Chapter 003: Confronting Two-Meter-Tall Zombies!

Feeling a bit sentimental, Memphis pulled out his backpack and stuffed all the found items inside. After some thought, he searched through 5 of his colleagues' wallets, hoping to have something to hand over if he met their families.

He also took Hughie's coat, a long and thick one, perfect for protection.

Using Miley Cramer's skirt to wrap his hand and Jonny Byrne's remaining cap, Memphis finally covered himself completely.

He looked around the office one last time, seeing the rotting corpses of his comrades, quietly mumbling:

"Sorry... I will avenge you all..."

He turned towards the door, a determined plan forming in his mind.

But first, he had to escape this building.

Memphis's office was located at the end of the hallway on the third floor of the building. To reach the staircase on the other side, he had to pass by the secretary's office, the director's office, the second office, and then the separate security room along the hallway, before finally reaching the emergency exit stairs.

He carefully moved the storage cabinet, pressed his ear against the door, and listened intently.

Wheeze... wheeze...

"There are people, no, there are zombies, and more than one..."

Memphis mumbled in the room. He heard rustling and wheezing sounds outside, and there were two to three different sounds, likely coming from different zombies.

Gently turning the doorknob, trying not to make any noise, Memphis peered out.

Right outside the door was a zombie in a company uniform. From the shape of its back, it seemed to be Fergus Clark, a colleague from the neighboring office.

Three meters away were two zombies, one male and one female. The zombie on the left had its chest gnawed to a ragged state, with only one cyan, swollen breast remaining, looking like it was about to burst. The zombie on the right was tall and muscular, clearly one of the company's security guards.

As soon as Memphis cracked open the door, the Fergus Clark zombie turned around, as if it smelled fresh human flesh. Its blood-smeared mouth opened wide, and its single red eye glared at him.

With quick movements, Memphis immediately swung the door wide open, holding his breath, and swung the bat forward.

Thud!

Since Memphis had the advantage of preparation, the zombie didn't have a chance to resist. Its ugly head was smashed, and its rotting body collapsed to one side.

The remaining two zombies instantly heard the noise, turned with hissing sounds, and quickly advanced towards him.

Among them, the security guard zombie clearly moved faster, almost as quickly as a normal person walking, with its arms outstretched, ready to grab its prey.

Memphis felt a bit tense. This zombie was two heads taller than him, with a bulky body, making it difficult to deal with. Its long arms swayed threateningly, and if he got caught, escape would be nearly impossible.

He initially wanted to maneuver around it, attack from behind, but the narrow hallway and the zombie's flailing arms made that impossible. He had no choice but to strike its wrist with the bat.

Thud!

The baseball bat hit the zombie's arm but bounced back, causing Memphis some pain. He quickly retreated, with the zombie in hot pursuit.

Roar...

A beast-like growl echoed, and Memphis struck two more times, one hitting the zombie's throat, but it still didn't kill it. It only broke one of its arms, making Memphis silently curse his luck.

He could only muster his willpower, and a sharp two-meter-long ice spear appeared in his hand, which he thrust into the zombie's eye socket.

Thunk!

The ice spear easily pierced through the zombie's skull, freezing its entire head solid, preventing any blood from spurting out. The zombie instantly froze, its body collapsing to one side, dead beyond doubt.

Memphis quickly pulled out the ice spear, his hand channeling energy as he threw it at the remaining female zombie.

However, his spear-throwing skills were terrible. The spear only hit the zombie's chest, piercing through it, causing it to pause momentarily before it continued to stagger forward, albeit at a much slower pace.

Memphis focused his mind again, and a second ice spear appeared in his hand. This time, he didn't throw it but instead directly thrust the ice spear into the female zombie's head, ending its miserable existence.

'Still, it cost me 1 point of intelligence.'

Memphis calculated in his mind. So, simply conjuring an ice spear would cost intelligence points. His plan to spam ice spears from a distance was dead before it even began.

He quickly stopped maintaining the skill, and the ice spear in his hand evaporated rapidly, leaving only a faint puddle of water.

At this moment, Memphis noticed an item dropped beside the guard zombie's corpse. It was a small, white, ethereal book about the size of a fist, clean and free of blood.

"What is this?"

Memphis, curious, poked the book with his baseball bat. Seeing no danger and realizing it resembled a loot drop, he eagerly picked it up.

"Ding! Passive Skill Book Level 1: Scout's Eye! Skill Attribute: Allows scouting of basic monster attributes. Skill Activation: No consumption. Note: Scouting power depends on the skill level and the owner's level."

"Ding! Learn now?"

Damn, this is a great skill, no consumption, and it allows clear scouting. Memphis delighted, immediately chose:

"Learn! Quickly learn!"

"Ding! Learning successful!"

Following the mechanical voice, Memphis felt a slight warmth in his eyes. He tried looking down at the two corpses at his feet.

"Infection Type Level 1, can infect living beings into the same type."

"Infection Type Level 3, can infect living beings into the same type."

"Huh, level 3? No wonder it's stronger than usual. Wait, does this mean I get more experience?"

Memphis looked at the corpse at his feet and quickly pulled up the attribute table.

"Host Memphis Jackman. Purebred Human.

Occupation: Commoner.

Level: 2 (Exp 5/20)

Strength: 8/10

Agility: 7/10

Stamina: 8/12

Intelligence: 6/10

Recovery: 7/10

Endurance: 7/10

Breakthrough: 11%

Active Skills: Ice Manipulation.

Passive Skills: Scout's Eye.

