Chapter 5: Finally Encountering a Zombie

Chapter 5: Finally Encountering a Zombie

"System, what is the current disgust value?"

"Current disgust value is 40."

As expected, it was the same answer that had been repeated dozens of times.

Several days had passed since he transmigrated into the book. Seeing Beichuan Base getting closer and closer, the disgust value hadn't budged at all.

Yi Chuan looked at the back of the figure walking ahead to scout the way, tactical knife in hand, and sighed inwardly.

Three days ago, the system had issued a novice mission: increase Ning Fu Yi's disgust value. There was no limit on the amount or the time. But over these past few days, Yi Chuan had exhausted every trick he could think of, yet the disgust value remained stubbornly unchanged.

He could only blame that extraordinary person, Mute, who was a master of malice. Yi Chuan increasingly felt that because Mute's previous actions were so outrageous, the bad things he did to Ning Fu Yi seemed weak and ineffective by comparison.

Besides that, there was another thing that puzzled him. He hadn't seen a single zombie along the way. He had seen plenty of zombies in movies and games, and having this rare opportunity, he really wanted to see one with his own eyes.

According to the original novel, after the apocalypse began, zombies remained at a low-tier level, with strength equivalent to D or C-rank Espers.

Although the small number of Advanced Zombies that appeared last year brought concerns that zombies might have begun to evolve, after thirty years of continuous adjustment, the transit routes between bases had been planned quite maturely.

Since zombies were caused by abnormal radiation from meteorites, a zombie bite would not cause a normal person to turn into a zombie. As for how long an ordinary person would have to stay in a radiation zone before mutating into a zombie, the Base Alliance had never reached a clear conclusion.

Fortunately, the areas the planned base routes passed through all had extremely low radiation levels. It was difficult for even ordinary zombies to appear in groups, and the probability of an Advanced Zombie appearing was ridiculously low—roughly equivalent to winning five million in the lottery.

In such areas, according to existing public data, one would not mutate into a zombie even after staying for six months or a year.

Because of this, in these areas privately named "Safe Zones," there were basically only Core Hunting Squads composed of ordinary people without Supernatural Abilities.

Firstly, a few ordinary people had a decent chance of defeating a regular zombie. Secondly, those Ability User squads would head to high-risk zones with heavier radiation to hunt for cores, where the zombie density was higher and harvests were easier to come by.

When civilians without Supernatural Abilities went out to hunt zombies, as long as they didn't die, earning a few ordinary zombie crystal cores could be exchanged for points that would allow their whole family to live well for a while.

As for the Advanced Zombie that had nearly wiped out Yi Chuan and the others earlier, that was a 'fated encounter' bestowed by the Author.

But not encountering a single ordinary zombie for so many days was just too ridiculous, wasn't it?

If it weren't for the dilapidated buildings, the piles of collapsed waste, and the constant stench of rot filling his nostrils to remind Yi Chuan that he was indeed in the apocalypse, he would have felt like he was on a city walk.

Compared to the low temperatures at midnight, the high heat of the afternoon was somewhat hard to bear.

Exhaling hot air, he lowered his head to step over a steel rebar support lying across the ground.

With a dull 'thud,' his forehead slammed hard into Ning Fu Yi's back. Yi Chuan was bounced back a step by the force, nearly tripping over the support behind him, while Ning Fu Yi remained motionless.

It turned out Ning Fu Yi had stopped at some unknown point. Feeling the movement behind him, he tilted his head to take a look, his thin lips parting slightly, but he said nothing.

Just as Yi Chuan was confused, Ning Fu Yi reached back with one hand and pulled Yi Chuan behind a half-collapsed wall. He then took two steps to the left, hiding behind the wall, his calm and waveless black eyes staring at the movement ahead.

Without the sound of two people walking, the surroundings became exceptionally deathly silent. This time, even Yi Chuan heard the faint rustling sounds coming from the alley ahead and to the side.

Ning Fu Yi's body tensed instantly, his back arching as he lowered his upper body. He held his knife in a reverse grip before his chest, the whole man like an arrow ready to leave the string, staring fixedly at the alley entrance.

