The Multi-Evolution Nucleus
"Hmm?"
Just as Lin Chao was prepared to put down his binoculars and contemplate his escape from the Peril Strain's retaliation, he suddenly saw the ground under the creature's belly get rapidly tainted crimson. A large gush of blood was pouring out from its body.
Stunned, Lin Chao dropped his plan of fleeing and watched the creature again.
The Peril Strain was crouched on the street howling in agony, making a shrill sound. It crawled forward slowly, dragging a large carpet of red along its way.
Lin Chao had immediately guessed that its lower abdomen must have been seriously wounded. It was good news!
He did not make a move right away but continued waiting.
A marvelous hunter must possess adequate patience in anticipating his prey's struggle in the trap until it loses all its strength. That would be the moment when the hunter bagged his loot!
With the massive blood loss, the Peril Strain moved leaden-footed, a little weak and sluggish. Out of the blue, a golden shadow appeared at the residential area's entrance and came to the top of a car in front of the Peril Strain with only a few short strides, overlooking the wounded creature.
Lin Chao was at a loss.
The golden shadow was the Golden Hound!
He comprehended the situation at once. The Golden Hound had taken the Peril Strain as its prey, attracted to the latter's blood.
Normally, a robust Peril Strain could take down ten Golden Hounds easily. However, the creature was now critically injured. If it were to succumb to the Golden Hound, the substantial virus in it would trigger the canine's second evolution!
An early-stage Golden Hound that evolved a second time was as perilous as a Peril Strain!
Lin Chao put on his magazine arm guards swiftly, arming himself in readiness to move at a moment's notice. He would not let a dog rob him of all his effort!
The Golden Hound was bloodthirsty but it instinctively sensed that the Peril Strain differed from its usual quarry. It did not lunge at it impatiently but instead, cautiously rounded the Peril Strain by observation as it chose an appropriate attack angle.
The Peril Strain felt the same threat, hissing and baring its teeth ferociously like it was intimidating the Golden Hound.
Being a zombie that had evolved a second time, the internal organs of a Peril Strain regenerated after those that belonged to the human they once were rotted away. These organs were more compatible with their body and were stronger, rendering it different from other zombies. It felt pain and had a sense of taste as well. Its brain, too, now contained a new form of consciousness that was similar to a human who had a split second personality. However, this personality was guided by bestial instinct once it was birthed and would only develop similar levels of intelligence to a human after multiple evolutions.
Roar! Roar!
The Golden Hound was clever, going around the Peril Strain continuously without making an attack, planning to only jump at it only once it was thoroughly weakened.
Anxiously growling, it did not help the Peril Strain much. Finally, it ragingly took the initiative to attack! A sharp forked tongue flicked from its human face as it sprung out abruptly.
The Golden Hound leaped back a few steps to put some distance between them and avoided the aggressive attack. As soon as the dog landed, its limbs recoiled to vault itself towards the Peril Strain in a counterattack.
Howl! The Golden Hound's jaws were stretched towards the Peril Strain's neck.
Despite being attacked, the Peril Strain's speed was exceptionally swift. It evaded the bite with a slight turn of its head and raised its front limbs to sweep at the Golden Hound.
Bang!
The swipe caught the Golden Hound at its abdomen, flipping the canine roughly to crash at a car window and shattering the glass.
Angered, the Golden Hound leaped from the car's window and made another dash for the Peril Strain.
Picking up its front limbs again, the Peril Strain made a second sweep at the canine's abdomen, flinging it away directly. Whether it was strength or speed, both creatures varied by several notches!
The early-stage Golden Hound was only slightly stronger than a special zombie and was different from the Peril Strain on many levels. If this Peril Strain was not wounded, it would have bitten the dog to its death the moment they met!
Lin Chao spectated the scene with his binoculars, catching sight of a sharp piece of iron that had lodged itself into the Peril Strain's body on its stomach when the creature picked up its front limbs. The wound was already bleeding but every time it moved, blood would come out in spurts.
