Chapter Seventy-Eight

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Lin An stepped in front of Shen Xiuzhe, facing the zombie king mere inches away, summoning numerous giant ice spikes in an attempt to fend it off.

The ice spikes hovered around him, densely packed, their cold, sharp tips glistening under the sunlight, all aimed at the zombie king.

The many-headed monster was less than twenty centimeters away from Lin An, who could even smell its foul stench.

Millions of ice spikes shot towards the zombie king, most dissolving into specks of light before reaching it, while the rest were swept away by its now fully restored tail.

Lin An knew his tactic was ineffective, but his goal was to buy time.

Ice spikes repeatedly emerged, filling the entire square with a spectacular sight unseen by anyone, save for the two struggling individuals and the monstrously powerful creature.

Lin An attacked the monster over and over, only to be thwarted each time.

Eventually, his ability drained.

And all he managed was to delay for a mere three minutes.

Glancing back at Shen Xiuzhe, battered and gasping for breath, Lin An felt a sense of despair. He wanted to buy more time for Shen Xiuzhe to recover, at least enough to escape consciously, but he was no match for the zombie king.

He had thought that with Shen Xiuzhe by his side, he wouldn't be afraid, but now faced with despair, he wished for Shen to escape.

Better one death than two, and as a zombie, he was technically already dead according to normal physiological standards.

So dying again wasn't much of a concern.

But he was too weak, managing only to delay for three minutes.

Just when Lin An thought they were both going to die there, a voice suddenly came from not far away.

"Boss, Brother An, we're here! Damn, that zombie is uglier the more I look at it!"

Xu Fang's voice grew nearer, and the heads of the zombies approaching them were knocked askew.

A massive plant suddenly appeared between them and the zombie king, blocking the zombie's biting attack, as Wu Shuangxue, wielding dual blades, flipped onto the zombie's head, plunging her swords into two of its skulls.

Meanwhile, Xu Fang, while continuously cursing, used his ability to move Shen Xiuzhe and Lin An to safety.

Lin An didn't even have time to ask why everyone had returned.

Xu Fang placed them at the edge of the square and charged at the zombie, while Ouyang Dong and Wu Shuangxue were already engaged in combat with it.

"Damn it, I have trypophobia, aaaaah!" Xu Fang had been continuously shuddering since he first saw the monster; the sight of it overwhelmed him.

Shen Xiuzhe's clothes were soaked with blood, his back in excruciating pain. Frowning deeply, he slowly sat up, his piercing phoenix eyes fixed on Lin An, gripping his hand: "I have a plan."

Wu Shuangxue and the others were besieging the zombie, but their defeat was visibly imminent. Were it not for Granny Wu's vast experience and extraordinary combat prowess, combined with the others' coordinated efforts, the trio would likely have perished upon confronting the zombie.

Lin An nodded; he didn't know what Shen Xiuzhe's plan was, but they had to continue fighting.

Xu Fang hurled every curse he knew at the zombie king, fighting and swearing simultaneously. The task was incredibly unpleasant for someone with trypophobia; his whole body was not just numb but also itchy, and he wished he could just lie down and roll on the ground in frustration. Unfortunately, the zombie king didn't give him that chance, grabbing him with countless hands. Xu Fang broke free from one only to be seized by another.

His arms, wrists, body, thighs, and clothes were all tightly grasped by countless hands; had he not been bald, even his hair would probably have been caught.

"Damn it, even if I die, I don't want to be eaten by this thing! At least let me die somewhere else, even the next street would do!" Xu Fang was driven to the brink of madness by the ugliness of the zombie king.

Wu Shuangxue wanted to come to his rescue, but she was standing on the zombie's head, a distance away from Xu Fang, and the pus on the zombie's body was too much to cross.

Ouyang Dong was struggling to cope with the zombie's various abilities. In the desert, plant-based ability users were always prioritized for protection because they could stimulate plant growth, ensuring a food supply. They were never brought on missions due to the harsh environment and scarcity of plants, making the zombie's plant-based abilities weaker compared to its other powers.

The zombie king, realizing that Ouyang Dong's abilities were superior, desperately sought to kill and devour him, thereby enhancing its own plant-based powers.

All sorts of ability attacks were hurled at Ouyang Dong, who was completely overwhelmed.

