Jiangshi

[One Hour Ago]

On the mountain path, At the tree hollow where Luo Di had first found the wooden box, Due to the locust tree in the manor being cut down and the bodies burned, the corpse refining ritual was forced to be interrupted.

Now, shouts could be heard echoing from the depths of the tree hollow.

As the camera lens continued to extend inward along the tree hollow, it would reach a hidden cave. The coffin at the depths had already been pushed open.

Then, as the camera returned to the tree hollow entrance, A withered, decaying, black hand with cracks on its surface stretched out from the tree hollow. Clearly, 'it' was not yet complete.

Even without being able to 'absorb' blood relatives, its own consciousness had not fully recovered.

Inside the manor.

The people who had been staring at the paper windows for a long time did not see any dark figures appear, nor did they hear any footsteps.

Luo Di suddenly realized something.

He darted to his backpack, slinging the machete with its leather sheath and retaining chain onto his waist, and carried the silver chainsaw case in his right hand.

Even though he didn't say anything, everyone followed suit, grabbing their own self-defense items.

Gao Yuxuan only had a combat knife.

Anna wanted to bring her entire backpack, but considering the target hadn't appeared yet, running around with it would be a waste of energy. In the end, she only brought the tactical axe.

As for Wu Wen, She hadn't taken out any self-defense tools since coming up the mountain. She was currently reaching into her backpack, searching for something, and pulled out a long object.

A cold light flashed.

A modern, eight-sided Han sword forged with contemporary craftsmanship was held in her hand. The overall style was simple, with straight lines and a rectangular shape.

The hilt was black, with vertical grooves etched into it.

The guard was a very narrow diamond shape.

The scabbard was also black, perfectly fitting the guard with modern magnetic technology, making it appear as one seamless piece. At first glance, it looked like a black metal rod with a strong sense of line.

Everyone completed their simple armament and put on white masks.

There was no communication among the four of them. Everyone seemed to know where they were going and what they were going to do.

They descended from the second floor of the manor and walked along the corridor to the familiar backyard door.

The stench was still there, but this time, none of the four seemed to notice it, experiencing no physical discomfort.

Standing at the doorway, looking into the backyard under the night sky with their flashlights, the overall scene was still relatively normal, just like before.

However, the felled locust tree lay across the pig and cattle carcasses, blocking the view. The situation behind the trunk could not be seen.

Unlike the gentle rain in the afternoon that could mask a lot of ambient noise, the rain at midnight had lessened considerably.

This quiet allowed them to hear a faint, discordant sound coming from the depths of the backyard, its source precisely blocked by the fallen locust tree.

The class monitor quickly raised her index finger to her mask, signaling everyone to follow her and advance quietly.

Moving forward slowly with almost silent footsteps on the viscous substance, Any stench or tactile sensation no longer interfered with their thoughts. Everyone's attention was focused behind the tree trunk, on that strange and discordant sound.

The closer they got, the clearer the sound became.

It was the sound of flesh and bone being torn apart, of hard objects being chewed.

When the four of them reached the locust tree and reached out to peel back the branches blocking their view, they all froze, as if suddenly given a terminal diagnosis by a doctor, unable to believe the scene before them.

Although everyone had, more or less, mentally prepared for a similar scene, The impact of experiencing the actual scene firsthand, of truly tasting this 'flavor,' was completely different.

Wearing dark cloth clothing, with Bagua-like buttons sewn down the center seam.

The head above the collar belonged to the middle-aged man from the photograph who had fallen ill.

His face was covered in black veins, Adorned with granular pustules left by his illness during his lifetime.

His cloudy, whitish eyes saw nothing of the world.

He stood there rigidly, His arms stretched out horizontally, impaling a rotten bull's head in front of him.

His teeth, emitting black mist, were fiercely tearing and sucking at the filth within the bull's head, absorbing the residual yin energy.

The surrounding pig and cattle carcasses were mostly eaten, attempting to supplement the incomplete ritual as much as possible.

Perhaps because the bull's head in his hand was almost completely sucked dry, Perhaps it was because the four of them were close, Snap!

The skull-less cattle head fell to the ground.

Wearing black cloth shoes that were treading in the mud, the body leaped forcefully.

It used the jump to rotate its body, Its milky white eyes were fixed on the spot where the locust tree had fallen, as if it could see the four young people peeking through the gaps in the branches and leaves.

More accurately, It had smelled the scent of living humans, not livestock.

This thing didn't hop slowly like in typical zombie movies.

Its feet gradually tilted upright, touching the ground only with its toes, its body maintaining a 30° forward lean.

Sliding!

As if propelled by Yin energy, its shoe tips slid across the filthy backyard, rapidly approaching the peepers behind the tree.

[View Switch]

When the zombie turned its head, The four peeking individuals knew they had been exposed.

Now, they needed to make a decision in a short amount of time:

Fight or retreat?

Engage directly in the backyard, or choose another area?

However, these questions had already been considered when they came downstairs. Running away or retreating was impossible.

Since they had interrupted the ritual, now was the best time to kill this thing. Delaying would only make the zombie more complete, and everyone would become more fatigued while hiding and running.

Of course, They couldn't stay in the backyard, this sacrificial site, where the zombie had a natural advantage.

The open space in front of the house, where the corpse had been burned yesterday, was a much better combat area.

"Go!"

As the zombie chased them out, the four began to run. The class monitor and Luo Di started at almost the same pace, Anna followed closely, and Gao Yuxuan lagged behind.

The class monitor was the first to cross the sticky backyard. As she stepped onto the mansion's floor and prepared to accelerate further, she unexpectedly found Luo Di missing beside her, seemingly having voluntarily fallen to the back of the group.

Her eyes, visible above her mask, showed no fear of being chased by the zombie; instead, they held a smile of relief.

The group's retreat was relatively smooth, as they were all athletic. Even Gao Yuxuan, the slowest, could run 100 meters in 11.9 seconds, a speed that could barely ensure they wouldn't be caught by the zombie.

In front of the mansion, The dirt pit where the corpse had been burned yesterday was now filled with rainwater, with several charred black skeletons floating in it.

When the zombie, chasing the group, arrived in this area, its nostrils caught the scent of blood relatives lingering in the air. Instinct drove it to temporarily change its target and approach the pit with the floating bones.

As soon as it sensed that the physical body of the blood relative had been completely destroyed and could not be absorbed, a roar like that of a wild beast erupted from its throat, deafening.

However, just as the zombie's attention was diverted, someone in the group of four launched an attack.

A tactical axe, sharpened and engraved with a famous military-industrial logo, sliced through the air in a perfect straight line, chopping vertically.

Crack~

The axe landed on the zombie's shoulder.

The sharp blade only sank about three centimeters deep.

Anna was so shocked by its hardness that she couldn't speak. It wasn't like chopping flesh at all, but like chopping something between stone and metal. Her arm tingled slightly from the recoil.

Whoosh!

Pulling out the axe, Anna quickly retreated and shouted, "This thing is not normally hard. Conventional physical attacks are difficult to kill it with. I'm going back to my bedroom to get something. You guys hold it off! I'll be back soon."

Anna had a brilliant idea for dealing with the zombie and ran back into the mansion.

Although the previous chop hadn't damaged the zombie's core, it had still posed a significant threat.

The zombie's head immediately turned in the direction Anna had left, but that path was already blocked by another prey, and rumbling sounds could be heard simultaneously.