On a tranquil morning, in the 9th-floor corridor, Clark was waiting patiently.
"Captain Clark! I've brought the people you wanted!" Arnold, with a cheerful demeanor, approached from the other end of the corridor, greeting Clark warmly.
"Clark!" The two middle-aged men who accompanied Arnold bowed nervously, their faces filled with tension.
Clark appeared to be an attractive man with fair skin, almost resembling a scholar. However, in their eyes, Clark was now synonymous with a monster. Anyone who had witnessed Clark decapitate The Licker would never forget it.
Clark nodded in response and led the three men to the floor-to-ceiling window near the elevator on the 9th floor.
"Could you please give us some information about the hospital's interior structure so that I can plan our route?" Clark's gaze was fixed on the dark glass exterior of the surgical building, and he couldn't see what was happening inside. The entrance to the surgical building was tightly closed, and several zombies were seen wandering around the perimeter, which was quite unusual.
"Clark, we've hand-drawn a map for you overnight," the two middle-aged men, who were employees Arnold had found, were reasonably familiar with the hospital's layout.
Standing side by side, one on the left and one on the right, they pointed to the map and explained, "This route leads to the entrance of the underground parking lot. It's approximately 20 meters to the right of the hospital's main entrance. If you go in this way, you can reach the emergency surgery department directly. The orthopedic department is on the second floor of the emergency surgery department building and occupies two floors."
Half an hour later, after thanking the two men, Clark led Arnold downstairs. This time, he didn't choose to bring more people. With the density of zombies in the hospital, ordinary people following him would be sending themselves to their deaths. Even Arnold, if he were accidentally surrounded by zombies, would be at risk of infection.
As they descended the staircase, the two men continued to speak.
"Clark, are we going to the emergency room to find some equipment?" Arnold followed Clark, scratching his head.
Clark descended quickly, not looking back as he replied, "It's not necessarily in the emergency room, but the probability is highest there. In the game, most equipment is guarded by monsters. Some are mutants, and others are swarmed by zombies. Based on your description, it seems the emergency surgery department has the most zombies, so it's the most likely place to find equipment."
Arnold nodded thoughtfully, struggling to keep up with Clark's pace.
Logically, Clark's statement wasn't entirely correct. He was deducing the conclusion from the result. Equipment attracting monsters was something that happened after the outbreak. However, the large number of zombies in the emergency room was because those patients had been there before the outbreak. So, the presence of many zombies in the emergency room was not directly related to the equipment's presence.
It could be said that Clark knew about the equipment's location because of his rebirth. If someone more observant had been present, they might have noticed the flaw in Clark's logic. However, Arnold clearly wasn't that type of person, as he didn't realize this point.
"Is the equipment very powerful, Clark?" Arnold was curious. He could sense that Clark attached great importance to this equipment, enough to risk his life to obtain it. It was a piece of equipment located inside a hospital, and Arnold remembered the countless zombies there, which sent shivers down his spine.
Clark thought of the property of [Skullcrusher's Hand] that he had seen in the chat channel in his previous life and replied solemnly, "It's very powerful."
[Skullcrusher's Hand] was a blue-grade equipment with only one attribute bonus, but the value was a staggering 5 points. It was almost a game-changer.
If an ordinary player obtained it, as long as their base strength wasn't too low, they could easily surpass the human limit of 10 points. With this equipment, they could achieve a level of strength comparable to that of an Awakened. In other words, it was an equipment that could cause a qualitative change in one's strength.
"I've never seen any equipment before, Clark. How come this post-apocalyptic game doesn't have any game-like functions?" Arnold questioned.
Clark chuckled softly, understanding Arnold's confusion. "Not having seen any equipment is perfectly normal. In the post-apocalyptic game, every piece of equipment is highly valued. As for the post-apocalyptic game, it is indeed a game. However, it's not our game."
In the dark entrance of the underground parking lot, where there was no electric lighting, sunlight drew a clear boundary between the entrance and the shadows. Clark led the way, with Arnold following behind, fully equipped.
