```
Bang!
Swipe!
Thud!
Crack!
Clang!
...
"Heh..."
Looking at the sliver of HP bar above the zombie's head, Wang Tao stomped down hard.
Splat!
Its head burst like a watermelon under his foot.
[-35]
[0/500]
"Phew~"
Torturing zombies was also a matter of skill—not real torture, of course. It was just Wang Tao wanting to see how much damage his various attacks would inflict on a zombie.
He had never had the chance to try this before, and now that he did, he certainly wasn't going to miss out.
After trying for about an hour, he had finally understood many things that had previously eluded him.
For instance, mutilating attacks, such as severing limbs, only caused damage once. If one kept attacking parts other than the head, it wouldn't inflict any additional damage...
For instance, a zombie's fatal weak spot was its head. Attacking any other part wouldn't kill it! Even if you chopped its neck off and it was left with just a head, that head would still be alive...
For instance, a zombie's HP bar was related to the hardness of its head. Wang Tao couldn't kill a full HP zombie with one stomp, but he could easily burst the head of one with a sliver of HP...
For instance, although zombies didn't fear pain, they were still susceptible to negative statuses like Dizziness. Of course, it might not be Dizziness, but something more akin to the rigidity found in games. Wang Tao wasn't too sure about the specifics; he just needed to know that landing a heavy blow on a zombie's head would cause it to pause briefly.
Moreover, Wang Tao was thrilled to discover that zombies were afraid of fire!
When he attacked zombies with other tools, they were unfazed. But when he prodded a zombie with a burning stick, it actually struggled on the ground trying to back away! When he directly burned it with fire, its HP dropped quickly.
This was an important piece of news!
Of course, the smaller the sample, the greater the margin of error. Wang Tao couldn't guarantee that all zombies were afraid of fire, but the mere possibility that some were was definitely exhilarating news!
Whether zombies killed by fire would drop items was something Wang Tao was unclear on, as he hadn't wanted to waste the chance to experiment and would have to wait for another opportunity.
Besides that, Wang Tao also experimented with many things, such as the damage caused by attacks on different parts of a zombie, the approximate range of a zombie's Perception, the extent to which a zombie's vision had degenerated, and so on.
Wang Tao now had a rough idea about these things; although not necessarily accurate, they were still somewhat useful. If need be, he could always find another chance like this one to experiment more.
As for this particularly crafty zombie... Wang Tao speculated that zombies were capable of evolution—the zombie from room 201 had a higher HP bar than the others and must have evolved by consuming humans!
However, Wang Tao also felt that zombie evolution wasn't limited to gaining HP by eating humans; it could include ordinary zombies evolving into stealthy kinds like this one.
After all, when Wang Tao first arrived, he had indeed heard two zombies inside. It was highly probable that the female zombie had evolved later on...
After feeling around the bodies of the two zombies in the room, Wang Tao pushed them both out the window.
Bang, bang——
The sound of them hitting the ground attracted some zombies to surround the area, but upon realizing they were their own kind, the zombies slowly dispersed.
Ignoring the black blood all over the ground, he sat on the sofa and rested for a while before finally turning his attention to the loot from the zombies he had just killed.
Both zombies had 500 drops of HP, seemingly similar in strength. But in reality, they were very different!
The male zombie in this house was just an ordinary one with 500 HP.
```
And this female zombie, Wang Tao suspected that she might have undergone a secondary mutation or something of the sort. Although her HP hadn't increased, she had learned to hide!
Normally speaking, even if a zombie stayed in one place without moving, it certainly wouldn't close the door, right?
Yet this female zombie had learned to close the door and lie in wait for her prey.
If it hadn't been for Wang Tao's strength, anyone else coming here might have fallen into the trap!
So you see, even though the HP was the same, this female zombie was much more dangerous than that male one!
After all, a normal survivor, having killed a zombie and seeing no other zombies at home, would certainly let their guard down. When they relaxed and opened the cabinet, they would most likely be ambushed.
And indeed, the HP gained from killing these two zombies confirmed Wang Tao's thoughts.
The male zombie was an ordinary one, giving Wang Tao only 5 drops of HP, while the female zombie gave Wang Tao a whole 20 drops of HP!
Wang Tao's total HP had now reached [150/155]!
"Kill a few more and I can break through to 200 HP. Next goal, 200 HP!"
After setting a small goal for himself, Wang Tao looked at the loot from the two zombies.
Ordinary loot wasn't worth mentioning—just a wallet, a lighter, a platinum necklace, two watches, and two mobile phones.
The focus was the items dropped by the zombies upon death.
The male zombie dropped a small box of screws.
[Acquired: Screw x1]
[Screw: Crafting Material]
It was still a crafting material, this time screws he hadn't obtained before.
With this screw, Wang Tao now had four types of crafting materials. There were Gear x1, Iron Block x1, Steel Wire x1, and now Screw x1. He wondered what he could craft with these items...
As for what the female zombie dropped, it first made Wang Tao's eyes light up, and then he felt a wave of disappointment.
[Acquired: Stealth Potion (Small)]
[Stealth Potion (Small): After injection, it can conceal one's presence, making it difficult for humans to detect. Duration: 1 hour, cooldown: 12 hours. Friendly Tip: For best results, use at night.]
This was a pen-sized, semi-transparent disposable needle-free syringe, allowing one to see the green liquid inside, with the words "Stealth Small" written on the exterior.
When he saw the Stealth Potion, Wang Tao was excited. Following the patterns of some games, anything with 'stealth' in its name was a good item for avoiding detection by monsters.
But after reading the explanation, Wang Tao felt his vision darken.
Not easily detected by other humans? He didn't need to hide from people right now!
And how could he hide from human perception? Could he avoid their hearing or vision? Humans can think and differentiate! Unless he could cover up someone's eyes, ears, and so on...
It felt somewhat useless. There might be some special application, but for now, Wang Tao definitely couldn't use it.
"If only there was a Stealth Potion for hiding from zombies, that would be great, but alas..."
After a sigh, Wang Tao couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle at himself.
It was good enough to have it, what's there to regret!
This Stealth Potion was labeled "Small,", and perhaps there were also "Medium" or "Large" versions. Maybe there was one that could hide him from zombies.
And since there was a Stealth Potion, there might be other types of potions, too!
Wang Tao began to look forward even more to his ability to loot!
After securing the zombies' dropped loot, Wang Tao started to scour apartment 601.
The couple living here had likely mutated into zombies at the same time, there were no signs of struggle in the room, so the food was relatively well preserved, probably enough for Wang Tao to eat for half a month!
But a lot of it was frozen food, and now the fridge was out of power... Finding diesel fuel was urgent!