Mutant Cat

Over sixty zombies lay dead in the stairwell, strewn in every direction. Severed limbs and bloody chunks of flesh piled up like a small mountain of corpses, a gruesome sight to behold. The air was thick with a stench of blood strong enough to make one faint. Most of the zombies had been blown apart by High-Explosive Grenades, and the walls were covered in splattered flesh. They had died miserably.

However, without the grenades, Mu Xiao would not have been able to clear out most of the zombies so quickly.

"What should I do? Without Corpse-Melting Water, these bodies will eventually attract other zombies. What if a zombie comes and devours all the corpses here, evolving into a Mutant Human? That would be troublesome." Mu Xiao stared at the corpses covering the ground, finding himself in a difficult position.

If this were the later Evolution Era, he would only need to find a New Human settlement and buy a bottle of ordinary Corpse-Melting Water. He could directly dissolve the bodies and avoid the trouble of attracting monsters.

However, Corpse-Melting Water was simple to make, but only in the later world. At this early stage, a certain mutant plant material did not yet exist, so Mu Xiao could not produce it under his current circumstances.

Mu Xiao could not worry about that for now. He began collecting the Blood Beads from the zombies one by one. There were simply too many corpses, and some had been blasted into bloody pulp by the grenades, making it difficult to find Blood Beads the size of soybeans. But that did not trouble Mu Xiao. He directly used Mental Power to scan the corpses on the ground, then used Telekinesis to extract the Blood Beads whenever he found them.

Telekinesis could control objects. Simply extracting Blood Beads did not consume much of Mu Xiao's stamina.

As Mu Xiao walked through the piles of corpses in the stairwell, bead after bead of Blood Bead leaped out from the flesh and floated densely through the air.

Mental System ability users were highly suited to cleaning up battlefields. They would not miss any treasure.

With Telekinesis as well, gathering spoils became even faster.

Mu Xiao collected more than two hundred Blood Beads in total. Most were Inferior Brown Blood Beads. More than fifty were ordinary vermilion-red beads, while only a little over twenty were high-quality dark-red Blood Beads. There were no precious purple-red Blood Beads at all.

Apart from the Blood Beads, Mu Xiao's evolution level had risen to Fifteenth Gene Resonance. His overall physical strength had grown a little stronger, and both his Mental Power and Telekinesis had improved slightly.

The number of Gene Resonances represented one's overall physical quality. Once ordinary New Humans evolved to their first resonance, their physiques would automatically be optimized into New Human Physiques. Bloodline genes were the foundation of evolution. As one's resonances continued to rise, bloodline compatibility would improve, allowing the body to endure more and become stronger... perhaps even attain eternal, undying life!

Of course, if one absorbed an Ability Source to strengthen one's physique, one could improve it in advance and possess combat power far beyond others of the same level.

Mu Xiao absorbed the pure source as usual and added it all to his physique, hoping to break through to an SSS-Class Physique as soon as possible and obtain a true New Human Physique.

This time, he had not obtained an Ability Source to convert into his experience. Although several zombies had been level ten, they clearly had not evolved any useful abilities. At most, they were stronger than lower-level zombies, which was why they had provided several high-quality Blood Beads.

"These bodies can only be left alone for now. At most, I can seal off the entrances to this stairwell later. That should reduce the chance of other zombies entering." Mu Xiao did not have time to carry the corpses out one by one. He planned to bring more supplies next time and clear away the layers of accumulated bodies.

Stepping over the bizarre black corpses scattered across the floor, Mu Xiao entered the corner of the fourth floor and found the hidden room on this level. Dark red, nearly black bloodstains remained inside, but there were no zombies.

Perhaps some zombies had once been inside, but they had likely been drawn out earlier by the scent of their own kind's corpses and become some of Mu Xiao's targets.

The hidden room on the fourth floor was probably a guard break room. It contained only daily necessities, with no weapons in sight. When the virus outbreak occurred, most of the guards had likely grabbed their weapons and rushed out to support their companions. Thus, Mu Xiao found nothing valuable. Still, there was plenty of high-calorie food and five or six bottles of ordinary nutrient fluid, all of which Mu Xiao stuffed into his backpack without hesitation.

