Hunting

Depending on ourselves…

Lin Shiyu repeated it to herself as she tightened the grip between both hands.

Coming to the window, the scene of the residential area and streets was stained with large pools of blood like blooming roses, the copper scent of it piercing to one's nose.

Lin Chao observed the zombies quietly.

The apocalyptic zombies were terrifyingly strong. They had special abilities, mankind's intelligence, knew how to strategize, and set traps. They were an intimidating enemy.

On the contrary, the early stage zombies were much simpler beings with a lot more weaknesses.

The first infected ones had could not jump and were unintelligent creatures. Their retinas were corroded by the virus so their vision was blurred, and they would only see things a few meters away. Their sense of hearing was nothing out of the ordinary, and some of them were even deaf as their eardrums were decayed by the decomposing flesh.

The zombies also feared light and were instinctively afraid of heat when their bodies severely lacked hydration. This allowed them to be chased away with high heat. However, if the scent of blood was found in the source of the heat, the instinct to feed would overwrite their innate fear and make them spring into action without abandon.

The location to strike a fatal blow to them was their head.

They were still alive despite being literally heartless. This was because the natural maintenance system within their bodies was already long gone, making the purpose of a heart moot. On the other hand, the structure of a brain, despite all these things, was much more complicated. Even if most of their brain cells had died, the electrical charges of microorganisms would still be able to control the body and make it react as long as the nervous center was intact.

Therefore, crushing a zombie's heads was the only way to kill them!

Something to note was that they had an immensely extraordinary sense of smell that was about ten times stronger than that of a human being — an unbelievable feat. This meant that their nose was about a quarter the sensitivity of a dog's nose and they would be able to track their target all the way to its location with just a faint, lingering scent. One would be hard-pressed to hide unless they could totally eradicate their own scent.

This also meant that a tiny wound would attract them in hordes like sharks in the ocean.

Despite knowing their weaknesses, Lin Chao chose not to engage them at night despite possessing knowledge of various methods to counter them. Firstly, the zombies were unusually active at night and required no sight to home in on a living person's location. Secondly, they were about a third faster at night than they were in the daytime.

"Go to bed." Lin Chao persuaded watching Lin Shiyu who had worry etched all over her face.

The girl's eyes bulged. "You're still able to sleep?"

Lin Chao smiled faintly. "We still have a long way to go. Gotta know how to save your energy. If you don't want to sleep, do something. Don't waste any time."

Time was precious.

The saying was perhaps not as significant during the olden times but it was the maxim during the apocalypse. The reason Lin Chao could survive all the way to nineteen years old despite being an orphan was that he cherished the time he had since he was a small boy. When everyone else was sleeping, he pondered about hunting rotten-clawed pups. When everyone else was curled up in the small house fearing a confrontation with the monsters, he quietly trained himself.

He picked up the skill of throwing flying knives from a young age, training himself in the basics by throwing stones. The foundation paid off when he turned into an Evolved, allowing him to master two sets of Grade A skills when he was only nineteen. This alone was an extraordinary feat, especially during the apocalypse!

It was exactly because of these two Grade A battle skills that he could survive again and again from being thrown into the monsters' mouths. If not for his bad luck and encounters with a rare Awakened back then, he would have stayed alive even longer.

"I can't sleep…" Lin Shiyu replied sadly.

She had always felt that she was mentally strong. When other girls shrieked at seeing a mouse, she would think that mice were adorable. When people felt their legs give up when encountering a snake, she felt indifferent as long as the snake was not venomous. Others were scared of the dead but she majored in anatomy and was inexplicably thrilled during dissection class when she saw bodies or blood…

However, today was different. It was the end of the world!

Once she thought about the fact that this world she was so familiar with was about to fade away, that there would be no more fast-food chains, no more companies, no more schools, no more people on the streets, and that it was only her and these cannibalistic monsters living in this vacant city… it sent shivers down her spine!

Most importantly, how could she sleep when it was so noisy outside?

Lin Chao wore a slight smile. It would indeed be rather hard for her. Most people were probably terrified out of their minds when encountering such a situation, unable to comprehend anything else. However, she was still able to keep her rational self. Furthermore, the cries and growls outside were truly a challenge to tune out in an attempt to fall asleep.

"Go on the computer if you're not sleepy then. The internet is supposedly still working but everyone's probably already going crazy there," Lin Chao suggested with a chuckle.

Lin Shiyu nodded swiftly.

After she left the room, Lin Chao went to the balcony with his steel bar to practice his skill with the spear since it was still early, and it was really too noisy out there. Even if he forced himself to sleep, his sleep would be disrupted anyway.

Bash!

He did not practice other techniques and focused only on this attack. If he were to execute higher-level techniques with his current physique, it would be an exercise in futility as they would be without any damaging capacity.

