Chapter 18 Spatial Ability Awakens

The little boy didn't respond no matter how much Sylas called out. His eyelashes fluttered before he fell unconscious.

Sylas held the boy tightly in his arms and lifted his head to look ahead. The zombies surrounding them had all collapsed, their heads severed. The gory scene made Sylas's stomach churn and his nausea worsen. The little boy's earlier sound wave attack had killed the zombies closest to them, but those farther away were still standing. Sylas realized it might have something to do with the distance and the strength of the attacker.

The remaining zombies, who had been standing still, suddenly began to move as if waking from a stupor. They had been affected by the earlier sound wave, though their heads hadn't exploded since they were farther back.

Sylas immediately turned and ran into the alley, but the fall earlier had left his left leg and shoulder in pain, hindering his movements.

From a distance, he could see the zombies in the alley surging toward him.

Sylas spotted a staff in the alley and picked it up as he limped forward. Swinging it with force, he smashed the head of an oncoming zombie before rushing ahead. He had no intention of killing the zombies; it would take too much time and energy. All he wanted was to escape and find a place to hide and recover.

Panting, he stopped briefly, leaning against the wall with one hand. The pain in his leg was becoming unbearable, and the zombies behind him were quickly closing the distance.

He glanced at the unconscious child resting against his chest, then swiftly shifted him onto his back, securing him tightly with a cloth. With the child secured, Sylas gripped the knife and staff in his hands and pushed forward once again.

Sylas swung the staff in his hand left and right, striking at the zombies charging toward him as he rushed past them. However, the number of zombies in the alley seemed to keep growing.

The hand holding the staff trembled as exhaustion overtook him. He felt completely drained of energy. He had forced himself to run into the alley and fight off the zombies with what little strength he had left, hoping to find a place to hide. But now, it was clear things weren't going the way he had hoped.

Sylas leaned against the alley wall, gasping for breath. Sweat soaked the hair on his forehead and temples, and a hazy whiteness began to cloud his vision. The sound of approaching zombies on both sides grew distant, like a fading echo.

Is this the end?

Am I going to die here? Or... turn into one of them?

The thoughts swirled in his mind as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

I don't want to die here...

I want to escape this place.

Take Dudu to safety... Take him away...

Take him away...

The desperate urge to save Dudu consumed Sylas's mind, overpowering his exhaustion. Suddenly, his drooping eyelids snapped open, and his eyes gleamed with a newfound sharpness. He fixed his gaze on the zombies closing in on him from both sides.

Lifting his trembling hand, he made a sweeping motion toward the horde. Space around his hand rippled and distorted, like waves breaking on an invisible surface, as the air itself seemed to bend under his will.

In the blink of an eye, all the zombies collapsed to the ground, their bodies sliced into countless pieces as if torn apart by an invisible storm of blades. Blood and flesh littered the alley, painting it in grotesque red.

A metallic tang mixed with a sharp, acrid stench assaulted Sylas's nose. The blood pooled and crept toward his feet, but before it could reach him, Sylas instinctively lifted his foot to step forward. In that instant, he vanished and reappeared a dozen meters away.

He had only taken a single step, yet he had

covered an incredible distance.

He had teleported!

Sylas's sharp eyes suddenly grew vacant as he staggered, his body utterly drained of energy. A crushing exhaustion washed over him, making him feel as though he hadn't slept in years. The overwhelming desire to close his eyes and succumb to sleep nearly overtook him-but then he noticed zombie stumbling toward him. He tried to lift the gun in his hand to shoot, but his arms were too weak to obey. Summoning the last bit of strength he had, he raised the staff in his trembling hand, preparing to strike.

As the zombie drew closer and closer, Sylas fought the desperate urge to let his eyelids fall. Just as he was about to swing the staff, a sharp gunshot echoed from behind him.

Bang!

The zombie's head exploded, and its lifeless body crumpled to the ground at Sylas's feet.

Sylas was stunned for a moment, his mind struggling to process what had just happened. Slowly and weakly, he turned his head to look behind him.

Through his blurry vision, he could make out a figure rushing toward him, but he couldn't tell who it was. His body, completely drained, could no longer hold on. At last, his eyelids fell shut, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Sylas!"

"Hey! What's going on?"

An urgent, worried voice reached his ears, accompanied by hurried footsteps, just as darkness consumed him entirely.

Shuan ran toward Sylas and patted his face, calling out, "Sylas? Sylas? Wake up!"

He suddenly thought of something and uttered, "Don't tell me you're also awakening an ability." He bent down, attempting to lift Sylas's limp body.

"Shuan?"

"What happened?"

Voices sounded behind him, and Shuan turned to address the approaching group. "Quick! Inform Major Kyle that we've found Sylas. One of you, come and help me carry him!"

The soldiers sprang into action. Shuan, along with another soldier, carefully untied the unconscious child from Sylas's back.

"You found Sylas?" Major Kyle's voice rang out as he hurried toward Sylas.

"What happened to him?" Behind Major Kyle, Dylan rushed forward as well, not sparing a glance for the pool of blood and flesh in front of him.

"What the hell happened here?" one of the soldiers muttered, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Looks like a complete massacre," another soldier remarked, shaking his head in shock.

"This is even scarier than what we saw on the road just now... those headless ones"

The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances, as they took in the gruesome scene--the alley now littered with the remnants of the zombies, their flesh and blood cut into many pieces by Sylas's earlier attack.