Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

After alleviating the initial pressure from the zombies, Wu Shuangxue and the others focused on the few special zombies, while Lin Huai tasked the robots with escorting the other residents to safety.

They had encountered fusion-type zombies before and knew their weakness. Wu Shuangxue, with her astonishing combat intuition, quickly located the real body of the fusion zombie.

Thanks to their recent training, Ouyang Dong and Xu Fang had significantly improved their abilities. Now, working in tandem, they finally managed to eliminate the fusion zombie.

The massive, bloated corpse fell and did not rise again. Udo even went forward to deliver a final blow, pouring gasoline stored in her space onto the zombie before igniting her flamethrower.

The flesh-red body was gradually consumed by the flames.

Only when she heard the zombie's agonized screams did Udo nod in satisfaction. She had known it was feigning death. Shen Xiuzhe had warned during a battle briefing that fusion zombies were cunning, they would create human-like decoys and play dead with their shell, while their real body sneaked away.

That's why when encountering them, one must burn them to ashes, leaving no remains.

The fourteen-year-old Udo, noticing Professor Lin's astonished gaze not far away, touched her nose sheepishly. "This is how you have to kill these zombies; otherwise, they'll escape."

Lin Huai was merely astonished that she, at such a young age, was so calm and skilled in facing zombies. "You're as formidable as your grandmother was in her youth," he said with a smile to the young girl.

The fusion zombie was dealt with, but the remaining two were more challenging.

The metal-ability zombie had underestimated them and was wounded by Udo's grandmother initially. Then, it used its ability to strengthen its body, making it impervious to both abilities and blades.

The other zombie, with its sound mutation, was too powerful. Its sonic attacks prevented anyone from getting close, nearly deafening everyone present.

Ouyang Dong could attack from a distance, but the vines he controlled were shattered by the vibrations as they neared the zombie.

The two special zombies, despite repeated attacks and occasional injuries, filled with animosity, relentlessly focused their assaults on the group. If not for their enhanced reflexes from recent training and the protection of the steel-bodied robots, they would have been devoured.

The group struggled mightily. Ouyang Dong's and Xu Fang's blades were notched and dulled, their ears almost deafened. Udo's grandmother, no longer as vigorous as in her youth, was gasping for breath. Udo herself had repeatedly attempted to trap the special zombies in her space to no avail.

Most of the people had evacuated by now, and although they had bought some time, the two vengeful zombies had them firmly in their sights, making escape impossible.

"How are we supposed to fight this?" Xu Fang gritted his teeth, clutching his ears, blood seeping out from within.

"With one specializing in ranged attacks and the other invincible in close combat, all of us combined don't stand a chance," Ouyang Dong said, as he was running out of seeds and saplings to use.

"Could today really be our end?"

"Nonsense, even if it exhausts us, we'll exhaust these two ugly brutes to death today."

"Are you daft? They have endless stamina. If it comes to exhaustion, we'll be the ones to drop first."

"It seems... that's true. Boss, where are you? Save us!"

Unable to win, Xu Fang immediately thought of Shen Xiuzhe. If the boss were here, dealing with these two zombies would be a breeze, but now they were outside the city with no chance to send a warning.

The metal-based zombie, seeing their lack of tricks, let out an almost human-like laugh—harsh and grating, worse than nails on a chalkboard. It stretched out a hand, and the ashen, withered arm slowly transformed into a serrated blade.

Probably because they had encountered many robots wielding chainsaws, the zombie mimicked them, turning its whole arm into a saw-toothed blade, and staggered towards the group.

Remembering how the robots had decapitated zombies with chainsaws, could this zombie be planning to do the same to them with its serrated blade?

Damn it! He refused to die like this.

Cursing under his breath, Xu Fang scrambled to his feet to continue the fight.

"Buzz~"

Everyone instinctively covered their ears as the zombie that attacked with sound waves simply opened its mouth. Without making a sound, it induced instant tinnitus in everyone.

It felt as though their hearts were being squeezed, their brains struck by a heavy blow. Everyone on the scene lost all their offensive capabilities, even Professor Lin, who was away from the battle, was indiscriminately targeted and fell to the ground in pain, clutching his ears.

Sound waves, invisible and intangible, were unstoppable; they could only watch helplessly as the zombie drew near.