A zombie was coming. Yi Chuan was a bit excited; this was a chance to view a zombie up close.

Finally, after a few breaths, a bare foot covered in ulcers and blisters stepped into Yi Chuan's field of vision. Beneath the greyish-blue skin, veins were clearly visible.

Before Yi Chuan could get excited, the full appearance of the revealed zombie doused him in cold water in the next instant.

Black, tattered strips of cloth barely hung on the zombie's body. Large patches of greyish-blue skin had peeled off, its features were distorted and twisted, its mouth was wide open with the corners torn to the base of its ears, the whites of its eyes were yellowish, and its pupils had shrunk into a murky grey-black.

Yi Chuan's heart pounded wildly. As this gruesome image crashed into his vision, all his previous excitement vanished.

He couldn't describe the feeling of this moment. Just looking at this slowly shuffling zombie brought a pressure no less than that of a psychopath charging at him with a meat cleaver.

For a moment, Yi Chuan felt his thighs begin to shake uncontrollably. His legs were so weak he couldn't control his posture, and he instinctively took a step back.

"Snap." Where he stepped was exactly a piece of broken rubble.

Oh no!

The zombie, which hadn't noticed the two of them, suddenly froze. Its rotting neck turned slowly, its hollow grey pupils locking onto the source of the sound.

Immediately, the zombie let out a beast-like roar and lunged in a posture that defied human anatomy, bursting forth with startling speed toward the place where Yi Chuan and the other were hiding.

Yi Chuan cursed inwardly, fumbling frantically for the handgun at his lower back.

Over there, Ning Fu Yi had already leaped forward the moment the zombie turned to lock onto them, charging toward the zombie.

His waist twisted in mid-air, dodging the zombie's pounce. He brushed past the zombie's shoulder, where the rotting flesh could barely hang on, and circled behind it, kicking the back of the zombie's knee. The twisted joint snapped at the sound.

In the next instant, Ning Fu Yi gave the zombie no chance to turn its head. He plunged his tactical knife into the back of the zombie's neck, twisted his wrist with a sudden burst of force, and swirled the blade inside the neck. With a flick of the wrist, a greyish-white crystalline object the size of a walnut was gouged out and fell to the ground.

The moment the crystal core left the body, the zombie's piercing roar vanished instantly, and the entire body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

By the time the zombie hit the ground, Yi Chuan had only just pulled out his handgun.

Yi Chuan's eyes lit up at Ning Fu Yi's series of actions. As expected of the Male Protagonist I admire—that form, that speed, so cool! Brother!

Just as Yi Chuan relaxed, an indescribable stench several times stronger than before came from behind him, flooding into his nose.

He instinctively turned his head, and a rotting, oozing face met Yi Chuan's head-on. The right eyeball hung halfway out of the bloody, mangled socket, barely connected by a few pale strands of fascia.

At this moment, that large mouth emitting a thick stench of decay was less than two fists away from Yi Chuan's face. Rancid saliva dripped onto the ground from a jaw where the bone was visible.

Yi Chuan's pupils shrank. He instinctively wanted to scream, but the hand holding the handgun simply wouldn't lift.

With a 'whoosh,' a knife flew through the air, striking the zombie right in the forehead, the blade still stained with the rotting flesh of the previous 'zombie brother.'

However, as long as the crystal core remained, a zombie was immortal. The force of this strike only managed to push the zombie back a few steps.

Almost the instant the knife stabbed into the zombie's forehead, a flash of silver-haired hair had already darted before Yi Chuan's eyes.

Taking advantage of the moment the zombie was forced back, Ning Fu Yi closed in, gripping the knife handle with both hands. Using his momentum, he slammed the zombie against the wall, and the tactical blade subsequently pierced through the zombie's skull.

Without hesitation, he reversed his wrist and slammed the blade downward, splitting the zombie's face and neck in half. A greyish-white crystal core fell out, and the zombie collapsed at the sound.

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