章 4: Chapter 4 - They are changing
Yu Zixin walked out of his house with the curtain rod in hand. The thunder caw was his final resort, as it eats up mana. The retrieved his blunt kitchen knife as He stepped over the two corpses on the ground. He then cautiously proceeded down the dingy hallway.
As he passed by the houses, he heard bangs and grunts. the chances are the inhabitants had most likely turned into zombies. but some could have survived the changes like him and aunty may's husband.
he did not have the time to check in on everyone as he had a very important task in hand.
saving his brother.
But thankfully, the zombies did not know how to open a door. All they could do was push up again the obstacle that stopped them from their prey.
The residents of the apartment complex were all meager salary-workers like him. Most of them worked through the night and would only sleep for a few hours in the morning. so thankfully, this place was not overrun with zombies like the roads were.
Yu Zixin walked up to the stairwell and vigilantly glanced down.
A female zombie stood on the third-floor stairs just below his own floor. The lady was wearing a tattered blood strained white shirt and plaid skirt. Most likely she must have finished her night shift and was back home when the world had shifted.
The zombie just stood on the steps, unable to go up or down.
But as soon as it heard his footsteps, it looks up and growled loudly. The zombie with difficulty took one step up the stairs.
'Their mobility is very limited… but they are improving.'
That single step that zombie took up the stairs proved that zombies were capable of changing out of their slow, unintelligent state. Their drive for food was so high that they were willing to overcome their limitations.
that was a very bad thing for the living.
it could only mean in a few days or a few months, the zombies will eventually become faster, stronger and would become harder to deal with.
Yu Zixin poked her head with his curtain rod and pushed her down the stairs.
The zombie rolled down to the third floor.
Taking this small opening, he jumped down and rushed up to it. With his curtain rod, he stabbed it right through her open mouth. Brain matter splattered all over his shoes.
the notification rang in his mind.
{Defeated level 1 zombie, earned two stat points.}
He jumped over her dead corpse and ran down to the second floor. Here he knew of a guy who has a bike. He was also one of the construction workers, but he had saved a bit of money to buy a second-hand bike.
Yu Zixin needed to get that key.
Unlike in the movies, he did not possess the skill to hotwire a bike or a car without a key.
He shook off useless thoughts and rushed to the second floor. There were no zombies in the hallway, thankfully.
Yu Zixin was slightly thankful that this all happened in the middle of the night. If this had been in the middle of the day, all the zombies would have been out and about. Instead, they were all trapped in their own houses.
for now.
He counted the room number until he was at house 204. unlike the other doors, there was no sound from inside.
Yu Zixin didn't stupidly break down the door. He gently knocked on the door. if the resident was alive, he planned on aborting the bike plan. the roads were filled with the vehicle. he could easily find another. if he was lucky.
'It looks like he is alive…' sighing he leaned against the door catching his breath. he might have to run down the road and battle against thousands of zombies with only a curtain rod and a blunt knife.
The next second he felt a huge force impact on the door pushing at him.
Ling Yunfeng hurriedly backed away.
Because that did not sound like a living person.
The wooden door shattered, revealing a bloody fist. The zombie punched his way out of there.
Yu Zixin peered at his coworker. The man was still wearing his blue overalls. he had probably come right back after his shift ended. Blood was pooling out of his eyes and his nose staining his pale face in red.
Unlike the other zombies, this one seemed to have much more power and strength. With his curtain rod, he pushed the zombie back to give him a bit of space to attack, but that zombie was slightly smart. It dodged by crouching down and reached out to take a hold of his legs.
He was terrified by this sudden difference.
Yu Zixin hurriedly kicked his face and moved back and away from the zombie.it chased after him relentlessly while giving out that ugly growl.
He did not hesitate. with his curtain rod he stabbed aiming for the eyes and their vulnerable mouth. but to his surprise, the zombie dodged. the curtain rod went through the zombie's shoulders, stabbing right through bone and flesh.
