Chapter 25: Splitting Up

"Lin, what are you looking at?" Zhang Tie asked casually as he approached Lin Yi.

"Nothing much," Lin Yi replied, pulling out two vials of potion he had prepared earlier and handing them to Zhang Tie.

The light purple liquid in the test tubes emitted a mesmerizing, otherworldly glow.

"Lin, what's this?" Zhang Tie instinctively accepted the potions, then stared in disbelief at the description that appeared in his player information.

"Ding! Obtained Giant Lizard Extract (Special): Temporarily increases Strength +1, Constitution +1, Agility +1 upon consumption."

"Ding! Obtained Refined Snake Venom (Special): Temporarily increases Explosive Power by 50%, Endurance and Impact Resistance by 30%, and Attack Speed by 20% upon consumption."

Zhang Tie was stunned. As an Awakened, he knew how crucial even the slightest attribute boost could be.

"This stuff is incredible, Lin!" he exclaimed. "With a few of these, I wouldn't be afraid of any zombies! Can I have some more?"

Lin Yi shook his head. "We don't have many left. Use them sparingly."

After deducting what he had used earlier, Lin Yi only had 24 vials left in his ring. While it seemed like a lot, it wouldn't last long in combat. It might be enough for one person, but with more team members, they'd run out after two or three battles.

"Can your spirit energy support another transformation?" Lin Yi asked.

Zhang Tie, disappointed about the limited supply, carefully tucked the potions into his pocket. "I can manage one more bear transformation, Lin. But the duration will be much shorter. Probably... around twenty seconds."

Lin Yi frowned slightly. Twenty seconds was far too short. He had already calculated that even if they moved quickly, the battle in the inpatient building would last at least five minutes.

Both locations were important to check. If the pharmacy truly had a spirit energy node, Lin Yi could potentially bring Wen Ya back here tomorrow to become an Awakened. In his plan, the other awakening site was harder to find and surrounded by hordes of zombies. Taking Wen Ya there, with her ordinary human abilities, would be too risky.

Therefore, finding a spirit energy node in the pharmacy would be ideal.

"We'll split up," Lin Yi decided. "You go to the pharmacy. There are fewer zombies there. If you notice anything unusual, let me know immediately."

After some consideration, Lin Yi decided to send Zhang Tie to the pharmacy alone. Even if the spirit energy node there had dissipated, there might still be some benefits left. Having Zhang Tie accompany him wouldn't be of much help, so it was better to have him explore the pharmacy.

Zhang Tie hesitated for a moment but didn't argue. He knew that without his bear transformation, he was little more than a slightly tougher human. In close combat with zombies, he might even become a liability for Lin Yi.

Without fuss, he nodded in agreement. However, he couldn't help feeling a bit dejected. Since the apocalypse began, he had always been relied upon as the big brother of the team. He never imagined that with Lin Yi, he'd be of so little help. His once-proud strength seemed insignificant in comparison.

Feeling depressed and frustrated, Zhang Tie glanced at his left arm. The loss of his arm had indeed weakened him considerably.

Lin Yi, noticing Zhang Tie's thoughts, decided to offer some encouragement. After all, they would be team members in the future, and mutual support was crucial.

"Don't be discouraged, Zhang Tie. You're far from useless," Lin Yi said. "Every Awakened is a symbol of strength. You might feel weak now because we're facing massive hordes of zombies. This scale of zombies would overwhelm anyone."

Lin Yi paused, then added, "Your innate skill is quite impressive. Bear transformation is much more practical in combat than many other Awakened abilities. Once you can maintain the transformation for longer periods and upgrade to the second tier, you'll gain a new skill. Long-duration bear transformation plus a new skill will make you a formidable fighter."

Lin Yi recalled other Awakened he knew from his previous life, especially those who controlled elements. They could summon fire or storms with a wave of their hand, looking powerful with impressive damage output. However, in the early stages when spirit energy was scarce, they often exhausted their combat ability after using two or three skills. Then they'd have to rely on their basic 10-point attributes to fight enemies.

Compared to physical or transformation-type Awakened, these element controllers were like three-hit wonders, useless after depleting their skills.

Zhang Tie's bear transformation offered much longer sustained combat time than these Awakened. While it might lack in burst damage, it excelled in endurance and stability. It was like the relationship between an ADC and a mage in games – one focused on stable, sustained output, while the other emphasized short-term bursts.

Hearing this, Zhang Tie felt somewhat better and began to look forward to his potential strength after reaching the second tier.

Lin Yi was equally expectant. These recent encounters with large-scale zombie hordes had revealed a clear weakness in his abilities – the lack of area-of-effect skills. He was fine against individual enemies, but relying solely on physical combat against masses of enemies was extremely taxing.

