As soon as he landed, the scattered zombies inside the hospital began to converge on him.
It was unclear whether it was because there were still survivors in various buildings within the hospital, or because the zombies were trying to avoid the daylight.
There were not many zombies on the external ground.
"Shk!"
Lin An held a bone spike, directly piercing through the zombie lunging at him.
It felt like piercing through tofu.
With the [Skullcrusher's Hand] equipped, even without activating his talent, his strength attribute had now reached an impressive 24.4 points.
In his normal state, his power now surpassed the strength he had when he had "popped a pill" and activated his skill before.
His strength had risen to a new level.
Lin An bent his knees, gathering strength, and targeted a window on the third floor of the inpatient building.
"Boom."
The ground cracked, and the indented footprints were deeper than before.
Like a human cannonball, he ignored the zombies below who were attracted by his presence.
"Thud!"
The third-floor outer wall cracked, and dust fell.
Lin An jumped to the third-floor outer wall, gripping the protective net on the window with one hand, exerting slight force.
"Screech"
The protective rail was torn apart by hand.
The stainless steel bars were twisted into spirals.
Through the window, he couldn't see much of the dark interior of the ward, unable to discern the exact situation inside.
"Roar!"
A zombie inside the ward roared, slamming into the window.
Its face distorted, pressed against the glass like an evil spirit.
The window shattered, and the zombie, driven by its hunger for flesh, pushed through the broken glass, ignoring the sharp edges that shredded its face.
From its appearance, it seemed to be an elderly person of around seventy or eighty who had turned into a zombie.
It crazily opened its mouth wide.
Even though its teeth had mostly fallen out, it still tried to bite off a piece of Lin An's flesh.
"Boom!"
Lin An expressionlessly, holding himself with one hand, kicked its head, making it explode, then flipped inside the ward.
Quickly scanning the surroundings, the ward was in complete disarray.
Inside were two hospital beds and a separate bathroom.
This was likely a private ward, given the high level of care, and the zombie he just killed had probably been someone of high status before.
The average person couldn't afford such a luxurious ward.
On the other bed, only the upper body of a zombie granny was left, struggling to crawl down.
It wasn't that zombies retained their pre-mutation physical limitations.
With the enhancement from the zombie virus, Lin An had seen many elderly zombies still running fast.
But this zombie granny had been eaten clean of her limbs, becoming a human stick that could only wriggle like a maggot.
The clean bedsheets were covered in dark red bloodstains.
Her upper body had no arms left, and much of her chest cavity's organs were missing.
It seemed likely that the old man had turned into a zombie first and then infected her.
Most likely, they had been a couple.
A couple for decades, supporting each other through illness.
Only to end up with one dying at the other's hands.
Lin An shook his head, feeling little emotion.
Having survived three years of the apocalypse, he had seen such scenes often.
"Bang bang bang!"
The locked door began to deform from impacts.
Zombies outside, hearing the noise, had rushed over.
Lin An, unfazed, walked to the door and reached for the lock.
His eyes were calm, as if behind the door were not terrifying zombies but visiting friends.
"Eye of Judgment!"
"Crack!"
He ripped off the lock, blue mist rising in his eyes.
"Roar!"
The zombies outside roared. There were at least twenty or thirty of them, packed tightly in the hallway.
"Charging Step!"
Lin An reacted swiftly, stepping forward to stomp the nearest zombie before it reached him.
Unstoppable.
The sound of bones breaking echoed like firecrackers.
The leading zombies were instantly blasted away, taking those behind with them.
The wall trembled as the zombies at the door were cleared, the innermost ones embedded in the wall, turning into a mess of flesh.
Lin An looked at his effortless stomp and smiled with satisfaction.
His strength now, translated into tonnage, was about four tons.
A casual punch or kick felt like a car crash at high speed.
This was the power of an awakened one.
Stepping over the ground covered in broken limbs and meat, he continued forward.
Lin An arrived in the corridor and quickly scanned his surroundings.
The Judgment Eye rapidly loaded all the information within its field of vision.
"Beep, detected:"
"Zombies: 1198"
"Mutants: 0"
Although the number of zombies was significantly less than in the emergency building, it was still considerable.
Behind him, the room plaque read 330.
A sign on the wall indicated:
Left: 330-370.
Right: 330-301.
Without hesitation, Lin An turned right.
If he remembered correctly, Wen Ya said her mother was in room 303.
The zombie doctor mentioned the child with the part in room 317.
Even though Wen Ya's mother was likely already dead or turned into a zombie, since he had promised Wen Ya, he would go check.
Moreover, 303 and 317 were on the same path, so it wouldn't take much time.
Zombies roared, and those wandering in the corridor charged at him.
Lin An held a "spike" in each hand, one from a Licker's spine, the other from an ordinary zombie.
He hadn't had the chance to process the Licker's corpse he killed on the road near the hotel yesterday.
Compared to regular cold weapons, zombie spines, though a bit unwieldy, were actually quite effective in many aspects.
"Forward thrust!"
Lin An took a step forward, his figure moving with lightning speed.
The sharp spine, powered by his immense strength, pierced through the zombie in front of him, leaving a gaping hole.
With both "spikes" in hand, he moved with high-speed precision.
He transformed into a cold, efficient killing machine.
With his powerful strength,
Lin An's advance was unobstructed, as he swiftly cleared out the zombies blocking his path.
Cold, mechanical slaughter.
A minute later, Lin An looked up at the plaque not far ahead.
The corridor behind him resembled a slaughterhouse, with zombie corpses scattered everywhere, their heads smashed to pieces.
Room 317.
Nothing unusual, the screen before his eyes displayed only ordinary zombie information.
Lin An felt a twinge of doubt and unease.
It was too smooth.
Charging all the way here, his Judgment Eye had remained active.
Partly to guard against any special zombies hiding among the horde, enabling him to react quickly.
And because Wen Ya hadn't given him a photo of her mother.
Of course, even if she had, it wouldn't have helped much.
After all, if Wen Ya's mother had turned into a zombie, she would likely be unrecognizable.
The hospital patients all wore the same hospital gowns, so identifying her by clothes was also impossible.
But there had been nothing unusual along the way, and he could tell these zombies were not being commanded by any mutant.
Now, even after reaching room 317, he still hadn't found anything.
This didn't make sense.
There should be some danger here.
Otherwise, the zombie doctor wouldn't have tried to lure him here.
As for the possibility that its child was truly here and it wanted Lin An to bring the child back,
Lin An didn't buy it for a second.
If that were the case, why wouldn't the zombie doctor come itself?
As a mutant able to command other zombies, it wouldn't face any obstacles in the horde.
Cautious,
Lin An let out a low shout, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Power Surge!"
Golden energy flowed into his body, increasing all attributes by 2.
His strength broke past 24.4, reaching 26.4.
Powerful, his blood surged.
Lin An once again felt the new power of the second tier!
Unlike when he just broke the critical point before, his current strength matched that of a mid-second tier!
Adjusting himself to peak condition, Lin An crossed the two spikes in front of his chest, then kicked the door to room 317.
"Boom!"
The metal door fell off, crashing into the room as if struck by a giant beast.
Lin An cautiously looked inside, his Judgment Eye enhancing his vision.
With the curtains closed, the dim room appeared as bright as day.
Seeing the room's contents,
His pupils contracted sharply, and his hair stood on end like a beast sensing danger.
For the first time in a long while, intense fear surged in his heart.
Lin An's breath caught, his body turning cold as if plunged into an icy abyss.
The room contained no zombies, only a little girl.
She wore a red dress, her small, bare feet dangling.
Suspended in mid-air.