The Strange Zombie

Lin An looked with satisfaction at the cleared passage.

In a flash, he rushed to the end of the corridor and arrived beside Zhang Tie.

On a whim, after smashing several Zombies to death with Zhang Tie, Lin An simply used him as a bowling ball.

He tore through them like dry weeds.

Empowered by Lin An's Second Order strength, Zhang Tie's two-ton body easily crushed the Zombies along the way.

"How did that feel?"

Taking advantage of the cleared space, Lin An grabbed Zhang Tie and pulled him up from the ground.

"..."

Zhang Tie was furious but dared not speak.

He didn't dare say a word.

His eyes were full of resentment.

He only felt as though his entire body had fallen apart.

Anyone would feel awful after being used as a hammer for half the day, then kicked like a ball.

Especially when that person was Lin An.

"I'll say it again! I'm fucking not a ball!"

"And another thing!"

"Shouldn't we hurry up and find that damn Hand?!"

"The Zombies are about to surround us again!"

Zhang Tie looked like he was about to cry. His Bear Transformation had ended, and his tattered clothes could barely cover his backside.

Half a helmet hung crookedly from his head, while bloody scraps covered his entire body.

At the other end of the corridor, a dense mass of Zombies charged toward them wildly and tirelessly.

As if he had not heard him, Lin An stared fixedly at a door on his left.

"Second Bone Surgery Department."

The white-painted door was tightly shut, clean and neat.

"I think I've found it."

A strange glint flashed through Lin An's eyes.

He gently turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked.

"Click."

Behind the desk inside, someone dressed in a white uniform and resembling a doctor sat with his back to them.

Eye of Judgment

Mutant: 0

Mutant: 1

The number flickered, as though it could not decide.

Confused, Lin An stepped into the room.

The number on the light screen stopped jumping and stabilized at 1.

His probing Mental Strength broke through a faintly visible barrier and enveloped that "person."

Zombie (First Order Mutant?):

This was an ordinary Zombie, but some mysterious power seemed to have allowed it to surpass a Zombie's limits.

Strength: 13

Agility: 6

Physique: 10

Will: 12

Danger Level: Moderate.

So that was it. It had only been a false alarm.

The last weight in Lin An's heart finally fell away.

The Mutant detected by the Eye of Judgment should have been the Zombie before him.

However, it was neither beyond the range of his perception nor a powerful Third Order existence.

It was carrying Skull Crusher's Hand and using the Mental Barrier that came with the equipment to block his detection.

The 13 points of Strength in its attributes, and the note that mysterious power had helped it break through a Zombie's limits...

There was no doubt about it.

Ordinary Zombies had Strength Attributes of around 6 to 8 points, so the remaining difference of 5 points could only have come from Skull Crusher's Hand.

"Get inside and block the door."

Lin An casually instructed Zhang Tie to handle the door.

"Strength Burst!"

With a low shout, Lin An renewed the enhancement that gave him +2 to all attributes.

The medicine had not yet worn off. He was still at the peak of his Combat Power.

Lin An did not let down his guard just because the Zombie before him posed little threat in terms of attributes.

The spotless examination room. The doctor-like Zombie sitting with its back turned.

It had smelled living humans, yet it had not gone berserk like an ordinary Zombie.

With so many abnormalities, Lin An naturally became extremely vigilant.

Bang!

Zhang Tie slammed the door shut. Within seconds, frantic pounding began to ring out from outside.

The white-coated Zombie remained unmoved, as though it were deaf.

"Straight Thrust!"

The door would not hold the Zombies for long.

No matter what was abnormal about it, he would test it first!

Lin An's gaze was sharp as a blade as he tensed his body and thrust forward.

Though it was only a test, this strike could still pierce through Steel Plate and instantly kill any Zombie.

The Bone Spike ripped through the air.

"No."

"Don't."

..

The voice was hoarse and strained, each word forced out of its throat.

Lin An's pupils contracted into pinpoints, and his entire body turned cold.

The strike aimed at the doctor Zombie's head instantly veered aside.

The voice had come from the "doctor."

Boom!

The wall behind the Zombie was pierced through, exposing gray cement.

Lin An stared in disbelief at the "doctor," who was trying to continue speaking.

A Zombie.

How could a Zombie speak!?

A chill ran through Lin An's entire body.

In his Previous Life, during three years in the Doomsday Game, he had never heard anyone mention that Zombies could speak.

If it could speak, that meant it still possessed reason.

And...

Intelligence!

Unlike Lin An's Fear, Zhang Tie merely stared at the "doctor" in surprise.

The Iron Gate behind him banged repeatedly, shoving him into a stumble.

"Team Leader Lin, what the hell is this thing saying?"

Lin An did not answer. He only gripped the Bone Spike in his hand tighter.

It was not impossible for Mutants to possess intelligence.

As far as Lin An knew, Third Order and higher Mutants began to possess varying degrees of intelligence.

But a First Order Mutant Zombie possessing intelligence?

If it was due to equipment, that was still barely acceptable. After all, Doom Equipment often had special effects.

But if this Zombie had not retained its intelligence through Doom Equipment...

That would be far too terrifying.

Humanity had become the Overlord of Blue Star, the top of the food chain, entirely because of intelligence.

If First Order Mutant Zombies already possessed intelligence, Lin An truly did not know what humanity could use to resist them.

First Order Mutants were not rare!

The Doomsday Game would turn from a battle against monsters into a war of survival between two "races."

His footsteps were heavy.

Lin An held the Bone Spike against the "doctor's" head. At the slightest movement, he would kill it.

"What do you want to say?"

It was absurdly ridiculous.

Lin An had never imagined that he would speak to a Zombie.

"Don't... kill... me."

"Ha."

"Ha."

As Lin An approached, the Zombie Doctor sitting in the chair could no longer quite suppress its instinctive craving for flesh and blood.

It wheezed from its throat like a dying old man.

Again and again, it tried to rise from the chair and lunge forward to bite him.

But reason suppressed instinct.

Lin An actually saw Fear in its eyes.

It tilted its head, trying to make the Bone Spike shift away from its brow.

"Give me a reason not to kill you."

Lin An took a deep breath.

A Zombie feared death and was begging him for mercy?

"You... want... it."

The doctor Zombie fidgeted uneasily.

It slowly raised its right hand.

A Glove covered its flesh-stripped right hand.

The Glove was an eerie black, covered in densely packed blood-red patterns.

On the back of the Glove was an empty groove, as though something had once been embedded there.

Lin An's heart skipped a beat, and a flash of Blue Light passed through his eyes.

"Eye of Judgment!"

Ding. Doom Equipment discovered. Grade: Fine (Blue).