His talent was strength burst, not too different from Zhang Tie's bear transformation. Although it boosted multiple attributes comprehensively, it was still essentially a support skill. In the apocalyptic game, not having AOE skills was highly inconvenient. While mutated entities were strong, they were rare. The majority of battles involved facing large numbers of zombies.

Lin Yi made a mental note. After obtaining equipment and dealing with the "Stitcher," he was determined to advance to the second tier before establishing a safe zone, if things went smoothly. Reaching the second tier would not only bring another qualitative leap in strength but also grant a brand new skill.

He already had one support skill, and Lin Yi refused to believe that his upgrade would yield another support-type ability. Even a single-target burst skill would be better than having to hack away with a blade.

"Lin, I'm feeling rested enough," Zhang Tie said. "Shall we go now?"

Lin Yi looked at Zhang Tie and nodded slowly. He had given Zhang Tie two potions, trusting that with his abilities, he should be able to handle the pharmacy with its smaller number of zombies.

"Bang!"

After finalizing their routes, the two wasted no time. They jumped down from the second floor, one heading straight for the inpatient building, the other towards the pharmacy.

As they landed, scattered zombies from around the hospital began to converge on them. Whether due to survivors still present in various buildings or to avoid the daylight, there weren't many zombies on the ground outside.

"Swish!"

Lin Yi, wielding a bone spike, stabbed straight through a lunging zombie in front of him. It was like piercing tofu. With the [Skull Crusher's Hand] equipped, his strength attribute now reached 23 points even without activating his talent. His normal state was now comparable to his previous "drug-enhanced" and skill-activated state. His power had increased by a whole tier.

Lin Yi bent his legs, gathering strength, and locked onto a window on the third floor of the inpatient building.

"Boom."

The ground cracked, with his footprint even deeper than before. Like a human cannon, he launched himself, ignoring the zombies below that were drawn by his scent.

"Thud!"

The third-floor outer wall cracked, dust falling. Lin Yi landed on the third-floor exterior wall, grabbing the protective grating on the window with one hand and exerting slight force.

"Creak."

The protective grating was torn apart by hand. The stainless steel bars were easily twisted into pretzels.

Through the window, the interior of what seemed to be room 303 or 305 was dark, making it difficult to see inside clearly.

"Roar!"

Inside the room, a zombie howled and slammed against the window. Its face was distorted, pressed against the glass like a demon.

The window shattered, and the zombie, craving flesh, felt no pain. It forced its way through the window, ignoring the sharp edges of broken glass that tore its face.

Judging by appearance, it was a zombie transformed from an elderly person about 70 or 80 years old. It frantically opened and closed its bloody maw. Most of its teeth had fallen out, but it still tried to tear a piece of flesh from Lin Yi to taste.

"Bang!"

Lin Yi, expressionless, hung onto the window frame with one hand and kicked the zombie's head, shattering it as he leaped into the room.

Quickly surveying his surroundings, Lin Yi found the room in disarray. There were two hospital beds and a private bathroom. This double room was likely a special care unit, and the now-dead zombie was probably someone of high status in life. Ordinary people couldn't afford such special care rooms.

Looking around, on the other bed, Lin Yi saw a female zombie, reduced to just an upper torso, struggling to crawl off the bed. It wasn't that zombie strength was limited by their pre-mutation physical condition – Lin Yi had seen plenty of elderly zombies running at incredible speeds due to the zombie virus enhancement. This particular zombie had been eaten down to just a torso, reduced to a limbless state that could only writhe like a maggot.

The clean bedsheet was stained with dark red blood. Its upper body had been completely devoured of arms, and even much of the internal organs in the chest cavity were missing.

It appeared that the elderly man had turned into a zombie first, then infected her. Most likely, they were husband and wife. Married for decades, hospitalized together to support each other. Who would have thought their final moments would be at the hands of their own spouse?

Lin Yi shook his head, not particularly moved. After three years in the apocalypse in his previous life, he had seen such scenes too many times.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The locked door from the inside began to deform. Zombies outside, hearing the commotion, came running and surrounded the area.

Lin Yi, unfazed, took a few steps to the door and reached for the lock. His gaze was calm, as if the terrifying zombies outside were just friends coming to visit.

"Eye of Judgment!"

"Click!"

He ripped off the door lock, a faint blue mist rising from the bottom of his eyes.

"Roar!"

The zombies outside howled. At a glance, there were at least twenty or thirty of them, cramming the entire corridor so tightly that not even water could pass through.