Seeing that there was nothing else to gain here, Mu Xiao left the room and headed down toward the hidden room on the third floor.

But the third-floor hidden room was another break room, and its only spoils were food and nutrient fluid. Mu Xiao found a second backpack and packed the food that would not fit into the first one. Food was an essential consumable at any time, especially during this period. All food was critically important material, even more valuable than gold. Naturally, Mu Xiao would not let any of it go.

A nearly inaudible sound suddenly came from the stairwell. The surroundings were so quiet that Mu Xiao had already heard something approaching, while his consciousness and Mental Power also faintly sensed something unusual. He immediately set down his backpack, gripped his military knife, and quietly lay in wait. At the same time, he released his Mental Power and rapidly extended it outward to investigate what was in the stairwell.

"A cat?"

The information relayed by Mu Xiao's scan revealed an animal with black-and-white fur, resembling a small cheetah. Yet it looked very much like a domestic cat, only several times larger. Its pupils were dark red, occasionally flickering with cold-blooded vigilance, and its entire body exuded a strange aura.

The next moment, Mu Xiao confirmed that it was a Mutant Cat.

After animals mutated, the savage and violent wildness buried in their genes and bloodlines would be completely unleashed. Formerly docile pets would become ferocious Mutant Monsters. Moreover, the more vicious an animal's nature had been, the more terrifying its combat power would become after mutation. Carnivores such as lions and tigers were no less dangerous than Mutant Humans, perhaps even more so.

However, Mutant Monsters generally only preyed on fresh flesh. They basically would not actively hunt zombies' inferior flesh, nor were they interested in it.

Therefore, this Mutant Cat had likely caught the lingering scent of a living human from Mu Xiao's battle and quietly slipped into the stairwell.

"Someone in the Lawyer Building probably kept a cat before. Otherwise, how could a cat have mutated here? And it seems this Mutant Cat has eaten quite a few people..." Mu Xiao thought to himself.

He detected that this Mutant Cat had also reached Fifteenth Gene Resonance, but it was definitely several times stronger than zombies of the same level.

"Mutant Beast meat is incredibly nourishing. I can't let it slip away." Mu Xiao licked his lips, lightened his steps, and released a faint trace of living human scent to lure the Mutant Cat into launching a sneak attack, so he could counterattack and kill it.

Sure enough, a vicious gleam flashed through the Mutant Cat's eyes. It quickly confirmed Mu Xiao's location, but instead of charging in like a zombie, it behaved like a cunning hunter. It first locked onto its prey, observed for a while, then slowly approached in search of an opportunity to ambush him.

Mu Xiao realized that he did not seem to have any spare weapons. Fighting with only a military knife would be quite difficult. The sharpness of the Mutant Cat's claws was certainly not much inferior to the knife's, perhaps differing only in hardness.

The Mutant Cat's body was extremely flexible, and its muscles were compact. It would not be as easy to pierce as a zombie.

If the military knife in Mu Xiao's hand could unleash energy, it would definitely be a formidable weapon capable of easily killing this Mutant Cat. Unfortunately, he had yet to acquire Mechanical Mastery or Weapon Mastery, which meant he could not activate the military knife's greatest function.

"I can only end this quickly." Mu Xiao made up his mind not to fight the Mutant Cat head-on. Otherwise, he might suffer considerable injuries as well. He still had to return to his residence later, and who knew what dangers awaited him on the way? He needed to eliminate this trouble at the lowest possible cost.

The Mutant Cat approached the room step by step. Mu Xiao had already moved to the wall beside the doorway, waiting for the right moment.

The instant the Mutant Cat prepared to enter the room, Mu Xiao unleashed his Telekinesis like a pair of invisible giant hands, enveloping its head. His Telekinesis, no weaker than physical strength, tightly gripped the Mutant Cat's head and violently dragged it into the room. At the same time, Mu Xiao pushed off the ground, his speed rising to the extreme, and stabbed toward the Mutant Cat's abdomen with a knife strike as swift as lightning and thunder.

