Battle with the Python 

The mutant python seemed to sense Dylan's murderous intent.

Suddenly, it stood upright again, glaring with its remaining large eye, and opened its blood-filled mouth, lunging towards Dylan and Jodie.

Enduring the pain, Dylan advanced with his sword raised, aiming to stab the python's intact eye with all his might.

Just as it seemed he would strike, the snake dodged its head, causing Dylan's magic sky sword to plunge into its neck instead.

With great force, the blade pierced the snake's skin, causing it to recoil in pain.

Before Dylan could withdraw his sword, the snake shook its head, throwing Dylan aside once again.

The impact sent Dylan reeling, feeling like his internal organs were being jostled out of place.

Despite Dylan's efforts, the snake didn't cease its attack, seemingly fixated on him.

 It opened its mouth wide and charged at Dylan once more.

Jodie quickly resumed playing the flute, hoping to divert the snake's attention.

 However, this time it had little effect.

 The snake paused briefly before swiping its tail, knocking Jodie away as well.

Ignoring Jodie, who had been flung aside, the snake continued its assault on Dylan.

Dylan, giving his all, conjured another magic sky sword from space and aimed the tip at the snake's gaping maw.

 There was no escaping it;

even if he died, he would stab it.

In this critical moment, Alberta suddenly charged forward with her sword and stabbed the snake's intact eye.

With both eyes blinded, the snake let out a pained roar, knocking Alberta to the ground with a headbutt, causing her to cry out in agony.

Though blind, the snake heard Alberta's cries and immediately coiled around her, dragging her into its body.

As the snake writhed on the ground with Alberta trapped inside, Dylan watched in anguish.

 If things continued like this, Alberta would surely be strangled to death by the snake.

She didn't possess Dylan's resilient constitution.

Forcing himself to stand, Dylan rushed forward with his sword raised.

He aimed for the snake's head, intending to strike its forehead where the mutant python's core lay.

 However, the snake's constant rolling made it impossible for Dylan to land a blow.

Every time, the four green spots on the snake's forehead disappeared with its movements, and Dylan couldn't find an opportunity to strike.

Meanwhile, Alberta's face had turned a shade of purple from being choked, and she was running out of breath.

Frustrated and angry at his own weakness, Dylan felt his blood boil with rage, his eyes turning bloodshot.

 No, Alberta couldn't die! I have to save her! I have to save her!

Suddenly, Dylan's head buzzed, and his ears rang, drowning out the surrounding sounds.

 When he opened his eyes, he found that the scene before him had suddenly changed.

The snake on the ground seemed to be rolling, but its speed was reduced by more than tenfold, as if the scene was in slow motion.

Beside the off-road vehicle, Garrett, who had been by Georgia and Dorothy's side, was now tearful and looking in Dylan's direction.

However, his facial expression seemed frozen.

What's going on?

 The surroundings seemed to be in slow motion, but his movements remained unaffected.

 Dylan was perplexed.However, he knew this was his last chance to kill the mutant python.

Dylan quickly picked up the gun from the ground and loaded bullets from his spatial storage.

 Then, aiming at the swollen area between the python's eyes, he fired rapidly.

"Splat splat splat splat splat!"

Green fluid sprayed out as the bullets all hit the python's forehead.

After several shots, Dylan collapsed exhausted onto the ground.

At this moment, the surroundings returned to normal.

The mutant python struggled violently for a while before falling silent, its body going limp.

Struggling to crawl out from under the snake's body, Alberta lay gasping for breath on the ground.

 Seeing her safe, Dylan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that the snake was completely still, the gatekeeper Garrett cautiously ran over and helped Alberta up.

Once he regained his strength, Dylan stood up, walked over to the dead snake, and pulled out the four-star crystal nucleus from its body.

The crystal nucleus, about the size of a walnut, was pitch black with four green lights flickering, and it was quite heavy.

Dylan immediately stored the crystal nucleus away and then rushed to check the injuries of the others.

After a brief examination, Dylan felt worried.

Jodie and Alberta were relatively okay, with only bruises on their bodies.

Georgia had a long gash on her back from hitting the rocks earlier, and it was still bleeding.

As for Dorothy, her arm seemed dislocated, rendering her immobile.

However, none of them were skilled in medicine, and they couldn't continue like this with two injured companions.

Quickly retrieving some bandages and iodine alcohol from his spatial storage, Dylan cleaned Georgia's wound and wrapped it with gauze.

Throughout the process, Georgia gritted her teeth without making a sound.

"How many hospitals are nearby?" Dylan asked.

"There's only one major hospital in the university town!" Alberta replied promptly.

"Let's go. Get them into the car. We need to try our luck at the hospital," Dylan decided.

Realizing that they needed someone skilled in medicine to stitch up Georgia's wound to prevent infection, Dylan knew they had to rely on luck to find a surviving doctor at the hospital.

 Otherwise, he would have to resort to some makeshift methods to treat them, with uncertain outcomes.

After loading everyone into the car, Dylan retrieved some antibiotics and had Alberta feed them to Georgia and Dorothy.

He also applied some ointment for treating bruises and injuries and let them help each other with it.

Then, he went back to the snake's corpse, stored it in his spatial storage, and drove the off-road vehicle to a suitable place to turn around before heading towards the hospital in the university town.

...

The hospital in the university town was located in the center of the entire university town and occupied a considerable area.

When Dylan drove the car to the front of the outpatient building, the roar of the engine immediately attracted a group of zombies inside the building.

Dylan had already anticipated this.

 After turning on all the lights around the car to illuminate the area, he calmly got out of the car with his magic sky sword and started killing the zombies one by one.

To speed things up, Alberta and Jodie also endured their pain and joined the battle after getting out of the car.

Within moments, they had dispatched hundreds of zombies, leaving them clean and clear.

They didn't have time to collect crystals and immediately ran into the outpatient building.

Inside the building was too dark, so Dylan took out three powerful flashlights, one for each person. As soon as the flashlights were turned on, the interior became much brighter.

"Is there any surviving doctor? Please respond!" Dylan shouted as he cautiously proceeded further into the building.

This way, he could lure out any zombies hiding inside and also let any survivors hear his call.

 However, after checking all the floors of the outpatient building, aside from scattered zombies, he found no survivors.

Had they all perished or escaped?

Dylan wasn't willing to give up.

If there were no survivors in the outpatient building, he would check the ward building.

He couldn't believe there wasn't a single living doctor in the entire hospital.

Arriving at the entrance of the ward building, Dylan found the door locked from the inside.

What was going on? Was it locked earlier, or were survivors inside locking themselves in?

Dylan couldn't afford to think about it.

 He let Alberta and Jodie guard behind him and started pounding on the glass door with force.

After banging on it for a while, aside from attracting a few zombies from outside, there was no other movement.

However, there were no zombies inside the ward building.

It seemed hopeless.

 Just as Dylan was about to give up and prepare to check another ward building, four people suddenly appeared behind the glass door.

Shining his flashlight, Dylan saw four men holding fire axes.

He felt relieved.

 Survivors were good news; it meant there was still hope for surviving doctors.

"What are you guys doing?" a cautious voice from inside asked.

"Do you have any surviving doctors here? We have wounded comrades in need of treatment!" Dylan urgently inquired.

"Have they been bitten by zombies?" The person inside instantly became tense.

"No! Do you have any doctors here or not?" Dylan grew impatient.

"