Skill Points: 1

Potential Points: 0

Bright Points: 9

Weapons: Baseball bat."

Looking at the attribute table, Memphis understood a bit more. It turned out his experience gained was proportional to the monster's level. So, the stronger the zombie he killed, the greater the benefits, and there was a chance of loot drops!

The breakthrough point increased to 11%, but he still didn't know its use.

Taking a deep breath, Memphis cautiously stepped forward, his eyes constantly scanning for information on zombies, ready to respond quickly.

Next to his office was the secretary's room. Holding the bat in one hand, Memphis carefully turned the lock with the other. He wanted to see if Amanda was still human or had turned into a zombie.

If she is human, Memphis thought, he would try to investigate her situation a bit. If she is a zombie, he wouldn't mind giving her a whack to gain some experience points.

Click, click...

Click, click, click...

The door suddenly opened, and Memphis's body tensed into a defensive stance. However, after observing, there was no one inside. Maybe she was in the director's office, or perhaps she had been eaten somewhere else.

He quickly closed the secretary's office door and quietly stepped over to the adjacent director's office.

The door was tightly shut, with no bloodstains outside or any signs of scratching. Perhaps these two were still alive.

Memphis pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully. The director's office often hosted shady activities, so it was well soundproofed. Nevertheless, he could still hear screams mixed with disgusting wheezing sounds.

"There are people, and there are zombies, more than one. What kind of situation is this?"

Memphis wondered silently, but since there were still living people, he didn't intend to leave them.

He knocked three times on the wooden door. Inside, everything suddenly fell silent, followed by an explosion of cries for help and the wheezing sounds approaching the door.

He immediately focused, turned the doorknob, and gently pulled it open, revealing the scene inside.

Behind the largest desk, Director Lionel and Secretary Amanda were desperately defending themselves. The fat director sat in a chair, his legs pushing against the desk like a barrier to prevent the three zombies from advancing. Sweat poured from his chubby face like a waterfall. Amanda, beside him, wielded a black baseball bat, fiercely jabbing at the zombies' faces to keep them from climbing onto the desk.

The two coordinated relatively well, but they were nearly exhausted. When they saw Memphis, they cried out as if grasping at a lifeline:

"Save us..."

In front of them were three zombies, one of which was abnormally tall. It was his creditor, the loan shark, who was ready to give him a few punches at any moment, Kieron Leyton. Memphis didn't need to see his face to recognize him. That broad back haunted him every month for the 1500 USD debt.

Two other zombies, emaciated with pus-covered faces and white teeth, were his former colleagues. They looked extremely terrifying! 

"Infectious form level 1 and level 2? Perfect!"

Memphis glanced at the two zombies, no longer feeling as repulsed or terrified. Instead, he felt a bit of excitement and thrill. These were perfect targets for leveling up.

Seeing the two zombies approaching, Memphis braced his leg against the door, allowing it to open just wide enough for one person to pass through. He then raised his bat, ready to strike.

Zombies had no intelligence, the two squeezed through the narrow opening. Before they could bite, Memphis swung his bat, shattering the level 2 zombie's head.

The remaining zombie hissed, clawing at Memphis's foot. He quickly pulled his foot back, swung the door wide open, and with a side swing, broke the zombie's neck. Its eyes popped out, and it was utterly dead.

Seeing Memphis easily defeat the disgusting zombies, Lionel and Amanda's hope soared.

Memphis kicked aside the zombie blocking his path and stepped into the director's office, closing the door behind him.

The recent fight hadn't caused much noise, but the two people's screaming was truly too loud. He worried that zombies outside might be attracted.

With a quick glance, Memphis immediately recalled the details of the remaining three zombies.

"One level 1, one level 2, one level 5..."

Memphis looked at the back of the tall zombie Elon Leyton, nearly 2 meters high, and couldn't help but swallow hard. He was only 1.7 meters tall, and even if he wanted to hit it, he couldn't reach its head.

Seeing that Elon Leyton seemed to be turning around due to the noise of the fight, Memphis hurriedly shouted:

"You two, distract it, create an opening so I can strike."

Lionel and Amanda, not as foolish as Memphis often thought, immediately understood his intention. They both screamed loudly, with Amanda even striking Kieron's arm with a baseball bat, scraping off a piece of skin.

Kieron was indeed distracted, reaching out wildly to scratching and clawing, Lionel immediately felt the increased pressure, his knees buckling, almost collapsing.

Memphis didn't waste any time, leaping forward, and without hesitation, swung his bat, smashing the level 2 zombie's head.

Sensing the allure of fresh meat, Kieron suddenly turned and swiped, his long arm lashing towards Memphis's head.

Having anticipated this, Memphis ducked in advance, the baseball bat in his hand precisely striking Kieron's right knee.

Thwack!

The crisp sound of impact echoed, the bat bounced back, and Kieron's knee buckled slightly. As Kieron's arm came down, Memphis quickly swung his bat to block.

Thud!

Kieron's immense strength made Memphis's hand ache, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the bat. He immediately rolled, using his agility to get behind Kieron, and struck again, precisely on Kieron's right knee.

Crack!

Under Memphis's two consecutive full-force strikes, Kieron's knee shattered, and his massive body suddenly toppled to one side.

Memphis didn't hesitate, rushing forward and swinging his bat twice more at Kieron's nape, smashing his skull, spraying brain matter and dark blood all over the floor.

Suddenly, a silver card about the size of a palm fell beside Kieron's body.

Memphis's luck wasn't bad, Kieron had fallen face down. If he had fallen backward, his hands might still have been mobile, making it much harder to kill him.