Zombies

Lu Heng walked along the broken cement road in the ruins, but after taking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

Several figures flickered at the edge of the line of sight, four or five silhouettes moving unsteadily.

A deep sense of doubt instantly arose in his mind.

Something's not right.

A normal person doesn't walk like this; their steps are unsteady, their body sways from side to side, and they exude an indescribable strangeness.

Lu Heng did not rush forward. Instead, he crouched down and hid behind the half-collapsed wall of a nearby building, half of his body hidden in the shadow of the rubble, quietly watching the figures in the distance.

He raised his wrist, activated the Survival Bracelet, and aimed it at the strange figure in front of him to start the identification function.

A line of cold text appeared on the Wristband's screen.

[Zombie: Humans infected by an unknown virus, highly contagious. Individual threats are relatively low, but their sheer numbers can be devastating, like ants killing an elephant. They should not be underestimated.]

After reading the description, Lu Heng cursed under his breath.

Damn, this thing is exactly the same as the setting in the game.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, confirming that there were no more Zombie lurking nearby. A thought popped into his head: why not just take out a few and see if they would drop any supplies?

The Zombie in front of us are slow-moving and don't pose much of a threat.

Lu Heng stopped hiding, gripped the Bronze hunting knife at his waist, and charged straight out.

The sound of running footsteps immediately alerted the Zombie in the distance. The several bodies that had been wandering aimlessly suddenly turned around and pounced on Lu Heng with stiff limbs.

The first Zombie rushed forward, its rotting hand aimed straight for his neck. Lu Heng exerted force with his wrist, his hunting knife slashing horizontally, the blade precisely striking the Zombie's head, severing it in two.

Another one followed closely behind. Without turning around, Lu Heng swung his sword and swiftly severed the opponent's neck.

A third Zombie on the side reached out its blackened claws to grab his chest. Lu Heng raised his arm, the thick outer armor firmly blocking the claws, and then kicked the Zombie hard in the chest and abdomen.

With a dull thud, the Zombie lost its balance and crashed heavily onto the rubble-strewn ground.

Lu Heng strode forward, swiftly wielding his knife to finish off the last Zombie. He then quickly stepped forward and delivered the final blow to the still-lying corpse, preventing any unforeseen incidents.

He stood between the four bodies, looking down at the ground with a slight frown.

With such a small commotion, nothing fell?

Before the doubts could dissipate, the Zombie's body on the ground began to fade little by little, eventually disappearing completely into the air, leaving only a few scattered objects on the rubble.

Seeing this, Lu Heng couldn't help but complain.

Damn, you're still saying this isn't a game mechanic?

He bent down and picked up all the items on the ground, then used his Wristband to examine them one by one.

[Copper Coin: A universal currency used for exchanging various resources.]

[Zombie Beast Bone x4: Remains of hardened bone from Zombie's body.]

Lu Heng held the grayish-white, dry bone in his hand, feeling speechless.

The system of monsters dropping resources is true, but the drop rate is just too meager.

Four broken bones were nothing to me; they weren't worth the effort I'd just expended.

He looked down at the blade and the hem of his clothes, which were stained with sticky, foul-smelling blackish-red blood that had been stored in the Zombie for days. The pungent stench wafted into his nostrils on the wind, making his stomach churn.

That's absolutely disgusting.

Lu Heng gripped his hunting knife and looked around. The entire section of ruins was bare, devoid of clean grass, trees, or water, making it impossible to find a place to wipe the dirt off the knife.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, then gave up, gripped his long sword, and continued deeper into the ruins.

Lu Heng wandered aimlessly along the dilapidated street, the gravel crunching under his feet. The entire Town was so quiet that only the wind could be heard.

Turning a corner, a storefront on the street stands out—it's a gold shop.

This place seemed to be a Town. The font on the signs was unfamiliar, and the style looked somewhat similar to a jewelry store brand like Daifuku, but it wasn't a well-known business he recognized. The lettering was blurry and mottled, and most of it was covered in dust.

Lu Heng stepped forward and kicked open the deformed metal shop door, the door panel creaking loudly.

The store was a mess; the counter was smashed to pieces, the shelves were overturned, and shards of broken glass were scattered on the floor, clearly indicating that it had been ransacked long ago. He glanced around and thought to himself, "Sure enough, the valuable precious metals have probably already been taken."

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a complete gold bracelet lying quietly in the corner of the ground.

Lu Heng bent down to pick it up and examined it closely in his palm.

In the original world, such a solid gold bracelet would be worth several months' wages for an ordinary person. But in the current survival trial, gold has no practical use in combat. It can neither defend against alien beasts nor be used to forge equipment, making it utterly useless to him.

He casually tossed the gold bracelet back to the ground, then turned and walked out of the jewelry store, intending to continue searching for usable supplies in the surrounding restaurants and residences.

He had only taken a few steps, and the surrounding environment was still empty and quiet, but Lu Heng's keen spiritual perception brought about by the Starlight Visualization Method suddenly caught a trace of something unusual.

Something was following me from the shadows.

He was used to the tracking aura of strange beasts in the mountains and forests, but this was the first time he had been followed by an unknown entity. However, the sense of being spied on through his mind was incredibly real and definitely not an illusion.

Lu Heng immediately tensed up, not daring to be careless.

He moved slowly along the broken wall by the street, constantly protecting his back to avoid being ambushed from behind.

As he moved, he looked around, trying to find a place with a good view and easy to fight back. However, the area was densely packed with houses, narrow streets and alleys, and piles of overturned building debris everywhere. He circled around several times but couldn't find a suitable place to stand.

The sense of being watched from behind grew clearer, and the distance between them kept closing.

Lu Heng used his mental perception to roughly judge that the beast following him was not particularly strong. However, he had just entered this ruined territory and was still unfamiliar with everything. He had to act cautiously and could not be careless or underestimate his enemy.

His gaze swept ahead, and a basketball court enclosed by an iron fence came into view not far away. The court was open and spacious, with no dense buildings around to obstruct the view, making it an excellent place for a confrontation. Lu Heng immediately changed direction and walked quickly towards the basketball court.

Just as I approached the fence, the shadow behind me suddenly launched a surprise attack.

The other side clearly realized that the open terrain was disadvantageous to them, so they stopped holding back and launched a fierce attack.

Lu Heng's mental energy had been on high alert the entire time. The moment the sense of crisis struck, his body reacted instinctively. He dodged the attack by turning his side and flicked his wrist, sending the Bronze Hunting Blade slashing back with precision.

A strong, pungent, putrid stench assaulted Lu Heng's nostrils, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly; the thing smelled absolutely awful.

He steadied himself and stared intently at the creature before him.

This is a cat, twice the size of an ordinary house cat, with dull and lifeless fur, and a lifeless aura, lacking any of the liveliness a living creature should have.

Lu Heng raised his Wristband and aimed it at the strange beast in front of him to start the identification function.

[Zombie Cat: Black Iron-Level Exotic Beast. A domesticated pet infected and mutated by the Zombie virus, losing its normal instincts of seeking advantage and avoiding harm, retaining only the desire to attack living things.]

After reviewing the identification information, Lu Heng understood. It turned out to be a domesticated pet that had been infected and mutated.

He gripped his Hunting Blade, standing facing the Zombie Cat before him.

After being stabbed, the opponent did not retreat or flee. Instead, he arched his body, let out a low growl, and assumed an attack stance again.

Lu Heng pondered to himself, it seemed that the virus had completely erased the original survival instincts of the alien beasts, leaving only an endless desire to attack.