It came as a relief to Lin Chao. The wound was somewhere fatal. It was no wonder the Peril Strain moved so slowly. Each step it took caused the shard of iron to build friction against the ground and pulled at its wound inside. The insufferable agony was something it did not want to endure.
Flung away twice, the Golden Hound finally learned its lesson. Standing up and shaking its fur out, the dog's cut-throat eyes stared at the Peril Strain but it did not attack the third time, choosing to make rounds around the latter once more.
The Peril Strain did not want it to have the buffer so instead, it took the lead and pounced with its woman-like face hissing shrill cries.
Despite its display of aggression during the start, the Golden Hound turned to flee, refusing to fight!
The Peril Strain stopped after chasing its enemy for a bit. The violent friction when it did caused the iron in its stomach to cruelly whisk its flesh inside, the torment almost intolerable. Yet, the Peril Strain was quickly enraged.
After it stopped chasing, the Golden Hound actually stopped running away as well and annoyingly, it went back around to pretend to attack the Peril Strain as a taunt.
Lin Chao was speechless. The Golden Hound seemed to be rather clever as it knew how to play the war of attrition. It was obvious that the dog was dead set on tackling the Peril Strain.
Once the Peril Strain crouched on the ground to rest, the Golden Hound would fake an advance. Just as the Peril Strain got its guard up and was prepared to retaliate, the Golden Hound quickly withdrew. Repeating the game several times, the Peril Strain could not tend to its wound at all so its wound remained torn and was unable to heal.
Some ten minutes went by, there was nearly no more blood that oozed from the Peril Strain's stomach. A big part of the street was already colored red. It looked spent, sprawled on the road with weak breathing and without the energy to growl. The Golden Hound feigned a few more advances but it no longer cared.
After several more tests, the Golden Hound bared its sharp teeth and dove at the Peril Strain with a low snarl seeing that the timing was about right.
With how sharp its teeth were, they could break and tear down the Peril Strain's head directly as long as they snapped right on the latter's throat!
Lin Chao was on edge, ready to go down and fight for the multi-evolution nucleus. The precious item must not be chowed down by a dog!
Then, he was dumbstruck by the next scene that unfolded. The Peril Strain that was nearly unconscious leaped up high all of a sudden, its human face screaming piercingly, and lunged at the Golden Hound with its front claws!
The Golden Hound was taken aback by the Peril Strain's ferocity and retreated in panic but its advance was made too vigorously that its momentum could no longer be reeled in. It was clutched by the Peril Strain's front claws in an instant.
With a bang, the Golden Hound flew backward. A large patch of its golden fur on the waist was ripped off while three scarlet claw marks had gashed its skin apart showing the flesh inside.
Howling in pain as it landed rolling on the street, the Golden Hound fled there and then when it saw that the Peril Strain was going to go after it some more.
After the Golden Hound left, the Peril Strain stopped that instant and laid down once again. More blood spilled from its wound on the stomach.
Lin Chao was befuddled by the one-eighty twist of the events unfolding. He thought that the Golden Hound was sly but did not expect the Peril Strain to be similarly sneaky — it knew how to plan an ambush. If it were not for the Peril Strain's fading strength, that lethal swipe just now could have ripped the Golden Hound's intestines out!
There was a moment of hesitation from Lin Chao now as he looked at the dying Peril Strain sprawled on the road. He gritted his teeth and picked up his steel bar, ultimately going out of the door with the extra petrol.
Arriving at the ground floor with the elevator, Lin Chao saw the building's gate that was knocked over laying on the leveled step once the elevator doors opened. There was blood everywhere with two or three zombie carcasses around the entrance with their heads bitten off.
The rest of the zombies were gone — most probably moved on to other places.
Lin Chao went for the route with the least zombies and arrived at the street soon enough. He spotted the Peril Strain lying unmoved between a few battered cars. The blood on its stomach was already dried up to a blackened stain while its eyes were closed as if there were no more vital signs.
Lin Chao's guard was up. The ambush at the Golden Hound just now remained a strong impression in his mind, so he dared not underestimate the intelligence of these monsters.
