Chapter 14 Stiff Corpse

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[One Hour Ago]

In the mountains,

At the tree hollow where Luo Di initially found the wooden box,

Due to the locust tree inside the residence being cut down, and the corpse burned, the Corpse Refining Ceremony was forcibly interrupted,

Now there were bursts of howling emerging from the depths of the tree hollow.

As the camera moved further into the tree hollow, it would reach a hidden cave, where the coffin inside had been pushed open.

Then, as the camera returned to the entrance of the tree hollow,

A withered hand, rotten and blackened, with cracks on its surface, stretched out amidst the trees, clearly "it" was still not perfect.

It hadn't even fully regained its Consciousness because it hadn't been able to 'absorb' a blood relative.

...

Inside the estate.

The people who had been staring at the paper window for a long time did not see any shadows arrive, nor did they hear any footsteps.

Luo Di suddenly realized something,

He swiftly moved to his backpack, hung the Field Knife with a leather cover and fixing chain around his waist, and grabbed the silver chainsaw case in his right hand.

Even without speaking, everyone else started to take action as well, picking up their protective weapons.

Gao Yuxuan only had a Field Knife,

Anna wanted to take the entire backpack, but considering that the target had not appeared, running around with it was a waste of stamina, so she only carried the tactical axe.

As for Wu Wen,

Since they began ascending the mountain, she hadn't taken out any defensive instruments, and now she was searching through her backpack for something, pulling out something very long.

With a cold gleam,

An Eight-sided Han Sword forged by modern technology rested in her hand, with a simple style focused on straight lines and rectangles.

The pitch-black sword hilt was traced with vertical grooves,

A very narrow diamond-shaped guard,

The scabbard too was black, perfectly fitting the guard using modern magnetic attraction technology, seamlessly blending as one. At first glance, one might even think it was a sleek black metal rod.

Everyone was swiftly armed and put on white masks.

Letting no word pass between them, it seemed everyone already knew where to go, what to do.

They walked down the second floor of the estate, along the corridor to the familiar back door.

The stench was still there, but this time it was as if no one smelled it, without any physical discomfort.

Standing at the door, looking into the backyard under the night sky with a flashlight, the overall scene was as normal as before.

Except the felled locust tree was lying amongst the bodies of pigs and cattle, blocking the view, obscuring what was behind the trunk.

Unlike the afternoon's trickling rain that could mask many environmental sounds, the late-night rain had lessened considerably.

This quietness enabled everyone to hear a slight, discordant sound coming from the depths of the backyard, the source hidden by the collapsed locust tree.

The squad leader quickly raised her index finger to her mask, signaling everyone to move forward quietly,

Advancing slowly into the sticky substance with almost noiseless footsteps,

Not letting any stench or touch interfere with their thinking anymore, all attention was focused beyond the trunk, on that strange and discordant sound.

The closer they approached, the clearer the sound became,

It was the sound of flesh being torn apart, of hard objects being chewed,

When the four reached the locust tree, and parted the branches blocking their view, they all froze as if suddenly served a terminal diagnosis by a doctor, unbelieving of the scene before their eyes.

Although everyone had more or less anticipated similar scenes beforehand,

But when the real scene was presented before them, when actually tasting this 'flavor', the impact was completely different.

Dressed in pitch-black cloth, the center line sewn with trigrams buttons,

The head above the collar was that of the middle-aged man from the photos, struck by illness,

His face covered in pitch-black veins,

Hanging with granular pustules left from his prior afflictions,

His murky and somewhat white eyes oblivious to the whole world,

He just stood there so erect,

With his arms outstretched level, a rotten cow head skewered in front of him,

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Teeth shrouded in black mist were vigorously tearing and sucking at the filth between the ox heads, feasting on the leftover Yin energy within,

The carcasses of pigs and cattle around him were almost devoured, compensating as much as possible for the incomplete parts of the ceremony.

Perhaps because the ox head in his hands was nearly sucked dry,

Or perhaps due to the proximity of the four,

Snap!

The bone-bare ox head fell to the ground,

Black canvas shoes treaded on the mire, propelling the body with a forceful leap,

Using the jump to pivot his body around,

His milky white eyes were fixed on the collapsed locus tree, as if they saw through the gaps between branches and leaves, spotting the four youths peeking at him.

To be precise,

It was the scent of living humans, not that of livestock, that he smelled,

This thing did not leap as slowly as your typical zombies in movies,

His feet gradually straightened, touching the ground with just the tiptoes, the body maintaining a 30° forward tilt,

Gliding!

As if pushed by the Yin energy, the tips of his shoes glided over the filthy backyard, rapidly closing in on the voyeurs behind the tree.

[Perspective Shift]

When the zombie tilted his head,

The four peepers realized they were exposed,

Now, they had to make a quick decision,

To confront or retreat?

To engage right there in the backyard, or to find another region?

However, such dilemmas had been considered upon their descent, and fleeing or retreating were not options,

Since the ceremony was already disrupted, now was the prime time to kill this thing,

Procrastination would only allow the zombie to reach closer to perfection, and the group would grow tired from hiding and running.

Of course,

They couldn't stay in the backyard, a sacral ground which gave natural advantage to the zombie.

The open space in front of the mansion where corpses had been burned before was a decent combat zone.

"Go!"

As the zombie gave chase, all four started running; the monitor and Luo Di's sprinting speed were nearly equal, followed closely by Anna, with Gao Yuxuan trailing last.

The monitor was the first to cross the sticky courtyard, stepping on the mansion's floor ready to accelerate further when she unexpectedly found Luo Di, who seemed to have willingly lagged behind to the end of the line.

Her eyes above the mask showed no fear of being chased by the zombie; instead, they held a sort of relieved smile.

The group's evacuation was considerably smooth—after all, they were all athletic aces; even Gao Yuxuan, the slowest, could achieve 11.9 seconds in the 100 meters, a speed that could barely ensure they weren't caught by the zombie.

In front of the mansion,

The pit where corpses were burned the day before has now filled with rainwater, several black charred bones floating on the surface.

When the zombie followed them to this area, its nostrils picked up the familiar scent lingering in the air, instinct driving it to momentarily change its target to the pit with floating bones.

Just as it sensed that the bodies of its kin were thoroughly destroyed, unusable for absorption, it let out a beastly roar from its throat, deafening.

However, while the zombie's attention was diverted, someone from the team had launched an offense.

A well-sharpened tactical axe, engraved with the renowned military-civilian industrial logo, traced a perfect line through the air, striking vertically.

Crack~

The axe landed on the zombie's shoulder,

But the sharp edge only penetrated less than three centimeters,

Anna was so startled by the hardness that she was at a loss for words. It felt not like chopping flesh, but more like striking something between stone and metal, and the reverberation numbed her arm slightly.

Whoosh!

Pulling out the axe, Anna quickly backed off and yelled loudly,

"This thing's not just hard, regular physical attacks can hardly kill it~ I'm going back to the bedroom for something, just hold it off! I'll be right back."

Anna had a sudden inspiration for an excellent way to deal with zombies and ran back to the mansion.

The previous chop didn't harm the essence of the zombie but did pose a significant threat.

The zombie's head immediately turned in the direction Anna left, but that path was already blocked by another prey, and a series of thunderous noises echoed simultaneously.