Bandaged Girl

Even with Lin An's resolute mind, he could no longer hold back a curse after hearing the notification that he had lost his equipment.

In front of him, the slender Black Snake swallowed the Soul Devouring Gauntlet in one bite, moving several times faster than Lin An could react.

It was so fast that Lin An almost thought it had vanished into thin air.

If not for the Black Snake's bulging belly and the saliva left on his hand, he might even have thought it was an illusion.

The glove was in its belly.

The Black Snake let out a satisfied burp and looked somewhat languid.

"Good... eat!"

The childish voice from the Black Snake conveyed its satisfaction.

But to Lin An, it was like a thunderclap on a clear day.

One second, he had been in heaven; the next, he was plunged into hell.

Lin An stared fixedly at the Black Snake, forcibly suppressing the urge to crush it to death.

He couldn't beat it. If he made a move, he would definitely be the one to die.

The Epic Equipment he had obtained was gone, and along with it went his confidence in saving An Xia and An JingTian.

Lin An was somewhat dazed.

If his mind had not been sufficiently resolute, an ordinary person would probably have found such a drastic rise and fall impossible to accept.

With the glove swallowed into its belly,

this also meant that his own Skull Crusher's Hand was gone.

In just a few seconds, the glove swallowed by the Black Snake seemed to have been digested completely.

The Black Snake, which had been listless, regained its vitality.

In an instant, Lin An understood.

No wonder the Black Snake had saved him and shown him such a fawning expression.

It seemed the Black Snake had never intended to give the Epic Equipment to her.

Instead, it had taken advantage of the fact that he possessed the System and wanted to fuse the two pieces of equipment.

Lin An gave a bitter laugh inwardly.

He had been too self-important. How could anything in this world be so good?

He wasn't the protagonist of a novel. Not every benefit belonged to him.

It's over. Everything's over.

Without the five points of Strength provided by Skull Crusher's Hand, he truly didn't know what he could use to fight the Stitcher.

He would need to increase his level by another two levels to make up for the five-point difference in Strength.

A two-level gap.

Whether it was Player Level or Awakener Level, the number of Mutants required for each level-up would double.

It took four Mutants to advance from Level One to Level Two, and eight to advance from Level Two to Level Three.

Twelve Mutants in total—not to mention whether he could kill them.

Simply searching for targets in Lin Jiang City was extremely difficult. If he were surrounded by Zombies and Mutants due to the slightest mistake, death would be certain.

Powerlessness and dejection welled up in his heart.

Lin An fell silent.

After a long while, Zombies began to appear around the area that had been cleared out by the Red-Clad Mutant.

"Roar!"

The Zombies, who yearned only for flesh and blood, did not care about Lin An's current state.

No longer allowing his negative emotions to interfere, Lin An forced himself up and climbed out of the pit. Although his condition had recovered somewhat, his strength was less than a tenth of its peak.

Pull yourself together. As long as you're alive, there's hope.

If he were surrounded by Zombies, he might not be able to fight his way out.

Lin An did not feel particularly dissatisfied with the Black Snake.

Whether it had saved his life intentionally or unintentionally, that alone was enough.

There was nothing to complain about.

As for the equipment,

if it was gone, then it was gone. As long as he remained alive, everything was still possible!

"Zhang Tie, did you find anything over there?"

"If not, we're going back now!"

Given his current injuries, it would take at least two days to recover to his best condition.

Time was pressing. He couldn't afford to waste time at the hospital.

Unfortunately, he had not yet had time to check the ward where Wen Ya's Mother was staying.

He would come back if he got the chance.

A promise had to be kept.

Lin An stood up, paying no attention to the Black Snake beside him, which was still immersed in digesting its "delicacy."

He had no intention of getting involved with this snake any further.

The difference in strength was too great. If this strange Black Snake made any move, he would not even have a chance to resist.

Rather than entrust his life to a snake's mood and hope that it would not attack him,

Lin An would rather hide far away, just in case.

He was no longer living for himself. On his shoulders rested the hope that An JingTian and An Xia would survive.

Dispensary.

There were not many Zombies in the Dispensary area.

Aside from a few employees who had become Zombies, there were no other Zombies around.

Even though he could not activate Bear Transformation, his physical abilities after awakening alone allowed him to reach the pharmacy's cold storage, where he had awakened that day, without trouble.

After searching the entire way, Zhang Tie found nothing unusual.

Even the white light that had knocked him unconscious that day had vanished.

After dealing with a few scattered Zombies, he searched the place and gathered various first-aid and commonly used medicines.

The two originally tattered coats served perfectly as a bag.

With a battered helmet on his head and a full bundle of medicine on his back, Zhang Tie looked exactly like Bear Da.

Just as he was happily gathering supplies, he encountered a strange girl.

Zhang Tie wore a conflicted expression and did not immediately reply to Lin An's message.

At his feet, a thin girl covered from head to toe in bandages lay with her eyes tightly shut.

Bright red blood had stained the bandages, making her look like a critically wounded battlefield casualty on the verge of death.

What troubled him was that he had no way to determine whether the girl was a Zombie or a human.

Just five seconds earlier, after saying a single sentence to him, the girl had suddenly arched her spine backward like a Zombie, then let out a series of anguished cries.

When the cries ended,

she seemed to be enduring immense pain before falling unconscious.

Zhang Tie had been startled.

The angle at which she had bent her spine backward was something no human could achieve.

With her skin completely covered, he could not see anything at all.

Even Zhang Tie, who was not known for thinking things through, vaguely wondered whether the girl had wrapped herself up to conceal skin that had rotted and fallen away.

After all, Zombies were too easy to distinguish from humans by appearance.

Should he kill her?

Zhang Tie hesitated.

When the girl had been conscious, her aura had been weak, but she still looked human.

She was not very old, around the same age as his younger sister.

Even though he could not see her face clearly, through her eyes, Zhang Tie seemed to see his own younger sister. Her gaze was just as clear and pure.

Like Lin An, Zhang Youwei was the softness and bottom line in his heart.

He truly could not bring himself to do it.

When the girl had been conscious, she had even begged him to save her. She urgently needed food and treatment.

Yet immediately after speaking, she had undergone that change and fallen unconscious.

Zhang Tie muttered inwardly.

Is she human or what?

Could this thing also be a Mutant?

Or is she a human who encountered some special circumstance?

Having learned from the Zombie Doctor, he would not treat someone as human merely because they could speak.

But what if she was a Mutant pretending to be unconscious?

Is she trying to trick me into taking her back?

What a headache.

What troubled him was that if she really was human, he genuinely wanted to save her.

Out of affection for his own sister, he could not bring himself to face a girl around her age and coldly leave her to die.

To describe him with one word, Zhang Tie was simply too kind by nature.

He was even somewhat of a "Holy Mother."

This formed a huge contrast with his rough appearance and fierce, intimidating looks.

But what if Lin An thought there was a risk, even if the girl truly was human?

Most likely, once Lin An knew about her, he would slash the girl to death without taking the slightest risk.

What should he do?

Zhang Tie truly could not make up his mind.

After hesitating for a moment,

he decided to let Team Leader Lin make the decision.

Zhang Tie opened Team Communication.

"Team Leader Lin... well..."

"I found a 'person' here. She seems a little unusual. Should we save her and take her back first?"

"She might be human. It's just..."

Zhang Tie intended to tell the truth, but before he could finish,

"Fuck!!!"

Lin An burst out cursing from the other end of the communication.