Unleash a six-chapter explosion today! Old Gu only slept six hours last night, his head splitting, but since he’s decided to go all out, he’ll fight to the bitter end! The gap isn't large, just a few dozen monthly passes needed—charge!

……

In the room.

Ye Chen stood up, his eyes like blades, staring outward. He keenly heard that after the footsteps of Roger and the others faded away, the sound that had previously vanished rang out once more.

“Playing tricks!” Ye Chen’s expression was icy. His figure moved, sweeping out like a soft breeze. With a pull of his hand, he flung the door open and looked out, only to see the silent corridor empty. The footsteps had vanished the instant he pulled the door open.

In the deep, dark corridor, it felt as if an unseen gaze was silently fixed upon Ye Chen standing by the doorway.

Ye Chen frowned, his nose twitched, and he suddenly caught a whiff of a strange odor. He couldn't help but look up, and in that glance, he saw a figure plummeting downwards—its mouth full of fangs, its features hideously contorted. It was a zombie!

Ye Chen’s eyes turned cold, and he flicked his finger, sending out a stream of sword energy.

Bang!

The zombie’s head exploded like a balloon!

Ye Chen retreated slightly as the zombie’s corpse dropped down, slamming onto the floor. This creature had been ambushing them from the ceiling; no wonder Roger hadn't detected it.

In the split second of the kill, Ye Chen judged that this zombie wasn't particularly strong, otherwise it wouldn't have died so easily... A zombie lacking robust physique could never possess such intelligence, capable of toying with its prey!

A vague sense of unease settled in Ye Chen’s heart. He spoke in a deep, heavy voice, “Roger!”

The sound echoed through the empty corridor, but there was no reply.

Ye Chen’s heart began to sink slowly.

Just then—

From one of the rooms, a little girl in a white dress slowly emerged. Her jet-black hair hung loosely over her shoulders; she was incredibly cute, like a porcelain doll. This little girl saw Ye Chen, walked slowly towards him, and giggled, “Big brother, do you want candy?”

Ye Chen glanced at the girl, his eyes flashing. “Where are the others?”

“Don’t know,” the child pouted, mumbling, “They won’t play with me. Big brother, I want candy, give me candy, okay?”

Ye Chen’s gaze turned icy. He struck out suddenly, fast as lightning. Before the little girl could even dodge, he gripped her neck, feeling a chilling coldness, as if grasping a block of ice.

He lifted the girl up, his voice dangerously low, “Give those people back. I know you’ve evolved intelligence!” The moment he saw the girl, he knew she was a zombie; there wasn't a trace of life energy in her entire body.

The little girl, held by Ye Chen, didn't struggle. The innocent smile on her face slowly faded, and she lowered her head. Fangs slowly emerged from her mouth, and her black hair whipped around without any wind. She looked up, glaring venomously at Ye Chen. “If you don’t give me candy, I’ll eat you!” She lowered her head and bit toward the back of Ye Chen’s hand.

Crack!

Ye Chen’s grip instantly tightened, snapping the little girl’s neck.

He looked into her gradually dimming pupils, his gaze sharp. He reached out, scraped her eyelid open, and pressed something inside, producing a crisp shattering sound.

“As expected, she was wearing black contact lenses.” Ye Chen removed the girl’s contact lenses and revealed a pair of pale green eyes, filled with savagery and bloodlust, horrifying to behold.

“A child zombie, able to speak before reaching Level 100—truly strange.” Ye Chen tore the girl’s head off, then ripped open the skin of her chest under her white dress with a fingernail slash.

As the skin split, black blood flowed out. Ye Chen reached inside; for an ordinary person, even a single drop of that black blood would lead to infection and transformation. However, with Ye Chen’s physique, his internal antitoxins were extremely powerful; even a scratch wouldn't matter.

Fumbling for a moment, Ye Chen didn't find what he was looking for and frowned slightly. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, he bumped against something hard. Feeling curious, he grabbed it and pulled it out.

It was a blood-smeared metal shard, shaped like a fingernail, unadorned and seemingly ordinary.

Ye Chen held the shard in his hand, examining it. Zombies wouldn't swallow metal, and even if they did, given this child zombie’s constitution, she should have been able to digest it. He wiped the shard clean and looked closer; it appeared somewhat ancient, feeling extremely rough to the touch.

Ye Chen squeezed the shard with his fingers.

“Huh?”

The metal shard was exceptionally hard.

“With my physique, I can crush steel, yet this shard hasn't bent or deformed in the slightest?” Ye Chen stared at the shard for a long moment, sensing vaguely that the child zombie couldn't possibly have attained such formidable strength on her own.

He glanced at the body of the suited man lying nearby, moved his finger, slashed open the man’s chest, and fumbled inside, pulling out an identical black metal shard.

“Both these zombies possessed strength around Level 70 or 80 and simple thought processes. When the group arrived, they could have directly rushed out and killed everyone, yet they didn't. Instead, they toyed with us…”

Ye Chen’s brow furrowed deeper. He suddenly recalled a story he heard elders tell when he was young.

“If a person dies with an intense obsession, they can transform into a vengeful spirit to claim lives…” Thinking of this, Ye Chen felt the surrounding air grow colder. Although it was just a ghost story, the actions of these two zombies seemed to fit the description.

“One enjoyed playing tricks on others in life, and the other liked eating candy?” Ye Chen looked at the two corpses, his eyes gleaming. “With my senses, I couldn't detect these two zombies unless they had been dead long ago, without breathing. Could it be that this metal shard is animating their ‘deceased’ bodies?”

