The doctor peered through the small window, watching as his former colleagues tore each other apart.
A twisted sense of satisfaction washed over him. After all, who told them to be so careless, to blabber about their own betrayals?
But the girl in front of him, so innocent and naive, finally allowed him to show his true nature.
At this moment, he thought, even if he killed her, there would be no consequences—none at all. Why not indulge himself first?
The girl, terrified, pleaded, "Please, I beg you, let me go... I'm on my period..."
The doctor's laughter grew even darker. "Your period, huh? Never tried that before."
His humanity, long gone, was now nothing but a distant memory.
After violating the girl, she curled up in the corner, as if her very soul had been drained from her body.
Suddenly, she seemed to snap. She slammed her hand on the button inside the CT room, and the door was instantly flooded with zombies.
The doctor, quick on his feet, managed to slam the door shut.
But despite his swift action, one zombie managed to slip through.
Barely escaping with his life, he fought tooth and nail to kill the zombie that had entered the CT room.
Unbeknownst to him, while he was locked in combat with the zombie, the girl—her heart filled with despair—had evolved into a mutated zombie.
With a single violent rage, she killed every living thing within the imaging center.
The sheer bloodlust was so overwhelming that even the zombies outside dared not come closer.
After a brief respite, Astrea stepped out of his office.
In the hallway, he saw a small, female zombie, her body drenched in blood.
Like a nimble leopard, she darted across the corridor, leaping from wall to wall. Using the force of her leaps, she repeatedly crashed against the CT room door.
The door warped slightly, but the frame around it began to smoke, the heat rising.
It wouldn't be long before this mutated zombie would break through the door frame.
Inside the CT room, the man—his shouts now silenced—had sensed something was wrong.
[The Broken Zombie · Mutation]
Level: 4 (Elite Rank)
Basic Attributes:
Strength: 30 Mentality: 0 Constitution: 25 Agility: 30
Talent: Soul of Vengeance
Though the body has died, the broken soul remains, with a thirst for revenge that surpasses all. (Special talent, born from hatred, cannot be seized.)
Attribute: When fighting an enemy in revenge, all damage dealt is increased by 100%.
Compared to Astrea, the mutated zombie's strength is 7 points lower, but its agility is a full 9 points higher.
However, the 0 points in mentality stands out glaringly.
"Zero in mentality? Who knows what kind of hell it went through before it became a zombie!" Astrea thought as he observed silently, making no sound as he appeared before the mutated zombie, unnoticed.
Drawing his war bow, he waited for the moment the door gave way.
With a swift shot, a purplish-red phantom arrow struck the mutated zombie square in the head.
The Judgment Arrow, while formidable against ordinary zombies, was far from enough to take down a mutated one.
But Astrea was already ready with a second arrow, speeding toward the zombie's left shoulder.
Sensing the threat of death, the mutated zombie finally abandoned the trembling man in the CT room. With an eerie, twisted movement, its eyes rolled back, and it jerked its head toward Astrea.
From its drooling mouth came a chilling, screeching cry. Its body convulsed, as if not under its own control, moving with an unnatural speed, leaping left and right down the corridor, heading straight for Astrea.
Astrea pulled back his bow, predicting the zombie's next move.
Just as the arrow reached the mutated zombie, the creature's body twisted in a strange motion, causing the arrow to miss by a hair.
"Fast!" Astrea muttered under his breath. "Let's see how you dodge this!"
With another swift release, the arrow flew toward the zombie's abdomen.
Unexpectedly, the mutated zombie let out a terrified scream, throwing off Astrea's rhythm just as he was about to unleash his holy spear barrage.
Like a startled bird, the mutated zombie dove straight into the ceiling tiles, disappearing from sight.
From within the ceiling, the sound of rapid movement echoed—getting a clean shot at it was going to be a nightmare now.
Astrea knew, the mutated zombie wasn't after him. Not right now.
An elite-level mutated zombie, one that could awaken its talent, was a rare and dangerous thing. In his past life, Astrea had killed thousands of mutated zombies.
"Vengeance...?" He thought. "Seems like that man in the CT room was its enemy after all."
Hidden in the shadows, the man watched Astrea's every move, witnessing firsthand the true strength of this deadly figure. As Astrea began heading toward the CT room, the man rushed forward, eager to align himself with such power.
"I'm the doctor here, I know this place like the back of my hand! Can you take me with you?" he asked desperately.
"Oh? A doctor?" Astrea glanced him over, unimpressed. "Did you turn that girl into what she is now?"
The man's attributes were ordinary, his talent insignificant. Rusty?
"Heh, well... as a man, with your skill, you could have any of the nurses here at your disposal. Especially the one in pediatrics—how about I show you where she is... give you a taste?"
Astrea cut him off, his movements swift and lethal. With one powerful motion, he seized the doctor by the neck.
Like a chicken caught in the claws of a predator, the doctor was lifted off the ground and slammed down hard.
Astrea then pointed his war bow directly at the man.
"Please, don't kill me…" the doctor begged, fear creeping into his voice.
Crash!
The ceiling above them suddenly collapsed as the mutated zombie smashed through it, finally losing its patience as it saw Astrea attacking its enemy.
His enemy couldn't die at someone else's hands.
The mutated zombie let out a piercing screech as it bared its bloodstained fangs, its claws poised for the kill. It locked onto the trembling doctor, its target clear.
As death approached, the doctor, paralyzed with fear, wet himself in terror.
"I'm sorry… please, spare me… help!" he screamed, begging for mercy.
Just as the claws were about to land on the doctor's head, Astrea struck.
Holy Spear Baptism! To purge the world of all darkness.
In mid-air, the mutated zombie became nothing more than a living target.
In the blink of an eye, twenty crystal arrows—each glowing with a faint blue light—rained down on the zombie's body in a single, fluid motion.
Its movements froze in mid-air, the force of the holy impact driving it back with each blow. The screeching grew weaker, though its eyes remained locked on the doctor, who was laughing shamelessly in the distance.
As the mutated zombie teetered on the edge of death, Astrea paused, his actions halting with controlled precision.
The zombie, now impaled by arrows, crashed heavily to the ground, its body lifeless.
"You scared the hell out of me! You did that on purpose, didn't you?" the doctor exclaimed, ignoring the stench as he crawled toward the fallen zombie.
"That's what you get for daring to kill me, huh? Now you're dead! Hahaha!" the doctor mocked, laughing as he prepared to kick the zombie's lifeless body.
But in the fleeting moment of its death, the mutated zombie's eyes snapped open.
With its last ounce of strength, it swiped its claws across the doctor's lower body.
In an instant, it was severed.