He picked up a bloodied leather shoe from the road and threw it at the creature.
Hitting it on its head, the Peril Strain opened its eyes swiftly; the fearsome face of a woman looked toward where Lin Chao was hiding.
Lin Chao knew that he could not hide from being sniffed out by the Peril Strain so he stepped out holding his metal bar anxiously. If the Peril Strain still had the speed and strength of when it ambushed the Golden Hound, he would be shredded into two pieces once they butt heads!
Lin Chao did not go forward. He retrieved the bottle of petrol he brought along and climbed onto a car that was about six meters away from the Peril Strain to pour the content out onto it.
If it had been a healthy Peril Strain, it would take only the time for a single breath for it to close the short distance and attack Lin Chao. Lin Chao's palms were sweating profusely. He did not know how much energy it was left with and was ready to flee anytime – whether or not he would succeed... He could only wonder.
When Lin Chao was done pouring the petrol, the Peril Strain continued to glare at him without further action. He dared not relax and quickly pulled out a lighter from his pocket before ripping a piece of paper from his magazine arm guard. Scrunching it up, he lit the paper and tossed it at the creature.
As the burning ball of paper was cast at the Peril Strain, it remained stationary. It was as if it felt that the small ball of fire could not have harmed it.
However –
Swoosh!
Once the burning paper landed like a stone dropping into a lake, it ignited the petrol on the Peril Strain. Red and blue flames flowed across the flammable liquid and rapidly burned where the Peril Strain was doused with the fuel, immediately engulfing it in flames.
Aside from certain special zombies that were immune to fire, other zombies innately feared all form of flames. This Peril Strain was no exception. The licking blaze on it brought panic and pain. It screamed and rolled around, not knowing how to put out the flames.
Lin Chao immediately broke the fuel cover of the car beside him and retrieved the petrol inside with his bottle to continue splashing the creature when he saw that the fire was nearly done burning.
Pouring oil on fire!
The flames danced wildly as the Peril Strain burned in the glorious flames. The smell of barbecued meat wafted soon enough. The sharp metal stabbing the Peril Strain's stomach was red hot as it burned in the flames, transferring the heat to the end embedded inside its stomach as it stuck to its flesh like a searing iron.
The violent pain was maddening. The Peril Strain rolled about insanely but drenched in fuel, it could do little to put out the fire. In addition to its loss of blood and strength, its struggle gradually weakened.
Delighted, Lin Chao continued to douse the creature in petrol.
After some time, the Peril Strain stopped moving altogether. The scales covering it were charred, and the brown curly hair of the woman-like head was now completely torched, its face unrecognizable.
Lin Chao let it burn a little longer to make sure that it was not a façade. When he was sure that it had actually died, he slowly approached the body and pulled the flying knife from his leg to dissect the carcass.
The scales were too densely packed and became harder as well after being burned. Lin Chao could only open it up from its stomach, where the massive gash was after it was stabbed by the shard of metal. After waiting for the steel to cool down, Lin Chao shook it to extend the size of the wound before cutting the skin with his flying knife following the existing slit.
Soon enough, the outer skin of the Peril Strand was peeled apart to reveal the reddish flesh inside. The worm-like blood vessels on the flesh were lightly seared, still palpitating instinctively — evidence of its potent vitality!
Lin Chao took apart the creature's heart with the knife and caught sight of a dark red crystal peeking at him from the mass of blood and flesh. If one was not paying attention, they would definitely miss it.
It was the multi-evolution nucleus!
Gleeful, Lin Chao immediately picked up the maroon crystal and wiped it clean with his own clothes, disregarding the fact that there was still toxic fluid on it.
The crystal was only the size of a thumb and gained its dark red tint, like thickened blood, from the flowing multi-evolution nucleus inside. The crystalline exterior, on the other hand, was a protective membrane produced from blood and flesh nourished by the virus.
Roar!
A low rumble came from Lin Chao's back just as he picked up the multi-evolution nucleus. Turning around, Lin Chao was surprised to see that the Golden Hound had come back again and was currently glaring at him.