The ashen serrated blade loomed closer, and Ouyang Dong could even see his blurred reflection on the blade. He was gasping for air, mouth agape, completely unable to muster his abilities.

Close enough now, they could even smell the fetid stench of the zombie.

The one skilled in sound wave attacks didn't approach them but instead, at intervals, launched its sonic assault. Although its ability was powerful, it couldn't be used continuously; each attack required a recovery period.

Yet now, less than two minutes since its last attack, the zombie was ready to strike again.

The zombie's mouth grotesquely split open wide to the ears, revealing the muscle and tissue around it in terrifying clarity—its enormous mouth, like a black hole, seemed capable of biting off a head and neck in one gulp.

Udo covered her ears and opened her mouth, her eyes devoid of any hope; they were truly outmatched by these two zombies.

The sound-enhanced zombie opened its mouth, preparing to launch another attack.

The metal-ability zombie raised its serrated blade high.

Like grim reapers, the two zombies brandished their scythes, poised to harvest the lives of everyone present.

As the first wave of sonic attacks began, a shadow darted from not far away, swooping into the gaping maw of the reinforced zombie with lightning speed.

The sonic attack was abruptly cut off.

The zombie, with its mouth agape and eyes bulging, frantically clutched and twisted its own throat, its movements grotesquely abnormal.

The serrated blade formed from the metal zombie's arm was deflected by a large piece of metal thrown its way.

Xu Fang, looking toward the man standing in the distance on the road, felt an immediate release of tension in his tightly wound nerves, almost to the point of tears.

"So noisy."

Dressed in a black trench coat and leading a light yellow dog, Shen Xiuzhe, with Lin An peeking out from behind him, strolled leisurely as if out for a casual walk.

Wu Shuangxue, propping herself up with her knife to prevent falling, saw the belated Shen Xiuzhe and, laughing, dropped her knife and sat down on the ground. It seemed she truly had aged; the young people nowadays were impressive, always appearing at the most critical moments.

Ouyang Dong felt the same relief upon seeing Shen Xiuzhe and Lin An, collapsing to the ground.

The metal zombie's twisted serrated blade was quickly bent back into place. Sensing Lin An's scent up close, it disregarded the 'little insects' before it and immediately turned in Lin An's direction.

The sonic-wave zombie did the same. Because Shen Xiuzhe made no other move, the zombie reached into its own mouth and, with its bare hands, pulled out the metal block lodged in its throat. Black and red blood gushed out with its actions, but the zombie was undeterred, tossing the bloody metal block onto the ground and also moving toward Lin An.

"You're quite popular among the zombies," Shen Xiuzhe remarked to Lin An behind him.

He was initially in a good mood, having finally taught Lin An his last name, but as the sounds of gunfire in the city grew louder and more frequent, he knew something was amiss in the city.

So, he had come into the city with Lin An and the dog.

The robot at the gate had been embedded in the city wall by him; it would need to be pried out later.

Following the sounds to the central street, occasionally dealing with a few robots that tried to attack Lin An along the way, he arrived to find his teammates nearly annihilated.

Fortunately, he was not too late.

Lin An peeked out curiously from behind Shen Xiuzhe, looking out as the residents had been moved away under the protection of robots, leaving only Xu Fang's group and Professor Lin on the scene.

Lin An, regaining some clarity, found the people present unfamiliar but not frightening, even looking at them with a touch of curiosity, quickly ducking back behind Shen Xiuzhe whenever his gaze was met.

Two unique zombies were alarmingly close to them; Xiao Fu, who had been leading the way, tethered by a leash, immediately shrank back in horror at the sight of the grotesque creatures advancing towards them, pressing close to his master.

Shen Xiuzhe's fingers twitched as the numerous metal fragments and parts scattered on the ground levitated and shot into the open mouth of the bloodied zombie, preventing it from emitting another sound attack.

"It was its own fault for gaping so wide during the attack; not to fill such an open maw would be a missed opportunity," he thought smugly.

Sharp metal shards and tiny components followed the path into its mouth and throat, slicing through flesh and silencing the zombie as dark, crimson blood gushed out, unable to make even a whisper of noise.

Silenced, the creature was indistinguishable from any ordinary zombie.