Just as Xu Fang thought he was about to be torn apart by the zombie king, Shen Xiuzhe appeared.

Drenched in blood, with a knife in each hand, he charged towards the monster's head.

"Gouge out all the heads!" Shen Xiuzhe commanded Wu Shuangxue fiercely.

Granny Wu immediately acted, both of them thrusting their knives at the edges of the heads, prying them off with a strong pull. The severed heads, with veins and meridians torn, rolled on the ground, covered in darkened blood and yellow sand.

The next moment, the heads on the ground, still screaming and wailing, began to deflate until only a scalp-wrapped skull remained.

Enraged, the zombie king furiously attacked Shen Xiuzhe and Wu Shuangxue. Granny Wu, drawing on her experience fighting psychic zombies, created a series of illusions.

Although the zombie king quickly saw through these illusions, the distraction allowed Lin An to rescue Xu Fang.

Lin An, also wielding a blood-stained knife, had taken advantage of the zombie king's momentary delusion to sever the hands trapping Xu Fang. Lin An rarely used a knife before; his memory of doing so was limited to a few months back, mimicking others during a period of confusion.

Though inexperienced, he fought desperately, knowing that Xu Fang's life was at stake.

Lin An exerted all his strength, his hands holding the knife turning red.

"Get a knife, aim for the heads!" Shen Xiuzhe shouted again the moment Xu Fang was freed.

Nearby metal gradually melted into thin, narrow knives, flying directly into the hands of the group.

Ouyang Dong and Xu Fang instantly understood, each grabbing a knife and charging towards the zombie's head.

Meanwhile, Lin An extracted moisture from the fallen heads.

Four people, eight knives; Shen Xiuzhe and Wu Shuangxue, with countless battles under their belts, wielded great strength. Each plunge of their knives at the edge of a head successfully pried it off.

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong, though less efficient than the other two, displayed remarkable focus and precision under the life-and-death pressure.

Lin An's abilities were already depleted, but upon hearing Shen Xiuzhe's plan, he still pushed himself to the limit, clenching his teeth and enduring.

By the time the zombie king emerged from all the illusions created by Wu Shuangxue, it had already lost most of its heads.

"Lin An! Use your supernatural power to attack it!" Shen Xiuzhe yelled.

But his powers were ineffective against this zombie.

Although Lin An was aware of this, at Shen Xiuzhe's command, he didn't hesitate to unleash his strongest supernatural power, trying to separate the water from the zombie's body.

Hold on! Lin An focused intently, his powers depleted, his body parched, yet he still desperately strained himself.

This time was different from the last; during the previous encounter with the zombie tree, Lin An had used the last of the meteorite's energy inside him, but the meteorite had long been absorbed, leaving nothing inside him now.

Hold on, at least he had to try once.

He had thought he would fail again, but to his amazement, Lin An successfully separated the water from the zombie's body. His power wasn't dissolved or blocked, it worked smoothly, unbelievably so.

The massive zombie gradually shriveled and its movements slowed.

Seeing this, the others hastened their efforts, becoming more skilled at extracting brains.

As they removed the last brain, the shriveled, blackened body of the zombie king crashed to the ground with a thud.

Lin An, too, collapsed, exhausted.

Xu Fang, drenched in sweat, leaped down from the zombie's head: "Finally, this thing is dead."

"Not yet," Shen Xiuzhe and Wu Shuangxue remained vigilant, not forgetting the fusion zombie's ability to abandon its body as long as the core remained alive.

Shen Xiuzhe ignited a white flame in his hand and threw it at the zombie. The fire quickly spread over the zombie's body, emitting a burnt smell in the air.

Black smoke billowed. Lin An was laid to rest on the side, on a blood-stained cloth, while the remaining four kept a close watch on the flames and surroundings, alert for the possible emergence of the zombie's core.

Lin An had fainted, lying on the ground, his face pale, the battle having exhausted him thoroughly.

As everyone stood guard with their backs to Lin An, a small mound suddenly formed in the sandy ground beside him, and a hair-thin object slowly emerged, nearly invisible unless closely examined.

This tiny creature slowly moved, crawling towards Lin An.