Ye Chen studied the shards for a while but couldn't discern their origin. He couldn't recall ever hearing about such miraculous pieces of metal. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to give the shards to Mo Feng for research upon returning; with that scientific genius’s intellect, he might discover something. Ye Chen handed the shards to the old man with the green talisman for safekeeping, then opened his wristband and extracted the special luminous matter from the bodies of the girl and the middle-aged man, integrating it into himself. The luminous armor plate grew by one millimeter.

Ye Chen turned and walked toward a room down the corridor. Before long, he discovered four more bodies, all with their throats crushed and eyes gouged out. Only the corpses of Huang Ya and Roger were missing.

Just then, faint footsteps approached. Ye Chen emerged from the room and turned to see two weak beams of light sweeping around cautiously. It was Roger and Huang Ya; alerted by the noise, they shone their flashlights toward Ye Chen.

“Huh?” Roger asked in surprise. “Why aren’t you in the room?”

Ye Chen glanced at the two, frowning. “Where did you go?”

“To the stairwell,” Roger replied, looking at Ye Chen. “What about the others?”

“Killed by zombies,” Ye Chen stepped aside to reveal the corpses.

Roger froze, then exclaimed in shock, “Impossible! We didn’t hear a thing!”

“That zombie was strong,” Ye Chen said, looking at him. “Don’t run around. Everyone back to your rooms.” He turned and walked back to the room, sitting down by the campfire. Roger looked mournfully at the corpses; there was pain in his eyes. These were companions they had fought alongside just moments ago, now reduced to cold flesh.

“Let’s go,” Huang Ya said softly. Seeing the surroundings pitch black and feeling a chill, she urged them on toward the room. Roger suppressed the grief in his heart, sighed faintly, and turned to leave. As he walked away, he thought he saw the corner of the mouth of one of the corpses twitch into a slight smile, but when he looked closely, he realized the corpse wasn't smiling.

“It must have been a trick of the light.” Roger shook his head, turned, and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

As the door clicked shut, the corridor fell silent again, plunged into darkness. The corpse whose lips had curved upward slowly began to move, its teeth gradually elongating... It was entering zombification!

By the fire, the three sat in silence.

The atmosphere was heavy.

Ye Chen leaned back against the cold wall, slowly closing his eyes, entering a state between sleep and wakefulness to recover the energy expended today.

As the night deepened, faint roars and howls drifted from the streets outside. Many slumbering zombies were awakening, roaming the avenues.

“What’s wrong with you?” Huang Ya’s voice suddenly broke the silence, laced with alarm.

Ye Chen opened his eyes and saw Huang Ya looking at Roger with deep anxiety. Roger’s face was ashen, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his body was shaking uncontrollably, as if he were standing naked in a snowstorm. His teeth chattered, and he hugged his knees, huddled near the fire.

“Cold…” Roger’s voice trembled. “So, so cold…”

Cold? Although the weather had turned chilly into winter, there was a fire burning right there. Even Huang Ya, lightly dressed, didn't feel cold. How could Roger, whose physique was much stronger than hers, feel cold?

“Are you sick?” Huang Ya frowned slightly. The loss of four team members had severely reduced their combat strength; she couldn't afford for Roger to fall ill now.

Ye Chen’s eyes flashed, and he stared at Roger. “Were you bitten by a zombie?”

Hearing this, both Roger and Huang Ya flinched. Huang Ya stammered, “You—you mean he’s about to turn into a zombie?”

Roger’s lips were white. He weakly shook his head. “No, I don’t have any wounds on me…” As soon as he spoke, a sharp thought struck him—this afternoon, while killing those three corpses, his knee had been scraped…

Realizing this, his heart plummeted as if falling into an ice cavern. He couldn't hear anything, even forgetting the coldness gripping him.

Going to die?

When death stood before you, how should one face it?

Roger slowly pushed up his knee guard and saw the spot that had been scraped that afternoon—it was swollen and red, but he felt no pain, as if it were numb. Dried, black blood had crusted over the wound.

Huang Ya’s face changed when she saw the injury, and she shifted back a few steps, putting distance between herself and Roger. Ye Chen, however, remained still, his expression calm as he glanced at the wound, frowning slightly.

Roger stared blankly at the injury. After a long pause, he finally sighed deeply, speaking to the two of them. “Kill me.” His voice carried profound exhaustion.

Ye Chen didn't move. Huang Ya showed signs of agreeing but hesitated to act since Ye Chen hadn't moved first.

Roger looked at Ye Chen, sighed again, took off his backpack, and handed it over. “Live well.” He then passed his pistol and ammunition to Ye Chen, his expression tinged with desolation. “In the end, I still have to die…”

His eyes suddenly hardened. He gritted his teeth. “If I’m going to die, I’m taking a few damn zombies with me!” With that, he gripped his combat knife and strode toward the door. As his hand closed around the doorknob, his body paused, and he looked back.

By the fire, Ye Chen and Huang Ya watched him, their faces unreadable masks of reluctance or sorrow.

“Goodbye…” Roger lowered his head, and a single crystal tear dropped onto the doorknob. He pulled the door open and rushed out.

This night gained an extra layer of grimness.

Ye Chen’s mask showed no expression. He looked at the backpack beside him, recalling the moment this man had offered him cured meat earlier. After a long while, he let out a soft sigh. If it had been anyone else, he would have eliminated the threat without hesitation.

“Pity. The infection is too deep; he can’t be saved…” Ye Chen leaned his head back against the cold wall, staring at the ceiling, which was bathed in the fiery red glow.