"Charging Stomp!"

Lin Yi reacted swiftly, raising his leg and stomping towards the nearest zombie just as it approached.

The sound of bones shattering was like firecrackers going off. The zombie at the front was instantly blasted away, taking out the zombies behind it as well. The walls shook, and the zombies at the door were cleared away, with those furthest back firmly embedded in the wall, reduced to a pulp.

Lin Yi looked at the result of his casual kick and smiled with satisfaction. His current strength, converted to tons, was probably over 4 tons. A casual punch or kick was like a high-speed car collision. This was the power of an Awakened.

Stepping over the mess of shattered limbs and pulverized flesh, Lin Yi entered the corridor and quickly surveyed his surroundings. The Eye of Judgment loaded all information within his field of vision in an extremely short time.

"Ding, Detected:"

"Zombies: 1198"

"Mutated Entities: 0"

Although the number of zombies was much less than in the emergency building, it was still not to be underestimated.

Behind him, the room number plate read 328. The directional sign on the wall indicated:

Left: 330-370

Right: 330-301

Without hesitation, Lin Yi turned right. If he remembered correctly, Wen Ya said her mother was in room 303. The zombie doctor had mentioned that the child with the part was in room 317. Although Wen Ya's mother was likely dead or turned into a zombie, he had promised Wen Ya to check, and rooms 303 and 317 were on the same path, so it wouldn't delay him much.

Zombies howled as they swarmed towards him from the corridor. Lin Yi held two "spikes" in his hands – one was the spine from the Licker, the other from an ordinary zombie. He hadn't had time to process the Licker's corpse from yesterday's encounter on the hotel road. Compared to ordinary cold weapons, zombie spines were actually quite good in all aspects, except for being a bit unwieldy.

"Charge forward, thrust straight!"

Lin Yi took a step, his movement as swift as lightning. The sharp spine, enhanced by his terrifying strength, pierced straight through the zombie in front of him, leaving a clear hole.

The dual "spikes" in his hands struck at high speed. He had transformed into a cold, efficient killing machine. With his overwhelming strength, Lin Yi's advance was unimpeded, clearing away all zombies in his path as he sprinted forward.

Cold, mechanical slaughter.

A minute later, Lin Yi looked up at the door sign not far ahead. The corridor behind him resembled a slaughterhouse, littered with zombie corpses, their skulls pulverized by his attacks.

Room 317.

There was nothing unusual; the light screen before his eyes only showed information about ordinary zombies. Lin Yi felt a sense of doubt and a faint unease.

It had been too easy.

Throughout his charge, he had kept his Eye of Judgment active. Partly to detect any special zombies mixed in, allowing him to react as quickly as possible. Also, Wen Ya hadn't provided a photo of her mother. Of course, even if she had, it wouldn't have been very useful. If Wen Ya's mother had turned into a zombie, she would likely be unrecognizable. All hospital patients wore the same gowns, so identifying by clothing wasn't possible either.

But the lack of any anomalies along the way, and the absence of any mutated entities commanding these zombies, didn't sit right with him. Now, standing in front of room 317, he still hadn't discovered anything unusual. This wasn't logical.

By all accounts, there should be something dangerous here. Otherwise, the zombie doctor had no reason to lure him to this place. As for the possibility that it really was the doctor's child here, wanting Lin Yi to take them back – Lin Yi didn't believe that for a second. If that were the case, why wouldn't the zombie doctor come himself? As a mutated entity capable of commanding other zombies, it wouldn't face any obstacles moving through the horde.

Cautiously, Lin Yi let out a low shout, his gaze intensifying.

"Strength Burst!"

A faint golden spirit energy surged into his body, boosting all attributes. His strength broke through, reaching 33 points. Powerful, his blood surged. Lin Yi once again experienced the new second-tier strength!

Unlike before when he had just broken through the critical point, his strength now matched that of a mid-level second-tier!

After adjusting his state to optimal, Lin Yi held the dual spikes across his chest, then delivered a powerful kick to the door of room 317.

"Boom!"

The metal door came off its hinges under this immense force, crashing into the room as if struck by a giant beast.

Lin Yi cautiously looked into the room, enhanced by the Eye of Judgment. The curtains were tightly drawn, but the dark room appeared as bright as day to him.

As he took in the scene inside, his pupils contracted violently, and his body hair stood on end like a beast encountering danger. A long-forgotten, intense fear surged from his heart.

Lin Yi's breath caught, and his entire body felt as cold as if he'd been plunged into an ice cave.

There were no zombies in the room. There was only a little girl.

She wore a red short dress, her delicate little feet bare.

And she was floating in mid-air.