Angelica slowly collapsed to the ground.
Born felt the strange current in his body disappear and immediately rushed forward, lifting Angelica into his arms.
"Born, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have..." Angelica murmured, her breath growing weaker.
Born's eyes narrowed, and just as he was about to do something, he felt Angelica's hand go limp.
He waved his hand urgently, shouting, "Doctor, doctor!"
Suddenly, gunfire erupted. Zombies rushed in from all directions, swarming towards Born and his group.
The air filled with screams, gunshots, and the horrifying sounds of flesh being torn apart, creating utter chaos.
Born held Angelica, electricity beginning to gather in his hands.
It was his first attempt at using electric shocks to revive someone, and he wasn't sure if it would work.
Just as he placed his hand on Angelica's chest, she suddenly opened her eyes.
"Ah!"
A scream echoed.
Born felt his body stiffen, and his hands involuntarily let go of Angelica as she leaped away.
As Angelica was about to disappear into the darkness, she turned her head and looked back at Born.
Her eyes were blood-red, her pupils gone, leaving only the whites.
Angelica had clearly mutated.
This confirmed that Angelica had indeed died earlier.
Born stepped forward to follow her. Although Angelica had died, she hadn't been recruited yet, so he could revive her through recruitment.
But at that moment, the surroundings plunged into complete darkness.
From the darkness came the sounds of screams.
Born barely had time to react to the gust of wind before he was struck by an unknown force and thrown back.
He stood up, feeling a burning pain in his chest.
Considering his three attributes were all above 50, thanks to his four binding slots, it was rare for him to sustain injuries. This single attack drawing blood indicated the formidable nature of the hidden monster.
Born raised his hand, sending out bursts of electricity in all directions.
Simultaneously, startled cries echoed in his mind.
Then, everyone switched on their flashlights.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, and the ground was littered with severed limbs.
In just those few seconds of darkness, many had fallen.
"Retreat, retreat! Find a suitable place to fight. Born, have your people use their abilities to issue commands, please," Stanley's voice sounded in his mind.
"Retreat!" Born ordered immediately.
Lane worked hard to construct the mental network, issuing commands to the squad leaders.
The main group was quickly scattered by the zombies.
While the number of zombies wasn't extremely high, they were all C-class as indicated by the lab, making them incredibly powerful.
There were over a hundred of them, which was more than enough to overwhelm Born's group.
Born tried to gather the maid squad and Curtis' men, but in the end, only half managed to regroup and escape.
As Edwin had mentioned, the -3 level contained numerous large experimental areas.
The place was vast.
As they ran, the group became further separated, but this also helped them shake off the zombies.
Born and the others found refuge in one of the experimental areas, closed the door, and blocked out the zombies.
They leaned against the door, breathing heavily, while their flashlights scanned the room, leaving much of it still in darkness.
For now, they were temporarily safe.
Born looked around and realized that Mia and Curtis were separated from the group.
Only Lane and Teri were by his side. Facing so many zombies, Teri's abilities were hard to utilize effectively. In such chaotic situations with bullets flying everywhere, charging in would be suicidal for Teri.
"Let's regroup," Born said, noticing that the fifty-odd people around him included some from Edwin's team and some from Stanley's.
In the rush to break through, there was no time to worry about which faction they belonged to.
"Lane, use your mental network."
Lane nodded slightly.
After a brief attempt, she clutched her head and said, "I was hit by Angelica's mental ability earlier. After using my mental network multiple times, I need to rest."
Born placed a hand on Lane and activated the system's recovery function.
Recovering from ability-related damage required a lot of points, and Lane's mental ability trauma directly cost 1,000 points.
Fortunately, Lane recovered.
Born then spent 3,200 points to increase Lane's ability by 2 levels, expanding the coverage of her mental network.
This place was vast, and Lane's mental network might not reach everyone.
Feeling her enhancement, Lane nodded to Born.
With her mental ability now at level 33, she could cover a range of 1,600 meters, 100 meters more than before.
Soon, Lane brought everyone into the mental communication network.
"Are you Born's people? Where are you now?"
"I'm in an experimental area. I don't know what it's for, but given the range of the mental network, we can't be too far apart."
Born decided to regroup with Stanley.
But just then, a deep growl echoed.
Everyone immediately pointed their flashlights in the direction of the growl, revealing a pitch-black creature in their sight.
This creature resembled a humanoid zombie but had small tentacles on its head.
If one were to describe it, those tentacles resembled Medusa's snake hair.
The tentacles suddenly extended, piercing into the darkness.
A rustling sound came from all around.
"Spread out the flashlight beams!"
As Born shouted, he also shot his electricity upwards, illuminating the surroundings.
On the ground, the tentacles moved like snakes, weaving into a large net.
And inside the net were Born and his group, the prey.
Thunderbolt!
The electricity split into three, then split again.
The group began attacking, clearing out the tentacles.
But just then, a shout rang out as the zombie charged at incredible speed.
"Don't shoot randomly!" Born yelled.
Though hesitant, the group refrained from firing their guns.
In the next moment, Teri dashed out, drawing her long blade with lightning speed.
In one-on-one combat, Teri was formidable.
Blades of energy slashed out with each strike, each one cleaving large chunks of flesh from the zombie.
Before long.
The zombie lay on the ground, hacked into pieces.
Born approached but couldn't find an evolution core.
He was puzzled; typically, such a powerful zombie would have an evolution core.
The points awarded were only 500, which wasn't much.
Looking around, he suddenly noticed someone hiding in the corner.
Just as he was about to get a closer look, the figure dropped to all fours and quickly crawled up the wall, disappearing from sight.