Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

The security door slowly opens to reveal the full figure of the person outside.

They have limbs both thin and long, a stooped back curving forward, sparse hair atop their head, and skin that is a pale bluish-grey, appearing both dry and emaciated.

Slowly, it raises its head, revealing a slender face devoid of eyes and nose, as if it had been entirely smoothed over.

The creature lifts its elongated arms that dangle to the ground; at their tips, a mass of flesh-colored filaments, seemingly searching for something, writhing and twisting in countless directions.

Suddenly, all the filaments point towards Lin An, the dense, wormlike tendrils creating an eerie spectacle.

Xiao Fu had never seen such a strange thing, too frightened even to bark, clinging tightly to its owner, trembling as it sought a sense of security from him.

Lin An stares blankly at the unidentifiable creature outside the door, the rotten, putrid stench of blood emanating from it is overwhelmingly foul.

Having found its target, the creature outside the door lifts a foot to step inside, but before its gaunt, elongated foot touches the floor, Lin An blasts it away with a water spout, slamming it against the wall.

Unharmed by the water's impact, the creature wobbly stands back up, the filaments on its hands repositioning themselves.

Lin An remains standing there, his gaze vacant, as if he would do nothing as long as the creature didn't enter or dirty his home.

Xiao Fu proves to be clever once again, dashing forward to slap the door shut with a paw before running back to press against its owner.

The lock rattles again soon after, even the filaments can be seen creeping in through the keyhole, slowly latching onto the surroundings as the keyhole vibrates.

With a click, the door opens once again.

Xiao Fu's legs tremble as it looks up at its owner, but Lin An is still lost in a daze, neither afraid nor concerned about what the creature outside is doing.

Xiao Fu tries to repeat its previous trick of closing the door, believing in its simple logic that if the door is shut, it won't have to see the strange thing anymore.

It runs forward a few steps, but this time the creature reacts swiftly, the filaments on its arms violently twitching and convulsing. Though it lacks eyes, it lowers its head towards Xiao Fu and lifts an arm, the filaments at the tip twisting into a conical shape. The arm, already abnormally long, stretches like an elastic band and thrusts sharply at Xiao Fu.

With its keen instinct for danger, Xiao Fu dodges in the nick of time. The sharp, flesh-colored conical filament pierces the hard wooden floor, leaving a hole, then retracts just as quickly.

Xiao Fu no longer dared to rush forward to close the door, instead turning a corner and returning to his master's side, humming softly.

Lin An stared blankly with a vacant gaze. When the floor was punctured, he seemed to snap back to reality, slowly lowering his head to look at the hole in the floor.

The once smooth floor was now marred with a ragged hole, fringed with splinters of wood.

Lin An's gaze shifted from the protruding hole to the monster outside the door, his ruby-colored eyes widening.

The monster was once again assaulted by a water spout, not to be thrust against the wall this time, but to experience the whirl of a washing machine, much like the previous night's bald head incident.

However, last night was a basic version; today, it was an intensified one, reducing the monster's figure to almost a blur in the water.

The washing machine effect was quite remarkable. The originally clear water gradually became murky, tinged with faint red.

After the wash, the monster was violently flung against the wall, the dirty water spilling out of the window at the end of the corridor.

This time, the monster was so dazed by the impact that it couldn't get up for a long time.

A normal person would have seized this opportunity to finish off the monster.

But Lin An lacked this instinct. After his actions, he turned his attention back to the hole in the floor, cleaning up the wood chips with a fine stream of water, although the floor couldn't be restored to its original state.

Approaching slowly, Lin An crouched beside the damaged floor, poking his finger into the hole, continuing to stare blankly at it.

When hungry, Lin An would either clean or think about eating. Now, not feeling hungry, he was left with nothing but cleaning and staring blankly.

Xiao Fu stayed closely by his master's side, even huddling close when Lin An crouched, sneakily glancing outside the door. Upon seeing the monster reappear, he immediately started pawing at Lin An anxiously.

Lin An looked to the side, spotting the dog's head level with his own, and quickly scooted away, as if afraid Xiao Fu might lick him again.

Xiao Fu: ...Even a dog is speechless.

The monster outside the door, teased repeatedly, split its mouth open to the cheeks, roaring towards the inside, then charged into the room.

The water tornado arrived as expected, but this time the monster tightly grasped the inner side and top of the doorframe with its two slender arms. The tornado whirled the adversary around for a long time, yet couldn't shake the monster in the slightest, ultimately subsiding in futility.

Abilities are limited, whether for humans or zombies.

In the early days of the apocalypse when people first discovered abilities, they would manifest as a small flame from a fingertip or softening the soil by touching the ground with a hand, almost useless.