At that moment, it was as if the Mutant Cat had suddenly been flung into the air, exposing the weak point of its belly before viciously crashing into the sharp blade.

"Hiss!"

The Mutant Cat let out a shrill, savage screech. Its muscles suddenly erupted as it struggled, nearly breaking free of Mu Xiao's Telekinetic control. Yet amid its violent struggle, Mu Xiao's knife shifted slightly off course. It only pierced into the Mutant Cat's ribs, then was clamped by its resilient muscles before it could stab any deeper.

"Idiot! Do you think I only have the strength for one strike?!" Mu Xiao roared, viciously pulling out the bloodied military knife and preparing to thrust again. But at that moment, the Mutant Cat's muscles swelled, and its struggling force more than doubled. It was already beyond what Mu Xiao's Telekinesis could continue to restrain.

Mu Xiao intensified his Telekinetic output and slammed the Mutant Cat viciously into the floor with overwhelming force. Wind surged around his leg as he delivered a heavy kick to the Mutant Cat, which bounced up like a ball.

Bang!

Driven by the dull force of the heavy kick, the Mutant Cat dragged a trail of blood through the air and flew away like a kite with its string cut.

The Mutant Cat nimbly flipped and sprang up, landing steadily on the ground. It opened its mouth full of needle-like teeth and let out a hoarse, cracked cry of pain and resentment. Its blood-red eyes were incomparably cold, and its claws gleamed like steel blades, ready to unleash a desperate, lethal strike at any moment.

Mu Xiao calmly watched the Mutant Cat, prepared to defend against a sudden attack. Suddenly, the Mutant Cat's body doubled in size, muscles swelling across it like small hills. It no longer resembled a cat at all, but a small, savage monster.

The Mutant Cat tensed its muscles, and the wound on its abdomen quickly stopped bleeding. Its muscles clearly possessed tremendous resilience.

Telekinesis swirled around Mu Xiao. The moment the Mutant Cat attacked, it would envelop it like a massive net.

But unexpectedly, the Mutant Cat did not attack. Instead, it spun around and fled at top speed, clearly recognizing that it could not defeat Mu Xiao.

"Trying to run?" Mu Xiao would not let the Mutant Cat escape. Mutant Monsters were extremely vengeful. If he did not eliminate it now, it would linger nearby like a ghost, waiting for an opportunity to ambush him. That would have been manageable in the past—he could enter an area protected by powerful people, find someone cultivating a Soul Secret Art to conceal his aura, and remain in the city for a period of time to avoid serious danger. But this was only the beginning of evolution. No powerful people had established factions yet, and no one had cultivated secret arts capable of concealing bodily auras.

There was only one path left: he had to kill the Mutant Monster.

Mu Xiao's Telekinesis surged like a torrent and struck the doorway. The Mutant Cat was like something that had crashed into an invisible wall. At this moment, Mu Xiao no longer spared any Telekinetic power. He unleashed it fully like a whirlwind, and an invisible force like a blade tip tore into the Mutant Cat's previous wound and ripped it open mercilessly.

Mu Xiao could only control one strand of Telekinesis at maximum strength. If he could control several powerful strands, he could have torn the Mutant Cat into two halves in a single exchange.

At this moment, he used one strand of Telekinesis to restrain the Mutant Cat's counterattacks. Whenever it tried to pounce, his Telekinesis transformed into an invisible force and struck it away like a giant hammer.

Telekinesis could not only attack; it could also defend. As long as one's Telekinesis was powerful enough, enemies would not even be able to approach, and one could torment them to death from afar. But Mu Xiao did not yet possess such strength. He could only coordinate his attacks with Telekinesis, stabbing the Mutant Cat again and again.

With blood flowing from numerous wounds, the Mutant Cat could no longer stop the loss of blood. Furthermore, Mu Xiao's Telekinesis was impossible to guard against, attacking from every opening. Before long, the Mutant Cat lost too much blood and collapsed to the ground in utter exhaustion.

The instant the Mutant Cat died, a full, water-like mass of Evolutionary Power Source merged into Mu Xiao's body. At the same time, another Ability Source appeared upon the Mutant Cat's corpse.