Chapter 30: Abyssal Black Dragon

On the other end of the communication, Lin An's excitement was palpable even through the voice. 

Zhang Tie felt awkward and lost. 

"What's the situation?" he thought. Had Lin encountered something like this before? Was it a mutant? There was no need to berate him, though. He hadn't even brought it back yet!

Despite their brief acquaintance, Lin An had always struck Zhang as calm and emotionless. This level of agitation was surprising.

Was it because Lin had just warned him not to trust anything resembling a zombie? Now that he was hesitating about saving a suspected mutant, had he upset Lin?

While Zhang's mind wandered, even considering taking down the unconscious girl, at that moment—

...

In front of the hospital building, Lin An stood rigid, his body tense. He didn't even notice the zombies rushing toward him.

"Beep, S-class beast [Abyssal Black Dragon] wants to sign a partner contract. Do you accept?"

"Beep, you have obtained orange equipment [Soul Devouring Hand]*1."

"Beep, player receives unknown mental energy feedback, gaining attribute increases."

"Beep, Will +1."

"Beep, Agility +1."

"Beep, Strength +1."

"Beep, Constitution +1."

"Beep, Mental recovery speed +20%, mental capacity increased by 20%, and mental resistance improved by 20%."

The flood of system notifications was like divine music to his ears.

In an instant, Lin An's vision was overwhelmed with notifications.

Just as he prepared to leave, a slender black snake coiled around his arm, spitting out the [Soul Devouring Hand] that it had swallowed. 

Now shrunk and dull, it seemed drained of its inner energy.

Lin An was ecstatic.

What a twist of fate! He had regained lost equipment and unexpectedly gained an S-class beast wanting to be his summon.

He hadn't expected the black snake to be a dragon!

No wonder it had those two bumps on its head; he'd thought they were infected.

All attributes had increased, along with a multitude of buffs. 

His joy was beyond words. 

Shaking with excitement, Lin An stared in awe at the black dragon coiled around his wrist.

The power boost and epic equipment paled in comparison to the shock of having an S-class beast.

"Glup."

Lin An swallowed hard, his throat dry.

Beasts like this only appeared a year after the apocalypse began.

These beings from another dimension were not like zombies.

While most were hostile towards humans, they shared a mutual enmity with zombies and mutants.

Mystical beasts were rare but powerful, each boasting at least the strength of an awakened one or a mutant.

Their strength was categorized into five levels: S, A, B, C, and D, corresponding to levels zero to four of awakened beings.

Thus, three years into the apocalypse, zombies, mutants, beasts, and humans formed a delicate balance.

Human safe zones faced waves of zombie and beast attacks.

Among them, zombies were the strongest, followed by beasts, while humanity struggled to survive.

As the top tier of beasts, S-class creatures were something Lin An had only seen once before.

That instance had been captured by a peak third-tier awakened one who filmed a thirty-meter tall six-armed giant ape facing an army of 200,000 modern soldiers.

This well-trained player army, bolstered by upgraded levels, was equipped with heavy artillery, tanks, and fighter jets.

Their combined firepower could level any small nation.

Yet, despite this overwhelming force, that S-class beast had slaughtered an entire major safe zone in mere minutes.

Unstoppable and unrivaled.

Heavy artillery couldn't penetrate its defenses, and explosives only briefly slowed it down.

The third-tier awakened ones could only harass it from the sidelines.

That battle resulted in over a million deaths, leaving the southwestern war zone of Huaxia severely weakened, almost falling to the subsequent zombie onslaught.

In the end, an unknown force had to use a small-yield nuclear bomb to injure it, forcing it to retreat.

The edited video left players in despair.

The might of a fourth-tier beast left no room for rebellion.

And now, the black snake coiling around Lin An's arm was that level of creature!

Invincible!

If he signed the contract, the black snake—no, the [Abyssal Black Dragon]—could be his ally, allowing him to dominate this apocalyptic game!

"Roar!"

A dozen zombies surged towards Lin An, but he ignored them, lost in his shock.

Moving slowly, like an elderly person, he didn't want to overexert himself due to his injuries.

"Thud!"

A light punch connected with the leading zombie's head, crushing its skull instantly.

Lin frowned; his weakened state had diminished his power.

"Power Burst!"

A flash of light entered his body.

"Side Kick!"

His kick was still strong but lacked previous power, shattering the spine of the zombie before him, which then struggled on the ground.

Other zombies had closed in, biting at him wildly.

Lin sighed.

"Fine. Go ahead and bite."

Given his current physical condition, ordinary zombies would struggle to breach his defenses.

And he was mildly immune to poison.

What seemed like a horde of zombies now felt insignificant to him.

"Zhang Tie!"

"Get over here with the meds and take me back!"

Lin's mind was solely focused on the [Abyssal Black Dragon] and the recovered equipment.

The dragon coiled around his arm fell asleep after sending a contract request.

Otherwise, Lin was sure that with its level, it could wipe out an entire crowd of zombies in seconds.

Calmly dealing with the nearby zombies, Lin focused entirely on forging a dark gold contract in his mind.

"Sign the contract!"