Rhythmic metallic banging sounds echoed from deep within the parking lot, the noise distant and muffled. The passage shrouded in darkness resembled the entrance to hell.
"Clark, did you hear that?" Arnold, dressed in two oversized and heavily insulated cotton coats, with the largest welding helmet on his head, asked cautiously. His large size made it challenging to find protective gear that fit him, and he swayed as he walked, resembling his post-transformation form.
"I feel something's not right either. I saw this place filled with zombies when I escaped earlier," Arnold said in a hushed tone, his face wearing a grave expression.
The entrance ramp of the parking lot was lined with overturned and wrecked cars, but there were no zombies in sight. Given that the apocalypse had only occurred a few days ago, there should have been a large number of zombies around, especially near a hospital like this.
The disappearance of zombies within a day was unusual and didn't make sense. Clark's expression remained calm, and he nodded in agreement. Extraordinary circumstances often indicated something was amiss. The two of them had already planned to fight their way into the hospital from the parking lot.
"No need to lower your voice; you can use the team voice channel. Just be cautious. Something may have happened last night," Clark whispered this through the team channel, thinking back to the piercing wail he had heard late last night.
Arnold blinked, giving a somewhat embarrassed smile. "I'm still not used to it."
Arnold's voice in the team voice channel was loud, almost deafening. Clark couldn't help but glance at him.
"Let's go," the two men proceeded cautiously, their footsteps echoing in the silence. They slowly made their way through the passage blocked by cars.
"Clark, do you hear that?" Arnold asked, the tension apparent in his voice.
The rhythmic banging sounds had not stopped, but Clark had not yet located the source of the noise. He had a vague feeling that the sound was coming from a lower level, beyond the blocked passage.
"Clark, something doesn't seem right here. I saw this place filled with zombies when I escaped earlier." Arnold spoke in a hushed tone, his face filled with concern.
Clark nodded, confirming Arnold's observation. Something was indeed amiss. The parking lot, which should have been teeming with zombies, was eerily empty.
"The zombies must have been dragged away," Clark said thoughtfully, his powerful psychic abilities helping him piece together a possible scenario. "But whatever dragged them away must be large, perhaps even two large creatures. One of them may have stepped on this SUV," he pointed to a flattened vehicle. "They are at least five meters wide. Could they be mutants?"
Clark was puzzled. Mutants were not supposed to exist in hospitals, based on his knowledge from his previous life.
"Clark, what should we do now?" Arnold asked, his unease growing. He had the distinct feeling of being watched in the darkness.
Clark's expression turned serious, and he replied, "Let's not worry about that for now. We'll head up through the elevator shaft."
The parking lot had a freight elevator that went directly to the emergency center of the hospital. Although it lacked power, they could climb up the elevator shaft.
"Alright," Arnold said, his heightened senses making him even more aware of the oppressive atmosphere in the darkness.
As they moved forward through the echoing footsteps, the silence was broken only by the sounds of their breathing. The air was heavy with moisture and a faint scent of blood.
"Clark, this way," Arnold stopped and pointed to a spot not far away in the darkness.
Both of them were Awakened, and even in minimal light, their vision was as clear as day. They saw a weathered metal sign that read "[Freight Elevator]," and the elevator doors were tightly shut, with countless bloody handprints smeared all over them.
In the silence, a shrill and hoarse sound suddenly pierced the air. Arnold, relying on his beastly instincts, acted on reflex and kicked at the approaching shadow. The shadow exploded into a burst of fragments.
"Damn it, what the hell is that?" Arnold was startled, turning to look at the pile of flesh on the ground. It was a severed head with no limbs, and the bare, pale spine extended from the head like a tail. Arnold's face turned an unpleasant shade; it was beyond disgusting.
Clark also examined the gruesome scene, explaining, "This is a Corpse Serpent. It's usually formed when infected individuals are devoured by a horde of zombies before they die. The high levels of the zombie virus in their bodies strengthen their spines significantly. With their limbs missing, these creatures detach themselves from their flesh and move like snakes, relying on their spines."