A Startling Question

Noisy footsteps echoed from the depths of the corridor.

Lu Heng listened intently for a moment, his body tensing slightly before relaxing.

They were just a group of ordinary Zombie.

There were quite a few of them, probably attracted by the sounds of the battle earlier, and they were surging over from the other end of the corridor. But there was no aura of any higher-level monsters, they were all low-level zombies, their footsteps were chaotic, and their roars were hollow.

Lu Heng didn't rush to make a move. He glanced at the end of the corridor and then at the Spiderified Zombie controlled by Song Yunzhong beside him.

His thoughts drifted away for a moment.

All the Bronze Tier beasts encountered so far have clearly defined territories.

This is no coincidence.

For intelligent organisms, claiming territory is both an instinct and an inevitability.

The Spiderified Zombie in front of them had already reached the Bronze Tier and possessed ordinary intelligence.

Could it be the same?

Is it guarding this hospital because it considers this place its territory?

Lu Heng noted this question in his mind, but didn't think about it deeply.

The footsteps in the corridor grew closer.

Lu Heng turned to Song Yunzhong and asked in a questioning tone, "Do you want to try it? Let's see just how powerful the Spiderified Zombie we just controlled really is."

Song Yunzhong was taken aback, then nodded.

He walked to the Spiderified Zombie, pointed the Corpse-Control Ring at its head, and the pale blue light shone again.

The Spiderified Zombie twitched violently.

Then it moved.

He sprang up from the ground on all fours, his movements so fluid they didn't resemble a manipulated corpse, even more swift than when he was alive.

The ordinary Zombie at the end of the corridor had already surged forward, densely packed, roaring as they pounced.

The Spiderified Zombie charged forward.

It moved with incredible speed, skimming across the ground on all fours. Before the first ordinary Zombie could even react, its head was pierced by the spider's legs.

Then came the second and the third.

The Spiderified Zombie retain their original fighting style completely – multi-angle sweeping with their spider legs, biting with their mouths, spitting spider silk to block their retreat, and even climbing walls to launch surprise attacks from the side.

Ordinary Zombie are no match for them.

One by one, they were torn to shreds, black liquid splattering across the corridor floor.

Song Yunzhong, standing at the back, suddenly felt weak and dizzy.

But as he watched the Spiderified Zombie weave through and slaughter the horde of corpses, his gaze darkened slightly.

Is this the combat power of this special Zombie?

He had saved Lu Heng's life, Lu Heng had given him food and supplies. He thought that debt had been settled.

But things are different now.

Food runs out, supplies run out, but the ability to control corpses is different—it's a power that's part of him, something that allows him to truly survive in this apocalyptic world.

What Lu Heng gave him was not charity, but a foundation.

Song Yunzhong's fingers tightened slightly.

He simply cannot repay this debt.

The Spiderified Zombie cleared out all the ordinary Zombie that had swarmed in less than two minutes.

The corridor fell silent, leaving only the wreckage and the pungent smell of blood.

Lu Heng glanced at Song Yunzhong's appearance; it seemed the Corpse-Control Ring was still struggling to maintain its high level. He looked at Song Yunzhong and asked, "Are you alright? Can you still explore further?"

Song Yunzhong: "No problem, I just feel a little sleepy. It's nothing, let's go."

The Spiderified Zombie quietly followed behind the two, like a silent guardian, as it withdrew its control from the Corpse-Control Ring.

The abandoned hospital had a chaotic floor plan, with many ward doors wide open and collapsed hospital beds, broken medical equipment, and yellowed medical records scattered in the corridors.

The deeper you go, the clearer the traces become.

Large patches of old cobwebs remained on the walls, some dried and brittle, others still sticky. Broken test tubes and laboratory equipment were scattered on the floor, and a microscope lay askew in a corner, its lens half-broken.

This area used to be a research and development area.

Lu Heng followed the direction where the spider webs were densest, went deeper and deeper, passed through two abandoned wards, and finally stopped in front of a semi-closed metal door at the end of the corridor.

A faded warning sign was pasted on the door, the words illegible.

Lu Heng pushed open the door.

A strong stench of blood filled the air.

Song Yunzhong frowned and took half a step back.

The laboratory was not large, but a huge spider skeleton remained on the floor.

The remains were dried up, the carapace was shattered, several spider legs were broken off and scattered, and a huge laceration was torn open in the abdomen, with the internal organs completely devoured.

The time since death was extremely long.

It seems this is the spider that the Zombie devoured after its upgrade.

The truth is simple.

This giant spider originally lived in this laboratory, but later Zombie hunted it down, devoured its flesh and genes, and thus completed their mutation and advancement.

Lu Heng withdrew his gaze and was about to turn and leave when his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the innermost corner of the laboratory.

Beneath the dust cover, something was faintly glowing.

Lu Heng walked over, squatted down, and reached out to brush away the dust.

A Bronze Treasure Chest.

Exquisitely crafted with sharp edges and no trace of rust on its surface, it seemed completely out of place in these ruins.

Song Yunzhong's gaze fell on the treasure chest, and he froze.

He stared at the treasure chest, his pupils slightly contracting.

Something in my brain was triggered.

A thought popped into my head, vague and unclear.

Then a second thought popped into my head.

The third one.

The fourth one.

Lu Heng's weapons and equipment.

The reason for Lu Heng's rapid recovery after his injury remains unexplained.

Lu Heng seemed to know everything about the monsters' levels and rules, as if he had known it all in advance.

Lu Heng was all alone, and his origins were shrouded in mystery.

And now, a treasure chest that only exists in the game's setting has appeared before them.

All the fragments came together at that moment.

Song Yunzhong's breath caught in his throat for a moment.

He slowly turned his head, staring intently at Lu Heng's retreating figure.

Lu Heng was looking down at the treasure chest, his expression calm, as if he had known it would appear here all along.

Song Yunzhong's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

The most absurd and uncertain answer in his heart was slowly surfacing.

Lu Heng... does not belong to this world.

Once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't suppress it anymore.

Song Yunzhong stood still, his gaze fixed on Lu Heng.

The laboratory was so quiet that only the sound of his own heartbeat could be heard.

After a moment, Song Yunzhong couldn't hold back any longer and looked at Lu Heng: "Is this a treasure chest? So are we just NPCs? Are we just some NPCs for your level-clearing adventure? Then what is this world?"

His voice trembled slightly, his chest heaved violently, and he was on the verge of collapse as he looked at Lu Heng. The laboratory was deathly silent, the smell of blood still lingered in the air, and the treasure chest in the corner gleamed with a faint, cold light.

The sudden question came crashing down on him. Lu Heng was a little surprised to hear it. He looked at the emotionally charged Song Yunzhong, then at the treasure chest, and immediately understood. "Damn, I would have thought the wrong thing too."