight against a featherweight.
But I didn't stop.
My speed was faster, allowing me to complete my gambit.
I bit the corner of my tongue to keep focused while jumping towards the right the instant before the zombie collided with me. The cold air cut across my skin like sharp blades as the zombie smashed into the car, destroying it and continued into the destroyed convenience store.
'BUY FOUR GRENADES!'
Instantly, I spent all the money I gained from the ranking and grasped the air, desperately partying as the damage and burning sensation in my lungs became stronger, like small teeth biting the soft flesh walls.
Click!
The first grenade almost immediately left my hand. Followed up with the second, but there wasn't enough—BOOM! Time. The first and Second grenades exploded a moment before I tossed the third. I heard and felt the zombies' wailing roar shaking the earth.
But now I need to deal with the shambling zombies all around me.
"Damn it..."
With an injured arm, I struggled to unpin the last grenade and rolled it towards the group of zombies and staggered back, taking my spear from my inventory and taking a breather with my back against an abandoned car.
"Is it over...?"
Of course, it wasn't.
The ground throbbed. Not shook. Not quaked. It throbbed like a massive artery underfoot had just constricted and spat something out.
And then came the scent.
Burned pork and sewage. Melted tires. Sweet rot.
I gagged, even though I had nothing left in my stomach. My throat clenched, tight as a rope. My tongue tasted like aluminum.
The brute stumbled out of the ruined storefront. It moved wrong—differently. The speed was gone, but it came like a nightmare, half-crawling, dragging one leg like dead weight. The other stomped with rage. Its bulk had changed. Lopsided. Broken. Burning.
My body screamed to move, but I just watched.
Its face looked horrific.
The fire hadn't just charred it. It had revealed something.
Chunks of liquified skin clung like wet curtains, peeling off the jawline with every snarl. One eye bulged from an empty socket of cooked nerves, still twitching. No nose—just a collapsed, bubbling hole that hissed with each breath. I could see teeth through the cheek, muscle exposed, pulsing like a heart outside its cage.
It was melting.
And it didn't care.
It saw me, and it smiled. At least, it tried. The jaw shifted sideways, unhinged, revealing more black blood pooling at its throat.
This thing wanted to kill me at any cost.
"Grrrrrrhh—"
I tightened my grip on the spear with my good hand. My left dangled, bone-deep pain muted into an icy numbness now. My right thigh cramped again, locking mid-step. I almost crumbled to the floor. A flash of white bloomed in my skull.
"Not now," I hissed, and dug the spear's butt into the road to balance myself.
The brute limped forward—slower now, but not weaker. Not tamer. The fire had taken part of it, but what was left was more deranged, more willing to destroy itself if it meant taking me with it.
I checked my inventory. Empty.
No grenades.
No quick fixes.
I was going to have to kill it. No tricks. No kiting.
Just spear and will.
It swayed suddenly—then lurched, body folding forward unnaturally, like a marionette with cut strings. Its knee cracked sideways, and it charged, crawling now on elbows, its melted face dragging across the ground, leaving trails of blood, skin, and smoke in its wake.
I couldn't run.
So I stepped forward.
And screamed.
"COME ON THEN, YOU OVERCOOKED DUMPLING!"
I poured all my weight and strength into the spear and drove it down like a metal stake straight down toward the approaching mass of charred flesh. Its eye glinted with joy—frenzied joy—as it accepted the charge.