He could only bash. Bashing was enough to tackle these early-stage monsters and zombies.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The steel bar made wind-breaking noises as it was waved in the night. When the left arm was tired, the right arm trained; when the right arm was worn out, the left arm worked again…

It was only after twelve midnight that the zombies' growls lessened. There was no man walking in the area or on the roads, leaving only zombies that were either roaming aimlessly or feeding on corpses along with remains that had been masticated until only bones were left.

Exhausted and drenched with sweat, Lin Chao decided to sleep after wiping himself down with a towel.

Unrest was tonight's destiny.

…

Lin Chao woke up just as the dawn broke on the second day.

He took a glance outside the window. After a night, there was not a single soul there. The loitering zombies now looked like drowned corpses that were left in the water for months with their bloated flesh after being infected for a whole night. It was hard to discern their original faces.

Coming to the kitchen, Lin Chao made some porridge with the rice cooker while they still had electricity in the city and would go out hunting after that.

He first armed himself.

The steel bar was a necessity. He also brought three of the flying knives he had bought, stuffing them into the slits in seams of his pants; the weight was just nice as it did not affect his speed.

Lin Chao then rolled some fashion magazines on his arm and taped them together tightly to use as forearm guards.

The arms were the easiest to get injured during a battle against the zombies. A slight scratch could cause the entire arm to be infected and the virus to spread through the whole body, transforming one into a zombie.

Fully equipped, Lin Chao left a note on the table asking her not to worry seeing that Lin Shiyu had yet to wake up. He then came to the anti-theft door holding the steel bar…

There were still bloodstains on the floor.

Inhaling deeply, Lin Chao unlocked the anti-theft chain and gently pulled the door open. A cool breeze blew from the outside, tinged strongly with the iron-like smell of blood and a light hint of rotten flesh.

The familiar air…

Lin Chao vaguely felt like he was back to the apocalypse. Back to the wandering days where he lived every day on edge as he fought for his life. The memory heated his blood and adjusted all his cells to be on guard for survival.

Pulling the door to a close, it felt as if he had promptly put himself in another world. The decaying stench in the air grew stronger. Taking a deep breath, Lin Chao gripped his steel bar as he gazed toward the other three surrounding units.

There were four units on each floor, two of which had their doors tightly shut now while the other door was half-open. Blood oozed from that door. It was the unit the zombie he had killed yesterday was staying at.

Lin Chao did not enter. There was probably no one alive there. He walked toward the seventeenth floor through the stairs instead.

Just as he made a turn, he heard a soft swallowing noise. It was exceptionally clear in the quiet stairway. Lin Chao peered down from the handrail, taking in an old man who was seated on the staircase with his back against him, his shoulders trembling as he cried.

Lin Chao did not go forward immediately, choosing to watch from the side.

The old man was hugging a woman's body. The reason his shoulders shook was because he was gnawing at the woman's body.

All of a sudden, the old man raised his head.

It was a decomposed face. His eyes were rolled upward, showing only whites along with his putrid wrinkled skin that was almost falling off. The gruesome face was smeared with blood as a piece of flesh hung from its mouth.

Lin Chao was calm. Scanning his surrounding quickly, he breathed a sigh of relief when he did not see a second zombie.

Roar!

The old man tossed the woman's half-eaten body away and scrambled toward Lin Chao snarling. Living prey made it even more excited.

Lin Chao did not step back. He hopped off from the handrail and thrust his size forty-two shoes on the festering face, kicking the zombie off. Even if its strength was thrice a man's, it would not be able to take Lin Chao's downward momentum.

The moment the zombie fell, Lin Chao's steel bar bashed it swiftly!

Bang!

Hitting it on the head, a low thud sounded.

The head was not crushed, calling for a second bash. However, the old man zombie was already scurrying up from the floor and charging over with a roar.

Lin Chao was unfazed as he instantly took two steps back.

Plop!

Before the old zombie could lift its leg, it tripped over the staircase and collapsed in front of Lin Chao.

This was the moment Lin Chao was waiting for!

Raising the steel bar as quick as the wind, he hacked it down as fast as he could!

The steel bar collided against the zombie's skull. The weight of the bar, the speed at which it was swung, and the downward momentum allowed the strike to shatter a skull.

"Crack." The old zombie's head showed an obvious ditch. If it were a living person, the person would have been in agony. It felt no pain, however, and continued to snarl as it pounced at him.

Lin Chao swing his third blow on the same spot!

Bang!

The head was smashed open like a watermelon. Red and white splattered everywhere. The old zombie's hands finally stopped moving and fell lifelessly.

Lin Chao squatted down swiftly and gloved himself with the black plastic bag he had prepared earlier before slitting the zombie's chest open with the flying knife he kept on his pants.