Taking advantage of the deep night, Stel quietly sneaked out of the apartment.
As he exited, he wedged a piece of cloth in the door crack and gently closed it.
Zombies wouldn't break in unless they detected a human scent.
So Elsie was safe inside.
Even if she accidentally turned into a zombie,
with his immunity to zombie attacks, he could quickly find another target.
"Hiss… Ah…"
As soon as he stepped out, Stel saw that the third-floor hallway was almost entirely filled with zombies.
Some were pressing their heads against the walls.
Others were just standing still.
When there are no humans around, most zombies remain in a stationary state.
Among the crowd of zombies,
Stel suddenly recognized a familiar figure.
It was the woman who had turned into a zombie.
After jumping from the eighth floor and being devoured by zombies, she had also turned.
"If these zombies stay on the third floor, there will be trouble sooner or later."
Since he was testing his ability anyway, he might as well deal with these zombies.
"Click!"
Stel drew the short knife from his waist.
He stabbed a zombie in the neck.
When humans turn into zombies, not only do they lose the sense of their bodies,
but their skin and flesh also become much more rigid.
Almost corpse-like.
So cutting through a zombie's neck is far more troublesome than cutting a human's neck.
After killing seven or eight zombies, Stel seemed to find a certain knack.
With a swift motion,
he could sever a zombie's neck as easily as cutting through a rope.
"Once you master the technique, killing these zombies isn't that hard."
These zombies are essentially human bodies.
The human neck is a very vulnerable spot, and all Stel had to do was grab a zombie's shoulder.
He would then run the knife around the zombie's neck.
It was simple to sever a zombie's head.
Cutting through only half the neck,
leaving the spinal cord intact.
Once the surrounding nerves were severed, the zombie would die.
"Swish! Swish!"
Stel continued to kill many more zombies.
There were originally over a dozen zombies on the third floor.
In the end, Stel had killed all but one.
The female zombie.
"Hisss… Hisss…"
The female zombie stood there, her head gently swaying from side to side.
Stel decided to test just how far he could provoke this zombie.
He walked straight up to the female zombie.
He waved his hand brazenly in front of her.
Then he extended his hand right in front of the zombie.
"Hiss—Ah!"
The female zombie continued to lightly sway her head, showing no reaction to Stel's hand.
As Stel was about to pull his hand back,
"Snap!"
The female zombie suddenly took a small step forward and snapped at his hand.
"Holy shit!!!!"
Luckily, Stel withdrew his hand just in time.
Otherwise, he would have been bitten by the female zombie.
Due to his hurried departure, Stel hadn't brought any protective gear.
He only had a steel knife.
"Why did this zombie start attacking me?"
Stel frowned, immediately taking a big step back to distance himself from the female zombie.
But after that initial snap, the female zombie made no further moves.
This piqued Stel's curiosity even more.
Because of that sudden snap, Stel was uncertain whether he should approach the zombie again.
While he hesitated, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound.
"Bzzz… Bzzz…"
In the silent night, the sound of flies was particularly noticeable.
Attracted by the stench of the surrounding zombies,
flies buzzed between Stel and the female zombie.
"Snap!"
The female zombie suddenly twitched all over.
The zombie snapped at the fly.
So that's it…
Stel realized that the zombie wasn't actually trying to bite him earlier.
It was reacting to the sudden appearance of the fly.
It seemed these zombies targeted any moving creature, not just humans.
Though it was unclear if animals bitten by zombies would also turn into zombie-like creatures.
"That scared me to death…"
Stel was relieved to know that his ability hadn't failed, which had nearly resulted in him being bitten.
However, the female zombie's snapping was a problem.
If another fly buzzed by during his experiment and she snapped again,
it could lead to an unwanted bite.
Just then, Stel noticed the bodies of the fallen zombies nearby.
One of the zombies was wearing particularly large clothing.
He had an idea.
Crouching down, he tore the zombie's clothes into long strips.
Then he approached the female zombie.
He wrapped a long strip around the female zombie's mouth.
"Mmm mmm…"
The female zombie could no longer make any sound. Stel then used other strips to tie the zombie's hands to the railing.
After all, the zombie's hands were also a threat to him.
With the zombie bound, Stel stood in front of her.
He suddenly raised his hand high.
"Smack!"
He slapped the zombie's face with a sound like thunder.
Yet, the zombie remained motionless even after being hit.
"No reaction to a slap?"
Stel withdrew his hand, then began slapping the female zombie's face repeatedly.
"Smack!"
Smack!
Smack!
The sound echoed continuously.
The slaps were particularly loud in the quiet night, but the zombies below didn't react.
They couldn't feel hostility from the sounds Stel made.
Even the sound of slapping.
After dozens of slaps, the female zombie's face was nearly torn apart.
Yet, she still showed no reaction.
Good!
Great!
Stel was very pleased.
Having beaten the zombie without eliciting any reaction, Stel felt reassured. He no longer feared being cruel when killing zombies.
Next, Stel tried various other degrading actions.
Including spitting on it, stepping on its toes, and kicking its stomach.
Unsurprisingly, the zombie remained as unresponsive as a punching bag to Stel's actions.
Finally, Stel even pried the zombie's mouth open.
He placed his fingers inside for a while.
Sure enough…
The zombie didn't even recognize it as her favorite food, showing no signs of biting.
"Snap!"
After his experiments, Stel became bolder.
Now, he was fearless, knowing zombies would never attack him!
He then killed the female zombie and returned home with peace of mind.
He slept soundly until dawn.
The next morning,
Stel slowly opened his eyes.
Out of habit, he walked to the balcony and looked down.
"Strange, are there more zombies downstairs?"
Stel clearly remembered that when he left yesterday, there weren't so many zombies.
But today, he saw a dense crowd below.
The number had more than doubled since yesterday.
At that moment, he had a bad premonition.
"Could it be that the number of zombies in other areas is increasing, and with nowhere else to go, they're all converging here?"