Chapter 16 Suppression
Crackle and pop~
The flames produced by alcohol continued to burn on the surface of the corpse,
Strangely,
The zombie exhibited no reaction to the fire, such as using the nearby pond to douse it or rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames.
All four people realized this; perhaps due to the interrupted ceremony, the zombie in front of them lacked even the most basic biological instincts.
However, the pus flowing out from beneath the zombie's skin could effectively curb the fire. It was impossible to completely incinerate it with flames from alcohol alone, but it would still have some effect, more or less.
Currently, the zombie's most important sense of smell was being impacted by the thick smoke rising from its burning flesh, making it temporarily unable to pinpoint the group's exact location, as it looked around tentatively.
The squad leader gave a thumbs-up to Anna, who had thrown the incendiary bottle, and also conveyed a signal with his eyes, instructing the two people at the gate to coordinate with her to flank the zombie from front and back.
The squad leader and Anna almost simultaneously arrived at the zombie's left and right sides, ready to attack from both sides.
With a sword and an axe,
The physical education training from twelve years of compulsory education, along with the combat skills acquired from extracurricular classes, allowed them to naturally target the theoretically weakest part of the zombie – its neck.
It was also due to their approach that the zombie once again sensed the smell of living humans, and its seemingly rigid body immediately reacted.
Ding!
The loud clashing sound of metal echoed at the mountaintop,
Front: The zombie actually stuck out its head actively, biting Anna's axe that swung from the front.
Even though the axe blade cut into the zombie's cheeks to some extent, it was firmly bitten and difficult to pull out.
Back: The squad leader, positioned behind, successfully cleaved the sharp sword blade into the unprotected back of the neck.
But the blade merely sliced through the skin, with a depth of less than two centimeters.
Between the slashed skin, one could clearly see the pitch-black cervical vertebra, which seemed to have some kind of hardening property – the sound of the metal striking earlier was resulted from the collision of the blade with the cervical vertebra.
The squad leader's thoughts spread rapidly within her brain, leading to a conclusion:
"Indeed, this zombie can achieve 'partial hardening'. The same happened when Luo Di and I played mixed doubles before. As soon as my attention was diverted, Luo Di could saw off the arm relatively easily.
A one-on-one fight has almost no chance of success,
But with multiple people flanking, it becomes much simpler.
Thank goodness we prevented the zombie from completing the entire ceremony; otherwise, it truly could have gained full-body hardening along with various inhuman abilities."
The zombie did not sit idly by; seizing the opportunity of biting the axe, it immediately swung its remaining arm, aiming to tear apart the woman in front of it.
Anna's biceps brachii suddenly exerted force, snap~ pulling out the axe along with three of the zombie's teeth,
Quickly dodging to retreat, narrowly missing the piercing of her body by the pitch-black nails. Seeing the black claws whiz past her face, Anna was terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat,
During the zombie's attack on Anna, Gao Yuxuan arrived.
Expertly taking out a silver needle, he swiftly and precisely pierced it toward the zombie's medulla oblongata,
One and a half inches above the hairline, between the depression of the trapezius muscles on both sides.
Ding! The sound of metal clashing rang again; the zombie's neck along with the entire back of its head were fully hardened, rendering even the sharp needle tip unable to penetrate.
But Gao Yuxuan's eyes shone with absolute confidence,
He secured the needle with his right thumb and index finger, while his left arm prepared to strike with a palm push, building momentum.
Sudden force, a palm strike shot straight at the end of the needle, like hammering a nail.
Logically,
Considering the thickness of the silver needle and the hardness of the zombie's medulla oblongata, had Gao Yuxuan struck with force, his palm would surely be pierced by the needle in reverse,
But when the palm touched the base of the needle, it made an even crisper sound of striking iron.
Ding!
The precise and heavy palm strike drove the needle further in by two centimeters, feeling as if it was about to break through the hardened layer.
Moreover, this pure silver object seemed to have a certain restraining effect on the evil spirits; the silver needle, pierced under the skin, vibrated continuously and released thick black smoke outward.
The zombie itself felt this 'pain' and was just about to turn around when,
The second palm strike was launched with even greater force.
Crack~ The entire silver needle seemed to break through a certain limit, burying itself nearly three inches deep.
Wind Mansion
In Gao Yuxuan's view, the zombie's essence was still human, and the meridians within its body still played their corresponding roles.
This needle pierced into the Wind Mansion, reaching the medulla oblongata.
