"Captain Lin!"
"Should we split up or stick together?"
After charging into the second floor, the number of zombies increased rather than decreased.
Zhang Tie swung his bone whip desperately, even using his feet to kick apart zombies lunging at him.
His breath was heavy.
His physical and mental strength had nearly reached its limit.
He had no idea how many zombies he had killed in the chaos.
His once-black fur was now drenched in dark red, and intestines and other body parts hung off him.
At a glance, he almost looked like a mutated zombie himself.
In his frantic struggle, his strength was depleting rapidly.
"Ha..."
Zhang Tie gasped for air, feeling utterly drained.
"Captain Lin!"
Lin An was similarly immersed in a sea of zombies.
As the vanguard, he faced almost three or four times the number of zombies that Zhang Tie did.
The blade in his hand slashed with afterimages, but it was only barely enough to keep the zombies at bay.
Lin An didn't have time to respond, which made Zhang Tie anxious.
"My second transformation is about to end!"
The end of the transformation meant death.
Lin An's heart sank. He had underestimated the power of the zombie horde.
At first, he believed that with the antidote, his abilities would allow him to handle the hospital's zombie horde alone. Bringing Zhang Tie along was just an added precaution.
He had faced smaller zombie groups before without issue, so after his awakening, he had developed a sense of overconfidence in dealing with zombies.
But he was wrong. The horde's terrifying power far exceeded his expectations.
These endless, relentless creatures could wear down even the strongest awakened one.
Such arrogance could be fatal!
Lin An reflected on his own overconfidence.
Even the most powerful awakened ones in the post-apocalyptic world were nothing but struggling ants.
He was only a level 1, so who was he to look down on these monsters?
"Judgment Eye!"
Lin An whispered sharply, and a pale blue mist rose. All the information within his field of vision turned into data streams.
"Current number of zombies in the scanned area: 4197"
"Mutated creature: 0."
"Mutated creature: 1"
The numbers for the mutated creature fluctuated, as if they were being interfered with.
Lin An's face changed dramatically.
This was the first time he had seen Judgment Eye fail to provide an accurate reading.
The numbers kept changing.
Either there was indeed a mutated creature at the edge of his perception range, or the readings were constantly fluctuating.
Whenever the mutated creature approached, the number went back to 1. When it moved away, it dropped to 0.
Lin An's expression became more serious.
The strange events in the underground parking lot, the shrill scream he heard last night...
There was something about these mutated creatures and the zombie serpents that felt connected.
But what was it?
"Roar!"
The Black Bear let out a painful roar.
In just a few seconds, zombies overwhelmed Zhang Tie's position.
Zombies pounced on him like ravenous ants, while others swarmed him like locusts.
If it weren't for the bear-like fur and his prepared padded clothes, he would have been overwhelmed by the zombie toxin and infected in seconds.
The massive bear's body was covered in zombies, nearly burying him entirely.
At the same time...
"Crack."
The metal snapped.
Lin An's Nepalese curved blade shattered completely, splintering into pieces that flew in all directions, piercing several zombies.
The situation worsened instantly.
Lin An had no time to think. He pulled out two zombie vertebrae from his ring, using them as makeshift spears.
"Charge!"
"Spin strike!"
With a powerful twist of his waist, Lin An lunged forward, using the improvised weapons like a drill to shred the zombies in front of him, racing toward Zhang Tie.
It wasn't enough!
The number of zombies was simply overwhelming, and the ground was thick with mangled flesh.
The slippery, thick blood made it feel like a sea of corpses.
It was time to end this—quickly!
He had no choice but to use the stimulant.
A secret weapon—fewer doses left, but in this moment, it was necessary.
If he died, none of it mattered.
Lin An bit down on the stimulant in his ring, swallowing the glass shards along with the liquid.
"Ding, Strength +1, Constitution +1, Agility +1"
"Ding, Explosion power increased by 50%, Endurance and Resistance increased by 30%, Attack speed increased by 20%."
The two doses hit him like a surge of power, and for the first time in a long while, Lin An felt formidable!
"Power Explosion!"
Just before his second transformation was about to end, Lin An triggered his power explosion again, ensuring he maintained his momentum without interruption.
Golden energy flashed briefly, restoring his stamina to its peak.
"Ding, All Attributes +2!"
"Humm."
A faint ripple of energy swept through him.
Lin An suddenly felt his bone spears become feather-light. It was as if his body was filled with an explosive force, like a volcano about to erupt.
Time seemed to slow.
The zombies, once ferociously fast, now moved like slow motion in Lin An's perception.
"I think…"
A fleeting thought crossed his mind.
After crossing a threshold, a strange new sense of power surged through him.
"I think I can wipe them all out!?"
His heart raced like an engine, pumping blood through his body.
With his newfound strength, he believed he could tear apart a Licker with his bare hands.
Muscles exploded with energy; his power was boundless.
Ferocity!
"Piercing Strike!"
Lin An pushed forward with the bone spears, and the surge of power made his body sound like a cracking whip.
The spears shot forward like lightning, instantly obliterating the zombies in front of him.
It was as if a giant gourd had been smashed—a clean sweep with just one blow.
"Reverse Slash!"
Fueled by overwhelming strength, Lin An's battle spirit soared.
His bone spear was now used like an axe, slashing downward in a furious arc.
The speed was so fast it was almost a blur.
Rather than cutting, it was more like smashing.
With a deafening whistle, the weapon tore through the air, smashing zombies into gory piles.
This feeling, this power!
A delighted glint flashed in Lin An's eyes. This raw strength was intoxicating.
"HA!"
A roar that shook the very air.
Lin An was in a frenzy, flinging his bone spears aside.
Though they were sharp and durable, they just didn't feel right in his hands.
Two bone spears shot out like lightning, effortlessly piercing the zombies along his path, leaving a trail of blood.
"Give me that!"
"SMASH!"
"BOOM!"
Lin An's face was wild with fury, eyes glowing red.
He grabbed a nearby zombie and used it as a hammer, smashing it into the horde.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
Like crushing flies.
The once dense sea of zombies around Lin An cleared in an instant, leaving only piles of flesh.
The sensation was liberating!
Lin An pushed forward, the horde around Zhang Tie now scattered in his wake.
"BOOM!"
The ground trembled as Lin An casually smashed another zombie into the ground.
Wiping the blood from his face, he grinned, but Zhang Tie shuddered.
"Captain... Lin…"
Zhang Tie's voice trembled. The massive bear was no longer roaring.
In disbelief, he watched Lin An tear through the zombie horde with ease, a force more terrifying than any mutated creature.
"BOOM!"
The ground cracked, like a small earthquake.
Zhang Tie's voice was barely a whisper. "Don't... Don't!"
Lin An's eyes burned with bloodlust as he raised another zombie over his head.
"Captain Lin!" Zhang Tie's voice quivered.
Lin An paused, his ferocity momentarily softened by the slight tremor in Zhang Tie's voice. He grinned.
"It's time to go, Zhang Tie."