However, Shen Xiuzhe found himself intrigued by the metal-type zombie, which could transform its body into blade edges, its form shifting at will—a truly interesting adversary.

Casually observing the serrated blade of the zombie's arm, Shen Xiuzhe glanced around before picking up an intact chainsaw from nearby, flipping its switch on.

Would the chainsaw's power surpass the metal zombie's bodily hardness?

This question piqued his curiosity.

Lin An followed Shen Xiuzhe step for step; Xiao Fu did the same with Lin An, creating a peculiar procession with Shen Xiuzhe, appearing as if a zombie was attached to his back—a sight the others had grown accustomed to.

The robot wielding a chainsaw had been destroyed before encountering the metal zombie, its bullets ineffective. Now Shen Xiuzhe, with the buzzing chainsaw held by psychokinetic support, approached the zombie head-on.

While Lin An naively followed, the others realized Shen Xiuzhe's intent; against the vicious visage of the zombie, Shen Xiuzhe's calm demeanor and handsome features seemed almost more ferocious.

Despite their slightly more intelligent nature, working in tandem, the special zombies weren't particularly brainy and charged headlong towards the chainsaw.

The dark grey serrated blade clashed with the whirring chainsaw, casting sparks of orange fireworks.

What seemed a simple collision was in fact a battle of psychokinetic abilities, with Shen Xiuzhe's metal manipulation proving superior.

In an instant, the chainsaw severed the serrated arm of the zombie.

Amidst the heart-wrenching roars, Shen Xiuzhe nodded in satisfaction at the chainsaw's effectiveness, wondering if he could acquire more for convenience on the road.

With the experiment concluded, Shen Xiuzhe dealt with both zombies. In the mechanical city, surrounded by metal structures and robots, he was in his element, effortlessly dispatching the special zombies without a second glance.

Lin An, lips pursed at the sight of black blood splattered around, felt an aversion to advance further in the chaos that was not his home; there was simply no clean place to step.

Before his mind could catch up, he had subconsciously unleashed a water spout.

The howling waterspout immediately set to cleaning the battlefield, engulfing the scattered metal debris and zombie limbs strewn across the ground.

Curiously, a small number of human corpses were conspicuously avoided by the waterspout.

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong, not noticing this anomaly, were relieved yet frustrated to see the zombies they couldn't defeat being easily dispatched by Shen Xiuzhe; they felt woefully inadequate, still a hindrance at this point.

Udo's eyes widened in surprise at the undisturbed human bodies on the ground; glancing at Lin An, who continued to hide, she sensed something was amiss.

On their previous journey, Lin An had indiscriminately swept up both zombies and human corpses alike, but now he was deliberately sparing some.

Why the sudden change?

Wu Shuangxue would have surely noticed such a detail, but overwhelmed and wearied with age, she had missed these subtleties.

Professor Lin, who had remained on the sidelines, lacked any special abilities and was physically weaker than Wu Shuangxue, nothing more than a frail old man. Yet, his gaze was fixed intently on the combatants and the zombies.

This was his first time witnessing the battle between humans and zombies.

During the early days of the apocalypse, the Mechanical City had its share of resistance, but never such a spectacle as this.

Having the courage to wield an axe against a zombie was once deemed impressive, but now he realized, as zombies evolved, humans were also undergoing profound changes.

Zombies mutated, but the transformations within humans were more intense; with the right use of abilities, even unarmed, one could defeat zombies.

Professor Lin, having suffered an auditory attack, was in pain, but his eyes shone with excitement at the sight of Shen Xiuzhe.

Unacquainted with Shen Xiuzhe, he was nonetheless astounded by the power displayed, as any zombie seemed trivial to defeat in his hands.

He understood his mistake; survival in this world didn't rely on the protection of robots but on human endeavor.

Suddenly, Professor Lin's fervent gaze halted.

Adjusting his glasses, he looked puzzledly at the individual behind Shen Xiuzhe.

Lin An's fringe had been brushed up and hadn't been let down since, something Shen Xiuzhe hadn't thought to address; now, those ruby-like pupils, curious and frightened, peeked stealthily at the people gathering around.

The pale grey skin was easily overlooked, but once noticed, it starkly distinguished itself from any human complexion.

Was this a zombie?

Professor Lin thought his eyes might be deceiving him.