It had no limbs or eyes, navigating only by the scent in the air, finally making its way onto Lin An, heading towards his ear.

Just as the tiny creature was about to crawl into Lin An's ear, a hand suddenly appeared, pinching the “hair-like” thing.

Shen Xiuzhe stood beside Lin An, expressionlessly staring at the “hair” in his hand.

"Found it."

Shen Xiuzhe ignited a flame in his hand, burning the "hair" to ashes.

With the death of the zombie king's core, everyone finally felt relieved. As the once massive body of the zombie king was reduced to ashes without a trace, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and awkwardly sat down to rest.

"Geez, it's finally dead. That ugly monster should be completely gone now, right? If the core is dead, there shouldn't be any duplicates left."

Xu Fang lay flat on the ground, disregarding his image. The zombie had caused him severe mental distress; he still felt numb and rolled around on the ground a couple of times to feel a bit better.

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional.

Shen Xiuzhe and Wu Shuangxue exchanged glances but said nothing more.

Ouyang Dong was also exhausted. The zombie had focused its attacks on him earlier, and if Shen Xiuzhe hadn't found its weakness in time, a delay of another minute could have been fatal.

Lying on the ground, he suddenly remembered something and slightly raised his head to look at Shen Xiuzhe: "Boss, how did you know the zombie's weakness was its head?"

Seeing Xu Fang also looking curious, Shen Xiuzhe slowly explained, "When the zombie emerged from the pit, its tail was injured, but its head was intact."

Xu Fang asked, "Then how did you figure out it was a weak point?"

Wu Shuangxue continued, "Usually, creatures instinctively protect their most vulnerable parts when in danger, just like how people protect their heads or crouch to shield their hearts during an attack. When the metal slab fell, the zombie's head should have been the first to be damaged. But it emerged from the pit with its head being the most intact part, so it was likely its weak point."

This time, Xu Fang understood.

"We initially planned to leave the town quickly, but now it seems we have to meet up with Lu Li first and find that batch of resources," said Shen Xiuze, standing up.

It was clear that previous attacks had no effect on the zombie, but Shen Xiuzhe seemed certain Lin An would succeed when he shouted.

"This zombie initially didn't possess all the supernatural abilities. It just used the powers of the people it devoured. I noticed that whenever the zombie used an ability, some of the heads' expressions and movements became particularly active. So, I guessed those heads might be controlling the powers. When Lin An first used his ability to attack, I saw which heads were more active, so we started by removing that part first. Without the heads that controlled the hydrokinesis, Lin An naturally succeeded."

Shen Xiuzhe elaborated in detail and then looked at Lin An: "If not for Lin An's strong hydrokinetic ability, we probably wouldn't have defeated the zombie so quickly."

Shen Xiuzhe's gaze was tender and affectionate, causing Wu Shuangxue to feel goosebumps, noting that even the sight of that ugly thing earlier hadn't made her this uncomfortable.

He looked so fierce, yet his gaze was sticky and mushy, weird no matter how one looked at it.

She glanced at Shen Xiuzhe and then at Lin An, wondering if these two guys could have taken down the zombie king even if the three of them hadn't come back.

The group was exhausted, unable to quickly leave the area and forced to rest there for a while.

Lin An soon woke up from his brief unconsciousness, perhaps revitalized by the residual energy of the meteorite lingering in the area, which had also partially restored his supernatural abilities.

The stench on their bodies hadn't faded, and these special zombies, unlike the regular ones, were highly active even during the day. They had sighted the zombies, effectively cutting off their escape route.

He was still somewhat concerned; there might be many duplicates of the zombie, as Xu Fang had suggested. Searching the entire town would be too cumbersome, so the weapons Lu Li had would come in handy.

No one objected; although they had only known Lu Li and his group for a short time, they had indeed offered significant help. With their situation now resolved, they wondered how Lu Li's group was faring.

Meanwhile, Lu Li was indeed embroiled in a tough battle.

The zombie king was guarding the meteorite, leaving the other special types of zombies too intimidated to compete and forcing them to huddle near the meteorite's location.

And that location was precisely where the batch of energy resources was.

Although Lu Li and his team hadn't encountered the strongest zombie king, they had run into a large group of special-type zombies and were now stuck in a difficult fight, unable to advance or retreat.