Later, by continuously using and completely exhausting their abilities, then slowly recovering and reusing them, the process repeated, gradually increasing the capacity of the abilities.

As for how to utilize these abilities, it varies from person to person.

At first, Lin An could only use a small amount of water. After half a year of daily cleaning and washing clothes, he gradually gained the ability to use his powers as he wished.

But water is also limited. Water tornadoes not only require gathering a large amount of water but also high-speed rotation, both of which consume enormous energy, leaving Lin An unable to use his abilities.

Normally at home, if he couldn't use his abilities, a brief moment of distraction would restore them, but in this critical moment, his inability to use powers rendered him a zombie awaiting slaughter.

Moreover, the monster, now cleaned and devoid of any foul smell, seemed to have given up resistance, showing no reaction even as it charged into the room.

The filament-like appendages on both arms coiled into a spike and lunged directly at Lin An. Just as they were about to pierce his back, a fruit knife on the table gleamed and flew over, severing the tips of the monster's arms, the tightly twisted filamentous spikes.

Its most important weapons and limbs severed, the monster couldn't help but howl in agony.

"Finally caught up."

The bald man ran panting to the door, while Shen Xiuzhe had already positioned himself inside.

The howling monster flailed its slender arms wildly, its whip-like limbs occasionally striking the ground, leaving deep lash marks.

As soon as Lin An noticed Shen Xiuzhe entering, she had already quietly run back to the wardrobe.

Xiao Fu, sticking close to his master, also scurried back to the bedroom.

Shen Xiuzhe happened to witness this scene as he entered, right after he had rescued the little zombie.

It was odd how calm he remained upon seeing that ugly mutant zombie, squatting motionless in the living room, yet upon seeing him, it fled as if it had seen a ghost.

The same happened last night; facing the fusion-type zombie, he could calmly clean the floor and dispose of the flesh thrown in by the zombie, but Xu Fang ran off as soon as he entered.

There was no time to criticize the double-standard behavior of the small zombie; to prevent further damage to the room, Shen Xiuzhe had to keep attacking the zombie, leading it away from the room.

The mutant part of this zombie was its limbs; hence, its eyes and nose had degenerated and disappeared, leaving only filament-like appendages on its arms as sensors. Now, Shen Xiuzhe had cut them off with a knife, leaving the zombie unable to see or smell, flailing its slender, agile limbs like a headless fly.

Once it encountered an obstacle, it would attack even more ferociously. Shen Xiuzhe maneuvered the fruit knife to keep touching the zombie's slender limbs, directing the zombie's perception of the attack, step by step, out of the room.

"Take Lin An and the dog away; I'll deal with this zombie," Shen Xiuzhe shouted to Xu Fang.

Xu Fang immediately dove through the door and shut it behind him.

After the two left from here, they found a car and headed towards the city center. To their surprise, not long after leaving the neighborhood, they encountered an ability-type zombie on the street.

Since the apocalypse, most people had turned into zombies, but there were differences among zombies.

Approximately ninety percent were just ordinary zombies, with gray skin and red eyes, and sharp fangs. They gradually became more agile and powerful with the number of people they consumed.

However, ten percent of the zombies mutate into various unusual forms. So far, they have encountered three special types: fusion zombies, ability zombies, and mutant zombies.

The fusion-type zombies have only one skin and devour flesh to grow massive; ability-type zombies can use powers like humans; mutation-type zombies enhance a particular part of their body to turn it into a weapon.

Every encounter with these three types of zombies results in a high death toll.

Xu Fang had learned from Shen Xiuzhe that a fusion-type zombie had appeared last night, and unexpectedly, they encountered an ability-type zombie on the road, which Shen Xiuzhe dispatched.

After dispatching the zombie, Shen Xiuzhe, with a sudden serious demeanor, urged Xu Fang to hurry back to the complex.

Although Xu Fang didn't understand why, he immediately turned around and pressed the gas pedal to race back.

Shen Xiuzhe didn't even wait for the car to stop properly at the building's base; he jumped out and ran up the stairs.

When Xu Fang caught up, he discovered a mutant zombie in Lin An's home.

Are there so many special zombies now? They had encountered three in less than a day.

Without time to ponder, Xu Fang hurried to the bedroom, where the little zombie had once again hidden in the wardrobe, followed by Xiao Fu.

How fond were they of this wardrobe, always running to it for refuge?

Xu Fang tried to pull the little zombie out, but Lin An was uncooperative, clinging stubbornly to the wardrobe despite having depleted her powers, and adamantly refusing to come out.

"Little ancestor, please come out, I beg you."

Lin An, huddled inside, couldn’t understand what was being said and fearfully gripped the wardrobe door in an attempt to conceal herself.