The Decisive Battle Draws Near

The stairwell between the twelfth and thirteenth floors was packed with all kinds of zombies. There were common living corpses, mutated living corpses, and even female zombies with swollen bellies.

They hadn't continued down to attack and surround the mercenary team. Instead, they stayed on this floor, as if they had some purpose, blocking the entire staircase leading to the thirteenth floor!

This proved all the more that something they were protecting was definitely on the thirteenth floor: the Living Corpse King, who had never shown itself!

When they saw Xia Leng come up alone, they seemed somewhat astonished. How could this human be so reckless? They immediately let out roars that reeked of blood!

Facing the horde packed into the narrow stairwell, Xia Leng remained utterly unmoved. There were quite a few of them, but compared with the dark mass of zombies filling the plaza on the Street of the Living Dead, they were no more than a puddle by the sea.

So he stepped forward, walking toward the staircase packed with living corpses that led to the thirteenth floor.

At that moment, Xia Leng's eyes changed once more, darkness consuming them until not a trace of white remained!

His hidden, violent personality took control of his body again. A long-missed, feral grin spread across his face as he advanced step by step toward the "delicacies" roaring ahead.

At last, when the zombies saw that the human was still approaching, they grew restless and attacked all at once!

Aaargh!!

Several ordinary living corpses that could crawl along walls lunged straight at Xia Leng. Their sharp claws glinted coldly in the dim light!

Just as their weapons were about to clash, Xia Leng tightened his grip on the Titanium Blade and swept it across with blinding speed!

Shhk!

The two living corpses at the front of the charge instantly crumpled to the ground. The upper halves of their heads flew away, leaving smooth, clean-cut stumps!

As several other ferocious living corpses lunged close behind them, Xia Leng's body seemed to tilt casually, and he easily dodged their claw strikes!

Xia Leng's eyes, now completely overtaken by darkness, were like the lens of a high-speed camera. The zombies' swift movements seemed to slow several times over in his sight!

As he dodged their attacks, he countered in the same motion!

The Titanium Blade in his hand flashed through a dazzling flurry of strikes, a brutal display of power and speed combined!

In an instant, the living corpses were chopped into pieces amid the seemingly chaotic blade flashes. With a wet splatter, they collapsed at Xia Leng's feet as heaps of flesh!

As for the Blacklight Virus, it had long been ravenous. It turned into tendrils and began frantically devouring the bloody remains on the ground.

And the more it devoured, the darker Xia Leng's pupils grew, while his entire mental state became increasingly excited!

Now, a feral grin on his face, he charged straight into the horde!

For a while, Xia Leng's silent slaughter mingled with the zombies' snarls as severed limbs flew everywhere!

Even when the living corpses' sharp claws wounded him or the Zombie Fetus's fangs sank into him, he could quickly heal by devouring them!

Devouring each living corpse gave Xia Leng, in his frenzied state, a strange sense of pleasure—and granted him endless energy and stamina, leaving him unable to feel fatigue!

Anyone who witnessed this scene would have seen a human attacking even more wildly than the zombies, fighting them head-on without giving an inch!

Xia Leng's body was like a bottomless black hole. One living corpse after another was devoured, leaving only thick, dark green bloodstains on the ground...

Boom!!!

At the same time, a loud explosion suddenly rang out on the floor above. Flames and a shockwave swept across the entire eleventh floor, devouring everything in fire, accompanied by the piercing screams of zombies and humans!

A few seconds later, several figures still burning emerged from the sea of flames and frantically rolled on the ground to put themselves out.

The two demolitions experts had carried out Gilbert's earlier order to set off explosives. They'd sacrificed their lives, rushing into the horde to detonate a powerful charge. The blast had obliterated the numerous female zombies, along with the staircase to the eleventh floor. It had also claimed the mercenaries who were too badly wounded to escape the flames...

Including the two captains, only seven or eight mercenaries capable of fighting remained. They trailed behind the others, stumbling out of the burning wreckage with dejected expressions.

But if they hadn't issued that order, which had all but cut off their way back, everyone would have died in the jaws of the Zombie Fetuses on the eleventh floor...

"Where is that guy?! Was he blown to pieces?"

Captain Philip gasped for breath and shouted hoarsely. His burly body was covered in wounds, with not a single uninjured patch left. Even his right hand, gripping the Titanium Dual Blades, had begun to tremble.

Gilbert was in no better shape. A large chunk of muscle had been torn from his right arm by a Zombie Fetus, and blood poured from the wound. The loss of blood had left him deathly pale.

The medic who had survived by sheer luck hurried over to give the captain a painkiller and bandage his wound. For such a severe injury, with bone almost showing, the Komodo headquarters would arrange for a Baptized One with healing abilities to treat him once they safely returned to the Fortress.

"He went upstairs alone first. That's why I came after him..." Gilbert said, his lips pale. He didn't have the formidable stamina of an Apocalypse Warrior, and now he could barely summon the strength to speak.

"That bastard really does have some kind of scheme!"

Philip immediately flew into a rage, swearing that when they saw him, no matter what happened, he would kill that cold-hearted man first!

"Why? The roars from the zombies upstairs have stopped."

At that moment, Captain Gilbert noticed something. He clearly remembered how the zombies' roars from upstairs had left a deep impression on him while they fought the zombies on the eleventh floor. But now they had disappeared completely?!

So he pushed away the medic supporting him, recovered his strength, and headed upstairs. The others followed close behind.

As they neared the thirteenth floor, they smelled an intensely strong stench of blood and saw thick, dark green stains growing heavier across the floor!

It seemed a vicious battle had just taken place here. Bits of flesh clung everywhere to the walls, railings, and stairs!

Strangely, though, there wasn't a single intact corpse in sight!

What's more, Gilbert's danger-sensing ability as an Apocalypse Hunter detected an unprecedentedly dangerous presence coming from upstairs!

They stepped through the sticky blood, their hearts pounding faster, and kept climbing. Just as they were about to reach the thirteenth floor, the two captains saw a figure leaning against the wall at the landing!

The two mercenaries still carrying the searchlights aimed their beams at the spot. It was Xia Leng, leaning against the wall and watching them with a cold expression!

"Were all those bloodstains on the stairs... made by you?" Gilbert asked in disbelief. He had barely seen the mysterious man fight with his own eyes from beginning to end.

Xia Leng glanced at him but didn't answer. Instead, he suddenly furrowed his brow and said, "The Living Corpse King you're looking for is on this floor. You can also turn off those useless searchlights..."