The zombie's body shook violently, nearly collapsing.
The squad leader, seizing the opportunity, quickly adjusted her stance and swung out her sword! The sword's edge grazed Gao Yuxuan's cheek as it cut past, striking the zombie's neck once more,
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Swoosh!
As expected, the slashing no longer emitted a metallic clashing sound,
the sharp blade smoothly cut into the neck, causing substantial damage.
However, the zombie's inherent hardness was still there, the blade only managed to cut halfway into the cervical vertebra before it stopped completely, making a full decapitation no easy feat.
Gao Yuxuan, on his part, drew a second silver needle, ready to aim for the temple.
Suddenly,
the faint instinct within the zombie was activated by the threat of death; the yin energy within surged up rapidly, accumulating right where the silver needle had pierced!
The silver needle deeply embedded in the Wind Mansion Acupoint was forced out by a powerful burst of black energy, with such speed, thankfully Gao Yuxuan had already moved his position, otherwise, this needle could have penetrated his face.
With the acupoint no longer restricted, the frenzied zombie whirled around, its sinister fingers tracing terrifying black lines in the air,
The squad leader reacted with exceptional speed, immediately stepping into a nimble move and retreating,
whereas Gao Yuxuan, who was almost sticking to the zombie's back, did not have as much space to dodge and could only step back and raise an arm to block, looking as if he was about to have his arm torn apart by the claws.
Ding!
Gao Yuxuan heavily fell two meters away,
Scattered on the ground were pieces of clothing shredded by the zombie's claws, along with several pieces of skin structure with no bloodstains,
Beneath Gao Yuxuan's torn sleeve, what was revealed was not human flesh and blood but a gleaming metallic structure.
His entire left arm seemed to have been modified, or even completely replaced; this seems to be the main reason why he had taken half a month off school before.
The squad leader stared at Gao Yuxuan on the ground, "Your prosthetic arm is surprisingly useful, and Little Gao, your attacks are also quite effective.
Another round of acupuncture and we might be able to chop off that guy's head~ This time let Anna do the chopping, I'm still a little too weak."
There was no time to rest, the flames on the zombie had mostly died down, half its body already charred.
There was no time to wait, danger was imminent.
But the first to launch an attack was not the zombie, but Anna on the other side,
Instead of wielding an axe, she adopted a wrestler's stance, sinking her body's center of gravity and charging towards the target with a step.
The zombie quickly sensed the approach of a living person, hastily swinging his remaining arm trying to completely rip apart the attacker.
Swoosh~
Five black lines drew empty in the air.
Anna, who should have been struck, dived down at the last moment, avoiding the hit,
Slap! With strong arms she wrapped around the zombie's body.
Having confronted the threat head-on several times, Anna had collected ample combat data, she was 100% confident in avoiding the monotonous arm attacks.
And, most importantly, no matter how tough the zombie's body became, its weight wouldn't greatly exceed that of a normal person.
[Takedown]
A perfect pivot and takedown; the zombie's body was lifted and heavily slammed onto the ground, its face buried in the earth.
Anna also kept the zombie pinned down, trying to restrict its movements as much as possible.
Yet, even Anna, standing at 187cm and weighing 90kg, displayed an ugly look on her face during the suppress, she could clearly feel an invisible force surging inside the zombie's body, she probably wouldn't be able to hold it down for long.
Almost at the same time,
Another silver needle descended from above, piercing the same acupoint again, this time only taking a single slap to drive it in.
Upon seeing this, Anna immediately shouted:
"Wenwen! Chop... I can't hold it down much longer!"
Having experienced the previous chopping, the squad leader didn't believe she could decapitate the zombie in a short time. It would take 4 to 5 chops, and the position of each chop couldn't be off.
However, she seemed to have caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, her lips moved slightly, and the blade that was initially aimed at the neck changed its path, instead vertically thrusting into another spot.
Swoosh!
The vertical blade pierced through the zombie's palm and into the soil further immobilizing it.
"Wenwen, what are you doing!?"
Just when Anna was puzzled, someone approached in front of her,
As she was bent over pressing down on the zombie, she was in a lower position; as she looked up, the person before her appeared exceptionally gigantic,
Perhaps it was due to the angle of view,
Or maybe the body shape and posture of the incoming person holding the knife,
Or perhaps a unique temperament,
At that moment, Anna seemed to recall a horror movie about a Murderer she had watched with friends over a weekend.
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