Yu Zixin was alarmed! The zombies he had met before were all very much unable to move. But this one. It was moving like a normal human!
He did not hesitate using his thunder claw. He claws at the zombie's neck making sure to hit the vital point where the spine met the brain.
Black and red colored blood splattered on his hand.
But the zombie was still moving.
He hurriedly backed away, hitting the door of another house. A hand suddenly broke through the rotting wood gripping hold of his neck and clawing through the bed sheet he had tied around his neck. Thankfully he had taken prepared or else he would have ended up as undead as well.
Yu Zixin pushed off the zombie rushing at him with his curtain rod and with his other free hand he used his thunder claw to slash the zombie hand that was gripping his neck. The hand was severed instantly. even so, it was tightly gripping his neck like a stiff corpse. he immediately removed it and started to deal with the zombie in blue overalls.
With one hand Yu Zixin fended off the zombie in front of him with his curtain rod and took out the kitchen knife from his pocket. as the zombie got close, he precisely stabbed the zombie right in his eyeball.
The zombie finally stopped moving. He plugged out the knife to find the slimy eyeball still attached to it.
He hurriedly flung it off and stashed his knife in his pocket.
{Defeated level 2 zombie, earned ten stat points.}
{Leveled up to level 3. All stats restored to the optimum level. Reward: random skill}
Yu Zixin picked up the small cloud-like thing floating above that zombie's head. inside was a small mushroom-like crystal.
a familiar notification popped up.
{The growth mushroom, function: rapid growth,}
without checking it out he placed it safely in his inner pockets.
"Why was that zombie stronger?" Yu Zixin whispered to himself as he walked into that dead zombie's house pushing his corpse out of the way.
"Ah, I'll tell you!" The snake crawled over to his neck. "They were human once and their body possessed mana. But they failed the evolution that's why they are like this."
"That was not my question,"
"Joy killer. Anyway, to answer your question yes. Different levels of mana equal different levels of strength. That leads to different strength in undead as you just experienced."
Yu Zixin silently clenched the curtain rod in his hand. Everything the snake said seemed like a fantasy plot to him. Mana, strength…. And zombies. It was hard to get used to these and there was also that mysterious notification he got.
But this was their world now.
'I have to adapt to it faster or these creatures will eat me up," Yu Zixin stepped inside to house to find the bike keys right by the door.
He took the key and the helmet he found lying around by the door.
suddenly Yu Zixin paused. the house was similar to his and the kitchen was just a small counter. and on it was a huge grocery bag. unhesitatingly he walked in and opened it. inside he found a few vegetables and fruits.
he placed them inside his jacket and zipped it up. The grocery bag sat on his stomach making it look like he had a pot belly. he had to adjust with that because he did not have a bag to carry things.
he even searched the room if there were any but he didn't find anything.
The bountiful loot from this house were the set of beautifully sharp kitchen knives.
'How do I carry them around?' the knives did not have a cover. keeping them in his coat pocket will only tear his clothes.
Yu Zixin got innovative. he found two leather belts in the man's house. he tied the up together in intervals making a small sleeve in between, he stashed the knife in there and tied the wide belt around his shoulders for easy access.
his eyes fell on the mirror to the side. It was worn out and revealed the tattered hair covering his forehead and eyes.
the long hair was disrupting his peripheral vision. he tied it up with a small slip of cloth making sure it was staying in place.
the mirror reflected his handsome face. unlike before his eyes shone with determination and were full of life. this was the first time had seen himself being so lively after what happened five years ago.
With a grin, he put on his helmet and got ready to start his journey.
Yu Zixin walked out of the apartment complex without a hitch
Silencing his steps, he glanced out the door at the small street. This small street was a dead end so most of the road was used as a parking lot.
The street lights flickered illuminating the eerie scene. In the middle of the cars and the vehicles stood a huge four-foot rat searching through the trash can.
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