The Spine Crawlers' Debut

"Boom!"

An explosion rang out, and enormous flames instantly swallowed the pickup truck.

The zombies around the pickup were blasted into minced flesh. Foul-smelling rotten meat splattered onto the buildings with the explosion.

Now the entire Residential Camp reeked of scorched, rotting flesh and the musky smell of corpse fat. The two utterly different odors mingled into something especially bizarre.

Liu Feng watched the pickup belching black smoke, his heart tightening.

If the Zombie Commander had been blown to death, everything that followed would be much easier.

But reality never seemed to go his way.

From beneath the heap of charred, rotten flesh, a pitch-black zombie crawled out.

"Roaaar..."

At his furious roar, the surrounding zombies went berserk. They regrouped and charged the buildings again, attacking several times more fiercely than before.

Watching the zombies surge toward them like a tide below, Liu Feng's face darkened. His brows drew together sharply, forming a deep, horseshoe-shaped crease between them.

"Feng, the zombies are coming back! What do we do now?"

Fatty's voice kept echoing in Liu Feng's ears. His thoughts were a tangled mess.

His insect army had fought until fewer than ten thousand remained. His comrades were almost out of ammunition, and even their makeshift incendiary bombs were running short.

Yet what they faced now was several times worse than before.

What should I do?

Were they all going to end up as scraps for the zombies today?

At the mocking smile on the Zombie Commander's face below, Liu Feng's eyes went round as longans. His whole body trembled, and he wanted nothing more than to devour him alive.

Just then, a blurred figure suddenly leaped from a third-floor window.

The familiar figure sent a jolt through Liu Feng's heart.

"It's dangerous! Little Knife, come back!"

Liu Feng's shout mingled with the zombies' roars. As though she hadn't heard him, Little Knife headed straight for the Zombie Commander, her gaze blazing.

Little Knife was fast. In the blink of an eye, she was already beside the Zombie Commander.

The Zombie Commander apparently hadn't expected her to reach him so quickly, either. By the time he reacted, it seemed too late.

"Slash!"

A spray of black blood scattered across the ground littered with charred, rotten flesh.

But the Zombie Commander did not fall.

"Little Knife, behind you!"

Faintly hearing the shout from the rooftop, Little Knife snapped her head up. The Zombie Commander before her had vanished. What fell instead was an ordinary zombie with its head missing.

At the same time, she felt a sinister chill behind her.

In that critical instant, Little Knife whipped her rear leg up into a sudden spinning back kick.

The Zombie Commander hadn't expected such a move at all. By the time he reacted, her powerful kick had already struck his chest.

"Thud!"

The Zombie Commander slammed into the ground. Rotten flesh scattered from his body, exposing the ribs in his chest.

"Roaaar..."

Suddenly, the Zombie Commander let out a furious roar.

The zombies desperately assaulting the buildings slowed their attacks. Many of those near the Zombie Commander gradually surrounded Little Knife.

At the sight, Liu Feng's expression tightened, and panic filled his heart.

"System, how much experience do I have now?"

[Ding! Host's current experience: 35000/20000]

[Ding! Level-up requirements met. Level up?]

Without hesitation, Liu Feng selected yes.

[Ding! Host has leveled up!]

[Ding! Host's current level: LV4 (15000/30000)]

[Ding! New insect species, 'Spine Crawler,' unlocked.]

[Spine Crawler: An extremely aggressive insect species. It flicks its tongue and can shoot venom through its fangs. Its venom is highly corrosive. Upon reaching maximum level, it can also unlock the Constriction skill.]

With all his attention on Little Knife below, Liu Feng barely listened to the system's detailed notifications.

"Insect army, attack!"

The moment he spoke, densely packed blue-green Spine Crawlers nearly a meter long surged into view, lunging at the zombies below.

The Spine Crawlers were astonishingly fast, surprising even Liu Feng.

In the blink of an eye, they had reached Little Knife.

"Hiss..."

A Spine Crawler raised its head, its gaze fixed on a zombie.

Suddenly, it attacked.

Although the meter-long Spine Crawler's fangs weren't very long, they still sank viciously into the zombie's body.

Dark green venom was injected straight into the zombie. A wisp of white smoke rose, and the venom ate through its arm until the bone was exposed.

Even so, it still hadn't inflicted any meaningful damage on the zombie.

Just then, Liu Feng suddenly realized something.

He took control of the Spine Crawlers with his mind and gave them an order.

After receiving Liu Feng's instructions, the Spine Crawlers found new targets. At his command, over a thousand of them coiled around the zombies' bodies.

But Liu Feng did not order them to attack as they had before. He waited until they reached the zombies' necks before giving the command.

In an instant, hundreds of Spine Crawlers opened their mouths together, revealing venom-coated fangs.

"Sss..."

As the sounds of corrosion rang out, hundreds of zombies surrounding Little Knife instantly collapsed. Without exception, their heads had been reduced to bare bone, their flesh and brains completely eaten away by the Spine Crawlers' venom.

At the sight, Liu Feng felt a surge of quiet delight.

Freed from the encirclement, Little Knife fixed her gaze on the Zombie Commander again.

Without the other zombies' help, he now looked utterly helpless.

Little Knife's sinister eyes were terrifyingly bloodthirsty. Her cold hand gripped her curved blade tightly, and she radiated a chill like an emotionless killer.

Suddenly, she pushed off hard, shooting toward the Zombie Commander like an arrow and leaving a blurred streak through the air.

"Slash!"

The curved blade slashed viciously across the Zombie Commander's body, sending foul-smelling blood spraying out.

A trace of shock appeared on the Zombie Commander's stiff face. Before he could react, another flash of silver swept across his neck.

"Urgh..."

As Little Knife withdrew her blade, the Zombie Commander's body crumpled onto the blackened ground.

Seeing this, Liu Feng quickly dispatched the few remaining Exploding Insects toward the Zombie Commander.

They had exhausted every option, so they had to make absolutely certain this Zombie Commander was dead.

"Boom!"

An explosion rang out, reducing the Zombie Commander's body to a mass of sludge mixed into the charred, rotten flesh.

(End of chapter)